FO: anya's recital sweater

My kids are playing in a piano recital this afternoon. Daniel has been taking lessons for almost two years, so he's a veteran at this by now, but this is Anya's first one! I thought she needed a new sweater for the occasion.

She chose the color (bright red!) and wanted bright orange and green, too, but I just couldn't pull it together. Fortunately, she is okay with that. 

I was also planning to sew a nice white shirt for her to wear underneath the sweater, but I only got as far as buying the fabric and cutting out the pieces. The cutting out took place earlier this week in the middle of the night when I was having some stress-induced insomnia. I don't sew well under pressure, though, and I had kind of a crazy week getting ready for some graduate auditions I played for today, and the shirt is still sitting in pieces not sewed up yet. Yesterday morning in a moment of panic I went to Target and, happily, found a white blouse that will work just fine. It's cuter than anything I could have made anyway, probably.

Photographing this was no picnic. Anya is as cooperative a model as she can be (it helps that she's pleased as punch with her recital outfit), but she is still six years old (re: squirmy) and I had to work with what natural light we have inside, since it's too cold and snowy outside to do a photo shoot outdoors. No surprise there.

Also, the house is a mess, so finding any area with any light that didn't have junk cluttering up the background was another challenge. No surprise there, either.

Pattern: School's Out by Katya Frankel

Yarn: Frolicking Feet by Done Roving Yarns. This project took exactly one skein. I bought two to be safe, and I guess I shouldn't have!

Size made: 24" and she will probably grow out of it in five minutes. I swear this girl has had a major growth spurt for the past twelve months. I wish I would have made one size bigger, but the important thing is that it fits for today. Before I wet blocked it, the sweater was a little small, actually. But since this is super wash sock yarn knit at a fairly loose gauge (6spi) I knew it would stretch.

I did not knit a recital sweater for Daniel. He wouldn't wear one anyway. He did, however, request that he wear a dress shirt and tie, so I obliged. I wouldn't go to all this work and expense for one single piano recital except that we have a wedding to go to in April so these outfits will get two wearings, at least. That's assuming everything still fits by then. You never know.