I initially designed the R&R Hoodie pattern for my son Rowan when he was a baby. As he grew, and started to outgrow the original hoodie pattern sizes, it became pretty obvious that not only did I need to make the pattern available in a wider range of sizes, but that the new wide range would include a version that I could wear as well! Why should our kiddos have all the fun when it comes to knitwear? Sure, they’re wee and adorable, but classic designs deserve to be worn by everyone. And so, with that, the R&R Hoodie started on it's 2 year journey to becoming the pattern that it is today, sized for everyone!
As soon as I received our first order of PureWash Worsted I knew that it was destined to become a hoodie for me. Actually, full disclosure, the first batch of sample skeins I received wasn't enough to knit myself a hoodie, so I knit one for Rowan instead, but I'll blog about his another day. I agonized over my colour choices and in the end I am thrilled that I went with Charcoal because this hoodie in this colour is da bomb.
I've made a few tweaks to the pattern in order to make it flattering on adult sizes, but overall I've kept the same simple silhouette and crisp detailing as the kids version. As we all know, my mother is the queen of sewing zippers into knitted garments, she's done it for me many times and I love her for it. She recently knit an R&R Hoodie for my niece and we took the opportunity to take some pictures and document her zipper sewing techniques, I'll have that tutorial up for you next week.
I've got to give a shout-out to one of my awesome test knitters Laura (aka: Undone57 on Ravelry) who has knit my R&R Hoodie pattern 10 times! I could only fit 9 versions into this lovely collage:
The most awesome thing about Laura's R&R collection? She has taken the opportunity to customize every single one. Look at that Adult R&R she knit for herself!? Gorgeous right? I love that she has used my pattern as a blank canvas for her gift of colourwork. So inspiring!
We'll have plenty of PureWash Worsted in tomorrow Etsy Update, and if you don't find the colour you're looking for, don't worry, we'll be doing another update in the next week or two! We are just getting started with this new line of PureWash yarns, they are here to stay.
It feels great to have this pattern out in the world, I can't wait to see all the adorable mom/dad/baby FO shots that pop up! I'm putting it out there, the first person to knit an R&R for every member of their family will get a free sweater's worth of yarn from me! Just send me the photographic evidence and promise to use the picture of you and your clan in your R&R's as your official Christmas card photo and we're in business. ;)
I just re-read my blog post introducing the R&R Hoodie for the first time and re-learnt the fact that this whole concept was Chris' idea in the first place! So, hats off to you babe. I am toying with the idea of knitting Chris his own R&R next... I may be crazy.