Pattern: Playdate by tincanknits
Yarn: TFA PureWash Fingering, Blue Label Fingering Weight, Malabrigo Sock and a random mystery skein - all leftovers from other projects - details on my Ravelry project page linked below.
Ravelry Project page here.
Completely inspired by Laura's scrappy Playdate cardigan I dove deep into my bin(s) of leftover fingering weight yarn and pulled this non-rainbow multicoloured palette to knit a sweater for Rowan. This was a super fun project. I am crazy about how the colour palette worked out! I'm always trying to push myself when it comes to creating colour palettes for my projects. I lean heavily on traditional rainbow formation and obviously love the look, but when I can successfully go "off-rainbow" and knit with a gradient that jumps from brown to pink to gold to neutral to blue(s) and back to neutral again, well, that just makes my day. Don't get me wrong, I will forever and always love a good rainbow palette, but when a palette is a little more unexpected I find it so much more interesting.
All of the yarns used in this sweater were leftover from previous projects, which is always so much fun! It's great to feel like you're getting a bonus project out of your yarn. If a skein was used for a pair of socks or a shawl first then I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth, using the leftovers in additional projects is like knitting for free! I know that might sound a bit strange coming from me since most of the yarns I used are TFA, but they still hold a great deal of value for me. And I like to think of myself as thrifty. Anytime I can knit from the leftovers bin rather than pull fresh skeins off the shelves feels like a mini victory.
It's also fun to reminisce about all the projects that these skeins were originally used for. The dark brown speckle was first used in a pair of socks for Chris, the Charcoal used in the ribbing was leftover from my Christmas In July Sweater and the Midnight was from a wee Sunnyside cardigan knit for Rowan nearly 5 years ago!
Rowan remains the best knitwear recipient ever. I had the sweater blocked and finished on Sunday morning and he has worn it everyday since. Granted, it's only Tuesday so that's not a spectacular amount of time but it's 3 days in a row and that counts for something! He requested, nay, insisted that this sweater not have buttons so it is currently button-less. I did make button holes in case he, or a future wearer of this sweater, changes his stance on that. I love that he wears it open like a cool old-man cardigan. I'm a big fan of the look! In my completely unbiased opinion Rowan has great style for a 5 year old boy. Y'know he often rolls up the cuffs of his jeans even though they're not too long just because he likes the look. When questioned about it he rolled his eyes at me and said that he was doing it "for style". I am so proud.
I took all of the photos for todays post with my cell phone and I'm thrilled with them! I prefer candid shots of the kids and its easier to follow them around as they play restaurant under the canopy of our neighbour's pine trees with my phone rather than trying to adjust the settings on my big camera to accommodate the ever changing lighting conditions. I have a Google Pixel 2XL and I got it specifically for the camera quality and ever since I figured out how to set it to portrait mode I have taken some of my favourite photos ever!
I'm almost finished another scrappy little sweater... this time in worsted weight. More on that soon. Scrappy knits are my fave!