Robin Hood Jacket finished

"took you long enough!"


Robin Hood Jacket from Adorable Knits for Tots
Rowan Cork, "delight" -- 8 skeins (more than called for)
US 9 (5.5mm), 24" Addi
Started: 30 August 2007
Finished: 26 September 2007

I swear, putting this thing together...! It was more than worth it, but my goodness finishing to me is like pulling teeth :) I need to invest in a good finishing book, Ms. Wiseman's was recommended by the knittyboard crew but I'm waffling between it and an all-in-one volume since I don't really have a good pull off the shelf and answer my late night questions one.

Anyways :)



I'm really pleased with it, though baby boy decided he didn't want to wear it "EVER!!"... the power of bubbles to bribe my child. :) The pattern was well written and I didn't find any errata in it as far as the pattern goes (errors were referenced by a reviewer on amazon)-- although I did need 8 skeins of yarn for the largest size, not 7. There's enough left over for a hat for him from the eighth, but the sweater was definitely not possible with only 7 sk. The arms also didn't increase to the size given stitchwise, but that be an issue with my column gauge.

I had to use a US 9 to get gauge (pattern calls for a US 10.5, 16 sts/4 inches over seed stitch). The math folks may tell me my assumption's wrong here, but since I used a smaller needle diameter-wise knitting this sweater than originally called for, I'm using less yarn as well... so anyone getting gauge with a 10.5 is going to be using more yarn and needing more of it (so, you'll need the extra skein of yarn like I did when knitting the largest size)...? If I said that out loud, it'd be in my brit uptalk with a questionmark at the end.

Moving on... :)



I'm super impressed with the yarn-- how the cables still pop after a good wet blocking (I needed to really shape this thing to get it to fit my kid-- it was much too small preblocking). I was worried the orange would be too little baby as opposed to "BIG BOY!" since we're getting very self-defining here lately, but it's fine and I really like orange knits on the kid :) Even though there is a lot of yarn in the sweater, it's not super heavy or dense even with the cabling, and I can imagine how soft it would be knit into a sweater for me in a larger needle and with a little bit of drape (this is solid!)



I knit the hood an extra 1/2" longer than called for... my son's head grows out of his clothes faster than the rest of his body :) I'm thinking about ripping and making the hood a bit smaller-- but it wouldn't solve how deep/wide it is (knit as written according to pattern). I don't really mind it, so it'll probably stay as is.

I omitted the tassel at the tip, thinking he already looks pixieish enough :)

Also... I have a confession. I may be a continental knitter now :) After seeing Roam and reading Laura's list for possible yarn subs, she included a sentence at the end that had me swatching for it with my Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK... "It is so easy to switch between knit and purl (it doesn’t require a whole half-a-stitch-movement) that my ribbing and seed stitch are almost as fast as my stockinette. Really." So I tried and though I'm not convinced that the DB will be good for Roam, Continental knitting is good for me :) The seed stitch of the hood was good practice for me and I've caught myself knitting Continental a lot now, for everything except stranded knitting. We'll see if it sticks!



The last button (or, the distance between it and the penultimate one) creates a small gaping bit when buttoned... not sure which one I'll move to try and fix it, though I really should. But I'm still calling this finished, so yay :)


(i did end up listing a few handspun yarns in my etsy shop as well as a few commercial sock and other yarns on destash. i'm running out of room everywhere, more likely to come :))