Kraemer Yarns // Baby Deer Hoodie

 Look at this deer hoodie that I made for Elaina. I die.

While I was still pregnant, I was offered some yarn from Kraemer Yarns to review for le blog. I knew right away that I wanted to make a baby deer hoodie for my baby. I don't know why I was seized with such a specific desire. Pregnancy is weird. I also decided that the best course of action was to design this thing as I went. Also unsure why that was a good idea. Sleep deprivation + very limited knitting time does not have the best outcome. The armholes are a bit small, and the hood had to get a little sewing machine surgery. Ah well. It's adorable anyway.

I used Tatamy DK in Birch and First Tooth, and Tatamy DK Tweed in Carnation. I think DK is perfect for baby clothes because it's lightweight, but doesn't take a lifetime to knit (like fingering, for example.) I ain't got time for fingering-weight sweaters. :) This yarn is actually awesome for our climate, because it's a cotton/acrylic blend, so there's a real chance one could wear a knitted item and not burn up. Sometimes knitting with cotton yarn is not that much fun (ie it sucks) but this yarn never felt like knitting with cotton. I really liked it! I could see making me-sized things with this yarn, especially because it comes in so many great colors. Also a good reason to make more things with this yarn: the company spins the yarn in Pennsylvania, and they source materials from the US whenever possible. I'm sure I've talked about my issues with fast fashion and sweat shops before, so I won't harp on it again, but I'll just say that I'm a big fan of US-based yarn/fabric/clothing.

I'm thinking of writing up this pattern, but I might wait until munchkin sleeps better at night so that I can sleep better at night so that I can use my brain again. I sent a pattern that I'd written since the baby was born to my tech editor the other day, and she sent it back because I'd forgotten to include armholes. Yeah. No sleep = dumb.

Thank you to Kraemer Yarns for providing this yarn for my review. My own opinions. Please excuse any weirdness due to sleep deprivation.

A sweater for me

Front on the needles, back done and folded.

Right before I had my baby- like, the evening before I went into labor- I started a sweater for me. I had a sweater quantity of Knit Picks Swish on hand, which is rare for me- most of the time I don't have a single sweater quantity. I mostly have single skeins which is not a good way to buy yarn, but I keep doing it. I've had KleverKnits's Camden pullover in my Ravelry queue for ages, and the yarn/pattern combo seemed like a good match so I went for it.

Cat fur. Always cat fur.

I am making some modifications. I'm cabling every 6th row instead of every 4th, just to save time. I also reversed the direction of the cables to make it easier to cable without a cable needle, because that's how I roll these days. I'm lengthening the body because as written, 15" to the armholes is too short for me. I'm going with 16.5". I also might lengthen the armholes, but I'm not sure because I'm not there yet. I'm definitely going to pick up stitches around the armholes and knit the sleeves top-down, because any time I can avoid a seam I'm doing that.

A week or two ago the baby started going to bed at around 8 instead of around 10, so I've finally had some time to myself. I finished the back a couple days ago and I've made decent progress on the front so far. I'm hopeful that this sweater will be done by mid-June-ish so that I can start something else. I was looking around my craft room just now and... I've got a lot of yarn. Everything looks cluttered, and I dislike clutter. I want to knit down some stash. (Same applies to fabric and sewing- too much stash, not nearly enough time.)