The Christmas Sweater

I had originally decided not to make my Mom a sweater this year for Christmas because school was kicking my butt. I figured I didn't have time since it would need to be started at the same time that I was dealing with finals, and I said no way.

I changed my mind when I saw the mag that my Cooling Eye Mask pattern was in (Crochet! January '11 - in stores now!!) I saw a beautiful red sweater that would be perfect for my Mom. It called for sport weight yarn, so I went to Joann's and got 3 skeins of soft brown Sensations Cuddle - baby yarn - and it was perfect for the project. I swatched with the called-for hook. Nope! I went up a hook size, no go. I had to try a bigger yarn. I went to Simply soft - my old standby - in a pretty khaki color called Bone. I sweatched, went up a hook, swatched some more and still not even close, so I went up a size size. My mom is really small, which is why it is so awesome to make her sweaters! Usually I need to go down a yarn/needle/hook size on the small sweater size to make it fit her. In this case, I went to the Medium (from extra small) and it was still so skinny in the center that there was no way it was gonna fit. I decided it was just a funkily written pattern made for funkily built people. Time to move on. It was December 21.

I searched my memory for something that I could make quick that I had the yarn already in hand. I thought about the 2 yarns that I had already bought for the sweater - the brown baby yarn and the khaki simply soft and wondered what I could make with them together. I remembered making the Subway Cable sweater for Stacy from the Yarn Girls - Beyond the Basics book a couple years ago and her comment on why she doesn't wear it more is "It's a REALLY warm sweater!". Perfect!! To get gauge, I had to add another worsted weight yarn, I picked some cream colored Red Heart that I had plenty of, and it blended perfectly.

I cast on the sweater the morning of 12/21 and finished it on Christmas eve at my in-laws, about 8pm. That gave me enough time to bring it home and wrap it, minus it's normal washing, and bring it to her at 10 the next morning. Can someone say skin of my teeth? Yeah.

She opened it up and put it on and it fits pretty perfectly. A tiny tad short, but maybe it will grow a little bit in the wash? As long as she wears an undershirt if she plans to bend over, she will be fine. She likes it, and that is all that
matters, right?