A Sweet Little Sweater And A Sad But Sweet Story And Our Solstice Winner

A special friend asked for a tiny memento of Jared so I spun a little yarn and knit a tiny sweater ornament for her.  I enjoyed spending a little time with Big J and wasn't as sad as I thought I might be.  I was happy to be sharing a little of him and enjoyed knowing I wasn't the only one who loved him so much.

Here is the pattern I used.  Tiny sweaters are fun and not really that fiddly and are a great way to use up small amounts of leftover yarn or handspun samples.  This probably works best with a DK or worsted weight yarn.  A heavier or lighter weight yarn would maybe need the stitch counts adjusted.

Tiny Sweater Pattern

Cast on 20 stitches and decide what sort of collar you want.

For a rolled collar, knit all stitches around.  A ribbed collar works best with K1P1 rib and you can make it short for a plain collar or tall for a fold over turtleneck. Knit as many rows as you need. For a fold over collar you should knit one more row than you think.

I knit using Magic Loop so I'm setting my rows up that way. Double points are perfectly fine. You'll just need to adjust your stitches around the needles to make it make sense.

Needle 1. K2 (sleeve), PM (place marker), K6 (front), PM, K2 (10 stitches)

Needle 2. K2, PM (place marker), K6 (back), PM, K2 (10 stitches)

Knit to one stitch before each marker, KFB (knit one front and back), slip marker, KFB, knit to end. Repeat increases until you have 6 sleeve stitches (left), 14 front or back stitches (body), and 6 more sleeve stitches on each needle (26 stitches each side). 

Knit one round plain.

Knit 6 sleeve stitches and 14 body stitches and then cast on 3 stitches (I use the backward loop method). Put next 12 stitches on waste yarn. Knit the next 14 body stitches and cast on 3 more stitches. Put next 12 sleeve stitches on waste yarn. You now have 17 body stitches on each needle and two sleeves on waste yarn.

Knit a few rows for the body and decide how you want to finish the hem. K1P1 ribbing works well, but you could also just continue in stockinette stitch for a rolled bottom. You might want to add an extra row to account for the roll up. Bind off in pattern.

Pick up the 12 sleeve stitches and then pick up and knit the three cast on stitches (15 stitches total). Knit 3 rounds and then do a K2TOG (knit two together) on the bottom side of the sleeve. Knit 2-3 rounds and K2TOG and knit 2-3 more rounds and decrease one more time. Finish sleeve to suit. Repeat for second sleeve.

Weave in your ends and use that yarn to tighten up any holes under the sleeves.

Add a strand of yarn or ribbon at the back of the collar for a hanger loop.

Give it a little steam to "finish" it, especially if you chose a rolled bottom.

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Jared didn't just join me on my needles, but also found me in the driveway one last time.  I wanted to post a reminder on IG about the Christmas Eve flock walk and thought I'd re-use the picture we took of Short Round with the holiday lights last year as my photo.

I was speed scrolling down through my phone archives with the photos flying by.  When I picked my finger up the pictures stopped spinning...at the driveway picture I'd been searching for since Jared died.  

When you miss someone as much as I miss him you can't help but think that was a message and I'm just going to tuck that into my heart and leave it at that.

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

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