10/07/09 - Poor Jack. I went back to him as soon as I finished up Skipping Stones--and he stood by me during both attempts to get my new driver’s license today (don’t ask)--but when I came home from running errands, I found the box with my beautiful Seacoast.

Well…Jeffrey’s beautiful Seacoast. Lucky Jeffrey.

At any rate, I’ve already wound up all 7 skeins and will be casting on momentarily.

10/12/09 - Not much knitting got done this weekend, but that’s okay--my youngest cousin got married! I spent the weekend with my whole family for the first time since my brother got married almost 2 years ago (and my mom’s entire family for the first time since my wedding over 13 years earlier…when the new bride was my junior bridesmaid).

Still, I’ve made progress. I’ve got about 8 1/2” knit past the bottom of the armhole, and 12” is my goal. And I’m loving how this yarn is knitting up. The play of colors and shading across the fabric is just gorgeous. And this is one of those rare yarns where I like the look of the reverse stockinette as much as the stockinette. The pebbled look of rev st is well suited to the browns and grays in this colorway.

10/12/09 (later) - Measurement under the arm is now 11”, but before I add the inch of seed stitch, I want to try it on Jeffrey to make sure it is the right length. So, it’s time to call it a night on the sweater.

10/13/09 - Almost forgot until we were walking out the door for school this morning, but I did remember to try the sweater on Jeffrey. It’s already at about the length I want, but too long is definitely better than too short…and with the way Jeffrey has these multiple-inch growth spurts without warning, I doubt it’ll be too long for long!

11/02/09 - Sleeves done! They’re just a touch shorter than I wanted (they’re long enough, but I wanted them a bit overlong) but they look good. Of course, when he tried it on so I check the sleeves, Jeffrey’s first question was, “Where’s my hood, Mommy?” He’ll be pleased to know I have picked up the stitches for and begun knitting the hood (or, at least he would be if he were awake, and not asleep like a reasonable person. I should probably take the hint. After just one more row).

11/03/09 - Dear me: Yes, I understand I was on a roll. Yes, I realize there’s a great sense of completion with having the hood knit and kitchnered, and all of the loose ends woven in preparatory to finishing off with the edging on the front. But it’s 1 am.

11/05/09 - And done! I made one change to knitting the front band from when I knit Lexie’s Skipping Stones; I picked up too many stitches and her front band is a bit wavy and bulges slightly at the bottom. So this time I picked up in 3 out of 4 rows twice, then every other row twice. This gave me a much nicer front band.

I also changed the zipper insertion. I’d intended for both sweaters to be zippered cardigans, but I purchased the wrong kind of zipper (which weren’t made to detach and reattach at the bottom). So I had to sew the end of the zipper shut, which--in the initial installation in Skipping Stones--gave me the worst of both worlds. I didn’t have the easy on/off of a cardigan, but I had an opening so large that it tend to slip straight off when I put it on over a child’s head.

So, I opted to sew most of the front band closed, with only a bit of a zipper--about 3-4”--at the neck. I like this much better; I can easily pull it on over a child’s head without it slipping off, but I still have the look of a zippered cardigan because of the front bands. I even went back and shortened the zipper on Lexie’s sweater and sewed up the front band so they match.

I am quite chuffed with how these both turned out. I will definitely be using this pattern again because I have 2 great sweaters that fit my children perfectly…but I’m also thrilled with how I figured out how to add the hoods.