Ah Spring! When a Young Knitter's Fancy Turns to Fall (2011)

Last year I wrote an identically titled post about a fall-ish sweater and hat that I made for Little C. I called it his Fall Stripes Sweater. This spring I realized that I did the same exact thing and made another fall-like sweater for the little guy. I guess this is in keeping with my natural tendency to think around 6-12 months ahead: you know, the usual wool blankets/ Christmas knitting in July, fall colors during springtime, etc. I may think contrary to the season but at least I'm consistent.

Whenever I have a creative flurry of inspiration in my brain I usually don't act on it right away. I sort of let the ideas sit and percolate, marinate (or some other "-ate"). I feel like if an idea is worth doing, then it will stay in your mind. I either forget the lesser ones, or dismiss them if I'm not feeling it. Sometimes an idea is over a year old by the time I wind up getting around to implementing it.

Other times an idea is sort of a sleeper. That is the case with this sweater. Last September or October I received a Janie and Jack postcard in the mail with a 20% off coupon attached. I noticed a cute little boy on the front of it wearing a brown sweater with pumpkin-esque colors in a raised garter stitch. Then I threw the postcard out with the rest of junk mail and went on with my life.

The image must have been lying dormant in my mind, however, because a couple months ago I became obsessed with this sweater when I realized that I had these colors in my stash yarn. I searched for images of the original online but could not find it ANYWHERE. Oh, Internet, how you have failed me!

I tried to remember what I had liked so much about the sweater. What were the features that jumped out at me and made me pause? I had to go on just a quick glance I had taken at the postcard.

• The sweater was brown--Check
• It had a raised garter stitch in varying colors--Check
• It had pumpkin colors of orange and green--Check

That was it.  And I'm not certain about orange and green being the only colors of the garter ridge either. I was initially going to add tan, but changed my mind. I don't think the original had a zipper, or a collar like the one I made, but I truly can't remember. I'm pretty sure that what struck me the most about the original sweater was its pumpkin-y feeling. Being the pumpkin lover that I am, I know that's what made this image stick in my head.

I used the beginning of the Toddler Raglan Hoodie pattern, just as a starting point to know how many stitches to cast on and to follow the beginning of the raglan pattern. And one final thing: the zipper was a royal pain! I could not find the right length, so I bought a long one hoping to shorten it. I'm pretty sure that this is totally possible, but I don't know how to do it and I didn't bother to look up a tutorial online (b/c I'm lazy). Hence, the zipper is totally jerry-rigged. Ugh.

Is it silly to make a sweater 6 months in advance for a growing little boy? Yes, of course. But I just had to make this idea come to fruition. Hello, it's spring time, people! Time to get out the fall fashion.... Anyway, it's out of my system now and I do have some fun spring/summer ideas floating around in my head. Can't wait to get them started.