Monday, August 31, 2009

Separated at Birth?

You may remember that my first Tulip sweater was inspired by a shop sample knit by Michelle, the owner of Bloomin Yarns. When I went to do the photo shoot for the Tulip I just finished knitting for my upcoming nephew (Hubster’s brother and wife are expecting around Turkey Day), I realized that the “Nephew Tulip” and the shop sample may very well have been twins separated at birth.

TulipTwins.jpg
My sweater in the front. Michelle’s in the back. Creepy, huh?

After knitting my first Tulip cardigan for my niece, I decided that I liked the pattern and loved the yarn enough to knit it all over again. Since this time around the recipient is a boy, I inadvertently chose nearly the same colors as Michelle did.

TulipIcord.jpg

My cream color is darker than hers, but otherwise? Yeah, the same.

TulipButtons.jpg

Since this is a boy sweater and Mom & Dad have dogs, I did a button band instead of ties and got cute puppy buttons.

TulipNeckline.jpg

I’m very proud of my applied I-cord on this sweater. It’s just about impossible to tell where I grafted the start to the finish. Two very experienced knitters guessed WRONG at Hurricane Knitters!

TulipButtonBand.jpg

I also decided that the buttons needed a little more reinforcement than normal since it’s a baby sweater. I whipstitched a close-to-matching grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the button band, then used some DMC #5 Perle Cotton to sew the buttons in. They aren’t going ANYWHERE.

Tulip2.jpg

Nephew Tulip

Note: Everything is the same as Ellie’s Eco-Tulip except the colors.
Pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby, by Lindsay Pekny/Dream in Color
Yarn: Sublime Yarns, Organic Cotton DK
Colors: Borage (Blue), Bone (Off-White), Peapod (Green), Nutmeg (Brown).
Quantity: About half a skein of all but the brown. I actually didn't start new balls of the green or blue until the last stripe on the 2nd sleeve. Until that point, I was using Ellie's leftovers. Started the 2nd skein of the brown at roughly the same point.
Source: Bloomin Yarns (pattern and yarn)
Needles: US 6 and US 4
Started: 12 August 2009
Finished: 28 August 2009
Mods: I did more of a Rocketry finish than a Tulip finish because of gender.

Now, if you will excuse me, my hands are purple and I want to get back to the damn socks so I can hopefully get two icky things out of my life on Monday ... The Crazy Lady AND the Smurf Killer socks!

6 comments:

Jen said...

The sweater looks great, and great idea for the (cute!) buttons with the ribbon.

Donna Lee said...

It's hard sometimes to make a boy sweater cute but your succeeded. What adorable buttons!

Jenn said...

Those buttons are super cute!

Sarah said...

The buttons totally make this sweater!

turtlegirl76 said...

Awesome job on the applied i-cord! Love it!

Bezzie said...

I love this sweater. It made me a lover of applied I-cord too.

Great buttons!