Soft Kid Sweater emerges

It was a bit of a long haul--I found out my sister is pregnant with twins in the middle of this project, and had to align, realign, then actually focus on some priorities to get things done. I may be learning a lesson from all this, but let's give it a few months to see if I put that lesson into action, eh? My point to you is if you're a one-project person, this is a quick and worthwhile project. If you're a bit pokey, like me, it's a good project because it's easy to pick up again after breaks, and it seamed quickly. You knit front, back and sleeves separately to the armholes, keeping all stitches live, then join for knitting (and decreasing!) in the round to the top. You could knit the body in the round, but definitely swatch in the round if you do.

The sweater above is a size small and took less than 5 skeins (by a healthy bit -- I had about 15 grams left of a 25 gm skein) of the dark blue, and only 10 grams of the aqua. I used the smaller size needles (Rebecca gives you a range) to get gauge, but would've probably used the larger needles for the flowers had I realized how small they'd end up. Also, Rebecca patterns are translated from the original German. This pattern was clear, but one note--in the last row of ribbing, the pattern tells you to increase evenly around by a certain number of stitches, depending on size. I used "m1" or "make one" increases, lifting the bar between stitches and knitting into the back. They're invisible in this pattern, which was great... until I realized I was supposed to thread the crocheted "belt" through that row! Obviously, it worked out fine, but if you're doing the belt/tie, you might want to do those increases as yarn overs (yo's). (If you don't want to crochet the belt, you can use i-cord or your own alternative.)

Also note that the pattern calls for 2 skeins of the contrast color (aqua here). That's because they have you double the yarn for the belt--you really don't need 2 skeins--unless someone else is buying! The only time I've regretted having Soft Kid in my stash is when the cat found it, and even that story ended well (the scarf was auctioned for charity... and won by my sweetie).