Easter Sweaters

This year’s Easter outfit designs for my daughters were inspired by a yarn sale. We were in Michael’s checking out a sale, when I saw some bright cotton Lily Sugar and Cream yarn on sale! The colors were perfect shades of pastels and pinks for Easter and just looked so cheerful. This kind of yarn is not typically used for garments but I had successfully used cotton yarn before so I thought I would give it a try. The sale was 4 skeins for $5 so I decided to pick up 4 skeins of each color and make something that used just that much yarn.

For both sweaters, I did not use any formal pattern and just started knitting, inventing the pattern as I went.

The first sweater started bottom-up, from the lower ribbing. I knit it in a circular tube until I guessed I would have just enough left to finish the neck and sleeves.

All was going well until I had my daughter try on the garment in progress and realized that I had severely miscalculated the shaping for the neckline and sleeves. The whole sweater was really big and puffy and the armholes and neckline gaped in an all-too-revealing fashion.

I was tempted to unpick the stitches and start again but decided to see what I could do first to remedy the problem with a little crochet.

For the neckline, I gathered it in with a decorative ruffled crochet.

For the sleeves, I did a simple gather in chain stitch.

In the end, the garment came out a little more shapeless, bubble-like and shorter than I originally planned but I ended up liking the design.

For the second sweater, I decided to see if I could stretch the yarn out a little further to make a dress if I started at the neckline and knit downward. To make the design work, I had three skeins connected at one time for a while.

I knit it down and was thrilled to see that it seemed to be hitting my daughter just above the knee. But then she tried it on and the fit was entirely too body conscious for a 7 year old and not very flattering.

So, I sadly had to unpick hours of stitching and start again, changing the pattern and adding more of a flare to the skirt portion. The extra stitching wasn’t too painful since I needed a distraction at that time to keep me focused on my diet and exercise routine.

The new design was far more flattering but also ended up being too short for a dress. It was more like a tunic.
After some thought, I paired the sweaters with some white leggings and they made quite a statement! The girls enjoyed wearing them and didn’t ask to take them off as soon as photos were done….a first!

So, it wasn’t a perfect knitting experience but one thing I have realized is that age brings wisdom — not necessarily the wisdom to avoid the mistakes in the first place but the wisdom to know how to change a “mistake” into a design choice!

Do you select special Easter outfits for your children? Did you have any memorable fashion choices this year? Please share in the comments.