finished and begun

One sweater down and...two to go. But I wont think about that right now. In fact, it might just be one sweater to go. I think this year Will might be getting a twined (and therefore very warm) hat with earflaps instead of a sweater. I'm sure he'll need one by December. But who knows, maybe I'll knock two more out between now and then. 

Evelyn's sweater was inspired by this kit, which was unavailable (and not in English) so I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's Seamless Yolk Sweater recipe from Knitting Without Tears as a base and figured out the striping as I went. In the end I decided to make the sleeves short because she wears the little blue vest I knit her as a layering piece all the time, so it seemed like a good idea to repeat the shape. Also, I didn't think I'd have enough white for long sleeves. I'm still contemplating knitting some long arm warmer tubes and stitching them into the sleeves so that it looks like a two layer sweater, but for now, I'm happy with it as it is. I wish I could have her try it on but that would ruin the surprise a bit, wouldn't it?

In case you're inspired to knit something similar, my Ravelry notes can be found here. Both yarns were skeins that I spun on my wheel. The orange and pink is Falkland and the white is Kid Mohair, which was wonderful to knit with.

Briton's sweater is at the beginning stages. I'd hoped to spin yarn for it but moving got in the way and so I went with some yarn milled in Southern Vermont that our local yarn shop sells.

He really, really wanted green and gold (my little Oregon Duck!) but they had no solids in either, so I found two (just two) skeins of those colors combined and am using it for thin stripes against a backdrop of some rugged looking grey. Although the yarn isn't as soft as what I used for Evie, it isn't itchy and it feels very warm, so it should be good for my boy who likes to leave his jacket places and just wear a sweater. I'm following the notes I wrote up for last year's sweater, the only change being that I've increased the cast on number by 5% and will go from there.

Anyone else starting (or working on) their winter holiday knitting? I think I might need a new sweater myself but haven't found any that I LOVE so far. Suggestions?