Back to School Sweater

Hey look! It's another Woodcraft post not written by Wood. . .

I know you probably come here because this is the last place on the site where you can escape my constant drivel. But she's been incredibly busy with work lately, trying to catch up after we were on vacation and making up for the fact that I was out of town last weekend.

About a year ago she started knitting seriously. In addition to that first sweater, she's knitted the girl a beautiful dress, a pair of felted slippers, two pairs of mittens, a pair of gloves, a sweater vest for the boy, and a blanket that's still not quite finished. I wish she'd be better about documenting the process and results of her efforts, and frequently complain that she's being too modest. So today I wanted to share the beautiful back-to-school sweater she knitted with yarn that the kid picked out at the Stonehedge Fiber Mill (she chose the buttons as well):

The girl has worn this every day since it was completed.

I asked Wood to send me an email about the sweater, reminding her that she while she claims she doesn't have time for a post, she probably sends about 100 emails a day, so I was pretty sure she could find the time to write me one about the sweater. Here's what she wrote:

I knew that I wanted to knit Juniper a sweater, and I knew that a cardigan would be best for her because she constantly fights with me in the mornings before school about wearing enough layers. A cardigan is so low commitment -- easy for her to take off if she gets hot -- so she is more willing to wear them. 


Her new favorite color is orange, and she picked out this beautiful yarn herself. It's called antique rose, but it isn't pink so much as it is coral. Up close you can see that orange and pink strands were spun together. I could not possibly love this pattern more. It's the small version of the Tea Leaves cardigan, and the directions are easy to follow, it is fun to knit, and it comes together beautifully. I think I'll be making more of these. 


I started knitting this sweater while we were at Squam Lake, and spent most of our afternoons and evenings by the fire working on it. Even though it's only been three weeks since we got home from our trip, it already seems like it was years ago. The combination of being very busy at work and the kids going to school (and the crazed, very early mornings that come with it) makes it feel like our relaxed lives at the Rockywold-Deephaven Camp were in a different life. My days are desperately missing the calm that I felt there, but every time I look at this sweater I remember working on it in front of the fire with Gram in my lap or at the lake while Juniper learned to knit next to me, and tell myself to relax just a little bit. Everything is going to be okay.

I am really going to make an effort to get Wood to share more of her projects. She is getting together with a group of women here in Detroit who all want to learn to knit, and because she's only been at it a year she'd love to have an online community of folks knitting with them. Any readers out there want to learn to knit? Leave a comment with an e-mail and we'll get a ravelry group together.

Previous Project: Naptime Quilt