PetiteKnit Teddy Bear Sweater

using thrifted car boot yarn

About a month ago I realised in a panic that I had forgotten a kid birthday. You know how it goes, you’re casually browsing your Google calendar, double checking your itinerary for the week, when your heart stops and you realise it’s the big day of someone important…tomorrow. Face palm.

There are only a few people I craft for in my life these days, select folks I know for sure will appreciate the time and effort that goes into a hand make. Baby projects are essentially for the parents, since when kids are of the age that they can’t express an opinion, it’s the parents choice how to dress them. This wee jumper from PetiteKnit was for my bestie’s kid’s first birthday, so essentially for my pal. I knew she would appreciate the colours and the teddy bear face was just too cute.

I’ve made a raglan sweater several times in the past, for me and my mum, so I know the drill. It made this project fairly quick off the needles, I think it was around 3 weeks from cast-on to posting. Not bad, when you consider buying a present from somewhere like Etsy could have had a similar timescale (obviously a panic Amazon buy would have been much faster but still, Jeff Bezos doesn't need my money). The teddy bear face is added on after the knit is complete, I did it pre-blocking, using a leftover piece of tapestry thread.

The yarn was a mystery cone, picked up for £2 from a car boot sale by my mother-in-law. I love the pearlescent purples and pinks, though I’m not sure of the fibre content. I haven’t done a burn test yet, but I suspect it’s a man made fibre from the feel. It’s quite smooth and has a jersey-style construction, lots of little knitted stitches to create a yarn that is essentially a hollow tube. It created quite a thick, stiff fabric, that I was a bit worried might not be suitable for a baby knit. I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be a burden to wash, so I slung it in the washing machine on a wool cycle for blocking. It came out of the machine perfectly, which is another tick in the man-made fibre column. I love a thrifted yarn, it feels like the project was essentially free (is that #girlmath?).

I'm told it reached it's intended recipient safely and seems very appreciated. It's far too big, but I figured bigger is better when it comes to handknits, gives the blessed child more time to wear it!