Cooking up a Casserole Sweater

Yarn leftovers

You know how you just have to clean out the fridge every once in a while? I usually sort out the leftovers and use the good ones in some kind of tortilla casserole, layering everything with a bit of salsa, tortillas, and cheese. Sometimes we're surprised at how well they turn out. Sometimes not so much!

Inspired by the beautiful patterns in The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book and thinking about those casseroles, I started gathering up all the leftover yarns from past Knit for Kids projects. The Green Mountain people use beautiful natural fibers; I've been using tough acrylics for these little kid sweaters, not knowing how they will be handled and washed. I still like the way the sweater is coming out, although blocking will make a big improvement.

This sweater started with a bit of a knitting adventure. After knitting a two-color ribbing and knitting a few inches of the body of the sweater, I really didn't like the looks of the ribbing. To avoid starting all over, I just cut it off stitch by stitch, picking up the body stitches as I went, and knit/purled a new ribbing from the top down. It felt pretty daring to me!

This is the wrong side of the sweater. Because it is essentially knit double, it will make some little kid nice and warm.