A photo finish
I've finished my Ravelympics Hoodie!
I meant to take progress photos as I go, but unfortunately that didn't happen, best laid plans and all — either I was too busy doing the knitting itself or the lights not great for taking photos.
I didn't use any patterns for this. I did consider several patterns that have the features that Annette wants (a hood and a pouch), but none of them is just the way I pictured it in my head. So I thought I'd be adventurous and just make it up as I go. Working without a pattern has its up and down sides, of course. The downside is that I don't always know what to do next, or how long exactly to make each section (knitting this from the top-down helps in this regard, as it lets me "try it on" on Annette to check the sizing). At many points I wasn't sure at all whether what I was planning to do was going to work. On the up side, it was strangely liberating, not having to worry about following a pattern or making sense of instructions. I get to just look at the knitting itself and work it out from there. Thank goodness it mostly worked out in the end.
My requirements for this hoodie were:
- a hood — Of course, it's a hoodie! :) I've made two projects with hoods in the past, and while I love them, one thing that kept bugging me was that the hood was too pointy for my liking (not the patterns' fault, since in those two projects the hoods were my own devising as well). And I noticed that several of Annette's store-bought hoodies have a different construction that makes the hoods more rounded. So I copied the construction and adapt it into knitting here, and I'm glad to see that it's working :)
- a pouch — This was one of those things that I wasn't sure how to do. And I'm still not completely happy with how the edges look. I'm hoping it will smooth out after blocking. Later: It did! Phew.
- the finished size has to be bigger than Annette's current jumpers, so she can use it until next year's winter at the very least — Well a big tick here, she's swimming in it! Hehe. But not too big to be worn right now.
So there it is. Some details:
Yarn: Yarn Bee 'Seasoned Spice' #006B, in 'Salmon' colourway, 7 balls.
Needles: 4mm circulars.
Ravelry link
She loves it. That's always a winner in my books!
Oh my goodness! She's grown so much since the last time I saw you both. Well done on the hoodie jumper. It looks gorgeous on her. And of course, she's looking really chuffed. :-)
Congratulations!! Gold medal to you for finishing and gold medal to Annette for being the cutest model ever!! It looks fabulous – clever you for coming up with the fab pattern!
It's adorable and she is so sweet in it!
Love the color :)
Great job!
Oh well done!! You made THAT up as you went? Claudine, you are a genius. It's perfect and she looks SO happy!
So sweet! She looks so happy and cozy in her beautiful new sweater. Lucky girl!
It looks wonderful! And that hood construction is very clever.
I love the way you constructed the hood – it looks great!
Adorable hoodie! would love the pattern for my little grandson??? With your modifications especially!
Wow – I'm so impressed! It looks great! And what a snazzy little model :)
Oh I love it – I have 6 balls of this in my stash – humm I have something in mind for it but would also need another ball! It knits up really nicely and your model is gorgeous
Just when I think that Annette cannot get any cuter–then you make you a fabulous sweater! It's adorable. Beautiful, beautiful job.
What a great hoodie! I am so impressed…I never could have come up with something that fabulous on my own. She looks so cute, and it fits her perfectly. Bravo!
So adorable!!
Oh it is so nice to see you blogging again Claudine. What a gorgeous hoodie for a gorgeous girl, and the variegated yarn looks beautiful.
It is fabulous! I love the hoodie construction. You clever girl you. I've always maintained that you are a knitting goddess and this is proof as far as I'm concerned. Wow. …………so when are you releasing the pattern? :))
That is gorgeous – much cuter than the Kathmandu hoodie that Grumbles is sporting!
beautiful!!
she looks so cute (and happy) in it!!
This is gorgeous! Loooove side pockets!
I love it! That hood is really too clever… the shaping of it looks perfect!
What an awesome hoodie that is. It looks very trendy and love that colourway
It looks FANTASTIC! Well done.
gorgeous!!!! you are too clever
Really cute, love the color. And the 4th photo is great!
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You have done a perfect job as the hoodie is great! I like the roundness & the fit of the hoodie – a great design feature. Well done!
It's absolutely gorgeous!
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