Bombay Love Sweater

by Ashley Weeks Cart

Thanks to my Grammy, I am a lover of fiber crafts (read: knitting and crocheting). I’ve been going a little batty lately when it comes to knitting projects, and if you follow my Twitter stream, you know that I have four projects started, and yet none of them any where near completion. It remains to be seen if I will actually finish any of them. Given that yarn is so dang expensive, and I’ve been dipping heavily into our bank account to fund these grandiose dreams of chunky knit sweaters, and fishermen toddler dresses, and many a baby sweater, I’m dreaming of a time when I can own a farm complete with a herd of sheep, and thus make my own. I live in the country, after all, isn’t livestock ownership part and parcel? And where are my damn chickens?!

James likes to remind me that keeping a herd of living creatures alive and healthy is ALSO expensive. But, DUDE! Lambies are cuuuute! Worth. It.

ANYWAY! I am pleased to share that I did at least finish two baby sweaters during the holiday break, so at least those yarn purchases are being put to good use. I decided to crochet because if one messes up crocheting, it is far far easier to fix than knitting, and given the chaos of my everyday and the sleep deprivation, I like to give myself lots of room for error. I altered the same pattern, Bombay Love, and created a green sweater for Kaki and a purple one for her soon-to-be partner in crime, her FGM’s baby (due to arrive this May). I kept the sweaters short sleeved so that they could last into spring and even the chillier nights of summer. They are great thrown over a long-sleeved onesie to add a little extra warmth.

I purchased all yarn from an Alpaca Farm in town.

Of course I did.

It is dangerous that such a thing exists a mere 5 minutes from my home, complete with yarn store in the barn. You can see more about Sweet Brook Farm here.

How fabulous are those ceramic buttons? I used the cows for Baby FGP since I’d gone with purple and figured why not totally overdo the reference to our Williams’ roots. (Kaki’s FGPs are a Williams/Williams couple like me and James). For Courtland, I used the sweet sheep button. Honestly, these buttons came from my mother. Apparently she bought them over 20 years ago. Glad to see that they are finally being put to good use! Courtland seems pretty happy about it, too.

You can find more pictures and details about these little sweaters under my Ravelry projects here. It is such a sweet, simple pattern.

Photos: Courtesy of Ashley Weeks Cart