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Garden Sweater

It would seem that we grow the teeny, tiniest vegetables around. Exhibit A. Exhibit B. And now check out that itty, bitty singular pumpkin our garden was able to produce. *sigh* Better luck next year!

The size of the pumpkin in no way dampened Sunny’s enthusiasm for this wee gourd. She was thrilled when it was finally ready for picking, and it has been on display in our home all month. We’ll be decorating it in googley-eyes this evening, a last minute Halloween DIY (inspired by last year).

Meanwhile, Miss Brie Brie’s family has produced an entire patch of impressively sized pumpkins. We’ll have to learn some tricks of the gourd-growing trade from them next year.

However, I’m not here to showcase the pumpkins, so much as the two finished Garden Sweaters being worn by their respective recepients. I snapped some photos of Courtland wearing Brie’s this spring, but now I’ve (finally) finished Sunny’s – and Brie fits hers! And I’m thrilled to think about another photo shoot in a year or so with Courtland and Lila then rocking the look. The joys of sisterly hand-me-downs!

To create the sweater I adapted this pattern, Tasia’s Cardigan, by Dana Gibbons. I made the 1-2 years size for Brie (currently aged 18 months) and the size 3-4 year size for Sunny (currently 4.5 years). To make both sweaters, I used three skeins of the Dream in Color Classy in SOME SUMMER SKY, and one skein of the Dream in Color Classy in SPRING TICKLE. For the garden beds, I used two skeins of Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran in RUST. I worked on a US7 circular needle.

I ordered the crazy adorable pewter barnyard animal buttons from Morehouse Farm here.

I adapted the pattern as follows (being sure to follow the original pattern for the button/center area of the cardigan throughout).

I knit in the Dream in Color, “Summer Sky” until 2 inches below the armpit, following the original pattern as is.

I then worked for 2 inches in the Dream in Color, “Spring Tickle.” I knit six rows in a garter stitch, then worked six more rows in a garter stitch, but on the knit rows I did a wave stitch:

• k5, wrap1, k1, wrap2, k1, wrap3, k1, wrap4, k1, wrap3, k1, wrap2, k5, repeat….
• Purl rows in between knit wave rows
• k1, wrap1, k1, wrap2, k1, wrap 3, k1 wrap4, k1, wrap 3, k1, wrap2, k5, repeat Alternate between those two knit wave rows with purls in between for as long as desired.

Finally, I worked in the Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran, “Rust.”

Knit 2 rows
Purl 4 rows
Knit 4 rows
Repeat 4 purl rows, 4 knit rows for long as desired.

I finished the sweater with 5 rows of ribbed stitching, 2k, 2p, 2k, 2p, repeat.

For the details, I used scrap yarn and did a combination of sewing on top of the finished sweater to create the clouds, trees, chickens, etc. For the vegetables, I crocheted pieces of scrap in various ways, and tied them into the knit rows (or ditches of the garden bed). For the rolling hills area, I did French knots in pink yarn to create the flowers. A good tutorial about how to make French Knots here.

There is no right or wrong way to approach adding details to this sweater. It is a whimsical, arty piece indeed, but lots of fun if you’re comfortable getting creative and experimental with a project.

Further details on my Ravelry page here.

Currently Reading

Admittedly, I have not read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. When I first saw excerpts from the book dashed across social media or in the news, I was drawn to the message because FUCK YEAH FEMINISM BEING CHAMPIONED IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA!

But, dig beneath the surface of Sandberg’s message, and well, it sure isn’t the kind of feminism that does anything but maintain the status quo of wealthy, white male patriarchy, one that carves out room for (privileged, white, straight) women to sit at the table, but ignoring the very intersectionality of race, class, and sexuality that is at the heart of feminist thought. (Can you tell I spent my weekend with the Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies department celebrating their 30th anniversary as a program at Williams? I was reminded of why this lens, this kind of learning, is so crucial, and how it is one of the fields in academia where the personal becomes the intellectual and vice versa. It makes a difference in the real, lived experiences of others).

Some thoughts from one of my favorite thinkers:

Even though many advocates of feminist politics are angered by Sandberg’s message, the truth is that alone, individually she was no threat to feminist movement. Had the conservative white male dominated world of mass media and advertising not chosen to hype her image, this influential woman would not be known to most folks. It is this patriarchal male dominated re-framing of feminism, which uses the body and personal success of Sheryl Sandberg, that is most disturbing and yes threatening to the future of visionary feminist movement. The model Sandberg represents is all about how women can participate and “run the world.” But of course the kind of world we would be running is never defined. It sounds at times like benevolent patriarchal imperialism. This is the reason it seemed essential for feminist thinkers to respond critically, not just to Sandberg and her work, but to the conservative white male patriarchy that is using her to let the world know what kind of woman partner is acceptable among elites, both in the home and in the workplace.

bell hooks, bringing it home. More knowledge dropping from her here.