Gytha

gytha

The first time I saw the pattern "Gytha" in the Winter '08 issue of Twist Collective, I wanted to knit it right away.  The problem was:  I just didn't have anyone to knit it for.  Neither of my two older daughters likes to wear bright or multiple colors and my little one was too small.  Fast forward two years, my baby is now wearing her the same size as her eighteen-year-old sister, despite the fact that she's only nine. 

Usually, I don't like to knit (or quilt) my projects in the exact same color as the original pattern.  This time, however, I picked my colors to match the pattern as close as I could get.  I love turquoise! The pattern called for Green Mountain Spinnery Mohair.  It's a lovely yarn, but I couldn't justify spending that much on a nine-year-old's sweater.  Knit Picks came to the rescue!  Their Wool of the Andes yarn come in a rainbow assortment of colors.  Buying yarn online is always a little nerve-wracking for me.  I read good reviews, I read bad reviews.  In the end, plunged ahead and ordered the yarn.  For about two bucks a 50 gram skein, how can I go wrong?  The yarn arrived 6 days after I placed the order.  No knots, no blue fingers. Wool of the Andes is a hit with me  I will buy it again.  Maybe Knit Picks fixed the problems that some reviewers were complaining about.




M's gytha



It only took me three weeks to knit the sweater.  It would have only been two weeks if it weren't for some changes.  I didn't want the sleeves too wide, so I decreased every few rows.  I thought I made the sleeves short enough, but when M tried it on for the first time, it looked ridiculous.  My goal was to make a sweater big enough so my cutie-pie can still wear in the fall (she's growing like a weed), but not so big that she's swimming in it.  There was only one thing to do.  I snipped the stripes off of each sleeve, unravelled the ribbing at the elbows and grafted the stripes back on.  Voila!  Shorter sleeves!

The picture we took doesn't show the toggle buttons at front opening, because I hadn't sewn them on yet.  M wore the sweater to school as soon as the toggles were secure and was happy as a clam.  I pictured her teacher and classmates ooing and aahing.  I didn't picture her falling into a mud puddle, which of course is exactly what she did.