Sweater vest weather

I thought that it was about time to make some more winter warmies :)

....so... my first attempt at a sweater vest for the littley of the family came out 'a tad' too big, lol (I think that it can be
packed away until at least next year...forward planning don't ya know ;D). I took the measurements from my 16 month old grandson's shop-bought vest, did all of the calculations, and used the instructions from Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. It was a really easy, seamless knit, think my mistake was not allowing for the huge amount of ease in stocking stitched knits ... ah well, least I know that for next time :)

For the second attempt, I used my Knitware software to be sure of a better fit ... success!...it does fit better, but it also has hilariously funny armholes that make him look like he's wearing shoulder pads :D

...and just to finish off the green-ensemble...a pair of Sucky Thumbs from Marianne's awesome pattern (fast, easy, and they fit! ... thanks Marianne :))

Mattress Stitch....who knew?...

I've never been a big fan of sewing my knitting together...I know, I'm not alone ;-D
My mum taught me when I made my first sweater in primary school...but I don't think that I ever really got it right. She lays out the knitting with wrong side facing up, and carefully catches just the edge stitches together, resulting in a perfectly flat seam ... when I do the same, yep, I get the flat seam on the inside, but a sometimes ugly seam on the outside ... unlike Mum's, which look perfect front and back...!?
So I figured that it was time to try a different approach ... and OMG, I am so in love with Mattress Stitch right now ... admittedly, the inside seams are a bit on the chunky side, but the look on the outside is worth the sacrifice ... and, and, and! not only do they look great, but I'm actually really enjoying doing them :-) I made this sweater for our new grandbaby, to practice the seams on something small, and I love the way it turned out :-)

The specs ...... I used just the basic baby, drop sleeved pattern from my Knitware program, with some Shepherd 'Colour For Me' 8 ply yarn (bought cheap, as usual from Big W's yarn stock clearance last year (woo!)).
The awesome tutorial for Mattress Stitch can be found here.