The perfect sweater for Liz

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter Liz asked me to knit her a sweater. Her thinking was "knitted sweaters are totally in fashion and she could get one (actually she asked for several) for free". Let's say the search for a pattern and the right color of yarn was a bigger job than the actual knitting was. I must say, her idea of a short sweater is not the same as mine!

She chose the Nolicare cardigan from Berroco Book 285: Linen Picnic. It's really cute and I was excited to knit it for her. Liz didn't like the feel of the Berroco Linen Jeans and thought the colors were a bit too mature for her (she's 14.) So we ended up with the Tahki Cotton Classic in white. (I'm glad this yarn is washable!)

I worked on my gauge swatch that weekend. Liz saw the swatch I knit and asked if her sweater would be ready the next day. Now I know I knit fast... but really! She was so eager to wear this sweater.

I knit the back until about half-way up the armhole. I held it up to her for size, and she wasn't happy with the length. I could tell by her tone that even though she said "It's okay mom," that wasn't at all what she meant. So I ripped out about 10" of knitting. The only benefits of her wanting it shorter was that the fronts took less time to knit.

I finished the sweater early enough so she could wear it to school before summer vacation. She was thrilled. She said she felt so pretty that day. Score one for mom!

Summer Tank or Cardigan?

I am trying to make a decision on my next project. It's for me, and I have it narrowed down to two.

My first choice is in the Berroco Book 270 - Linen Jeans. I have looked in this book several times and totally missed this cool top! It’s called the Latitude. It's a striped tank knit up in Linen Jeans. It’s a really nice tape yarn of 70% Rayon and 30% Linen. The colors are earthy shades which definitely appeal to me.

My other choice is the One-Button Cardigan in the Terra Collection book. The sweater is on the front cover and it caught my eye the day I was pricing the pattern booklet. And we just got in some wonderful new colors of the Blue Sky Cotton - and I LOVE that yarn - so Im thinking I'd substitute that...

So maybe I won't just pick one. I can always do both... but which one FIRST?