This pattern has been calling me for awhile. I finally broke down and bought the yarn for it. I chose a greyish green which is fairly neutral. It only took about 2-3 weeks to knit up.I started first with the sleeves to see if I was getting guage. This was nice. When I got to the point on the body to add the sleeves they were already done and I could continue on.
The holes I had at each side of the underarm concerned me a bit. But I ended up weaving the stitches around the hole and pulling it shut. Worked great! I put light rings around the 2 finished holes with the computer. You can barely see the rings. If you click on the picture maybe they'll show up better???
Yarn: Cascade 220 - Color 4011 (7 skeins)
Needles: Addi Turbo: 6's and 8's
Added 8/4/06
This is a fairly quick knit. The stockinette stitch is mindless enough to knit while watching TV, visiting, or waiting somewhere. There is enough intrigue to break up the humdrum of the stockinette areas....start the pouch, fuse the pouch, add the sleeves, front placket, yoke decreases. All three girls want one. I think it will be perfect to play in outside when it's starting to get cold and coats aren't quite needed....or not put on. It's very comfortable and cozy.
I also wanted to add some of the hints I followed when making this sweater. Helpful website: Wallaby FAQ website
To make the hood less pointy: I did a stockinette hood so I did this tip - "put the two center stitches between markers about 2.5" from the top of the hood, then every other knit row decrease before the first marker and after the second marker."
Set up for pouch: p. 23 of Wallaby Pattern - 1st paragraph. This tip has you knitting a stitch in the row below with a separate needle for the pouch and slipping the body stitch to your body needle. Wasn't too fuddily holding both needles in my right hand. The Knitpicks Options needles came in handy with this part on the second Wallaby (didn't have those needles for this first one).
Front Placket: p. 23 of Wallaby Pattern - The "(2)" suggestion from Choppie Tarbox.
Arm increases: I didn't do all the arm increases in the row following the cuff. I thought that'd make it too puffy in the wrist. I did the "alternate method of increasing" on page 8 of pattern (kid's section). Funny thing was I didn't know that was there until I was knitting the arms for the second Wallaby for dd#2. Here I thought I was breaking the rules!
