Deliciously overcast winter weather has finally arrived in Phoenix and with it the urge to knit everyone a nice cozy sweater. There is no explaining this urge. It will be hotter than blue blazes here well before I can knit four sweaters but here I am with my little brain trained on chilly autumns, long cold winters and slow nippy springs knitting as fast as I can.

First up is a sweater for Smol Bean. He loved the Flax pullover I knit in 2018 and lengthened in 2019, but he had a growth spurt and it finally got too small. He was happily wearing his Garden Gnome Hoodie but, like just about everything I have ever made, it has a tight cast on and I was the only one who could successfully get it off his toddler noggin.

This summer we made an impromptu stop at Knits and Knots in Lake Tahoe. As in, I searched “yarn store” as we were on our way out of town and shouted “take a left here!” As I speed shopped, this lovely bright YEYOW caught my eye. I was already planning a birthday sweater and Peanut loves everything yellow. It’s Lani’s Lana, a lovely sproingy Rambouillet Fibershed yarn.

The pattern is Hide and Seek by Dani Sunshine. Peanut would have fit in the six year old size but in a moment of ambition I decided to knit him the eight year old size. It took almost as long as knitting myself a sweater (although not quite because if it was for me I would have put literally everyone else’s knitting first and never finished it). Coffee spilled on it, cats sat on it, it trailed through the dirt as I supervised numerous outdoor playtimes. Getting outside at all costs in the winter breaks my brain, it makes no sense, but it’s good knitting time.

This week we finally have “cold” weather and I was so proud and excited to put the human I made in a sweater I made ☺️

He let me put it on, take a picture, and then asked to have it off. Because it was too big.

*small sob*

I hope he gets used to it, because Dollop has outgrown his old sweater so much I can barely get it over his head (see above re: tight cast ons). A second YEYOW sweater is going to have to wait a week or two.

Have you knit for small humans? What are your most successful knits?