Birthdays

Late winter is birthday season at chez Tinks and Frogs. Mr. Tinks and Frogs and Tadpole share a birthday and collectively turned 34 last week. I made three batches of cream cheese frosting. Let's just say that my taste buds are readjusting to life with a bit less sugar. In addition to three different varieties of cake (chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Tadpole, chocolate cake balls for her to take to school on her birthday, and carrot cake as requested by Mr. Tinks and Frogs), I also managed to finish up handmade gifts just in the nick of time.

For Mr. Tinks and Frogs, a new sweater.

This is Armas, knit in Tosh Vintage on size 7 needles. The original pattern calls for bulky weight yarn but I reworked the numbers for worsted weight since this was the yarn that called to me in the shop last year. (That's right, for his birthday last year Mr. Tinks and Frogs got the yarn and the promise of a sweater eventually).

How much yarn did I use? Less than I had bought, certainly. I know I have some unused skeins sitting in my desk drawer and, if I remembered how many I had acquired in the first place (which I don't), or looked in the drawer to see exactly how much I had left (a no-go at the moment since I'm holding a sleeping baby while I type this one-handed), then I might be able to give a reasonable estimate. Let's just leave it at "?" for now.

This is a top down raglan cardigan with a henley placket. Note that the placket is not centered in the design - it's slightly offset. Had I noticed this when I started knitting, I would have adjusted things so that the button bands were centered. Of course, by the time I noticed this feature, the sweater was essentially done and I wasn't about to frog a year's worth of work so that the front would be perfectly balanced.

The back, on the other hand, is just fantastic.

All in all, this one is a big hit. Interesting to knit but not too fussy for the recipient. (Actually, Mr. Tinks and Frogs is a big fan of intricate sweaters like these two.)

Ms. Tadpole also got a handmade gift: a quilt!

The points aren't always perfect but I'm still really pleased with this project.

I have a nice sized stack of squares left over that will become a something. And there is a similar collection of green batiks sitting on my shelf, destined to become something for Sprout. I'm thinking flying geese, perhaps. Probably giant geese so I have a chance of finishing before the end of my maternity leave.