Konik’s gray sweater

After my last sweater attempt for Konik that turned out too small, I told him I would make him another sweater. I didn’t have the funds to go buy the fancy yarn I had used for the too-small sweater, but I was able to get some soft gray yarn for a different pattern that I thought might be easier to keep true to size. I made the smallest size written and… poor little Konik could swim in it.

It’s going to be a few years before he can wear this

Looks pretty good flat

At the neckline there will eventually be large metal snaps. I haven’t bought those yet and obviously there’s no rush

He’s a good sport and still cute, even swimming in yarn.

Little boy blue

Here are some more detailed pictures of the suit I made for Konik for Easter. The suit pattern is Butterick 6894 from 2001. I used a cotton bottom weight fabric for both the jacket and the pants. Some might think it’s cruel to make a little boy wear a suit. Let me assure you: there is no “making” here; Konik loves him some suits.

A little twisted and rumply after a morning in church, but hey, he’s 5. It probably looked like this about two minutes after we left the house.

What is this pose?!

His shirt was also a Butterick, #2164 from the ’60s by the look of the pattern art. A long time ago I had bought this at the thrift store with some other patterns. I hadn’t had a reason to really inspect the contents of this specific pattern envelope until I went to make this little button-up shirt and discovered that the sleeve piece was missing. After consulting lots of tutorials and making lots of drafts, I finally made a sleeve that would work. I wasn’t 100% pleased with it, but it worked ok. Personally, it doesn’t look comfortable, but Konik claims it’s fine. And, considering that he has worn this entire outfit four more times just since Easter, I guess he’s right because 5 year olds aren’t going to wear clothes that bother them.

The tie was another from Vanilla Joy’s pattern that I talked about in my last post. Konik likes that it looks like an Easter egg.

Still my handsome little man.

All tied up

It’s easy to find things to sew for the girls. Skirt and dress patterns abound, plus hats, capes, coats, tunics, pants, leggings, blouses… you get the gist. Finding things to make for boys tends to be more challenging and the options not as interesting. Unless the boy is going to a disco or has a predilection for Rococo, ruffles and flounces are out. Embellishments and trims also look out of place on boys’ clothing today. Fabrics tend to be more somber, style lines more plain. I was feeling a little bad for Konik as I was planning to make fancy skirts for the girls to wear at Christmastime. Sew a new button-up shirt? Or pair of slacks? Big whoop. That’s not exciting for the maker or the wearer. But, I found a way to inject a little fun!

Konik enjoys dressing up. He especially loves himself some clip-on ties. He is always the dapperest little dude at church and he chooses his clothes himself. (Did I mention that he’s only 5?) So there was my ticket! A new winter-themed tie.

There are several little boy tie tutorials with slight variations among them. I ended up choosing the one by Vanilla Joy. I chose hers because I preferred the ways she suggested for fastening the tie around the neck. One change I will make if when I make another tie is to make it a tad narrower overall and taper it more severely about halfway up to make tying it easier (and so the knot doesn’t come out so big). It takes a miniscule amount of fabric and it’s a very fast project.

Konik was with me when I went to the fabric store, so I let him choose his own fabric. He found a small snowman print in several different colorways and settled on the blue one. Fine choice, my son. I did have to steer him clear of other, larger prints because the scale never would have translated to something as small and narrow as a necktie, and a little boy’s necktie at that.

Front

For the lining fabric, I had a scrap of dark blue apparel lining that I had used in a cape for myself (oh man, I still haven’t written about that?!). You can just see a bit of it peeking out at the tips. Using actual slippery lining fabric makes it look pretty legit, I think! I was pleased with that.

Back

For the tie closure, I decided to go with Velcro, mainly because that’s what I had and I figured it was easy enough for Konik to manage himself, which would not have been the case with button elastic. After measuring around his neck, I made a little strip out of the snowman fabric and put Velcro on the ends. Next time, I need to make the strip just a touch narrower to be fully hidden under his shirt collar. It’s not hugely apparent right now, but it could be better.

Here’s where things got interesting: you have to tie the tie around the little strip of fabric, which is not the same as tying it around one’s neck. I already knew that the latter skill eluded me, but it turns out the former does as well. I called in Mr. Gren for reinforcements. He got the tie tied appropriately and, with a little fiddling, we got the tail piece to mostly stay in the back. What I need to do at this point is just lightly tack it together so that it won’t accidentally come untied.

Konik was happy with his new little snowman tie and wore it proudly to church. He probably needs one for every season now…

A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life.
— Oscar Wilde

Boy sweater

That’s a boring title, isn’t it? But there won’t be any confusion as to what I’m writing about today. Boy sweater. A sweater for the boy. A yarny garment for a male child.

If you sew/crochet/knit, you probably already know that there are a dearth of patterns out there for the little boys in the world. And, considering that around 51% of the world’s population is male, you’d think there’d be more of a demand for this type of thing. Well, I should rephrase — there is demand, but the supply is seriously lacking. So, when I saw that there were THREE boy sweater patterns in the Winter 2014 (that would be this past January) issue of Interweave Crochet, I jumped all over that. And these weren’t embarrassing granny square 70s throwback sweaters; these looked like sweaters that boys of today would actually wear and {gasp} enjoy wearing.

I chose the “Jonas” sweater and Konik and I took a trip to the yarn store. Not a craft store — an honest-to-goodness yarn store. I often can’t afford all the fancy yarns, but I wanted this to be a nice, durable sweater for my boy. The original pattern was worked with Brown Sheep Company Cotton Fleece, which the yarn store carried, but I didn’t like any of the colors. Instead, we went with Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Heathers; it’s a 100% Peruvian Wool. That should keep him warm! I let Konik choose the colors and he ended up choosing two that were quite similar to the picture in the magazine — a rusty brown and gray-blue.

This pattern was worked in Tunisian crochet. The last time I tried to make a garment for one of my children in Tunisian, I was a novice at it and very            very            slow. Working the Axl afghan changed all that and now I can go almost as fast as I can in regular crochet. I started right away and whipped out the front and back of the sweater in a week or so. And then I made the fatal mistake: I put it away. I can’t remember why now. But I did. And the little sweater languished in my yarn drum for months and months until I finally picked it up again earlier this month to do the sleeves. Aside from a little counting issue I had, the sleeves worked up just as quickly as the body of the sweater and sewing it together was no sweat (see what I did there?). Hurray! The boy sweater was finished! Well, apart from inserting the zipper in the collar, but I didn’t want to wait on that to try it on Konik.

Still awaiting the zipper.

Close-up of the stitches. Ribbing along the bottom edge, cuffs, and collar of the sweater.

Konik was just as excited; he had been looking forward to this sweater for a long time. I helped him put it on and… he looked like a little wool-encased sausage. And the sleeves were at that awkward length in between “long” and “3/4.” Yeah, I should have expected it: in ten months, my son grew. It made me claustrophobic just looking at him and the poor kid couldn’t even get out of it by himself. We extracted him from the sweater and sadly admitted that it was going to have to be put away for a couple years until Sprinkaan grows into it. Hopefully I won’t miss that window! It looks like Konik and I are going to have to make another trip to the yarn store and this time, I’ll make it a size bigger. Maybe two.

Monkey Business

There are two things that my son, Konik, loves in this world: cars and monkeys. His day is made if he gets to ride in the car, even if it’s just to pick up Rana from school. He eats his meals with at least one matchbox car near his plate (sometimes we have entire parking lots). If he’s not playing with his cars, he is most likely playing with his stuffed monkey named… Monkey, or snuggled up under his monkey blanket watching a movie. Cars and monkeys. That’s it. Everything else comes in at a very, very distant 3rd place.

When Konik was 1, I crocheted him a little hat with a stem and berries on the top. It’s super cute. But this year it was too small. It didn’t even come down to his ears. He insisted that it still fit and you can’t really explain to a 3 year old that just because you can get it on doesn’t mean it actually fits (heck, there are plenty of adults who still haven’t learned that lesson). But I remembered a hat pattern that I was sure would win him over.

Long ago (ok, not that long ago. Probably about a year ago), my blog friend Lisa at yarnchick40 sent me a pattern for a sock monkey hat as a thank you for following her blog (you should follow her blog, too, ’cause she’s funny and she makes cool stuff, but it’s totally her prerogative what she wants to do about it! I am not guaranteeing sock monkey hats. 🙂 ). I’ve hung onto it for just the right time and that time is now!

At first, Konik was a reluctant participant in the many (many, many) fitting sessions. He knew I was making him a hat, but I hadn’t played my ace card yet; I was saving that for when it became absolutely necessary. And sure enough, one day he completely balked at having yet again to try on a hat that really didn’t look like a hat yet. Then I showed him the picture. His eyes lit up and a big smile covered his face. “It’s a monkey hat!!” Back in business!

The pattern is super cute. I had to make some adjustments for size to fit my boy’s noggin, but it’s all good. I used yarn that I had on hand: the brown and cream are Lion Brand Wool-Ease and the red is “Impeccable” (from Michael’s). The monkey has blue eyes because, believe it or not, I didn’t have two matching black buttons. Also, I was secretly thrilled that the boy is young enough not to be bothered in the slightest by the enormous pompom on top. I’m going to milk that cuteness for as long as I can!

Cue ZZ Top

‘Cause every girl’s gonna go crazy for my sharp-dressed man.

Yes, I’m finally posting pictures of Konik’s ring bearer outfit! Here’s where I talk about the making of it.

He would like you all to see his van.

Yeah, they look like high waters when he’s sitting down. I added some length to the legs, but it looks like I probably could have been a little more generous. These won’t fit him long. I might add a cuff…

Like this, Maman?

This pose was totally his idea. I was having trouble getting him to stay in one spot because he always wants to come see the picture display on the back of the camera. Problem is, he starts coming to look before I’ve even snapped the shot. So I told him to stand on his car mat. For some reason, he took a knee. Funny dude.

That was supposed to be in my mouth.

He was trying to chew a straw like Axl Rose does at the beginning of the “Welcome to the Jungle” video. Yeah, I know Axl wasn’t the first to chew on a straw, but my kids don’t know that, and they think his every move is cool. So in an attempt to emulate their hero, they pull straws out of my broom. Gross. Besides, what does a straw + suit make? Hick chic? Not that the cabin backdrop really goes, either, but ya get what ya get.

Somebody’s gonna look good

In just a few days, my little brother (little in years, not in stature) is going to get married! He and my soon-to-be sis-in-law asked if Rana & Granota would be flower girls and if Konik would be the ring bearer. Well, of course the girls were thrilled out of their little minds! Princess fantasies abound! I did not have to make flower girl dresses because my four nieces are also going to share the flower girl duties and naturally, they all have to match. A whole little flowery entourage. Unless they’re going relay style in honor of the recently completed Olympics… (S & L, I’ve got an idea for you!) Originally, I wasn’t going to have to sew anything for Konik, either, but the lovely Miss L couldn’t find a tiny suit in his size. So I volunteered to save her some time hunting and set to work sewing.

Cute stuff!

This super cute little vest was made with help from the tutorial by Ashley at Make It-Love It. For my template, instead of a t-shirt, I used the button-up shirt that Konik would be wearing underneath the vest. And lucky me, I didn’t have to sew that either! We found a tiny white linen Children’s Place shirt for a couple bucks at the thrift store. Woo hoo! The pants I made using the same pattern as I used for his Easter suit. I added a little extra length to the biggest size and it’s a good thing I did! Looks like that will be the last time I can use that pattern.

The fabric is polyester shantung. I hate polyester and try to avoid it whenever possible. But, in this instance, the only alternative is real silk shantung and — in case you’ve missed it — we’re not exactly in the tax bracket that can afford making silk suits for 2 year olds. Sorry, kid. I love ya, but I know what you’d do to it and that, in turn, would make me weep. Not like anyone can fault me. For less than $15, my little man is going to be stylin’.

Real pockets, fake fly.

I can’t let him wear it just yet, though. I would be beside myself is something happened to these clothes before the wedding! Now, if we can just get him convinced to wear his new black dress shoes that go with it…

Dapper little dude

I don’t know why it’s so hard to find an actual little boy’s suit in stores these days. You would think that, of all times of year, the weeks leading up to Easter would have the racks packed with tiny suits. But sweater vest is as dressy as it gets anymore. Not knockin’ the sweater vest; I just prefer to take it up a notch. So for three years running, I’ve made my tiny guy a little Easter suit. Even sewing patterns are hard to come by, though. Anyone who has tried to sew for little boys knows what I’m talking about it. You get the baby romper patterns, pajamas, and t-shirts & shorts. (Seriously? I’m going to waste my time sewing an itty-bitty t-shirt?) Vintage and retro patterns are the only way to go anymore!

I thought I had made a pretty good score on a little suit pattern that I got on ebay for 99 cents. Then there was a whole wrong address fiasco and I wasn’t sure I was even going to see the pattern before Easter, forcing me to return to the pattern I’ve used the past two years. I found it at Value Village for 69 cents (I’d say I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of it by now). For some reason, I thought I had used the largest size last year and that’s why I needed a new one. Lucky for me, I hadn’t, so one week out from Easter, I was buying fabric.

Whenever I can, I try to avoid synthetic fabrics, which tend to be the only option for suiting material at Joann’s. I had to resort to that last year, but it wasn’t my favorite and I was hoping to find something better. And then I found the linen! Ahh, so many nice linens. I really want to go back and get several yards to make myself a dress. Or two. Or more. Focus, focus! Florals will not work for a little boy!  Not only are there a dearth of boy patterns, it’s tough to find appropriate fabric, too! I finally settled on a nice tan and white stripe.

Tiny jacket

The stripes turned out to be a minor hassle. I’ve mentioned before how you have to be careful when sewing with plaid and the same rules apply for stripes. When the fabric is folded in half, the stripes should line up before you start cutting anything. Should. Unless, the stripe is not an even pattern. At first glance, mine seemed to be, but once I folded the fabric in half, I realized that the repeat on my stripes only went one direction. It’s not a big deal, but it does mean that I had to cut out the pattern pieces with the fabric laying flat. Twice as much work to make sure that both sides of the jacket and both pant legs and sleeves resemble each other, with the dominant stripe running through key spots on the body. By the time I finished cutting everything out, my brain was fried. I didn’t want a repeat of the horrible sewing experience I had with Rana’s pink dress, so I just set everything aside and came back to it the next day.

Tiny trousers with fake fly, decorative button, but real pockets.

That was the right choice! It all went together beautifully. And, since I managed to crank it out all in one day, I decided that I had time to make Konik a little hat. After all, the girls had sun bonnets, why shouldn’t he get a new hat, too? That, too, was a good choice. I mean, just look at him!

Who else wants to just hug him up?

Corduroy newsboy cap lined with seersucker and one of those do-it-yourself buttons to match.

Oh, and little man knew he was good-looking stuff today. It was so funny watching him cavort and frisk around at church. He was even shaking hands with people, this tiny little person who’s not even 3 feet tall acting like a big man.

Maman loves her baby.