Knitpicks Jack Hoodie

I have posted previously about my friend Ryan's adorable son Dash; he's now almost 1-1/2 and cuter than ever. I FINALLY finished the sweater I began knitting for him just after he was born (which I had planned to give to Ryan at our 5-year college reunion last June--this, by the way, is why I always choose the 12-month size or larger when knitting baby garments). Hooray! (Note: only wonky knitters like me should read after the photo, but there are other photos.)


It is Knitpicks' Jack Hoodie, done with their Swish Superwash worsted. I don't know why anyone would ever knit clothes for a baby or toddler that weren't machine washable.

First of all, let me say that this is a great pattern. The sleeves are knit in the round and then joined to the body and knit up all together, so the only finishing is a little kitchener stitch (so amazing) for the underarms and sewing on the hood. And then, oh, there's the zipper. But I'll come to that shortly.

This sweater actually also knits up very quickly, even though you know it took me nearly a year to knit it. First, I ordered only the exact amount of yarn (3 skeins of the red and one skein of each other color) and I ran out of the other colors. Normally I would have ordered extra, but since I was using their pattern and their yarn (the recommended yarn, no less!) and I had the right gauge, I didn't think I would run out. And the killer is, I only needed a tiny bit more of each color, so now I have a little less than a 50 g. skein of each color. What am I going to do with all that?

Anyway, back to the pattern. The pattern is very clearly written, with two exceptions. First, it doesn't recommend which decreases to use. Fortunately, the psychedelic squares pattern taught me all about how to make symmetrical decreases for the shoulder "seams."


These are K2togs, which lean to the right. For the other side, I used SSK, which leans to the left. There are different ways to do SSK (slip, slip, knit): the best-looking one I've used is to slip both stitches as if to knit (that is, to stick the needle through the front of the stitch), then to knit both together through the back loop. But the link there has another method which is even more complicated. I like my way. I can't really tell the difference.

The second unclear part of the pattern was how to sew up the hood, and I had to redo it a few times to get it looking decent. The hood is knit as a flat piece that basically resembles a fat upside-down T, or a chimney. You start it as a wide rectangle, then bind off a bunch of stitches at the beginning and the end and keep making the chimney up the middle. Then, at least as I interpreted it, you sew the bound-off edge to the side edge (selvedge) of the chimney to make the hood. It ends up looking a little boxy, but cute.

The real stumbling block for me on this project was the zipper. I had never sewn on a zipper before. The really hard part was pinning the zipper to the sweater, since you have to keep the zipper closed, and the side edge of the knitted piece is all curled up and so hard to pin down. Too late for this project, I was reminded that I could have kept the sides from curling in by slipping the first stitch on each row. Or I could have tried this neat technique. Either of these would also create a stiffer edge, which would support the zipper better. That would have been really, really useful to remember. But, it's done!

Lastly, I love Knitpicks. They sell high-quality, natural fiber yarns at great prices, they have a lot of variety for being a big discount site, including multiple choices for machine-washable yarn. I got their "Options" interchangeable needle kit for Christmas and I absolutely love it. They did not pay me to say this. I just think they're great. I also love supporting local yarn shops (like Nina, in my neighborhood) but I'm a bit of a bargain hunter by nature, and living on a grad student income.


Uh...who's that?