She's Three!

note: there are two cameras being used here, which is why the colors are different in the photos. THIS photo accurately reflects how. darn. pink. this sweater really is.

My favorite niece turned the big THREE recently, and to celebrate, her mom made her a Minnie Mouse cake. (Pink.) This was the big request.

She's into pink right now, which is also why the sweater I made her is...wait for it...pink. SO pink, might I add.

The news is this: I haven't seen this favorite niece since she turned one (one! remember?) and that just stinks. SO. In about a month Joe and I are flying to our homeland to attend numerous baby showers/festivities/proclivities with our families, and in attendance will be my awesome sister and her super awesome (two years older) daughter. Huzzah! Family fun time win.

pink sweater

But back to the sweater. This sweater is called the "Baby + Toddler Tiered Coat and Jacket" and is a pattern of the lovely lady Frogginette, who apparently speaks a lot more French than I do. You can buy this pattern online for $5, but the way to get to it is through ravelry, which you need an account to access, but it's free, and trust me, if you are a yarn person you should already be a member. But I digress.  (In totally unrelated news, I just realized that the lovely Frogginette also designed the sweater pattern (the Baltic Baby Sweater) with which I will be knitting my two unborn children their first sweaters. Apparently this woman has great style and taste. As do I.) Okay. Enough with the obscure linking.

The sweater is fun and simple to make. I mean, simple in the sense that if you are me you will still have to frog large sections of it more than once, but that is just par for the (perfectionist's) course. Finish the thing off with butterfly buttons, and you're golden.

back of said pink sweater

Note to the reader (who probably doesn't even care): I actually blocked this sweater. This is new for me. I am usually too busy/lazy to bother. But the collar is supposed to fold over, and it just wasn't going to do that without some assistance. So there. I can block. I can be patient. (sort of. the truth is that the blocking set me back two days in drying time, even with the big fan pointed at it--why does it take so long to dry?!?!--and now the present is late for the birthday. bah.)

wet sweater blocking

Hopefully it will arrive in Alaska soon, and hopefully it will fit, and hopefully the pink will not be too pink but will be the right amount of pink.

And hopefully miss Anika, now three, will make the sweater that much more adorable, and hopefully she will forgive me for making her clothes every year. (I promise that I bought her toys for Christmas.)

Happy birthday, sweet Anika! I hope your Minnie cake was everything you dreamed of, and I hope this year treats you well.

xoxoxo