Ch ch ch changes.... Chevron Chenille chardigan

In pursuit of cotton chenille... 
I originally bought 3 colors in one brand and two in another to make a Fair Isle type sweater, before realizing that the kiddo would fall over from the weight of cotton stranded.
Then a scalloped-hem Easter bolero, but frogged because k5tog is no fun in a yarn with no give. 
Finally, a chevron cardigan, but K will not wear it without pink. The company that made the 3 colors is out of business, and the company of the other 2 sells some but not many solids, and seems to cycle out colors regularly… (Did I mention that an internet search led me to a store that had the prints for $1 each? I ended up buying enough for sweaters for dd and two goddaughters. Zipping along on Children’s Tunic in a sz 10, with another one in sz 8, possibly a cardigan.) 
Searched high and low, settled for another chenille that was not quite the same weight or texture, before stumbling upon a Raveler's trade stash of that discontinued color, which she sent me!

comparable colors in two brands:
Cottage Knits blue : Crystal Palace French Blue 8095; Casco Bay 123 is not quite dark enough, but okay. Dd suggests turquoise (CP 3503 Blue Pool or CB 127) would be good too.
Cottage Knits grass: CP 2342 Fern is a bit too yellow; CB has 236 which is too yellow and 210 which is too blue, both totally different.
CK lemon: CP 3646 Yellow is too light, but 3505 Corn Silk is too gold; CB 110.
CP 8211 pink is discontinued, but CP 1219 Bougainvillea is close; CB 117 might be best match but not blue enough.
CP grape is discontinued, but CP 9660 Royal Purple; CB 221 is a bit too dark but okay.
CP orange is discontinued, but CP 2230 Mango; CB 115. 
(Henry's Attic Cotton Chenille 900 is a good gauge match but of course comes only in natural -- if you want to dye your own.)
note that the ball bands suggest sz 6 needle but I did this in sz 8 -- a slightly more drapey, looser resulting fabric.

I just made it up as I went along, this would fit until a size 8 or so as written, but easily customizable for length. This sweater took most of 6 skeins, one of each color. I kept the color-striping to 4 rows mostly, but if you choose to have fewer colors you might need two skeins of one or another.

Chevron Pattern: (multiple of 12,+2)  k1, *k1, yo, k4, s1-k2tog-slip, k4, yo* k1. Purl next row.
--> s1-k2tog-slip is a double decrease that doesn't lean; feel free to substitute another as you prefer.
Gauge: 4.5 st/inch on size 8 needles in stockinette. Chevron is approximately 2 2/3 inches wide per repeat.

Body: 
Long-tail cast on 148 st. Purl 1 row, then start chevron pattern. Place markers at 32 st and 116 st (as chevron pattern develops, you have 2 1/2 repeats for right front, 1/2 6 1/2  for back, then 2 1/2 repeats for left front.) 
Continue until 12" at a point. Divide for back and fronts: chevron as usual but onto holder until first marker. Chevron the back to the second marker, then chevron onto another holder. 
CO 1 st for seaming on each edge, then continue back as established until it measures 20". Bind off.
Right front as worn: Cast on 1 st, then start to decrease on the neck edge: every 4th row (color change), k1, yo, k1, ssk, k1, s1-k2tog-slip, k1, k2tog, k1, yo. Continue chevron pattern
to end of row. Work until same length as back, then bind off.
Left front as worn: work decrease on opposite neck edge.

Sleeve: Long-tail CO 46 stitches. Purl 1 row, then chevron until measures desired length or 15". 
Stockinette without chevron patterning (k 1 row, p 1 row) 2-3 rows, then bind off..

Sew seams, then stabilize shoulder seam with seam tape if desired. Pick up stitches all along neck edge for hood -- starting approximately 1 inch from shoulder seam, 100 stitches. k2 instead of k1 at start to keep the edge.  Work even (if desired, can increase at center back after about 2 inches, then decrease back at 8 inches) until hood measures 10 inches from nape. Stockinette 2 rows then three-needle bind-off on the wrong side, or keep in chevron then interlock-seam or kitchener.

Button bands: Using sz 6 or 7 needle, pick up 42 stitches along left front edge. 1x1 rib for 4 rows, then bind off. 
For buttonhole band, pick up 42 st along right front edge. 1x1 rib for two rows. 
Row 3: k1, p 1, k1, bind off 2, rib for 9 st, bind off 2, rib for 9 st, bind off 2, rib for 9 st, bind off 2, rib to end.
Row 4: 1x1 rib, cast on with backwards e over all bound-off st. 
Row 5: 1x1 rib. Bind off in rib.

Sew on buttons. (after I spent a crazed amount of time at the button rack to get options that were not quite right, we decided I should make rainbow buttons from polymer clay.) 

mittens!!

I knit when I go into the city. I hadn't been doing that as much as usual, so having a finished object is quite rare (besides which, there is a tiny-gauge project that refuses to be completed... I don't know, it just doesn't say anything to me anymore, not even, "Finish me already so you can take pictures, then never see me again."

But I made these! They're really soft Koigu cashmere and they have bows to make them girly, and to tie them to Kikay's coat.

So pretty, but this winter break we decided to go snow-tubing. The pretty kitten mittens did not pass muster from the Winter Sports Gear Expert husband, so waterproof hand-covers were called for (for both Popoy and Kikay). Now, I'm not spending $20 per pair for one day of tubing. Enter the craft stash busting resolution!

I used the small and medium patterns from Little Things to Sew, but with ikatbag's lined mittens tutorial in mind to make them fleece on the inside and waterproof on the outside. (You guessed it, that's PUL from the cloth-diaper days!)

 I made a few minor changes tho.

 First and most important, a fleece inner means you'll need to add another 1/4 inch to the pattern for the outer so there is room and it doesn't get all bunched up trying to fit two same-size mittens inside one another. Since I was making these from remnants, I didn't really pay much attention to grainlines, but it does seem to make them easier to sew and put on if the stretch of the fabrics (since they are both knit) goes side-to-side on the palm... or the longest side of the mitten pattern parallel to the selvage.

On both the fleece lining and the PUL outer, I sewed almost all the way around but left a bit unsewn from the thumb downward -- on the royal blue ones I left it on the thumb side, on the navy ones I did it on the side opposite. (I ended up preferring the thumb side, but just by a little.) This is so it's easier to make the casing for the elastic -- it maneuvers better under the presser foot.

After sewing the casing, I put the elastic through, ends poking out top and bottom. So it doesn't go back in, I put pins at the ends. 

Pull on the pins as you seam up the fleece lining so the elastic gets secured in the stitching, then cut off the excess length of elastic.

Then I went in with a 1/4" fold to sew up the remaining side seam on the PUL. 

Lastly, fold up the two layers toward each other and topstitch -- to seam the fleece and PUL together at the bottom. Although it's such a small circumference, it's easy to do this now rather than flat because it's right at the edge.

 All done!! (the royal blue ones just have a bottom elastic guide and not a full casing, because I thought it might bug her to have that thick cuff. So that's another option -- just securing the elastic at the seams so it only pulls in the fleece and not the outer.)

 Ready to go tubing...

and in action...