FO: The Birthday Sweater - Poppy

This past weekend we celebrated a very special first birthday. Early December I started a project that has been in my queue for ages, another(!) Amimono pattern, namely the children's sweater which first appeared in the book Strikketøj as a children's sweater from the 1970's and then in the following Amimono Knit Collection 2010, where it was called Poppy. I wanted to finish it for the little one's birthday, and so I did sewing on the button Sunday morning.

I knit the smallest size, 6-12 months, but made it a bit longer so that it would fit the wee one now. If fits perfectly and will probably do so the rest of this winter and throughout the spring.

I've learnt that thin sweaters are more useful to the little one than thick sweaters, so this one fits the bill.

The yarn is of the Supersoft/Highland Wool type. I used 18 different contrast colours and spent ages spit splicing them together, trying to match the length of each colour so that each round has one colour, but without the same colour overlapping at the joints since that ruins the effect. It did take some time, so I think that if I knit another - it's so pretty, so I think I may have to - it'll probably be size 4 years... :)

The sweater is closed with a button at the back of the neck to allow enough space for the little one's rather big head without being too wide in the neckline. I love the broad multicolour hems.

Pattern: Poppy / 1970's childrens sweater by Helga Isager (Rav link), size 6-12 months
Yarn: 76 g of Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk and Supersoft from Holst Garn. The main colour is Blackhill in Nattehimmel. The names of the 18 different contrast colours are listed on my Ravelry project page.
Needles: 3.5 mm for the main part, 3.0 mm for the hems.
Modifications: Made the body one row of 'holes' longer.
My Ravelry project page is here.