That knitting thing…. yeah.
About 2 years ago, when I first started knitting, I had a friend who was in the midst of an international adoption from China. They were expecting to adopt a little girl, about 6-9 months old within the next year and their hearts were so excited and thrilled at the idea. I wanted to make something for them, so I tackled my first ever sweater project, a raglan sleeved baby dress. I made the 12 month size… and it turned out adorable (or at least I thought so!)
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Anyway, the adoption process through China was delayed and delayed and delayed… and now in early 2008, little Mei Mei has finally joined her family, but she is close to 2 years old. Hmm…. little purple sweater isn’t going to work then, huh? No problem!
Here is the Girlfriend’s Swing Coat knit with double stranded Cotton Fleece.
Great fast and easy and enjoyable project to knit. Simple but increases that make it interesting. I chose the seed stitch border for all of the edges instead of the i-cord because I wanted it to hopefully lay as flat as possible. At first I was considering a botton closure, but as it turns out, I liked the ties with the little tassels on the ends better.
Not other real modifications to the pattern, although I don’t think I knit the armholes quite as deep as the pattern called for. I did cast on some stitches under the armholes though. I used all but some small amounts of 4 skeins of this year, which was exactly the amount I had. Beautiful!
And… here’s the sweater with the intended recipient (other stories about Mei Mei are here). Turns out red is a much better color on her than the purple anyway. 
The little purple dress is adorable and I am sure it will find a lovely home one day. I adore the little swing coat on Mei Mei, she looks so pretty too. I agree red does suit her, and it means good luck doesnt it.