Grandma Dodie's sweaters

If you've been over to my shop on etsy lately you'll maybe have noticed I've got something up a little bit different.

Here's the story.  Have you met my kids?  Here they are!  Say hi to Smootch and Birdie:

(I am picturing you waving right now.)

They are adorable, aren't they?  So precious and sweet and...

Well, sometimes they're really nice kids.

They're actually kind of hard to make sit still for even a minute or two.  I had to promise them a chocolate covered bar of marzipan (gold in this household) to get the first picture on the stairs.  After that, they became a bit blurred.

What I was trying to do was get a couple nice pictures to show y'all who visit my shop what the sweaters that my Grandma Dodie make look like on real live people.  You've probably seen her sweaters here before, my kids are always wearing them and have a half dozen of them each.

Which is cool, because they are durable and comfortable and built for action and my kids like tend to do a lot of that action stuff.

Why I wanted to show the sweaters on etsy is because my grandmother has a bit of a surplus of freshly knitted work for children as small as newborns all the way up to Smootch size.  See she's got her rocking chair and her oxygen tank and her satellite tv and busy busy hands.  Being a farm wife and retired caterer, she's not used to be still.  And no kidding, she's been knitting longer than anyone I know and I she also does it better than any else I've seen.  She's got mad knitting skills and she's gonna use them.

Grandma wasn't too sure what she was going to do with the unclaimed sweaters, since each of her grandchildren have enough to last them through several more growth spurts, and I couldn't abide by idle sweater-rty.  Being an individual who values the craft and knows quite a few folks (virtually speaking) who also like themselves a good handmade, I thought I'd take them off her hands and put them into the hands of people who can appreciate her workmanship and accomplishment.

I've like to introduce you to the first two Grandma Dodie knits listings.

This first one puts me in mind of Archie comics.  (See the listing here.)  I see soda fountains and jalopies.  I could not keep Birdie's hands off my photo props so he has a small cameo in this shot.

This sweater is toddler sized, approximately 18-24 months.  It was made with acrylic wool (machine wash and dry!) and the buttons come from Great Aunt Adelaine's button stash, which I have also been slowly making my way through for years now and still have about 10 pounds left.

A good deal of the patterns Grandma uses were all published in the '50s through '70s.  I like the retro-y of her sweaters which are a bit shorter, about waist length, than today's styles.  This is great for Smootch to wear with her skirts because they do not interfer with the drape and I think they look pretty stylin' paired with jeans or simple trousers on Birdie.

As you can see, grandma's stitches are pretty awesome.  Despite hard wear and serious play, the kids have never managed to unravel a sweater or even snag a stitch.

This next one is so pretty and classic Grandma Dodie with the oddly undefinable creature.  (See listing here.)  I believe these guys are deer, though The Man is pretty sure they are dogs.  Perhaps they are animorphs, I don't care, they're still cute.  You can let me know what you think :)

Same specs as the first sweater, toddler sized, acrylic wool.  I love the raglan sleeves on this one and the metal buttons.

I wasn't too sure how exactly to photograph these sweaters without models.  I tried very hard to keep it simple, but a few props kept sneaking in.  Some of it was me and some was Birdie who just couldn't leave well enough alone.

And that is the first two of them.  I have lots more to share as I find time to list them on etsy.  Feel free to stop by and ask questions.  Or let me know if you are interested in a specific size.  I can see what I got.

In the meanwhile, I am going to go and enjoy the cool-ish evening and play with the little ones.  Who are, actually, not quite so little anymore and, it seems, are able to collectively present a enough poundage to almost take down large prey.

Happy day y'all.