To My Granddaughter With Love!

Left - picture from pattern, Right - my creation

Two years ago I became a grandmother.  I would love to have a pack of ten of them please. However, for now I have just one and she is the light of my life.  Call me grannie or grandma or any other term and I will just beam with joy.

As the first grandchild on both sides of the family, she obviously gets not only a lot of love, but tons of STUFF - all in caps is right.  From clothes to toys to books and more, she doesn't want for anything.  Her parents have dealt with it well and kept her very grounded.  

Books are my number one joy to share and I started when my daughter was pregnant. Any special day that arose I would send a kid's book with a mommy theme, one with a daddy theme, and one that I loved for my future granddaughter. Books came to her from others as well. By the time she made her physcial appearance, she had a great library awaiting.  No surprise that she loves to be read to, as well as "read" ones she's memorized on her own. 

My husband and I planned to fly to Ontario to celebrate her second birthday in February, but it wasn't in the cards.  They were here for Xmas, so to fly out six short weeks later didn't make sense. And Omicron was just hitting it's stride, so we would pretty much just be stuck at home. As hard as it was to miss this occasion, we switched our trip to late spring.

Most of our presents to her were already there, two books I sent home with my daughter at Xmas, plus a few things I had shipped to her. However, I kept feeling the pull of making her some special - something with my own hands.  I had a few sewing ideas, but was struggling to sit down at the sewing machine and start. Then my friend sent me a pic of a knitting pattern for a sweater I loved.

The reality is hand made sweaters of this sort probably won't get worn much by a two year old. I accepted that fact. It was still the project that called me, so I decided even if she only put it on for a single picture I would be happy. I figured I would take her out shopping during our spring visit and buy a teddy bear just the right size to wear it. It could live in her bedroom and remind her of me.  From Grandma M to Maya with love. 

The pattern was a downloadable PDF I purchased from The Velvet Acorn on Etsy. It offers instructions to make everything from a toddler 2 through adult XL, and I loved that it was knit in one piece.  I can make her another when she's older, or even one for myself some day.  I loved the Bernat Soft Chunky variegated yarn I found in soft pastels. Her current favorite color is purple, her mum's is turquoise, so it hit the mark for both of them. The  pattern suggested circular needles, but I had the right size in double point already, so went with them. 

Overall it was super easy. I did have to watch Youtube videos to learn two things - long tail casting and and cable casting.  They weren't hard, I just hadn't done them before. The videos did the trick and the rest of the pattern used simple knit and purl stiches. The proportions for a size two are deceptive. The sweater looks a bit shorter and wider than on the older child in the picture, but I followed the gauge and measurements exactly. 

When we did a zoom birthday present opening, the books and the toys were hands down her favs as expected.  Mum tried to slip the sweater on her and she pulled it right off. No surprise at all. I am still hoping she will allow mum to dress her in it long enough for a picture at some point, but if not I am still glad I made it. On my next visit, there will one lucky teddy bear ready to come home and wear it for her. :)  

There is something about making a gift by hand that fills me with joy! Now if I could just get myself to sit down and sew!