Letters to Camp
Updated: Feb 16, 2021
Right now I'm staring at the tiny, perfect, 18-month version of Letters to Camp that's hanging in my studio (ahem, dining room), wondering whether the buttons I've ordered are going to be The Ones and whether they'll arrive in time for photography before this pattern goes live next week.
It wasn't supposed to be this way - I have hundreds of buttons. In my mind, I had already decided which stash buttons would be the top contenders and was confident it would be a matter of making a choice between several excellent options. Instead, the end of last week found me feverishly ordering dozens of additional buttons and now I'm crossing my fingers and watching the mailbox.
The problem is that I'm not very good when it comes to color. For my first sample, I was inspired by a flower pot in my tattoo artist's studio, with flecks embedded in the clay that perfectly modernized the colors of my childhood summers. But let's be honest, a sweater for kids in off-white can be a little intimidating and I'd pitched the sweater to my four-year-old by calling it a 'rainbow' sweater and I knew I needed to deliver.
So instead of plowing on with my own stunted sense of color, I emailed Shobha from Serendipitous Wool Company (because she's a color genius). I'd worked with her yarn previously when I'd ordered one of the Yarn Journeys Book Club collaborations with Birch Hollow Fibers (highly recommend!) and I'm a huge fan of her values-forward approach to building an online community on Instagram. I'm honored to be working up a second sample in her recommended colorways, which definitely deliver on the rainbow theme and which I never could have put together on my own.
Construction Notes
The fronts, backs and sleeves are all knit flat, then seamed. Stitches are picked up for the hood, which is finished at the top with a three-needle bind-off. You'll pick up stitches for the contrasting welts, and then the button band. Instructions are given for putting the buttons on either side. To seam the sleeves I recommend this incredible tutorial from Patty Lyons - How to Seam a Set-in Sleeve.