Dragon
I wanted to update the One Year Dragons sweater for an older child, and this was the result.
The front shows two dragons fighting mid-flight. One dragon is red with golden wings; the other dragon is green with dark blue wings. Below them are mountains and above them are peachy colored clouds. The back shows a green dragon spewing fire above the same mountains. There is a golden castle below and the same peachy clouds above. The sleeves mirror each other. Each sleeve has a dragon on the ground, guarding purple jewels. One dragon is red with gold wings. The other dragon is orange with red wings. The hem and shoulders have a trim pattern of flames against a varying blue background. The neck, wrists, and hem also have a striped pattern of black and variegated red.
Flower Fairies
This sweater is adapted from The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies, by Cicely Mary Barke. Her illustrations of different flowers represented as fairies is so charming. I can't recall which flowers these fairies are, of course. There is a river of water streaming past grey stones at the bottom of each scene. There is a red fairy on the front, a purple/blue fairy on the back, and orange and lilac fairies on the sleeves. A very small lace pattern circles the hem below the red stars on green trim. The wrists and neck have a picot edge.
Frog and Toad
So, seriously, I didn't like Frog and Toad at all when we first read them to our children. Anthropomorphized animals, I dismissed. But repeated listening exposed the amazing subtleties to the stories and the absolute sweetness of the characters.
This sweater represents four of those stories that will be familiar to any Frog and Toad lover: flying the kite, fleeing from the snake, bringing the ice cream cones, and finding the lost button. I love the golden snake on green and blue trim pattern - and there are the ladybugs again! Turquoise dragonflies cross the shoulders and the ladybugs reappear at the top of the sleeves. Frog and Toad have sewn-on eyes and sewn-on mouths. If anyone has a method of applying thin, seamless embroidered mouths, please show me!
Halloween
Is Halloween as big a holiday for children now as it was when I was young in the 60's and 70's? We went out with pillowcases, with no adult supervision, and brought back a huge treasure of candy. It was harder for our children, living in rural areas. We finally realized we could go to nearby Chatham, which was relatively crowded and festive, and they finally got to experience something close to what Leif and I experienced when we were young.
So here on the front are a ghost and a witch; on the back are a princess and a pirate; on the sleeves are a cat and pumpkin and a ghost floating out of a house. Red irregular flowers on green circle the wrists and hem, with picot edging and lace. The neck has dark green picot trim.
Marigolds
This is based on the Inchworm song, measuring the marigolds. The front and the back are identical. There are two clay pots of marigolds in shades of orange. Across the hem is a ruler, with the bright green inchworms squiggling across. There is also a hem pattern of dark green leaves on dark orange. The neck and armhole openings are periwinkle picot trim.
Moomintroll
This is an adaptation of a Jirina sweater inspired by the Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson. On the front are Moomintroll and the Snork Maiden standing before the observatory, with the golden comet in the sky. On the back Moomintroll, Snufkin, and Sniff are climbing the mountain toward the observatory. The right sleeve is Moomintroll and a horse on the beach. The left sleeve is Moomintroll and Snufkin on a bridge. The neck, wrists, and hem trim is arches in green, red, and blue.
There is a smaller version of this in the One Year sweaters.
national parks
I wanted to make a sweater with images of the old style National Parks posters. I chose four, three of which I have visited. On the front is a depiction of the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. A dark volcano is erupting with orange lava and fiery plumes of red smoke, with rolling ocean waves and tropical plants in the foreground. The back shows a white lighthouse emerging from the granite rocks of Acadia National Park in Maine. Sunset colored wispy clouds drift across the sky. The left sleeve is the blue-hued mountains of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. A very bright sunset fills the sky, as a mother black bear and her cubs stand among flowering fields. The right sleeve is the amazing Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. What amazing colors!
The wrists, hem, and neck have a trim of alternating black and red/white/blue stripes. There are also trims of white stars against a blue background at the wrists and hem. The neck closes with a sewn-on clasp.
Nessies
Originally I made a Nessies sweater for Jirina (in the Family Sweaters). This is a better version, with more detail and a lovely lighted castle on the rocky shore of Loch Ness. Bright red Nessies with gold spikes swim in the blue waters. Are there really three Nessies?
The neck and armhole openings have simple dark blue ribbing. The hem is modified triangles with bells at the points.
Rocket
When Levin was young, he dictated a story to me about Magic Rocket. That is the inspiration for this sweater.
On the front the rocket is soaring into space past the Sun, Earth, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon. On the back are the outer planets, in incorrect order!, in a starry sky. The sleeves are mirrored comets shooting through the starry sky. The wrists and hem trim is rocket flames against the blue sky. The neck, wrists, and hem trim is alternating stripes of red and variegated blue. There is chain stitch detailing around the planets and the rocket.
This is a sweater that demands patience, and the shape of the rocket really has to be completed with the chain stitch.
SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
Our school is lucky enough to have a dedicated Puppet troupe, called the Magical Puppet Tree. One year, one of the productions was Saint George and the Dragon. We also had the book by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman, so this became Levin's fourth birthday sweater. I was thrilled when this sweater was included in the Kids Kids Kids book.
This version is updated for a Five Year size and several trim details have been changed.
Saint Nicholas
When our children were at our Waldorf school, they experienced many new festivals I never heard about growing up. One was Saint Nicholas day, when the children would be given golden walnuts in their shoes. Another was a visit from Saint Lucia, when a lucky girl in fifth grade, maybe, would get to visit each classroom with glowing candles. Advent was also memorable, when the very youngest children were allowed to walk a candlelit evergreen spiral. Levin didn't go to school until first grade, but one year he very proudly joined in.
This sweater depicts Saint Nicholas and his helper Peter placing toys in childrens' shoes. A fire in the fireplace wraps around the sweater, with holly decorating the mantel. Paintings are also hung on the green walls. On the identical sleeves, a window is decorated with more holly. A trim pattern of holly leaves and berries circles the wrists and hem. The neck, wrists, and hem also have a trim pattern of shades or green alternating with red.
Totoros
Okay, I think you've all got it. Have I literally made Totoros in every size?
Trains
This is a larger version of the Three Year size sweater.
On the front a black steam engine rolls down the tracks. On the back are the engine's coal car and red caboose. Each sleeve has three more colorful engines, in various colors, against a blue sky. The top trim pattern on the body and sleeves is a black silhouetted city against a dark blue sky. The bottom trim pattern on the body and sleeves is white houses and pine trees against a shaded blue sky. The neck, wrists, and hem sew-down trim is alternating stripes of black and variegated blue.