Astrology

I have loved astrology since I first learned of it at the age of thirteen. I am especially interested in repeating patterns in my family: shared ascendants, shared Moon signs, and so on. Don't worry: I do believe in self-determination. Astrology can't explain everything and I do not look for it to do so. There is a beauty in the mysteries and stories and patterns that I find exciting.

Every sign is represented, as well as the symbols for the planets and the nodes. On the front are Libra, Gemini, and Cancer. The back has Sagittarius, Capricorn and Scorpio. The right sleeve has Aquarius, Leo, and Pisces. The left sleeve has Virgo, Taurus, and Aries.

When I first knit this, I forgot Aries! The corrected pattern does have a white ram standing at Virgo’s feet.

AURORA

I am the one obsessed with the Northern Lights. Amaran and Jirina travelled with me to Alaska to try to see them one year - but clouds obscured the sky, so we left unsuccessfully. (This was where we saw our first hockey game though - so that was worthwhile. We saw a Fairbanks independent league team, and it was such a raucous, wild event. But I digress.) One night while Levin was practicing with his hockey team in Massachusetts, a red aurora began streaming across the sky. That was so rare and special that I didn't mind lying in the snow to watch everything unfold. So this sweater developed from a birthday sweater for Levin.

On the front are two polar bears under the red and turquoise northern lights. On the back are two penguins on ice under the Aurora Australis in shades of turquoise. The sleeves have the lights in red and turquoise shades.

Cherry Blueberry

Living in Columbia County, New York, we are surrounded by many wonderful farms. We have picked apples and cherries at the Love Apple Farm. We have picked strawberries at the amazing Thompson Finch farm. For a year or two the girls, in high school, earned a few dollars waking before dawn to pick strawberries there. We have picked blueberries at a hidden farm in the mountains by Sheffield, Massachusetts. Upon being told what we were doing while driving to the blueberry farm, Levin exclaimed: The devil has fallen upon me! Is is possible our children didn't appreciate the fruits of their labor?!?
Here are Jirina picking blueberries and Amaran picking cherries. The cherries and blueberries are sewn-on beads, in the tree and bush and in the baskets. The girls stand in a field of white flowers and marigolds blooming in a line behind them. The trim pattern at the hem is green swirls on a changing orange background. There is also a leafy lace trim at the hem. The neck and armhole openings are periwinkle picot trim.

Hiawatha

One year in school Jirina memorized quite a bit of the poem Hiawatha. That and the wonderful book Hiawatha illustrated by Susan Jeffers inspired this sweater. The top pictures show the sweater I made for Jirina, and the bottom pictures show an adaptation of that sweater. 
On the front Hiawatha stands with rainbow colored birds around him as he holds a blackbird in his hands. The brightest, largest sun is rising behind the hills. On the back he stands with various animals beside him. On the second sweater the same tree wraps around from the back to the front. One sleeve shows a dome-shaped house with a fire in front. The other sleeve shows a rainbow stretching across the sky, with flowery fields below. The trim patterns changed from one sweater to the next, but the color scheme of green, red, and yellow and the triangles/diamonds remain.

Princesses

This sweater was suggested by someone on Etsy. The picture is an adaptation of Amaran's Alanna sweater. On the front Alanna has been replaced by a pink princess and the horse has become a unicorn with purple mane. On the back the princess wears purple and she accompanies a turquoise-maned and -winged Pegasus. The sleeves show the unicorn and Pegasus alone. The princesses stand in a clearing, surrounded by flowering light green plants and mountains and rivers behind. The blue of the sky turns into jagged patterns in dark blue and purple. The wrists and hem trim is variegated red swirls on light green. The neck and wrists trim have alternating variegated red and dark pink striped with a picot edge. The peplum has the jagged pattern in stripes of pink and red, ending in a picot trim.

Redwall

Redwall is a series of children's books by Brian Jacques, based on the adventures of different mice and their enemies. Matthias and Mariel are pictured on the front of this sweater, holding hands against the backdrop of the steaming volcano. The back has boxes of scenes: Mariel with her string, a sword, a castle, and a volcano. One sleeve has the Redwall castle and the other sleeve has the moon rising between two hills. There is a nod to Medieval elements in the trim patterns. On the wrists and hem there are growing red and green diamonds on purple, and green circles and curving lines in greens. The neck trim is blue and yellow triangles, which are echoed on the sides in diamonds.

Saint George and the Dragon

My children's school is lucky enough to have a dedicated Puppet troupe, called the Magical Puppetree. 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 those inspirations became the four year sweater for Levin. Here the design is reworked for size nine. 
On the front St George wields a sword toward a flying, fire-breathing green dragon with turquoise wings. On the back is a castle in the sky with angels flying around it. The sleeves echo these two patterns, with the dragon on the ground and the castle against a moon-lit sky. There are several trims: of white, red-cross shields against a blue background, of white dots on red, and of white diamonds on red. The neck, wrists, and hem trim is dark blue with variegated blue stripes. 

Winter Olympics

This is my nod to the wonderful Lillehammer Olympics. On the front a girl is cross country skiing (with no poles?) as the red Northern Lights fill the sky behind her. Mountains and stars fill the scene. On the back a boy is speed skating as, again, the green Northern Lights stream behind him. Same mountains, same stars. (This is obviously a very old Olympics! I'm pretty sure nobody participates in the Olympics in these clothes anymore. Did they ever?) On the sleeves are mountains, stars, and aurorae in reds and greens and purple. The wrists and hem trim shows traditional Scandinavian people with skis in white on a changing blue background. There is also a trim pattern of blue triangles and green circles. The neck trim is white triangles on blue and white dots on green.

The first two pictures are the original sweater. The following pictures are of a more recent version.