Middle Sister Sweater

I am still suffering from allergies.  As a kid I always told people I was allergic to Christmas.  Well more like I was allergic to Christmas decorations. Live trees and poinsettias made me sneeze up a storm and guarantee me misery all Christmas season.  My mother discovered I was allergic to poinsettias when we went to a local nursery.  They had a nice set up for Christmas shots and we stopped by to get our pictures taken.  I walked into the greenhouse that was filled with poinsettias and started sneezing up a storm. My mother had me go outside and the sneezing stopped.  She told me to go into the greenhouse again to see what happened. I started sneezing up a storm.  So that is how I discovered I was allergic to Christmas.

Now I know what to avoid to keep my allergies at bay.  But the Fall and Spring tend to get my allergies back up in a flair. I have some medicine I take during these times so I can continue to function.

Speaking of Christmas I thought I'd be smart getting some of my hand knit gifts started so they will all be done in time for Christmas.  My first project was "Little Sister Dress" for my niece. I planned on making the dress for a 6 month old.

Somehow as I was knitting it it started looking like it was going to fit my sister-in-law instead of my niece.

But as I continued to knit it seemed like the perfect size for me. Oops. I'm not sure how that happened.

The yarn I was using for this project is a cotton / wool / silk blend. I loved working with it. But somehow it seemed every time I picked it up to work on I felt more sick.  My husband has been telling me for days that I am allergic to my knitting.  I told him no way.

I was so excited when this top was done it fits me perfect. Only problem when I put it on I couldn't stop sneezing. Humm reminded me of the poinsettias. So I put it aside and no more sneezing. I got some work done.  Then I picked it back up to put some temporary buttons on (I need to find better ones).  And bam sneezing again.  OMG my husband was right I'm allergic to my knitting!  I guess it is the wool. I never knit with wool. Oh this seems so dumb am I allergic to wool? Is that possible?  The yarn has more of a cotton feel to it than a wool feel and I loved working with it.  Oh well looks like that will be the last time I buy it.

Oh dear. I guess this top will be someone's Christmas present.  Someone who isn't allergic to wool.

I modified "The Little Sister" pattern since I was making it for me I did some decreasing on the sides and then added some increases closer to the bottom. I made the detail at the bottom by-

Purling 3 rows (I made this in the round)

R1- Knit 1 row

R2- K2, P2

R3- Knit 1 row

R4- P2, K2

repeated that a few times then purled 3 rows and did an I-cord bind off

You can get the pattern for the top on Ravelry

here is the link- little sister dress

Joining with Ginny and all the Yarn Alongers

ps- I titled this the Middle Sister Sweater because I'm a middle sister and I thought it was more fitting than the little sister.