More Knitting in the Sun - Ramona and Beezus!

I had such a good time working with Kristi Porter on a pattern for her Knitting in the Sun book that when she put out a call for kids-related patterns for a followup book I was happy to send in some ideas.  What came out of that were the Beezus and Ramona patterns - a cropped cardi and racerback tank with which I'm particularly pleased.  The book is More Knitting in the Sun, and has 30+ projects for kids ages 2-12, including my two.  I'm one stop on a blog tour organized by Kristi - see here for the schedule.

Because I'm always interested to see what designers write in their proposals, here is the blurb I sent to Kristi along with my sketches and swatches:

Inspiration: Often in the summer we go from the hot outside to the air-conditioned inside, making getting dressed a bit difficult.  A lightweight top and jacket are just the ticket.  I wanted a pair that would be a bit more grown-up than many kids’ outfits are, but still functional and washable—and I wanted to be able to do one or the other without feeling like I’d broken up the band.

Description: The tank/camisole shirt and cropped, 3/4 sleeve jacket use a lovely light worsted cotton/soy yarn.  Both have a diamond motif on a stockinette background; the tank is done with purls while the jacket uses yarnovers.  This preserves some modesty in the shirt while allowing for more lightness in the jacket.  They also share trim in common; either a picked up I-cord or single crochet for the edges, straps, and tie on the jacket.  All pieces are knit flat and seamed to add structure to the very drapey cloth formed by this yarn.  This would be sized for older children, ages 6-12.

When Kristi wanted us to name our patterns after characters from children's and YA literature, I had SO MANY options - I wanted a set of sisters who were similar but had their own personalities.  I finally fixed on Ramona for the tank, and Beezus for the slightly more grown up cardi.

Here are the blurbs from the book (and also on Ravelry):

Ramona - This simple camisole avoids ruffles and lace, and the racerback styling stays on a girl’s shoulders even when she’s swinging from the trees. The purled diamonds echo the lace pattern from the Beezus cardigan, making them a perfect twinset.

Beezus - This cropped cardigan has an open front with I-cord ties and a simple overall diamond lace pattern. It’s great over a camisole or tee, or pair it with its companion tank, Ramona, for a put-together look ready for any occasion. 

Sometimes the vision in my head and the final product are so similar it's creepy.  This was definitely the case here - and I love both!  I'll be knitting these in all sizes for the DD over the next years, I think, and may even try to size it up for myself.

It seems appropriate that I'm blogging this this week - just Friday the DD and I watched the Ramona & Beezus movie.  Which was very cute, though I still like the books more!

I was so excited to get my copy of More Knitting in the Sun - it's definitely a great buy for those of us living in warm climates.  I think we'll get a lot of wear out of the book (and the knitwear!), from the skirts to the tops to the accessories.  Great job, Kristi! 

(Tomorrow's stop is Stephanie Japel's blog.)