Grow Like a Weed Jacket

I am currently testing a pattern for Elinor Brown called the Grow Like a Weed Jacket. It has extra long sleeves that you cuff that will allow the jacket to grow with your child because kids "grow like a weed"! The photos below are from Elinor's upcoming pattern that will be available on Ravelry.

Photo by Elinor Brown

I came across the images above when I was browsing Ravelry one day and in her description Elinor said she was looking for testers. I was looking for a project to take on the 20 hour flight to India, so I jumped at the chance to test something! Unfortunately I only got the sleeves done on the trip, but have finished the rest when I had time after the holiday rush. The style totally fit my little guy so I opted to make the size 4-5. I added a little length in the torso because my son is quite tall for his age.

The pattern involved steeking (basically you knit a sweater in the round and cut it up the center to put in a zipper) which was scary at first, but I was able to figure it out using Elinor's instructions and references. I just purchased the zipper for it today and plan to install it tonight! I'm quite excited to get it finished. Unfortunately it turned out a little larger than I expected (maybe I didn't check my gauge as carefully as I thought I did in the rush of preparing for my trip), and those extra inches I added were probably unnecessary. It will more likely fit him in the 6-7 age range. No biggie, he can wait. I'm just glad it didn't turn out too small. Below is a pic of my version of the sweater, unblocked and not totally finished.