The Cowgirl Butterfly Astronaut Vest

This particular post has been quite a bit of a process!  I'll start at the beginning though.  My little sister N (I'll shorten her name for now) had just started school and was having a rough time fitting in.  She's in some ways an only child (being the only child living at home and so much younger than myself) so she didn't have a lot of social exposure as she grew.  She was shy and just was struggling with the typical just beginning school problems little ones face!

Little N wearing the finished sweater!

One day while she was at school, the other kids began teasing her over me.  :(  She was made fun of and told that Michigan was not a real place and that I wasn't a real sister!  She took it in stride as all kids do and later that night, my mom called and asked if I could send a Michigan postcard so she could prove to her friends at school that I (and Michigan) weren't figments of her imagination.  My heart went out to this little kiddo (I adore spoiling her rotten anyways and this was just another excuse to!) and I set about not only getting some Michigan gear, but wanting to make her something that would make her feel cool and confident.  I searched long and hard for the perfect pattern. 

The bottom of the vest as I was working it

I didn't want to do a sweater because they're so easy to grow out of (the sleeves get too short, ect) and because it was fall in Texas and there is less super cold time and more of that warmish cold time there.  That is when I found the Cowgirl Butterfly Astronaut Vest.  I didn't think the original colors were quite what I was looking for, but I loved the look to the little vest.  (I will warn you now, if you click the link I can't guarantee anything but a cute pattern...from what I've seen of the creator's personal views...they aren't quite aligned with those of this blog).  I set out to Hobby Lobby and gathered supplies!

Working on the arm holes.

The pattern itself was pretty easy to put together and didn't seem to take much time at all.  The instructions were clearly written (at least I understood them well enough).  The author of the pattern did such a wonderful job catching that elegance of being a little girl and blending the rough tough playing hard with the dainty elegance of being pretty and girly.  I truly loved this pattern and enjoyed making it thoroughly   .

The pre cap sleeve and trim sweater!

That was...until I got to the sleeves.  I'll admit that this is the first sweater pattern (even if it is a kid's vest) that I've knitted and completed.  Normally I stick to socks and small projects for knitting, but this was too dang cute!  You would think that with socks being tricky on the shaping scale, some little ruffled cap sleeves would be nothing, right?  Nope.  Nada.  Never.  My first little knitted sleeve took me 3 whole hours just to finish!  At that point, I couldn't turn back and do something else.  Thankfully the second sleeve didn't take 3 hours, but it did take a long time for such a little piece.  I think if I were ever to make this pattern again, I'd skip the knitted ruffled sleeve and substitute some cute crochet ruffled lace cap sleeves instead, but that's just me.

The monster sleeve that took an epic amount of time to finish!

All in all, this is an adorable sweater vest pattern for little girls.  I wish I had one growing up!  I loved this project and wanted to share it with all of you so that you could make your own Cowgirl Butterfly Astronaut Vest (yes that is a link that will take you to the pattern!)  That's it for today!