Week 2 Project - "Not so Pippi sweater" (stage 1: body)

I bet every Swede out there knows the Pippi sweater, but I doubt many people elsewhere have any idea what this sweater looks like. You may not even know who Pippi (Longstocking) is, nor that she is Swedish.

When I decided to knit a sweater for William in the very thin Organic Cotton baby yarn, I told the hubby "this might be the end of my knitting career". I can handle knitting/crocheting hats, botties, socks and mittens but I am not very good at large (you may not think a toddler sweater is large... but it is still considerably larger than my comfort zone) knitting projects. I usually run out of motivation half way through and drag and drag to finish it. Thanks to the challenge and the accountability to my dear (imaginary?) readers, I will HAVE TO finish it.

So week 2's challenge is stage 1 of a sweater for William. I plan to knit the body of it this week and then do the sleeves and assembly next week. The sweater will have some resemblance to a Pippi sweater - but it will not be so Pippi after all. Actually it is only the split neck opening with the strings that will be Pippi about it. And maybe the fact that it has stripes... That's it! William's "not so Pippi sweater" will be brown and green... Here is a sneak peak:

   
Check back later for the finished body of the sweater, and next week for the sleeves and the complete sweater.