I decided to make a Babies and Bear Sweater for a friend who's due this fall. I've made the sweater twice, I think, a few years ago. I do like the finished sweater, I don't like how many ends it has. I don't have any strong aversion to weaving in ends, but for a baby sweater, I'm in the "the fewer ends, the better" camp.
As written, the pattern leaves you with yarn ends in a lot of places -
each cuff (2, the cast-on tails)
the end of the body/garter section (2, one on each side)
the start & end of each panel (6 ends, 4 for the front panels, 2 for the back)
the start & end of the hood (2)
the start & end of the buttonband (2)
That's 14 ends. 12 without the hood. That's a lot. And there's more if you use more than one yarn.
The last time I knit the sweater, I did work out how to eliminate a few of the ends by moving the markers and increase points a little. That got me down to 10 (8 without the hood) -
each cuff (2, the cast-on tails)
the end of one panel on each side (2, one on each side)
the start & end of the third panel (2 ends)
the start & end of the hood (2)
the start & end of the buttonband (2)
After I knit the sweater that last time, I was posting on a now-forgotten knitting forum with another knitter about possibly eliminating one or two others. From the notes I put with the booklet, I think we figured out a way (possibly) to get rid of a few more ends. I'm going to try it this time. I don't think there's too many more ends that can be eliminated, but it's an interesting mental challenge.
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