I think every child should have a teddy bear to love, so I am knitting my baby grandson a teddy bear. The pattern is from “Knitted Toys” by Debbie Bliss. When completed, this will be about 16-19 inches — which is a good size for a teddy bear.
I initially started this project using Peaches & Cream cotton worsted yarn in teal blue. I knitted up the first leg and started on the second one — and then decided I didn’t like the way the yarn was knitting up and I also didn’t like the color for the teddy bear. So, I switched yarns and colors and started over.
The yarn I choose is Knit Picks Shine Sport yarn in Willow colorway. This first photo is of the yarn and the beginning of the right leg.
I have knitted both legs at this point and plan to work on the body tonight while watching the Olympics. I have been using right and left slanted increases and decreases to help make the shaping more defined. [One of the things that I have learned while doing the Master Knitter Level I swatches with different increases.]
Elizabeth Zimmerman’s 100th birthday was August 9. One of our expert knitters in the Nebraska Knit & Crochet Guild (NKCG) started a knit-a-long (KAL) of the “Baby Surprise Jacket” in honor of EZ’s birthday. I had never done this baby sweater pattern, so I joined in the KAL.
It turned into on of those obsession driven projects. You know the ones — where you become so intrigued by how the pattern is unfolding that you simply.cannot.put.it.down. Yup, your fingers just itch to knit and your brain refuses to think about anything else — especially mundane things like laundry, cooking and other housework. That’s what this little project became.
You see, the BSJ is knit entirely of garter stitch and involves a series of increases, decreases and center double decreases to make your knitting go at right angles. It is knit in a single piece — and the fascinating thing is that it turns into a sweater without the normal sweater type shaping that you usually do. As I knit this project, I kept marveling at the ingenuity of the designer — how in the heck had she figured this out? It’s a combination of understanding geometry and the shaping required for a baby sweater — and EZ was someone who took theoretical concepts like right angles and turned them into pragmatic knitted garments. Perhaps a few pictures will help.
When you finish knitting the pattern — you end up with an oddly shaped piece of garter stitch fabric that looks like this:
As you can see, I knit this with two different yarns to create stripes. Now, when you fold the edges together, this striped fabric turns into this:
A jacket. That’s the surprise — it actually turns into a little sweater jacket with nifty right angle striping on the front and horizontal striping on the back. And — there are only two seams to sew! Just two — the sleeves at the top. The button band is done as part of the bottom of the knitted piece, so you just add buttons and you are finished. (I’m still looking for buttons, so I don’t have a photo of the finished jacket.)
Now, the written pattern is somewhat confusing at first. There are several resources available to help sort out the sketchy instructions given in both the Knitter’s Almanac and Knitting Workshop. However, the biggest question I had was “if I knit this at a gauge of 6 stitches per inch, what size is my jacket?” EZ just tells you it will fit an infant if you knit at that gauge and if you knit it at a gauge of 5 stitches per inch, you will get a bigger jacket that will fit a larger child about 1 year old. This is this question that seems to cause knitters the most problems.
I knit this BSJ using Dale of Norway Baby Ull, which is a fingering weight wool yarn and my gauge was 6 spi. The jacket measures 15.25 inches across the chest, just at the point where the underarm is. Looking at a standard body measurements chart for baby sizes, This jacket is a 0-3 months size.
Now this sizing issue really bugged me — so I had to figure out the sizing for different gauges and correlate them to actual baby sizes. (Yes, I am a geek.) After studying the pattern, I discovered that the chest measurement is at the point in the pattern where you are knitting 90 stitches. (90 divided by 6 equals 15). So, using this point of reference, I have calculated roughly what the corresponding size will be if the BSJ is knitted at gauges of 5.5 spi, 5 spi, & 4.5 spi. I put this into a table to help others who might be bugged by this question:
In my previous post, I discussed how to make a preliminary swatch to select the size needle that gives you a fabric that you like and then how to knit a gauge swatch. The gauge swatch is measured to give you your stitch gauge (stiches per inch) and your row gauge (rows per inch).
At this point, you might think you are ready to cast on and begin knitting your sweater – BUT….
Are you planning on using some type of ribbing for the bottom, cuffs and neckline of the garment? Are you planning on using a certain textured stitch pattern, a lace pattern or cables in your sweater? Will you be combining two or more stitch patterns in the body of the sweater? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then you need to do more swatching.
Swatches with Borders: Have you ever knit something with a definite edge made by knitting either garter stitch or seed stitch and then found that the edges curl? The reason this happens is usually due to a difference in gauge between the stitch pattern used for the border and the stitch pattern used for the body. Thus, if you are knitting piece with a border that is different than the body of the piece, knitting a swatch with the borders on it provides you with an opportunity to make adjustments to minimize or eliminate the problem. Suzanne Bryan has a nice video on this that you may find helpful, here’s the link:
Note: I don’t recommend using garter stitch borders on gauge swatches even though others do. The border tends to distort the swatch and may affect the accuracy of your measurements.
Swatches of Ribbing: Ribbing by nature tends to “pull in”. Which means that 30 stitches of ribbing will have a smaller width than 30 stitches of stockinette stitch. How much of a difference can be quite significant and affect the way the garment fits around the hips and neck as well as around the wrists on a long sleeve. Also, some knitters find that their ribbing stitches appear larger than their stockinette stitches due to changes in tension. One solution for this is to use a smaller needle when ribbing – but if you do that you may need to have more stitches to get the right width of fabric for a proper fit. Knitting a swatch with your selected ribbing pattern followed by a transition to the stitch being used for the body of the sweater will provide you with the information you need to decide what you want to do. You might want to knit separate swatches with different ribbing patterns to select which ribbing you prefer to use in your garment. (You don’t have to use the same ribbing that the designer did for the pattern if you don’t want to…just saying.)
Swatches of Stitch Patterns:
In this post, stitch patterns refer to textured pattern stitches, lace patterns, cable patterns, etc. Basically any grouping of stitches that combine to make a pattern from the variations in stitches used.
I think making a swatch of the stitch patterns used in a written pattern provides a great deal of useful information about how the finished garment will look and feel – and fit! It’s also good practice before doing it as part of your finished item.
Keep in mind that most written patterns only give gauge in stockinette stitch and while that tells you what the designer’s gauge is – it does not tell you how the gauge changes in the stitch pattern(s) used in knitting the garment. If you find a written pattern that states the gauge of the stitch pattern – great. But does your gauge match that? Swatching is the only way you will know.
If you are only using one stitch pattern, then knitting a swatch with two or more pattern repeats will help you figure out how the pattern affects the width and length of the garment and what adjustment you might need to make to obtain the correct size of garment you want. If you combine it with your ribbing, you will see how the ribbing affects the transition to the main fabric of the garment.
If you are combining more than one stitch pattern within the main fabric of a garment, I recommend doing individual swatches for each stitch pattern to use as a gauge swatches.
Crest of Wave Lace Pattern
Garter Stitch
Embossed Moss Stitch Ribbing
Then to see what happens when the stitch patterns are combined, you should do a swatch large enough to include all of the stitch patterns used in the order you plan to use them. This may end up being a very large swatch – even enough stitches for the back of your garment. This type of swatch will provide you with a lot of helpful information and give you insight into what adjustments you might need to make for a great fitting garment. More on this in a later post.
I have been working on top down raglans for my grandchildren this summer. My first project was a cardigan for my new baby granddaughter. I decided to make this sweater in size 18 mos. because that should be the size that will fit her this fall. Top down raglans are fairly easy to knit — once you get past the neckline, but the neckline is a bit tricky. I followed The Magic Custom Fit Raglan pattern by Danielle White as a guide. I say guide, because the pattern gives sizing directions for babies up to 12 months and then for children age 2 and up — but not for 18 months. So I had to do some guessing to figure out the actual measurements to use for the size I wanted.
I used Cascade 220 Superwash Yarn in Pink for the body of the sweater. I knit the sweater front bands, neck band, cuffs and the bottom band in seed stitch with the remainder of the body knit in stockinette stitch. I used Cascade 220 Superwash in Magenta for the edging, which was done in single crochet all the way around the edge to finish and then made ties by doing a crocheted chain for each side of the neck.
I then decided that I had enough yarn to knit a little tam to go with the sweater. I used the Magenta yarn to start the brim in 1 X 1 ribbing and then switched to the Pink. Baby hats are really quick knits, and this one was no exception. I washed the set up in the washer and then laid them flat to dry.
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