Knitting clothes for little ones.

Hi it’s the COO of the company taking her turn on the blogs.

Choosing your baby’s knitting pattern

The first thing to note that unlike an adult’s knitting pattern babies and children are worked out by age (or for premature by weight).

For this blog I have chosen a new born boy’s sweater on the basis that one of the team at Colchester has just become a grandmother to a boy.

When deciding on a size it is a good idea to consider how fast you can knit as some pattern sizes can be at little as 3 months apart. I have chosen a Rico pattern to go with the baby Basics DK wool as a very good alternative to Sirdar. Rico patterns will show you a difficulty level to help you decide whether it is suitable for your skills.

Colours are always tricky to settle on if you do not know the sex of a child waiting to be born so most knitters use white, cream, yellow or green as neutral shades. Also it is worth noting that acrylic wools should be considered for the very young as wool fibres can affect their lungs.

Materials used

Just some of our beautiful shades

Rico Baby Classic DK wool: 2 balls petrol (shade 010),

 1 ball green (shade 028) & 1 ball pale blue (shade 023).

 1pr 3.25mm knitting needles, 

 1 pr 4mm knitting needles,

 1 stitch holder

 1 cableneedle

 wool needle (sewing) for making up

 and  scissors

Cast on. This Rico pattern suggests the thumb method of the cast on, which personally I find the easiest. A tip for this is to allow approximately 25cm (10”) for 15 stitches to be cast on and then add another 10cm (4”) to allow a tail. You need a little excess hanging after the cast on otherwise you may find the first stitch will not hold.

Cable patterns can be a lot simpler than you may be aware as you are still only using the 2 stitches in knitting (Knit or Purl). This pattern calls for a cable row once every 8 rows and it is using the knit stitch only.

When doing cable patterns I use a pad to write down how many rows to the pattern and then mark each row off once completed. This means when you knit the second side of the garment you already know how many rows it will finish on.

If you choose a pattern that requires multiple colours remember to twist the yarns at the back of the work every 4-5 stitches so that the garment is not pulled in making it too small once finished.

Work your way through each piece of the pattern (back, front and sleeves). Before you can knit the neck line you will need to join the right shoulder seam. I normal sew the garment up with the yarn I have used unless it is a very chunky yarn as you do not need to find a matching thread that way. I will often use the tail of the cast on and off as the start of the making up, so it provides a nice finish and less strands to weave into the garment afterwards.

If you have chosen a cardigan remember to purchase that extra button and sew it into the side seam (inside obviously) as not all buttons are always available.

If you would like to see more knitting blogs (or indeed on any particular area of interest within our trade) please drop a line via face book, twitter or our website www.fabric8online.co.uk

Alternatively drop into a branch.

Tina signing off until next time.