childrens clothing – Daily Fiber

Cast-on Monday: By Request

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Laura Kate

Last week my yarn order from Knitpicks arrived, so I cast on the balaclava requested by my daughter. But before that, I sent her photos of several color options.

She chose:

Gold Rios by Malabrigo, natural Hawthorne and RainForest Heather Stroll by Knitpicks.

It’s a bold choice but not surprising selection.

Here you see the Dice check colorwork design that Gretchen Tracey used in her pattern. It’s a simple slip-stitch – one worked in three colors over six rows.

Interesting construction – the piece starts out with an odd-looking rectangle that forms the crown. Stitches are then picked up on the two long-edges, with the live stitches carrying on down the center back.

At this point, the piece reminds me of a horse-shoe crab. Strange to think of wearing a crab on one’s head. But I have faith that it will sort itself out and look more like a helmet when finished.

I’m modifying this Kid’s Balaclava pattern to fit an adult. There will be a bit of suspense as to whether my changes will be enough to give a good fit. On the plus side, it knits up so quickly I won’t be too distressed if I have to frog it back.

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Cast Off Monday: Parade of Mittens

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Laura Kate

It didn’t take long for me to work up TWO pair of mittens sized child medium.

Once I got into the rhythm, I completed a mitten in a few hours each evening. The pattern made it easy to match each one to its predecessor. The yarn was soft and bouncy with a good contrast of values.

My mascot mouse approves highly.

And here is the left-over yarn. Just enough to save for future repairs.

It was a good week for busting stash!

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Friday Finish: Child Balaclava

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Laura Kate

Gosh, this was a fun and easy project, once I got the hang of the 3-color slip stitch pattern. The yarns were great (Cascade Elysian) and blocked out beautifully. If only I had a five-year-old to test the fit and pose for the photo shoot.

A quick solution for a head mannequin: Grab an oatmeal box and draw a face on it. At least this solves for the photo shoot. Checking the fit will require plopping the piece on a real live child.

View from the side. I stuffed in a small ball of yarn to fill out the crown.

Looking at the back, you observe my slight alteration to the pattern: I noticed in the pattern’s photographs that the neck increases resulted in a slight flare.

To accentuate this feature, I switched from 1 by 1 ribbing to seed stitch just in this section. This will allow the back of the neck to fit easily over a collar.

Or, the flare could be tucked inside coat, to keep winter winds away from tender skin.

If you like the pattern, here is a link to Gretchen Tracey’s website.

https://www.ballstothewallsknits.com/2014/02/kids-dice-check-balaclava.html

She offers the balaclava in a baby size as well as dozens of other cute head coverings for kids. This pattern was free. I hope you’ll give her designs a try.

knitting

Cast on Monday, working my stash yarn

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Laura Kate

With the Sequences Shrug 99% finished, (This will be revealed on Friday) I have cast on another project, again, targeted at shrinking my stash. I first wrote about this one back in June.

The pink and purple Elysian yarns were left-over from Lu’s simple sweater, completed earlier this year. That blue alpaca yarn is just a place-holder. Ultimately, I decided to purchase a yarn better suited for the project in mind, which is a child’s balaclava, designed by Gretchen Tracy at Balls to the Walls Knits.

https://www.ballstothewallsknits.com/p/about.html

The stitch pattern was adapted by the designer from Barbara Walker’s diced three-color check pattern, found in A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

After casting on, a skinny rectangle is knit with three colors of yarn. This weird-looking piece resembles a pre-historic but colorful creature from Unicorn World.

Knitting is continued by picking up around three sides and working in pattern until the helmet section of the balaclava is finished.

At this point, I am dubious about whether it will fit my intended recipient. But I’m willing to trust the designer and carry on with the pattern as written.

If it doesn’t fit Laura Lu, it will fit someone, somewhere.

To find Gretchen’s balaclava pattern, click on the link.

https://www.ballstothewallsknits.com/2014/02/kids-dice-check-balaclava.html

knitting

Finished Object Friday – Fair Warning

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Laura Kate

” When I am an Old Woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat – which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me “ – Jenny Joseph

I don’t know if this is the sort of hat that the poet had in mind. But perhaps if she had lived in the 21st century, in a cold climate, and was 3 and 1/2 years old, she might have chosen it.

The Surprising Story Behind the Poem “When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”

Despite my playful suggestion about an old woman, this hat is indeed meant for Laura Lu. In my determination to use stash yarn, I came to the conclusion that red would work perfectly fine with purple yarn and a purple sweater.