It's a Stitch Up

A recently finished this little project for a very special small person.

The pattern was ‘Baby Crossover Top‘ from one of the first knitting books I bought, Easy Knits: 25 Simple Designs for Babies, Children, Adults by Debbie Bliss. The stripes were my own addition, and I’m very pleased with those! I find the idea of gendered baby clothes completely ridiculous, so green and orange are favourites. I have an array of merino 4 ply oddments in solid colours, which I love to have an excuse to play with. The Ravelry project page has details of which yarns I used.

I find commercial patterns unnecessarily fiddly in their construction; side seams, shoulder seams, arms seams and even collar seams in this case. I did away with most of those and knitted the body and sleeves in the round, and the collar in one piece. I added extra length because I know from experience that baby garments from the book are too short for human babies. There were a million ends to weave in, even with my attempts to knit it in one piece [note to self: thicker stripes next time].

I’m not sold on the garter collar and edging, to me it looks messy, but that’s a small price to pay for not having to factor that shaping for myself.

I think it looks pretty cosy. If only there were a grown-up version!