This is post is part of my Handmade Wardrobe for Kids Series
It’s tricky knitting for tiny humans. Before I start knitting a pattern for a gift or for one of my own children, my head is buzzing with thoughts and questions. Will this keep the child warm? Is it going to touch their skin? Do I need to have a nice shirt underneath? Is it interesting to knit? What wool will I use? Believe me, it goes on and my mind can be a scary place sometimes but when I saw this pattern by Kelly Van Niekerk I had to cast on straight away.
Composite
Composite is a free pattern by Kelly van Niekerk for newborns around 7 – 9 lbs for DK weight yarn. I used this top on my little girl until she was around 5 months old as she was so tiny when she was born so I’m not an accurate judge of that. The pattern is extremely sweet with lace cap sleeves and is worked top down. The sleeves are worked at the same time as the body and the buttonhole does work it is not for decoration! The finished garment has about 2.5cm of positive ease and if you use a soft yarn you will get a little more stretch out of it.
Toddler to 10 yr old
The pattern is beautifully put together like all of Kellly’s patterns and I knitted this while I was pregnant so that is a testament to how easy it is to knit. If you are looking for this to fit an older child she does have a paid pattern available with full grading up to 10 yrs old. It is called Quaintly and you can find it here.The ebook contains the pattern worked in all sizes for fingering, DK and worsted weight yarn so you can choose what works best for you.
Yarn
The yarn I used for this knit was actually given to me by a friend who was leaving the country and it was on a cone. It was around a heavy lace weight so I held it triple stranded to get the gauge I wanted. It has a soft halo and opened beautifully on the lace cap sleeves so I was extremely happy with it and I loved how I thought of my friend when K wore this. I do recommend that you choose a soft yarn that will hold a block and not spring back the second you whip it off the blocking mat as the sleeves need to hold their shape but not grow too much.
This is one of those knits that I am truly sad that I am packing away so I will knit another of these for K in a similar yarn. It’s not that I am broody at the minute, it’s that this little top went with a whole host of her clothes. I could throw it over dresses and long sleeves and it was a fantastic transitional knit. It got lots of wear and I wasn’t too precious about it getting dirty or worried about K ruining it. Because I choose a light yarn to knit it, the top dried quickly, almost overnight so I didn’t have to wait too long when I washed it to pop it back on her.
I hope you like the Handmade Wardrobe series and the Handmade Wardrobe for Kids.
xxx
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