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River Colors Journal

Tuesday, July 05, 2016
 

A Little Shirt for a Little Lady
Hi everyone, I am Hana.
I'm a lifelong crafter. I've been knitting and crocheting since I was eight years old.    Over the years of exploring the fiber arts I have become increasingly passionate about it

Making gifts for family and friends has taken up the majority of my crafting time, but now that I'm a mom, I'm finding myself poring over patterns for little girl clothes and accessories. There are a million and one cute things to make for a little girl, so how do you choose? I had some Juniper Moon Farm Zooey left over from knitting a shirt from my mom and thought it would be wonderful for grandma and granddaughter to have matching shirts.   Because Zooey is a DK weight yarn  I knew I needed a pattern that called for that gauge. In my personal stash I had a bit of Berroco Linsey that I wanted to use for a nice color pop.  The Linsey was also going to be my back up in case I ran out of the main yarn. Excited to cast on, I headed over to Ravelry to find a pattern that fit my requirements.

My search ended when I found the All in One Sleeveless Baby Top by Marianna Mel. Knit in a DK weight yarn on size US 6 needles, there are options for sizes from six months all the way up to twelve months. It looks great in any color, so I knew I had found my pattern.

Photo credit: Marianna Mel
I loved that not only was it one piece, I had the right amount of buttons in the right size. The only thing I didn't particularly care for was how it was open all the way down. I had pictured more of an actual shirt, but since I was excited to make something I went ahead and cast on. It's a quick and fun knit, great for hanging out on the couch with your baby. I found myself working on the last button hole round before I knew it, while I kept admiring how cute it was, I still wasn't wild about leaving it open all the way down. What were my options? I didn't have enough buttons to continue that way, so that idea was out. What was my other option? The only other choice I could see was to join it in the round and go from there.

I took a good look at the construction of the top and what would happen if I joined it as it was. When I pulled it together it seemed a tiny bit bunched, so after joining I did a make one increase to the left. Increasing by one stitch was enough to allow it to lay correctly without puckering. From there it was a simple matter of knitting till I was happy with how long it was. Five easy rows of 1x1 ribbing completed the shirt. All in all it was a very simple modification yet, that one little change altered the entire look of the garment.



As you can see, little miss Rose is pleased with her new shirt. I am happy with the finished product and with the confidence I've gained. Now I feel like I can tackle more complex modifications without fear.

Thanks for joining us, now go make something!

Hana & Rose

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