Small Things

March 10, 2007

As I threatened last month, I have been knitting baby clothes, not because I am having a baby, but because so many other people are. Baby clothes are extremely gratifying to knit because babies have no pronounced fashion sense, and are happy just to be not-too-warm and not-too-cold, and dry. This leaves a lot of room for my own creativity, yarns that are on sale, and small amounts of time to knit. Really, why knit a sweater for an opinionated, fussy, 40 inch chest when you can knit for a small, grateful, small, uncomplaining, small 15 inch chest? If a garment is sensible and well constructed it will see a lot of use, simply because babies do horrid things to their clothes and require vast wardrobes every day.

The first impending baby is due in April, and things warm up quickly, so I decided to knit in cotton, so the baby can wear it all spring and summer. Wool is for winter, and winter is over, or it ought to be; ask anyone in Vermont or upstate New York. So you heard it here first, it is Spring.

The small coat, called a matinee jacket, is as plain as it gets: straight up to the armholes, raglan sleeves, 4 eyelet buttonholes, stockinette stitch with garter stitch hems, cuffs, button bands and collar. The yarn is tender peapod green.

• It took 3 balls of Praemium Cotton yarn from Italy, 137 yards per ball.
• I used a pair of 9 inch, size 4.25 mm bamboo needles for the entire coat.
• The gauge is 4 stitches to the inch, stockinette stitch MORE OR LESS.

I did knit a gauge swatch, but I was on a trip and didn't have a ruler, so I measured it with graph paper. That's right, call the knitting police. I know for a FACT that 90% of the knitters out there don't ever knit a gauge swatch in their entire lives, much less worry about the fractions of an inch. This is another reason you should knit for babies: unless the infant is the size of a Saint Bernard, this coat will fit it at some point in the first few months of life.

Here are the instructions for a 15-inch diameter matinee jacket. Follow them if you like, or knit by the seat of your wits and find some hapless child who is too young to pronounce "couture".

Back

1. Cast on 42 stitches. Knit 2 at each edge, every row, for the uncurling border edge, to be a seam later.
2. Knit 6 rows for a border.
3. Continue in stockinette stitch (Knit one row, Purl one row) until the back is 5 inches long.
4. Begin armhole shaping on Knit row, and work decreases on each KNIT row: K2, decrease 1; knit across to last 4 stitches: decrease 1, K2.
5. Purl rows: purl across.
6. Continue decreasing one at each side until there are 20 stitches left. Bind off loosely.

Sleeves (work 2 at once, using separate balls of yarn)

1. For each sleeve cast on 26 stitches. Knit 2 at each edge, every row, for an uncurling border, to be a seam later. Work 6 rows in knit for cuffs. Switch to stockinette stitch, and work until the sleeves are 5" long.
2. Begin armhole shaping on Knit row, and work exactly as for Back armholes, decreasing one stitch at each side on Knit rows, until there are only 5 stitches remaining on each sleeve. Work 2 more rows WITHOUT DECREASING. Bind off loosely.

Fronts (work 2 at once, using separate balls of yarn)

1. Cast on 24 stitches for each front. Knit 2 at each outer edge, every row, for an uncurling border, to be a seam later; work both Center Fronts with 4 knit stitches each row, for button bands on BOTH fronts. Only one side will have buttonholes. Work 6 rows in knit for hems.
2. Work in stockinette stitch until the Fronts measure 5 inches.
3. Begin armhole shaping, just as on the Back: decrease one stitch on outer edges, every Knit row. CONTINUE TO KNIT CENTER 4 STITCHES, EVERY ROW, FOR BUTTON BANDS. [ Do not turn these center edges into armholes, or the cardigan jacket will look very, very peculiar.]
4. When the Fronts are 4 inches long, work first buttonhole on ONE side in the button band. It doesn't matter which side, but I always do the left side, the one that the mother's right hand will touch, just to make buttoning it easier. I have never met anyone who remembers which side his/her baby sweaters buttoned on. Don't brood over this.

Eyelet Buttonholes

1. On front side of sweater, knit to buttonhole band, Knit 2, Yarn Over, Knit 2. On the return trip, Knit 2, Knit 2 together, Knit 1; purl the rest of the row. In between eyelet buttonholes, knit 4 rows.
2. Armhole shaping begins just after the first buttonhole, when the fronts are 5 inches long.
3. Continue armhole shaping just as you did for the Back armholes. Don't forget to put the buttonholes on the button band as you shape the armholes. Yes, it is annoying, but it will be a whole lot more annoying if you forget either one.

Neckline Shaping

1. After you have worked 4 eyelet buttonholes there will still be more armhole shaping to do. Now instead of doing eyelet buttonholes, you can shape the neckline in the middle. Still remembering to decrease one at each outer edge on each Knit row, work until there are 16 stitches on each Front.
2. Begin Neckline Shaping. This will start from the center of the sweater, which means that on the first pass across, you will bind off the 4 Knit button band stitches on the Right Front as you work the knit row; purl back from the outer edge.
3. On the return trip of your first Neckline Shaping, on the Left Front, (as you begin to work the purl row) bind off the 4 Knit button band stitches on the Left Front, and finish the row in purl. At the end of this you should have 12 stitches on each Front, with the start of a neckline in the center. Continue armhole shaping, while AT THE SAME TIME you decrease 1 stitch at each neckline edge, until there are only 6 stitches for each Front. End Armhole Shaping. Work 2 more rows, decreasing one stitch at each Center Front. 4 stitches remain on each Front. Bind them off. Fall on your knees and thank heaven you made it this far.
4. Stitch the little garment together neatly with very small seams. The bound-off top edges of the sleeves are part of the neckline. The sleeves are long enough to serve as built-in mittens, or can have the cuffs turned up to reveal enchanting little fingers.

Collar

1. Starting at either center front pick up 16 stitches for the front, 18 stitches on the shoulders/back, and 16 stitches for the other front.
2. Work 5 rows of garter stitch. Bind as you knit the 6th row.
3. Sew on buttons.

With a yarn needle work all the yarn ends into the seams; you don't want them to tickle the baby. Block the garment. This is no time to be slovenly; make the lovely little matinee jacket gorgeous. Take a photo of the finished heirloom. Anything that looks awful after the first wearing is not your fault: that is what babies always do to their clothing.

Wrap it beautifully.