Lesson #5 Romper

Materials Needed:

#5 Romper from the book, Our Best Knit Collection by Leisure Arts (1990)

One Cute Baby

Yarn for the project 5 colors (optional)

5-6 Buttons

One Camera for taking the Picture of Finished the Project

Techniques Used:

CO 1/1 rib

Increasing

Decreasing

Changing Colors for Stripes

Picking Up Stitches for a Knitted Band

BO in Rib Knitting

Making Button Holes in Rib Knitting

Waste Knitting

Picking Up Stitches from Waste Knitting

Neckline Shaping

Short Row Shaping (optional)

Knitting Terms You Will Need to Know for Lesson #5

K2 tog- Single decrease –This stitch slants to the right on the knit side of your fabric.

If you move your stitch to the right on your knitting machine, purl side facing you, the upper stitch slants to the right on the knit side of the fabric.

P2 tog- Single decrease-This stitch slants to the right on the knit side of your fabric. Move one stitch to the right on your knitting machine, purl side facing you, the upper stitch slants to the right on the knit side of the fabric.

Hint: K2 tog = P2 tog Why? Look at your hand knit diagrams in your Lesson Book. Notice the direction in which the stitches are knitted off with the other knitting needle. It creates the same effect on the knitted side.
K1 PSSO- Single decrease- This decrease slants to the left on the knit side of your fabric If you move one stitch to the left on your knitting machine, the purl side facing you, the upper stitch slants to the left on the knit side of the fabric.

Stockinette Stitch –Knit 1 Row, Purl 1Row (K 2 rows on your knitting machine)

Baby Romper #5

With a little creativity this baby romper pattern becomes 3+ patterns in one. As you read the pattern over you will notice that the romper is knitted with a front and backside, so the seams are at the sides and underarms. Once you have knitted this piece up you can see how the pants and sleeves can be shortened to a summer romper, the pants eliminated to make a button down sweater, or the top can be eliminated and the bottom waist moved upward creating a nice pair of pants.

Remember if you are removing your knitting on waste yarn, that you use a contrast yarn that has the same or very similar weight. If using a similar yarn type, make sure that the yarn has the same gauge when knitted up. When making your purchase, I recommend buying extra yarn of the same kind in a different contrast color to use for this type of knitting. The differences in tensions or the thickness of the yarn creates a ridge across the body of the garment.

In my example, I used Caron Simply Soft on Tension 7 ++ that obtained the given gauge used in the pattern.

Discussion: Knitted Front Bands

Knitted bands are a nice accent to any knitted piece. On the romper, the ribbed band is knitted in a contrasting color accenting the bands and buttons. This type of band pulls the body of the knitting inward, often causing the bottom of the knitted garment body to hang longer than the ribbed band. Many machine knitters often knit a separate ribbed band that is later attached to the main body on the knitting machine. Even though we will be discussing both techniques, in this example we will follow the pattern by picking up the edge stitches evenly across the front of the garment.

When knitting the type of knitted rib band for the baby romper (pg 10) there are a few things the knitter needs to consider, the elasticity of the yarn, and the stitch-row gauge. Most knitted stitches are longer than wide, so you will have more rows than stitches per inch. We will be picking up the edge stitches of these rows, and each row will produce a stitch that is narrower than the length of that stitch. Therefore, you will need to pick up more stitches to accommodate the difference of the row length. Additionally, the additional tightening of the tension for the rib stitches creates an added elasticity and inward pull.

There are certain types of yarns and pattern knitting where this is the opposite case. The stitch tends to be wider than its length so there are more stitches per inch than rows per inch. In these instances, it is important to obtain an accurate measurement of the length of the garment edge. This measurement is then converted to stitches per inch. It is this calculation that determines the amount of stitches needed for the ribbing that will be added to the edge of the garment. You will be using this value, stitches per inch, to determine spacing for the buttonholes in the button band.

Being able to pick up enough stitches along a knitted edge can be a challenge with some non-elastic yarns such as the cotton yarn used in the baby Romper pattern. Take a look at your stitches formed at the edge of the garment. Did you tuck or slip stitch every other row? This technique is often used in both hand knit and machine knit to help form a straight edge that would have a tendency to curl or stretch. Does your garment need blocking or a light steam first? Sometimes the finished knitted edge stretches and gets distorted. This can be caused by the nature of the formed knit stitch; the type of stitch pattern used, and added edge weights used while knitting. Therefore before you begin, lay out your knitted item first and take a good look. If the edges are longer than the main body, pin the sides and shoulders of your garment first. Next, line up the front length to the back length, so that the knitted edges line up with the center back length. Now measure the front length for the bands. Figure the amount of stitches needed for this length and you will be able to determine how many stitches are needed for the front bands to either “pick up” and transfer to the needle bed, or to be knitted first and later attached.

Sweaters with a continuous band can pose an additional problem of needing more stitches than are available on the knitting machine. In this case the band needs to be made in sections, which are seamed together first or later depending how they are going to be attached to the garment. Knitted edges that are stretched and are larger than the knitted band need to be gathered evenly first on the knitting machine. The knitted band that is applied later will need to be divided into even sections and then centered over the gathered stitches on the machine. If the band is to have a knitted ribbed band formed from the gathered stitches, I recommend to K one row across by hand manipulation, or place all these needles into E position and then knit across. Next, transfer the stitches for a 1/1-rib set up. The ribbed band’s length depends on either the button size or the amount of stitches needed to make a hole. If it is knitted as a separate piece, allowance needs to be made for the seam. A rule of thumb is the length should leave at least ½ the button’s width on each side. Another rule of thumb is that the band, which the buttons are fastened onto, is usually knitted first. For women it is usually the left and for a man it is the right.

Button Hole Insertion into Button Band

Once the band’s width and length has been determined the next step is to decide how large a buttonhole you will need to accommodate the button width. I place my buttonholes ½ inch from the bottom and top. I next center the buttons between these two placements. Distance between the buttons is determined by size, how many buttons you are using, and the number of stitches needed to complete the buttonhole.

My Button Band Formula:

1) Total Number of Stitches Used –minus- Total number of Stitches Needed for All of the Button Holes = Stitches to Work With

2) Subtract from the Stitches to Work With, The Total Number of Stitches to be Left on Each End (minimum ½ inch each end) = Total Value

3) Subtract 1 from the Total number of Buttons Used = Total Number Spaces Needed between Buttons

4) Divide the Total Value by Total Number of Spaces Between Buttons = The Number of Stitches Needed Between Buttons

For the odd number of stitches such as one or 3 stitches, I usually divide those up and place them on one or both ends of the knitted band. For finer knit yarns, I will add these stitches, one stitch at a time, to the total number of stitches used in making the buttonhole.

Making a One and Two Stitch Buttonhole in a 1/1 Ribbed Band

Below you will find some picture of the transferring of stitches to make a buttonhole.

A one-stitch transfer is similar to making an eyelet. Transfer the rib stitch to the adjacent knit stitch on the main bed. The empty rib needle is placed in E position to be knit on the next row.

A two-stitch decrease in rib knitting, the rib stitch is transferred to the adjacent stitch on the main bed; the knit stitch gets transferred to the adjacent rib stitch. Both empty needles are placed in E position to be knit on the next row.

Binding off in 1/1 Rib Knitting With a Hand Knit Look

Bind off in 1/1 rib with the hand knit look is the simplest and easiest to do. The binding off movement, a zigzag, is created from moving needle to needle up and down across both needle beds.

Unthread your yarn from the knitting carriage and starting on the same side as where your knitting ended, with the transfer tool, remove this stitch and place it on the next needle. Pull upward moving both stitches behind the latch, wrap your yarn into the needle hook and under the latch always winding it towards the center, and manually knit it through. Next, place that stitch onto the next needle with your transfer tool, and move both stitches behind the latch, place the yarn into the needle hook and under the latch and knit it through continuing on in this manor until all stitches have been knit off. Pull the yarn through the last stitch, cut the yarn, and remove from the needle bed. It is important to bind off loosely enough so that the end of the ribbing has enough stretch to fit and lay nicely. The knitting gets removed from the machine as you go, and the weight of it can contribute to an irregular tension to the bind off. You may find it helpful to carefully support your knitting as you go, so I often bind off around the gate pegs as I go. This process provides a means for me to regulate my tension as well.

I hope you enjoy this lesson!

Email me your comments to jsag77@cfl.rr.com

Happy Knitting,

Joanne