Oh the delight of a new shape! I found a darling pattern for a Circle Coat on Knitty.com in a child's size so immediately ordered some worsted (Swish Worsted from Knitpicks) to start the project for my granddaughter. I followed the pattern for shape and size, placement of armholes etc and added a simple lace pattern to accentuate the back and some 2 color decorative bands.
It was quick to knit up, adorable and didn't fit her AT ALL!
She's a size 4 toddler and yes everything looks good in a size 4 but, it wouldn't stay on her shoulders and didn't come close to closing in the front and the collar just flopped around. The photo on the pattern hung really nicely..great drape and nice shape and the model was obviously a child... so...back to the drawing board. I put the ill fitting garment on her and tried to analyze what was wrong. She is a bit wiggly so this took a bit of coercion on my part but a little box of raisens and the promise of a story later, I had a plan.
It needed some structure at the neck and shoulders to keep it on her. It had to have a place to hang FROM. And, it needed some sort of front band addition to equal out the "back" and "front" areas of the circle. Now mind you, this was knit exactly to the pattern. Anyway, I didn't want to added 2 inches to the entire front band as it would create too large of a collar and she'd be tripping over the hem. So where to stop and start? I ended up taking out one row of single crochet which I had added to give a finish to the garter stitch border and knit 2 more rows in garter stitch but stopped at the "side seams". Had to find and mark them first, of course. On the third row, I stopped at the place on the edge where the collar began to turn, placed those stitches on a holder, continued around the neckline , casting those stitches off and proceeded down the other side front. The side front was then worked separately. 5 stitches were cast off at the lower edge 7 times, leaving the rows even at the top neck edge. After 7 rows this gave a nice shaped front band of 1 inch in width. The process was repeated on the other side. I added 2 YO, K 2 tog. buttonholes on the next to the last row spaced 1/2 inch from the top and again 1 1/2 " lower.
We'll hope it fits!
