So I’m due in about 5 weeks with a son and I’ve just now decided to start this christening romper for him: http://jaslamb.weebly.com/boys-christening-romper.html I would consider myself fairly experienced but I’m just not getting the first few lines of the directions because what is coming off my needles doesn’t look remotely correct.
For the pants it says to cast on 35 sts and then do this rib pattern:
row 1: (k1-b, p1) across
row 2: (k1, p1-b) across
Now when I’m reading that, the first thing I think is wrong is how does a 1x1 rib pattern fit into an odd number of stitches? Wouldn’t I end up doing something seed-stitch like? Then I thought k1-b and p1-b mean knit into the row below the active row right? How are you supposed to accomplish that off the cast on row, there’s no row below to knit or perl into. Maybe I’m missing something simple here, but if no one has any ideas I think I might just do a plain k1,p1 rib and I can’t see how the effects of such to the pattern would be bad.
Any help or thoughts appreciated, now I just gotta hope I can finish in time, lol.
Ribbing is always knit the knit and purl the purls. If that’s what you’re doing it’s correct. The twisted stitch gives it a different look so maybe that is what is making it not look right to you.
thanks for the suggestions. I’ve played and played and played with this thing and the only thing I can think is that this is probably supposed to be fishermans rib in which case it’s still written wrong, it would have to be something like (this probably isn’t exactly right either since I’m not too familiar with fishermans rib):
row1: p1, (k1-b, p1) across
row2: k1, (p1, k1-b) across
to work out for the odd number of stitches. Even if it meant knit or purl through the back loops, it still doesn’t make ribbing the way it’s written, it makes a seed stitch-ish thing.
Oh well, I guess I’ll do whatever.
Oh, Oh, I see now. You’re right, row 2 needs to start with a purl stitch.
The picture definitely looks like a fairly normal 1x1 ribbing. You can leave out the ‘thru the back look’ part if you just want to do a standard ribbing.
I ended up emailing the author and she got back to me and told me it was indeed knit or purl through the back loop and the instructions are written with intent for intuitive interpretation, meaning they’re not row by row exact but enough information to know what to do and to fiddle the stitches right. It is a pretty normal rib except that knitting/purling through the back loop makes a tight rib row on the right side of the fabric and a looser rib row on the wrong side of the fabric.
I am right now in the middle of this pattern and it is driving me insane that she neglects to put stitch counts at the end of each line of directions when there have been decreases or increases. I feel like I’m winging it and I’d rather have a pattern that is tried and true than lean on my meager experience. Besides the irritating lack of clear directions I have this to add: babies legs are never meant to be twice the size of his trunk. I understand the designer could have meant for the thing to be flowy, but this is ridiculous. WAY too wide in the legs! Unless you are planning to christen a 10 month old. The whole patern had to be resized because it was just big… Yes, even though I made a practice swatch and got my guage correct.
The pleats are very cute. I will admit that. I’d never made pleats and it was a fun challenge.
If there are any bored pattern designers reading this, please give us a Christening romper that is boyish. Pretty please. There are scores of Christening gowns available but hardly any choices for boys.
I love the idea of a christening romper but it seems like a relativelly new idea. Lots of boys are christened in gowns which look as beautiful on them as they do on girls. I’d love to see a picture of your finished project!
Oh my, that is adorable. I have to say that a romper is much more appropriate for a boy than a gown.
For the romper, try starting row 2 with a purl stitch. If you continue knitting rows back and forth than 35 stitches should work fine. My niece had her christening about a month ago and her mom found a website with already worn dresses to cut down on the costs even thought I offered to sew it! It ended up being a beautiful party and she did some very creative things. My son’s christening is coming up here soon so she told me about a place where you can get christening invitations in the form of magnets instead of paper invitations. People can put them on their fridge! Anyway, good luck with the romper! Would love to see it!
