I found this pattern in the "knit a day" calendar for 2009, Monday October 19. It is a wonderful christening ensemble knit in a feather and fan pattern by Margaret Jones - you can find a free download of her pattern at mybloggers.com/nittineedles (It is a wonderful pattern and I do recommend it ) I sat it aside to use when opportunity arouse. This March I found out that "G" child # 6 was on the way. Opportunity knocks. The local yarn store did not have the yarn listed in the pattern ( Bernat Baby Sparkle ) but I was able to order it online. It is a fairly inexpensive yarn. Being a impatient knitter I started right away.
I did a 'tentative" gauge swatch, which means I only did about 10 rows and then tried to count my gauge. We'll just have to see how that works out. Away I went with my circular needles and three balls of yarn. I am not sure how many times I sat it down and picked it back up that week but somewhere along the line I went back when I should have gone forth and ended up with three uneven sections (lt back, front, rt back are at t worked in a row but with 3 different balls of yarn to the underarms ) well, I decided to be "fearless" and continue on, I could work it all out when I picked up the bodice.
Well, another week went by and the feather and fans where just not lining up. I would work row 3 and no mater where in the pattern the last 6 stitches ended up, I would (k2tog) 3 times. The stitch count kept decreasing and soon I had a triangle looking thing. Something wasn't right. I could not for the life of me figure it out. I searched online and found a blog on this site with the pattern, comments, and responses from the patterns creator. Ah Ha, I posted and got a response: "No idea what I was doing wrong but should end up with a (YO,K1) 6 times before I did the K2tog 3x's. " That is were I was going wrong. I hadn't paid any attention to that. I also noted that other knitters were using long straight needles instead of circular. That worked out so much better for the first 2 1/2 inches.
So, if you like this pattern I would recommend trying it, it actually is not near as complicated as I made it, just use your head, start out with long straight wooden needles and place a stitch marker every 18 stitches. That means that row 3 ends ups like this :
(K2tog) 3 times, (YO,K1) 6 times, (K2tog)3 times, pm (or slip marker on repeat rows). Repeat across row ( even when knitting the first 3 sections with different balls of yarn)
I did change to my circulars, working back and forth, after several inches when the fear of going the wrong way had passed.
I have finished the 13 1/2 inches of the body successfully. Yeah! If I can do it you can, anyone can knit!