SnugSnugSnugSnug aaaa(n almost seamless) baby hoodie(n almost seamless) baby hoodie(n almost seamless) baby hoodie(n almost seamless) baby hoodie by hinke

Materials

* 200 - 250 meters of Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool, or

any good substitute

* Size 6 mm (US10) 50cm/20" circular, and a set of

6 mm dpn's

* Crochet hook at about the same size as needles

* 1 stitch marker

* 3 buttons

Size

* newborn to 6 months, fabric is very stretchy

Gauge

* 14 sts x 30 rows = 10 x 10 cm (4" x 4")

Notes and stitch guide

* Start all rows by slipping the 1st stitch knitwise.

* Provisional cast on by crochet, see tutorial here:

bellaknitting.typepad.com/bella_knitting/2007/10/provis

ional-cas.html

* Invisible vertical seaming on garter stitch:

www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring04/mattress.html

* Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn bind off:

www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATsum06TT.html

* Grafting (aka kitchener stitch)

www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html

* Garter stitch: knit all rows.

* Garter stitch in the round: knit 1 row, purl 1 row.

* RS = right side of work, WS = wrong side

* K2tog = knit 2 together, SSK = slip slip knit

Directions

Body

With circular needle (or straight if you wish) cast on

32 sts using the crochet provisional cast on (*see

notes). Knit 5 cm (2") in garter stitch, where first

row is WS. From now on start every row by slipping

first st knitwise.

Next row (RS) knit 20 sts, then knit remaining 12 sts

with a piece of scrap yarn in contrasting color. Slip

these sts back onto left needle and knit them again

with normal yarn. This will be the left sleeve inset.

Turn work and continue

in garter stitch for 25 cm

(10"). At next RS row

knit 20 sts, then knit

remaining 12 sts with a

piece of scrap yarn in

contrasting colour. Slip the 12 sts back onto left

needle and knit them again with normal yarn. This

will be right sleeve inset.

Knit 5 cm (2") in garter stitch, ending with WS row.

Do not bind off, but slip the 32 sts on a piece of

scrap yarn and for now leave them to rest.

Fold piece at both sleeve

insets, and seam front

shoulder parts to back

shoulder parts, as shown

in diagram: attach A to A and B to B, using the

invisible vertical seaming on garter stitch method

(*see notes).

Sleeves

With dpn's (or magic loop method if you prefer) pick

up the sts that hold the left sleeve inset’s scrap

yarn, starting at the armpit. Unravel scrap yarn.

Start knitting garter stitch in in the round (*see

notes), beginning with a purl round and picking up

an extra st before first st and after last st (26 sts).

K2tog last and first st at every 5 cm (2") at the

beginning of a knit round 3 times (23 sts). At a

length of 16 cm (6") bind off using Elizabeth

Zimmermann's sewn bind off (*see notes).

Repeat for right sleeve.

Front flaps and hood

With circular needle, pick up (without knitting) the

32 sts from provisional cast on of left front. Undo

the crochet chain. Now, using the provisional cast

on by crochet method again, cast on for the hood:

with crochet hook make a chain of something like 60

chain sts, and pick up 52 of the chain’s back loops

with the circular needle. End with picking up the

next 32 sts of the right front. You'll now have a total

of 116 sts on your circular needle.

At first row (RS, starting at left bottom) knit all sts,

turn and continue garter stitch until you have 9 cm

(3,5"). Ending with a WS row, bind off all sts using

the sewn bind off method.

Now start the back of the hood by picking up the 52

provisional sts with the circular needle. Undo the

crochet chain. Count the rows along the back

neckline and divide this number by 2 – this will be

the amount of rows you'll knit for the back of the

hood. Continue knitting in garter stitch.

At the 11th row before reaching your calculated

amount of rows, place stitch marker at the center

of the sts (between 26th and 27th st). Next row (RS),

to get a rounded hood, start decreasing the top as

follows:

* Row 1 (RS) – ssk 6th and 5th st before marker, and

k2tog 5th and 6th st after marker

* Row 3 – ssk 5th and 4th st before marker, and k2tog

4th and 5th st after marker

* Row 5 – ssk 4th and 3rd st before marker, and k2tog

3rd and 4th st after marker

* Row 7 – ssk 3rd and 2nd st before marker, and k2tog

2nd and 3rd st after marker

* Row 9 – ssk 2nd and 1st st before marker, and k2tog

1st and 2nd st after marker

You now decreased 10 sts, ending with 42 sts on

your needle. Knit one more row (WS). With 21 sts at

each of your needles, close hood by grafting (*see

notes) these sts together. Seam bottom of hood to

back of neck, using the invisible vertical seaming on

garter stitch.

Finishing

With crochet hook and starting at the WS, single

crochet along the left front from neck to bottom,

evenly spaced making 3 chained loops to match the

size of your buttons. Block piece and sew on

buttons. Fold cuffs. Enjoy!

© 2009 Hinke – pattern free for non-commercial use only