Knitted stripes at the double

Childs top in knitted stripes

Two colour knitting in single row stripes can be a pain. The yarn for the next colour change is always at the wrong end of the work! But an easy solution is to use two needles with points at both ends.

I recently inherited some one's lifetime collection of knitting needles containing many double pointers in various lengths so I was able to set about this little dazzler of a child's knitted top inspired by a man's vintage sports shirt I had seen in one of my favourite old books, Modern Knitting.

Jane Koster and Margaret Murray's 1940's book Modern Knitting Illustrated is an other knitting classic published by Odhams Press. The images are just so evocative of the time and a lovely reminder of  how to go about making the most of limited resources. If you ever see a copy; - spot a little lamb tugging a tiny truck laden with wool knitting pins and book on the cover, do not fail to buy it.

I made up this pattern for a four year old, but you could replicate it in any size, taking a standard stocking stitch, round necked jumper as a basic guide. The button opening is started just above the point where the sleeves come in by leaving six or so stitches on a holder and completed one side at a time. I reinforced the button band with cotton tape. The collar is a simple straight band in rib knitted up on the stitches around the neck.

The original man's sports shirt was knitted in two yarns one cotton and the other wool, this one is somewhat similar being knitted in the remainders of indeterminate cones of yarn. The red being quite soft and the yellow a little finer and harder they are quite nicely balanced and dare I say?....it turned out quite nifty but thrifty!

Woolly Facade