Saturday, 11 June 2011

Jiffy bag for a baby

A little while ago I blogged about my love for French knitting patterns...  

This holds especially true when it comes to patterns for children and babies.  I tend to find that French childrenswear combines an element of fun with a great sense of style.  It avoids being overly twee without going to the other extreme of trying to look like miniature adult wear and often takes the form of simple blocky shapes, adorned with pom poms, stripes or tassels, in colour palettes that veer between chic neutrals and quirky brights...   or to put to another way, you don't see many French babies clad in peach acrylic matinee jackets.  
   
Anyway... now that my own little alien is 4 days days overdue, I am pleased to announce that I have finished my small homage to French babywear in the nick of time.  Behold the baby sleep sack...  (or, if you like, the glorified jiffy bag!)


This is made using a pattern called Confortable, which originated in a French magazine and has since been translated into English by a brilliant lady on Ravelry, here.

Having taken advice from others, I made this a few inches longer and wider than the pattern recommends, in the hope that it will fit for longer.  (For now I've delayed blocking it, until I see how well it fits little master   newborn, when he arrives - but I reckon I could probably grow it a fair bit, if need be).  


Anyway I would happily recommend both the pattern and the yarn.  I used Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a silver grey colour.  It has a nice sproingy twist to it that gives it some loft and makes the knitted fabric feel soft and comfortable.  Hopefully boy will agree...


Full details of the pattern, yarn and needle size can be found on Ravelry, here

EDIT:  Since I wrote this post, baby has been born and he fits into the sack with room to spare... pic here:  http://susiefhandmade.blogspot.com/2011/07/9-month-craft-project.html


EDIT:  I have had a lot of requests to share the English translation of this pattern, so I have put it online here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ibivZ5ex6mMVpBeTVZY1JLLVU/view?usp=sharing  (I assume this is ok, given that the  original pattern is available online for free)


12 comments:

  1. Brandon11 June 2011 at 19:08

    Nice post! Glad I found this blog!

    check out mine? I'm a photographer!

    www.electricbrandon.com

    If you want, follow it and I'll do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  2. pinkundine13 June 2011 at 15:56

    That's so cool, I love the hood! Good plan to wait on the blocking, hopefully that should give you more time to use it ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan Flockhart13 June 2011 at 18:30

    Thanks Pink :-)

    I should mention that I was pleased to discover your blog the other day, thanks to Tink's Stylish Blogger Awards!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LadyLOOsingIt20 December 2011 at 04:31

    Do you have the pattern you used to knit this???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan Flockhart31 May 2012 at 13:41

      here's a link for you http://www.scribd.com/doc/95417916/Confortable-English-Translation

      Delete
  5. Claresy9211 May 2012 at 15:54

    Please could you forward me the English pattern? Claresy921@yahoo.co.uk
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan Flockhart31 May 2012 at 13:42

      hi, here's a link http://www.scribd.com/doc/95417916/Confortable-English-Translation

      Delete
  6. Mark Dawson22 May 2012 at 07:46

    Nice post!Glad I found this blog! thanks for this blog post Jiffy bags

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rory Fugerson11 September 2012 at 05:30

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AmericanGirl14 March 2017 at 19:50

    I really appreciate the translation and I'm trying to figure it out. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what to do for the first row and front part. Can you help me understand? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan Flockhart14 March 2017 at 21:07

      Hi, it's been a while but I just had a look at the pattern and I suspect what might be confusing you is that the cable pattern has been separated out from the main pattern, so you have to hop around a bit and look it up every time you get to a cable bit.

      Each cable is achieved over 12 stitches, and it takes 8 rows to complete the repeat, Then you start again with row 1 and repeat it all, until you have enough length. Does that make sense?

      So, for example, to make the front piece, you would do as follows:

      1. Cast on 64 stitches.

      2. Now follow this convention...

      Row 1: K1 [follow Row 1 of the cable pattern for 12 stitches] K13 [follow Row 1 of the cable pattern again for 12 stitches] k1.

      Row 2: K1 [follow Row 2 of the cable pattern for 12 stitches] P13 [follow Row 2 the cable pattern again for 12 stitches] k1.

      Row 3: K1 [follow Row 3 of the cable pattern for 12 stitches] K13 [follow Row 3 of the cable pattern again for 12 stitches] k1.

      Row 4: K1 [follow Row 4 of the cable pattern for 12 stitches] P13 [follow Row 4 of the cable pattern again for 12 stitches] k1.

      And so on...

      Notice that you are alternating K and P on the 13 stitches in between the two cable repeats, so that the middle bit between the cables will be stocking stitch.

      When you get as far as Row 9, you just carry on as before, re-starting the cable pattern from Row 1, Does that make sense?

      You continue that way until you've got 40 cm (or as long as you want) then change to a K3, P3 ribbing pattern for another 10 cm, then cast off.

      Hope that helps,
      Sue

      Delete
  9. DarleneAP20 May 2017 at 01:02

    I'm having a hard time with the assembly. It says to mark the 40 cm on each side of front and back. Then it says to sew the base together between these markers. The 40 cm measures up the front and back, yet it is sewn at the base of the front and back. Can you explain?

    ReplyDelete

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