soaker-city

So I learnt to knit.

I learnt to use circulars and double-pointed needles, to twisted rib and cable and increase and decrease and make little picot bobbles and ruffles and short rows without holes…eventually I would even knit socks and sweaters, but I’m getting ahead of myself. At first I knit lots of soakers, trying out lots of patterns. Some were good, some not so much. (Just for the record, the patterns all use 8 ply wool, unless otherwise noted, and I knit quite loosely – 22 stitches and XX rows to 10cm).

Here’s my composite-ed-from-many-others-pattern:
Small ~ Medium ~ Large ~ ExtraLarge 
Cast on 68/80/88/96 stitches on 3.25mm circular needles
k2 p2 rib for 5 rows either side of an eyelet row (k2 YO p2tog – remember to bring the yarn to the front of the work for the YO)
Change to 4mm needles
Stocking stitch (or garter if you want to) until the back is 14/16/18/20cm from the eyelet row, having knit 3 short rows with 2 rounds even in between, starting immediately after the rib.
Knit 17/20/22/24 stitches, then bind off 5 stitches. Knit across until 5 stitches before the three quarter mark (46/55/61/67) and bind off the next 5 stitches.
Knit back and forth across the front, decreasing one stitch in from each end of every row until 18/20/20/22 stitches remain (k1 k2togTBL at beginning of row and k2tog k1 at end of row,  p1 p2tog at the beginning and p2togTBL p1 at the end – gotta check I’ve got this the right way!)
Knit back and forth across the back, decreasing as for the front. If necessary, continue knitting until the leg opening measures 26/28/30/34cm.
Graft front and back together using the magic kitchener stitch.
Using the smaller needles pick up one stitch per row around the leg openings and knit in rib for as many rows as you like – or knit in stocking stitch for a rolled edge. Alternatively, you could crochet round the edge.

Pattern for that little pink ribbed soaker you can see up in the photo:
It fit well at 3 months and could still be squeezed into at 20 months.
Cast on 80 stitches onto 3.25mm circular needles.
k2 p2 rib for 8 rounds (insert an eyelet row if you want to)
Change to 5mm needles
Continue in k2 p2 rib until 18cm from the top
k2 p2 for 16 stitches then bind off 8 stitches, k2 p2 for 32 stitches, then bind off 8 stitches, k2 p2 right across to first bound off stitches (32 stitches)
Knit back and forth in pattern for 6 rows
Change to 4.5mm needles and knit 6 rows
Change to 4mm needles and knit 6 rows
Change to 3.75mm needles and knit 6 rows
Change to 3.25mm needles and knit 6 rows
Leave stitches live and snip the wool
Return to the stitches between the bound off stitches (the front)
Join new yarn
Continue in pattern decreasing needles size as for the back, but every two rows instead of every six
A few extra rows can be worked at the end if you like
Graft together the two sets of stiches as best you can (I made a botch up of my attempted variation on kitchener for rib )
Pick up a multiple of four stitches on 3.25mm needles around the leg openings and knit in k2 p2 rib

Lollipop Soaker Pattern:
Large
With 8ply wool cast 88 stitches onto 3.25mm circular needles, placing a marker at center back.
k1p1 rib for a dozen rows, with an eyelet row in the middle (that’s *k1 YO k2tog p1* repeat to end)
Change to 4mm needles and stocking stitch, placing marker after 22 and 66 stitches. After one round do a short row across the back between the two side markers, knit two rounds even, do another short row, knit two rounds even and do a final short row. Continue in stocking stitch until the front measures 12cm. Slip 31 stitches purlwise, put front 26 stitches on a holder, break wool and knit back and forth on remaining stitches. Decrease one stitch at each end of every row until 26 stitches remain (k1, k2togTBL at beginning of row and k2tog, k1 at end of row, p1 p2tog at the beginning and p2togTBL, p1 at the end). Continue in stocking stitch until rise measures XXcm in total. Graft the stiches together with kitchener stitch. Pick up 64 stitches around the leg holes on 3.25mm needles and do 9 rounds of k1p1 rib. Cast off loosely.
Actually, if truth be told, I didn’t want pooling in this soaker so every few rows I did a complete short row the whole way round – that’s almost as bad as when I snipped lengths of thread almost every row in a pair of longies to get the same colours all together.
Such instructions do not need to be written into the pattern, but I do need to write myself a little reminder of
How To Wrap A Stitch For Short Rows:
Slip a stitch
Bring the yarn from the back of the wool to the front of the knitting
Turn the knitting
Slip the just-slipped stitch back to the original needle
Bring the yarn forward (yes, I know you already brought it forward, but you turned the work and so it went to the back)
Now it’s ready to purl