living in the woods and making stuff

My friend has a new grandbaby, and she had the idea to make him a little red and white suit for Christmas. We came up with a super soft yarn (debbie bliss cashmerino aran) held double and knit on size 11 needles. (There isn’t a lot of time to make things this time of year…)

I made a gauge swatch, and cast on 52 stitches. Joined in the round, and ribbed for a few inches. (I cut the bottom later to add a few more inches, and some stripes of white.)

After the ribbing came stockinette stitch, until the snuggly was about the right length.

I switched to 10 1/2 needles and ribbed a few rows to gather the snuggly at the shoulders and neck. No decreases, as I didn’t want the hood to be too small.

Then came the face opening. I cast off a few stitches, and then worked back and forth on the hood, decreasing at the beginning of every other row, and then at the beginning of every third row to shape the hood, and then knit straight until the face opening was the right height. Next I cast on a few stitches, and joined the hood back into the round, and decreased every third row to make the elf hat point. With cream yarn and the 10 1/2 needles I picked up stitches around the face opening and knit a few rows of ribbing. Last but not least was the pom pom for the top of the hood.

The bottom was left open to put the outfit on, although I think that you could add some snaps to keep it closed.

Really quick and easy and snuggly for baby!