Fair Isle band on jumper for 6-9 month little girl

Sometimes I am very fickle, even though I try hard not to be and usually it’s the colour of something that elicits a visceral reaction which can change from love to not-quite-sure -I-even-like-it in an embarrassingly short period of time, The main body of this jumper is ‘mink’ (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino) which I bought for that very bad reason that I thought it wold be ‘useful’. I then took an intense dislike to the colour and, having 3 balls, rushed to get something knitted up and out of my sight.

Jumper for 6-9 month baby

Curiously, somewhere half way through the knitting I became more mellow, warmed to its gentle fur like quality and by the end of the garment, quite overcome I positively felt the need to stroke it. Relief washed over me – I love it once more.

Jumper for 6-9 month baby: collar up

A simple band of Fair Isle  in a couple of my favourite colours, coral and baby blue, (the design found in Mary Jane Mucklestone’s directory of 200 Fair Isle designs) made knitting more interesting. Bands of both colours were necessary for the collar as by this time mink was vanishing fast. Ah, now the collar… Daughter No 1 has put in an order for more polo shirts (the knitted versions seen here) which she finds useful as the collar can be turned up around the baby’s face when she has her in the baby carrier and it gets a bit breezy. So, in experimental mood I attempted to marry the polo neck collar from one Debbie Bliss pattern to the neck of her simple raglan sleeve jumper, short rows and all. I could perhaps have added another couple of short rows,  but to be fair, the collar does fold down, even if it does need a bit of help.  The real proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We shall see. When all was finished I added a yellow centre to the Fair Isle to give the whole thing a bit of a lift. Now I wouldn’t even be surprised if the jumper becomes a bit of a favourite!

Jumper for baby 6-9 moths: detail of collar