Burda Style For people who sew

Description

I knitted this bolero up for a little girl of four or five from a 1950s pattern amongst the stash her father gave me for Christmas – since she loves to wear pretty dresses even on cold days, she is one of the few modern children I know who could actually do with one!

As you can see from the pattern cover, the original bolero was in stocking stitch with a cable edge, but I find stocking stitch too boring (also, my knitting isn’t regular enough to make it look good!), so I picked one of the recommended ‘all over’ patterns for children’s garments from the “Ringing the Changes” section of my invaluable contemporary Practical Knitting Illustrated and knitted the garment in ‘All-over No 6’, the basket drop stitch: see the close-up for detail. I’m not entirely convinced that this was a good choice, as the pattern is rather square for such a non-rectangular garment, but it looks quite impressive and wasn’t hard to do (I even managed to work this while watching the BBC’s late-night ‘Mad Men’ series repeat – my first-ever attempt at knitting and watching television! I’ve since progressed to being able to knit and read at the same time, within limits…)

Apologies for the much-loved state of the model here in all his furry glory; the bolero is a little big for him.

Material Notes

About five ounces of lightweight double knitting wool; No 9 (4mm) needles.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Categories

Season

Spring, Fall

For

Children

Garment Type

Cardigan

Style

Classic, Romantic, Vintage

Material

Wool

Credits

Lavenda Hand Knit

Lavenda 475 (reproduction and original copies also available from Retro Kntting Company )

Practical Knitting Illustrated

Margaret Murray and Jane Koster