Web-Letter, Issue 70 – Child's Holiday Capelette Jil Eaton became a knitwear designer in a roundabout way. When her son, Alexander, was born, she knitted sweaters for him—sweaters so colorful and charming that they caused passersby to halt her on the street for info on where to buy them. At a time when most children’s sweaters were worked in traditional pastel colors and small needles, Jil opted for bright colors and worsted-weight or chunky yarns. Alexander has long outgrown his colorful sweater collection; he’s now a college graduate and his wardrobe is colored more urban grunge than primary. And Jil’s name has become synonymous with kids knitwear. You can see more of her work on her website www.minnowknits.com. Recently, she introduced her own yarn—MinnowMerino—a yarn that pairs perfectly with her cheerful, offbeat designs.
The Story: Christmas is my favorite season, full of lights and magic, surprises and presents, and knitting! For as long as I can remember, I’ve been knitting for everyone on my gift list. Often I make small delights such as boot sox, fleece-stuffed mittens and neck warmers—and sweaters for the kids. This year I decided to take a slightly different route for the little girls on my list with this darling holiday capelet. Without sleeves, it’s quick to knit, but stylish and warm nonetheless. I varied the red-and-green holiday colors by adding details in icy pink and blue. For Chanukah, the capelet would look cute in Bluette, a favorite color from my palette, as the main color. The trim for this project is simply a single crochet chain that you sew on in lazy loops. Make it slightly longer than you need, so you can rip back a few stitches as needed when the beginning of the chain meets the end. The little pink bobbles are french knots worked with a double length of yarn. Add your own embellishments to suit the recipient—perhaps little pom-poms and/or bells? If you get started now, you can easily have this chic little cape knitted up in time for the holidays! Happy holidays and happy knitting! Visit the MinnowKnits website. The Yarns: MinnowMerino — 100% extra fine superwash wool MinnowMerino is a super-soft, extra-fine merino yarn developed by Jil Eaton for her MinnowKnits designs. The single-ply, lightly spun yarn knits up into a fluffy, cozy fabric. As an added bonus, the yarn is superwash—it goes from the hamper into the washing machine. MinnowMerino comes in Jil’s signature palette. The 21 colors are clean, bright, and saturated—with the allure of a freshly opened box of crayons. The yarn is great for Jil’s kids designs, past and present, and it’s also great for just about anything you’d like to make in a worsted-weight yarn. The Stitches: Jil Eaton’s capelet is worked from the neck to the hem. One of the advantages of working sweaters from the top down is that you can try it on as you go for a perfect fit. For custom fitting, you can decide on the best length for a project by trying it on the wearer, rather than working to a given number. If the piece is too long, rip out. If it’s too short, keep knitting. When knitting a garment with sleeves, you can adjust sleeve as well as body length. Knitting a garment top down and in the round also minimizes how much finishing you have to do—no sleeves to set in and no side seams to sew. And, because you are working the entire body at once, even if you run short on yarn, you can still end with an even edge around the bottom—and an added contrast trim.	more photos The Pattern: Here is the free downloadable Child's Holiday Capelette pattern. If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try this: page 1
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