Monica Knits

Design Features This lace cap is knitted of fingering weight cotton yarn in pearl white with a contrasting peach I-cord tie. Garter stitch details enhance the pearlescent yarn. The body of this cap is knitted flat to the crown, beginning with a garter stitch border, followed by a vintage leaf pattern border and stocking stitch accents. A purl stitch ridge sets off the stocking stitch crown, which is knitted in the round and shaped with 5 symmetrical, spiral decreases. The garter stitch neckband has an integral eyelet row for a ribbon or an I-cord tie.

The pattern was adapted from "Infant's Sacque Set" in McCall's Spring-Summer 1967 Needlework and Crafts (pp. 96-97) magazine, with the following changes.

Modifications

1. The original pattern called for a ribbon tie, but using an I-cord tie of the same yarn allows the garment to be washed without first removing the tie. Temporarily leave the yarn tail on the I-cord to allow the use of a darning needle to thread the cord through the eyelets. Insert the partially completed I-cord and then finish knitting it in place. This allows you to knit to length, while compensating for the extra length used for threading through the eyelets.
2. The original pattern was knitted flat, but I knitted the crown in the round with circular needles, for speed and appearance reasons.
3. The original yarn was not available, so I substituted Paton's Cotton Perle, and modified the pattern to adjust for the gauge difference.
   Original gauge: 6 st/in and 8 rows/in.
   Gauge with 3.0 mm needles: 5 st/in and 8 rows/in.
4. Lightly block the garment after completing the lace border.
5. I made some minor modifications in the distribution of garter and stocking stitches above and below the leaf border motif.

Construction
The body of this bonnet is knitted flat to the crown, starting with a 3/4" garter stitch border and followed by the followed by the leaf pattern stitch. When the cap is 4" long, the crown shaping is begun. At this point I chose to join the crown in the round and knit all subsequent rows.
The crown is shaped with symmetrically spaced decreases until fewer than 10 sts remain on the needle. The yarn is cut and pulled through these remaining stitches to close the hole.
The neckband stitches are picked up along the slit opening below the crown and worked as garter stitches for 1, " with a center eyelet row for I-cord or ribbon insertion.

Quality Control Tips

1. Place markers between repeats of the border stitch pattern. This allows you to check your work as you go. The first time I made the jacket I ended up starting over because I got one stitch off and it was not easy to see where the error was. The markers are indicated with vertical red lines on the pdf file, provided in a related article.
2. Markers can also be used for the crown shaping, marking the edges of the 5 sections where the decreases take place.
3. Knit a 20 x 20 swatch to determine the appropriate needle sizes to meet the gauge.
4. Block the lace border before knitting the crown.
5. I found a chart easier to follow and less error prone than word instructions, so I constructed a spreadsheet knitting map. The spreadsheet tool also faciliates modifying the number of stitches/row to adjust gauge: you just copy the number of repeat sections until you have enough stitches. It also lets you see where best to remove a couple of stitches without compromising the design.

Supplies

1. Two (2) 3.0 mm straight needles (border motif).
2. Two (2) 3.0 mm circular needles (crown and neckband).
3. Two (2) 2.5 mm dpns (I-cord).
4. One (1) darning needle for weaving in yarn ends and threading I-cord.
5. One (50 gm) spool each of Cotton Perle in colors 6650 and 6653.
6. Row counters, yarn, and sewing or knit gauge.

Links:
Click here to transfer to the article: I-cord Tie.

Click here to transfer to Stitch Patterns for instructions on I-cord trims.

Click here to transfer to the Using a Spreadsheet to Map Knitting Patterns article.

This pattern has a garter stitch ground (not stockinette stitch), but is otherwise the Madeira Leaf Stitch border described in A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. In this example, the garter stitch ground brings out the lustre of the yarn.