For the want of a gold sweater

A wonderful friend of mine bought Little Bit some clothes when she was born, one article being a beautiful green velvet dress perfect for Christmas, but it is sleeveless. I don’t understand sleeveless Christmas dresses for little babies/children. I get that in some places it’s not cold in December (heck, it’s not cold here– we are currently rocking a 50+ degree day). But seriously. Come on. It’s December. Sew some sleeves on these suckers. So I figured I could just pick Little Bit up a gold cardigan to protect her little shoulders and arms. A gold cardi at Christmas time shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Ahahahahahahhahahhahahahha- no.

You’ve heard talk of people living in food deserts and yadda yadda. Well I live in a food/clothes/stores in general desert. The town I live nearest to has a whopping population of 450. We have a bank, a post office that’s open for two hours every day, two small gift/antique shops, a cafe which is open for lunch only, a library, three churches, and two bars. That’s it. The nearest gas station is a 30 minute round trip. The nearest big box store (affectionately referred to as Hell-Mart) is a 40 minute round trip. Hell-Mart is as useful as an appendix. But, I digress….

I packed up Little Bit, hitched up the horses and drove to the big town. Of course the big box store had zip. Cardigans for big-little girls but nothing for little-little girls except fleece hoodies in neon pink. -_-  So, I drove to the one department-like store in that town, sat in the parking lot nursing Little Bit for 15 minutes, only to be greeted with more nothing upon walking in. We headed for home.

I searched for gold cardigans online thinking -surely I can find one and get it shipped here by Sunday for church. Sure. Sure. —Not a ding dang one in her size that I could find that wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. Procrastination and thriftiness are a fine combo.

As I often do, I turned to my hook and stash. I have plenty of gold yarn but finding a pattern that could be finished in four days, that was another story. I looked at some pictures and googled some things and spent some time thinking about it. And Little Bit’s Nonchalant Shrug was born.

The Nonchalant Shrug

size: 3 months (can be adjusted by adding more chains, multiple of 6 plus 1)

3 oz Light worsted weight yarn (think Caron Simply Soft rather than Red Heart Super Saver)

H hook

gauge: 9 rows in pattern equals 4 inches; work should measure 5″ across before sleeves are sewn up.

Ch 26.

1- Sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across (25 sts). Turn.

2- Ch 1. Sc in first st and across. Turn.

3- Repeat row 2.

4- Ch 2. Dc in first, ch 1, dc in same. *Skip 2, [(dc, ch 1) twice, dc] in next st, skip 2, sc 1 in next.* Repeat from * to * to last three stitches. Skip 2. (Dc, ch 1, dc) in last st. Turn.

5- Ch 1. Sc in 1st st. *Skip 2 sts, [(dc, ch 1) twice, dc] in next st, skip 2 sts, sc 1 in next.* Repeat from * to end. Turn.

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until work measures desired length (17.5″ for 3 month).

Work a row of sc for next row, working into all stitches and chain one spaces. Work two more rows of sc evenly across. Fasten off.

To sew sleeves:  fold work in half lengthwise. Sew long sides together from edge to approximately 4″ in on each end, leaving a 9.5″ opening in center.

For collar/hem: join yarn near one sleeve on the edge of the work. Sc evenly around the opening edge on both edges, approximately 80 stitches. Join with a slip stitch. Work three more rows in single crochet evenly around. Fasten off. Weave in ends. Block lightly.

Slip it over your baby girl’s shoulders to keep her warm in that sleeveless Christmas dress.

 

Disclaimer: As before, this pattern has not been tested. Please let me know if you find any mistakes. Thanks!