From: ljensen@steamboat.cray.com (Laura E Jensen)
Subject: KNIT: Baby Bunting -> "Baby Bag"; longish

You might want to consider a knitted "baby bag" instead
of a bunting;  I bought one of the "baby bag" snowsuits 
for my infant daughter last November.  It has a drawstring
around the shoulders and no arms, but legs.  This makes 
it easier to use in carseats and in infant carriers.

Now I live in northern Wisconsin, where the temperature
gets down to -25 or so in the winter, so I thought that the
snowsuit could use a little help!  So I started knitting a 
bunting to go inside it.  I had some peach superwash wool
on hand, which was originally going to be a bed jacket for
me, but that never materialized...

Here's an ASCII drawing for some context; this is the finished bag:

              _______ 
             /       \
            /         \
           /           \
           |\         /|
           | \       / |
           |  \     /  |
           |   \. ./   |
           |    |Z|    |               . = toggle
           |    |Z|    |               Z = zipper
           |    |Z|    |
           |    |Z|    |
           |    |_|    |
           |    | |    |
           |    | |    |
           |    | |    |
            \__/   \__/
 

I knitted this from the top down.
I cast on about 60 stitches and worked in stockinette stitch in 
short rows for 4 or 6 rows to round off the top.  Then I increased 
one stitch at the end of each knit row until I had 120 stitches.
Then I knitted straight down the body for 10 or 12 inches, and then
I cast on 10 stitches at one selvedge and knit all the stitches in 
the round for an inch or so.  Then I knit the 10 crotch stitches back 
and forth for 2 inches, and grafted them to the corresponding stitches 
at the center back.  Then for each leg, I picked up the 5 selvedge 
stitches from the crotch piece, and knitted the two legs in the 
round until they were about 10 inches long.  I finished the legs 
like a sock toe.  

To finish, I picked up stitches all around the neck and front opening,
and worked 8 rows, increasing at the upper corners.  I turned the hem
around the neck and shoulders with a picot point hem, and I turned
it at the front edge with a row of purls.  Then I knitted the 8 rows
again, decreasing the stitches at the corners again to go around the
corner.  I hemmed down all of the stitches, and threaded a drawstring
through the last hole of the picot point edging.  I put a toggle on 
the ends of the drawstring.  I hand-sewed a zipper into the front
edges.

This has turned out to be a useful garment.  My daughter *seems* 
comfortable in it, even when it did get down to -30!  The "boughten"
Baby Bag slips over it, and the harness for the car seat fastens
easily.  When it gets warmer, I'll use the knitted bag alone.
I thought about knitting the body in something less, well, boring 
than plain stockinette, but then I realized that I what I wanted
was a finished garment rather than a work of art!  I thought about 
doing some kind of ornamentation, say a two color pattern or some 
embroidery around the shoulders, but then I thought "nah!".  Maria 
looks *really* cute in it, she has a yellow Aran cardigan that I
knit years ago (hi Esther!), and a matching tam that I knit last fall.  
---
This pattern downloaded from Wool Works: the online knitting compendium
http://www.woolworks.org/