If you’ve ever knit (or shopped) for a little boy, you’ve probably noticed that there’s a real deficit in terms of selection and style. Designer Renee Lorion is helping to change that with her brand, Tot Lot, offering a collection of handknitting patterns that she’s coined “hip knit duds for little dudes.”
Renee’s Twisted Rib Cardigan is a sophisticated sweater that really looks as though it’s menswear shrunken to fit your little man. In addition to the pronounced twisted rib detail, the cardigan features a v-neck and a hemmed button band. Each piece is knit flat and seamed. Renee chose our Vintage DK yarn for the design because she knows it will wear well even on the most active of kids. The pattern is sized to fit boys 6 months to six years old.
Did you make this design for anyone in particular?
I wanted to make some practical sweaters for my own tot, who is two and a half nowI wanted to design some clothes for him that were a little more grown-up, like something his dad might wear.
How did you decide on the yarn?
Vintage is a great all-around yarn. It comes in beautiful colors – I’m especially drawn to the heathers. It’s also practical and wears well, which is important because little kids are really hard on clothes. You don’t want your handknits to be so precious that you never want to let the kid out of the house in them.
Any knitting disaster stories?
The first scarf I ever made was for my college boyfriend. It was an awful, green garter stitch mess and somehow I was adding stitches every row without realizing it. When I finished it was basically the size of a bath towel. I insisted that he wear it. He was a good sport, but he was probably stoked to burn that thing when we broke up!
What’s your favorite thing about knitting?
I love a lot of things about knitting, not least the community of people who love it as much as I do. But if I really have to say, I think my favorite thing about knitting is just squishing new hanks of yarn. I like the possibility of the hank and thinking about what it could become, as much as or more than the finished project.
Do you have a cool design you want to share? Or did you recently finish a project with Berroco yarn? You can email Ashley: apalumbo@berroco.com or post it to the Berroco Lovers forum in Ravelry.