Cece is about 5 months old in the outfit photo. Little sister Jojo is 17 months old in the third photo (1/18/22).

For the reasons I mentioned in my notes for the Pink Fan Cardigan I decided the pants should be smaller rather than larger so they would be closer to a 3-6 month size. (When I gave these pants to my cousin she said she thought they looked closer to 6-12 months. So we will see.)

I cast on 52 stitches instead of 54 stitches for a finished leg circumference of 9”. I increased to 58 stitches for the hips, per the Blue Set instructions, (instead of 60 stitches) for a finished hip measurement of 20”.

I made the pants 15” long instead of 15.25” long. I knit the leg for 6.75” before increasing for the hips for a total leg length of 7.75”.

I decided to stop the fan panel once I started increasing for the hips so that the baby’s diaper wouldn’t show through the eyelets.

When working the hip increases the pattern says to increase in the first stitch, work across, then increase one stitch from the edge. I decided to do both increases one stitch in from the edge instead.

The pattern says to work the waistband ribbing for 1.5” for a finished width of 3/4” (to fit 3/4” wide elastic) but I decided to work it for 2” (16 rows) for a finished waistband width of 1” because the 3/4” wide elastic wouldn’t fit.

The ribbing pulls the waist in to about 18”. I used 18” of 3/4” wide knit elastic from Hobby Lobby.

The pattern has you sew the elastic before sewing it into the pants (versus sewing the waistband then inserting the elastic). I think this is a good method - trying to sew the elastic when it’s already inserted into the waistband would have been difficult.

I whipstitched the edges of the waistband together so the seam is invisible and there is no bulk.

I decided to add a ribbon to the waistband since I had to buy a spool for the matching bonnet. I used a 5/8” wide ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I cut two 11” pieces and sewed them to the inside of the waistband. I used Fray Check on the raw edges.

Ribbon Eyelets:
Left Leg: row 4: work 5 sts, yo, k2tog, work to end
Right Leg: row 4: work to last 7 sts, k2tog, yo, work to end

I underestimated how labor intensive a pair of pants would be. There’s so much seaming and sewing.

Measurements:

• Waist: 18”
• Hips: 20”
• Length: 15”

Total Cost: $3.60

• Yarn: $1.91
• Ribbon: stash
• Elastic: $1.69