Jewel Profusion

This teeny tank in jewel tones is the quickest to knit! Here's the ingenious pattern: http://www.zibibboisgood.com/patterns/patt_10minutetank.pdf

I had made one for my 4.5 yr old niece by following exact instructions from the pattern. One tank-top later, I got wiser. In place of a double-needle BO seam, I used kitchener grafting to seam the edges - gives a clean invisible seam. Also, for this second one (the one in the picture here), I reduced the size to fit my 1.5 yr old pretty little niece.

I didn't want to change the gauge by using smaller sized needles. Although it is a perfectly respectable practice - if at all this method is used - I prefer knitting less and enjoy getting my fingers dirty with the nuts and bolts of garment architecture. So I did some basic re-engineering to arrive at the new numbers.

I followed the original pattern to derive a pattern diagram, divided it into blocks and converted stitches/rows numbers to cms going by the gauge in the pattern. I then diminished the size of each block in the schematic to suit my baby-niece's measurements. Finally, I arrived at the new numbers by converting the length/breadth/hypotenuse etc of each geometric block by using the gauge I derived from my swatch. The end result is just perfect!

Thank you Nee for the wooden buttons idea. Found just the right ones at the yarn expo.