I recently took part in a kit swap of sorts, where the swappers each received a list of their assigned giftee’s knitting kit requests. The person I was assigned was a challenge in that her colors are not really my colors, and her pattern desires were not all that similar to my pattern desires. The combination of somewhat vague and largely specific left me scratching my head. In case you haven’t participated in one before, that’s how it is with all swaps (at least in my recent experience).

The pattern request, in particular, flummoxed me. You may have seen linen stitch shorties or longies for sale at Hyenacart, my preferred location for buying handmade goodies.  The stitch pattern, which isn’t all that stretchy and is incredibly dense, is a perfect application for use with cloth diapering, and it breaks up color runs when using hand-dyed yarns.  Linen stitch itself is easy.  A pattern for linen stitch longies, however, was impossible to find.  So I wrote up a recipe.

How stinking cute are these?

At this moment, 7 pairs have so far been knit up by the testers who volunteered.  Comments include that you should use needles that are a couple of sizes larger than you would normally use with the yarn you’ve chosen, and that the row gauge will be a lot smaller than you’d expect.  The pattern eats yarn, so you’ll likely need more than you would expect.  But the gusset works as it should.  The difficulty is how to achieve a seamless graft.  Does anyone know how to do a seamless graft of linen stitch?  I am experimenting, and have been, for weeks, and so far I haven’t accomplished the task.  But I want to make the recipe live, gosh darn it.  Cuteness like this shouldn’t be contained.
If you have v.1, this is the test version of the recipe, which I would have had to email you.  If you have v.2, this is the version with the test knitters comments and no instructions for how to seamlessly graft.  If you have v.3, I’ve been able to figure out how to seamlessly graft up linen stitch, and have updated the pattern accordingly.  V.3 will be accompanied by drumrolls and fanfare.

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