Longies pattern

This is my longies pattern – knit in the round and includes a gusset. Longies or shorties made to this pattern will look like this:

Please note – apart from the longies in the top right pic, the longies above don’t yet have elastic in the waistbands, which is why they look so wide! 
The finished gusset looks like this (on some shorties this time):

 

This page is a work in progress and I don’t have measurements for all sizes. I haven’t made this in the smaller sizes so I am guessing at the number of stitches cast on.

8 ply, 100% wool is best. You’ll need 150g up to about 1 year size, allow 200g for 18 month old sizes.  NOTE:  sizes are a guestimate based on my rather skinny daughter – if you have a chubba bubba you may wish to size up and/or add short rows.

Gauge:           about 22 stitches = 10cm. 

You’ll need:   4mm 40cm circulars

                        4mm 30cm circulars (or a set of dpns)

                        2x 4mm dpns

                        Waste yarn

                        4x stitch markers

Sizes:   newborn, small (up to 6 months), medium (6-12 months), large (12 months), extra large (18 months)

Waistband:

Using a single cast on, cast on 72 (80, 88, 96, 112)

Place marker (A) and join to work in the round

SS for about 2.5 inches

On the next round, pick up the cast on edge of the first stitch and slip it onto the left hand needle. Knit that stitch and the next stitch together.

Keep picking up the cast on edge as you go and k2tog to form a tube

For the last 2 or 3 stitches of the round don’t pick up the cast on edge – this leaves a wee hole to slip the elastic into. You will have a nice tube, about 1 inch wide.

Option for a ribbed waistband:    Use a cable or double cast on and make sure the number of cast on stitches is divisible by 8. k2 p2 for 5 rounds then do one round of *YO, k2tog, p2 (repeat from *) then k2p2 for 5 more rounds  (I prefer a ribbed waistband for nb and small sizes, but I use the elastic casing waistband when the baby is old enough to undo the i-cord tie on a ribbed band)

Body

K 18 (20, 22,24,28), place marker (B), k36 (40, 44,48,56), place marker (C), k to end of round

A marks the centre back, B is the left hip and C is the right hip.

knit for one inch.

Starting at A, k to B, then turn and p back to C for a short row.

At C, turn the work again and k to A = 1 short row

I use the technique shown in this tutorial to do short rows on circulars

Knit for an inch and add a short row as above.

knit for another inch and add another short row

Keep knitting and remove markers B and C

Keep knitting until the body measures the required length – for nb do 15cm from top of work, for small do 16cm, for medium do 17cm, for large do 18cm, for extra large do 19cm. (You don’t have to stick to my measurements!  If you know the rise measurement over the nappy from crotch to waist then you can measure how long the gusset will be (ie if its a small gusset measure 6 rounds), and subtract that from the rise measurement so that you know when to start the gusset.)

Gusset:

You should still have marker A at the start of each round. When you get to 1 stitch before it, place a marker (“1”) Then when you get to A, slip it off and slip it back on 2 stitches from marker 1 (so A becomes marker “2”) – you will now have markers 1 and 2 with 2 stitches between.

Find the middle front of the work and place marker “3” and marker “4”, with 2 stitches in between, at the middle front. The markers show the sides of the gusset.  

Knit to marker 1, slip marker, kfb (knit front and back), knit to 1 stitch before marker 2, kfb, slip marker, knit to marker 3, kfb, knit to one stitch before marker 4, kfb, slip marker, knit to end of round.

For nb and small size, do this for 6 rounds = 14 stitches between the markers

For a medium size, do this for 7 rounds = 16 stitches between the markers

For a large size, do this for 8 rounds = 18 stitches between the markers

For a XL size, do this for 9 rounds = 20 stitches between the markers

Split for legs

Knit to 3 (3, 4, 4, 5) stitches before marker 2.

Place the last  8, (8, 8, 10, 10) stitches you just knit on a dpn. Using a 30cm circular (or dpns), knit across to 3 (3, 4, 4, 5) stitches before marker 4. Place the last 8, (8, 8, 10, 10) stitches on another dpn.  You will now have the stitches for one leg on a 30cm circ, the stitches for the other on a 40cm circ, and the gusset stitches on dpns in between. Thread waste yarn through the stitches on the 40cm circ to hold them. Then cut the working yarn leaving a long tail and use it to join the stitches on the dpns with kitchener stitch.

Your work will look like this after the kitchener stitch – waste yarn holds the stitches of the leg on the right, the other leg is on a 30cm needle, you can see the working yarn held to the left.

Legs

You will hopefully still have a long tail of yarn to start knitting the first leg with (this leg will already be on the 30cm circs). When have done one round and get back to the gusset, pick up stitches along the side (maybe 4 or 5, depending on how many rows your gusset is). Picking up stitches this way means you don’t have to sew up any holes later. Then just keep knitting until the leg is the desired length.

OK the best way to determine leg length is to measure against some pants that fit your longies wearer, but if you can’t measure then this is a guideline only for the length of the inseam (I measure from the edge of the crotch gusset) and including the cuff:

nb:   19cm

small:   22cm

med:   26cm

large:  30cm

xl:  33cm

I may have erred on the side of too long for those measurements, but you can always just fold up the cuff if they are too long 🙂

For the second leg, start knitting on the stitches immediately after the gusset, so that you have done one round on the leg first and then pick up the same number of stitches along the gusset as you did for the other leg.

This is what the gusset should look like when you are about to start the 2nd leg.  On the first leg I picked up 3 stitches along the edge of the crotch (they are green, can you see them?) so I will pick up three along the other side, to match.  So I will start with the first stitch after the marker, knit the round and then pick up the 3 stitches.

This is what the finished gusset looks like – no sewing required, other than the kitchener stitch that was done before the legs!  You can see the three stitches I picked up along the gusset on the left in green, and on the right in blue.

Cuffs

For a simple cuff, do 8 rounds of seed stitch (k1 p1) on an odd number of stitches. If you are about to start the cuff and have an even number of stitches, just k2tog on the inside leg before you start the seed stitch.  For a ribbed cuff do 10 rounds of k2p2 rib on an even number of stitches.  

For a lacy cuff, cast off at the desired length and knit the lace trim separately. The trim should be sewed on to the leg using a slip stitch.

About this pattern:

Free for personal, gift or donation (of knitted items) use. Do not sell items made with this pattern. Do not copy this pattern and post it on another website – you are welcome to link to this entry. Do not sell this pattern!

Splitting for the Legs:   Photo guide
I've added some pics to help you see how I do this.
Here is the work on the 40cm needle, crotch is between the two markers and ready to split for the legs.

 Now I've knit across to 4 stitches before the 2nd stitch marker.

Now I’ve slipped the last 10 stitches I knit onto a dpn (this is an XXL pair of longies)

Now I’m about to start knitting stitches onto a 30cm needle

Now I’ve knitted around the leg on the 30cm needle, and across the other side of the crotch until 4 stitches from the 2nd marker (sorry for the blurry pic)

Then I’ve slipped the last 10 stitches onto a DPN.  I now have the crotch on dpns on each side, one leg on the 30cm needle and the other leg on the 40cm needle.

I’ve turned the work around in the next photo, so that the tail of the working yarn (pink) is on the right.  I’ve replaced the 40cm needle with waste yarn (blue) so that there aren’t so many needles to juggle.  Plus I’ve finished with the 40cm needle now so that leg can just sit on the waste yarn until the other leg is finished.  I’m ready to join the crotch with kitchener stitch using the working yarn.  I’ve cut the working yarn leaving it about 3 feet long to stitch the crotch and start the leg.