Buddah Bellies

[pageta]

DS has a buddah belly, so everything always ends up riding at the waist in back and below his belly in front. We use Kisslauvs because of that, and our soakers always look funny to me because they go all the way up to the waist (and then they fall down like everything else). So here's an idea I tried that seemed to work okay. Feel free to try it and see what you think.

I took my soaker pattern and subtracted 2 inches from the rise. I did the ribbing, and then the first row underneath the ribbing (stockinette stitch), I knit across the back, and when I got to the side marker, I turned around and did a short row between the side markers in back. The next short row was 4 stitches past the side markers (4 stitches inside the front half). I did a total of 4 sets of short rows, each going 4 stitches closer to the front center than the last. They blended right in because the ribbing hides the V where you wrap the stitch and turn. My gauge, by the way, is 7 rows/inch. Then I did everything else like I normally do, including the number of short rows I add in the back.

[twouglyducks]

Oh... I have no idea what you're saying, but when I learn, I think I'll need to do something similar with my son. He has a round belly too .. over tiny hips and a bitty butt. :lol:

[knittingnana]

:) Are you using a round needle?

[pamelamama]

Did you do rows between those short rows, or all in sequence? I found when I did them all together like thatI got a very severe pooch. And you did these short rows wrapping around to the front? I'm gonna need to see a picture.

[pmcgary]

Sounds like she is doing LONG short rows. I too would love to see a picture!

[pageta]

They are very long short rows, and they are all together, and I don't get a pooch. The LTK longies have the short rows all together like that (but placed lower down) and that's where I got the idea. You don't even notice they're there unless closely examine the soaker and try really hard to follow the rows of knitting. I cast on 112 sts and then added 12 in back after the ribbing so there are about 28 sts in front that don't have any short rows at all (56-16-16). On this one I did the LTK longies style of short rows further down. They pooch when it's lying flat, but when I put it on him they look great. I'll try to take some pictures and post them for you.

[pamelamama]

Cool, I'll be curious to compare this to the short rows strategy we're testing on our cargo shorts pattern.