Ensar Dungarees

Ensar Dungarees by Fyberspates

What is Being Made

The Ensar Dungarees are a charming knitted playsuit designed for busy babies and toddlers. These dungarees combine practical functionality with decorative cable work, making them an ideal project for creating heirloom-quality garments for infants and young children. The design is available in five size options ranging from 3 to 24 months, with chest measurements from 41cm to 51cm.

Techniques and Stitches Used

This intermediate-level knitting project employs several key techniques that add visual interest and structure to the finished garment:

• Cable Work: The dungarees feature decorative diamond cable panels as a primary design element. Cables are created using cable needles to cross stitches over one another, producing the characteristic twisted rope-like texture.
• Reverse Stockinette Stitch: Used throughout the garment as the main background stitch, reverse stockinette (purled on right-side rows) provides a smooth, elegant canvas that allows the cable panels to stand out prominently.
• Chart Reading: The pattern requires knitters to work from charts, a skill essential for following the complex cable and stitch patterns accurately across multiple rows.
• Shaping Techniques: The pattern incorporates increasing and decreasing to shape the dungarees to fit the body properly, creating tailored armholes, leg openings, and waistline shaping.
• Stitch Pickup: Picking up stitches is used to add borders, button bands, or other finishing elements directly from existing knitted fabric.

Yarn and Materials

The Ensar Dungarees are worked in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport yarn, a luxurious blend of 45% silk and 55% superwash merino wool. This fiber composition creates a soft, durable fabric with natural sheen and easy-care properties ideal for children's garments. The yarn is supplied in 100g skeins, with yardage requirements varying by size: smaller sizes (3, 6, and 12 months) require 2 skeins, while larger sizes (18 and 24 months) require 3 skeins. The sample shown is worked in the Teal colorway (shade 308).

Needles and Notions

The project requires two pairs of knitting needles in close sizes to manage tension and stitch definition. A pair of 3mm needles (UK 11/US 2-3) and a pair of 3.25mm needles (UK 10/US 3) are used, with the larger needles serving as the primary working needles. Additional notions include a stitch holder for managing stitches during construction, 2 cable needles for executing cable crosses, and 8 buttons measuring approximately 12-15mm in diameter for fastening the dungarees.

Tension and Gauge

Achieving proper tension is critical for this project. The pattern specifies multiple gauge measurements to ensure proper fit across different stitch patterns. The diamond cable panel should measure 4.5cm (1¾ inches) across 18 stitches when worked on 3.25mm needles. Over reverse stockinette stitch, the gauge is 28 stitches and 35 rows to 10cm (4 inches) on 3.25mm needles. The average tension across both cable and reverse stockinette sections is 36 stitches and 35 rows to 10cm (4 inches) on 3.25mm needles. Knitters should swatch carefully before beginning to ensure their finished dungarees will fit properly.

Skill Level and Abbreviations

Rated as an intermediate project, the Ensar Dungarees require competence with cable techniques and chart reading. The pattern uses specialized cable abbreviations: C4B (cable 4 back) instructs knitters to slip the next 2 stitches to a cable needle and hold at the back of work, knit 2 stitches from the left needle, then knit 2 stitches from the cable needle. C4F (cable 4 front) follows the same process but holds the cable needle at the front of work instead. These cable crosses create the distinctive twisted texture that defines the dungarees' visual character.