Knit a Totally Adorable Baby Sweater!
My Sister Knits has the cutest little sweater that has caught my eye the last few times I’ve been in the shop! It’s the Growing Garden Cardigan and it comes in sizes Newborn, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, and 18-24 months. If you have a baby to knit for, this might go to the top of your list!
Our sample is knit with Studio Misha and Puff Merino Wool as the main color and leftover Malabrigo Rios as the contrasting color. You can use any DK weight yarn you’d like for this project, so find a color you love and use that as your main color!
This is a straightforward Purl Soho pattern that is also free! The colorwork is mosaic, meaning slipped stitches, making it so easy! Even if you’ve never tried any colorwork before, this sweater will make you feel like a champ! You’ll find the complete instructions on the Purl Soho website. Throughout the pattern, there are video links to anything that isn’t a knit or purl stitch such as M1L; slip, slip, knit; knit front and back, etc.
Misha and Puff yarn
However, there are no links to picking up stitches for the button band. Cocoknits has an interesting, unusual way of doing this that I’m going to try the next time I’m knitting a button band. This video, by Roxanne Richardson, shows several ways to pick up stitches. Remember that in knitting there are usually several paths to the outcome you want!
Now that you’re ready to make this totally adorable sweater, you get to choose your contrast colors! There are all sorts of ways you can choose what to use for the contrast color/s. A stress-free way is to choose a yarn that changes colors on its own, such as Spincycle. Not much is needed so you might want to check your stash for any leftovers.
Misha and Puff yarn
You could use just one color as the contrast color which is also completely stress-free. Another option is a mini skein set. The pattern calls for 4 contrast colors and uses 58 yard/25 gram mini skeins. Or you could again go to your stash and see what you already have that you’d love to put in a baby sweater!
Use your kitchen scale (yes, I’m assuming you have one) set to grams to weigh what you have as you’ll need at most 50 grams. The pattern gives you the amount you’ll need for each size. It’s always fun to go to the Ravelry project pages to see what others have done.
samples of mini skeins
We have several mini skeins, both singles and in sets, that would work beautifully for this! Never fear, the pattern tells you when to use each contrast color. We encourage you to mark each contrast color with its number as in CC1, CC2, etc. to avoid mixing them up.
If you’re unsure what to use as contrast color/s, we’d love to help you! And then, once you’ve finished it, you get to choose buttons!!
Happy knitting,
