Cute Knits for Kiddos

There are so many cute knitting patterns out there for kids, it makes me wish I could spend all my days just knitting for my girl (she thinks all I do all day is sit around and knit and sew; I wish that were true!).

Here are a few adorable projects for little ones that have caught my eye lately if you’re in the market for some knitting for wee humans.

Need to knit a baby blanket? This simple bias garter stitch blanket from Ewe Ewe Yarns (PDF; designed by Heather Walpole) is really pretty and easy even for a new knitter.

I love Lion Brand’s Colorful Cardigan and Hat. This project uses a solid color and a bag of Vanna’s Palettes, which is a great way to add a little color to a project without having to buy big balls of each color. You could also make this a stash-busting project and use a different little odd ball for each color, if you’d rather.

The Imperial Yarn Baby Cardigan and Cascade Cardigan are two free patterns offered by Love Knitting (free registration required). They both have a bit of lace and are just darling for little ones.

Know a little one who needs a hat? Jamie from Everyday Art took a pattern she found online for a baby and little kid sized earflap hat (the original is from Hey Julie), made it bigger for her daughter, added stripes and developed her own darling ear flap hat. If my daughter didn’t already have a striped hat I would totally knit her this one. So cute!

Anything here catch your eye? Are you working on any pint-sized projects? I’d love to hear about it!

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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