Knit a Sweet Speckled Cardigan for a Little One

Knitting for babies and toddlers is so satisfying because the projects are generally pretty small (for garments, anyway) and it’s easy to make them look fancy without a lot of extra work on your part.

The Growing Garden Cardigan by Sandi Rosner for Purl Soho is a project like that. It looks really interesting because of the colorwork, but it’s not at all that hard to do.

The cardigan uses slip stitches to break up the stripes, which is an easy technique that only requires working with one color of yarn at a time. The project is shown using one color for the background and four coordinating colors (made with their mini balls of yarn) for the stripes, but you can use a single solid color, a variegated colorway or odd balls left over from other projects.

Since this project is for kids its a great idea to use yarn that’s washable. The pattern calls for a DK weight cotton yarn.

The pattern comes in four sizes, to fit a newborn, 6-12 months, 12-18 months and 18-24 months, and is meant to be worn with an inch or two (2.5-5 cm) of positive ease since it will be worn over other clothes.

The design is a top-down cardigan worked flat in one piece, with the sleeves worked in the round from the top down after the body of the sweater is done. To make it even easier, you don’t have to cut the yarns you aren’t working with as you go; just carry them up the edge for fewer ends to weave in.

This project is a good introduction to sweater knitting if you’ve never done it before, and it would make a great gift for a little one in your life no matter the climate where they live. Of course you could also make this in a washable wool to make it warmer for kiddos who live in colder climates.

Grab the free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

Have you read?