Baby Sophisticate

We’ve been updating our store samples of baby sweaters, so the Baby Sophisticate was a natural addition to our collection. It’s a basic top-down knit that look great knit up in any worsted/aran weight yarn. We thought it would show off the Malabrigo Rios (we used colour 122 Niebla for this one). Overall, super happy with the outcome – our pattern notes are on Ravelry!

Materials

• Malabrigo Rios: 2 skeins (colour 122 Niebla)
• 5mm/US8-24″ circular needles
• 5mm/US8 double pointed needles
• darning or tapestry needle
• 4 buttons
• FREE Pattern via Ravelry for Babies (a paid version of the pattern is available for larger sizes, up to childrens 10)

Ribbed Baby Jacket

Debbie Bliss’s Ribbed Baby Jacket has been one of our favourites for years, so we decided to knit it up again and show you how gorgeous it looks made with Malabrigo Rios. It’s knit in one piece (up the back, across the arms, back down the fronts) and then the ribbed collar is picked-up. The seaming is limited to the underside of the arms and sides (easy seams, not highly visible, good for beginners or those who just aren’t great at finishing).

If you want to use a Cotton try Cascade Avalon (On SALE NOW), or if you want a yarn that more economical try Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted or Berroco Vintage.

Size

0 to 3 (3 to 6,  6 to 9,  9 to 12, 12 to 24) months.

Materials

• FREE Pattern
• Malabrigo Rios: 2(2, 3, 3, 3) skeins
• 5mm/US8-29″ circular needles (or longer)
• 4.5mm/US7-29″ circular needles (or longer)
• Tapestry or Darning Needle

Garter Baby Jacket

We just finished up a cute new project, a Garter Baby Jacket (cardigan). I felt we needed to do a sample of a baby sweater suitable for new knitters. Something that didn’t involve  buying a lot of materials (some ‘easy’ patterns involve buying 6 pairs of needles, stitch markers, stitch holders, etc). Any sweater project will involve learning some new skills, but I also wanted something that didn’t involve too-too many hurdles, and where those skills weren’t too hard to pick-up and could be executed looking relatively good (we all know that sometimes when you learn something new it doesn’t look perfect).

So, the details …. the jacket is knit flat in one piece, from the bottom back, up through the arms, and then down across the fronts. It is seamed along the sides and under the arms, which hides a multitude of sins, as does the garter stitch which is much easier to seam than stocking stitch. It uses only one pair of needles, and you can use straight or circular needles, whichever you prefer. To keep things simple we did not make the pockets and just skipped over that part in the instructions.

We made the smallest size and used two skeins of Malabrigo Rios. The pattern is from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss (you can’t go wrong with Debbie for gorgeous knits for kids). The book has been out for a while and can be found at public libraries (like my own Toronto Public Library, or you can scoop up a reasonably priced used copy from ABEbooks.com.  Debbie Bliss also published a similar FREE pattern, the Ribbon Tied Baby Jacket.

Materials

• Malabrigo Rios 2(3, 3) skeins
• 5mm/US8 needles (straight or circular)
• darning or tapestry needle

Similar FREE Patters

• Ribbon Tied Baby Jacket
• One Button Easy Knit Cardigan
• One Stitch Baby Sweater
• Bubblegum Baby Set

Notes

• There are corrections for this pattern, print them off before you start.
• Use a Cable Cast-On when you work the arms and neck
• See this tutorial for seaming garter stitch
• See this tutorial for weaving in ends in garter stitch
• To make the button holes you will use Yarn Overs
• If you want straight edges try using a Slipped Stitch Selvedge Edge
• Because our tension was off, our project is a bit larger than the pattern: length to shoulder 11.5″, sleeve length unrolled 8″/rolled 7″
• See our project notes on  Ravelry

Sizes

• 3-6(6-9, 9-12) months
• Length to Shoulder: 10.25(11, 11.75) inches
• Sleeve Length: 6.25(7, 8) inches

Modifications

• To keep things simpler we skipped making the pockets
• We made the smallest size and used up almost all of our yarn
• Our gauge (unblocked) was a bit larger than the pattern: 17 sts & 34 rows = 4″

Skills

• Long Tail Cast On
• Knit Stitch
• Cast Off/Bind Off
• Use a Cable Cast-On when you work the arms and neck
• Yarn Over
• Seaming garter stitch
• Weaving in ends in garter stitch