It’s sweater weather season and as such I’m designing patterns and knitting sweaters for my kiddos like crazy to keep them warm during these chilly Montana days in the autumn, winter and spring seasons. And you know kids, they grow so fast they need knew knits every year so I’m VERY busy.
Introducing: Baby Wheat Cardigan Knitting Pattern
This sweater was inspired by our first summer here in our new home in Montana. Being a New England girl, I had never seen field of wheat before. If you haven’t, IT IS BEAUTIFUL. It can be totally mesmerizing too in the wind. It almost like waves of water. I wanted to capture that in a sweater for my preemie daughter to wear over her Sunday church outfits. It gets very cold here in winter so layers are super important, hence the cardigan. I specifically chose a super soft fingering weight yarn that would keep her warm without overheating her. A nice light layer.
The Struggle Was Real!
I actually really struggled with this pattern. I had originally intended for it to be a raglan cardigan because I much prefer seamless. As my baby #5 says all the time when he doesn’t like something but wants to be nice, weaving in ends is ‘not my favorite’.
I typically write my patterns BEFORE I start knitting. That way I can edit, and tweak as I knit. I won’t forget what I did either, a common problem this mom of 8 runs into. For hours I sat there fighting to make the raglan work. Once I finally got it there, I started knitting but it still felt off. I can’t explain it, but I just new I had to venture into a type of sweater I had never designed before, drop sleeve. I have made many drop sleeve sweaters for my kids but had never designed one. But this lace just needed it! So I frogged my work and started the pattern over from scratch. Less than 2 hours later and the new draft was complete. It only required fine tuning as I worked it up.
I am so glad I took the leap because drop sleeve was 100% the correct choice!
Let this be a lesson for you, follow your gut and don’t be afraid to try something new. You may just love the results!
The Materials And Notions
This sweater pattern comes in sizes 0-3mth through 24mth. It is made using KnitPicks Capretta in Moonstone Heather and requires 7 3/8in buttons. I used 3mm and 2.5mm needles but always use what you need to get gauge.
Have another yarn in mind? You can purchase this pattern through my etsy shop or raverly store.
CLICK HERE to get the yarn for this project.
CLICK HERE to get a printable PDF version of this pattern on ETSY.
CLICK HERE to add this pattern to your ravelry library.
What color are you going to make yours in?
