Free Knitting Pattern for a Baby Cardigan, featuring a textured stitch pattern and raglan shaping.
This cardigan is knit in a DK-weight cotton yarn, making it suitable for warmer weather. It features a textured stitch pattern that combines garter stitch, stockinette stitch, and slipped stitches, creating a visually interesting fabric. The cardigan is worked from the bottom up, with the sleeves knit separately and then joined to the body using a “double acavalada stitch” (which appears to be a variation of a raglan decrease). The button bands are integrated into the front garter stitch borders.
It is designed with a mixture of stitches, best for Intermediate skill level.
This pattern appears to be intermediate in difficulty. It involves:
- Working in multiple stitch patterns (garter, stockinette, rib, and a textured stitch).
- Color changes.
- Slipped stitch patterns.
- Raglan shaping (using a non-standard decrease).
- Knitting sleeves separately and joining them to the body.
- Integrated button bands (no picking up stitches).
Skill Level: Intermediate (Multiple stitch patterns, color changes, slipped stitches, raglan shaping, joining sleeves)
Finished Measurements:
- The pattern does not provide finished measurements or sizes. This is a significant drawback. The yarn amounts suggest it’s likely for a small baby (perhaps 0-3 or 3-6 months), but this is an educated guess based on typical yarn usage for baby garments. It’s essential to knit a gauge swatch and do some calculations to estimate the finished size.
Materials Used:
- Rosários 4 Be Cool yarn (100% cotton; DK weight)
- 30g in Color 01 (appears to be a contrast color)
- 60g in Color 11 (appears to be the main color)
Needles:
- #4 knitting needles (This is likely US size 4 / 3.5mm, but confirm the needle size conversion for your region. The pattern does not specify US or UK sizing.)
- Auxiliary pins (likely stitch holders or safety pins)
- Sewing needles (round tip) – for seaming the sleeves.
Notions:
- Buttons (number not specified)
Pattern Considerations:
- Gauge: The pattern does not provide a gauge. This is a major issue. You must knit a gauge swatch in stockinette stitch with the main color and your chosen needles to determine your stitches and rows per inch/cm. Then, you’ll need to use the stitch counts in the pattern to calculate the approximate finished dimensions.
- Yarn Substitution: You can substitute any DK-weight cotton yarn, but you absolutely must match the gauge of the original yarn (once you’ve determined it!).
- Non-Standard Terminology: The pattern uses some unusual terms:
- “Long tail stitch” = Garter stitch (knit every row).
- “Jersey stitch” = Stockinette stitch (knit on right side, purl on wrong side).
- “Double acavalada stitch” = This appears to be a variation of a centered double decrease, used for the raglan shaping. It’s described as: Slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped stitch over, yo. This creates a decrease of 2 stitches with a yarn over, likely to maintain some stitch count and create a decorative element.
- “Auxiliary pins” = stitch holders.
- Color Changes: The pattern indicates changing colors on the wrong side. Carry the unused yarn loosely up the side.
- Construction: The body is worked flat from the bottom up. The sleeves are worked separately (also flat) and then joined to the body at the armholes. The “double acavalada stitch” is used to create the raglan shaping.
- Buttonholes: The pattern does not include explicit instructions for buttonholes. You’ll need to work buttonholes into the garter stitch border on one of the front pieces. A simple yarn-over buttonhole would be appropriate. The number and spacing of the buttonholes are not specified, so you’ll need to decide this based on the size of your buttons and the length of the front.
- Seaming: The only seaming required is to sew up the side seams of the sleeves.
- Clarity Some areas, such as the decreases, are not written clearly.
