green

Recipient: Baby Keagan
Completed: April, 2007
Lion Brand Yarn / Baby Soft
60% acrylic, 40% polyamid
Needles: US 6 (4mm)

Earlier this year, two dear friends of ours produced a new child. On the day baby Keagan was born, I began knitting this sweater.

The pattern is A cardigan for Merry by Anny Purls (which is based on the pattern A Cardigan for Arwen by Kate Gilbert in the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits). I really like the beautiful cabling along the edges (it’s reversible, too!), and since the pattern had been shrunk down to toddler size, I thought it would be perfect for the new Irish princess. It will be too big for her now, but I am hoping she’ll be able to wear it this winter.

This was a fun pattern to knit. The long stretches of stockinette stitch were broken up by this lovely intertwining cable pattern, which was thankfully easy to memorize. The cabling is knit at the same time as the left and right front panels (not attached later), from the bottom edges all the way up to the top of the hood where the sides are then grafted together. If I knit this again, I will make sure the cable row number when ending the front panel and beginning the hood matches on both the left and right sides. I didn’t notice this mentioned in the pattern so I sorta had to fudge this at the top.

I especially enjoyed some of the little details in this sweater, like the knit-in, double-thick cuffs and edging. Don’t know exactly what this technique is called, but it is very cool. I also added a couple personal touches: decorative increases on the back of the hood, a trio of sheep(!) buttons, and a small red heart on the inside hem to send Keagan a little love every time she wears it.