Fritz

This adorable little sweater was inspired by love. It was quickly knit for little Fritzie to wear for the Valentine’s season. I like the think that Fritz is a love note for your little one. Notice the sneaky little nordic heart pattern at the bottom of the sweater, and x and o’s sprinkled through out. I know that x’s and o’s aren’t officially signs of love in Nordic knitting, but they are for me. Knit with red and white, it’s very festive, but at the same time, not too Valentiney. for the rest of the year. I can’t wait to see this sweater in all the possible color variations. Knit with grey and white, it would be an especially subtle little love note. And whether you knit this in red and white or grey and white , it can be worn year round, because that is how love works. Love is day in and day out. Love is for every second of every day. Love is always in season.

This is how it’s made:
Fritz has a traditional Norwegian yoke and is knit bottom up. First the body is worked, then stitches are bound off for the underarms, then the sleeves are worked individually. Notice that there is a little bit of happy colorwork just above the cuff on each sleeve. After the first sleeve is completed, a few stitches are bound off for the underarms on, and then then the sleeve is joined to the body. The second sleeve is knit, and then added to the body. Next comes the fun part : The colorwork yoke is knit. After the yoke is complete, then the neckband is worked with 1x1 ribbing. The neckband is bound off , the underarms gaps are quickly sewn together and the sweater can be worn immediately. Fritz’s mom made this sweater for him in 3 days, just in time for Valentine’s Day (and he’s worn it every day since). My favorite thing is when I knit something for someone and they wear it every day! There’s nothing quite like it!

Materials
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Peerie | fingering | 100% American 4-ply Merino | 210 yards (192 meters) per 50 g (3 ½ oz) skein
Main color (MC): 3 (4,4,5) skeins | Color: Firebush
Or approx. 511 (590, 725, 873) yards 467 (540, 662, 798) meters of fingering-weight yarn
Contrasting Color (CC): 1 (1, 2, 2) skeins | Color: Hammock
Or approx. 116 (180, 250, 340) yards / 106 (164,228, 310) meters of equivalent Fingering -weight yarn

Needles: One 24” /80 cm or 32”/100 cm circular for the body and one set of double-pointed needles/ Flexiflips or 16”/ 40 cm for the sleeves in size needed to obtain gauge in colorwork and single color
Suggested needle size: 2.75 mm (US 2 )
One 32”/80 or 40” cm circular needle two sizes smaller than gauge-size needle and one set of double-pointed needles or Flexiflips to use for the ribbing on body and sleeves.
Suggested needle size: 2.25 mm (US 1)

Darning needle.

Gauge and Swatch
26 stitches/ 36 rounds = 4 inches or 10 cm
Please swatch in the round to determine needle size.
Note: Swatch in both one color and in colorwork. You may need to knit the single-color part of the sweater with a smaller needle than the colorwork section. The gauge is the same throughout the sweater.

Sizes:
Child’s XS (S, M, L) 2-3 (4-5 ,6-7, 8-10) years
A generous fit positive ease (built in growing room)

Finished Measurements
Chest: 26 ½ (28 1/3, 30, 32)” /67.3 70.75, 75.4, 80) cm
Body length to underarm: 9 (10 ½, 12, 13)” / 23 (26.75, 30.5, 33) cm
Sleeve length: 9 (9 ¾, 12 ½, 13 ½) “/ 23 (25, 32, 38) cm
Yoke depth: 4 ½ (5 1/8, 5 ¾, 6 ½) /11.1 (12.7, 14.4, 16.15) cm
Total length: 13 ½ (15 5/8, 17 ¾, 18 ½)” 33.1 (39.45, 44.9, 49.15) cm

Skills
Long-tail cast on
knit
purl
1x1 rib
simple colorwork
k2 tog
ssk
backward loop
bind off
duplicate stitch
a tiny bit of finishing
dpn skills