This little sweater is a top-down round yoke knit, featuring a bit of slip-stitch colorwork. It is sized from newborn to 4T, and is appropriate for little boys and little girls alike. Also included are two additional sizes, meant to fit popular dolls: one for a 15” baby doll (such as Bitty Baby) and one for an 18” doll (such as American Girl).

Slip stitch colorwork is deceptively easy. By simply choosing not to knit particular stitches, instead slipping them from the left needle onto the right needle unworked, a design forms. In this case, the design formed reminds me of portholes along the side of a cruise ship, hence the name “Porthole Cardigan.”

The button band in the cover sample has been knit in the accent color, however this is a design choice. I have also made a few of these sweaters where the button bands match the body. To contrast or not – the choice is yours.

REQUIRED SKILLS

If you have these skills:

Long-tail cast-on
Knit
Purl
Slipping stitches purlwise
Picking up stitches
Backwards loop cast-on
Basic bind-off
then you can do this.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

This pattern is written for sizes 0-3m (3-6m, 6-12m, 12-18m, 18-24m, 2T, 4T) 15″ baby doll, 18″ doll. You will need:

22(22, 25, 25, 28, 28, 32) 19, 19 yards worsted weight wool or wool blend, like Berroco Vintage, for accent color (AC)
195 (228, 281, 333, 383, 390, 500) 124, 138 yards for main color (MC)
One set of 4 US #7 (4.5mm) double point needles.
One US #7 16” or larger circular needle
3/4-inch buttons
yarn needle
scissors
stitch markers