What’s not to love about this sweet little sweater? This baby cardigan features a hearts and flowers Fair Isle design around the waist, an allover licing pattern on the body and sleeves, and a check design at the sleeve bottoms. The Fair Isle designs are simple to knit but stunning in any variety of colors.

This sweater is knitted flat in one piece to the underarms. The body is then divided and the back, left front and right front are worked separately. The fronts are joined to the back at the shoulders using the three needle bind-off method. The sleeve stitches are then picked up around the armhole edges and knitted in the round on double pointed needles. The neckband and button bands are picked up and knitted on, making this a seamless garment. The licing pattern is designed so that the yarns can be carried up the garment edges and do not need to be cut at the end of each row. In other words, there should be relatively few ends to weave when the sweater is finished.

This pattern includes five sizes: 3-6 months (22” chest), 6-9 months (23” chest), 9-12 months (24” chest), 12-18 months (25” chest), and 18-24 months (26” chest).

The gauge is 22 st and 30 rows over 4” in stockinette stitch, and 24 st and 30 rows over 4” in pattern. For this sweater, I used Bernat Softee Baby (100% acrylic, 362 yds per ball). You will need 1 (1, 1, 2, 2) balls of Soft Red #30424, 1 ball of White #02000, and 1 ball of Aqua #30201, or equivalent amounts in a DK weight yarn. You will also need circular or straight needles in size US 4 and 5, or whatever size necessary to get the gauge. Double pointed needles in the same sizes will be needed for the sleeves.

This pattern is intended for intermediate knitters. You will need to use the stranded knitting technique on the body and sleeves of the sweater, and the three needle bind-off method to join the front and back shoulders. You will also need to follow a chart for the Fair Isle designs. Beyond these intermediate elements, the construction of the sweater is very basic. The pattern includes written instructions for the five sweater sizes listed above, full color charts, color photographs, and a schematic.