The youngest of the thirteen children of Sam Gamgee and Rose Cotton. ‘Tolman’ was a common name in his mother’s family, and this Tolman shared his name with his grandfather Tolman Cotton, as well as one of his uncles.

Tolman was born the same year his mother and father travelled to Gondor; while the timing of this visit is unclear, it is possible that Tolman was born in Minas Tirith.

This little vest is worked in one piece from the bottom hem to the top of the shoulders. Slightly cropped in length, the hem of the vest is designed to just skim the top of baby’s trousers. The body is worked in the round and is not charted; the back and front are worked flat and are charted.

Sizes 3, 6, and 12 months have no seams and require four buttons.
Sizes 18 and 24 months have one shoulder seam and require three buttons.
Edging around the neck and arm holes is worked as the pattern is worked, by using a combination of garter stitch and slipped stitch selvages.

This pattern is sized using the Craft Yarn Council standards, with extra ease to accommodate wearing the vest over clothing.

Gauge is measured over the Japanese knot pattern used on the yoke of the vest.

Each size is detailed in a separate .pdf; all five size .pdfs are available with purchase of the pattern.

Materials needed:

• 180y (3 mos), 220y (6 mos), 250y (12 mos), 275y (18 mos) or 310y (24 mos) sport weight yarn with good stitch definition
• 3mm (US 2.5) needles or size for gauge, circular.
• stitch marker to mark start/end of rounds (optional additional stitch marker to mark middle of round)
• 3-4 buttons according to size