I discovered Guideposts’ Knit for Kids programs at a Chain Link Crochet Guild of America conference back in 2004 or 2005. It’s a great charity and they have both knit and crocheted sweater patterns.

Making these sweaters is a good way to use up yarn in your stash because you can choose any color or colors you want as long as you follow the pattern. My understanding is that the children who receive these sweaters love bright colors.

It’s also a great way to practice knitting and crochet skills if you are new to either craft. The knit pattern involves stockinette and garter stitch. The crochet pattern is a little more challenging as it includes front post double crochet and the griddle stitch as well as chain, single and double crochet stitches.

Since my stash is overflowing with Red Heart yarn from previous projects, I selected two colors - light sage and a medium or light rose - for this knitted sweater. I used to follow the pattern exactly and knit the front and back (which are the same) separately. Then I thought, why not use circular needles and knit the body in one piece, then separate it and knit the top front and back separately -- less seams to sew, right?

I also practiced one of the stitch patterns that I learned from the Learn-to-Knit afghan project - two rows of one color, two rows of the other to create a striped effect. Actually, it’s the wrong side of the stitch pattern that shows. I should have started the top of each half with a knit row (I think) instead of a garter stitch row. But I thought the affect was nice, so I didn’t worry about it.

The biggest problem I had with this sweater was maintaining the gauge. My intention was to make the smallest size, but my gauge was so off that I had to use the dimensions for the third size up to complete the sweater. Unfortunately the ribbing at the bottom is only 8 rows and should be 10 for the larger size. Oh well, you live and you learn. So be sure to make a swatch to check the gauge at the beginning of the project so you don’t have this problem.

All in all, it took me about 3 weeks to complete. Here’s a link for the pattern if you want to try it.