I made this for my first niece arriving this spring! I was inspired by clairegirl’s modification for the cascading leaf pattern on the back. Perfect for a family with a nature-inspired naming convention that began with their pets and is continuing on to their firstborn child.

I got the actual leaf pattern from this page, using this chart only between columns 3-25, eliminating rows 9 & 10. So in this leaf pattern, I had a total of 21 stitches, followed the chart from column 3 to 25, skipped rows 9 & 10, and continued with rows 11 & 12. This gave me 3 yarn over rows per leaf, instead of 4, for a total of 6 YO holes per leaf. I hope that all makes sense!!

If you follow my same method, I recommend either re-making the chart, or printing out this version and maybe blocking out the unused rows/columns with a sharpie. I did not do either, but I did a lot of counting and recounting to make sure I was in the right place.

All-in-all, the Vertebrae pattern itself was very easy to follow, and the cascading leaf didn’t seem to slow me down at all! I’m super happy with the result, and I can’t wait to give it to my friends and see it on their first baby!