Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Crocheted Baby Cardigan and Matching Flower Brooch for Mom

My online friend Hollie had a baby girl last month so I made them a little sweater and matching flower brooch.

The crocheted baby sweater is a modification of this one, created using a pattern called Picot and Lace. This version was made with finer yarn than the original one, therefore had to be adapted to make it larger.

The brooch is more mommy sized than baby and is the same one I’ve posted about before in this post. The pattern is called Wicked Crochet flower, and is found here.

And, most importantly here’s a picture of tiny Cedar wearing it. I wish I could just reach into the picture and pick her up <3.

[Notes for readers who might also want to make this cardigan : I should reiterate that I modified the original pattern to make this.

The reason I modified the original pattern was that I wanted to use a beautiful skein of yarn, generously given to me by my friend Julie – Knitted Bliss when she shared some of her stash with me in the spring. It was just meant for baby-wear being so soft and just the right colour, but was a lighter weight than what the pattern for the sweater called for — I used a 3-ply Light Worsted versus a 5-ply Sport Weight. I also used a smaller hook than was called for (3.5 vs 6). The change in yarn weight and hook size meant I had to make the pattern bigger. I did this by starting with a chain of 43 (versus 31) and by making the yoke part bigger, by adding an extra row with no increases, between every 2 rows that included increases as per the pattern, ending up with 10 rows (versus 8). Basically I was aiming to end up with a chest circumference of about 19 inches, something to fit a newborn to about 6 month old baby.

The baby lives in a climate that is too hot for a sweater during the spring, summer and fall, so I wanted to make something that will fit her during the cool winter months, when she will still be quite tiny, so I made mine slightly smaller than the pattern (19 inches versus 20 inches around). Once I reached what would result in my desired circumference I proceeded with the pattern as written, except that I had 26 clusters versus 20 (I had to count from the image and think the pattern has 20).

I also made it into a short sleeved version by crocheting fewer rounds for the sleeves.

This is a fun and relatively easy pattern to make, especially if you don’t have to modify it.

Notes for readers who might want to make the flower : This one is also a modified version of the pattern, in that I turned the work and crocheted in the opposite direction for the second row of petals, in order to get them to turn outward and therefore open up the flower more. I also inadvertently made this one with 9 petals instead of 8 but it still turned out nicely, being a bit bigger than the one in the pattern.

My skein was 85 grams and I still have a tiny bit left after making the sweater and the brooch.]