A few of my friends have recently become parents, and I’ve been so excited watching them celebrate the new additions to their families! Their babies are all so adorable, and seeing the joy in my friends’ eyes is so special. I wanted to mark these special occasions by making heartfelt gifts, in this case, a sweater!

• 4/5 skein of Lion Brand Heartland – a worsted weight (4) yarn (colour A: Sequoia)
• 1/4 skein of Lion Brand Heartland – a worsted weight (4) yarn (colour B: Grand Canyon)
• Size 8 (5.00mm) knitting needles (I used Knitter’s Pride 100cm circulars)
• Size 6 (4.00mm) knitting needles (I used Knitter’s Pride 100cm circulars)

Pattern (Size 1-2T) by Alexa and Emily at Tin Can Knits

If you’ve never made a sweater before, this is basically the perfect starter pattern! That was the whole intention behind The Simple Collection, as it was meant to be a collection of tutorials for all the projects a first-time knitter might want to tackle, from scarves to socks to sweaters. It’s a really neat initiative on Alexa and Emily’s part to make knitting more accessible to all audiences.

This is an adorable raglan pattern, and the details on the sleeves give it a little touch of whimsy. It’s also easy to customize the body with colourwork! I went with alternating thick and thin stripes, which ended up giving me major Slytherin vibes, but I kind of dig it. I also saw a project where they had thin rainbow stripes, and I thought that was really cute option as well. As a side note, I’m not sure how I ended up so far under the yardage estimate for this sweater, but I try not to ask questions when things work out okay.

As I’ve mentioned before, sizing clothing for anyone who is not me-sized makes me very anxious. Even though this little one is not even six months, I decided to make him the 1 to 2 year old toddler size, because he is a chubby little one, and I would hate for it to be too small. I was also raised by parents who insisted I would grow into whatever clothes they bought for me, so that’s kind of permanently imprinted into my brain – bigger is better than too small. I will keep my fingers crossed that it fits, and hopefully I will have cute pictures to show soon!

Until next time, happy crafting!