As I mentioned before, my first (well, only) handknit sweater was for a small child. A few years ago, before I started this blog, I made the ChildHood cardigan from Knitty for the daughter of friends, using cotton yarn for a project for the first time. Making it taught me a few things:
1) Parents really like receiving hand-knit items for their kids when they’re past the infant stage (birth being the usual occasion for the gifting of hand-knits);
2) Ripping back a whole sleeve is not so bad when it is sized for a two-year-old;
3) Wool is a lot more forgiving than cotton;
4) Seaming isn’t bad, but weaving in ends is.
It’s crazy to think that at the time, I knew hardly any people with small children. Now it seems like most of my friends are having kids, and faster than I can keep up with. Seriously guys, slow it down. I can’t knit that fast!
ChildHood is a fairly easy pattern and good for novice sweater knitters. I used Bernat Cottontots yarn, the recommended Mission Falls yarn being discontinued at the time. The buttons are monkeys as the recipient had a lot of monkey-themed stuff already, but they are decorative only–the sweater fastens with snaps underneath.
Shot of the back:
So, I hereby commit to knitting Gwendolyn. (I considered Pas de Valse too, but I’d rather not make a pattern that uses such fine yarn, which equals many more thousands of stitches).
I will knit Gwendolyn if I can have the sheep that come with.
And I love your first sweater! I hope the recipient treasures it.