DIY: Crochet Cutie Baby Cardigan and Free Pattern

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Sara Kay Hartmann designed the Crochet Cutie Baby Cardigan, which is published on the Red Heart website. I made up this pattern for our nephew’s first birthday, which is a few weeks away. The Crochet Cutie Baby Cardigan is quite versatile, as it is written for several sizes, from 6 months to 24 months. I chose to make the 24-month size so that our nephew could grow into it by the time he’ll need to wear it for the cold Canadian weather this autumn. Better too big than too small, right?

I chose Red Heart Soft Essentials in a dark, rich teal for the main part of the body, and a leftover white acrylic bulky yarn from my stash for the trim. The pattern says that the body is made up in 2 balls of the main colour, and 1 ball of white. I ended up having to go back to Michael’s to pick up a third ball of the teal in order to finish the cardigan. If you are making up the smaller sizes, two balls would be fine; the third ball just made up half of the second sleeve for the 24-month size. I added a second row of the white yarn to trim the sleeves and the body hem. Without having to run out to pick up a third ball of teal, this cardigan crochets up very quickly and I would say it should be ranked as ‘easy’ instead of intermediate, as only single and half-double crochet stitches are used.

The Red Heart Soft Essentials is a soft, squishy yarn and is washable, which is mandatory for a baby’s article of clothing!

For the buttons, I chose four large dark brown plastic buttons. Unfortunately our favourite button store on Queen St W in Toronto closed, so I had to search some of the remaining fabric and notion stores for these. It was surprisingly difficult to find a nice button in this size!

Find the free pattern here.