BeTween Cardigan Knitting Pattern

BeTween Cardigan by Spud and Chloe

What is Being Made

The BeTween Cardigan is a knitted baby cardigan available in five sizes, with finished bust measurements ranging from 25 inches to 38 inches. This garment features a classic cardigan silhouette designed for infants and young children, with button closure and tailored sleeve and body lengths appropriate for growing babies.

Knitting Techniques

This pattern employs cable knitting as its primary decorative technique. The cables are worked using a baby cable method, which creates a subtle textured effect throughout the garment. The cable technique involves crossing stitches over one another to form twisted, rope-like patterns that add visual interest and dimension to the finished piece.

The pattern also incorporates increases and decreases for shaping the cardigan body and sleeves. Increases are worked using the kfb (knit front and back) method to add stitches where needed for proper fit and silhouette.

Stitches Used

The BeTween Cardigan utilizes several fundamental knitting stitches:

• Baby Cable (BC): A special abbreviation for this pattern, worked by knitting two stitches together while leaving the stitches on the left needle, then knitting the first stitch again before slipping both stitches off together. This creates the characteristic twisted cable effect.
• Knit (k) and Purl (p) stitches: These form the foundation of both the cable pattern and the ribbed sections.
• Ribbed Pattern: A 2x2 rib (alternating two knit stitches with two purl stitches) is used for the cuffs, neckline, and button bands, providing elasticity and a finished appearance.
• Kfb (knit front and back): An increase stitch used to add stitches for shaping the body and sleeves.

Pattern Construction and Gauge

The pattern is worked in the Baby Cable Pattern, which repeats over 4 rows. The gauge for this cardigan is 18 stitches and 26 rows over 4 inches when measured in the Baby Cable Pattern. Row gauge is emphasized as very important for achieving the correct fit, as the cabled rib pattern will initially appear to "shrink" into the sweater unless properly blocked, though it will stretch to size when worn.

Knitters are advised to stretch and pin their gauge swatch to the desired appearance before measuring, as the ribbing will not naturally lie flat unless blocked but will stretch appropriately during wear.

Materials

The BeTween Cardigan pattern requires knitting needles and yarn suitable for the specified gauge. While the specific yarn weight and needle size are not detailed in the provided pattern excerpt, the gauge specification of 18 stitches and 26 rows per 4 inches in the Baby Cable Pattern will guide fiber and needle selection.

Finished Measurements

The cardigan is available in five size options:

• Bust: 25, 28, 32, 35, or 38 inches
• Body Length: 11¾, 11¾, 12¾, 13½, or 13½ inches
• Sleeve Length: 16, 16, 17, 17½, or 17½ inches

Pattern Details

The cardigan features a button-front closure and is constructed with separate pieces for the body and sleeves. The pattern includes detailed shaping instructions for the shoulders and includes specific row counts for working the cable pattern repeats. The design uses a backwards loop cast-on method for adding stitches in certain sections and includes bind-off instructions for finishing edges.