living in the woods and making stuff

I am lucky as can be to have the most adorable nephew. This spring I was inspired to make something for him to wear. I was traveling in a hot climate, and the only yarn I wanted to work with was linen. This sweater design came up in my mind. The Striped Linen Baby Sweater pattern is available for sale on Ravelry.com through this link.

The construction is simple. The front and back are knit separately. This was done to give a little more structure to the sweater body. For this reason, I do love seams and well sewn mattress stitch.

The sleeves are picked up and knit from the body out. (There is less selvage at the armhole that way!) When I sewed the bottom of the sleeve to the shirt, I picked up as little material as possible to eliminate bulk.

The first time around I didn’t add buttonholes, but when we tried the sweater on several children, the neck seemed a little too loose.

The buttonholes give the neck opening a little more stability. The neck is also shaped using short rows. This creates a gentle curve. Linen tends to be sturdy and a little stiff. To keep the neck and sleeve edges flexible, I cast off using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Casting-Off.