Bernina Cardigan Pattern Release!

I am super stoked that I have released my Bernina Cardigan today! It is such a lovely, classic and fun and piece with four sizes covering 6 - 36 months! This design was born out of a collaboration with the very special ladies at Les Belles Bouclettes. They have just the most special mohair fibre and mohair blend yarns from their OWN herd of goats and I was thrilled to be able to work with them. Working on this design marked my first time using such a yarn and I also got to work with it in the undyed form, which I find just spectacular! It is also my first sport weight design (many exciting firsts!). I do love working with sport weight yarn and it's such a wonderful weight of yarn for a cardigan.

Bernina is a cute, cozy and practical cardigan for a baby or toddler with a playful cable design. It is worked from the bottom up and at the underarm, the sleeves, which have been knit separately (in the round), are knit on and the top is shaped using a saddle-shoulder method. The button band is then picked up from the front edges to complete the garment, and the only seams to close are a few stitches at the underarms! The sample in white, above, was knit in the 12-18 month size and is shown on an 18 month old. We had a lot of fun taking the photos with the snow - he was so excited he didn't want to stay still for a second! Isn't he adorable? (I'm not biased as he's not my son ;-) )

This was my first time designing with the saddle-shoulder method of construction. I have always really loved the look of garments made this way. I feel the decrease line is very flattering and also find that a saddle-shoulder sweater frequently gives a better fit than a seamless raglan. Typically the decrease line (which is also your faux seam) is put under less stress than for other types of seamless constructions and therefore the garment also maintains its shape better.

The yarn is available in a variety of colours and you can also see in the samples above just how lovely this little cardigan in some of them. The green sample is in the smaller 6-12 month size, while the adorable little 2-year old girl is modelling the 24-36 month size.

Two yarns are listed for the pattern; Amelia and Pauline. Amelia is a 60/40 blend of mohair and merino, while Pauline is a 60/20/20 blend of mohair, merino and nylon. Samples have been knit in both yarns and they are interchangeable (though don't forget to do your gauge swatch!), however Amelia is our recommendation to use, and Les Belles Bouclettes have updated their website with various colour options, and they also have kits (yarn + pattern)! They have also blogged about the release and have a few other photos that you should check out, and there you find all the links to their yarn and kits!

So please, check out the design and the lovely yarn from Les Belles Bouclettes - and, as ever - happy knitting!