Crocheted Lacy Baby Cardigan

At last! I started this in March and it is finally finished. It’s not a very complicated project so it really shouldn’t have taken as long as it did but I got distracted by other things. Anyhow, here are the details:

Pattern: Lacy Cardigan from The Big Book of Weekend Crochet by Hilary Mackin and Sue Whiting.

Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly 4-ply in Cream x 3 balls

Hook: 3.50mm

Modifications: I started this on holiday and found that I had bought the wrong size hook with me and no tape measure so I took a guess at the baby’s chest circumference and made a size smaller than needed due to my hook being a size up from the recommended hook. Amazingly it worked, width wise at least. To make the cardigan longer I added a couple of extra rows of the shell pattern. I could probably have done with an extra row but I got fed up and wanted it finished. Anyhow, I am really pleased with how this turned out and plan on making another one in red for christmas. 

The pattern was very easy to follow. The hardest part was probably making the edging along the opening and around the neck as you had to estimate the number of stitches. My first attempt had too many, making the fabric pucker slightly so I frogged and started again, using fewer, wider spaced stitches.  

The yarn was easy to work with – a cheap and cheerful choice, great for baby clothes. I haven’t washed this yet but I’ve used Sirdar Snuggly in projects before and it seems to cope well with regular washing just getting a bit softer with each wash. 

As you can (hopefully) see, the cardigan does fit remarkably well. Not bad for a complete guess! It is a little short for wearing over a top and jeans, but a perfect length for with dresses. The next one I make, I will make longer so that it can be worn with jeans or trousers, seeing as this is what the baby tends to wear most of the time. 

Apologies if the pictures seem a little dark – I got tired of waiting for a sunny day!