Finished: Coraline for Isla

Before J was born, I knit him a sweet little white cabled raglan cardigan. In fact, it's the one pictured in the header of this blog. Anyway, it's just a nice simple lightweight cardigan and both my boys wore it a lot. When my sister-in-law was pregnant with my youngest niece Isla, I decided to pass the sweater on to her since both J and N had outgrown it. She LOVED it and Isla also wore it a lot.

She's since outgrown it, and since I am the only knitter in her life, I decided to knit Isla a new little white cardigan. I had some white 4 ply yarn in my stash that was almost identical to the yarn I used for the original white cardigan--so I decided I would use that. Next, I had to find the right pattern.

After searching around on Ravelry for a while, I kept coming back to Coraline by Ysolda Teague. It's actually an adult cardigan pattern, but it had been adapted to a toddler size before (using a heavier yarn). Despite the math involved, I decided to attempt to knit a toddler size Coraline using my 4 ply yarn.

I got Isla's measurements and then looked at patterns online to get an idea for the amount of ease most people used for toddler sweaters. I ended up adding a few inches to all measurements in hopes that Isla will be able to wear this sweater through next winter. Hopefully I didn't get too ambitious and make it TOO big. We will see. I don't have Isla here to try it on.

Anyway, I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?


I loved all the thoughtful touches in Ysolda's pattern. I LOVE the smocking pattern,

the i-cord around the sleeves,

and the folded hem at the bottom of the sweater.

After all my math work and decision making, I was so excited to cast on that I forgot to do the provisional cast on. When it was time to join my hem, I just picked up stitches along my cast on and knit them together with the active stitches and it worked out just fine.

Ysolda's pattern calls for slipped stitches that cause the sides of the cardigan to gently roll in. I wanted a cardigan that my niece could wear all the way closed if she wanted, so I picked up stitches along the edges and added an i-cord using the i-cord bind off method that is used around the neck in the pattern. My edging is not as neat as I would like, but I think it turned out okay.


For the buttons, I used the recommended sewn button loops. These were kind of a pain to get right, but I think they also turned out fine. It took me several days to do them which was kind of crazy. I kept changing my mind about placement and it was hard to get the size just right.

Anyway, I hope this sweet little sweater will fit my sweet little Isla and that she will get to wear it lots.

Pattern: Coraline by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: 3 skeins of Bernat Baby (Fingering Weight/ 100% "Gentle Soft" Acrylic/ 50g/ 1.75 oz/ 286 yards)
Needles: Size 3 (24" circular and doublepoints)
Gauge: 8 st = 1 inch; 10 rows = 1 inch
Size: Toddler (approximately 24" chest)
Mods: Sizing, added i-cord along side edges.
On Ravelry, here.