When I first started knitting, I couldn’t help but share my joy with everyone I knew. Co-workers with new babies would arrive at work and find tiny hats on their chairs. I would pull out my measuring tape at birthday parties and play dates. Over time, I realized that there were some people who loved these gifts, and some who buried them deep in the back of the closet. My friend, Liz, was one of those early recipients who seemed to like whatever hand-knit contraption I sent her way. So, I started making it a yearly ritual to knit sweaters for her two girls, Lulu and Ellie.
Here is the pattern for Lulu’s 2015 sweater. While I have never met the sheep that produced this yarn (apparently, they live in South Africa), it is a project that I started last year and just finished, so I figured it was fair game for a post. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Either Lulu grew since the time I measured her arms, or this sweater is a little bit more fitted around the body than others I have made for her. Fortunately, the sleeves are worked from the shoulder down, so it should be easy to add to them! In the meantime, I’ve revised the pattern to lengthen the sleeves by an inch.
Lulu Sweater Pattern 2015 REVISED
“Engraved” for Lulu
meet the sheep 
Beautiful! Is that the ‘mineral’ colourway? I’m knitting something with it at the moment. So lovely. I have had the same experience with giving out knitted items. Some people love it, some people are really not so into it.
Hi there–it’s actually the “laurel” colourway, but I have yet to meet a Madelinetosh color I don’t like!
I’m one of those knitters who H-A-T-E-S to sew seams, so I’m rewriting your lovely pattern to knit the body as one piece until the armholes, then finish the two fronts and back separately from there. It appears to me that there is no armhole shaping of the body of the sweater, you just pick up the stitches around the armhole, then do the cap and then the sleeves…is this correct? The bind off and decrease seems to be just around the neckline, except for the final three rows that produce the shoulder shaping. Again…is this correct? I love the pattern, and my little friend specifically chose it, and…I’d rather not rip it all out if I’m wrong, if I can help it. Thanks so much for your help, and for sharing this lovely pattern.
Hi Carol. I used to avoid seams like the plague, too! Then I took a class at Stitches that showed me how to do them properly, and now I kind of like them. Anyway, you’re correct about the sleeves; they’re just traditional cap sleeves (which I found in a book called “Knitting in the Old Way”). The good thing about them is that you can lengthen them as your little friend grows. I did decreases down the length of the sleeve, but not under the arms. Happy knitting!