Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan | Purl Soho

I love to knit for babies. Not just for the usual reasons of it being fast and immediately gratifying, but because I love while I’m knitting to think about the baby herself, her budding life and the amazing road ahead of her. I love to think about the explosion of feelings the baby’s parents are experiencing and the cocoon of love they are busy creating for their little one. And I love to think that all of these thoughts and good wishes are soaking right into the gift I’m knitting!

Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan | Purl Soho

I wanted to design a sweater that would reflect these thoughts, that would feel almost as precious as the baby herself.  I wanted it to be delicate and pretty, but practical too, a small version of something that I would want to wear. In short, I wanted to design a super special baby sweater!

Of course a super special baby sweater would have to be made out of something incredibly soft and beautiful and so I turned to Blue Sky’s Royal Alpaca. Spun from a very rare quality of luxury alpaca fiber, this yarn is as sumptuous as cashmere and as singular as the baby herself! Royal Alpaca comes in a vintage palette of gentle colors, from petal pink to warm cocoa, perfect for heirloom baby gear. (You’ll only need one skein for the newborn or 6 month size and two skeins for the 12 month size.)

Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan | Purl Soho

So things didn’t get too serious, I decided to add a burst of happy color around the yoke in a simple fair isle pattern. When just a little bit of yarn is needed, we love to use mini skeins of embroidery or needlepoint yarn, like Gumnut’s Blossoms crewel yarn or Koigu’s KPM Needlepoint Yarn. It’s 100% wool and comes in such a huge array of rich and sophisticated colors that choosing four is a real pleasure.

Our Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan is sized for newborns, 6 and 12 month olds. The pattern includes a complete list of materials, detailed finished measurements, beautiful photographs, and thorough instructions for making your own very special sweater.

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.

Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, and #PurlSohoBabyGirlFairIsleCardigan. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Materials

In addition to a Baby Colorwork Cardigan pattern, you’ll need…

  • 1 (1, 2) skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca’s Royal Alpaca.
  • Gumnut’s Blossoms, 100% Wool. 1 skein of each color.  For the YELLOW colorway use #709, 706, 703 and 990. For the RED colorway use # 857, 829, 787, and 785. For the PINK colorway use #909, 907, 843, and 901. (Please note: Gumnut’s Blossoms is no longer available. View our updated version in Posy and Pocket Posy here!)
  • US 2 (3 mm) 20-inch circular needle.
  • US 3 (3.25 mm) 20-inch circular needle.
  • US 2 double pointed needles.
  • US 3 double pointed needles.
  • 4 small stitch holders
  • A size “B” crochet hook.
  • 2 small buttons

Gauge

7 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch on larger needle

Sizes

Newborn (6 months, 12 months)

Pattern

Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan | Purl Soho

Update: A Reinvented Classic!

October 30, 2018
  • Post Image
  • Post Image
We’ve reinvented our classic Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan! Our new Baby Fair Isle Cardigan version downgrades gender (go ahead, make it for girls and boys!) and adds a 2-year-old size, spreading the love to the older set. We also made sure to knit this one up in a machine washable yarn: our new Posy for the Main Color, plus a 4-Skein Pocket Posy Bundle for the colorwork. Hand-dyed in Peru, Posy and Pocket Posy are not only wonderfully soft (hello, 15% cashmere) but also hard-working and resilient with their superwash merino base, plus a touch of nylon. Our Baby Fair Isle Cardigan is a very special knit for the very special people in our lives!

Update: A New Palette!

April 9, 2021
Baby Girl Fair Isle Cardigan | Purl Soho
Our Baby Colorwork Cardigan, previously known as our Baby Fair Isle Cardigan, now has updated yardage requirements and colors because Posy has a new 50-gram skein size and a fresh palette of pretty hand-dyed colors. Soft, cozy, and machine-washable, Posy is perfect for the messy work of being a baby!