Friendly Fair Isle Sweater: Now Sized for Toddlers + Kids Too!
With all sorts of tough resolutions on our New Year’s plates, this Friendly Fair Isle Sweater promises easy gratification and quick success. Basic enough for beginners and interesting enough for more seasoned knitters, the Friendly Fair Isle Sweater is a simple, modern classic that will have you beaming with a sense of accomplishment in no time!
Our original Friendly Fair Isle Sweater was sized for women, and due to popular demand, we’ve now also sized it for ages 12 months to 10 years. Whatever the size, we knit it up in Purl Soho’s sumptuous bulky-weight Super Soft Merino. With twelve new colors recently added to the Super Soft palette, the hardest part of this project will be choosing which ones to combine!
Start 2015 off with a very friendly project and happy New Year!! -Laura
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Laura Ferguson.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoFriendlyFairIsleSweater, and #PurlSohoSuperSoftMerino. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
Please Note: The Purl Soho Friendly Fair Isle Sweater has been discontinued from purchase. For assistance, please contact us at customerservice@purlsoho.com.
- Main Color (MC): 2 (3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6) skeins of Purl Soho’s Super Soft Merino. We used the color Artemisia (Ballet Pink) for the size 2 years (8 years).
- Contrast Color (CC): 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Super Soft Merino. We used the color Black Green (Pink Grapefruit) for the size 2 years (8 years).
- US 11 (8 mm), 16- and 24-inch circular needles
- A set of US 11, double pointed needles
- 4 stitch markers
- 4 stitch holders and/or scrap yarn
Gauge
12 stitches and 15 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
Sizes
12 months (18 months, 2 years, 4 years, 6 years, 8 years, 10 years)
- Finished Chest Circumference: 22 ¾ (23 ¼, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32) inches Finished Length from Shoulder to Bottom Edge: 12 (13 ½, 15, 15 ¾, 17, 18, 18 ¾) inches
- Finished Length from Underarm to Bottom Edge: 6 ¼ (7 ¼, 8 ¼, 9, 9 ½, 10 ½, 11 ¼) inches
- Finished Length from Underarm to Cuff: 6 ½ (7 ¼, 8 ½, 10, 11 ¼, 13, 14) inches
Ease: This garment is designed with a 3- to 4-inch ease around the chest.
Samples: Sizes 2 years and 8 years are pictured here.
Pattern
Please Note: The Purl Soho Friendly Fair Isle Sweater has been discontinued from purchase. For assistance, please contact us at customerservice@purlsoho.com.
Tried opening this pattern and the woman’s version and they won’t open on both my iPad and my laptop. Is there another way to get the pattern?
Stephanie.
I am so sorry you’re experiencing this problem.I am going to email our Customer Service team and see if they can trouble shoot this for you!
Again, our deepest apologies. There’s nothing worse than getting slowed down when trying to start off a new project. Thanks in advance for your patience.
Laura
How nice of you to created a children’s sweater with a small amount of Fair Isle for us to learn on! I think you have me “hooked!”
Hello purl bee, I am so sorry not to Iive nearby(Berlin)! I love all your patterns and materials, these easily to understand discriptions, your frindly way to communicate. Thank you and a very happy new year!
Sabina
existe mode d’emploi en francais…? Merci
Hi Satn-
Unfortunately we don’t have French instructions for this and none of us speak french well enough to attempt it! Sorry!
Best-
Molly
Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!
I like this pattern
Is there any way to purchase the kit to make this sweater? With the yarn, pattern and needles needed to complete the sweater, I would be interested.
Hi Rona-
No, there isn’t a full kit for this project but if you’d like us to pull it all together for you we’d be happy to! Drop us a line at customerservice@purlsoho.com
Thank you!
Molly
No instructions are here to make the sweater. Have other information for materials.
Hi Beatrice-
This is pattern is one that we sell, not one that we offer free here. You can buy a hard copy or a download of it by clicking on the link in the Materials section or by going here: https://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/9356
Thank you!
Molly
Hi,
I am a super beginner for knitting. Can I use MADELINETOSH Tosh Merino for The Friendly Fair Isle Sweater for an 18month Toddler? I know the PURL SOHO Super Soft Merino is chunkier than this. Is there some way to use the MADELINETOSH Tosh Merino for this sweater?
Thanks!!
Hi Jae.
Thanks for writing in! I’m afraid at this time we only have the Friendly Fair Isle written at the one gauge. To use Tosh Merino in place of Super Soft Merino, you’d need to make quite a few modifications. If you’re comfortable making those modifications, then I say go for it. If not, we have loads of other patterns! You could check out our other toddler patterns here: https://www.purlsoho.com/create/category/knit-garments/knit-garments-size-babies-toddlers/ and here: https://www.purlsoho.com/patterns/knitting.html?collection_filter=946&pattern_size_filter=853
Please let us know if you have any questions!
Thanks.
Laura
:)) I already ordered pattern and some super soft merino yarn that I can use so I’m going to use them this time. My hubby think that me knitting is already cute so I am gain some benefit out of knitting even it takes forever. 🙂
Thanks!
Jae 🙂
So glad that you have some moral support! Keep up the stitching!
Best of luck! -Alyson
Hi,
I can not figure out how I can attached the sleeves and part. :$ Is there any possible some pictures or video about it? It is very confused for me with just reading through the patten.
Thanks!
Hi Jae.
Unfortunately, at this time we do not have any pictures or videos demonstrating this step. Is there a part of the pattern that you are finding particularly confusing? We’d love to help you through this portion of the pattern!
Thanks for writing in to us!
Laura
Hello!
I bought this pattern and yarn while I was visiting New York from Australia last month. I’m currently trying to attach the sleeves to the body (the “attach the sleeves” section under the “yoke” heading) but I am struggling to understand how to move on. I have oriented the sleeve’s on-hold under arm stitches with the body’s on-hold under arm stitches and am now up to knitting across the sleeve stitches but I’m not quite sure how…
Thanks in advance for your help!! This is my first ever attempt at a sweater and I have already learned 3 new techniques while making it – I’m having a ball (pun intended haha)! I’m making the size 1… SO CUTE!
Alex
Hi, Alex!
Thank you so much for writing in! One of my very talented associates is going to be contacting you via email regarding your question. Again, thank you for your question! Happy knitting!
Best wishes,
Kumeko
Is this pattern also in Danish ?
Hi, Lisbeth!
Thank you so much for your interest in our pattern. Unfortunately, we only have this pattern available in English! Thank you for writing in!
Best,
Kumeko
Like Alex, I am also currently trying to attach the arms to the body and am not quite sure how to move forward. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Emily
Hi Emily,
Thanks for writing us! This is a tricky part of the pattern and can be a bit confusing. If you are having trouble visualizing the process, I would match up your stitches on the scrap yarns (the underarm area to be grafted later on) and slip the right sleeve stitches on to the left-hand needle of your stitches for the body. Place your marker so the beginning of the round is the right front. Knit across the sleeve stitches you just slipped onto your main needle and continue on to the back. Do the same for the left sleeve, being sure to match up the grafting stitches. If this is still confusing, I would slip your right sleeve stitches on to the long circular needle, then the back, followed by the left sleeve and finally the front. This will orient you to start knitting from the right front and across the right sleeve first. I hope this helps!
Best,
Adam
I love this pattern but before I buy it could you let me know if it is a Top down pattern or not ?
Merci.
Hi Claudie,
Thanks for your kind words! This pattern is knit from the bottom up.
Happy knitting!
Cassy
There are so many new babies about to arrive that I’ve been madly collected yarn to knit this up for friends.
I just finished my first one (size 18 months) for my own son and realized that although it looks great, there is no way his head is going to fit through the top!! Did I make a mistake somehow?
Would it be possible to add a larger opening with a button closure?
Hi Elizabeth!
Thanks for writing in! I think you should try binding off looser. This might help and give the opening some stretch. If not, then you could try ripping back to a few rows before the ribbing and start the ribbing earlier. Hope this helps!
Best,
Adam
I made this in size 4. When closing up the arm holes, I used kitchener stitch on the 4 stitches for each arm hole. However, I ended up with two large holes on each side on each arm where the beginning and end the kitchener stitch areas were. What’s the best way to fix these holes? Was I supposed to do graft these horizontally somehow or use mattress stitch? I sort of just weaved the ends into those holes, but I feel like it could look better, and the pattern just said kitchener stitch…
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for your comment! This is a common occurrence at the underarm of a sweater, so don’t fret! It could be that you didn’t keep tension on the loose yarn when joining the sleeves, so watch out for that next time. I would close up the hole by weaving in your ends from the wrong side of the garment. To do this I just thread my tapestry needle and pick up the purl bumps along the opening from the bottom of the hole up, making sure to keep my tension even. I like to look at the right side of the garment every now and again to make sure everything is looking seamless. I hope this helps!
Best,
Adam
My daughter loves this sweater! She is 13 years old, 1.50 m tall. Which pattern can you recommend me, as she is just in between?
Thanks in advance,
Kirstin
Hi Kirstin,
Thanks for writing in! The best way to judge what size to make is to select based on chest measurements. For the toddler and kid size sweaters, the available chest measurement sizes are 22 ¾ (23 ¼, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32) inches. The garment is meant to be worn with 3-4 inches of positive ease. So to select the correct size, measure the recipients chest and add 3-4 inches and select the nearest size. If the measurement you find is larger than the ones that appear here, I would suggest going up to the adult sizes whose finished chest measurements are 36 (40, 44, 48) inches.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
I just bought this pattern and am super excited to make it in the navy super soft merino for my daughter, but while reading through the pattern, I was confused about the sleeve increase round instructions – I don’t understand when dashes are used in the pattern. I’m making the sweater for a 2-year-old, so for instance on the “Begin Fair Isle and Raglan Shaping” section at the bottom when it references “Repeat Rounds 3-10” and then has [- (-, 40, -, 48, -, -,) stitches]. … I don’t know what those dashes mean or how to read the pattern! Can someone help with this?
Hello Catherine,
Thank you for reaching out! When you see the dashes it just means that those particular instructions are not relevant to those particular sizes. This just means that this section is only relevant to sizes 2 and 6.
I hope this clears things up and happy knitting!
-Marilla
I’m nearly finished and just need to close the armholes. However, there is not a nearby tail end to use for this. I did not leave off with the MC when I finished this part of the sweater! I guess I should just use a new length of yarn here?
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for reaching out! Yes, if you don’t have a tail of yarn available, you can always cut a new piece from the leftover yarn and use that to sew up the holes as usual.
Best,
Julianna
Hello,
I sure hope someone is monitoring questions while the store is closed. I am knitting the “Friendly Fair Isle Sweater” for toddlers, size 4 and at the point in the “Body” where under Make Fair Isle Strip it reads in the last paragraph of that section, “Next round *K39, place previous stitch marker when 4 on a stitch holder, repeat from * once more, removing the stitch marker when you get to it…35 stitches for Front and Back.” What happens to those stitches that were on the holder???
Thank in advance
Hi Susan,
Thanks for reaching out! We are most definitely continuing to answer questions! For now these stitches will remain on hold until you are finished knitting the yoke of the sweater. You will later use kitchener stitch to join them to the matching stitches you placed on a holder when finishing the sleeves to assemble the underarm of the sweater. After completing this row correctly, you should have two sets of 35 stitches on the needle, separated by two sets of 4 stitches on holders.
I hope that clears things up!
Julianna
Thank you very much Julianna. So wonderful to have a reply at this isolated time. In the past I’ve always received patient and expert help from the amazing staff at Purl Soho.
With appreciation,
Susan
I am interested in knitting this pattern in one of the two color ways that are photographed here. I see that the ballet pink is still available but not the pink grapefruit. Could you suggest a color that would be similar? The same problem exists with the green combo. The artemisia is available but not the black green. What would go well with the artemisia?
Finally, would this pattern work with your wooly wool? Thank you.
Hi Victoria,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, Pink Grapefruit and Black Green have been discounted and we don’t have an exact replacement for either. However, I would recommend Ballet Pink with Super Pink or Peachy Pink, I think either would be an adorable combination! I would also recommend High Tide, True Turquoise or even Stillwater Blue with Artemisia Green! Woolly Wool is a much heavier gauge than Super Soft Merino (it is much closer in weight to Gentle Giant) so it wouldn’t work with this pattern!
I hope this helps and please let us know which color way you end up working with!
Warmly,
Gianna
Hi, I love your patterns, and have learnt some really useful stuff from your site.
I would now really like to buy both the adult and the child versions of the gorgeous Friendly Fair Isle pattern, but I’m in the UK, so I need pdf versions. From some of the comments, this seems to have been possible in the past, but when I go to the product page I can only buy hard copies, and the shipping cost makes them really expensive.
Is there somewhere I can buy pdf versions, please?
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, since this is an older pattern, it is only available as a hardcopy and not a pdf. I am sorry for the inconvenience!
Warmly,
Gianna