Making PDFs for My Patterns

Perhaps it's because I was an English teacher, or perhaps because I spent some career time doing technical writing for a school district, but it takes me so long to get my pattern PDFs to look satisfactory to me. I'm a stickler for details and keep editing and editing!

This is my latest pattern which is now available here. I'll be adding it to my Craftsy shop and other places soon.

This Striped Baby Sweater and Hat Set is sized for newborn babies. It's made with sock yarn. There are many things I love about using sock yarn for babies. It comes in gorgeous colors, is available in great wool blends, is machine washable, is soft and lovely next to baby skin, and is generally fairly inexpensive.

The yarn used in this sweater set was a vintage Kroy sock yarn with a higher proportion of wool and more yardage than the newer Kroy sock yarns. The pattern works with any sock yarn though. Picture this made in many bright crayon colored stripes, or in muted pastels. If you use one of the variegated or self-striping yarns, the sweater would really go fast because there would be no color changing.

Except for the ribs, I knit this set with #3 needles - a larger size than I would have used for socks. Baby sweaters don't get nearly the wear of socks, and knitting with larger needles makes the sweater extra soft.

The greatest thing about this pattern is that the sweater is knitted in one piece, so when you're through knitting you only have to seam the underarms and sides. There's no tiny sleeve to set in. Really, this whole set takes much less time than making a pair of socks and is so much easier too. This pattern is for beginning knitters. You only have to know how to knit and purl to make this.