Continuing on with my list of really great free knitting patterns I used to prepare for Baby's arrival is the eyelet yoke cardigan. The eyelet yoke detail is lovely and might seem a little bit girly, but I think depending on your choice of yarn it could be appropriate for a baby boy, too. Since we didn't know whether Baby would be a boy or a girl, I opted to omit the eyelet details on the sleeves and lower border, and just used it on the yoke. This could be made even more masculine by using a nice navy or deep blue yarn, but I opted to use yarn already in my stash: a beautifully soft and warm alpaca yarn that my Mom had purchased for me while traveling in South America. The yarn, Indiecita DK, is truly lovely, though it does shed quite a bit. It leaves my black fleece looking a mess, but V doesn't seem to notice. (Rav details here)
The pattern is written in great detail up to the point where you separate for the sleeves. After that, you have to have a good idea of what length you want to make the sleeves and the body, because little guidance is given with regards to either. I used the same sleeve and body length measurements I used for my puerperium cardigans. I probably should have made the body and sleeves just a touch longer, since the resulting sweater has the 3-6 month width, but is a little on the short side. Nevertheless, I love this cardigan, and will likely make it again as a baby gift.
