My Favourite Baby Knitting Patterns

TodayI’m going to share with you my four favourite free baby knitting patterns and my finished versions. I had big plans to make loads and loads of stuff in preparation for the baby’s arrival but unfortunately I’ve had loads of trouble with my back (in the erector spinae muscle if you’re interested) which has made it really difficult for me to sit upright and knit or sew. I’m pretty gutted about this but have still managed to make him a few things in time for his arrival in the next couple of weeks. Baby knitting is my favourite knitting because small pieces take less time and so are super satisfying – I don’t really have the patience for adult garments as I like to see progress quickly and I’m not the fastest knitter!

1. One Piece Baby Jumper Knitting Pattern – Lion Brand Yarn

I think there’s something so lovely about garter stitch, it’s so rustic and chunky. This is just like a baby fisherman’s jumper and was the quickest of the four to knit up. I didn’t use Lion Brand Wool as my MIL had given me some baby wool that she bought from Aldi – so I’m not exactly sure which brand it was but this Simply DK from Paintbox Yarns would do just as well and it’s only £1.79 a ball.

2. Hooded Baby Cardigan Knitting Pattern – Lion Brand Yarns

It took me AGES to find a pattern for a hooded baby cardigan that I actually liked (I’m a fussy bugger) but finally I found this one and it’s knitted up really well. Mothercare had a really similar one but they’d added a striped lining (which would be easy enough to do) but I’d much rather make my own version.

The little wooden toggle was from eBay and, again, the wool was from Aldi and you got substitute it for the same one I’ve mentioned above if you didn’t one to get the Lion Brand one recommended in the pattern.

3. Macaron Baby Jumper Knitting Pattern – The Noble Thread

I love how cute these two colour jumpers are, I’m in the process of knitting up a black and white one in a bigger size. I found that the sizing was quite a bit larger than described, the newborn size was closer to a 3to 6 month size so for the pictured jumper I adjusted the pattern to make a smaller one.

I used James C Brett Cotton On DK as I had quite a lot left from a blanket I knitted last time I was pregnant, I thought it would be nice to have a jumper to match it.

4. Striped Button Up Baby Jumper Knitting Pattern – NOT FREE (Sorry!)

Ok so I’m really sorry that this one isn’t free – I’ve let you down and I’ve let myself down! I honestly didn’t remember that I’d paid for it until I just went to get the link but it’s not that expensive and is such a cute and unusual style that it’s absolutely worth the money! There’s still a little bit of garter stitch in this pattern but it’s mostly stockingette. This one is probably the trickiest of all the patterns, it took me a while to understand what it meant for the button holes but I got there in the end – it’s worth a practice! The pattern doesn’t give you instructions on how to do the stripes, I used two stitch counters – one to keep track of the button hole rows and one to keep track of the stripe rows. I used 8 rows for each stripe.

Again, the buttons I bought were from eBay for a couple of pounds, the wool was just standard double knitting – this time off Urmston Market and my mum bought it! I need to make more of an effort to remember what wool I’m using clearly!

Do you have a favourite baby knitting pattern? I’d love to find more cute things to knit up for our little boy (I’m hoping my back will be much better once I’m not carrying round a bowling ball in my tummy!). Let me know your faves in the comments below!