Wendy Baby Cardy

Wendy Baby Cardy by Cartlers Designs

What is Being Made

The Wendy Baby Cardy is a knitted cardigan designed for babies with a 20-inch chest measurement. This beginner-friendly project creates a classic button-front cardigan featuring a structured body with set-in sleeves and decorative stitch patterning throughout the main garment.

Techniques Used

This knitting pattern employs several fundamental techniques suitable for beginner knitters. The construction begins with a cast-on for the main body, followed by basic garter stitch ribbing at the lower edge. The garment features decreasing and increasing techniques as core design elements, with yarn-overs and knit-together stitches creating an openwork effect. The pattern incorporates stitch shaping through strategic increases and decreases to create a fitted silhouette. Armhole shaping is achieved through casting off stitches at designated points, and the sleeves are worked separately with regular increases at each edge to create sleeve cap shaping. The cardigan is finished with button bands and requires assembly of the separate pieces through seaming.

Stitches Used

• Knit stitch (K) – the foundational stitch used throughout
• Purl stitch (P) – used to create texture and stockinette stitch sections
• Knit two together (K2tog) – a decrease stitch creating the decorative pattern
• Make one (M1) – an increase stitch used to add stitches within rows
• Garter stitch – created by knitting every row, used for the ribbed edges
• Stockinette stitch (stst) – created by alternating knit and purl rows, used for the sleeves

Materials and Tools

The Wendy Baby Cardy requires 300 meters of DK weight yarn in pink for the main garment. Four 1cm buttons serve as the cardigan closures. The pattern is worked on 4mm knitting needles, which are appropriately sized for DK yarn to achieve the specified gauge of 11 stitches and 13 rows over a 2-inch square. This downloadable PDF pattern from independent designer Cartlers Designs provides complete instructions for creating this charming baby cardigan.