Candy Cardigan - Free Knitting Pattern in Paintbox Yarns Baby DK

Candy Cardigan – Free Knitting Pattern in Paintbox Yarns Baby DK

The Candy Cardigan is a charming, colourful knitted cardigan designed for adults, available as a free downloadable PDF pattern from Paintbox Yarns. Rated as intermediate in difficulty, this project is ideal for knitters who are comfortable with shaping, working flat, and constructing a seamed garment. The finished cardigan features a playful, candy-inspired aesthetic created through the use of a neutral main colour accented with soft pastel contrast shades.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a seamed, fitted cardigan worked flat in separate pieces that are then joined together. It is sized to fit a bust measurement ranging from 81 cm (32 in) to 107 cm (42 in), with actual finished measurements spanning 87 cm to 115 cm. The finished length ranges from 52 cm to 57 cm, and the sleeve seam measures between 28 cm and 30 cm depending on size. The cardigan fastens with 7 buttons, making it a practical and wearable everyday layer.

Design Details and Construction

The Candy Cardigan is constructed using a seamed, worked-flat method, meaning each section — such as the back, left front, right front, and sleeves — is knitted as an individual flat piece before being sewn together at the end. This traditional construction method gives the finished garment excellent structure and a clean, professional finish. Seaming is typically done using mattress stitch or a similar joining technique, which creates nearly invisible seams along the sides and sleeve joins.

A key design feature of this cardigan is the combination of garter stitch and a separate stitch pattern, each worked at a different tension to achieve the correct drape and fabric density in different sections of the garment. The button band and edging details are worked in garter stitch (knit every row), which lies flat without curling and provides a neat, structured border. The body and sleeves incorporate a distinct stitch pattern worked at a slightly larger needle size.

Buttonholes

The pattern includes worked buttonholes as a defined technique, creating neat openings in the button band to accommodate the 7 buttons. Buttonholes in flat knitting are typically formed over two rows — one row to cast off a small number of stitches and a following row to cast them back on — resulting in a tidy, reinforced opening. Getting the buttonhole placement evenly spaced is an important step in achieving a polished finish on this cardigan.

Stitches Used

• Garter stitch (g st) – formed by knitting every row on both right side and wrong side; used for borders, edgings, and tension-specific sections
• Knit (K) and Purl (P) – the fundamental stitches used throughout the body and sleeve pattern
• Increases (inc) and Decreases (dec) – used for shaping the sleeves, armholes, and neckline
• Buttonhole technique – a two-row process integrated into the button band to create functional button openings

Techniques Used

• Worked flat – all pieces are knitted back and forth in rows on straight needles, as opposed to knitting in the round
• Seamed construction – individual pieces are sewn together after knitting to form the complete cardigan
• Buttonhole formation – integrated into the front band for a functional button fastening
• Tension/gauge management – the pattern requires two different tensions: 21 stitches and 40 rows to 10 cm over garter stitch using 4mm needles, and 21 stitches and 26 rows to 10 cm over pattern using 4.5mm needles
• Shaping – including increases along sleeve seams and decreases at armholes and neckline, described using standard knitting abbreviations
• Colour management – working with a main colour and four contrast shades requires careful yarn management to keep floats or joins tidy