Web-Letter, Issue 33 – Provence Baby Cardigan Greetings— This week I’m touting (again) the joys of knitting small projects. Little projects that work up quickly offer more opportunities to savor the first few moments of casting on and knitting, the moments when our project is still perfect. We can see the tidy stitches forming on the rows just below the needles. We haven’t yet found a mysterious extra stitch on the needle or scratched our head over that stray grouplet of stitches that don’t fall in nicely with the others. Among the small projects that give great satisfaction are knits for babies and children. They allow us to work an entire sweater in miniature in a day or two. And we can be fairly sure—if we don’t park the project for long—that it will fit its wearer. Cecily Glowik’s tiny cardigan, worked in CEY’s Provence, has all the details of  a grown up sweater, edgings, buttonholes, and a pretty lace detail. But it works up in a jiffy.
The Story: The first time that I made this sweater for Ella, my cousin’s new baby, I used cashmere. Her mom and dad work in Manhattan and I thought that it would be great for the little one to greet NYC in style. Cashmere is wonderfully soft and warm, the perfect fiber to surround a new baby. However, a cashmere sweater is not the most practical garment for an infant. After it’s been hand-washed once or twice, it might be stored away even before it’s been outgrown. So Ella will also receive this practical version of her little sweater. It’s larger, but it’s still soft and pretty. And worked in mercerized cotton, it’s sturdy and machine washable, too. I placed buttons on the top half of the cardigan to leave room at the bottom for a bulky diaper, and I knitted the ends of the sleeves in seed stitch to make a nice cuff. As adorable as Ella looks in her cashmere cardigan, I hope that she’ll get lots of wear from this easy-care cotton version. The Yarn: Provence — 100% mercerized Egyptian cotton Provence is a mercerized cotton yarn with a subtle sheen and an interesting structure. It’s a three-ply yarn, each ply of which is formed from 3 finer plies twisted together. The multi-ply structure of the yarn gives it a slight ripple on the surface—though it knits up into a smooth, soft fabric. It comes in 47 colors brilliant colors. And because it’s machine washable it’s an especially good yarn choice for children’s garments. Learn more about mercerized cotton. The Stitches: How big or small to make a buttonhole depends on the size of the  buttons you plan to use on your sweater. For peace of mind, work a sample buttonhole on a swatch, using the yarn and needles required. When shopping for buttons, bring this swatch with you or adjust the buttonhole technique to comfortably fit your pre-selected buttons. The button should fit snuggly in the hole. If it slips out too easily, make a smaller buttonhole. If it's difficult to get the button through the hole, make your buttonhole larger. Learn how to make a bound off buttonhole.	more photos The Pattern: Here's the free downloadable Provence Baby Cardigan pattern
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