Step 1: The ribbed neckband

We want a fairly close-fitting neckline for warmth, but it needs a lot of stretch to accommodate that big baby head. I don't remember where I learned this method (Maggie Righetti?) or what it's called, but you basically work twice the height you want your neckband to be, and then fold it over and knit the top stitches together with the bottom stitches. No idea what this cast-on is called, so I couldn't find any YouTube tutorials, but I'll try to describe it in more detail.

Using any provisional method, cast 80 stitches onto a 2.5mm circular needle using the solid-color yarn. Work 2x2 rib for 16 rows our rounds...

If you use the provisional crochet cast-on, it's fairly easy to work this in the round, BUT remember to knit the first row. If you work 2x2 ribbing in the first row, unpicking it will be a nightmare. I speak from bitter experience.

Judy's Magic Cast-On will require you to work back & forth. At least, I haven't figured out a comfortable way to work in the round from JMCO, but on the other hand, it does make the next step much easier. On the other-other hand, you will have to sew the edges together, and I never sew when I can knit.

Once you've finished the 16th row/round, change to the self-striping color and knit each stitch together with its base. Here's a YouTube tutorial that shows the procedure. The relevant bit is from 1:44 to about 3:30. After that she talks about inserting elastic. Do not insert elastic.

This is where you start knitting in the round, if you haven't already. So now you have your snuggly, stretchy, ribbed, folded-over neckband in the plain color and the first round in the self-striping color. Tune in to the next entry for round 2!

Basic construction

Let's start with a basic overview. The sweater starts with a folded-over neck ribbing for maximum snuggliness and stretchiness. The whole thing is knitted in the round with no seams. There are short rows in rounds 3, 7, & 11, and four increase rounds, in rounds 4, 12, 20, and 28. Then you separate the sleeves from the body, add some underarm gussets, and then decrease them out. You finish with 2x2 ribbing at the wrists and waist, and cast off as stretchily as possible.

Right now there's only one size - newborn - because I can't take time away from reading to do the grading, but if you'd like the help with that, I sure wouldn't mind!

Supplies

Yarn 

I've been using Aldi sock yarn, but you can certainly substitute Regia's 4-ply, and have a better choice of colors, not to mention being able to buy it any time, not just twice a year. One baby sweater uses nearly a whole skein of the solid color and about a third of a skein of the self-striping color.

Needles

2.5mm for the ribbings, 3.0mm for the yoke and body. I use a long circular needle, at least 80cm, and magic loop for the smaller circumferences and traveling loop when it gets large enough. Also one 2.5mm dpn may come in handy from time to time. 

Notions

a row-counting
stitch marker

See here's where it gets tricky. I'm a big fan of stitch markers, so I use 8 of them to mark off sections. One is a row-counting stitch marker, at the center back, because I don't like spending a lot of time counting. A friend says the fiddliness would drive her crazy; another friend says row-counters are for chumps, so, you know. Use it if you want, don't if you don't.

A tapestry needle, for weaving in ends and also for when you separate the sleeves and the body, to put the waiting stitches on a length of quilting ribbon or mercerized cotton or something. Oh yeah, so a length of quilting ribbon or mercerized cotton too. 

Also, a crochet hook, size 2.25-3.0mm. I use it for the provisional crochet cast-on, and if you do that you'll also want a length of scrap yarn for the cast-on. Or you can use Judy's Magic Cast-On. I use the crochet hook for my stretchy bind-off, but if you'd rather use Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off, you can skip the crochet hook entirely.

You see why I've struggled with writing this pattern. Everything is optional!

What should we call this thing?

And we need a name. I mean, usually you come up with a name somewhat later in the design process, but I think it would be helpful to have a tag, so people can find all the posts related to this baby sweater without getting bogged down in all the other posts about unrelated things that I will definitely be writing as soon as I've escaped grad school no really I mean it.

It's constructed sort of like a Lopapeysa, but not really - it's knit top-down, for one, and there is no fair-isle, just self-striping sock yarn for the busy part, so is it a Faux-papeysa? Heh. A Lazy Lopapeysa? Nearly all the math involves multiples of 8, which is a lucky number in China, so maybe Lucky Baby Lopapeysa? I dunno. I could use some better ideas.

I'M BACK! Didja miss me?

Okay hi yeah, there was a teensy hiatus there. I got a little sidetracked by graduate school. Yes indeed, I am going for my M.A. in English Linguistics with a side of Transcultural Studies, and it's going about as well as you can expect for someone as distractible as I am. Suddenly everything is a squirrel. A shiny one.

Because of grad school, I'm not designing, not taking on any challenging projects, and not buying new yarn (except for Aldi sock yarn, which is from Aldi so it legally counts as groceries, not stash), so there hasn't been a lot to blog about. But I am still knitting, because see above re distractible. I have found that I can't sit still for all the reading I have to do. I'm jumping up every two minutes to get a snack or check the mail or clean something or see if a thing I haven't used in five years is still where I remember it being even though I don't need it now, unless I have something to knit, preferably plain stockinette in the round. This information will be salient later.

Another thing that I probably shouldn't have signed up for because it takes time away from my studies is I volunteer at the refugee center, teaching recently arrived women how to knit and crochet. Quite a few of them are pregnant, so over time I have developed a baby sweater pattern that involves a lot of plain stockinette and uses up my impressive collection of Aldi sock yarn. So efficient! I have no idea - really none - how many I've made by now, because I tend to give them away as soon as they're finished, but they look more or less like this:

Aaaand a number of my knitting friends have requested the pattern and I keep meaning to publish it, but agh. I'm having such a hard time getting started. My therapist says I'm afraid to get started because I don't have the time it would take to get it perfect, so I should let go of the perfectionism and just get something up, and I can always fix it later.

So this here entry constitutes a promise: I will put up at least a version of this pattern for advanced knitters (i.e. I don't need to explain how to cast on or increase) this week. And you my audience are invited to ask questions and make suggestions and otherwise help me make this pattern better, even - dare I whisper it - accessible for a broader array of knitters? Because it was never my intention to design difficult things.