Author: Bethany

Happy Sunday!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are looking forward to all the good things to come in this new week! Start something you’ve put on the back burner, get a good sweaty workout in, maybe make that coffee meet up with a friend, do something to make the week better.

I finished up the love heart winter hoodie sweater for my two year old this previous week and figured I’ll share some pics from her photo sesh. We have been having a seriously gloomy February here in North Dakota and if there isn’t sunshine, I’ve got nothing for photos at home! I had to turn my flash on to add a little something because of how bad they were looking. At that point, I’d already tried multiple photos out on the porch that weren’t turning out either, and she was over it all.

The indoor flash photos take the cake. She’s leading with so much attitude and the best “careless” vibe I’ve seen. I absolutely love this age with kids. They’ve got the spunky attitude, but also the absolutely adorable squishable nature at the same time. They’re learning to test their limits, see what lights a reaction, what doesn’t. It is so fun.

I love knitting sweaters for this girly. She’s already loving clothes at this little age, taking after my own heart. She picks out her outfits each day, even has her favorites! When I knit her a sweater, she’s in love. She will hug it, snuggle on it, and not want to take it off.

This sweater is perfect for the ending of winter and leading to spring. This time of year, the wind will often be ever present. Spring will bring warmer days, but then we have the wind. The older kids can manage, but this age isn’t too fond of holding something on their head. I designed the ribbing on this hood in a more fitted manner, so the stay factor is strong. It will not fall off. We tested it running outside and I was quite happy! Then, when it’s pulled down, it creates a nice little mini cowl, perfect for keeping the neck warm.

This sweater only uses one skein of each color of We Are Knitters “the wool”. It doesn’t use a full skein, as it’s a fairly small sweater. Then you’ll need your 15mm and 25mm needles. Literally you’re just having a few hours of knitting with this one, if even.

The pattern is written for a basic 2 year old size, but super easy for adjusting. I include a mention in the pattern for that.

Purchase the pattern here!

❤️ Bethany

Can you guys believe it’s only 11 days to Valentine’s Day?! I love this holiday so much. It’s got so many delightful memories for me, dating back to when I was a child. My dad would get all the girls in my family a little jewelry piece and chocolate and leave them out for us in the morning before he left for work. It was so special and cute. Looking back now, he’s been gone for four years, it means so much that he went above and beyond for every holiday, and every day in daily life. He always looked forward to all the things! It put a passion in me to find all the ways to bring joy to the people I love.

I designed my cropped striped winter sweater pattern a few years ago and it continues to be one of my favorite basic sweater designs. It’s easily able to be made your own by simply changing and mixing different colors. If you want it longer, just throw on an extra section or two of colors! More cropped? Take off a section or two! I’ve seen people knit this sweater and add fringe on the bottom, it’s been knit upside down (lol I love the creativity!) and extra cropped!

I bought all of these yarn colors to make my hooded valentines sweater and had a bunch extra so I figured I’ll finally make another cropped striped winter sweater. It’s been on my to do list for quite a long while and this seemed perfect. I’m so obsessed with this combo! The bright pink, purple, and ivory are a match made in heaven.

Where the original sweater design had all different colors for each section, I had to do a repeat since I was only using three different colors. You know how much I like using colors, so I added on some little duplicate stitch hearts using random leftovers of wool I had in my stash. It added so much more to it!

This sweater can be knit in just a few hours! Honestly, it’s my fav to make because of how quickly it comes together. Using different colors always make a knitting project work up faster, along with the gigantic needles. Yes, you really do use size 50 US needles.

Purchase the pattern for the cropped striped winter sweater here.

https://happyloveco.etsy.com/listing/665547703

❤️💕

Bethany