Striped Clara Cardigan for American Girl Dolls

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I’m super excited to share this adorable American Girl Doll sweater that I knitted recently!  This is a pattern by Steph Wiley – I first came across her designs when I was shopping for doll clothes on etsy and I was instantly a fan.  (Check out some of her other patterns I’ve knitted up).

This pattern is called Clara and it was a really easy knit – the hardest part was picking up the stitches in the last step to knit on the edging band.  This wasn’t really hard, I guess… more like tedious.

I’m super picky about spacing my picked up stitches evenly, so I divided up the whole edge into segments marked off with safety pins then I picked up a small fraction of the total stitches in each segment.  This is 100% the best way to pick up stitches evenly across a long stretch of knitting, but the method is kind of time consuming and it may have been a little too Type-A in this case… this is only a doll sweater after all. But, it sure turned out nice:

This is also the first time I have used the fingering weight version of Knit Picks Comfy yarn and I am a total convert!  It’s the perfect yarn for doll clothes like this: super inexpensive, comes in gorgeous colors, and it can go in the washer & dryer.

A Note on Gauge: I’ll just close by saying that I didn’t knit a gauge swatch on this one and you can tell.  My final gauge is 31 stitches over 4” instead of 34 as called for in the pattern.  This means that I knitted 7.75 stitches per inch and Steph knitted 8.5.  This seems seems insignificant, but the sweater is 94 stitches at its widest point, so this variance adds up to my sweater being 1.1” wider than it should be.  And 1.1” is pretty significant if you are an 18” doll.  I’ll go down a needle size next time… but I still won’t swatch!

yarn details

Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Lilac and Seafoam
Fingering Weight
75% Cotton 25% Acrylic
Machine wash and dry okay, but probably lay flat to dry
$3.99 per 50 g/ 218 yd skein
Purchased in November 2020

project details

pattern: “Clara Cardigan” by Steph Wiley (download on Ravelry or in the Qute Etsy shop) (This is actually two patterns in one!  Check it out!)
needles: US size 1.5 (2.5 mm), nickel-plated circular needles (mine were the 32” version)
gauge: 31 stitches and 44 rows = 4 inches in stockinette (worked flat)
yarn used: 114 yards (26 grams) Lilac (MC) and 66 yards (15 grams) Seafoam (CC)
duration: April 4-17, 2021