You can’t beat this pattern for kids’ DK sweaters! The Helpful Table makes it so easily adaptable.

The reindeer are out of Mary Jane Mucklestone’s Scandinavian Motifs.

Modifications:

I like a firm gauge, especially for colorwork, so I knitted 5yr size to get a 3yr size.

I wanted a cardigan, so I added a six-stitch steek when joining in the round.

Because it’s a cardigan, I didn’t need the large neck opening, so I used the ziggurat stitch counts for the largest size when zigzagging around the neck opening (this gave me more width at the top of the shoulder), and the ones for the appropriate size (5 yr) around the sleeve caps. Then I increased for the neck opening much faster than written. I joined in the round when the fronts got to the correct stitch count for the size I was knitting, then continued to follow the Helpful Table until done, using the sleeve/body stitch counts to keep track.

Other notes:

I had planned to put reindeer on each sleeve, but realized as I worked the first one that a toddler might really hate sticking his hand in the sleeve and getting caught on the floats. I have a horror of that myself, dating from a sweater in my own childhood. So I made the sleeves striped instead. Not quite as cute, but it works.

Take care when sewing on the ribbon to cover the steek edges. I stretched one of the button bands a good bit longer than the other, and had to take it out and start over.