Tucker is 4.5 years old in the photo (3/9/21).

My stitch gauge was slightly larger than the pattern’s. I used the stitch counts for the 2-3 year size and the chest is 26.5” instead of 25.25”. This worked out well since this cardigan is intended to fit a 3-4 year old.

Instead of binding off one stitch every other row for the front neck shaping I worked a standard decrease (p1, p2tog for the left front and k1, ssk for the right front).

I knit the sleeves 10.5” long instead of 13” long. I don’t know why the pattern would call for such long sleeves. I increased every 4th row instead of every 3rd row so all the increases would be done on the RS.

For the sleeves I knit 16 rows in seed stitch then three rows of stockinette before switching to larger needles so there would be more flexibility in cuffing the sleeves. The sleeves are 8.5”-9.5” long when cuffed.

I picked up 57 sts for the button bands instead of 67 sts. I knit 8 sts between buttonholes instead of 10 sts. I knit 11 rows instead of 13 rows because I used 3/4” buttons instead of 1” buttons.

Instead of knitting the hood separate I picked up sts around the neck. I picked up 24 sts along the right front, 27 sts from the back neck, and 24 sts along the left front for a total of 75 hood sts instead of 81 sts. I should have increased to 81 sts because my hood was 14” wide before the border instead of 15” wide per the pattern.

For the hood shaping I bound off the first and last 25 sts and knit the middle 25 sts for 5”. I picked up 109 sts for the hood border: 43 sts along the left and right fronts and 23 sts along the center bind off edge.

I knit 7 rows for the hood border instead of 10 so it would be in line with the buttonholes.

I used six 3/4” buttons from Hobby Lobby.

I made 8 spikes instead of 15. Each spike is 3” wide and 2.25” tall. Since I used bulky yarn for the spikes I used size 5 DPNs instead of size 3. Each spike used 7g of yarn and the tail used 9g.

Measurements:

• Chest: 26.5” (to fit 22”)
• Length: 13.5”
• Sleeve Length: 10.5” (8.5”-9.5” cuffed)
• Upper Arm: 11”
• Lower Arm: 7”
• Hood: 16” wide x 8” tall

Total Cost: $12.65

• Gray Yarn: $6.69
• Green Yarn: $3.97
• Buttons: $1.99