I can’t say enough how I love this sweater. Straightforward construction, very fast (3 days! And that is with my full-time job!) and adorable. 2 days in and I have gotten so many compliments. This will be a wardrobe staple.

I originally spotted this sweater on GSheller’s blog and knew my daughter had to have one of her own. When I finally got around to casting on it flew off the needles.

I am interested to see how the Malabrigo Rios wears. It is very soft and I love that it is machine washable, but if it has the pilling issues the other Malabrigo lines have, it’s history. If not, it may become my go-to kid yarn.

A couple of comments and modifications:

• Some people have commented that the sizing is a bit small. My daughter, as pictured, is 20 months. She is big for her age (almost the size of a 3 year old), but the 3-5 size is a perfect fit. There is no way a 5-year old can wear that sweater. I would say the 3-5 is more like a 2-3.
• To avoid the bottom rolling, I did a broken rib, which worked out nicely
• To avoid the sleeves rolling, I followed the modifications posted in JCasa’s project, which is BO 16, k2tog and BO, k2tog tbl and BO, BO 16. It creates a little puff sleeve that stops the stockinette from rolling. I think next time, I will do a broken rib edging before the same cast off.
• I knit 20 rows after the ribbing before casting off the sleeves (instead of 15 rows) to allow for room for her to wear a shirt under the sweater on extra chilly days.

Update after washing: the pattern is still lovely, but I am not at all a fan of the Malabrigo Rios yarn. It stretched a lot, especially in the collar and is already starting to pill after 3 wears. I will be knitting the sweater again, but will not be using Rios.