Catoctin knitting pattern by Kristen Jancuk, Knittin Little Winter 2015

Knittin Little's second collection launches today, and I'm so excited to share my contribution to Winter 2015 with you: Catoctin.

Catoctin features mistake rib hems, a plain stockinette body topped with a cabled yoke, nubby moss stitch elbow patches, and a simple ribbed collar. It's knit from the bottom up, so the only seaming is under the arms. Worked in DK weight, it provides a warm layer for the chilliest months of the year that's not too bulky. The simple cables and classic details work for boys and girls, and the pattern is sized for kiddos ages 6 months all the way up to 12 years.

I was so excited to work with Andrea on this collection because I believe Knittin Little covers an important segment of the wool-wearing population that is often overlooked--kids. You see a lot of pudgy babies and some bouncy toddlers in handknits, but patterns for school-aged children are harder to find.

Catoctin knitting pattern, by Kristen Jancuk, Knittin Little Winter 2016

The sample, modeled by Andrea's too adorable son who seems to be a lot more cooperative than my children when it comes to photography, was knit in Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label DK weight, which is always a dream to work with. You might remember I knit JJ's Coolbreeze Cardigan in this same color, Brick, which I think is the perfect red for little boys. (It almost hurts looking at those pictures of JJ, it's hard to believe he was ever that little!)

As soon as I finished the sample, which fortunately Andrea asked me to knit in the size 4, perfect for JJ, I immediately cast on another for Ollie. Ollie's sweater is the size 2, knit in Yarn on the House Big Sister, a super soft DK weight that's really too fancy for a baby, with 10% cashmere, but he is pretty spoiled--what are you going to do? This weekend he wore his sweater for our annual family photos, but I had to get a few artsy Christmas shots in advance. (Ollie is beyond thrilled. Can you tell? He's like the opposite of Buddy the Elf--smiling is his least favorite.)

This sweater is quite large on him--he's a) only 16 months and b) a peanut at that--so hopefully it will fit next year as well. It's pretty funny now, with the elbow patches down around his wrists.This yellow-green colorway, Avocado, works so well with his pale skin and dark hair--I love that it has the slightest hints of brown and darker green.

(Incidentally, both of my children hate avocado. But that's ok, more for me.)

I'll admit that bottom up raglan sweaters are usually not my favorite to knit, but I picked this style for a reason--when working the yoke, it's much easier to keep track of the cable pattern while decreasing than it is while increasing. That is, when you're subtracting stitches, it's fairly simple to see when you need to stop working a cable; when you're adding stitches, it's much trickier to figure out when you have the right number of stitches to start working a cable repeat. I really had the knitter's best interest at heart.

Or possibly just my own.

Add this pattern to your queue or show it some love on Ravelry right here. You can also purchase the pattern from the Knittin Little website right here, and check out the rest of the adorable Winter 2015 collection, which I'll talk more about tomorrow.