With so many patterns for baby sweaters out there, choosing just one can get pretty overwhelming. I've made lots of sweaters for friends' babies in the past, but when I became pregnant, I decided to launch a serious investigation on the subject of baby sweaters.

Phase one of the investigation was knitting a bunch of sweaters. I made cardigans and pullovers, v necks and crew necks, in worsted weight and sportweight, in stockinette and lace. Some patterns demanded a lot of fudging and extra work, having me second guess each step. Others were smooth sailing, inspiring trust with each new instruction. Duly noted!

Phase two was putting the sweaters to the test on an actual baby. On January 7th my son, Bear, came into the world and a perfect model was born! That's when I discovered that one pattern's "newborn" size is another pattern's "one year" size; and that some patterns forget that babies have huge heads and short arms; and that other patterns disregard that babies and eight million little buttons are a bad combination.

So after nine months of fretting, I have three "winners". These patterns are clear and error free; the sweaters are practical and adorable. For me, they're classics. Try them out, maybe they'll become your classics too! Or let us know what baby sweater patterns you return to over and over. We'd all love to know!

The Harvey Kimono

This sweet little kimono style sweater is a wonderful vehicle for beautiful, subtle yarn. Its simple construction really gives the yarn room to shine. I used The Fibre Company's new Lightweight Road to China. The same combination of baby alpaca, cashmere, camel and silk as their worsted weight version, this new sportweight version is just as delicious, but more delicate. To get the gauge of 5 1/2 stitches to the inch, I used a US #5 needle. This is an "up to 3 months" size and is a bit roomy, but wearable, on my one month old.

The Harvey Kimono comes from Louise Harding's book, "Natural Knits for Babies and Moms" (the "girl" version with the picot edge is on the cover). Loaded with adorable sweaters (for pregnant and nursing moms too) and a great array of baby accessories, this book covers most of your baby knitting desires. The book's patterns range from newborn size to either 12 or 18 month size. Also, everything is knit in organically grown yarns.

The Harvey Kimono is a set in sleeve construction, knit in pieces that you sew up at the end. For my version, I decided to knit the edges in a contrast color. The main color is Blue Tourmaline and the edges are Light Sapphire. You will need between 280 and 470 yards of yarn, depending on the size. For this version I needed two skeins of the main color and one of the contrast color.

Leaf Yoke Cardigan

I took a short break from knitting for my own baby to make this little cardigan for my friends Arthur and Maggie's newborn, Theodotia. The whole time I knit this sweater I marveled at the intelligence of the pattern. Knit in the round from the top down, every detail of this pattern was perfectly thought out. It was so relaxing to knit because I never had to worry that some consideration had not been taken into account. I knew the lace pattern would line up correctly, that the sleeves wouldn't be wonky, and that I'd have a well proportioned sweater in the end.

Created by Nashua Yarns, "Bloom" is a great little book that's big on ideas. It includes patterns for ten different sweaters (some knit in pieces, some in the round), two blankets, a cabled vest, a hat, and a poncho. The patterns cover a range of skills from very easy to quite challenging and go up to size 24 months.

In the book the sweater is made with 2-5 balls (110 yards each) of Nashua's Ecologie Cotton, depending on the size.

Instead of cotton, I used Koigu Premium Merino. For the 0-3 month size I needed 2 skeins (plus a little bit of a second color to crochet a contrast edging - my own addition), and I used a US #6 needle to get the right gauge. If you would prefer cotton, a great choice would be Blue Sky Alpaca's Skinny Cotton.

Child's Placket-Neck Pullover

The Child's Placket-Neck Sweater is a classic at Purl. Customers return to this pattern over and over because it's so quick and easy to knit, so functional as a sweater, and so cute! Knit in the round from the bottom up with raglan sleeves, there's almost no final sewing or seams. Also, I love that this pattern starts at size 0-6 months and goes all the way up to age ten - a whole childhood of Placket Sweaters!

The pattern comes from the owner of Purl, Joelle Hoverson's book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Covering gift ideas that can be knit in less than two hours all the way up to more than eight hour gifts, this book touches on everything from baby booties to leg warmers to camisoles. Beautifully photographed, carefully crafted and refreshingly simple, it's a hard book to resist.

Here is Joelle's version of the Placket Sweater from her book. She included little beads on the placket so the neck could be buttoned up.

The pattern uses 3-7 skeins (114 yards each) of Koigu's Kersti Merino Crepe. I have so much Kersti hanging around that I decided to use up some scraps by knitting stripes. I love using stash yarn because it often forces me into color decisions I never would have made if I had chosen from a fully stocked shelf. Outside of my comfort zone, the results can be surprising!