Fundamental Junior Cardigan

I can't believe it's been a week since we released the new Fundamental Top-Down Junior Cardigan pattern and I haven't even blogged about it yet! That's what kind of week it's been. It all got eaten up with holiday and birthday celebrations (which are still going on). One week ago we had a fun photo shoot with Keith, Nate and June Rose and they wore the cardigans while they played around at our house.

Here's Nate flipping some Syzygy tiles while wearing a cardigan made with Schaefer Elaine in the Dian Fossey colorway. This yarn is delightfully lumpy-bumpy and fun to knit. The Fundamental Cardigan can accommodate such a lively art yarn because of its blank-slate style.

And here we have little June Rose investigating our bird bath gargoyle and enjoying some cranberry juice while wearing another Fun Card made with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Supreme Purple.

Here's all three kids wearing cardigans--Nate even donned the crazy orange one that was too small for him. What a trouper! That one was made with Cascade Cotton Rich. Thank goodness we were having one of our PNW coolish summer days so these lovelies wouldn't mind playing in mostly wool sweaters for us. They were good models! Thank you Brooke and Jonathan for loaning us your sweeties for a little while. Thanks to Natalie for scampering around after them and getting some great shots!

The benefit of the Fundamental patterns is not their unique design. In fact, they are all very basic, timeless garments. Their appeal lies in the fact that each pattern has directions for at least four yarn gauges and plenty of sizes. You can use virtually any yarn in your stash with these patterns. The Top-Down Fundamental Cardigan patterns are like getting four patterns in one and each comes with a worksheet for plugging in numbers for each individual project so you don't have to highlight and navigate all the numbers at once. Each of these patterns is also written for either crew neck or V-neck.

Another perk is that working top-down makes it easy to customize lengths. This is especially great for growing kids and babies. I love , love, love top-down sweaters! They are also seamless, so when you're done with the body all you need do is add the button/buttonhole bands and collar. With the V-neck style, this is all done in one step. 

I have really enjoyed working up the 9-10 baby and junior cardigans (see numerous previous posts) to get this pattern ready and with these I focused on options for button placements. Next up I am working on the Fundamental Top-Down Women's Cardigan and will be highlighting some other options here on the blog. Stay tuned for this. I know you are just like me--you can never have enough cardigans! By fall I will have this next one finished for you so you can make some for yourself to keep warm this fall and winter.

Thanks always to Tracey and Meredith for helping me get the edits done, to Stormy for the testing, and to Natalie for taking such great pictures of everything. I couldn't do it without you all!