Use Up Leftover Yarn: Knit a Striped Hoodie for a 2–3 Year Old
Those odd balls of leftover yarn become 12-row stripes on a cosy hoodie for a toddler: pieces knitted flat, joined into a raglan yoke, and topped with a hood.
Everyone has leftover balls of yarn lying around. Here's something really useful to make with them: a hoodie for a 2–3 year old, in 12-row stripes on a black base. It's easy enough for beginners. The front, back and sleeves are knitted flat up to the armholes, then joined on a circular needle for the raglan yoke and the hood. I also made matching pants, and that tutorial has its own post.
What you'll need
- A base colour (I used black) and 3 leftover colours
- Size 10 needles and a circular needle for the yoke
- Stitch markers (or bits of contrast thread)
- 4 buttons
Step 1: The front
- Border
Cast on 70 stitches in black (I used a doubled strand) and work 12–14 rows of 1x1 rib.
- Increase
Slip 1, then increase every 8th stitch or so across the row (knit 4, knit twice into the 5th, knit 7, knit twice into the 8th…) to reach 80. Purl back.
- Stripes
Work stockinette in 12-row stripes: black, then a colour, then black, and so on. I knitted 84 rows. That measured 10 inches long and 12¼ inches wide.
Now split the front for the button opening. Put a marker in the middle (40 and 40).
- First half: Knit 37, then purl 3 before the marker, and take 3 stitches from the other side into it as well (purl 2, knit 1). That gives a 6-stitch button band in reverse stockinette. Put the other stitches on hold.
- Raglan: At the armhole edge, slip 1 and knit 2 together through the back loop at the start of every right-side row. Keep the band in reverse stockinette. Decrease like this over the next 10 rows (5 decreases), then leave the stitches on a holder.
- Second half: Pick up 6 band stitches behind the first band and work the other side as a mirror image, decreasing at the end of right-side rows with knit 2 together, knit 1.
- Buttonholes: On the band, slip 1, purl 2, then wrap the yarn and purl the next 2 together to make a buttonhole.
Step 2: The back
Knit the back exactly like the front, but with no opening. Decrease at both armhole edges in the same way, 5 times each side, to leave 70 stitches.
Step 3: The sleeves (make two)
- Border
Cast on 42 in black and work 12 rows of 1x1 rib.
- Increase
Increase 8 stitches evenly (knit twice into every 5th stitch or so) to reach 50. Purl back.
- Stripes and shaping
Work the same 12-row stripes as the body for 84 rows, increasing 1 stitch at each end on every other right-side row. I ended with 78 stitches.
- Raglan
Work 2 plain rows in the new colour, then decrease 1 at each end on every right-side row (slip 1, slip-slip-knit… knit 2 together, knit 1) until the stripe is done. That leaves 68.
Step 4: Join the yoke
With black and the circular needle, work across all the pieces in order: front, sleeve, back, sleeve, front. At each of the 4 joins, knit the last stitch of one piece together with the first stitch of the next, and mark that joined stitch. Keep the 6-stitch button bands in reverse stockinette. Take care not to twist the pieces.
- Right-side rows
At each of the 4 markers, knit 2 together, knit the marked stitch, then slip-slip-knit. That's 8 stitches decreased per row.
- Wrong-side rows
Purl, keeping the bands as they appear.
I knitted 11 rows of yoke, then changed colour on the wrong side so the join doesn't show on the front. The armhole measured 7 inches. Remember to add another buttonhole on the band every few rows.
If you don't have a circular needle, knit each piece's raglan separately with the same decreases, and sew the raglan seams up to the neck afterwards.
Step 5: The neck, or the hood
I had 98 stitches. Decrease evenly to about 80 (knit 2 together every 10–12 stitches). For a plain neck, just knit a border here and bind off. For the hood:
- Start
Work 4 rows of stockinette.
- Shaping
Mark the two back raglan stitches. On every other right-side row, make 3 stitches from each marked stitch: knit into its front, then its back (or yarn over), then knit again. Do this 8 times, giving 112 stitches.
- Height
Carry on in stockinette, adding stripes if you like, until the hood is 9 inches tall. Don't make it shorter or it'll be tight.
- Top
Divide the stitches into 44, 24 and 44. Work only the centre 24, back and forth. At the end of each row, work the last centre stitch together with one stitch from the side group, until all the side stitches are used up.
Step 6: The front and hood band
Starting where the button band ends, pick up stitches all round the hood edge with new yarn. Pick up 4, cast on 1, and repeat along the sides (so it isn't tight), and pick up the 24 top stitches as they are. I got about 48 + 24 + 48. Work 18 rows of stockinette, bind off, then sew the edge down on the inside to make a neat double band.
Step 7: Finishing
Sew the sleeve seams and side seams, matching the stripes. The underarm part of each blue stripe is sewn separately. Sew on the buttons, and add a patch or pocket if you like.
- baby hoodie
- leftover yarn
- scrap yarn project
- kids knitting pattern
- raglan
- striped knitting
- hand knitted kids clothes
- handmade
