A Tiny Flock of Sweaters for Good

Important Update Dec. 2018: Juniper Moon has a new shop for the wooden cutout animals you can find right here: https://juniper-moon-yarns.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage 

Hi, Knitters,

Today I am publishing four free and tiny animal sweaters as a small contribution of added fun for the Heifer International fundraiser being driven by Susan Gibbs and family of Juniper Moon Farm. Susan's husband is the one cutting out the animals and I have a feeling he is going to be a very busy guy!

A portion from each sale of the wooden animals is being donated to Heifer International. The cut-outs can be ordered until December 15th, 2015 (of course check with Susan Gibbs for any new or different information on this sale). Their goal is to raise $5,000 for the organization through this fundraiser.

To make your own adorable sweater-ed flock the first thing you'll need to do is order your wooden animal cut-outs, and the stands if you'd like, from Juniper Moon Farm. The stands are optional, of course, but I love them and they give you more options for displaying the animals. The animals would make great ornaments with an added hook or string or they could be used as little gift-toppers or stocking stuffers as well.

Click here for the Juniper Moon Sheep Shop on Etsy!

Click here for the Juniper Moon Website and blog! The blog shows different ideas for decorating the animals, which is fun to see.  

The following patterns will remain only as a blog post right here on the blog and they will remain free. Please feel free to copy the text and paste it into your word program to create your own documents or pdfs if you'd prefer that. 

The pattern for A Tiny Flock of Sweaters for Good is on Ravelry! Click here!

The animal cut-outs and stands were gifted to me from Susan of Juniper Moon Farm. I created the tiny sweater patterns to boost interest and to hopefully bring more attention to Susan's creative fundraising idea. Thank you, Susan Gibbs, for including me in your amazing and creative idea to support Heifer International's fantastic charity work all over the world.

Click here for the Heifer International website! This one is so cool it will bring a tear to your eye.

Click here for the Heifer International Instagram account!

I've added A Tiny Flock of Sweaters for Good to Ravelry! Click here for the project page!

Yarn: Bits and bobs of sock or fingering weight yarn. Mini-skeins will work. 2-3 grams will be enough per animal.

Needles: US size 2 dpns or circular for magic loop or size to obtain gauge

Gauge: 7 stitches per inch in stockinette

Materials: 

Scissors

Ruler or tape measure

Stitch Marker

Yarn needle

Please read the pattern notes before starting!

Pattern Notes: 

~ All sweaters are started at the bottom edge.

~ All sweaters are worked in the round starting at the bottom up to the front leg. 

~ Once you reach the front leg you will be working back and forth or flat up to the bound-off neck edge. 

~ After knitting the sweater, the wooden animal is put into the sweater by putting the head and front leg through the cast-on bottom end and then arranging the sweater on the body. 

~ You will be sewing your animal into the sweater.

~ The cut yarn end from the bound-off stitches on the neck is placed on a yarn needle and the ribbed neck is held in place together around the animal and is whipstitched together down to the front leg. 

~ All ends are pulled to the inside and trimmed to stay inside, no weaving in of ends is necessary.

Lamb Sweater

Cast on 16 sts. Join to work in the round being careful not to twist the stitches. Place a stitch marker on the first stitch.

Rnds 1-4: (K1, p1) repeat to the end of the round.

Knit every round until the body measures 1-inch from the cast on edge.

Now begin to work back and forth or flat. You will begin with a purl row. 

Tip: I placed all of the stitches on 1 needles for this part. The first couple of rows are a little tight this way but it loosens up after working a few rows. It's up to you! You can continue working on all of the needles back and forth, too.

Work back and forth for 5 rows, beginning with a purl row.

Rib neck:

Rows 1-6: (K1, p1) repeat to the end of the row.

Bind off. Cut the yarn leaving a 6-inch end. Pull the end through the remaining stitch.

Follow the instructions in Pattern Notes (at the start of the pattern) for finishing.

Yearling Sweater

Cast on 18 sts. Join to work in the round being careful not to twist the stitches. Place a stitch marker on the first stitch.

Rnds 1-4: (K1, p1) repeat to the end of the round.

Knit every round until the body measures 1 1/2-inches from the cast on edge.

Now begin to work back and forth or flat. You will begin with a purl row. 

Tip: I placed all of the stitches on 1 needles for this part. The first couple of rows are a little tight this way but it loosens up after working a few rows. It's up to you! You can continue working on all of the needles back and forth, too.

Work back and forth for 7 rows, beginning with a purl row.

Rib neck:

Rows 1-8: (K1, p1) repeat to the end of the row.

Bind off. Cut the yarn leaving a 6-inch end. Pull the end through the remaining stitch.

Follow the instructions in Pattern Notes (at the start of the pattern) for finishing. Note that for this sheep I cuffed the neckline.

Ewe Sweater:

Cast on 20 sts. Join to work in the round being careful not to twist the stitches. Place a stitch marker on the first stitch.

Rnds 1-3: (K2, p2) repeat to the end of the round.

Knit every round until the body measures 2-inches from the cast on edge.

Now begin to work back and forth or flat. You will begin with a purl row. 

Tip: I placed all of the stitches on 1 needles for this part. The first couple of rows are a little tight this way but it loosens up after working a few rows. It's up to you! You can continue working on all of the needles back and forth, too.

Work back and forth for 8 rows, beginning with a purl row.

Rib neck:

Rows 1-11: (K2, p2) repeat to the end of the row.

Bind off. Cut the yarn leaving a 6-inch end. Pull the end through the remaining stitch.

Now follow the instructions in Pattern Notes (at the start of the pattern) for finishing. 

Alpaca Sweater:

Cast on 24 sts. Join to work in the round being careful not to twist the stitches. Place a stitch marker on the first stitch.

Rnds 1-4: (K2, p2) repeat to the end of the round.

Knit every round until the body measures 2-inches above the cast on edge.

Now begin to work back and forth or flat. You will begin with a purl row. 

Tip: I placed all of the stitches on 1 needles for this part. The first couple of rows are a little tight this way but it loosens up after working a few rows. It's up to you! You can continue working on all of the needles back and forth, too.

Work back and forth for 9 rows, beginning with a purl row.

Decrease Rows:

Row 1: Ssk, knit to the last 3 sts, k2tog. 22 sts.

Row 2: Purl.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 once more. 20 sts.

Rib neck:

Row 1: (K2, p2) repeat to the end of the row.

Repeat Row 1 until the rib section measures 1 1/2 inches.

Bind off. Cut the yarn leaving an 8-inch end. Pull the end through the remaining stitch.

Now follow the instructions in Pattern Notes (at the start of the pattern) for finishing. Note that I cuffed both the hem and the neckline for the alpaca's sweater.

Please let me know if you make a flock with sweaters! I would love to see what you do. Post on Instagram and tag me, #susanbanderson, if you think of it. That would be wonderful. 

Click here for a link to my Instagram account if you're interested.

The pattern for the sweaters is in Ravelry right here.

Enjoy, dear friends! We are heading fast and furiously into the holiday season. Let's all hang onto our hats and needles together.

xo ~ susan