FREE PATTERN: Pebble (Henry’s Cobblestone-inspired Manly Baby Vest)

CHARITY KNITTERS: You may use this pattern freely for charity fundraising as long as you attach a tag/card with the name of the pattern and credit Nikol Lohr and ThriftyKnitter.com.

Obrigado to Claudia for the Portuguese translation!

Merci to Veronique for the French translation!

I loved the garter yoke and hem in brooklyntweed’s beautiful Cobblestone sweater, so I decided to pay homage to it in this little easy-on baby vest. I think it’s very manly. And shouldn’t all babies be manly?

One side and one shoulder are open and button up so you can put the vest on without going over the baby’s head. You’ll start at the bottom edge, work several rows in garter, then proceed up the body, working in buttonholes on the wider edge piece

Finished size: 9″ wide, 10″ tall at shoulder

Gauge: 19st, 27 rows=4″

Yarn: DK weight yarn of your choice, preferrably something tweedy or irregular, and in subdued tones (to keep it manly), about 100g. I’d recommend superwash unless the mom’s a knitter.

I chose my own thick and thin handspun 2ply superwash, because it obscures my baggy Norwegian purl rows, and overdyed it afterwards because the color of the knitted fabric was too much like Barbie skin.

Needles: US4

BODY

Buttonholes: All buttonholes are worked at the beginning of WS rows. To make a buttonhole, substitute Sl 1, K2tog, YO for the first 3 st of the buttonhole row.

CO 80 (I used the twisted German cast-on, because it’s my fav.)

Rows 1 – 12: Sl 1, K to end. (Reminder: Place buttonhole on Row 7)

Row 13 (WS): Sl 1, K4, PM, P 33, PM, K 6, PM, p 33, PM, K3

Row 14 (RS) & all even: Sl 1, K to end

Row 15 & all odd (except buttonhole rows): Sl 1, K4, P 33, K 6, P 33, K3

Reminder: Place a buttonhole at beginning of row 17, 27, 37, & 47.

Continue until 49 rows have been completed.

Row 50: BO all st before the first marker, K to 2nd marker, BO st between 2nd and 3rd markers, K to last marker, BO last 5 st. You’ll have 33 st each for front and back.

With WS facing, rejoin yarn on the half of the vest nearest the buttoholes. This will be your front.

FRONT

Row 1 & 3 (WS) : Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 & 4 (RS): Sl 1, SSK, k to 3 st from end, K2tog, K1

Rows 5-15: Repeat Row 1 (ending with a WS row)

Front Neckline

Sl 1, K 7, BO neck st until 7 st remain on your left needle, K to end. You should have 8 st on either side of neck.

Open shoulder

Row 1 (WS): Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 (RS) : Sl 1, ssk, K to end

Repeat Row 1 ten more times

Buttonhole row: K2tog, YO, K to 2 st from end, YO, K2tog

Work Row 1 twice more, then BO.

Seamed shoulder

With WS facing, join yarn at other shoulder.

Row 1 (WS): Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 (RS): Sl 1, k to 3 st from end, k2tog, K1

Work Row 1 eight more times, then break yarn and transfer live stitches to safety pin, locking stitch marker, or waste yarn.

BACK

With WS facing, join yarn.

Row 1 (WS) : Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 (RS): Sl 1, SSK, k to 3 st from end, K2tog, K1

Rows 3-23: Repeat Row 1 (ending with a WS row)

Back Neckline

Sl 1, K 7, BO neck st until 7 st remain on your left needle (plus one live st beyond the BO on your right needle), K to end. You should have 8 st on either side of neck.

Seamed shoulder

Row 1 (WS): Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 (RS) : Sl 1, ssk, K to end

Work Row 1 four more times, then break yarn, leaving 12″ tail.

Transfer reserved shoulder stitches to other needle. With RSs together (WSs facing out), seam shoulder with kitchener stitch, using tail from first s houlder

Open shoulder

With WS facing, join yarn at other shoulder.

Row 1 (WS): Sl 1, K to end

Row 2 (RS): Sl 1, k to 3 st from end, k2tog, K1

Work Row 1 six more times. BO.

Finishing

Weave in ends.

Sew buttons on non-buttonhole side and shoulder.

Block.

105 Replies to “FREE PATTERN: Pebble (Henry’s Cobblestone-inspired Manly Baby Vest)”

  1. LOVE IT! Perfect. I wish I’d had something like this when my babes were little, but it will be the perfect charity knits project that I need right now. Genius!

  2. It’s awsome! So nice for little baby boys. The pattern is printed and I’ll probably cast on for this soon. I also love your woodland shawl pattern!

  3. Oh I love it but have no babies and so I am thinking you should make one for us grown up girls!!!! the style and pattern is wonderful! thanks!! Hugs Linda

  4. hi, I would like to knit the vest but do not understand some of the instructions. Help please.
    BODY, row 13 what does PM mean?
    row 50: BO?
    front: SSK?

  5. PM= place marker
    BO= bind off
    SSK= slip slip knit (slip 2 stitches knitwise, then slip them back onto the left needle (you’ve just twisted them around) and knit them as one stitch.

  6. I Love this pattern. It is a keeper. I have no grandchildren yet, but someday. If I have granddaughters I’ll pot the button on the other side-hahahahaha!

  7. LOVE IT!
    I’ve been searching hi & lo for a baby vest to make with the 3 discount DK wool skeins I have. What age baby is this for?
    Thank you!

  8. Will depend on the baby, but I’d say 0-12mos. You could use a thicker yarn (and correspondingly larger gauge) for a larger size.

  9. I also love this pattern. It’s so cute! I’m knitting one for my baby boy – due in August. He will look so handsome in this vest!

    I am a novice knitter thoug, and was wondering if you could tell me what it means to “rejoin yarn?” Am I supposed to fasten off and then tie back on?

    Thanks!

  10. Hello,
    Surfed to your site through a search for free baby vest patterns, and this is absolutely delightful! What a neat idea, and so refreshingly different! My mother is making it for my neighbour’s son and loves the pattern.

    I have a question to ask – I am translating the pattern for my mother into Marathi (an Indian language, like Hindi), since she doesn’t read English knitting language. Would you be willing to allow me to write up an abbreviated translated pattern on my blog, with full credit to you and a link to your blog and the original pattern? I know another Raveler whose mum-in-law knows this language but not English and would love the pattern.

    Do let me know if you’re okay with it. In any case, congratulations on a simple but beautiful pattern!

    Thanks

  11. Fantastisk! I’m knitting one for my baby right now..almost done!!! :)
    I love that it doesn’t have to go over baby’s head… awesome!!!
    BIG THANKS!!! and Thumbs Up!!

  12. Found this great pattern on Raverly! What a great and practical baby sweater. I am looking forward to making this for my baby boy. You should write this pattern in children and adult sizes. Great idea and love your blog and work!!!

  13. Hi there
    I have made this for my new nephew – what a success – gorgeous! But…I am a new enough knitter that I dont know how to increase to make the next size up – say, 3-6 or 6-9 months, which of course his mum really really wants now!
    Thanks
    Rachel

  14. Hi !
    I´ve posted a comment here last week asking you for permission to post a translation into Portuguese for this pattern on my blog, but I haven´t received your answer yet and my comment is not posted here. I don´t know if there was any problem with it.
    My vest is ready and I intend to put some photos on my blog.
    Could you tell me please if you allow me to include the translation giving you all the credits, of course, and linking to your blog?
    Thanks again.

  15. hello,
    I am French which explains that I may be mistaken myself, but I believe there is a mistake for Row 50: don’t you BO the last *3* st instead of the last *5* ?
    Also, what does SI 1 mean ?
    Thank you !

  16. I made this pattern for my new nephew and everyone who has seen it LOVES it. I’m thinking about trying to make a bigger size for my 3 year old. I welcome any suggestions for increasing the size…..

  17. Hey! This is a fantastic pattern. Thanks so much! I just finished making this for my little boy and it is so cute! It really shows off a nice little round baby tummy. I posted a couple of pics on my blog just in case you are interested.

    Thanks again.

  18. Hi

    Have just finished knitting the vest. What a lovely knit. I knit it in leftover acrylic in black and grey and it looks cool

    On ravelry as KiwiEllie if you want to have a deco.

    thanks for the pattern I love it and am going to try upscale it a little for my little grand daughter – can just see it in pink with a crochet flower!!!!
    If I manage all that I’ll give you a shout.

    Ellie

  19. i hope that you don’t mind. but i recently made this beautiful sweater as a gift and wrote about it on my blog. i linked back to your site and credited you with the pattern. i loved knitting it and am currently working on a gauge swatch to do the math necessary to enlarge the pattern to fit my 5 year old. thank you so much for sharing it on your site!

  20. I ditto the above request – my mum wants to make this for my sone, we need it to fit a 18-24mth old boy…do you have the pattern to make it bigger? We love it but mum just knitted this and its only big enough for a 3mth old :( Thanks!

  21. I have the same problem as above, need the pattern to fit a 2 year old. Can this be done? My daughter just loves this design and would love one made for her son!

    Any help would be welcome

  22. Hello Nikol,

    I translated this cutie in french and would love to send it to you so you would be able to offer it in french as well !!
    Can you justsend me an email to the above adress and I will send the french translation.

    Tahnks for this cutie !! I just finished it and am gonna post it on my blog, so I know many french mladies wouls like to knit it :))

    Veronique

  23. OOHHH so cute..no tiny ones in my family abut want yo do up a bunch for the bazaar>>>looks like they will go up fast.Have all kinds & colours so should have a few…Whittling down my stash. Thanks so much for the pattern.

  24. You know, is there a way to just get the pattern without all the comments? I just want to print it, so I can have it without the extra stuff.

  25. My mom made two sweaters from this pattern for my daughter, one in the original size which she wore last winter, and one larger that she is wearing now at 18 mos. We love them! I posted a picture of the second one on my blog and credited you for the pattern, and linked to your site. You can see it here:
    http://stayathomemd.blogspot.com/2009/12/baby-fashion-friday.html
    The first one she did was two colors, rust and red which was a cute variation.

  26. Thanks for this fantastic pattern! I made it in a raw silk on a size 7 needle and it worked up beautifully. It looks adorable and manly all at once, perfect thing for a baby boy!

  27. Thank you so much for this gorgeous pattern – I made two over Easter holiday for coworkers expecting newborns and they are spectacular! What a wonderful pattern! I’m thrilled to have found your site and am still absolutely ecstatic about this pattern – gorgeous!

  28. I absolutely love this pattern and have knit several of them for my grandson in various colors to coordinate with his wardrobe. I have even enlarged this pattern for him to wear as he outgrows the original ones that I knit for him.

  29. I’ve just finished knitting this fun pattern for about the 35th time! It’s so great – sometimes I’ve added a cable down the front (just twist the cable every time you add a button hole) and also made it up in stripes and sometimes used seed stitch instead of the garter stitch bottom and top bits. I always cast on 2 extra stitches (total of 82) so that both the button hole edge (front) and the button (back) edge are 5 stitches wide which seems to accommodate bigger buttons that are fun to use. I’ve also made it so that it buttons on both shoulders. Works great for both boys and girls – just change yarns/buttons (I have 4 grandchildren) and it can be easily enlarged for toddlers. I’ve made it up to about a 3T by using bulkier yarn, bigger needles and some extra stitches in the width and length. Thanks for posting!

  30. I have adapted this pattern to a men’s medium. I cast on 146 stitches and have adjusted the distance between button holes. It is for my son as he loved the one I made for his son! Same yarn, larger size. I’ll let you know how it turns out, so far, so good.

  31. Hi – I’m stuck, please help!!

    I am quite new to knitting and this is the first pattern I am attempting to read. I have just reached this :
    FRONT

    Row 1 & 3 (WS) : Sl 1, K to end

    and was confused as to whether I knit it across all remaining 66 stictches or just to the first 33 and then move onto row 2.
    Im’ sure this seems like a daft question to you much more experienced knitters out there but I don’t want to have to do it wrong and then have to start again!

    Thank you

  32. I have been a knitter for a very long time and I have knitted lots and lots of garments.
    I also LOVE the design and it looks to be so easy BUT I did not find the instructions easy at all -some did not make sense so this caused me lots of frustration .I have knitted several but I have had to make up the pattern from my knowledge .e.g. not clear instructions include portions
    BODY, row 13 what does PM mean?
    row 50: BO?
    front: SSK? This could be better.regards and bye Chris from New Zealand

    e.

  33. Hi, Chris. This may be an issue of differences in standardized knitting abbreviations here vs. there. These are all very standard knitting abbreviations in the US. PM=place marker; BO=bind off (aka cast off); SSK=slip slip knit (dec).

    When in doubt, just click on the Abbreviations link near the top of the right-hand column, or if you’re on another web site and you run into trouble, just google any abbreviation you don’t understand + the word “knitting”

  34. Love this pattern. Having some confusion in the button hole row. Seems like when I Sl 1, K2tog, YO, my row gets shorter to where I have no garter stitch edging left? Did I miss something, please help. thanks

  35. LOVE this vest! Did you or anyone adapt the pattern to fit a toddler? I’m not sure how to do it… but really want to make this. Thank you so much1

  36. Hi, I am new to knitting and wondered how to knit this for a 1 year old boy. I’m not sure if the size you have above is for a newborn or not. Can you give me an hints as to how to knit this up in a bigger size. I just love this pattern so much. Thank you for sharing it with us.

  37. Thank you so much. Have knit this vest up 3 times now and just using a variety of different weights of yarn and the needles to fit the yarn to play with the sizes.

    For a Toddler I used a chunky yarn and size 10 needle

    For a 1 year old a heavy worsted and a size 9.

    Thank you again!

  38. I have printed this lovely vest out and are in the process of knitting it, but I feel that there has been an error on Row:50
    Should BO not be used before the 1st marker because as it reads you BO all these sts off to the 1st marker, then it tells you to k to second marker BO between 2 to 3rd marker, knit to last marker and BO last 5 sts. I think there may have been a printing error and you knit to the 1st marker and proceed as the instructions tell you. Can you plese confirm if that is the case. I thank you and wait your reply.

    Maxine

  39. Thanks so much for sharing this great pattern. Am knitting one up for grandbaby number three, wished I’d found it for the first two. THX Carol

  40. Hallo there…I’m not sure how this works with copyright etc but I’ve altered your pattern(and given you full credit) to make it front buttoning. I’ve also made many regular Pebbles vests too.
    Would you like to check my blog and see if you’re happy with this? I can’t find any other way of contacting you.
    Cheers, Sue

  41. Hello
    we are a new knitting comunity based in Seville (Spain). We don’t have yet our website but you can see our comunity in construction at
    http://www.trianalana.com
    I’m writting to you because I have seen your web and your patterns on rarelry and I liked a lot and I would like to ask you for you permision to translate some patterns into spanish. I expecially like this one!!! I saw you ahd already had it translated into french and portugues….what about having it in spanish?
    Once translated it I will also put a link to your webpage.
    I hope you like this exchange idea!

    Thanks in advance

    Gioia

    1. Go right ahead. Just be sure to cite me as the designer and link back to the site. And left me know when thye’re posted so I can add the link to ravelry.

  42. Thanks so much for sharing this pattern I love it havent knitted for years and now with this pattern I’m hooker agin…

  43. This was so much fun. First thing I’ve ever knitted and I am well pleased about the result!!! Made it white base with black stripes and yellow buttons.

  44. Hey there…..I want to knit this up, have worsted wool on hand, but can’t find the yardage needed for a 3-6 month old…HELP.

  45. Hello all,

    We are Giulietta Lorenzini and Marina Simone, moderators of the Knitting World for the World Blue Forum .(http://www.megghy.com/forum/).
    Some time ago another moderator of our forum, Mrs. Barbara Ajroldi, asked your permission to translate one of your models and to make the translation available to the users of the forum.
    But since Mrs. Ajroldi has recently left our community, we would still like to keep the translation available for our users.
    Would you be so kind to let us know if we could keep the translation available on the forum for our members? If it is not possible, we’ll remove the translation from the forum.
    Thank you in advance,
    Best regards.
    Giulietta Lorenzini and Marina Simone

  46. Hello,

    I have just translated this pattern into czech because a friend of mine asked me to do it. I would like to ask you for a permision to post the czech translation on my blog.

    Thank you,
    Eva

  47. Hello daft beginner enquiry. Is this knitted on straight needles. I take it if you don’t say circular or dpns it means straight. Desperate to try a garment and hopefully for my girl before she becomes a teenager. Thanks in advance for your patience.

  48. This jumper pattern is wonderful – I made it first in a rich red [to match the hat I knitted from your strawberry pattern] and have now finished slightly larger version in deep blue.

  49. When moving from the body to the front, what do yo do with the 33 “back” stitches? Place them on a stitch holder until beginning to knit the back?
    Thanks so much for the pattern!

  50. My daughter-in-law loves these so much that she has just requested yet another size up! I’m having to trust my maths here and am currently knitting one with 100 sts for chest 22″, length 14″ in a blue-marl Arran weight wool on 4 mm needles. This time she’d like it to be closed at the side and shoulder and the buttons to be purely decorative, since the very active wearer is 13 months old and happy with things being put on over his head. Thank you again for the brilliant pattern. Oh – “and please could you make a miniature version for Ben-the-doll if possible?”! Back to the finer yarn, then.

  51. any chance you will be writing the Manly Sweater Vest in other sizes? I love the baby one I did and would happily buy it sized in several other sizes.

    I know that people have posted their adjustments but I would just enjoy knowing how to get a 6 months, 12 months. 18 months pattern, etc, using similar yarn. The babies I knit for don’t live with m,e so I have to can’t measure the babe and knit.

  52. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this vest! I’ve knitted several vests during the years but this one remains my one and only really adored one… THANK you SO much for this great patter here. It is perfectly written even for beginners (I think I’ve started knitting with it, if I remeber well…) and the result looks gorgeous on baby girls and boys… When I post the newest manly vest in my life, the comments always show how much this piece appeals to us knitting mothers, and now and then they are asking me if I know a pattern in german just like this one… which I don’t. And that is why I aks you if there would be a way for me to translate your manly vest pattern into German. I wouldn’t post it without your permission, but if you’d allow me to make it, I’m sure there would be a lot of german speaking bloggers (and other people too) who’d be so grateful and thrilled to knit their own manly vest… Please let me know. And thank you anyway!
    Bora from Switzerland

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