For Best · 1980s Hand-Knitted Pink Bobble Baby Cardigan
Acrylic or wool-blend yarn · hand-knitted bobbles and cables · embroidered rosebuds · ribbon tie · flower buttons · handmade, no label · 1970s to 1980s · AU size 1-2, approx 12-24 months
The confection pink of something made entirely for delight: knitted in clusters of bobbles like gathered posies up each front panel, with embroidered rosebuds at the yoke.
No label, 1970s to 1980s. There are four separate hand techniques on this one small cardigan: bobble stitch, cable stitch, embroidered rosebuds, and a ribbon closure. Bobble stitch requires you to work five stitches into one and then knit them back together, creating a raised cluster that takes more yarn and more attention than a plain row. Cable stitch requires holding stitches on a spare needle while you work others, crossing them over to create the twist. Embroidered rosebuds are worked in satin stitch after the knitting is complete. Each of these techniques takes practice. Someone did all four of them on a cardigan for a baby, for one occasion. The flower-shaped buttons are the final warm touch, chosen with obvious pleasure.
A genuinely extraordinary small garment.
Care
Hand wash only, cool, with a gentle detergent. Press water out gently in a towel. Dry flat in shape away from heat so the bobbles hold their round.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 23cm, chest 32cm, sleeve length 22cm. Fits approximately AU size 1-2, around 12 to 24 months.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Very good. The knit is sound, the bobbles all present, the ribbon tie original and intact.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Bobbles are made by working five stitches where one was meant to go, so this cardigan is knitted almost entirely out of small acts of excess, which is the correct way to dress a beloved baby. The posies up the front never wilt, because nobody told the maker that knitted flowers were allowed to. Four separate techniques were spent on a garment good for a single season, on the reasonable theory that love is not a thing you ration. Wear it once for best and it counts the occasion a fair trade for all those hours.