Designing for kids is something we at BT had talked about for what felt like ages. When the time finally came to pull designs together for this collection, we were not short for ideas. Our inspirations came from our own children, our nieces and nephews, and things we fondly remembered loving when we were children ourselves. Designing this collection was such a wonderful change of pace. We were able to let loose, have a lot of fun and design with a lightness of heart.

Personally, I wanted to take the opportunity to play with different types of construction. Petal, is worked top-down, back and forth in a seamless yoke construction. This was only my second top-down design, so it was an interesting puzzle for me to work out. But having long recognized the benefits of top-down knitting, I knew a children's garment would be a great opportunity. Since kids grow at such different rates, the idea of being able to customize the length was really appealing. And this you can only do on the fly when knitting top-down.

Wyatt is knit in the round from the bottom-up where the sleeves meet the yoke and continue in the round with raglan shaping and then back and forth once it splits for the buttonband opening. As you probably know, I'm a huge fan of knitting flat and seaming together pieces. But something our team discussed was how these kids designs should really be an easy knit. Kids grow at an alarming rate and if your design takes too long, it may not fit them by the time you're done. Something I've, unfortunately, experienced.

But of course, my love of the traditionally seamed construction reared its ugly head! Arlo, a unisex cabled cardigan, is knit flat and seamed together - a traditional construction for a traditional sweater. I know I would have loved this little cardigan when I was a kid.

Every time I look at the pictures from this collection, I get a big grin on my face. Usually not a nostalgic person, I can't help but think back to my childhood, back-to-school shopping and spending time in front of the fireplace on snow days. Although summer is not traditionally high knitting season, I can't help but want to cast on for the special little ones in my life so they'll have something handmade in her back to school wardrobe.

Brooklyn Tweed's First Kids Collection!