Dale of Norway has an extraordinary number of beloved designs for children, but I guess the most beloved of all would have to be their “Marihone”, or “Ladybug”, sweater.

Dale of Norway's "Marihøne", aka "Ladybug", baby sweater knitting design

I have more than a few customers whose first reaction, upon hearing that someone is expecting a baby, is to order up yet another batch of Dale Baby Ull yarn for yet another baby-shower-show-stopping Ladybug sweater.  The original lively colors and adorable motif work well for any little lovebug, male or female.  Yet lately, as more mothers happily broadcast the sex of their little bundle months before the stork makes his delivery, I’m getting more requests for girly colorwork Dale designs.  Actually, they have quite a few of them, but I really liked the idea of combining an all-time favorite with some of their more girly shades of Baby Ull to come up with my own “Girlybug” colorway.

My pastel "Girlybug" colorway for the Dale of Norway Marihøne, or "Ladybug", baby sweater

I’ve charted these pastel shades out so that they correspond with the colorway color numbers in the Dale of Norway “Marihone” pattern.  If you’re using one of the original, out-of-print patterns, you’ll see they number the shades “MC, CC1 thru CC6″; if you’re using the current Book 8102, you’ll see they number those same charted values as “color 1 thru color 7″.  Either rendition will work with my colors, below:

Baby Ull yarn colors used in my pastel version of the Marihøne, or Ladybug, knitting design