Design:

The Turner Jumper is a two-tone colourwork jumper, featuring a variety of geometric motifs. It is designed to be worn with a moderate amount of positive ease (5-10 inches). It has a unique construction, which combines a circular yoke with a v-neck. It also features a relatively deep yoke, for ease of layering (a modification for a shorter yoke is also included). It is finished with three inches of 2×2 ribbing on the cuffs and body, and features a folded collar also worked in 2×2 rib. The collar is 1.5 inches deep.

Construction:

The pattern is worked top-down. Stitches are cast on at the neckline, and German Short Rows are worked back-and-forth to lift the back of the neck. The yoke of the jumper is then knit flat, with increases throughout. Next, the v-neck is joined, and the sleeves are placed on hold. The body of the jumper is subsequently knit in the round. The sleeves are placed back on the needles, with stitches picked up at the underarms, and knit in the round (either on short circulars or using magic loop). Finally, stitches are picked up around the neckline, and a folded collar is knit.

About the Pattern’s Sizing:

The size of this garment is entirely customisable, as I have included instructions for adjusting the size of the jumper through modifications to your gauge. These instructions should provide an intermediate-advanced knitter with enough information to knit a garment of their desired size. I chose to recommend this process for altering the size of the garment (compared to traditionally grading the design) because the sample is knit at a very tight gauge. If I simply graded the pattern to an inclusive size-range with that gauge, the largest sizes would have over a thousand stitches on their needles by the end of the yoke. No-one wants to be knitting that many stitches! Adjusting size through gauge, however, means that all sizes have the exact same number of stitches to knit.

Yarn:

The Turner Jumper has a main colour (MC) and a contrast colour (CC). A high contrast is recommended between the MC and CC. You can check that your yarns have a high contrast by taking a photo of them in black and white. Woolen-spun yarns which will bloom with washing are generally favoured for colourwork, as they are more forgiving of irregularities in a knitter’s tension. Superwash yarns and 100% plant fibre yarns are not ideal for colourwork. There is no one recommended yarn, as your yarn weight will vary depending on the gauge at which you knit the pattern. I strongly recommend choosing a yarn that will produce a drapey fabric, as that best suits this garment’s construction. Suggestions for a variety of gauges are below:

Light Fingering-Weight (approximately sizes XXS-S): Wooly Knit 4-ply Merino; Wooly Knit 4-ply British Wool; Cascade 220 Fingering (non-superwash)
Heavy Fingering-Weight (approximately sizes M-L): Jamieson’s Spindrift; Sandnes Garn Tynn Peer Gynt
Sport-Weight (approximately sizes XL-XXL): Rauma Finull; Filcolana Pernilla
DK-Weight (approximately sizes XXXL-XXXXL): Isager Jensen; West Yorkshire Spinners The Croft DK
Worsted-Weight (approximately sizes XXXXXL+): Rauma Fivel; Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt
The sample’s MC is Wooly Knit’s Merino Wool 4-ply 500g cone, in the shade ‘Azul Navy Blue’. This yarn is 100% merino, with a meterage of 470m per 100g. Approximately 270g was used in the sample.

The sample’s CC is Cascade’s 220 Fingering (non-superwash), in the shade ‘8505 White’. This yarn is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, with a meterage of 500m per 100g. Approximately 120g was used in the sample.

The pattern does not currently contain yarn quantity recommendations, but I would love to add them. To do this, I need a larger pool of information regarding the yarn quantities people used. If you would like to help in this effort, once you have knit the pattern you can email me with the gauge you used, the finished bust circumference and length of your Turner Jumper, and the quantity of yarn you used.

Techniques:

Because this pattern requires you to be comfortable with adjusting your gauge and following a yoke depth modification if necessary, I cannot recommend it for beginners (but I do not want that to discourage anyone: if you understand the basics of knitting a garment and are determined, there’s nothing to stop you from trying). Additionally, you must be able to read charted colourwork and charted increases. The pattern uses the Backwards Loop Cast On Method, German Short Rows, the Italian Sewn Bind Off, K2Tog, Make 1 Left Purlwise, Make 1 Left Knitwise, Make 1 Right Purlwise, Make 1 Right Knitwise, SSK. You will also need to rearrange 2×2 rib into 1×1 rib, and bind stitches off by knitting them together with the pick-up edge. Links to video tutorials of all of these techniques are included in the pattern.

Whilst this pattern is currently available for free, if you are able please consider donating to one of the following charities. They were selected by the friend whom I named the Turner collection after.

St Wilfrid’s Hospice Eastbourne: https://www.stwhospice.org/donate/

Ehlers-Danlos Support UK: https://donate.ehlers-danlos.org/

Please remember, this pattern has not been traditionally graded or test knit