This is Xanadu, designed by Kiddi Winks Knits and available to buy on Ravelry.

It's knitted seamlessly from the bottom up. It has a bold slip stitch pattern which looks really funky when you use a self striping yarn.

I used WYS ColourLab DK - 100% British Wool that you can put in the washing machine.

My main colour is Natural Cream and for the contrast colour I've used the self striping Technicolour.

By using a self striping yarn I've added lots more colours without the hassle of weaving in lots of end. And it's also more economical as you don't need to buy lots of balls of yarn.

For this 12mth size I used one 100g ball of the main colour and one 100g ball of the contrast colour.

The slip stitch pattern is simple to do. When you slip stitches you don't work the stitch. You just move it from one needle tip to the other. This means that you break up the line of stitches as you're effectively bringing the stitch from the row below onto your current row. When using different colours of yarn or a variegated yarn you get different colours on each row.

 

slip stitch stripes

 

For Xanadu, is worked in stripes in your main colour and contrast colour. And because the slip stitch pattern is worked over 4 rows you get a more decorative effect with a long slip stitch giving the appearance of horizontal and vertical stripes.

 

 

bottom of stripe jumpers

 

The jumper is knitted seamlessly from the bottom up.

You start with a rib, before moving onto the body. You knit round and round until you get to the under arms.

Once you get to the underarms you then knit back and forth for the back stitches and then back and forth on the front stitches before joining the shoulders using a three needle bind off.

I matched the left and right shoulders, making sure I started with the same colour. You do not need to do this! It is entirely a personal preference. For ColourLab DK, which has a repeatable colour sequence, it is easy to do. Just start at the point the colour change.

Once the body is done you then pick up the sleeve stitches around the armhole edges and knit them down. Again, using the same slip stitch pattern.

If you're wary of picking up stitches I'd highly recommend these tutorials by Elizabeth Smith Knits. She has videos for picking up stitches around armholes AND around the neck edge... which is what you do next.

The neck is quite big and stretchy with a rib and then some stocking stitch to give a rolled effect.

I really enjoyed knitting this little jumper. The stitch pattern is easy to do and addictive with the self striping yarn.

The pattern is clearly written and includes advice if your row gauge is different to the designers. Mine's was, so I knitted to length rather than row repeats.

Sizes range from 3mths to 9years. Or 20" to 32" chest.

I washed my finished Xanadu in Eucalan delicate wash.

 

multi coloured jumper soaking in water

 

And then laid it flat for drying. I pinned the bottom edge straight but left the rest unpinned.

 

stripe jumper laid flat

 

ColourLab is not supersoft, it's 100% British wool so has a slight halo, but it does soften with washing.

 

stripe jumper

 

You can buy a copy of Xanadu on Ravelry or as a digital pattern in the shop

You can find WYS ColourLab DK here. I used shades 010 Natural Cream and 891 Technicolour.

You can buy circular needles here. The pattern specifies 4mm. Like most jumpers knitted in the round the length of your circular needle depends on the size you are making. For the body you could use a 40cm long needle for the smaller sizes and 60cm long for the larger sizes (4+ years). The sleeves can be knitted on DPNs or magic loop. If you do Magic Loop you may get away with one 100cm needle to do the body and the sleeves for the smaller sizes. But 100cm will not be long enough for magic loop on the body of the larger sizes.

 

The designer also has patterns for a Xanadu cardigan and tank top.

Fiona Wright

make your own Xanadu

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