About the pattern
In the summer of 2023 my sister and I went on a course to learn about natural dyeing using woodland plants. We had a lovely time, and on my return I was presented with a bucket of washed dock roots by my husband, who had dug them up from the garden while we were away.
Usually my husband Jamie is not keen for me to knit him jumpers, because he finds my designs a bit too – colourful, perhaps? - but after seeing my dyeing experiments producing rather a lot of gentle mud and autumnal colours, on some lovely soft Bluefaced Leicester Aran yarn, he agreed to let me knit him a pullover.
So here it is!
This relaxed fit garment is knitted in the round from the bottom up.
We start with a broken rib at the hem, then a subtle “waffle” pattern to the underarms. The sleeves are then knitted from the cuffs up, and then sleeves and body are joined to form the upper body. The upper sleeves and body are decorated with simple twisted and cable patterns. Raglan shaping brings us to a small saddle at the top of the sleeves and then the jumper is completed with a wide crew neck which allows for a collared shirt to be worn underneath. You could knit the neck longer if you wanted a funnel or polo/turtle neck.
Skill Level
Adventurous Intermediate. Techniques include casting on, binding off, simple increases and decreases, cables and twisted stitches worked from a chart, short rows and picking up stitches. Detailed instructions are given, and written instructions for charts are provided.
Sizing
The pattern is described in nine sizes, XS to 5XL.
Finished measurements (after blocking)
Finished bust/chest circumference 89.5(99, 108, 120, 129.5) {141, 150.5, 160, 169.5} cm 35.25(39, 42.5, 47.25, 51) {55.5, 59.25, 63, 66.75} in.
The photo shows size 3 worn with 6 inches/15 cm of ease.
Yarn
This jumper was knitted with hand-dyed aran (worsted) weight yarn. The base yarn is from www.yarnundyed.net and is aran weight superwash 100% British Bluefaced Leicester wool, 166 m/182 yds per 100g. 6[7, 8, 9, 10] {11, 12, 13, 14} skeins.
The garment uses approximately 905[1035, 1180, 1370, 1505] {1675, 1825, 1980, 2105} metres 990[1135, 1295, 1500, 1650] {1835, 2000, 2170, 2310} yds of yarn. This includes an extra allowance of about 10% to allow for swatching and differences in gauge.

Gauge
17 sts and 28 rows to 10 cm/4 in measured over the pattern used for the lower body of the sweater. I achieved this gauge using 4.5mm (US 7) needles.