Narwhals are my favourite of the ‘mythical’ beasts, mostly because they are real! This cheeky narwhal will delight children and adults alike.

The Narwhal jumper is knitted in pieces from the bottom up; the neckline is knitted on in the round after seaming the shoulders of the jumper. The narwhal motif is added using the intarsia technique.

The pattern for the intarsia section is provided both as a chart and as written instructions.

The jumper is knitted in DK weight yarn, making it perfect as a layering piece.

Sizes
2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12) years to fit chest sizes 53 (58.5, 63.5, 67, 71, 76) cm 20.75 (23, 25, 26.5, 28, 30) in, with approximately 5 cm 2 in positive ease.

Tension
22 sts and 30 rows = 10 cm 4 in in stocking stitch, after wet blocking, worked flat on 4 mm (US 6) needles, or size needed to obtain correct tension.

Materials

• 4 mm (US 6) straight needles

• 3.5 mm (US 5) straight needles

• 3.5 mm (US 5) circular needle, 40 cm 16 in in length

• DK weight yarn in each of the following colours and amounts:

• MC (turquoise): 465 (570, 665, 775, 885, 995) m 510 (625, 725, 845, 965, 1085) yds

• CC1 (black): 10 m 10 yds

• CC2 (blue): 10 m 10 yds

• CC3 (white): 5 m 5 yds

• CC4 (cream): 5 m 5 yds

• Markers x 2

• Tapestry needle

• Chart row marker

• Bobbins for holding the different yarn colours during colourwork

Pattern notes
When darning in the ends in the intarsia section, try to darn the ends into knitted sections of the same colour to avoid show-through.

Rather than using intarsia for the whole narwhal, you may find it easier to add its features using duplicate stitch (Swiss darning).

Sample shown is knitted in size 4 years, in Stylecraft Life DK (75% premium acrylic, 25% wool, 298 m 325 yds per 100 g ball) in Aqua (2357, MC), Black (2307, CC1), Cascade (2308, CC2), White (2300, CC3) and Cream (2305, CC4).

Difficulty:
Intermediate (knitting, purling, intermediate intarsia/stranding)

Pattern Style: Jumper pattern is written using abbreviations (all abbreviations are given). Both charted and written instructions are provided for the intarsia section.

This pattern was first published in I Like Knitting magazine, February 2018.