Rowan Palladian Jumper Knitting Pattern

Rowan Palladian Knitted Sweater

What Is Being Made

The Rowan Palladian is a knitted sweater designed by Martin Storey. This garment is constructed as a pullover-style jumper available in five size options to fit bust measurements ranging from 81–86 cm (32–34 inches) up to 122–127 cm (48–50 inches). The finished garment features actual bust measurements from 105 cm (41½ inches) to 144 cm (56½ inches), providing a comfortable fit across multiple body types.

Techniques Used

The Palladian employs several key knitting techniques to create its finished design:

• Bottom-up construction: The sweater is worked from the lower edge upward, allowing knitters to try on the garment as it progresses and adjust length as needed.
• Worked flat: The body sections are knitted flat on straight needles, then seamed together, rather than being worked in continuous rounds.
• Worked in the round: Certain sections, including the neckline finishing, utilize circular needles to create seamless edges.
• Lace patterning: The sweater incorporates lace stitch work throughout the body, created using yarn-over and decrease techniques that form decorative openwork.
• Raglan armhole shaping: The armholes are shaped using raglan decreases, which involve slip-stitch and knit-together decreases worked at the edges to create diagonal seam lines from the underarm to the neckline.

Stitches Used

The pattern utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined with lace techniques:

• Stockinette stitch: The base fabric structure, created by alternating knit rows on the right side with purl rows on the wrong side.
• Yarn-over stitches: Used within the lace pattern repeat to create decorative holes and openwork sections.
• Decrease stitches: Slip-stitch knit decrease (sl 1, K1, psso), knit two together (K2tog), and purl two together (P2tog) are used both for shaping the garment and as integral elements of the lace pattern.
• Cable stitch: The pattern includes cable stitches, indicated by the special abbreviation C4F (cable 4 front), which adds textural interest to the design.

The lace pattern is worked from a chart and repeats over 20 rows, creating a consistent decorative motif throughout the body of the sweater. Knitters follow the chart while maintaining pattern accuracy during raglan armhole shaping, which requires careful attention to stitch placement.

Materials

The Palladian is designed to be knitted using Rowan Alpaca Soft DK yarn. Yarn requirements range from 12 to 17 balls of 50-gram weight, depending on the size being made. The pattern was photographed in the colorway Simply White 201.

The pattern requires two pairs of straight needles: 3¼mm (US 3) needles for the ribbed cuff sections and 4mm (US 6) needles for the main body. Additionally, a 3¼mm (US 3) circular needle no longer than 40 cm is needed for the neckline finishing, and a cable needle is required for working the cable stitches.

The tension specification is 23½ stitches and 30 rows to 10 cm measured over the lace pattern using 4mm (US 6) needles. Achieving proper tension is essential for the garment to reach the intended finished measurements.