Rowan Wham Jumper Knitting Pattern

Rowan Wham Knitted Sweater by Martin Storey

What is Being Made

The Rowan Wham is a children's knitted sweater designed by Martin Storey, available in five sizes to fit ages 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10, and 11–12 years. This garment is constructed as a classic pullover sweater with a fitted silhouette achieved through raglan armhole shaping and a striped colorway that adds visual interest to the design.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several key knitting techniques to create its finished structure:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The sweater is worked from the bottom edge upward, allowing knitters to try on the garment as it progresses and adjust length as needed.
• Worked Flat: The body and sleeves are knitted flat on straight needles rather than in the round, with seaming used to join the pieces together after completion.
• Seamed Assembly: Finished pieces are sewn together using mattress stitch or similar seaming techniques to create clean, professional-looking seams.
• Striped Colorwork: A two-row stripe sequence alternates between two yarn colors (Memphis 001 and Nashville 002) throughout the body, creating a bold striped effect.
• Cable Patterning: A cable motif is incorporated into the design, worked from a body chart and maintained during raglan armhole decreases.
• Raglan Armhole Shaping: The armholes are shaped using raglan decreases worked over multiple rows, creating diagonal lines from the underarm to the neckline.

Stitches Used

The Rowan Wham utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined with more advanced techniques:

• Ribbing (1×1 or similar): Used at the cuffs, hem, and neckline to create elastic edges that hold the garment snugly against the body.
• Stockinette Stitch (St St): The primary stitch for the main body fabric, creating a smooth, flat surface that showcases the striped colorwork.
• Cable Stitches: Twisted stitches worked from a chart pattern, requiring a cable needle to create the characteristic raised, braided appearance of cables.
• Decrease Stitches: Techniques including knit two together (K2tog), slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over (sl 1, K1, psso), purl two together (P2tog), and purl two together through back loop (P2togtbl) are used to shape the raglan armholes.
• Make One (M1): An increase stitch used to redistribute stitches before beginning the cable pattern section.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Rowan Wham pattern specifies particular Rowan yarn colors and needle sizes to achieve the correct gauge and finished appearance:

• Yarn A – Memphis 001: A denim-colored yarn used as the primary color, requiring 6, 7, 8, 10, and 10 balls of 50g weight depending on the child's size.
• Yarn B – Nashville 002: A contrasting color yarn used for the two-row stripe sequence, requiring 3, 4, 4, 5, and 5 balls of 50g weight by size.
• Needles: The pattern calls for 3¼mm (US 3) needles for ribbed edgings and 4mm (US 6) needles for the main body and cable pattern work. A cable needle is also required for manipulating cable stitches.
• Gauge: The pattern specifies 20 stitches and 28 rows over 10 centimeters in stockinette stitch using 4mm needles before washing, and 20 stitches and 32 rows after washing, ensuring proper fit and drape of the finished sweater.

Pattern Structure and Construction Details

The sweater begins with a ribbed cuff at the lower edge, followed by stockinette stitch worked in the two-color stripe sequence. After the body reaches the specified length, stitches are increased using make one techniques to prepare for the cable pattern section. The cable motif is then worked from a provided body chart while maintaining the overall garment shaping. Raglan armhole decreases are introduced and