Juxtaposition

And now, we get to talk about a sweater that make my statistician-code monkey heart sing.

What: Juxtaposition / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 3.25 mm

From: Handu Merinosukkis, 340 g

Juxtaposition is an adorable, cropped sweater with geometric colorwork. The pullover is worked seamlessly top-down. It has a round yoke and an all-over colorwork pattern.

The sweater has long sleeves and no waist shaping.

Because of the colorwork, there's no bust dart but you can easily lengthen the body of the sweater. The back of the neck is shaped with short rows before starting stranded knitting.

You can use a separate main color and contrast color but the look of the sample was achieved using a monochromatic gradient set, starting main color from the light end and contrast color from the dark end.

There were some rounds on the hem and top of the sleeves where the gradient colors met and I couldn't really tell them apart but a yarn guide ring helped me out a lot. The hazzle was also definitely worth the trouble as the gradient effect is amazing. I can't get enough of how beautifully the main color glides from the white neckline to the black cuffs and the contrast color from black to white.

Now, how is this all related to me being a statistician and loving coding? I've often spoke in interviews of how I enjoy when I'm able to use my university skills in designing. You know, knitwear design is mostly about math with all the grading.

Colorwork yokes are a beast of their own with interesting equations to solve. And this sweater has double the trouble with the all-over colorwork.

It took a good while before I figured out how to solve how many stitches are needed to cast on in each size for the underarms so that the pattern continues un-broken once the sleeves are separated. And since I'm (not bad but) the worse coder of the two of us, I quickly shouted out to Hubby to come and code the equation as efficiently as possible.

Oh, how I love it when the problems are solved and everything is coded. After that, all I need to do is to feed the gauge to our code, press enter and it prints out a perfect, error-free pattern in 12 sizes. This is the stuff I enjoy.

Luckily for you alla, we've already solved all the math problems and you can just relax and enjoy knitting.

You can find all the info on the design below. Some of the photos were taken by Laine for the book and some we snapped ourselves.

Size

XXS-XS-S-M1 [M2-L1-L2-XL] 2XL-3XL-4XL-5XL

This sweater is meant to be worn with positive ease. Choose a size with approx. 2.25’’ / 6 cm positive ease at bust circumference.

Finished measurements

Bust and waist circumference: 32-34.5-37-39.5 [41.75-44.25-46.75-49.25] 54.25-56.5-61.5-66.5’’ / 80-86-92.5-98.5 [104.5-111-117-123] 135.5-141.5-154-166 cm

Yarn

Handu Merinosukkis (75% merino, 25% nylon, 210 m / 50 g), or other fingering weight yarn. Shown in a black and white gradient set, starting MC from the light end and CC from the dark end.

4-4-4-4 [5-5-5-5] 6-6-7-8 skeins of MC and 3-3-4-4 [4-4-4-5] 5-5-6-6 skeins of CC.

Yardage

MC: 715-795-835-890 [935-1020-1080-1135] 1255-1360-1505-1645 yrds / 655-725-760-815 [855-930-985-1035] 1145-1245-1370-1500 m,

CC: 600-665-700-745 [785-855-905-950] 1050-1140-1260-1375 yrds / 545-610-635-680 [715-780-825-865] 960-1040-1150-1255 m.

Needles

US 3 (3.25 mm) - 40’’ / 100 cm long circular needle and dpns if you prefer to work the sleeves with them. Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the right gauge.

Gauge

26 sts x 31 rnds = 4x4’’ / 10x10 cm in color work, worked in the round (after blocking).

Other

2 stitch markers, tapestry needle.