Why buy a cheap, throwaway Christmas sweater, when you can knit one to treasure year after year? With cute Reindeer motifs, Christmas trees, and festive color palettes, Rockin’ Reindeer Richard is as Christmassy as can be.

Designed by Jacki Badger (aka The Woolly Badger), this circular-yoked, size-inclusive Rockin’ Reindeer, Richard sweater uses The Fibre Co. Lore, a perfect woolen-spun yarn for stranded colorwork. The sweater is size inclusive and has instructions on how to alter for fuller busts to create a perfect fit.

The Rockin’ Reindeer sweater is knitted top-down in the round. The back neck is slightly raised with German short rows for a comfy fit, and the pattern contains instructions to work 3⁄4 length or full length sleeves.

The colorwork in this sweater is worked using the stranded colorwork technique, and due to the nature of the reindeer motifs, there are some long floats to work with. It’s recommended you “catch” your floats at the back of your work to prevent them snagging or pulling on the jumper during wear. The pattern includes a link to a video tutorial explaining how to do this, as well as a link to a further video tutorial for German short rows.

About the Designer

Jacki Badger is a knitwear designer and knitting teacher based in Bristol, UK. She’s all about encouraging knitters to try something new, and is a firm believer that nothing in knitting is ever as scary as it looks. Jacki was first taught knitting at the age of 7 by a babysitter who was desperate to stop her showing off all the family photo albums, and has been knitting ever since.

Yarn:

The Fibre Co. Lore (100% lambswool, 250 m (273 yd) per 100 g hank) – 4–9 hanks.

Color:

The photos show the sweater in shades Serene - MC (background & reindeer head), Sensitive - CC1 (background to reindeer head) and Healer - CC2 (trees).

Sizes and measurements:

1 [2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9]
Finished chest circumference (at underarm): 82 [92: 102: 112: 122: 132: 142 152: 162] cm (33 [37: 41: 45: 49: 53: 57: 61: 65] in)

Length from underarm to hem: 25 [25: 25: 26.5: 26.5: 26.5: 27.5: 27.5: 27.5] cm 10 [10: 10: 10.75: 10.75: 10.75: 11: 11: 11] in)

Recommended ease:

Designed with 5–10 cm (2–4 in) of positive ease at chest circumference.

The finished chest measurements stated above are the measurements of the finished garment, so to get the best fit, take one of your favorite sweaters, compare measurements, and knit the size that’s the closest match.