version 1.

1 updated 14/1/2023

A FINE SWEATER
A PATTERN BY YU JIE 玉杰
BASED ON THE COMIC BY KC GREEN

Dimensions
Because this sweater is one giant image, the
dimensions are mostly determined by your
gauge. The highlighted rows are the dimensions
and gauge of the sweater I knit, anything not
highlighted is an extrapolation.

Please note these are the dimensions of the

sweater laid out on a flat surface, not worn on the
body. I suggest measuring a similar knit sweater
that fits you to determine your size.

Also note: I don’t recommend dramatically

changing the gauge. The arm and neck hole sizing
might end up wonky, and overly loose gauge can
affect the integrity of the colourwork. One day if I
muster the energy I may make more sizes.

horizontal gauge bust

(st per 4”)
16 54” (137.2cm)
17 50.8” (129.1cm)
18 48” (121.9cm)
19 45.5” (115.5cm)
Important notes 20 43.2” (109.7cm)
This is a weird sweater and has not been test
knit at any other sizes. Sizing, yardage and vertical length from length from top
pretty much everything else is either based on gauge (st underarm to of shoulder to
the experiences of a single person (me) or is per 4”) hem hem
completely untested. You have been warned! 24 18” (45.7cm) 25.9” (65.7cm)
25 17.3” (43.9cm) 24.8” (63.1cm)
I have altered the neckline so the neck hole is
not as large as shown in the photo. I have not 26 16.6” (42.2cm) 23.9” (60.7cm)
knit another sweater because I’m not doing that 27 16” (40.5cm) 23” (58.4cm)
again. So please just know the neck hole should 28 15.4” (39.2cm) 22.2” (56.3cm)
be a more reasonable size than shown. 29 14.9” (37.8cm) 21.4” (54.4cm)
30 14.4” (36.6cm) 20.7” (52.6cm)
If anyone wants to grade this sweater so I can
make it more size inclusive, please let me know.
Materials Front/back
The example pictured was knit with 4.5mm Cast on 112 stitches with the Italian cast on, or
needles and 10 ply (worsted) cotton yarn. You substitute with your favourite cast on.
may need to use different size needles/yarn
to obtain the gauge you need (see charts on Row 1: *K1tbl, P1*, repeat until end of row
previous page). Row 2: *K1, P1tbl*, repeat until end of row

At my gauge of 18 stitches and 27 rows per 4 x 4” Repeat rows 1 and 2 until ribbing measures 2”,
(10cm) square, these were the amounts of yarn then work the front/back image as charted (see
I used. Please note I was VERY economical with “charts” section)
my yarn, so even if you are knitting at the same
gauge you may need require more yarn.
NOTE: Knit/purl stitches are created in the
row below your current row. Because of
Yellow Light brown this, the last row of ribbing will just be knit
Scheepjes Cahlista Scheepjes Cahlista stitches rather than ribbing. If you want the
Yellow Gold Hazelnut ribbing to extend all the way to the start of
340m (371.8 yds) 44.2m (48.3 yds) the charted image, work K1tbl, P1 for the
first row of the charts.
Orange Dark brown
Scheepjes Cahlista Scheepjes Cahlista
Tangerine Black Coffee
255m (278.9 yds) 6.8m (7.4 yds)

Grey Black
Paintbox Yarns Cotton Rico Design Creative
Aran Cotton Aran
Granite Grey Black
170m (185.9 yds) 73.1m (80.0 yds)

Light green White

Scheepjes Cahlista Scheepjes Cahlista
Willow Bridal White
161.5m (176.6 yds) 3.4m (3.7 yds)

Dark green
Rico Design Creative
Cotton Aran
Ivy
22.1m (24.2 yds)
Sleeves
First, determine your sleeve length. Normally,
sleeves are just worked in pattern until they are
the right length. However, since the sleeves for
this sweater are fully charted images, the lengths
are not adjustable. To compensate for this I have
charted three different length versions of the
sleeves. As a general rule, women, afab people,
children and people with a negative ape index
have shorter arms, while men, amab people, NOTE: Sleeve length from underarm seam
adults and people with a positive ape index have to cuff is not the same as your arm length
longer arms. Below is a chart to help you choose from armpit to cuff, because the underarm
a sleeve size but remember, no one ever died of of the sweater doesn’t sit wedged all the
having too short/too long sleeves. way up in your armpit. Gravity will also make
the sleeves longer when worn. However,
For all sizes: cast on 52 stitches using the Italian the specific numbers depend on your body
cast on, or substitute your favourite cast on. dimensions, gauge, yarn material etc so the
numbers in this chart are approximate.
Row 1: *K1tbl, P1*, repeat until end of row
Row 2: *K1, P1tbl*, repeat until end of row For reference, my arms are 17.5” (44.5 cm)
from armpit to wrist and the sleeves I knit
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until ribbing measures 2”, (19.3”) are about 4” too long for me.
then work the left/right sleeve chart in your
chosen length as charted.

vertical gauge (st per sleeve length (s) sleeve length (m) sleeve length (l)
4”)
24 17” (43.3cm) 19.4” (49.2cm) 21.7” (55.1cm)
25 16.4” (41.6cm) 18.6” (47.3cm) 20.8” (52.9cm)
26 15.7” (40cm) 17.9” (45.4cm) 20.0” (50.9cm)
27 15.2” (38.5cm) 17.2” (43.8cm) 19.3” (49cm)
28 14.6” (37.1cm) 16.6” (42.2cm) 18.6” (47.3cm)
29 14.1” (35.8cm) 16.0” (40.7cm) 18” (45.6cm)
30 13.6” (34.6cm) 15.5” (39.4cm) 17.4” (44.1cm)
Embroidery NOTE: I strongly recommend embroidering
Each stitch has four corners you can work into, the very top row of smoke outlines on each
like so: panel AFTER having seamed the shoulders
and sleeves together, but before closing up
the sides. This is to ensure they line up. Doing

1 2 it before closing up the sides makes it a little

easier to access the wrong side of your work
while embroidering.

5 Tips
◊ When embroidering, put your needle in
3 4 the holes between stitches. Try not to put
your needle *through* strands of yarn
because this can cause your image to distort
when stretched. It’s particularly easy when
backstitching to accidentally stick your needle
At some points (mainly in the smoke at the top through your previous stitches on the wrong
of the sweater) the embroidered lines intersect side of your work, so try to avoid this
in the centre stitch rather than at a corner. When
the charted line stops in the centre of a stitch, ◊ When making vertical lines, take care not to
work into the central v of the stitch (5) pull your yarn too tight or it will disappear
into the gap between stitches
Outline each panel using backstitch as charted.
For the sake of completeness, I feel obligated ◊ Try not to pull too tight in general, it can
to give a written explanation of how to do distort your work. It’s best to keep your
backstitch, but really you should just watch this embroidery at about the same tension as your
video: https://youtu.be/SQbPtXmNBBc knitting

◊ I recommend making one backstitch for every

Obligatory backstitch instructions
horizontal or diagonal knit stitch, but every
1. Place your yarn on a darning needle and
two vertical knit stitches. This is because each
insert it from the back to front side of your
stitch is not very long vertically and vertical
work, one step ahead of where you want to
stitches that are too short tend to want to
start.
disappear between your knit stitches
2. Insert your needle from front to back, in the
◊ For diagonal stitches that go 2 stitches across
place where you want your line to start
and 1 up I recommend doing these in a single
backstitch, because there is no good place to
3. Insert your needle from back to front again,
stop in the middle
where you want your line to go next
◊ Finally, embroidering over knitting isn’t an
4. Insert your needle from front to back in the
exact science. Don’t be afraid to deviate from
same place as in step 1, in order to fill in the
what I’ve charted if you think something else
missing section of line
looks better!
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until your line is complete.
Seaming
Before you start seaming, weave in your loose
ends. However, for embroidered lines that finish
at the end of one panel and join with a line on
another panel, you may want to leave the ends
loose in case they dont line up and you want to
adjust them.

When seaming along the side of a panel, insert

your needle between the first and second stitches
from the edge. This will give you a nice stable
seam. This sweater was charted with an extra
stitch on each side so you will not lose any of the Basically step 2 involves sewing the red parts
image. together. Hope that’s clear enough!

Berroco has a much better explanation of

how to seam than I can make: https://youtu.
be/4Rv3Vuuof3s
Collar
If you would prefer text and photos, here’s a NOTE: As mentioned before, I have changed
good rundown of seaming techniques https:// the chart since knitting my sweater so that
brooklyntweed.com/pages/seaming-101 the neck hole is smaller. If you’re looking
at my photos thinking “gee that neck hole
My attempt to explain how to seam this is way too big” fear not, it’s been fixed.
sweater However, this change is UNTESTED. Just so
1. Line up the top edges of your front and back you know.
panels and seam them end-to-end
Pick up approximately 96 stitches evenly around
2. Line up your sleeves inside the shoulders and the neck hole, starting from the middle of the
sew the top edge of the sleeves into the arm back panel. Place BOR marker.
holes. This is the hardest part of the seaming
process. I recommend the liberal use of safety It’s ok if your count is off by a couple of stitches,
pins before you start sewing to make sure just make sure it’s an even number. Pick up 1
everything lines up. I also recommend starting stitch for each horizontal stitch and 3 stitches for
from the middle and working to one end, then every 4 vertical stitches. For diagonal sections,
returning to the middle and working to the wave your hands and sob hysterically. Idk I hate
other end. You can still complete the seam doing this too. Just do your best. You should have
with one single length of yarn if you leave a about 52 stitches from the front panel and 44
long enough tail when starting stitches from the back.

3. Mattress stitch along the sides of the body *K1tbl, P1* until end of round
and sleeves to close up your sweater. Again, I Repeat until ribbing measures 1” (2.5 cm) from
recommend starting from the underarm and edge
working to one end, then returning to the Cut your yarn, leaving a tail at least 4 times the
underarm and working to the other end circumference of your collar edge
Twisted sewn bind Then:
1. Insert needle into the first stitch on your left
off hand needle as if to knit through the back
loop and pull your yarn through. Slip the stitch
Because the collar is worked in twisted rib, the off your needle
sewn bind off looks better when modified to be
twisted. Again, I feel obligated to explain how to 2. Insert needle from front to back between the
do this in writing, but really you should probably first and second stitches on your left hand
just watch a video. needle, then insert your needle into the back
of the second stitch as if to purl through the
If you don’t know how to do a sewn bind off, I back loop and pull your yarn through
recommend watching this video first to familiarise
yourself with the concept, and maybe also doing 3. Insert needle into the first stitch on your left
a trial run first with some scrap yarn: https:// hand needle as if to purl and pull your yarn
youtu.be/Ibn-01Ilxpg through. Slip the stitch off your needle

Once you can do a sewn bind off, this video 4. Insert needle from back to front between the
explains how to modify it for twisted ribbing: first and second stitches on your left hand
https://youtu.be/ml9fyY24Uvg needle, then pull your yarn through

And if this all seems too complicated, just bind off 5. Insert needle into the second stitch on your
however you like. Who’s gonna come after you, left hand needle as if to knit, then pull your
the police? yarn through

Setup Continue steps 1-5 until you have bound off all
1. Insert needle into the first stitch on your left stitches. Weave in any remaining loose ends and
hand needle as if to knit through the back you’re done! Lightly block and enjoy.
loop and pull your yarn through. Slip the stitch
(with the yarn running through it) onto your
right hand needle

2. Insert needle from front to back between the

first and second stitches on your left hand
needle, then insert your needle into the back
of the second stitch as if to purl through the
back loop and pull your yarn through

3. Insert needle into the first stitch on your left

hand needle as if to purl and pull your yarn
through. Slip the stitch (with the yarn running
through it) onto your right hand needle

4. Insert needle from back to front between the

first and second stitches on your left hand
needle, then pull your yarn through

5. Insert needle into the second stitch on your

left hand needle as if to knit, then pull your
yarn through.
TECHNICAL NOTES
Because this is a very technical pattern, it comes
with a lot of technical notes. You don’t HAVE Gauge and sizing
to pay attention to this section at all, these are Because the entire sweater is one large image
just handy tips I have accumulated from my own with fixed dimensions, this pattern is extremely
experience of knitting this sweater. I’ve done my unforgiving of inaccurate gauge. I STRONGLY
best to explain things as clearly as I can, but if recommend swatching unless you enjoy
something here is confusing to you it’s probably unravelling months of hard work. Even if you
confusing to other people too, so please feel don’t normally swatch, or have never swatched in
free to drop me a line to ask for help or offer your life. Swatch, I beg you!
constructive feedback. Also, you don’t have to
follow my advice if you disagree with any of it I originally designed this sweater to fit a specific
or it seems too complicated. It’s your own damn friend of mine, which is why it is the size that it is.
sweater and you can do what you like! I am currently pretty done with it, but if I feel the
inclination one day I will make some more sizes.

Manually You can size down by using smaller yarn/needles

to achieve a tighter gauge, but if you size down
adjusting tension a lot the neck hole might end up too small and
the sleeves may no longer fit in the sleeve holes.
You will likely find an alternating pattern of baggy If you feel patient, you can modify the collar and
and tight stitches at vertical colour transitions. sleeve caps to fit.
Yarnsub has a great explanation for why this
happens and how to prevent it: https://yarnsub. If you size up significantly you can run into similar
com/articles/techniques/neater-intarsia issues - the neck hole might end up too big
and the sleeves may no longer fit in the sleeve
However, if you are like me, you might find that holes. There are also some additional potential
even following their tips, you still get this uneven problems with sizing up. You may not be able to
tension at colour changes anyway. If this happens, increase the yarn weight, as yarns above worsted
your options are to either embrace this as a weight don’t tend to come in many colour options
lovable quirk of your project, or fix the tension and you would also end up with a very hot and
manually. heavy sweater. But if you just increase needle size
without increasing yarn weight, you might also
To fix tension manually, simply insert your needle have issues as the gauge is already fairly loose
into the vertical “bar” on the wrong side of your and going looser may cause the fabric/image
work that is connected to a baggy stitch, and pull to lose its integrity. If you do decide to size up
the excess yarn through. Then, insert your needle this way I recommend using a worsted yarn in a
into the tight stitch directly (below) the baggy lightweight material (aka no cotton/bamboo etc)
stitch, and use the excess yarn to make the stitch as the added weight of the fabric will stretch out
less tight. With any luck, your tension is now your stitches as well, but please do a smaller test
more even! piece first as I can’t guarantee a good result.
Estimating Combining
yardage intarsia and
You can estimate the yardage required for a
section of colour like so: First measure out a stranded knitting
decent length of yarn (like a metre or so at least) There are many points in this pattern where a
and mark this point. Then, knit until you reach new column of colour is introduced which is only
the marker. Count the number of stitches you one stitch stitch wide. When this happens, you
have worked, then divide the length of yarn by need to not only introduce a new spool of yarn
the number of stitches to obtain a length per for the new colour, but also the colour next to it.
stitch. You can use this number to estimate how For example, in the circled area below, the colour
much yarn to put in a spool, or figure out if the orange is being introduced, but you also need to
amount you have is enough to finish a section. add a new spool of yellow, because what used
When counting stitches I count each row a chunk to be one area of yellow has now been split into
of colour occupies as half a stitch, as the “bar” two.
between rows does take up a little bit of yarn. At
the pattern gauge of 18 stitches and 27 rows per
4 x 4” square, I used 2.1-2.2cm (0.827-0.866”) of
yarn per stitch.

Increases
This pattern uses lifted increases for the sleeves
rather than the more common M1L/M1R because
lifted increases don’t affect the stitches below the But having two colour transitions right next to
current row, while M1 pulls yarn from the row each other can exacerbate tension issues, and
below and creates an extra loop from the yarn having two loose ends next to each other can
you picked up. This means that if you work a M1 make the section unstable and annoying work
increase over a colour change, it will distort your with. Therefore, when encountering single stitch
colourwork and tension at the transition. I do not wide columns of colour, I recommend simply
recommend using M1 increases for this pattern. stranding the other colour across (like in Fair
Isle knitting) until it becomes at least 2 stitches
wide. This helps keep your work more stable and
Panel edges “together”. Just make sure you don’t pull your
Each panel of this sweater has an “extra” stitch on float too tight and distort your work.
either side, which will disappear when the panels
are sewn together. This is standard for seamed You can also use stranded knitting for sections
sweaters. Some people like to slip every second of 2 or more stitches, to reduce the number of
stitch on this edge for a neater finish or easier bobbins and amount of yarn-swapping required
grafting, but I do not recommend doing so for for complex areas. However, the more stranding
this sweater. There are some areas with only 1-2 you do, and the more stitches you strand across,
stitches of a particular colour along the edge, and the higher the risk of creating a garment that
working the extra stitch helps a lot to stabilise doesn’t stretch uniformly, due to the differences
them. between stranded and intarsia fabrics. Personally,
I didn’t do this and I don’t recommend it, but
the option exists if you need it to preserve your
sanity.
Weaving in ends
I recommend completing your embroidery before
weaving in your yarn ends.

The easiest, least visible place to weave in your

ends is through the “bars” between colours on
the wrong side of your work. However, you will
have a ton of ends, and there isn’t always a lot of
space to fit everything in. Here are some tips for
fitting more ends into a small area: 2
Braiding ends
1
Place strand 1 over strand 2 again and pull it
through the next bar.

1
You can lock multiple strands securely in place by
doing this. First, place strand 1 over strand 2.

Repeat until you have both ends in a secure braid.

You can also do this with 3 yarn ends.

NOTE: It’s tempting to weave your ends

2 through the loops created by your backstitch
borders, but be cautious if you do this. If
you stuff too many yarn ends in them it will
pull on the stitches on the right side of the
work and make them smaller. I found the

1 colour transition bars were less susceptible

to distortion from tucked in ends, but you will
eventually get issues from them too if you
overdo it.
Pull strand 1 through the vertical bar at the colour
change. This is a good place to tuck away loose
ends beause it won’t show on the right side of
your work.
Tucking an end into itself

This is handy when you don’t have a lot of space Pull your yarn end through...
to weave in an end because there’s another one
coming from the opposite direction. Start by
weaving in as normal.

... and go back the way you came, working back

into the yarn end you just wove in (putting too
much under the original bars can distort your
When you get about halfway, stick your hook stitches, so it’s better to weave into the yarn ends
under the last bit of yarn you wove in. themselves when you can).
Locking your ends in place with other ends
Securing loose
ends
There’s a ton of loose ends in this sweater, and

2
any one of them could cause a disaster if it came
loose. Some people are horrified by the thought
of tying knots in knitting, but honestly I knotted
EVERYTHING.

Sometimes the colour-change bars are spaced

pretty far apart, or are too long to really hold your
loose end securely. Here I’ve woven in strand 1,
but it’s pretty loose in there.

2 1

Now I’ve woven strand 2 into strand 1 and it’s

looking more secure. As you can see, there is
one more strand in the vicinity and by the time
I weave that one in as well, all 3 strands will
be nice and snug. Sorry for the slightly subpar
photography here, I didn’t notice until I started
putting the pattern together and I’m not pulling
my ends back out to retake photos hahahahaha

Finally: You will have a LOT of ends. You won’t

always be able to tuck them away nicely. Just roll
with it!
CHARTS
The key for all symbols is as follows:

knit on rs, purl on ws

purl on rs, knit on ws
k2tog
ssk
rli on rs, left lifted purl increase on ws
lli on rs, right lifted purl increase on ws
bind off

Yeah, look at all this whitespace. I have literally no

idea what to do with it. Here’s a picture of my cat.
Front
Back
Left sleeve (long)
Right sleeve (long)
Left sleeve (medium)
Right sleeve (medium)
Left sleeve (short)
Right sleeve (short)