WILD STRIPES

Original design & charts by Martha Lambertsen in McCall’s Needlework & Crafts
Digitized charts & additional instructions by Phoebe Pearce

About this pattern

This pattern was designed by Martha Lambertsen and appeared on the cover of the April
1987 issue of McCall’s Needlework & Crafts magazine. As far as I am aware, it is no
longer in print and is not available from any other source. For this version of the pattern,
I took the original colourwork charts and used them to produce higher-resolution, easier
to use versions, which are included here, along with expanded instructions for the pattern.
If you would like to see the original version of the pattern it is available here.

Pattern support
It is likely there are still mistakes in this version of the pattern: please let me know by
contacting me on Ravelry (phoebemay) or Instagram (@phoebeknits)! Likewise, if you
have questions about the pattern, let me know. I may not be able to answer them all, as
I am not the original designer, but I may be able to help – and I would love to see the
results of anyone else attempting this pattern too on Ravelry and Instagram!

Finally, I am making this pattern freely available, but as you can imagine, digitizing the
colourwork charts and creating this document was not a trivial task, so if you would like
to support me, you can tip me on my Ko-fi page.
Sizes
This pattern was written for only a single size (unfortunately), specified as a women’s
medium. The finished bust size with the specified gauge is 42”, intended to fit a bust size
34-36”. (I have a 38” bust and the sweater fits me fine. The tightest part is the bottom of
the sleeves).

Materials
Yarn: The yarn specified in the original patterns is as follows:
- 16 x 50 g Lane Borgosesia Golfo in gold #9 (see note below about this amount!)
- 5 x 50 g Lane Borgosesia Golfo in black #2
- 4 x 50 g Lane Borgosesia Golfo in white #1
This yarn is no longer available, but it is a 100 % cotton yarn with 96 m/103 yards to a 50
g ball (approximately sport weight) so there are many good substitutions available (and I
think wool or wool blends would be fine too). I am certain the number of balls of yellow
yarn specified in the original pattern is incorrect since 16 balls of the yellow only is
approximately 1500 m, already a very large amount for a medium-size sweater like this. I
substituted Lana Grossa Cotone, which is a slightly thinner cotton yarn (125 m to 50g),
and my whole sweater used 475 g of yarn, so just under 1200 m/1300 yds.

Alternative yarn amounts using Lana Grossa Cotone, which is a mercerized 100% cotton
yarn (this is just based on the sweater I made, as shown in the photos in this document,
but these are quite generous amounts)
- 6 x 50g (750 m) of colour 038 (yellow)
- 3 x 50 g (375 m) of colour 022 (white)
- 3 x 50 g (375 m) of colour 021 (black)

Needles: 3.25 mm and 3.5 mm (US #3 and #4), or needles required to obtain gauge
(larger needles) + one needle size smaller for the ribbing. You will need double-pointed
needles or circular needles of the smaller size to work the neckband ribbing. For the larger
needles, you can use circular needles or straight needles, but for the sleeve section it is
easier to fit all the stitches on long circular needles.

Yarn bobbins: I would strongly recommend using bobbins intended for

colourwork/intarsia knitting; you will have 20 or so separate strands on some rounds!

Gauge
23 sts/32 rows to 4” by 4” / 10 cm by 10 cm using larger needles. This is the gauge you
need to obtain for the sweater itself, but a stockinette swatch should be fine since this
should not be very different for intarsia.

Following the charts

The charts are worked from right to left on right-side (knit) rows and left to right on wrong-
side (purl) rows. The direction in which the charts are worked are indicated by the yellow
arrows. The ribbed sections at the bottom of the body are included in the charts as
well. Also note the tiny section of intarsia at the bottom of Chart 2, at the right neck
edge, it’s easy to overlook! If you would like to print the charts at a different size, there
are PDFs of the front and back charts separately.

Working the intarsia colourwork

The sweater is worked flat in a single piece. Use a separate ball or bobbin of yarn for each
individual section of colour. Pick up the new colour from below the previous colour (this
avoids creating holes where different coloured sections meet), and make sure the switch
is on the wrong (purl) side regardless of which side you are working on – see the photos
of the inside below to see how this looks on the wrong side. I ended up working some of
the mane sections using stranded colourwork rather than intarsia (see photo of inside of
the mane section below on the right), but be careful with this because many people have
a different gauge in stranded colourwork (this is the case for me, and the tension in that
section is slightly off in my version of the sweater).

Note on the chart colours

Hopefully, it is clear from the reference images, but the colours on the charts are as
follows:
 Unshaded areas outside red outline, marked with “A”: yellow/background colour
 Shaded areas (light blue): black
 Unshaded areas inside red outline, NOT marked with “A”: white

Body
Important note on row numbering: my row numbers for the front are 1 off from the original
pattern. I believe there is a small error in the original pattern, since row 10 is a right-side
row, but later on odd-numbered rows become right-side rows. For the front chart (Chart
1) all odd-numbered rows are purl (WS) rows and all even-numbered rows are knit
(RS) rows. For the back chart, all even-numbered rows are purl (WS) rows and all
odd-numbered rows are knit (RS) rows, so the other way around (sorry about this).
Cast on and ribbing: With smaller needles, cast on 86 stitches in colour A, 19 stitches in
colour B and 17 stitches in colour A (122 stitches). Following Chart 1, work rows 1-9 in
k1, p1 ribbing (every row is the same: *k1, p1*, repeat between ** until the end of the
row).

Main body (front): When you reach row 10, change to larger needles and start working
stockinette stitch (k all stitches on the right side, p all stitches on the wrong side), while
still following Chart 1. Row 10 is a right side row so start with a knit row. The body (before
the sleeve increases) should measure 21” wide (53.3 cm).

Shape sleeves (front): Work until row 101 (WS) has been completed, then cast on 1 st
at the beginning of the next two rows, 2 sts at the beginning of the next 32 rows, 3 sts at
the beginning of the next 38 rows. Note that the colour you should cast on with is shown
in the charts. You should have 302 sts.

Shape neck: Work until row 177 (WS) has been completed. On row 178 (RS): k 143 sts,
join another strand of background colour (yellow) yarn, and bind off centre 16 sts [Note:
there is an inconsistency here in the original pattern, which says to bind off the centre 16
sts in the “Shape Neck” section but then indicates “16 sts from front stich holder” should
be picked up in the Neckband section. I think it looks neater to cast these off with the
background colour and then pick them up later, but you can also leave the centre 16 sts
on a stitch holder]. Finish the row according to the chart. Now work both sides at once,
with separate strands of yarn, binding off 4 sts at each neck edge once, 3 sts twice, 2 sts
twice. Then decrease 1 at each neck edge every other row once, and every 4th row twice.
You should have 126 sts on each side of the neck. Keep working both sides in chart
pattern until Chart 1 has been completed (you should end with a purl row on row 201).

Sleeves (back): As explained in the note above, odd-numbered rows are now knit rows
– so the first row of Chart 2 is a knit row, following row 201 of Chart 1, which was a purl
row. Following Chart 2 from row 1 (RS), knit 126 sts, cast on 50 sts for back neck, finish
row – 302 sts. Work until row 30 (WS) has been completed).

Shape sleeves (back): bind off 3 sts at the beginning of the next 38 rows, bind off 2 sts
at the beginning of the next 32 rows, bind off 1 sts at the beginning of the next 2 rows.
You should have 122 sts.

Main body (back): Work from Chart 2 until row 191 (RS) has been completed. Change
to smaller needles and work last 9 rows of chart in k1, p1 ribbing. Bind off in rib, and
keeping colours as in the last pattern row.
Neckband
With right side facing, with circular or double-pointed needles in smaller size and
background colour (yellow), pick up and knit 50 sts along back neck edge, 29 sts along
left front neck edge, 16 sts along front (or from front stitch holder), 29 sts along right front
neck edge = 124 sts. Join to work in the round. Work k1, p1 ribbing for ¾” (1.9 cm). Bind
off loosely in pattern (or using preferred method for binding off k1, p1 ribbing).

Sleeve ribbing
The original pattern says to pick up the stitches and knit ribbing for the sleeves before
joining the side seams, so knitting the ribbing flat and then seaming it with the side body
and sleeves. I joined the seam first and then picked up stitches to knit the sleeve ribbing
in the round since I think this looks neater.

If working flat, as in original pattern, pick up 60 sts with smaller needles along the sleeve
edge. Work in k1, p1 ribbing for ¾ “ / 1.9 cm. Bind off in ribbing (or using preferred
method).
If working in the round, pick up 2 fewer stitches (58), to account for the stitches that
would have been lost when doing a mattress stich seam when worked flat. Work in k1,
p1 ribbing for ¾ “ / 1.9 cm. Bind off in ribbing (or using preferred method).

Finishing
Sew side/sleeve seams on both sides (I used mattress stitch). Note: you should do this
first if you want to knit the sleeve ribbing in the round. Weave in the ends. My sweater
pilled quite badly while making it, probably due to wrapping strands around each other so
often; I used a fabric shaver with very good results.
Chart 1 (front)
Chart 2 (back)