A Petter Palette

Sarah has a plan for her autumn's knitting, which involves combining these 5 colours of Petter in different ways to make 4 children's sweaters to meet differing tastes and needs.

Although this is the time of year when most knitters are thinking about sweaters to keep them warm in the coming winter, for the past few years at this time my needles get filled with knits for children. My niece and nephew have their birthdays before the end of the year and my friend loves new sweaters for her kids when the temperature starts to drop.

After finishing a new Hearthstone for my daughter I’ve decided that Rauma Petter is my new favourite yarn for kids. It’s wonderfully wooly and warm, but has passed the softness test with my usually fussy kid who has worn her new sweater to school three days in a row and even remembered to bring it home with her.

When considering what to cast on, I was inspired by Cartography, from Strange Brew, which we made out of Petter for Ysolda's brother earlier in the year.

I’ve already cast on the first sweater for my friend’s little one, a Dog Star by tincanknits using Petter 306 as the main colour and 336 for the contrast. There are some really lovely versions on Ravelry, where knitters have added in extra pops or bands of colour into the yoke. At the moment the plan is to stick with two colours, but I might be tempted to add in a darker blue. Dog Star was developed using Strange Brew - if you want to use your own motifs for a custom yoke, this book is full of great information and a 'recipe' to build your own pattern.

Her little brother will be next to get a sweater, also a Dog Star - this time with 328 as the main colour and 332 and 308 as contrasts. He’s still quite little and not ready to dress himself yet, so I’ll probably steek this one as his parents find cardigans easier to get on his wriggly body.

Next up will be a Lionheart hoody by Shannon Cook and Jane Richmond for my nephew in Petter 308 with 332 as a contrast for the stripes. I love the subtle stripes in this one.

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And finally, for my niece, who I’ve knit a sweater for every October since she was born, an Antler Cardigan from Pacific Knits by tincanknits. She has strong colour preferences, so I think the rich pink of Petter of 336 is perfect. (Yellow is the only other acceptable choice, but I did that last year…) I’ll need to do a little adjusting for gauge as the pattern is for a heavier weight yarn, but I find kids sweaters are a pretty safe bet for making substitutions like this - I plan to knit a bigger size than usual with a slightly tighter gauge and I know I’ll still get a sweater that will fit her for the whole winter.

If you knit children's sweaters, what are you planning to knit this autumn? Have any of Sarah's choices inspired you to start a new project? Please let us know.