Little Stein Pattern

I love this little sweater. Its traditional Nordic shape and cut is timeless. It’s knit bottom up in the round until the underarms. Next the front and back are worked separately back and forth in stockinette stitch creating armholes. The shoulders are joined with a 3-needle bind off, and then the sleeves are knit separately, bottom up with facing, using traditional Norwegian genser construction. Next the stitches for the neckband are picked up and knit. And finally, the stitches are picked up along the front of the slit to work the facing on each side. I love to knit with steeks, and traditional Norwegian construction would have had added steeks for the sleeves, the front slit, and the neckband (this sweater could be knit that way if you’d like. I’ve given steeking instructions to help you at the end of the pattern if you’d rather knit it in the round with steeks.) I opted to knit the top of the sweater flat, knitting and purling in colorwrok to reduce the bulk that can accompany a Steek, especially on the smaller sizes. But you will have the option to knit this sweater the way that you like best. I love shape of Little Stein. The split allows you to pull it on and off your little one with ease. The top is fastened with a pewter button. The first time I went to Norway, I was on a quest for a reindeer sweater. I’ve loved everything reindeer since I was in kindergarten when I lost a pair of reindeer mittens while sledding. I think that created my reindeer obsession. And now all these years later, the reindeer love affair continues. I hope you love this sweater as much as I do and I hope that this happy knit leads to happy sledding, ice skating, Christmas tree hunting, skiing, caroling, snowman building, hot-chocolate drinking, and snuggling by a fire for years to come. Materials Yarn: DK Weight Rauma Strikkegarn | 100% Norwegian wool | 108 meters per 50 g skein Main Color (MC): 3 (3, 4, 4, 5 skeins | Color:Light Grey. Or approx. 348 (374, 414 460, 530) meters 348 ( 374, 414, 460, 530) yards of equivalent dk-weight yarn Contrasting Color (CC): 1 skein | Color: Red Or approx. 84 (87, 105, 130, 140) meters 91 (95 , 115, 142. 158) yards of similar DK-weight yarn. Needles One 24”/or 32” circular needle for the body, and one pair of DPNs/Flexiflips or 16“/40mm needles for sleeves in size needed to obtain gauge in colorwork and single color. Suggested size US 6 (4 mm) One 24” or 32” circular needle, and one pair of DPNs/Flexiflips to work 1x1 rib in two sizes smaller than gauge-size needles Suggested size: US 4 (3.5) mm Tapestry needle for sewing. One ¾” pewter button Gauge and Swatch 19.5 stitches and 24= 4 inches rowfor size 2 18 stiches and 24 rounds= 4 inches or 10 cm for sizes 4-10-12 Please swatch in the round and knitting flat to determine needle size Sizes: US 2 (4, 6, 8, 10-12) / 100 (110 ,120, 130, 140) cm Finished measurements Chest: 26 (28, 29.5, 30.5, 32) / 66 (70, 73, 76, 78) Body length to underarm: 11(12, 13, 13.75,14.5) “/ 28 (31, 33, 34.5, 36.5) cm Sleeve length: 11 (12.25, 12.5 ,13 ¾, 16)” / 28 (31, 32, 35, 40.5) cm Armscye: 5.5 (5.5, 6, 6.5, 6.75)”/ 14 (14, 15, 16.5, 17.5) cm Total length of body. 16 (17.5,19, 20.25, 21.25) inches / 40 (44.5, 48, 51, 54) cm Ease: 3-5 inches (7.5-12.5) cm positive ease