Joker Out - sweater
Stay warm by seizing the day?
More likely than you think!
You have to be a adventurous beginner or
an intermediate knitter. I wouldn’t
recommend this as your �irst colorwork.
Then again people learn best with the
stuff that motivates them, so by all means
give it a go! Worst case scenario you end
up spending some extra time either with
150 cm
your knitting friend, with your grandma
or at your local yarn shop’s knitting club.
This sweater is knit top down in the
round. You start with smaller needles for
the neck, switch to bigger needles for the
yoke, divide the stitches for body parts
and sleeves, and then you knit until you
run out of yarn!
© This sweater is based on Joker Out’s
Carpe Diem era merchandise. It’s copyright
is thus mainly Joker Out’s, and mine only for
the sweater instructions part. You can not
sell sweaters you make with this pattern.
You can however knit however many you
please for yourself and/or give them as
gifts.
Please tag your sweaters with #joker out
sweater or #jokeroutsweater, I’d love to see
what this creative fandom comes up with!
Sizes: If your gauge matches, the widest
part of the yoke is 150 cm and the body is
about 100 cm wide. That is somewhere
between M and L in women sizes, and S
or M in men’s sizes.
100 cm
Unfortunately I’m not comfortable when
it comes to scaling patterns. If you need it
to be smaller, use smaller needles and
yarn that has 20-22 sts/10cm (about
100m/50 grams), for example Drops
Karisma. If you need a bigger sweater,
add (blue) stitches on the sides of the
chart, or use bigger needles and a yarn
that has 13-14 sts/10cm. Do some math
before choosing your yarn. And please
swatch!! It's boring and annoying but
you will thank yourself later.
What you'll need:
Yarn:
• 450-700 grams of blue
• about 60 grams of yellow
• about 60 grams of grey
Optional: 10 meters of black yarn for
embroidery (you can use blue as well).
I'm using Drops Alaska, in color 15 and 58
and 3. My gauge is 15-16sts/10 cm. It is
widely available and affordable yarn. It's
not soft; even as a wool enthusiastic I do
�ind it a bit scratchy.
You could replace it with softer and
warmer Drops Nepal. 6790 or 1709
would work for blue, and 2923 for the
yellow. Grey is 0501.
If you opt for a smaller size, Drops
Karisma has amazing darker blue 17,
yellow is 52 and grey 44.
Friendly reminder to check your local
shepherd's and local mills' yarns before
buying Drops, if that is something you
�inancially can afford! You can obtain the
gauge by holding sport/DK yarn double.
Needles:
• 5 mm (or what gives you the right
gauge) circular needles
• 3,5-4 mm needles for ribs
• darning needle
60 cm circular needles will get you
through all of it, but last rows of yoke will
be more fun to knit with 80 or 100 cm
circulars. You want to use lacquered or
metallic needles for this yarn, you will
struggle with bamboo needles.
Stitch markers:
You need at least 5 stitch markers. You
can use yarn loops, or make your own
stitch markers with left-over beads from
fan bracelets.
Technique:
Ladderback jacquard/invisible stranding
technique is highly recommended, it
makes following the chart easier as well!
It makes a thick fabric, but it looks
cleaner and is less likely to make the yoke
too tight. Fun fact: this sweater was my
�irst time using this technique!
If you don't feel like learning it, you’ll
want to mark the blue lines on the chart
with stitch markers.
Here's an EXCELLENT video of the
technique in Finnish. It's very visual +
auto-translated subtitles seemed to
work reasonably well, so it might work
even for non-Finnish speaking people!
Taito-lehti :
Opi tikapuutekniikka kirjoneuleessa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CtapBYocY80&t
Pattern starts here!
Neck: Cast on 86 stitches with blue,
holding both ends of 3,5/4 mm needles
together. Remove other end and make
sure the cast-on line isn’t twisted. Place a
beginning of the round marker. This
marker will be referred as bor-marker
from now on. Work rib in the round
(*knit 1 through back loop, purl 1*) for 5
rounds.
Switch to 5 mm needles. Knit one round,
during which you place more stitch
markers (these will show you the chart
repeats) every 17-17-17-17 stitches. The
last repeat will have 18 stitches. Just
ignore it; you’ll just add one stitch less on
the �irst round of the chart for the last
repeat to make things even. Charts are on
pages 7-9.
Next part is optional: It’s neck shaping.
You can skip this step if you don’t like
short rows.
Row 1: Knit 22 sts, turn around, purl to the
bor-mark, purl 22 sts, turn, knit to bor-mark.
Row 2: Knit 19 sts, turn around, purl to the
bor-mark, purl 19 sts, turn, knit to bor-
mark.
Row 3: Knit 16 sts, turn around, purl to the
bor-mark, purl 16 sts, turn, knit to bor-
mark.
Chart/yoke: Start knitting according to
chart. Black boxes are stitches that don’t
exist yet: you’ll add/increase stitches on
the round they turn white. If you realize
1-3 rows too late you forgot to add a
stitch, don’t worry, you just add it on the
row you’re currently knitting. There are
few rows with 3 colours. I highly rec-
ommend only using two, and embroi-
dering the excluded stitches afterwards.

I recommend hiding next/following
row of the chart. With hiding you’ll
easily see which row you need to
concentrate on, but you’ll also see the
row(s) you’ve just knitted: that way
you �igure out sooner if you are
knitting a wrong section of the chart.
Make �irst ladder stitches when you have
more than 5 stitches of the same color in
a row. Make the ladders so that they align
with the blue lines on the chart. It will
make following the chart easier.
End of the yoke: When you have �inished
knitting the chart, knit one row where
you ”cast off” the ladder stitches by
knitting them together with active
stitches. At the same time: place stitch
markers as follows: Knit 33 stitches,
place marker, knit 43 sts (sleeve), place
marker, knit 68 sts (front), place marker,
knit 43 sts (another sleeve), place
marker, and knit 33 stitches to the bor-
marker. If it doesn’t add up, calculate
your stitches again, and move them
around accordingly.
Dividing for the body and the sleeves:
Knit 33 stitches to the marker, put the
next 43 stitches on a stitch holder: piece
of yarn or circular needles you’re not
using for this project (5mm or smaller,
preferably at least 60 cm long). Cast on 9
new stitches for the armpit.
Knit across the front of the body (68 sts).
put the next 43 stitches on a stitch holder.
Cast on 9 new stitches for the armpit.
Knit 33 stitches / to the bor-mark.
Well done!!! You have now
completed the most dif�icult
parts of the sweater!!!
Only easy parts remain!!!
I usually knit about 10 cm of the body,
move the body stitches to a longer circ.
needle (or multiple shorter ones) and
proceed to knit about 15 cm of the �irst
sleeve. Then I try it on to see if the
decreases are working for me.
I knit the sleeve until the end, knit the
other sleeve with the altered decreases
still fresh in my memory, and then I knit
the body until about 10-12 meters of
yarn remain, knit the rib and cast-off.
Body: Shaping is optional. You can knit
all the way to the hem without making a
single decrease. I however did the
following:
Knit 5 rows, knit 32 stitches, knit 2
together, knit 7 stitches, knit 2 together.
Knit across the front (66 sts), knit 2
together, knit 7 sts, knit 2 together, knit
until bor-marker.
The sweater will likely grow a little
length during blocking, so you may stop
about 5 cm before the optimal length, and
then do 4 rows of ribbing (about 2-3 cm):
*Knit 1 through back loop, purl 1*. Cast
off the stitches. Bind off the tail.
Sleeves: Start with the stitch in the
middle of the stitches you cast on for the
armpit. Pick 5 stitches, pick 2 sts from the
side, and start knitting the sleeve sts you
put on hold earlier. Pick 2 sts from the
side, pick 4 stitches from the ”armpit”
stitches, and place a bor-marker.
Sleeve decreases: Knit 5, knit the 2 side
sts together, knit across the sleeve, knit 2
side sts together, knit 4/until bor-marker.
Knit 5 rows. Knit 4, knit the following 2 sts
together, knit until 6 sts remain, knit 2
together, knit until bor-marker.
Knit 5 rows. Knit 3, knit the following 2 sts
together, knit until 5 sts remain, knit 2
together, knit until bor-marker.
Knit 10 rows. Knit 2, knit the following 2 sts
together, knit until 4 sts remain, knit 2
together, knit until bor-marker.
Knit 10 rows. Knit the �irst 2 sts together,
knit until 2 sts remain, knit 2 together.
If you’re making full-length sleeves, you
want to do these decreases again in
reverse order (10,5,5,1). I only ever do
half sleeves. I highly recommend trying
the sweater on, as everyone has differ-
ently shaped arms.
For the last 2-3 cm, switch to 3,5 mm
needles and *knit 1 through back loop,
purl 1* for 4 rows. Cast off the stitches.
Bind off the tail.
Give your sweater a half an hour bath
in lukewarm water and a drop of
shampoo, and yourself a pat on the
shoulder! Maybe brag a little on
tumblr!
Pat the sweater with a towel or spin it in
a washing machine (just spinning or cold
water wool program, you don’t want to
felt your sweater after all your hard
work!). Block the sweater and let it dry
�lat.
You may want to put some extra weight
on the suns (like a folded towel) during
some point of the drying process, as the
ladder technique makes the yoke very
puffy! It’ll be easier to embroider through
a layer that isn’t super 3D.
Useful links:
Taito-lehti :
Opi tikapuutekniikka kirjoneuleessa
h t t p s : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / w a tc h ?
v=CtapBYocY80&t
Purl Soho: Duplicate Stitch
https://www.purlsoho.com/create/
duplicate-stitch/
Embroidery
To give you an idea of the workload, I
used about 15 hours in total for knitting
the halfsleeved sweater (I’m average
speed with colorwork but otherwise
quick knitter) . I’ve used at least 5 hours
per sun for adding all the embroidered
details. Adding only the duplicates and
eyes+corona took about 2-3 hours per
sun.
However I’m slow with darning/tapestry
needles as I’ve avoided them all my life
(to the extent I have multiple knitting
projects weaved in by somebody else), so
if you’re experienced with embroidery, it
might take you less time. If you only
have sharp needles and you wonder do
you need to buy blunt ones. Yes you do,
you will thank yourself later.
1. Duplicate the excluded stitches of the
clouds (the round shape shading the
sun). That was rows 21-22 for me. If you
spot ENORMOUS errors, you may �ix
those at this point as well. If they’re tiny
errors, I wouldn’t even bother.
2. Duplicate the excluded stitches of the
suns (the lowest rays). Rows 23-28
Finer embroidery: You may use the
same blue yarn as for the sweater, or
some black yarn to make it stand out
more. I highly recommend dividing the
yarn to strands, and using only 2 or 1
strand(s) at a time for �iner details. You
can embroider only the eyes and corona,
or make the shapes of the cloud more
round and shape of the rays more sharp
while you’re at it!

If you want, you can use some chalk or

use a good old basting thread to mark the
lines you’ll be following. If you have
access to a embroidering transfer paper
(I didn’t), I highly recommend using that.

I used chain stitches for the eyes, corona

and cloud, back stitches for the inner
corona, and mix of back, chain and stem
stitches for the rays.

Useful links:

Purl Soho: Duplicate Stitch

https://www.purlsoho.com/create/
duplicate-stitch/

Cutesy crafts: Embroidery Stitches Guide

https://cutesycrafts.com/embroidery-
stitches
 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
If you plan to embroider ALL the details 12
on the cloud by hand, I wouldn’t bother 13
using time for knitting the colorwork; I’d 14
15
just knit the cloud all grey. It takes 16
enormously time knitting the colour- 17
work (I spent about 20 minutes per row 18
19
on 27-30), and then you end up trying to 20
hide some of the blue stitches with the 21
embroidery - it is not worth it. 22
23
24
However if you don’t plan to use 30+ 25
hours embroidering, it does look pretty 26
27
good with colourwork only. 28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21 cloud all grey.
20 If I knit it again, I would just knit the
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
I created this chart to show you the basic 17
lines I ended up embroidering. I just took 18
a screenshot of their Carpe diem -merch
19
20
and looked at that when embroidering 21
the lines on my sweater, so I suggest you 22
do the same. 23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
Photos and tips!
I hope these help you to make your own dedisions regarding adjusting the pattern to your needs.
Swatch! Best swatch would be knit the same
way (in the round) that the sweater will be knit;
purl rows tend to widen the swatch.
My �lat gauge was 14sts/10cm and
�inal gauge 15-16sts/10cm
You can also practise embroidery on the swatch
to see what works and what does not.
Use stitch markers!! Do it. It will make
�inding and �ixing errors easier
Neckline will be enormous if you use 5mm needles.
Compare your knitting every now and then Ask me how I know.
with a sweater that �its you, especially during Use smaller needles for the rib!!!
the yoke and after dividing the stitches.
Check that it lays somewhat �lat on its own.
You can �ix too big neckline
by crocheting a support with same kind of
elastic you’d use for fan bracelet
https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/343047696633621894/
Use lukewarm water and few drops of shampoo
for the bath. Do not move the sweater much
in the water, let the water do the work.
I recommend spinning the sweater/excess
water out in a washing machine, otherwise it will
take multiple days to dry.
I used an embroidery frame.
It won’t �it perfectly, but it will keep the sweater
somewhat �lat, resulting in more even stitches.
I recommend keeping other hand
inside the sweater; otherwise you risk to stitch
front and back of the sweater together.
Ask me how I know.
Sweater after �ixed neckline, and adding eyes,
outer corona and duplicated cloud stitches.
It looks good, and I’ve only spent about
an hour per sun. Sweater lays nicely
on the shoulders.

Dry the sweater FLAT. Otherwise

you’ll have a dress. You can pat/roll excess You sort of have to accept that the �irst sun(s)
water out with a towel to make drying will look wonky. This one didn’t have the extra
process quicker! I used chain stitches with 2 strands stitches for irises.
for the eyes and corona. I used BIG chain
stitch for the iris, and sort of locked it
in place with extra stitches.
Difference between non-outlined rays (left)
and outlined ones (right)
I made extra embroidery stitches around
knitted stitches’ legs to even out their shape
I initially tried outlining the rays with yellow.
Mission failed succesfully.
Sovereign quality inspector at work.
Highly recommended.
Thank you for your interest
and
good luck!
I decided to remake the curves on the cloud
and outline the rays. I think it made the yoke baggier,
but I’m fairly certain it will even out with wear.
I’ve had wrinklier yokes turn completely
�lat after few weeks of wear.