The Reach for the Stars children’s jumper is part of the Reach for the Stars collection. Each item in the collection features a brightly coloured space rocket with a fiery trail, inspired by one of my children’s favourite toys. The design is perfect for all future astronauts!

The Reach for the Stars children’s jumper is knitted in pieces from the bottom up; the neckline is picked up and knitted in the round after seaming the shoulders of the jumper. The rocket motif is incorporated using the intarsia technique.

The pattern for the intarsia section is provided both as a chart and as written instructions.

The jumper is knitted in aran weight yarn, and has a casual fit with approximately 9 cm 3.5 in positive ease, making it perfect as a cosy extra layer in the winter, or an outer layer as the weather starts to warm up.

Sample shown is knitted in size 4 years, in Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran (100% acrylic, 184 m 201 yds per 100 g ball) in Midnight Blue (237, MC), Buttercup Yellow (222, CC1), Blood Orange (219, CC2) and Pillar Red (214, CC3).

Sizes
2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12) years, to fit chest sizes 53 cm 20.75 in, 58.5 cm 23 in, 63.5 cm 25 in, 67 cm 26.5 in, 71 cm 28 in, 76 cm 30 in with approximately 9 cm 3.5 in positive ease.

Tension
18 sts and 25 rows = 10 cm 4 in in stocking stitch worked flat after blocking on 5 mm (US 8) needles, or size needed to obtain correct tension.

Tools
5 mm (US 8) straight needles
4.5 mm (US 7) straight needles
4.5 mm (US 7) circular needle, 40 cm 16 in in length
Markers x 2
Tapestry needle
Chart row marker
Bobbins for holding the different yarn colours during colourwork

Materials
Aran weight yarn in each of the following colours and amounts:

• MC (navy blue): 375 (440, 520, 595, 690, 780) m [405 (480, 565, 650, 750, 850) yds] yds
• CC1 (yellow): 30 m [30 yds]
• CC2 (orange): 35 m [35 yds]
• CC3 (red): 10 m [10 yds]

Difficulty:
Intermediate (knitting, purling, simple increases and decreases, intermediate intarsia)

Pattern Style: Jumper pattern is written using abbreviations (all abbreviations are given). Both charted and written instructions are provided for the intarsia section.