This pattern has been made to raise funds for the Danish NGO, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, and their work for Palestine. The inspiration for this sweater came from the British artist Jessie Cutts’ beautiful protest banners, and I’m even lucky enough that Jessie has agreed to let me use her pictures in this pattern. Each banner is unique, just as each sweater that emerges from this pattern will be its very own.

Note: Whether you “buy” the sweater pattern via the English website or the Danish website, both versions will be available for download, just as when purchasing a pattern from Ravelry.

Size: A (B) C (D) E (F)
Finished garment circumference (measured under the armhole): 100 (110) 120 (130) 140 (150) cm
Armhole depth: 22 (23) 25 (26) 29 (31) 33 (34) cm
Length (mid back excl. folded neckband): 53 (56) 58 (61) 64 (66) cm
Gauge (stockinette stitch knit flat as well as in the round, after wash/blocking):
12 sts x 17 rows on 9 mm needles = 10 x 10 cm
Suggested needles:
9 mm (US13; 40 and 80/100 cm) circular needles,
8 mm (US11; 40 and 80/100 cm) circular needles,
7 mm (≈ US10.5; 40 cm) circular needles,
9 mm auxiliary needle for three-needle bind-off

Note. I knit very tightly (poor hands), so if you’re more of a “loose” knitter, you’ll most likely have to adjust needle sizes quite a bit, e.g. using 8, 7 and 6 mm needles or the like, to meet the gauges.

You’ll also need:
2 stitch markers
2 stitch holders (or some scrap yarn to hold the resting sts)
Optionally 12 (14) 16 (18) 20 (22) open stitch markers for Japanese short rows
1 embroidery needle

Suggested materials:
The Petite Wool from We Are Knitters (100 g = 140 m):
Color A (base color): 500 (500) 600 (700) 700 (800) g
Color B (dove motif): approx. 10 (10) 10 (10) 15 (15) g

Embroidery (the dove’s silhouette, eye and olive branch):
Whatever scrap yarn you can find

About the design
The Not just a dove sweater is an oversized drop shoulder sweater with a peace dove motif worked in intarsia. The body of the sweater is worked bottom-up and the sleeves are worked top-down. To begin with, the front and back piece are worked separately; the front piece with an intarsia segment and the back piece with short rows to shape the slope of the shoulder. The shoulders are then joined using the three-needle bind-off technique, and the sides of the front and back piece (minus sleeve openings) are joined using mattress stitch; the sides are joined right above the ribbing, so the sweater gets a slit on both sides with the back piece being a little longer than the front piece. Along the neckline, stitches are picked up for the folded neckband, and lastly, stitches are picked up in each armhole and the sleeves worked top-down. The sleeves are finished with a long ribbed edge. When the sweater has been washed and blocked, the final details can be embroidered, namely the dove’s silhouette and eye as well as an olive branch in its beak.

A note about sizes
The sweater is designed to have a positive ease of approx. 20-35 cm for sizes A-D and 15-20 cm for sizes E-F, meaning that the circumference of the finished garment (after wash and blocking) should be 20-35 cm (A-D) or 15-20 cm (E-F) wider than your widest upper body measurement. For example, if you measure 90 cm, I would recommend that you knit either a size B or a size C, depending on your personal preference. The circumference of a size B sweater is 110 cm, which would then give you 20 cm of positive ease, while a size C is 120 cm, giving you 30 cm of positive ease. Note that the measurements specified above are only achieved if the correct gauge is kept.

Level and techniques
The level of the Not just a dove sweater is advanced beginner/intermediate, and the pattern contains intarsia colorwork charts as well as written instructions.

The pattern includes the following techniques:

• Long tail cast-on (slingshot method)
• 2 x 2 rib stitch
• A segment of intarsia colorwork
• Stockinette stitch knit flat and in the round
• Right- and left-leaning increases (m1R / m1L)
• Right- and left-leaning decreases (k2tog / p2tog / ssk)
• Short rows of your choice (I used Japanese short rows for this project)
• Twisted stitches (k1tbl / p1tbl)
• Basic bind-off
• Three-needle bind-off
• Picking up stitches

About the depicted version:

• My prototype is a size B, and it’s knitted in The Petite Wool from We Are Knitters in the colors Yarnicorn (color A) and Natural (color B). For the embroidery, I’ve used scraps of a fingering weight merino (100 g = 400 m) for the silhouette of the dove and scraps of Peruvian Highland Wool (aran/worsted weight, 100 g = 200 m) for the rest.