When I first saw the new collection of yarns by Caroline’s of Höner och Eir, I instantly fell in love with this deep warm orange. And when I heard Caroline call the dark brown one “mama bear”, I knew they belonged together. The design had to be down to earth, grounding, sensible, and do the justice to all the thought and hard labour put into that yarn.

Every year before Easter I paint eggs. In Ukraine, we call them “pysankas”— “written” eggs. This tradition of Easter eggs painting uses a variety of symbols, which date back to the tribal culture of Trypillia (ca. 5500 to 2750 BCE). And the messages they code are hopes and wishes for the year to come. Our ancestors treasured their relationship with the earth, it fed and clothed them. The amount of sun and rain shaped their lives entirely, good or bad harvest meant life or death.

This pullover is, therefore, a sort of Easter egg, a mystical totem of a gardener, who hopes for the rain and good harvest with the pattern of sun elements and rakes, which bring rain. Worked top down seamless in the round, this design features round yoke decorated with “rain drops” of wrapped knit stitches and a colourwork section on the bottom of the body.

Yarn
Main colour: ca. 210 (250, 295, 340, 385) (425, 470, 515, 560) g of Nutiden yarn, single ply pre-yarn 100% Swedish wool; approx. 470—500 m (515—550 yds) per 100—120 g plate, held double, shown in shade Rose Hip (orange);

Contrasting colour: ca. 15 (20, 30, 40, 55) (70, 80, 90, 100) g held double, shown in shade With Seed (dark brown). Or any similar yarn(s) to match the gauge. Plötulopi and Lettlopi would be the closest match texture wise, but feel free to use any other yarn.

Needles and notions
A pair of 4.0 mm or 4.5 mm (US 6 or 7) 40-80-100 cm (16-32-40 in) circular needles or a pair of interchangeable needles with spare cables; stitch markers; 4.0 mm (G) crochet hook for provisional cast-ons and adding the embellishments; some scrap yarn; also potentially, 4.5 mm (US 7) or 5.0 mm (US 8) needles for colourwork section, if you tend to work it tight.

Gauge
16 sts and 22 rows in 10 cm (4 in) measured over stockinette stitch and 15 sts and 20 rows across colourwork in the round after blocking on 4.0 mm (US 6) needles. Adjust the needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.

Sizes
The pattern instructions are calculated for nine sizes 1 (2, 3, 4, 5) (6, 7, 8, 9) to fit 74 (84, 94, 104, 114) (124, 134, 144, 154) cm /29 (33, 37, 41, 45) (49, 53, 57, 61) in bust circumference with ca. 10-12 cm /4-4.75 in of positive ease.

For the finished measurements, please refer to the schematics.
The sample is shown in size 2 on a 160 cm /5.3 feet tall model with ca. 84-66-94 cm body measurements. Please, pay attention to the length measurements, because the model is rather short.