Independent Designs, Toddler to Preschooler - January 08, 2015

Remember Radiant?

I have always been fascinated with self striping yarns, I love them and try to use them and design for them often. I particularly like how the stripes can help define a unique sweater construction for example when the knitting is worked in sections such as modular knitting or worked sideways. In the spring of 2010 I had a great idea for a sideways knit sweater using short rows to shape the yoke and sleeves that would showcase a striping yarn beautifully. This idea became the Radiant cardigan that I developed for Petite Purls Winter Issue that same year. Below you can see the first incarnation of the sweater knit in a much brighter shade of Mochi Plus and teeny tiny Abigail modeling it.

When Petite Purls accepted the design based on this sample they requested that I reknit it in a subtler colorway that was more suitable to the color palette for their issue. I guess not everyone loves bright orange and pink all the time, it's a fact I am trying to live with. We retook the pictures with more of a Autumn theme and below are the ones that it was published with.

This sweater has been available on the Petite Purls site, and in the archives since then. I received a note from them late last year indicating that they were going to be moving onto new opportunities and that if I wanted to release the patterns I had published with them I could do so when I chose. Also that at some point in this new year they would be removing their site and it's archive. So Radiant is now available as a downloadable PDF from Ravelry and of course is still free for you!

This has been one of the most popular patterns I have ever released and you can see a huge quantity of completed projects on Ravelry including upsized, downsized, variegated, and even handspun versions. So if you know a radiant little girl or boy in your life consider making them a sideways knit striped Radiant, and make sure you show me pictures too!