This yoke-patterned sweater is knit from the top (neck) down to the bottom hem. It features a 3-color lotus-blossom-inspired colorwork pattern around the yoke and the sleeve cuffs. After casting on the neck and working the yoke and increases to shape the top of the sweater, the sleeve stitches are placed on hold while the body of the sweater is completed. The sleeve stitches are then worked from the top down. The hems are finished with simple ribbing.

The samples were knit using Suburban Stitcher’s Pure Sock, a soft merino fingering (sock) weight yarn with 438 yards per 100 g. This pattern is available as a kit from the Suburban Stitcher shop.

Colorway 1: MC: Tuva (dark green), CC1 Velvet Magenta (dark pink), CC2 Sweet Pea (light pink), CC3 Wintermint (pale green).

Colorway 2: MC: Wintermint (pale green), CC1 Eggplant (purple), CC2 Steampunk (light pink), CC3 Tuva (dark green).

You will need the following quantities of fingering-weight yarn to knit the sweater as written:
Main color (MC): 3 (3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5) skeins.
CC1: ½ (½, ½, ½, ½, 1, 1, 1) skeins.
CC2: ½ (½, ½, ½, 1, 1, 1, 1) skeins.
CC3: ½ skein for all sizes.

You can also use only one color for the contrast motifs for a slightly different look. You will need a single skein of contrast color for all sizes if choosing this option.

Inspired by the idea of “No Mud, No Lotus”, I designed this sweater in the waning months of 2020 - which was certainly a year we all hoped for better things to rise out of the mud.