Leka Jumper - Knitting Pattern in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino

Leka Jumper – Knitting Pattern in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino

The Leka Jumper is a children's knitting pattern by MillaMia, worked in the brand's signature Naturally Soft Merino yarn. The pattern produces a striking, colourful sweater featuring simple stripes punctuated by a slip-stitch dot detail, giving it a bold, graphic look that is both eye-catching and achievable for improving knitters. The pattern also includes a matching Leka Snood (Cowl), designed to use up leftover contrast colours from the jumper, making it a wonderfully practical and coordinated set.

What Is Being Made

• Leka Jumper: A children's seamless-look, seamed sweater sized to fit ages 2–3, 4–5, 6–7, 8–9, and 10–11 years, with chest measurements ranging from 62 cm to 80 cm and sleeve lengths from 26 cm to 38 cm.
• Leka Snood: A coordinating cowl, approximately 10 cm wide and 51 cm in circumference, knitted using one ball of the main colour plus leftover contrast shades from the jumper.

Construction and Techniques

The Leka Jumper is constructed bottom-up and worked flat (back and forth on straight needles), with the pieces then seamed together. This traditional construction method is ideal for knitters who are comfortable with basic shaping and finishing techniques such as mattress stitch seaming. Working flat allows each section — front, back, and sleeves — to be completed separately before assembly, giving a neat, structured finish.

• Bottom-up construction: Knitting begins at the lower hem and works upward toward the shoulders, a classic approach that makes length adjustments straightforward.
• Seamed finishing: Individual pieces are joined after knitting, producing a durable, well-structured garment with clean seam lines.
• Stripe patterning: Horizontal stripes are worked by alternating yarn colours across rows, creating the bold, graphic aesthetic central to the Leka design.
• Slip-stitch dot detail: A simple but effective technique where stitches are slipped rather than knitted on certain rows, creating a raised dot or textured spot motif within the stripe pattern. No complex colourwork is required — the slip stitch carries the colour from a previous row, producing a two-colour effect with only one yarn in use at a time.

Stitches Used

• Slip stitch: The signature technique of this pattern, used to create the dot motif within the stripe sequence. Slipping a stitch purlwise without working it carries a contrasting colour up through the fabric cleanly and neatly.
• Stranded / stripe colourwork: Colours are changed at row intervals to produce the stripe effect, with yarn carried or rejoined as needed at the edges.
• Standard knit and purl stitches: Form the body of the fabric, with the tension gauge set at 25 stitches and 48 rows to a 10 cm square over the pattern using 3.25 mm needles.
• Ribbing or edging stitches are typically used at cuffs, hem, and neckline for a neat, stretchy finish consistent with MillaMia garment construction.

Materials

• Yarn: MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino — a sport weight yarn, sold in 50 g / 1¾ oz balls. The pattern uses a main colour (MC) alongside multiple contrast colours, making it a great stash-busting project for the snood component. MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino is a 100% merino wool yarn known for its softness, stitch definition, and wide colour palette, making it particularly well suited to children's knitwear.
• Needles: A pair of 3.25 mm (US 3) straight knitting needles is required for both the jumper and the snood.