Free Raccoon Knitting Chart for a Woodland Baby Jumper, Meet Bandit

In every woodland you will find a troublemaker, and this free raccoon knitting chart brings you a very small one. I am not saying Bandit is a mischievous furry fella (a tenuous tree pun, it’s hiding in “fella”), but I am not ruling it out.

Meet Bandit, the newest chart in my collection. He wears his mask with confidence, sits neatly on the front of a baby jumper, and looks exactly like he has just been somewhere he shouldn’t. In the bin, under the floorboards, listening in on grown-up conversations…

Bandit is the first animal in a new woodland collection for the Blank Canvas Motif Library. He is designed for the Blank Canvas Baby Sweater, a simple DK jumper (sweater) in six sizes, from 0-6 months to 4-5 years. Learn the jumper once, then swap the motif each time you knit it.

How the Blank Canvas Motif Library Works

Bandit is a standalone chart, not a complete jumper pattern.

Every chart in the Blank Canvas Motif Library is designed to go on the front of the Blank Canvas Baby Sweater, a plain DK jumper in six sizes from 0-6 months to 4-5 years. You will need that pattern for the back, sleeves, neckband and making up. It is free here on the blog, or you can buy the ad-free PDF in the shop.

What this post gives you is the part that changes with each motif: the chart, the written rows, and the front of the jumper rewritten with Bandit in place. The number of stitches either side of him is already worked out for every size, so there is no maths to do. Knit the front from here and everything else from the main pattern. Simply swap the Front instruction in the Blank Canvas Baby Sweater for the Front instructions below.

About the Raccoon Knitting Chart

Bandit is 30 stitches wide by 32 rows tall. He is worked in Stylecraft Special DK in Grey, White and Black, on a soft Meadow green background.

Like every chart in the library, he is drawn to the true shape of a knitted stitch, which is wider than it is tall. Many free charts online are drawn on square grids, so the motif knits up squashed. Bandit knits up looking like Bandit.

He is Confident Beginner level. If you’ve never tried intarsia, the duplicate stitch option below means you don’t have to.

Yarn for Bandit

All shades are Stylecraft Special DK (295m/100g).

Yarn A, Meadow (1065), for the whole jumper: 1 (1: 2: 2: 2: 2) balls.

Motif colours. These take small amounts only, no more than 10g of any shade, so they’re excellent stash busters:

• Grey (1099): face, head and ears
• White (1001): muzzle and eye surrounds
• Black (1002): mask, nose and inner ears

Knitting in the US? Any DK (light worsted) yarn that knits to the same tension will work, for example Berroco Comfort DK.

The Raccoon Knitting Chart

How to read the chart. Start at the bottom right-hand corner. Read right-side rows from right to left, and wrong-side rows from left to right. Each square is one stitch, and each row of squares is one row of knitting.

Intarsia or Duplicate Stitch, Your Choice

Bandit is worked in intarsia. Each block of colour has its own small ball or bobbin, and no yarn is carried across the back.

The small details, such as the white stitches inside the mask, are easiest added afterwards in duplicate stitch, also known as Swiss darning. If you’d rather skip intarsia altogether, knit the whole front in Meadow and work all of Bandit in duplicate stitch at the end. Either way gives a lovely finish. Very Pink Knits has a clear duplicate stitch video if you’d like to see it done.

Working the Front with the Raccoon Knitting Chart

This replaces the Front section of the Blank Canvas Baby Sweater. Work it in place of the plain front, then return to the main pattern for the back, sleeves and making up.

Cast on 52 (56: 64: 68: 72: 76) sts using 3.25mm (US 3) needles and Yarn A.

Row 1: *K2, p2; rep from * to end.

Repeat row 1 a further 7 (7: 9: 11: 13: 13) times.

Change to 4mm (US 6) needles.

Row 1: Knit.

Row 2: Purl.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until 6 (8: 10: 14: 16: 18) rows have been worked in stocking stitch.

Start working from the chart

Row 1: K11 (13: 17: 19: 21: 23) using Yarn A, work row one from the chart, knit to end using Yarn A.

Row 2: P11 (13: 17: 19: 21: 23) using Yarn A, work row two from the chart, purl to end using Yarn A.

Continue working the chart as set to the end. AT THE SAME TIME, when the piece measures 16 (18: 19.5: 20: 20: 21.5)cm / 6.25 (7: 7.75: 8: 8: 8.5)in from the cast-on edge, place markers at each end of the row to mark the sleeve placement.

Next: Continue in stocking stitch until the piece measures 27 (29: 32: 35: 37: 39)cm / 10.5 (11.5: 12.5: 13.75: 14.5: 15.25)in from the cast-on edge, ending with a RS row.

Shape shoulders

Next row: P15 (17: 19: 20: 22: 24), PM, p22 (22: 26: 28: 28: 28), PM, p15 (17: 19: 20: 22: 24).

Cast off, keeping markers in place.

For the back, sleeves, neckband and making up, follow the Blank Canvas Baby Sweater.

Written Line by Line Instructions

If you prefer written instructions to a chart, work line by line from these. Remember to work the stitches either side of the chart for your size, as above.

Row 1: Meadow x30

Row 2: Meadow x30

Row 3: Meadow x11, Grey x9, Meadow x10

Row 4: Meadow x10, Grey x11, Meadow x9

Row 5: Meadow x8, Grey x5, White x6, Grey x4, Meadow x7

Row 6: Meadow x8, Grey x4, White x3, Black x2, White x3, Grey x3, Meadow x7

Row 7: Meadow x6, Grey x5, White x3, Black x4, White x3, Grey x4, Meadow x5

Row 8: Meadow x6, Grey x4, Black x1, White x3, Black x4, White x3, Black x1, Grey x3, Meadow x5

Row 9: Meadow x4, Grey x5, Black x2, White x4, Black x2, White x4, Black x2, Grey x4, Meadow x3

Row 10: Meadow x4, Grey x4, Black x3, White x4, Grey x2, White x4, Black x3, Grey x3, Meadow x3

Row 11: Meadow x4, Grey x3, Black x5, White x3, Grey x2, White x3, Black x5, Grey x3, Meadow x2

Row 12: Meadow x3, Grey x3, Black x7, White x2, Grey x2, White x2, Black x7, Grey x2, Meadow x2

Row 13: Meadow x3, Grey x3, Black x8, White x1, Grey x2, White x1, Black x8, Grey x2, Meadow x2

Row 14: Meadow x3, Grey x3, Black x6, White x1, Black x1, Grey x4, Black x2, White x1, Black x5, Grey x2, Meadow x2

Row 15: Meadow x3, Grey x3, White x1, Black x5, White x1, Black x1, Grey x4, Black x2, White x1, Black x4, White x1, Grey x2, Meadow x2

Row 16: Meadow x3, Grey x3, White x1, Black x4, White x2, Black x1, Grey x4, Black x1, White x2, Black x3, White x2, Grey x2, Meadow x2

Row 17: Meadow x3, Grey x4, White x1, Black x6, Grey x4, Black x6, White x1, Grey x3, Meadow x2

Row 18: Meadow x3, Grey x4, White x3, Black x4, White x1, Grey x2, White x1, Black x4, White x3, Grey x3, Meadow x2

Row 19: Meadow x4, Grey x4, White x5, Black x1, White x1, Grey x2, White x1, Black x1, White x5, Grey x3, Meadow x3

Row 20: Meadow x4, Grey x6, White x5, Grey x2, White x5, Grey x5, Meadow x3

Row 21: Meadow x5, Grey x7, White x2, Grey x4, White x2, Grey x6, Meadow x4

Row 22: Meadow x5, Grey x21, Meadow x4

Row 23: Meadow x4, Grey x2, Black x3, Grey x13, Black x3, Grey x2, Meadow x3

Row 24: Meadow x4, Grey x2, Black x3, Grey x13, Black x3, Grey x2, Meadow x3

Row 25: Meadow x4, Grey x2, Black x3, Grey x13, Black x3, Grey x2, Meadow x3

Row 26: Meadow x4, Grey x2, Black x3, Grey x3, Meadow x7, Grey x3, Black x3, Grey x2, Meadow x3

Row 27: Meadow x4, Grey x2, Black x2, Grey x3, Meadow x9, Grey x3, Black x2, Grey x2, Meadow x3

Row 28: Meadow x5, Grey x5, Meadow x11, Grey x5, Meadow x4

Row 29: Meadow x6, Grey x3, Meadow x13, Grey x3, Meadow x5

Row 30: Meadow x30

Row 31: Meadow x30

Row 32: Meadow x30

Prefer Bandit on Paper?

The Bandit PDF has everything on this page laid out for printing: the full colour chart, the written rows and the placement notes for all six sizes. Intarsia means keeping your place row by row, and that is much easier with the chart on the table than on a phone propped against the yarn bowl.

More from the Woodland

Bandit is the first of a woodland collection, so there are more animals to come. If you’d like a woodland set for a little one now, the Forest Fawn baby deer cardigan is easy to follow and makes a lovely gift for an autumn baby. The Woodland Animal Booties, in fox, badger and mouse, are quick to knit up and finish the outfit nicely.

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