Knit a Classic Colorwork Yoked Sweater

The Pleasantville Pullover from Lion Brand Yarn is a pretty classic looking circular yoke, colorwork design. It uses four colors and is worked in the round from the top down.

The colorwork designs are pretty simple, and mostly done with slipped stitches (meaning you’re still only working with one color at a time) so this is a good one to try if you’ve never done colorwork before. The pattern is written out and there are charts if you’re learning how to read charts or just prefer them.

There’s additional colorwork at the bottom of the sweater and on the sleeves for a fun look. You could even use leftovers from other projects for some of the colorwork. While the pattern uses the same colors on the bottom and sleeves as were used in the yoke, you could use different colors there, or different shades of the same colors if you want to. It’s your sweater so you can do what you want!

It calls for Lion Brand Local Grown, which as of this writing is a new product for them. It’s a 100 percent wool yarn that is made from America-raised and shown sheep and that’s also processed in the United States. It comes in 15 colors that all look great together, so it’s a good choice for colorwork projects. And because its worsted weight you’re sure to find lots of different ways you want to use it.

The sweater comes in three sizes and can be worn with a lot of ease or less as you like. The smallest size has a chest measurement of around 40 inches, while the largest is 58 inches. It’s rated easy but it would be helpful to have comfort with working in the round before casting on.

Get the free pattern or purchase a kit with all the yarn you need from Lion Brand.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a fun project to play with brioche knitting, check out the My Buddy knitting pattern/recipe from Casuarinagirl on Ravelry.

This project doesn’t include a brioche tutorial, so it’s good to know the basics, including how to increase and decrease, but you can always practice on a swatch before you start the project if you want.

The design is meant to be flexible for the yarn you have and what size and shape of project you want to make, from a skinny neck scarf to a asymmetrical triangle or a more classic triangular shape.

The shape you end up with will depend on how often you increase (and then decrease on the other side). The pattern mentions increasing every fourth, fifth or six row (and the one shown increases and decreases every sixth row) but you can do it even more or less often depending on the shape you’re looking for an how much yarn you want to use.

You can work to whatever depth you would like, or use almost half of the yarn you have set aside for the project and begin decreasing.

When it comes to yarn, she used three strands of yarn held together to make a super fluffy shawl, but you can work it with whatever yarn and needles you like to make a wrap that’s all your own.

If you are new to brioche (or to increasing and decreasing in brioche) it might be a good idea to make a little scarf or head wrap first before diving in to the bigger pattern, just so you’re more comfortable with the technique. Or just give it a go; nothing about brioche knitting is that difficult. (But you might want to use a lifeline because I find brioche hard to rip out or fix mistakes in properly.)

You can grab the free pattern for the Buddy Wrap on Ravelry.

[Photo: Casuarinagirl]

Next Pattern:

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