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]

When I discovered Kate Atherley’s book Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond, I wasn’t sure there was enough to say about circular knitting to fill a book. It’s a pretty short book (144 pages) and includes 10 patterns to practice working in the round on small projects, and it provides a decent introduction to the various ways of working in the round.

The book covers using double pointed knitting needles, flexible double points and circular knitting needles with cables. It talks about working using the full circumference of a circular needle and various ways to work smaller circumference projects, such as using DPNs, magic loop and knitting with two circular knitting needles.

In addition there’s a discussion of preventing problems like twists and ladders, swatching in the round without actually swatching in the round, grafting, blocking and weaving in ends.

More specialized techniques likes knitting from the center out, stranded colorwork, helical knitting and jogless stripes are also explored, as well as working pieces like socks or mitts two at a time.

There’s also some information about seamless sweaters, including the different sweater designs that can be worked seamlessly (and why you might want seams in your sweaters) and how they are worked from the top down or the bottom up.

There are 10 patterns in the book, including a basic stockinette stitch cowl and one with a deliberate twist, wrist warmers, mitts and a pair of colorwork mittens, a hat worked in a solid color or in helical stripes, toe up and top down socks and a beret. It would have been nice to have a basic sweater pattern, too, since the book does talk about working larger garments with circular needles, but it’s still a nice collection of basic patterns worked in the round.

If you’re already comfortable working in the round in different ways, I’m not sure there’s much for you to learn in this book, but it is a good reference for people learning circular knitting or who maybe haven’t tried all the techniques yet or need skill building projects to try.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 10 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?