Knit a Classic Striped Henley

I have said this before, but henleys are probably my favorite type of sweater, especially for the non-winter months since a lot of the patterns for them I have seen tend to use lighter weight yarn.

I collected some henley sweater patterns here if you want to dive deeper into this genre.

The Old River Road sweater from Kay Hopkins recently caught my eye because it’s a classic henley look with a few fun details that elevate the design.

First, can we talk about the contrasting color on the button band? So cute. And it’s a super easy thing to do that makes it look handmade. The bands are also worked in double knitting (a little project like this is a great place to learn if you don’t already know this technique) which makes them look great on both sides.

The henley opening is deep so you’ll be working flat for a while, but the bottom part of the sweater is worked in the round. It features an easy allover textured stitch pattern that makes vertical lines, plus narrow, contrasting color stripes on the body and sleeves. Make the stripes all the same color, use an ombre or pull out your mini skeins to make stripes of a variety of colors. It looks like you’ll need nine buttons as well.

The design comes in 11 sizes and is worked in sport weight yarn. Finished chest measurements range from 35 to 69 inches, or 89 to 175.5 cm, and it’s intended to be worn with around 4 inches/10 cm of positive ease. You can always include more ease if you like, and you can make it longer if you want a completely cozy, wear with anything kind of top. Which you know I might just want that.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Kay Hopkins]

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Sometimes I feel like knitters get intimidated to try new things because they think they need to start with a big project. Your first time working in the round doesn’t need to be a sock, and your first colorwork doesn’t need to be a sweater, for example. You can find little projects that use the skills you want to learn to build your confidence before you move on to something that requires more time commitment.

This adorable knit bunny, for example.

The colorwork bunny from Knit Picks was designed by Amy Munson and is a kind of bowling pin shaped bunny complete with a knit hat, contrasting inner ears and a little stranded colorwork on its body. Note that the ears are attached the the hat not the bunny, but you could stitch them to the bunny if you’d rather.

It’s worked from the bottom up and also has a tiny pompom tail you can’t see in the picture but it’s a really cute touch. There are a variety of little fair isle patterns to choose from to make the best bunny for you.

The bunny comes out about 8 inches tall (or just over 20 cm) and use several colors to complete the colorwork, depending on the design you choose.

You can purchase the pattern by itself from Knit Picks, or make a kit that includes sport weight yarn in all the colors you need for your creation. There are gray and brown options for the main body of the bunny, but of course if you’re using your own yarn you can make it whatever color you like.

Once you’ve tried colorwork (maybe also working in the round and shaping if those are skills you haven’t used before) in a little project like this you’ll be ready to take on something bigger in no time.

Check out the pattern on Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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