Knit Your New Favorite Everyday Sweater

I have knit a lot of sweaters through the years, and there are some that are decidedly in heavier rotation than others. You’d think it might be the fancy ones, the ones that were a lot of work, maybe even ones I designed that I’m really proud of.

I do have and wear all of those sorts of sweaters, of course, but my favorite sweaters for everyday are simple. They’re usually solid colors or a single colorway if it’s a multicolored yarn. They are mostly sweaters I would describe as being like the knit version of a sweatshirt. They’re easy to wear and generally were pretty easy to knit as well.

I feel like the Phumeza sweater from Noma Ndlovu at Bigger than Life Knits would definitely fit into both the easy to knit and easy to wear category. It’s a top down, drop sleeve sweater that’s mostly stockinette with garter ridges for added interest in the knitting and texture in the wearing. There are two different neckline options so you can decide if you want it higher or lower. The sleeves are wide and comfortable for layering. I would say it’s just slightly cropped, but that could just be because I like longer sweaters and this is a fine normal length for the average person.

The pattern comes in 11 sizes, and there’s a schematic in the pattern notes for the pattern on Ravelry but I’m having trouble reading it. It looks like it goes up to 72 inches/183 cm for the finished chest circumference, and I actually can’t read the smallest so if you can read it better than I can or if you get the pattern and can see the schematic in it, let me know and I’ll update this post.

You can grab the free pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Bigger than Life Knits]

Vintage Boys Sweaters To Knit And Crochet

A Few Simple Sweaters for Gift Knitting

This Handy Flow Chart Helps You Decide Who to Knit Sweaters For

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?