Professor Pullover Knitting Pattern, Plus Knitting with Stripes

There’s nothing better than a roomy, boxy sweater on a cold day. It’s just so cozy and easy to wear over leggings (or, let’s be real, pajama pants) and they’re pretty quick and easy to knit as well.

Perfectly Knotted’s Professor Pullover is a great example of a cozy, boxy, oversized sweater (it’s meant to be worn with 15 to 25 percent positive ease) that also has great style because of the addition of simple stripes.

The sweater is a top-down raglan style and offers sizes from 30 to 70 inches in 4-inch increments. There’s also a modification for broad shoulders.

The Professor Pullover is available on Ravelry.

It got me thinking about how much I love a good stripe pattern. While this pattern has the stripes planned for you, did you know there’s such a thing as a random stripe generator? This would be so fun to use if you’re planning a stash-busting project or just wanted to combine a few colors in the same project in an interesting way.

I’ve also used part of the Fibonacci sequence to make stripes. This is where the last two numbers are added together to make the next number (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…).

If you’re working stripes in a project and don’t want to cut the yarn every time your color changes, here are some ways to carry yarn up the side of the project while knitting stripes.

Also, do you know the history of stripes? I shared this post back in 2013 and had since forgotten what I’d learned, so you should check it out, too!

And speaking of raglans, have you ever wanted to design your own? This post shares designer Kristen Ten Dyke’s process for designing a raglan. It is, of course, math heavy, but she uses spreadsheets to make it easier.

Looking for more great top down sweater patterns? I shared 15 fantastic top-down sweater knitting patterns here.

[Photo: Perfectly Knotted.]

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Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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