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.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve been toying with the idea of making a yarn cozy or yarn ball holder on the circular knitting machine, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In the meantime, here are some yarn cozy knitting patterns you can make with knitting needles. Use yarn to hold you yarn!

In its simplest form, a yarn cozy is just a sleeve or a little basket that holds your yarn when you’re working with a center-pull ball so it doesn’t fall apart when you knit. The easiest ones I could find are from Love in Stitches KN, which has a regular size and a mini size. They’re worked with sock yarn and there are options for making them with ribbing, faux cables and with self-striping yarn.

For bigger cakes there’s a project called We call it the “bail holder” from Nicole LeBlanc. This pattern is available on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and make it any size you like. It features an I-cord edging that has a loop in it so you can thread they yarn through the loop to keep it extra contained as you knit.

Another large one that has a slightly fancier pattern is this one by Mareike Meye. You can use any yarn and any gauge, and slip stitch pattern worked in different colors on the sides makes it a little more fun and uses a bit more stash. A strap buttons across the top to hold the ball in place and you can add a buttonhole to the middle of the strap to thread the yarn through. Check this one out on Ravelry.

Adding lace to a yarn cozy makes it fit a wider variety of balls and expand or shrink a bit as needed. Jennifer Sugarman’s Ball Sack uses sock yarn and is made to hold sock yarn. It has the option of making I-cord or using ribbon or cord you already have to make a drawstring at the top. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Another lacy option is the yarn ball holder from Frugal Knitting Haus. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has an easy mesh lace pattern and an I-cord drawstring that’s sewn together at the ends so you could loop it over your wrist while you knit if you like. This pattern is also on Ravelry.

Speaking of wrist yarn holders, I also found this one form Knituition. This one uses sport weight yarn and has a spiral rib pattern on the body. The strap is attached to the bag with D-rings, or you could make it a little longer and just sew it into the bag.

Next Pattern:

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