Noro Round Yoke Top Jumper Knitting Pattern

Noro Round Yoke Top

What Is Being Made

The Noro Round Yoke Top is an intermediate-level knitted sweater designed with a distinctive round yoke construction. This pullover garment is available in four sizes: Small (bust 35in/89cm), Medium (bust 39½in/100.5cm), Large (bust 44¼in/112.5cm), and X-Large (bust 49in/124.5cm). The finished length ranges from 16 to 18¾ inches depending on size, with upper arm circumferences between 11¼ and 14 inches. The round yoke design creates a seamless, contemporary silhouette that flows from the neckline down through the shoulders and body.

Techniques Used

This sweater employs several key knitting techniques that define its construction and wearability:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The garment is knitted from the hem upward, allowing for easy fitting adjustments and a traditional building approach.
• Seamless, Worked in the Round: The entire piece is created using circular needles without seaming, producing a smooth, professional finish with no side seams. Working in the round eliminates the need for finishing and creates a continuous fabric.
• Round Yoke Shaping: The yoke features strategic decreases that shape the neckline and shoulders, creating the characteristic round yoke silhouette that distributes fabric evenly across the upper body.

Stitches and Stitch Techniques

The pattern incorporates fundamental knitting stitches and techniques essential for creating the garment's structure and texture:

• Knit and Purl Stitches: The foundation of the fabric, used to create the base texture and ribbed sections.
• Ribbing: Used for finishing edges and creating elasticity, particularly in bind-off ribbing where the rib pattern is maintained as stitches are finished off.
• Increases: Multiple increase methods are employed, including knit in front and back of stitch and make one techniques (both knitwise and purlwise variations) to add stitches during yoke shaping.
• Decreases: Techniques such as knit 2 together and purl 2 together reduce stitch counts to shape the yoke and create the fitted upper body.
• Chart Reading: The pattern uses knitting charts with "no stitch" indicators where stitches have been decreased or not yet made, requiring knitters to skip shaded spaces and work only the active stitches.
• Pick Up and Knit/Purl: Used to add stitches along edges, particularly when transitioning between sections.

Materials and Tools

The Noro Round Yoke Top is designed to showcase the beautiful colorwork and texture of premium Noro yarns:

• Main Color (MC): 2 to 3 x 200g balls of Noro Akari in colorway #09, depending on size. Noro Akari is known for its luxurious blend and vibrant color variations.
• Contrast Color (CC): 2 to 3 x 100g skeins of Noro Silk Garden Sock Solo in colorway #10, providing a complementary accent throughout the design.
• Circular Needles: The pattern requires multiple circular needle sizes to accommodate different sections. A US 6/4mm circular needle in 16-inch length is used for smaller sections, while a US 6/4mm circular needle in 32-inch length accommodates the larger body circumference. A US 7/4.5mm circular needle in 16-inch length is used as an alternative or for specific sections. Needle size selection is critical to obtaining proper gauge.
• Stitch Markers: Essential tools for marking pattern repeats and construction points when working in the round.

The combination of Noro Akari and Noro Silk Garden Sock Solo creates a sophisticated colorwork piece that celebrates the hand-dyed characteristics of Noro yarns, with the sock-weight yarn adding textural interest and refined detail to the finished garment.