Valley Yarns Helenium Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Helenium Stranded Colorwork Pullover

What Is Being Made

The Helenium is a modern scoop neck pullover sweater designed by Julie Turjoman. This intermediate-level knitting project features a rustic tweed aesthetic with muted color tones and subtle stranded colorwork borders. The sweater is available in sizes ranging from XS to 5XL, with finished bust measurements from 32¾" to 64¼". The design incorporates waist shaping for a contemporary silhouette and is worked primarily in the round for a seamless construction.

Techniques Used

The Helenium employs several advanced knitting techniques suitable for intermediate crafters:

• Bottom-up construction: The body and sleeves are knitted from the lower edge upward, allowing for easy length adjustments and intuitive shaping.
• Worked in the round: The body and sleeves are primarily constructed using circular needles in the round, creating seamless pieces that require minimal finishing.
• Stranded colorwork: Two-color stranded knitting (also called Fair Isle) is used for decorative borders on the lower body and sleeves, using just one contrast color for visual simplicity.
• Seamless construction with grafting: Sleeves are joined to the body at the underarm using the grafting technique, creating invisible seams for a polished finish.
• Short-row shaping: The back yoke incorporates short-row shaping to create a higher back and lower front scoop neckline, improving overall fit and comfort.
• Waist shaping: Strategic increases and decreases add definition at the waist for a modern, tailored appearance.

Stitches Used

Stockinette stitch forms the foundation of this sweater, creating a smooth, classic fabric throughout the main body and sleeves. The stranded colorwork sections employ stockinette stitch as well, with the two-color pattern worked across the rows. The pattern uses standard knitting abbreviations and techniques appropriate for intermediate-level crafters, including increases, decreases, and stitch marker placement for shaping and pattern alignment.

Materials and Yarn

The Helenium is designed to be knitted with Valley Yarns Worthington, a premium blend yarn composed of 50% wool, 25% alpaca, and 25% viscose. This fiber combination creates a rustic tweed hand with excellent drape and warmth. The main color is Black (color 07), with Moss (color 11) used as the contrast color for the stranded colorwork borders.

Yarn requirements vary by size: The main color requires 5 to 12 balls depending on size (XS through 5XL), while the contrast color requires 2 skeins for all sizes. Each ball of Worthington contains 50 grams and yields 174 yards, providing ample yardage for this substantial garment.

Needles and Notions

The pattern calls for three sizes of circular needles and double-pointed needles to manage gauge and fabric characteristics:

• US size 4 (3.50 mm): Used for ribbed edges and cuffs to create elastic, fitted edges.
• US size 5 (3.75 mm): The primary needle size for stockinette stitch body and sleeve sections, worked in the round with 16" and 32"–40" circular needles, plus a set of 4 or 5 double-pointed needles for smaller circumferences.
• US size 6 (4.00 mm): Optional larger needles used specifically during stranded colorwork sections to maintain consistent gauge, as two-color knitting can tighten fabric if not compensated.

Additional materials include stitch markers for tracking shaping and pattern repeats, stitch holders or waste yarn for holding stitches during construction, and a tapestry needle for grafting sleeves to the body and weaving in ends.

Gauge and Finished Measurements

Achieving proper gauge is essential for this sweater to fit correctly. The pattern specifies 24 stitches and 30 rows over 4 inches in stockinette stitch on the medium (US size 5) needles, blocked. For the stranded colorwork sections, the same stitch and row gauge is maintained using the larger US size 6 needles to prevent the fabric from becoming too dense. The sweater is designed to fit with 2 to 4 inches of positive ease