Valley Yarns Sienna Pullover Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Sienna Pullover

What is Being Made

The Sienna Pullover is a knitted sweater designed by Elisabeth Parker, available in five finished sizes ranging from 34" to 50" in circumference. This garment is a classic pullover style constructed using a bottom-up, seamless construction method, making it an efficient and elegant choice for intermediate knitters seeking a polished, professional finish.

Construction Techniques

This pullover employs several key knitting techniques that define its construction approach:

• Worked in the Round: The sweater is primarily constructed in the round using circular needles, which eliminates the need for seaming and creates a continuous fabric with minimal interruption.
• Bottom-Up Construction: The garment is built from the hem upward, allowing knitters to try on the piece as it progresses and easily adjust the finished length to personal preference.
• Seamless Raglan Shaping: The armholes are shaped using raglan decreases worked on both right-side and wrong-side rows, creating diagonal lines that extend from the underarm to the neckline. The pattern specifies working decreases two stitches before and after markers (k2tog before markers, ssk after markers on the right side) to maintain balanced shaping.
• Set-In Sleeves: Sleeves are provisionally cast on and later joined to the body, then shaped with raglan decreases that continue until the armhole reaches the specified depth (ranging from 6" to 8" depending on size).
• Integrated Neckline Shaping: Neck shaping occurs simultaneously with raglan shaping on the front, and stitches are picked up along the neck edges to complete the neckline.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The Sienna Pullover features a combination of fundamental and decorative stitches:

• Stockinette Stitch: The primary fabric throughout the sweater, worked as knit on right-side rows and purl on wrong-side rows, creating a smooth, classic appearance.
• Horseshoe Cable: A decorative cable pattern worked on the back of the garment, adding visual interest and texture. This pattern is maintained throughout the construction, even as raglan shaping decreases occur.
• Cable Stitches: The pattern includes specific cable techniques:
  • FC (Front Cross): Slip 3 stitches to a cable needle and hold to the front, knit 3 stitches from the left needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle.
  • BC (Back Cross): Slip 3 stitches to a cable needle and hold to the back, knit 3 stitches from the left needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle.
  • FCdec (Front Cross Decreasing): A cable cross combined with a decrease, binding off stitches while crossing.
  • BCdec (Back Cross Decreasing): Slip 3 stitches to a cable needle and hold to the back, knit 2 together, then knit each stitch on the left needle together with 1 stitch from the cable needle.
• Decreases: The pattern uses k2tog (knit 2 together), ssk (slip, slip, knit), and k2togtbl (knit 2 together through the back loop) for shaping.

Materials and Tools

The Sienna Pullover is designed to be worked in Valley Yarns Southwick, a blend of 52% pima cotton and 48% bamboo, which creates a breathable, drape-friendly fabric ideal for a pullover sweater. The yardage requirement varies by size: 7 skeins for the smallest size (34"), increasing to 14 skeins for the largest size (50"), with each skein containing 105 yards at a 50-gram weight.

The recommended needle size is US 5 (3.75mm), specified as a 32" circular needle for the body and double-pointed needles for the sleeves. A cable needle is required for working the horseshoe cable pattern on the back, and stitch holders are needed to hold stitches during construction. The pattern calls for a gauge of 5 stitches and 7 rows per