Valley Yarns French Vine Pullover Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns French Vine Pullover

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns French Vine Pullover is a classic bottom-up knit sweater designed by Kirsten Hipsky. This pullover features a simple, elegant silhouette that showcases an intricate lace pattern across the bodice. The garment is available in six finished sizes ranging from 30 inches to 55 inches, making it suitable for a wide range of body measurements. The design combines traditional lace work with practical construction, featuring ribbed sleeves and distinctive saddle shoulders that provide both comfort and visual interest.

Techniques Used

This sweater employs several key knitting techniques that make it an excellent project for advanced beginners:

• Bottom-up construction: The sweater is knit from the bottom edge upward, allowing you to try on the piece as you progress and adjust the length to your preference before binding off.
• Lace knitting: The French Vine pattern is the focal point of this design, requiring knowledge of yarn overs and decreases to create the characteristic openwork design.
• Seamed assembly: After completing all pieces, the front and back are sewn together at the sides, and sleeves are attached using traditional seaming methods.
• Worked flat: All pieces are knit flat on circular needles rather than in the round, making this an accessible approach for knitters who prefer flat construction.
• Saddle shoulder shaping: The sweater features a distinctive saddle shoulder strap technique, where a narrow rib-stitch band connects the sleeve cap to the shoulder, creating a charming vintage-inspired detail.

Stitches Used

The French Vine Pullover utilizes a focused selection of fundamental knitting stitches:

• Stockinette stitch (St st): Used for the shoulder bind-off sections and provides a smooth, classic fabric base.
• Ribbed stitch: A 1x1 rib (alternating knit and purl stitches) forms the cuffs at the bottom of the body and sleeves, creating elastic edges that hug the body comfortably.
• Garter stitch: The first and last stitches of certain rows are worked in garter stitch to create finished selvage edges, particularly visible in the saddle shoulder strap.
• French Vine lace pattern: This multi-stitch repeat pattern (a multiple of 12 stitches plus 3) is the signature element of the design. It combines yarn overs (yo), knit stitches (k), purl stitches (p), knit two together decreases (k2tog), and slip-slip-knit decreases (ssk) to create an elegant, flowing vine-like lace motif across the bodice.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

Yarn: The pattern calls for Valley Yarns Superwash, a 100% Extrafine Merino Superwash fiber. This yarn is dyed in color 571 Classic Navy and comes in 50-gram skeins with 97 yards per skein. Depending on your finished size, you will need between 9 skeins (for the smallest 30-inch size) and 18 skeins (for the largest 55-inch size). The superwash treatment makes this sweater easy to care for, as it can be machine washed, and the extrafine merino provides a soft, luxurious feel against the skin.

Needles: This project requires US size 7 (4.50mm) circular needles in two lengths: a 40-inch needle for working the body pieces and a 16-inch needle for the neckline. You will also need US size 7 (4.50mm) double-pointed needles or a circular needle in the appropriate size for working any small circumference sections if needed. The pattern specifies that you should use the needle size required to achieve the correct gauge.

Gauge and Sizing

The pattern is worked to a gauge of 20 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches when measured in the French Vine pattern stitch. Achieving the correct gauge is essential for this project, as it directly affects the finished dimensions and the proper drape of the lace pattern. The sweater is designed with a simple, straight silhouette that allows the lace pattern to be the focal point, with the back and front pieces worked identically until the shoulder shaping.