Valley Yarns Banded Yoke Pullover Crochet Pattern

Valley Yarns Banded Yoke Pullover

What is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Banded Yoke Pullover is a crocheted pullover sweater designed by Sara Delaney. This garment features a classic set-in sleeve construction with a distinctive colorwork design that creates banded stripes across the front yoke and at the sleeve cuffs. The pullover is available in six finished sizes ranging from 32 inches to 52 inches, making it suitable for a variety of body measurements. The design combines simplicity in construction with visual interest through its easy colorwork technique.

Techniques Used

This pullover is constructed using several key crochet techniques that make it an intermediate-level project:

• Bottom-up construction: The sweater is worked from the bottom edge upward, beginning with the back and front pieces before adding sleeves
• Worked flat: All pieces are crocheted in flat rows rather than in the round, allowing for easier stitch counting and shaping
• Seamed assembly: The individual pieces are sewn together after completion, creating clean seams and a professional finish
• Colorwork stripes: Easy colorwork is incorporated across the front yoke and sleeve cuffs using a simple technique where colors are changed by joining new yarn and working through skipped stitches from previous rows, creating an interlocking striped pattern without the complexity of traditional stranded colorwork
• Set-in sleeves: The sleeves are shaped with armhole shaping on both the body and sleeve cap, allowing for a fitted sleeve that sits properly at the shoulder

Stitches Used

The Valley Yarns Banded Yoke Pullover employs a limited palette of fundamental crochet stitches, keeping the project accessible for intermediate crocheters:

• Single crochet (sc): Used for the foundation chain and in specific rows, particularly in the colorwork sections and armhole shaping
• Half double crochet (hdc): The primary stitch throughout most of the garment, creating a fabric with good drape and structure suitable for a pullover sweater
• Slip stitch (sl st): Used for joining new colors and for decreasing stitches during armhole shaping
• Chain stitch (ch): Used for turning chains and for creating the openwork effect in the colorwork pattern where stitches are skipped and filled in by subsequent rows

Materials

The pullover is designed to be worked with Valley Yarns Northampton, a 100% wool yarn with yardage of 247 yards per 100-gram skein. The yarn quantities vary by size, requiring 4 to 7 skeins of the main color Natural, depending on the finished size chosen. The colorwork design calls for one skein each of six contrast colors: Light Green Heather, Fawn, Raspberry Heather, Lake Heather, Chestnut Heather, and Bright Blue. The project is worked with a US size H (5.00mm) crochet hook, or whatever hook size is necessary to achieve the specified gauge of 14 stitches and 12 rows equaling 4 inches in half double crochet stitch.