Ainur Berkimbayeva is a form-follows-function kind of designer, a person who sees opportunity in knitting’s constraints, who tackles geometry with confidence and ingenuity, and who ekes beauty out of every stitch. These talents and more materialize in Ainur’s Thistle Yoke Pullover, designed especially for Purl Soho!

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

A stunning ring of thistle-y petals backdropped by garter-ridge stripes, this yoke is a short-row tour-de-force. Knit sideways and flat, this part may look a bit intimidating, but super-easy German Short Rows simplify the knitting gymnastics.

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

Graft the yoke together at center back, then pick up along its bottom edge to continue à la your usual top-down sweater… But in the end, so not usual!

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

Besides the striking yoke, this sweater steals the show with its soft and squishy garter stitch texture, which makes a full 90-degree turn at the moment short-row colorwork cedes to one-color garter stitch. Talk about form following function!

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

With all this action, we love Ainur’s decision to keep the yarn naturally understated. One hundred percent undyed Andean highland wool, our Good Wool fits the bill, settling the design into a cozy world of wood grain, pine cones, rays of sunshine, and yes, the beautiful blossom of a thistle!

Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

UPDATE: NEW COLORS

FEBRUARY 2022

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

Now you can make your Thistle Yoke Pullover in a meadow of beautiful tones! We’ve added gorgeous dyed colors to the Good Wool collection, hues as vibrant as fresh Fern Green or as soft and gentle as Periwinkle Gray… We hope you have a field day choosing!

Designed for Purl Soho by Ainur Berkimbayeva.

Share your progress + connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoThistleYokePullover, and #PurlSohoGoodWool. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Materials

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

Purl Soho’s Good Wool, 100% Andean highland wool yarn. Each skein of this sport weight yarn is approximately 383 yards/ 100 grams.

  • Main Color (MC): 3 (4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6) skeins; approximately 1080 (1210, 1375, 1545, 1705, 1870, 2045, 2170) yards required. We used Heirloom White for one version and Walking Stick for the other.
  • Contrast Color (CC): 1 skein; approximately 190 (200, 215, 215, 230, 230, 245, 255) yards required. We used Hickory Nut for the Heirloom White version and Winter Grass for the Walking Stick version.

Gauge

22 stitches and 44 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch

Sizes

NOTE For help picking a size, please check out our Understanding Ease + Selecting Size Tutorial!

34½ (38¼, 42½, 47, 51¼, 55¾, 60, 64¼)

To fit actual chest circumference of approximately 30–33 (34–37, 38–41, 42–46, 47–50, 51–54, 55–59, 60–63) inches, with 1–4 inch(es) of ease

  • Finished Chest Circumference: 34½ (38¼, 42½, 47, 51¼, 55¾, 60, 64¼) inches
  • Finished Length From Neck To Bottom Edge: 21¾ (22½, 23½, 24½, 25¼, 25¾, 26¾, 27) inches
  • Finished Sleeve Length From Underarm: 18 (18, 17½, 17½, 17, 17, 16½, 16) inches

Sample: The sweaters shown here are size 38¼, modeled with 4 inches of ease.

Pattern

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

The Thistle Yoke Pullover Pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download only.

Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho
Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho
Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Thistle Yoke Pullover | Purl Soho

LEARN ABOUT GOOD WOOL + ALL OUR BEAUTIFUL YARNS

Good Wool adds loads of character, beauty, and integrity to this knit! A sport-weight yarn whose lofty 2-ply spin can also bloom into a light worsted/DK-weight yarn, Good Wool is made from 100% Andean highland wool, a toothy fiber with a deeply natural appeal. This yarn has a spectacular palette of complex and subtly varied colors, including 5 undyed shades. Very close to the hearts of our customers, Good Wool is a true knitter’s yarn!

More Free Knitting Patterns

More Sport-Weight Yarns + Light Worsted/DK-Weight Yarns

More Yarns With Similar Fiber

Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!