Tayler Harris For Purl Soho: Sundance Pullover
With the gray and white of a snow-topped mountain in the distance and the vibrant shades of the sun rising over its peak, Tayler Harris’s Sundance Pullover combines the feeling of a vintage ski sweater with a more modern approach to color and shape.
For this simple knit you work the front and back separately, each with its own stripe pattern (to keep ‘em guessing!), then after seaming the pieces together, you pick up and knit the sleeves and stand-up collar.
Half fisherman’s rib is quicker and easier than brioche stitch but has all the same warmth and squishiness, a fantastic fit for this super cozy sweater!
Tayler chose Linen Quill for her design because of its vibrant color palette and rustic quality. A blend of fine highland wool, alpaca, and linen, this yarn takes the best of each of these fibers: springiness and durability, warmth and softness, mountains of beauty!
We’ve added five new colors to this gorgeous (and ridiculously large) palette, so you now have over fifty shades to choose from. Tayler was inspired by the mountains and the charm of an old ski town, but we have the colors for whatever inspires you!
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!
Designed for Purl Soho by Tayler Harris. Based in Utah, Tayler finds inspiration for her designs from the unique landscapes of her home state. From the beautiful mountains and canyons to the national parks and natural landscapes, she loves to incorporate the colors, textures, and shapes of her favorite places.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoSundancePullover, and #PurlSohoLinenQuill. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- Purl Soho’s Linen Quill, 50% fine highland wool, 35% alpaca and 15% linen. Each skein of this fingering weight yarn is approximately 439 yards/ 100 grams.
- Color A: 3 (4, 4, 5) (5, 6, 6, 7) skeins; approximately 1275 (1460, 1690, 1910) (2135, 2350, 2630, 2855) total yards required
- Color B: 1 (1, 2, 2) (2, 2, 2, 2) skein(s); approximately 370 (425, 495, 550) (620, 685, 770, 835) total yards required
- Color C: 1 (1, 2, 2) (2, 2, 2, 2) skein(s); approximately 375 (430, 500, 560) (630, 695, 780, 845) total yards required
- Color D: 1 (1, 1, 1) (1, 1, 2, 2) skein(s); approximately 235 (270, 315, 350) (395, 435, 490, 530) total yards required
- US 1 (2.25 mm), 32-inch circular needles
- US 2 (2.75 mm), 16- and 32-inch circular needles
- US 3 (3.25 mm), 16- and 32-inch circular needles
- A set of US 1 double pointed needles
- A set of US 2 double pointed needles
- A set of US 3 double pointed needles
- 4 locking stitch markers or scrap yarn
- Stitch holders or scrap yarn
- Optional: Blocking wires and T-pins, for blocking
- A Sundance Pullover Pattern
For our samples we used…
Color A: Wheat Flour; Color B: Buttercup Yellow
Color C: Peachy Pink; Color D: Super Orange
Color A: Stonewall Gray; Color B: Pale Oats
Color C: Bird’s Egg Blue; Color D: Reed Gray
GAUGE
25 stitches and 54 rows = 4 inches in Flat Half-Fisherman’s Rib (see Special Instructions) on largest needles
SIZES
47 (52¼, 57¼, 62½) (67½, 72¾, 78½, 83½)
To fit actual chest circumference of approximately 30–35 (35–40, 40–45, 45–50) (50–55, 55–60, 60–66, 66–71) inches, with 12–18 inches of ease
- Finished Chest Circumference: 47 (52¼, 57¼, 62½) (67½, 72¾, 78½, 83½) inches
- Finished Length from Shoulder to Bottom Edge: 23½ (24½, 25¾, 26½) (27½, 28¼, 29¼, 29¾) inches
- Finished Sleeve Length from Underarm: 16½ (16½, 16½, 16½) (15½, 15½, 15, 15) inches
Sample: The sweaters shown here are size 47, worn with 13 inches of ease.
PATTERN
The Sundance Pullover Pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download only.
Learn About Linen Quill + All Our Beautiful Yarns
We designed this project to highlight the uniquely beautiful qualities of our Linen Quill, a wonderful fingering-weight yarn that is a blend of 50% wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. It feels amazing in your hands, and in 70 jaw-droppingly gorgeous colors, Linen Quill is the candy store of yarn! Want to play with lots of those amazing colors? Check out our Linen Quill Minis, available in 40- and 20- color bundles!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our vast collection of (mostly free!) Linen Quill knitting patterns and cast on!
More Fingering-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of fingering-weight yarns
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fibers
- Shop wool yarn
- Shop alpaca yarn
- Shop linen yarn
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!
Any ideas on how to buy this pattern and convert it to fit a 7 year old?
Thanks!
Lynn
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for reaching out. This pattern has a pretty simple construction, so you could absolutely convert it to fit a 7-year-old! You will work Back and Front pieces separately, flat and from bottom-up. You’ll then seam Shoulders and sides and, lastly, pick up and knit Sleeves and Collar in the round. To make the garment smaller, just cast on fewer stitches for the front and back, and knit for fewer rows. The only tricky part might be adjusting the neck hole to be smaller as well.
I hope this helps get you started, and please let us know how it goes!
All the best,
Lili
Hello ! I would like to know if I really need a 16 inches US2 and US3 or would I be able to magic loop with the 32 inches ones ?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Kim!
Thank you for your question. The 16-inch circular needles in this pattern are used to pick up and knit the first rows of the collar and sleeves, however if you would prefer to use a long circular needle for the Magic Loop method for these steps, that would certainly work, too! I would suggest using at least a 40″ circular needle for the Magic Loop method in these sections initially, since there are so many stitches at play, however a 32″ circular needle might work for knitting the rest of the sleeves via Magic Loop!
All the best,
Margaret
I have a request rather than comment. I love this pattern and your color combinations are fantastic. However, I already have 3 skeins of Linen Quill in cobalt blue and would like to use it as the main color (A) for this pullover. Would you be able to make suggestions on what three other colors to choose to match it? I find it really difficult to do so myself because the color matching is challenging given the differences in color display in digital media. Many thanks for your consideration and help. Monika
Hi Monika,
Thanks for reaching out! I’d be happy to give you some color suggestions for your Sundance Pullover! With Cobalt Blue as the main color, I’d recommend these two palettes:
Option #1:
Color A: Cobalt Blue
Color B: Eggshell Blue
Color C: Pale Oats
Color D: Turmeric Yellow
Option #2:
Color A: Cobalt Blue
Color B: Green Turquoise
Color C: Pale Oats
Color D: Eggshell Blue
Let me know what you think of these combinations!
All the best,
Lili
These sound wonderful! Thank you very much, Kim! It will be a tough choice, so I might have to make two sweaters.
re sizing for this sweater, are sizes listed for adults or children and adult?
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for reaching out. All the sizes in this pattern are adult sizes!
All the best,
Lili
Are measurements for sleeve color changes and length in reverse order
Hi Eileen,
I’m afraid that I’m not quite sure what measurements you’re referring to? Are you looking at the schematic diagram on the last page of the pattern? Or are you seeing these measurements elsewhere? Let me know, and then I can look into your question further!
All the best,
Lili
This would be in written directions for sleeves
Re measurements on schematic I’m not sure what numbers on sleeve I should be following. I am making smallest size
Thanks for your help
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for clarifying! Since you’re knitting the sleeves from the top, near the shoulders, down to the wrists, you will work the colors in the opposite order than you did for the body panels. You will first add in Color D, then Color C, and then B before going back to Color A. As for the numbers, you should always follow the very first number you see (before the parentheses), since that’s for the smallest size!
All the best,
Lili
I just finished making this for my daughter-in-law and it came out beautifully. Any flaws are entirely my own. I have to admit though, it took me over a year to finish it. I hadn’t registered that it was fingering weight yarn and that the largest needle size was 3 when I showed her, but I sure did when it arrived! Once I got the hang of it, it was a fun, albeit long, project! Thanks for sharing it — I know my DIL (a skier) will love it!
Hi Deb,
We’re so excited that you’ve finished your sweater! It is such a special gift and we know it will be treasured for years to come. Congrats again on completing it!!
All the best,
Cat
I have a question about seaming the shoulders. The instructions linked are for stockinette stitch. How do you adapt it for ribbing? (How do you do a horizontal seam with a ribbed fabric?)
Hi Nicole,
Thank you for writing in! For the shoulders, you will want to follow the tutorial as is for the knit stitches, and for the purl stitches, sew under adjacent purl bumps. So you will alternate each stitch as you come to them switching between knit and purl stitches. I hope this helps!
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
I have a question about the gauge for this pattern. I’ve knitted a test swatch that is 26-28 stitches in 4 inches but only 30 rows in 4 inches. Is 54 really right? The swatch looks like the photos and seems quite dense, so I can’t help but feel like there is a typo in the gauge. If it’s me and not a typo, I’d like to know so I can adjust the pattern for when to do decreases, etc. based on my actual gauge. Thanks!
Hi Amy,
Thanks for writing in! I can confirm that the gauge of this pattern is correct as written. In half fisherman’s rib, you’ll need to count each knit V on the right side as two rows when taking your gauge measurement. If you’re counting each knit V as one row, then your row gauge is actually 60 rows which is way closer (though I’d still recommend going up a needle size to get that to 54 and also get the stitch gauge to 25)!
All the best,
Lili
I’m confused on how to move on from the long tubular cast on. With the cast on, you have the initial cast on, then two foundation rows. Am I now on the right side or the wrong side? When swatching, do those count as rows?
Hi Shannon,
Thanks for writing in! Foundation Row 1 is a right side row, and Foundation Row 2 is a wrong side row, so when you’re ready for the next row, then you’ll be on the right side. In answer to your other question, these rows won’t actually matter that much when swatching! When you make a gauge swatch, in any stitch pattern, we recommend always making at least a 5 x 5-inch swatch. That way, you can measure the number of stitches and rows within the central 4 inches. This allows you to get the most accurate gauge measurement, since the tension can fluctuate near the edges of your knitting. Hope this helps you move forward in this pattern!
All the best,
Lili
Hi, Purl Soho! Love this pattern and looking forward to using up some of my Kettle Black stash. If I used Kettle Black as the main (A) color, what other colors of Linen Quill would you recommend? I’d prefer to stay away from blues, browns, or oranges but am open to trying anything else. Thanks in advance!
Hi Jess,
I’d love to recommend some color options for your project! Here are a few of my ideas:
Neons
Kettle Black, Lemon Lime, Peachy Pink, Pink Pop
Greens
Kettle Black, Pale Celery, Juniper Green, Grasshopper Green
Purples
Kettle Black, Lavender Opal, Deep Petunia, Purple Smoke
Let me know what you think!
All the best,
Lili
Hi, Lili! Thank you so much for these recommendations. Now on to the hardest part: picking from your amazing suggestions! 🙂
Hello! I am about to start this sweater, but I am confused about how to pick the size. I can see where I stand in terms of “actual chest circumference”, but I’m not sure if I am supposed to upsize from that to create the amount of “ease”. For “actual chest circumference” I know I am in the second size (35-40), but does that not account for any easy? For some reason I’m not understanding- thank you for your help!!
Hi Natalie,
I’m happy to help clarify what size would be best for you! There’s no need to upsize if you’re going by the “actual chest size” range. The last sentence of this section lists the recommend ease for the pattern, in this case, “12–18 inches of ease”.
The “12–18 inches of ease” are factored into the “Finished Chest Circumference” section right below. So if you’re selecting the second size, with an actual bust circumference of 35-40, that’s equates to the second finished chest circumference of 52¼. If you add 12 to 18 inches to the base 35 or 40 range, 52¼ inches total will comfortably fit you!
For reference, 12 to 18 inches is a very generous amount of ease. If 52¼ sounds like too much, I recommend finding one of your favorite fitting sweaters and checking the total circumference around the bust for that. You can then select a finished chest circumference (that first bullet point) that’s more to your liking!
I hope that helps, but please don’t hesitate to let us know if you still have any questions!
All the best,
Zha Zha