Totally engaging, uniquely beautiful, and easier than it looks… Cast on for our Dappled Light Pullover in gorgeous Linen Quill yarn and make something amazing!

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

If you’ve never knit stranded colorwork before, now might be a great time to start! All you do is switch colors every few stitches, bringing the yarn loosely across the wrong side of your work as you go.

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Old pros may hold one color in each hand and knit English style with their right hand and Continental with their left, but newer knitters can simplify matters by just dropping the yarn you’re not using and picking up the one you are. And when you’re done, you’ll feel an immense sense of pride and accomplishment. You really did knit that!

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

First step? Dive into Linen Quill’s spectacular palette and choose your colors! Our version highlights the depth and dimension you can create with a gradient. From Sweet Potato to Super Orange to Peachy Pink, the subtle shift in colors is absolutely luminous against warm Reed Gray. 

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

There are lots of ways to make your colorwork really sing. For example, the two middle swatches in the photo above use the complementary colors red and green to generate a little buzz. Because these colors’ relationships are so intense, the lighter colors here, which are greens, almost read as neutrals. The magic of color is at work, making a little mischief and creating complexity! 

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

These swatches also illustrate the role value (the lightness or darkness of your colors) plays in your yarn choice. You can see that the Chestnut Red and Stillwater Blue swatches, above, use very dark and very light colors together and that this creates dimension, as well as contrast. Another aspect of color to consider!

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Whether you choose one of our color combinations, or dive into Linen Quill’s gorgeous palette to make your own, the depth of this yarn will add its own earthy character to your Dappled Light Pullover. Fifty percent fine highland wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen, each of these fibers takes dye a little differently, so each color of Linen Quill is rich in variation and natural beauty.

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Make your Dappled Light Pullover as scintillating as a woods walk in May or as mysterious as moonlight on a dark pond. Make it holding the yarn in both hands or just one. Make it fast; make it slow; make it loud; make it hushed. And once you’ve made it, know that you are truly capable of making beautiful things!

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!

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Whitney Van Nes.

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

Materials

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Purl Soho’s Linen Quill, 50% fine highland wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. Each skein of this fingering weight yarn is 439 yards/ 100 grams.

  • Main Color: 4 (4, 4, 5, 5) (5, 6, 6, 7) skeins; approximately 1355 (1500, 1700, 1880, 2050) (2195, 2370, 2560, 2705) total yards required. We used the color Reed Gray.
  • Contrast Color 1: 1 skein; approximately 50 (55, 60, 70, 75) (80, 85, 90, 100) yards required. We used the color Sweet Potato.
  • Contrast Color 2: 1 skein; approximately 40 (45, 50, 55, 60) (65, 70, 75, 80) yards required. We used the color Super Orange.
  • Contrast Color 3: 1 skein; approximately 35 (40, 45, 50, 55) (60, 65, 70, 70) yards required. We used the color Peachy Pink.

If you prefer to use one Contrast Color, you will need just 1 skein of Linen Quill; approximately 125 (140, 155, 170, 185) (200, 215, 230, 245) yards required.

You will also need…

GAUGE

30 stitches and 38 rounds = 4 inches in stockinette stitch, using larger needles

SIZES

35¾ (39¾, 43¾, 47¾, 51¾) (55¾, 59¾, 63¾, 67¾) 

To fit actual chest circumference of approximately 30-32 (34-36, 38-40, 42-44, 46-48) (50-52, 54-56, 58-60, 62-64) inches with 4–6 inches of ease

  • Finished Chest Circumference: 35¾ (39¾, 43¾, 47¾, 51¾) (55¾, 59¾, 63¾, 67¾) inches
  • Finished Body Length from Bottom Edge to Underarm: 15 (15, 14¾, 14½, 14½) (14¾, 14¾, 15, 15¼) inches
  • Finished Body Length from Bottom Edge to Top of Shoulder: 23 (23½, 23¾, 24, 24¼) (24½, 25, 25½, 26) inches
  • Finished Sleeve Length: 15¾ (16, 17, 17¾, 17¾) (18, 18, 18¼, 18½) inches

Sample: The sweater shown here is size 39¾, worn with 5¾ inches of ease.

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

PATTERN

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

Our Dappled Light Pullover Pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download only.

Dappled Light Pullover | Purl Soho

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!

More Free Knitting Patterns

More Fingering-Weight Yarns

More Yarns With Similar Fibers

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!