Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Petunia Pullover
Stripes radiate out from the circular yoke of this riveting sweater pattern like the petals of a blossoming petunia. Designed with Ainur Berkimbayeva’s signature creative spirit, her Petunia Pullover in our wildly popular Linen Quill yarn is a super fun knit!
Ainur’s love of geometry and math always complements her whimsical sense of color and form… And the Petunia Pullover is no exception! You’ll knit this garter-stitch sweater sideways, stripe by stripe and all in one piece, starting from the center back with a provisional cast-on (we have a great tutorial!). One end of each stripe has short-row shaping (yep, we have a tutorial for that, too!) to form the yoke.
It’s easier knitting than you may think and full of satisfying surprises! With sizes for toddlers, kids, pre-teens, and adults, little ones can grow into new sizes and everyone can get in on the action.
Ainur chose Linen Quill for this sweater because of its amazing petal-like drape and airy lightness. A mix of highland wool and alpaca, with just a bit of rustic linen, this fingering-weight yarn’s complexity and beauty make for a singularly appealing knit.
There are 60+ shades of Linen Quill to choose from, so you can really play. Pick two that sing, like we did for our samples, or go wild and make every stripe a different color!
If you love the spoke-like stripes and clever shaping and want to try them out in a smaller accessory, check out Ainur’s beloved Carousel Collection, where she used the same German short rows and joyful spirit to make striped hats, mittens, slippers, wraps, and scarves.
Cute, clever, creative, and colorful… Petunia Pullovers for everyone, please!
If you love the yarn used in this project, you’ll love all of our other yarn, too! Explore our 35+ lovingly created yarn collections, in nearly every natural fiber and spectacular color you can imagine… Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn shop!
Designed for Purl Soho by Ainur Berkimbayeva. Ainur sees the unique constraints of knitting as opportunities rather than limitations. Using her remarkable ingenuity and love of geometry, she designs beautiful and adventurous pieces for knitters who share her enthusiasm for shape, texture, and adventure!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoPetuniaPullover, 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 439 yards/ 100 grams.
- ADULT
- Color A: 2 (2, 2, 2, 3) (3, 3, 3, 4) skeins; approximately 625 (690, 810, 878, 1010) (1100, 1205, 1300, 1490) total yards required
- Color B: 2 (2, 2, 2, 3) (3, 3, 3, 4) skeins; approximately 584 (623, 738, 780, 907) (982, 1120, 1192, 1321) total yards required
- CHILD
- Color A: 1 (1, 1, 1) (2, 2, 2) skein(s); approximately 280 (335, 385, 439) (495, 545, 610) total yards required
- Color B: 1 (1, 1, 1) (1, 2, 2) skein(s); approximately 237 (283, 330, 385) (435, 481, 542) total yards required
For our samples we used . . .
- Child, 2 Years: Color A, Fresh Nutmeg + Color B, Peachy Pink
- Child, 4 Years: Color A, Bright Flamingo + Color B, Peony Pink
- Adult, 41¾: Color A, Bird’s Egg Blue + Color B, Kiln Red
You’ll also need . . .
- US 5 (3.75 mm), 32-inch circular knitting needles
- Spare US 5, 32-inch circular knitting needles
- US 5, 16-inch circular knitting needles
- A set of US 5 double pointed needles, or long circulars for magic loop
- A stitch marker
- Stitch holders or scrap yarn
- Scrap yarn and crochet hook for Provisional Cast On
- A Petunia Pullover Pattern
GAUGE
22 stitches and 46 rows (23 ridges) = 4 inches in garter stitch
NOTE: Because this garment is worked sideways, you must match row gauge as well as stitch gauge in order to achieve the intended measurements. For best results, dry your swatch hanging along a selvage (rather than flat). This recreates how you will wear the sweater and will give you a more accurate gauge.
SIZES
ADULT
37½ (41¾, 43¾, 49, 54¼) (57½, 60½, 64¾, 68¾)
To fit actual chest circumference of approximately: 30–32 (33–35, 36–39, 40–43, 44–47) (48–51, 52 55, 56–59, 60–62) inches, with approximately 5–8 inches of ease
- Finished Chest Circumference: 37½ (41¾, 44¾, 49, 54¼) (57½, 60½, 64¾, 68¾) inches
- Finished Length from Neck to Bottom Edge: 18½ (18½, 20½, 20½, 22½) (22½, 24½, 24½, 26½) inches
- Finished Sleeve Length from Underarm: 11 inches
Sample: The sweater shown here is size 41¾, worn with 8¾ inches of ease.
CHILD
2 (4, 6, 8) (10, 12, 14) Years
To fit actual chest circumference of approximately: 21 (23, 25, 26½) (28, 30, 31) inches, with approximately 3–5 inches of ease
- Finished Chest Circumference: 25 (26, 29¼, 31¼) (32¼, 33½, 35½) inches
- Finished Length from Neck to Bottom Edge: 11¾ (13, 14, 15¼) (16¼, 17½, 18¼) inches
- Finished Sleeve Length from Underarm: 6¾ (7½, 8¼, 9) (9½, 10¼, 11) inches
Samples: The sweaters shown here are sizes 2 Years and 4 Years, both worn with 3 inches of ease.
PATTERN
The Petunia Pullover Pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download.
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 35% alpaca, 50% wool, and 15% linen. It feels amazing in your hands, and in over 60 jaw-droppingly gorgeous colors, Linen Quill is the candy store of yarn!
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 alpaca yarn
- Shop wool 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!
Hello! Any guidelines for making the sleeves full length instead of 3/4?
Hi Margot,
To add length to the sleeves, you can cast on more stitches in the sleeve sections. With the gauge of the pattern, you will add 5.5 stitches for every inch you’d like to add.
Happy making,
Gavriella
This looks gorgeous! Would this work with Line Weight?
And in general, would Line Weight make a good replacement for any of the patterns calling for Linen Quill? (specifically, I have the Daily Pullover by Paula Pereira)
Thank you!
Hi SJ,
We’re so happy you’re a fan of this pattern! Line Weight would be wonderful for the Petunia Pullover and the Daily Pullover as well! Both Line Weight and Linen Quill are fingering weight yarns so they’re a good match in terms of gauge, but I highly recommend knitting a gauge swatch if substituting for Line Weight just to be safe and to double check the needle size you need to get gauge. We have a guide on gauge called All About Gauge in case you’d like more information. I hope this helps!
All the best,
Cat
Hi, I’d love to make this sweater for my two little nieces, aged 3 and 4. Can you suggest some other fun color combinations that little blonde girls would look good in? I have a hard time deciding online what colors would go well together.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Gretchen,
Thanks for writing in! I think Lychee Pink and Butterscotch yellow would be wonderful together! Another option would be to choose two of their favorite colors.
Happy making,
Gavriella
What colors go with mountain bluebird for a girl? Would peony pink work?
Hi Nancy,
Peony Pink would be perfect with Mountain Bluebird! I think they will pair wonderfully!
All the best,
Gavriella
Just started this pattern and have a question… in “Set Up” Short Row 3, after you make the double stitch, do you purl across the rest of the row as shown in the online tutorial, or do you turn the work back around and knit to the end of the row? And if so, would that count as Short Row 4?
Hi Frances,
Each time you make the double stitch, you will need to turn your work in order to do so. From there you can continue working in the same direction of your work meaning your work is already turned at that point. Since this pattern consists of all knit stitches, you will knit the rest of the row.
All the best,
Gavriella
Any chance you will be expanding the sizes? I think this would be an adorable baby sweater! I’d love to make a 6-9 month size!
Hi Shari,
That’s a great idea! I’ll pass along your interest in baby sizes to our design team for future consideration.
All the best,
Lili
Hi
Do you think high tide and birds eye blue compliment in the petunia sweater? Its so hard to tell without touching and feeling them together.
Appreciate your help
Hi Dale,
I love the look of High Tide and Birds Egg Blue together! I think they’d be a wonderful choice for this pattern!
All the best,
Lili
This looks like a really fun project to do but I really don’t like weaving in ends at the end of projects. Will I have to weave in the ends at each row that has a change of color? I’m hopeful the change of color is done at the neck edge and I can just carry the contrasting color across a row or two. If I have to weave in all the ends it would be a no-go for me.
Hi Mary,
Never fear, there are very few ends to weave in for this pattern! You’ll be carrying the colors up the selvedge as you knit, so you don’t have to cut and reattach them.
All the best,
Lili