End To End Pullover in New Styles + Stripes
It’s not top-down and it’s not bottom-up… It’s our End To End Pullover in our customer favorite Linen Quill yarn! We’ve updated this classic knitting pattern, so now you can knit it short- or long-sleeved and in one solid color or with spectacular Linen Quill Minis stripes down the front.
The construction is a snap, and it’s knit all in easy garter stitch. Start at the end of one sleeve, cast on more stitches for the shoulder and body and knit across, then bind off some stitches and knit the other sleeve down to its end. Do the same thing again for the back, then sew it all together with pretty inside-out seams.
For the solid version, that really is all there is to it. Or if you want a striped front, that’s a cinch, too… Just knit two-row stripes using your Linen Quill Minis and weave in your yarn ends as you go (we’ll show you how!).
Linen Quill is the perfect yarn for three-season sweaters. A distinctive blend of fine highland wool, alpaca, and linen, this yarn has an appealing, hearty feel, with the linen adding an untamed touch. Linen Quill is a wonderful fingering-weight yarn, uniquely satisfying to knit and to wear.
For the striped version, pick up a 20-color bundle of our Linen Quill Minis for the front and choose a solid color of Linen Quill yarn to knit the back.
For a solid-color pullover, pick from Linen Quill’s vast palette of 70 amazing colors, inspired by nature itself with a bit of earth, air, fire, and water.
We chose Light Cerulean, a breathtaking blue that really shows off how differently this yarn’s animal and plant fibers absorb dye.
Long-sleeve or short, solid or striped, your End To End Pullover will be a delight to knit from beginning to end!
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!
Originally designed by Purl Soho designer, Adam Aronowitz, updated by Hiromi Glover.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
SOLID VERSION
- Short Sleeve
- 3 (4, 4, 5) (5, 6, 6, 7) skeins of 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; approximately 1280 (1425, 1685, 1850) (2090, 2280, 2500, 2700) yards required.
- Long Sleeve
- 4 (4, 5, 6) (6, 7, 7, 8) skeins of 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; approximately 1660 (1750, 2095, 2270) (2585, 2815, 3045, 3225) yards required. We used the color Light Cerulean.
STRIPED FRONT VERSION
- Short Sleeve
- Stripe Colors: 1 of Purl Soho’s Linen Quill Minis in 20 colors, 50% highland wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. Each bundle of this fingering-weight yarn is 2180 yards/ 500 grams; approximately 630 (705, 825, 895)(1030, 1130, 1245, 1345) total yards required. We used the Beach Walk palette.
- Solid Color: 2 (2, 2, 2) (3, 3, 3, 3) skeins of 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; approximately 605 (680, 800, 865) (995, 1090, 1200, 1295) total yards required. We used the color Pale Oats.
- Long Sleeve
- Stripe Colors: 1 of Purl Soho’s Linen Quill Minis in 20 colors, 50% highland wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. Each bundle of this fingering-weight yarn is 2,180 yards/ 500 grams; approximately 830 (895, 1025, 1125)(1285, 1400, 1515, 1605) total yards required.
- Solid Color: 2 (2, 3, 3) (3, 3, 4, 4) skeins of 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; approximately 800 (865, 985, 1080) (1240, 1315, 1435, 1550) total yards required.
You will also need…
- US 4 (3.5 mm), 32-inch circular knitting needles
- A set of US 4 double pointed needles
- Removable stitch markers
- An End To End Pullover PDF
GAUGE
26½ stitches and 50 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch
Because this garment is worked sideways, you must match row gauge as well as stitch gauge in order to achieve the intended measurements.
SIZES
NOTE: For help picking a size, please check out our Understanding Ease + Selecting Size Tutorial!
38½ (42½, 46½, 50½) (54, 58, 62½, 66½)
To fit actual chest circumference of 30–33 (34–37, 38–41, 42–45) (46–49, 50–53, 54–57, 58–61) inches, with 5–8 inches of ease
- Finished Chest Circumference: 38½ (42½, 46½, 50½) (54, 58, 62½, 66½) inches
- Finished Length from Shoulder to Bottom Edge: 21¾ (22¼, 23½, 24) (26, 26½, 27¼, 27¾) inches
- Finished Sleeve Length from Side Seam to Cuff (Short Sleeve): 3¼ inches
- Finished Sleeve Length from Side Seam to Cuff (Long Sleeve): 17¼ (16¼, 16½, 16¾) (17¼, 17½, 17, 16¼) inches
Sample: The sweaters shown here are size 38½, worn with 5½ inches of ease.
PATTERN
The End To End Pullover is available 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!
What a great pattern! I have half of a 40 skein bundle of linen quill minis leftover. I wonder if it would be possible to do the striped top with stripes both front and back – I’m thinking of using two different color ways, maybe neutrals for back and brights for front. Do you think this would work, and would I have enough yarn for the short-sleeved version?
Hi Debby,
We’re so glad you think so! That’ll depend on the size you’re making though. Half the yardage of the 40-color bundle is 2180 yards, which would be enough for the short sleeve version (with both sides striped) in sizes 38½, 42½, 46½, 50½, or 54. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Thanks, Lili, though I see from your response to Kat that doing both sides striped might be problematic. I hadn’t thought of the issue with the ends, and I see why you did it the way you did! Makes sense, and I will probably just get a few balls of solid when I knit this. I love this forum!
You show the End to End pullover in a striped front and a solid back. Could you knit both back and front in stripes? There’s enough yarn in the Linen Quill minis for one sweater. Drawbacks?
Hi Kat,
You can totally make a fully striped version of this sweater and it would look awesome! However, there are a few considerations to take into account, regarding the ends you’ll be weaving in. The edge with all the ends for the Front is the top edge, which gets seamed to the back which minimizes the bulk from the ends. If you were to knit the back striped, the bulk would be along the bottom edge, which doesn’t have anything reinforcing it, so it will sort of splay outwards a bit. (You could pick up stitches all the way around the bottom too though, like you do for the sleeve seams and neckline edge!) The other thing is that the extra ends will make the sleeves feel a bit bulkier, since there will be so many more ends there.
As for the yardage, there is a total of 4360 yards of yarn in the 40-color bundle and a total of 2180 yards in the 20-color bundle. To figure out if that will be enough for the size and sleeve style you want to make, I’d recommend taking a look at the yardage in the MATERIALS section and comparing it to the yardage of whichever bundle you have in mind. That’ll be the best way to tell if you’ll have enough yarn to make your idea work!
All the best,
Lili
Would this pattern work with Cattail Silk? Thanks.
Hi Charlene,
Cattail Silk would be a wonderful choice for this pattern! Because that yarn is also a fingering weight yarn, like Linen Quill, it’ll be easy to achieve the gauge of the pattern. I’d still recommend knitting up a gauge swatch to determine the best needle size for you to use. You may need to size your needles up or down in order to match the gauge!
All the best,
Lili
Hi
For the pick up and bind off will you be producing a video to help us newbies?
Hi Fay,
While we don’t currently have plans to make a tutorial specific to this pattern, we do have two other super helpful tutorials that will teach you all the skills you need to master the picking up + binding off technique! I’d recommend taking a look at our Picking Up Stitches tutorial as well as our Basic Bind-Off tutorial. Those two skills are all you’ll need to know how to do to finish up this sweater! If you run into trouble along the way though, I’d recommend signing up for a 1-On-1 Help appointment where a member of our team can meet with you over Zoom to demonstrate techniques and answer any questions!
All the best,
Lili
This looks fun to knit! I am planning a road trip. This will be the perfect project for my leftovers.
The finishing is done with double pointed needles, but could it be done with a crochet hook?
Hi Diane,
Great question! Yes, you could totally use a crochet hook and work slip stitches along the edges to achieve the same result!
All the best,
Lili
I LOVE the striped short sleeved version of this sweater, but I’m allergic to linen, unfortunately. Is this something that could be made with the chirp cotton mini-skeins? Thanks!
Hi Frederika,
We’re so glad this pattern has caught your eye! Because Cotton Chirp is a lot thicker than Linen Quill, I’m afraid I would not recommend it for this pattern. I would instead recommend using a different fingering weight yarn in place of Linen Quill, such as Quartz or Line Weight. While these yarns unfortunately don’t come in mini skeins, you could choose a few of your favorite colors and make the stripes that way!
All the best,
Lili
What is the color is used as the back of the striped top?
Love this. Thanks!
Hi Jeanne,
We used the color Pale Oats!
All the best,
Lili
weave in your yarn ends as you go. how do you do that, is there an explanation in the pattern ?
Hi Mona,
Thanks for writing in! Our Weaving In Ends As You Go tutorial is indeed linked in the pattern PDF!
All the best,
Lili
Love this – would be amazing if this had childrens sizes as well – would love to knit it for my granddaughters ❤️
Hi Julianne,
I’ll pass along the idea to our design team to let them know there’s interest in seeing this in the future!
All the best,
Lili
I was hoping for some clarification. On the Left Sleeve: Short-Sleeve Version – Shape Underarm + Cast on for Body. “work 3 rows even after first shoulder increase”
Is “work 3 rows even” only this one time? Or is work 3 rows even after each Shoulder Increase Row?
Thanks
Hi Edith,
Thanks for writing in! You’ll actually only be repeating the Shoulder Increase Row every 8th row, so there will be 7 other rows in between them. The 3 rows even are to set up the placement of the first Underarm Increase Row. Once you get started on that, you will just repeat both increase rows at their specific intervals–every 8th row for the Shoulder Increase Row and every right side row for the Underarm Increase Row. Hope this helps clarify things!
All the best,
Lili
What a wearable top! Would your new yarn Estuary be a good choice as a substitute? I think the shading of color would make nice vertical stripes. Or do you think Estuary is too heavy for this sweater?
Thanks!
Hi Kay,
That is such a great idea! Estuary would make a great substitute for this pattern and we encourage you to go for it!
All the best,
Gavriella