Use code RAV_ECHO to get a 15% discount. Code is valid until 20th April 23:59 BST.

The Echo Pullover is the result of a collaborative journey. It started with a simple request from my daughter: “Can you make me this brioche one?” For her birthday, I offered to knit her a sweater. She excitedly scrolled through photos and picked a few simple ribbed designs.

I found the proposed ones dull to knit and suggested adding some colour or a unique element. Eventually, we settled and bought yarn for a two-colour brioche sweater. But when I started, I realised I wasn’t keen on knitting brioche. Instead, I proposed a sweater with colourwork. My daughter agreed but had her conditions: dropped shoulders (she was “never going to wear a round yoke!”), lots of positive ease, and simple geometric motifs. To make it personal, I suggested she design her own chart—and she did.

This project pushed me out of my comfort zone. I knit an oversized sweater in fine fingering-weight yarn, constantly worrying about not having enough of the main colour and too much of the contrast colour. But constraints often inspire creativity. The Echo Pullover is the beautiful result of these “restrictions.”

The sweater is a top-down seamless crewneck with European shoulders and simple stranded colorwork on the body and partly on the sleeves. It’s finished with 1x1 twisted rib on the hem, cuffs, and neckband. Since some floats are longer, the Ladderback Jacquard method is recommended, and the pattern includes charts with suggested Ladderback Jacquard stitch placements.
While knitting this piece may be slightly more challenging due to the fine gauge and the colourwork rows in the body being worked on the wrong side, the end result is undeniably worth the effort. The finished piece is a timeless, elegant addition to any wardrobe.

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Difficulty: Intermediate.

Sizes: 1 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Finished bust circumference:

• 97 (107, 117, 127, 137, 147, 157, 167, 177) cm
• 38¾ (42¾, 46¾, 50¾, 54¾, 58¾, 62¾, 66¾, 70¾)” Designed to be worn with 20+ cm / 8+” positive ease around the chest.

Yarn: Fingering weight yarn. Depending on the length of the sweater, allow approximately:
Main colour:

• 1015 (1045, 1115, 1220, 1255, 1320, 1405, 1470, 1530) m
• 1105 (1140, 1215, 1330, 1370, 1435, 1530, 1600, 1665) yds

Contrast colour:

• 725 (825, 880, 925, 1025, 1080, 1155, 1220, 1300) m
• 790 (895, 960, 1005, 1115, 1175, 1260, 1330, 1415) yds

Yarn used in the sample (size 4) is West Wool Tricycle (100% Superwash Merino; 200 m 218 yds / 50 g): 6 skeins of Birch Tree as main colour and 5 skeins of Mouse as contrast colour.

Gauge: 28 sts & 36 rows = 10 cm / 4” in colourwork stockinette, blocked.

Suggested needles: 2.75 mm (US 2) or needle size that gets the gauge; circulars 60-100 cm / 24-40″ long and (optional) DPNs for small circumference knitting.

Notions: Stitch markers, row counter, scissors, tape measure, stitch holders or waste yarn, tapestry needle.

Techniques used: Lifted increases, Backwards loop cast-on, stranded colourwork including a few rows on the wrong side, knitting in the round, Ladderback Jacquard, short rows, Tubular bind-off.

Construction notes:
This sweater is worked seamlessly from the top down, beginning with the back neckline. You’ll start by casting on stitches for the back and working flat, shaping the shoulders with lifted increases. You will continue knitting the back down to the underarms, incorporating the first colourwork section and shaping the armholes with increases along the way.

Next, you’ll pick up stitches along the back shoulders to form the front shoulders, working each side separately while shaping the front neckline with increases, then knit the front down to the underarms, adding the same colourwork section and symmetrical armhole shaping.

Once the front and back are complete, you will join them by casting on additional stitches at the underarms. From this point, you will knit the body in the round, continuing the colourwork pattern until all chart rows are done. Then you’ll work a few rounds in the main color before restarting the colourwork chart but this time stopping halfway through, and finishing the rest of the body in the contrast colour. The body is completed with a 1x1 twisted rib and a Tubular bind-off.

For the neckband, you will pick up stitches around the neckline and, following a stitch count adjustment round, knit a 1x1 twisted rib to your desired height, finishing with a Tubular bind-off.
To create the sleeves, you will pick up stitches along the shoulder edges and the underarm cast-on. The sleeve caps are shaped using short rows, then the sleeves knit in the round, decreasing as you go. When you reach a length that’s equal to how far down from the underarm the second colourwork section starts in the body, you will incorporate a matching colourwork pattern on the sleeves. Once you’ve completed half the colourwork chart, you’ll switch to the contrast colour, and finally finish the sleeve with a 1x1 twisted rib and Tubular bind-off.