The Weekend Sweater is easy to knit and easy to wear. Think of it as a nicer, handmade alternative to a cozy sweatshirt. Pull it on over your pajamas on a Saturday morning, or wear it with jeans and boots on a brisk walk through the neighborhood.

The knitting doesn’t get much less fussy than this. There are no purl stitches. No short rows. No button holes. No shaping of any kind. Just straight knitting, resulting in a delightful curl at the collar, cuffs, and hem.

If you’re a more advanced knitter, consider this pattern to be a blank canvas that you can embellish however you like. You can eliminate the multicolored stripe, and make the whole thing one color. You can embrace the color block effect, and add additional colors at the sleeves and the bottom half of the body. You can replace the solid-colored yoke or midsection stripe with a lace, cabled, or colorwork pattern of your own. The possibilities are endless!

Required Skills

If you have these skills:

Long-tail cast-on
Knit
Picking up stitches
Backwards loop cast-on
Basic bind-off
then you can do this.

Finished Measurements

This pattern is written for sizes XS (S, M, L, 1X, 2X) and is meant to be worn with 3 to 4 inches positive ease.

Chest: 32 (36, 40, 44, 48, 52)”. If in between sizes, go up to the larger size.
Sleeve length: 16.5 (17, 17, 17.5, 17.5, 18)”
Length from underarm to hem: 13.5 (14, 14.5, 15, 14.5, 15)”
Length from shoulder to hem: 21.5 (22, 23.5, 24, 25.5, 26)”.

Tools and Materials

You will need:

220 yards worsted weight for accent color (AC)
560 (670, 810, 940, 1170, 1420)* yards worsted weight for main color (MC)
One set of 4 US #7 (4.5mm) double point needles.
One US #7 16” circular needle
One US #7 24” or larger circular needle
yarn needle
scissors
stitch marker