Crochet Patterns / June 19, 2020

Pride Yoke – Rainbow Circular Yoke Worked Seamlessly From the Top-Down (Size-Inclusive Crochet Pattern)

Hey hey hey!

As I write this, it’s June and do you know what that means? It’s Pride Month!

20% of all proceeds for the month of June 2020 for this sweater (and the existing Pride Yoke knit version) have been donated to Rainbow Resource Center, a Winnipeg organization supporting the 2SLGBTQ+ community in the form of counselling, education, and programming for individuals ranging from children through to 55±. It also supports families, friends, and employers of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals. Thank you for helping me help them!

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About

I’ve wanted to come out with a design to celebrate Pride Month for years – and I finally made it a priority earlier this year. I started designing 2 rainbow sweaters in March, and they are finally ready to make their debut! (Find the knit version here!)

The Pride Yoke is a circular yoke sweater crocheted seamlessly from the top-down. It’s designed to have approx. 2-4″ of positive ease, and is graded for 9 sizes ranging from XS-5XL. This is hands-down the best drape I’ve ever achieved with a crocheted item, mostly due to using a 100% bamboo yarn from Lion Brand called Truboo. (Read my Truboo review here.) I designed this sweater with summer in mind, so that it’s lightweight, nice and flowy, and super breathable. You should check out the drape on the knit version – it’s got even more drape than this one!

I wanted to design a sweater with a rainbow element, but I wanted it to be subtle enough that I could wear it everyday and incorporate it into my wardrobe. I don’t usually like a ton of colour and usually stick with neutrals or earth tones! I personally love to wear white, so I used white as the base colour. I then added the stripes (you can knit as many stripes as you like) into the yoke, using surface slip stitches. I am so happy with the look of these thin stripes, and I think I achieved the look I was going for!

It’s got a subtle pop of colour, it’s light and delicate, flowy, and has great drape; yet it still seems like a neutral clothing item to me since it doesn’t have too much colour!

This pattern has been professionally tech edited to be as correct as possible. All sizes have been tested!

Keep scrolling for some tester pics at the end of this post – you’re not gonna wanna miss these!

Construction

This sweater is worked seamlessly from the top-down. First, we work a foundation chain for the neckline and work a few short rows. The remainder of the top/sweater is worked in a spiral. This is how we get a totally seamless look.

Next, increases are worked in the yoke at certain increments to make room for the bust until reaching the desired yoke depth.

Once you finish crocheting the yoke, we skip over 2 large group of stitches which will become the sleeves, and the body is worked to your desired length. You will then work some ribbing along the hem using post stitches with a smaller hook. After the body is complete, the sleeves are picked up and worked to your desired length, and finished off with matching ribbing at the wrist cuffs. Then, we go back and add this ribbing to the neckline as well.

Lastly, the surface slip stitches are added loosely to create thin stripes along the yoke. There is an entire page dedicated to this technique.

Yardage Info

I used Lion Brand Truboo for this sweater (100% bamboo) although my testers used a wide variety of yarns that I will list below to give you ideas of yarns you could use to make your own Pride Yoke! Truboo is a very slinky DK weight yarn that has a subtle sheen to it, which I love.

I would recommend using Truboo or Coboo for this pattern, or another bamboo fiber similar to the one used in the sample shown. This will give you the same great drape as the one shown here. You can use any other fiber that you want, just know that the drape will be a little different – which is totally fine!

Some other yarns used during testing include:

Lion Brand Truboo (recommended)

Lion Brand Coboo (very similar to Truboo)

Loops ‘N Threads Joy DK was used for the striping

Premier Cotton Fair

Capri (60% Bamboo, 40% Cotton)

Yarn Bee Soft & Sleek DK

King Cole Bamboo Cotton

Sirdar Summer Linen DK

Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo and Cotton

Now here’s what I used in the pattern –

Main Colour:

Long Sleeves: 7 (7, 7, 8, 9) (10, 11, 12, 13) skeins of Lion Brand Truboo in White for sizes XS (S, M, L, XL) (2X, 3X, 4X, 5X).

or 1040 (1075, 1150, 1250, 1350) (1525, 1650, 1750, 1850) yds of similar category 3, DK weight yarn that matches gauge.

Short Sleeves: 4 (5, 5, 6, 7) (8, 8, 9, 10) skeins of Lion Brand Truboo in White for sizes XS (S, M, L, XL) (2X, 3X, 4X, 5X).

or 970 (1100, 1150, 1385, 1580) (1725, 1900, 2125, 2360) yds of similar category 3, DK weight yarn that matches gauge.

and

6 Contrasting Colours:
Approx. 5 yds (for all sizes) of each:
1. Scarlet
2. Tangerine
3. Yellow
4. Celery
5. Blue
6. Mauve

Sample shown has 6 stripes. If you would prefer 7 stripes, you will need 5 yds of a 7th contrasting colour. If you don’t want to buy 1 full skein of Truboo for each stripe colour, you can use what you have in your stash so long as the gauge is similar.

Testers also used self-striping yarn to achieve the look of different coloured stripes – this would be a great budget-friendly way to achieve a similar look without buying 6-7 separate skeins. You can let the yarn gradually transition or you can cut out each colour to create the look of different coloured stripes.

Sizing

This is a size-inclusive pattern, written for 9 sizes:
XS (S, M, L, XL)(2X, 3X, 4X, 5X) to fit bust sizes 28-30 (32-34, 36-38, 40-42, 44-46) (48-50, 52-54, 56-58, 60-62)“ based on the CYC sizing standards. There is also 2-4″ of positive ease built in to the sweater, so you can play around with the sizing depending on how loose or tight you’d like your sweater to be. Some of my testers sized down and still had a great-fitting sweater, and others sized up for a really comfy fit that looked just as great!

When choosing a size, refer to my sizing chart in the pattern and choose a garment bust size that is 2-4″ larger than your actual bust measurement, depending on how much positive ease you would like in your sweater.

Model has 34″ bust and is wearing a size small with a garment bust measurement of 36″, meaning there are 2″ of positive ease.

Tester Photos

Here are some photos from my fabulous testers as well as the yarn they used! I think it’s really helpful to see other versions made in different materials on different bodies, so here’s some really lovely photos my tester group took! I included everybody’s Instagram handle in case you want to check out some more of their work. I wanted to include this section here so you can see how truly versatile one pattern can be! Each different fiber used gives the sweater a whole new vibe. And you can see how each person made it their own! Keep scrolling to see how the knit Pride Yoke looks on beautiful bodies of all types.

You can also check out the Ravelry Projects for this pattern here.