Manitoba Pullover in Adriafil Baroque - Downloadable PDF

Manitoba Pullover in Adriafil Baroque – Free Knitting Pattern Summary

The Manitoba Pullover is a bold, cosy knitted sweater designed for adults, worked in the luxuriously chunky Adriafil Baroque Yarn. This free downloadable PDF pattern produces a striking pullover featuring a prominent raised cable panel as its centrepiece, framed by classic knit stitch sections and finished with elastic rib borders. The combination of super chunky yarn and large needles makes this an achievable project that works up quickly while delivering impressive, textural results.

What Is Being Made

This pattern instructs the knitter in constructing a pullover sweater (also referred to in the pattern as a pull). The garment is sized for a size 44 (with 40–42 also accommodated), making it a fitted-to-relaxed adult sweater. The design is characterised by its chunky weight and a central cable motif that gives the finished piece a rich, three-dimensional surface texture.

Materials Required

• Yarn: Adriafil Baroque Yarn, colour number 60 – approximately 400 g required. Baroque Yarn is a super chunky weight yarn, ideal for creating substantial, warm knitwear with excellent stitch definition.
• Knitting Needles: No. 12 knitting needles (metric sizing), suited to the super chunky weight of Baroque Yarn.
• Double Pointed Auxiliary Needle: Used specifically for working the cable crossings in the central cable stitch panel.
• Tapestry Needle: Required for seaming and finishing the garment once all pieces are knitted.

Tension and Gauge

The pattern specifies a gauge of 11 stitches and 10 rows to 10 x 10 cm, measured over cable stitch using no. 12 knitting needles. Checking tension before beginning is strongly recommended, as the super chunky nature of Adriafil Baroque Yarn means even small variations can significantly affect the finished dimensions of the pullover.

Stitches and Techniques Used

The Manitoba Pullover draws on a small but effective selection of knitting stitches and techniques, each contributing to the overall character of the finished garment:

• Elastic Rib: Used at the start and end of sections to create neat, stretchy borders. This classic ribbing technique alternates knit and purl stitches to produce a flexible, structured edge — ideal for cuffs, hems, and necklines on chunky pullovers.
• Knit Stitch (Stocking Stitch / Plain Knit): Forms the main body fabric of the pullover, providing a smooth, clean background that contrasts beautifully with the raised cable panel.
• Cable Stitch: The defining feature of this design, worked over 14 stitches. The cable is a sophisticated, multi-step crossing technique that creates a soft, raised cable with notable three-dimensional depth. The cable repeat runs over 11 rows, with the key crossing occurring on Row 5.

Cable Stitch Detail

The cable used in the Manitoba Pullover is particularly noteworthy for its construction method. On Row 5, a 14-stitch left-cross cable is worked as follows: 7 stitches are placed on the double pointed auxiliary needle and held in front of the work. The next 7 stitches are knitted, then the work is turned and purled back over those same 7 stitches, and turned and knitted again — this sequence is repeated once more. The held stitches are then picked up and knitted, with the turning and purling sequence repeated a further 3 times. This unusual approach — incorporating short rows within the cable crossing itself — is what gives the Manitoba cable its distinctively soft and raised appearance, setting it apart from a standard cable cross. Rows 1, 3, 7, and 9 are worked in knit stitch, while all even-numbered rows are worked in purl stitch, before the pattern repeats from Row 1 on Row 11.

Construction Method

The pullover is worked in separate flat pieces