Obama-rama

Obama-rama Raglan Sweater by Laura Birek

What is Being Made

The Obama-rama is a woman's raglan sweater designed to showcase political pride and artistic expression. This knitted pullover features a striking front panel inspired by Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama poster, making it an ideal garment for election night celebrations and inauguration day festivities. The sweater is sized for a woman's medium with a finished chest circumference of 41 inches, offering a comfortable, wearable fit for everyday wear or special occasions.

Techniques and Construction

This intermediate-level knitting project employs intarsia as its primary decorative technique. Intarsia is a color-work method that allows knitters to create detailed, multi-color images by using separate balls of yarn for different colored sections, rather than carrying yarn across the back of the work. This technique produces a smooth, flat fabric on both the front and back of the garment, making it ideal for displaying a portrait-style design like the Obama poster front panel.

The sweater is constructed using a raglan sleeve construction method, which features diagonal decreases that run from the underarm to the neckline, creating a distinctive seam line from the armpit to the shoulder. This classic construction technique provides excellent fit and mobility in the shoulders and arms.

The body is worked primarily in stockinette stitch, the most fundamental knit stitch pattern, which creates a smooth, flat fabric with a characteristic V-pattern texture. The neckline shaping involves strategic decreases worked in conjunction with the raglan decreases to create a properly fitted neck opening.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette stitch – the primary stitch for the body and sleeves, created by alternating knit and purl rows
• Raglan decreases – shaping decreases that form the diagonal lines from armhole to neckline
• Intarsia color work – separate yarn management for the portrait panel on the front

Materials and Gauge

This pattern calls for Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn, a worsted-weight acrylic yarn offering 170 yards per 100-gram skein. The acrylic fiber provides durability, easy care, and affordability, making this an accessible project for knitters of various experience levels. The color palette includes four distinct shades: beige for the main color (3 skeins), navy for contrasting color 1 (2 skeins), dusty blue for contrasting color 2 (4 skeins), and cranberry for contrasting color 3 (1 skein). This combination of colors allows the intarsia portrait panel to emerge with depth and dimension against the neutral beige background.

The pattern is worked at a gauge of 4.5 stitches and 6 rows per inch in stockinette stitch using the larger needle size. Knitters will need size 7 (4.5mm) and size 8 (5mm) circular needles, or whatever needle size is necessary to achieve the specified gauge. The use of two needle sizes allows for ribbed edgings (typically worked on smaller needles for a tighter, more elastic fabric) and the main body (worked on larger needles for the proper gauge).

Skill Level and Learning Opportunity

Rated as an intermediate project, the Obama-rama sweater is suitable for knitters who have mastered basic garment construction and are ready to explore color-work techniques. The intarsia method, while more complex than simple stockinette, is thoroughly explained in designer Laura Birek's instructional resource, Picture Perfect Knits, published by Chronicle Books, which provides detailed guidance on executing portrait-style intarsia designs in knitting.