Fisherman's Rib Raglan Jumper

Sunbeam pattern No. 1081, rewritten in plain language for a beginner knitter

🧶 For Luka — Christmas 2026 · then a hand-me-down for Albert

Knitting size — every number on this page updates

How this jumper is made

You knit four flat pieces on ordinary straight needles — a Back, a Front, and two Sleeves — working from the bottom hem upward. Then you sew the pieces together and knit a folded collar (the neckband) around the neck opening.

This is a raglan jumper, which means the tops of the sleeves slant in diagonal lines that run all the way up to the neck (look at the photo on the pattern cover — you can see the diagonal seam lines running from the underarm to the collar). Those slants are made by decreasing stitches at both ends of the needle as you work upward.

The order of work:

Knit the Back.
Knit the Front (same as the Back until the neck).
Knit two Sleeves.
Sew three of the four raglan seams together.
Knit the neckband directly onto the live stitches around the neck.
Sew the last seam, the sides, and the sleeve undersides. Done.

What you need

Yarn: × 50 g balls of Aran-weight yarn (about g total). The original Sunbeam yarns are long discontinued — any Aran-weight yarn is fine as long as your tension square matches (see below). Buy an extra ball to be safe; you can always return it.
Needles: one pair of 4 mm needles (old UK size 8) and one pair of 5 mm needles (old UK size 6). The 4 mm pair is only used for the ribbed hems, cuffs, and collar.
Also: 3–4 stitch holders (or big safety pins, or spare yarn threaded on a needle), a blunt tapestry needle for sewing up, a tape measure, and a row counter or notepad.

Finished measurements for your size

To fit chest
Actual chest of the finished jumper	— jumpers are meant to be roomy
Length, hem to shoulder
Sleeve length, cuff to underarm

Tension (gauge) — do not skip this

Old patterns call it tension; modern ones say gauge. Same thing: how big your stitches are. If yours are bigger or smaller than the designer's, the jumper comes out the wrong size — this is the #1 reason projects fail, so knit the test square.

With the 5 mm needles, cast on 24 stitches and work in Fisherman's Rib (taught below) until the square is about 12 cm tall. Cast off.
Lay it flat, relaxed — do not stretch it. Fisherman's rib scrunches up widthways; let it.
Measure 10 cm across the middle and count the stitches: you should get 18 stitches. Measure 10 cm vertically: you should get 32 rows.

Too many stitches in 10 cm → your knitting is tight → try again with 5.5 mm needles.
Too few stitches → your knitting is loose → try again with 4.5 mm needles.

Stitch school — everything beyond plain K and P

The pattern only uses a handful of moves. Learn these on your tension square before you start the real thing.

1. Knit One Below (K1B) — the star of the show

This one stitch is what makes Fisherman's Rib look deep and squishy. Instead of knitting into the stitch on your needle, you knit into the stitch underneath it — the stitch from the previous row.

Look at the next stitch on your left needle. Directly below it hangs the V of the stitch from the row before. That lower V is your target.

Insert the right needle into the center of that lower V, front to back — exactly like a normal knit stitch, just one row lower. Wrap the yarn and pull a new loop through.

Slide the stitch off the left needle as usual. The stitch on the needle above your target drops too and melts into the new stitch. This is correct — it will not unravel further. It's what creates the deep, fat rib.

Nerves check: the first few times, K1B feels like you're dropping stitches on purpose. You are! The dropped strand gets caught inside the new stitch and can only "run" that one row. Practice 10 of them on your tension square and it will click.

2. Knit Two Together (k2tog)

The basic decrease: two stitches become one, leaning to the right.

Instead of going into one stitch, aim for the next two stitches at once.

Push the right needle through both loops together (front to back), wrap the yarn once, pull it through, slide both off. Two stitches are now one.

Knit Three Together (k3tog) is the same move through three stitches at once — it turns three stitches into one. It feels tight; wiggle the needle tip in patiently.

3. The raglan decrease: Slip 1, Knit 2 Together, Pass Slipped Stitch Over (sl 1, k2tog, psso)

This three-part move turns three stitches into one, leaning left. It is the mirror-image partner of k3tog, and the two together create the pretty slanted raglan lines. It always appears in this pattern as one phrase, so learn it as one move.

Slip 1 (sl 1): insert the right needle into the next stitch as if to knit it, but don't wrap any yarn — just move the stitch over to the right needle. It's a passenger for now.

Knit 2 together (k2tog): with the slipped stitch waiting on the right needle, knit the next two stitches together as you just learned.

Pass slipped stitch over (psso): use the left needle tip to lift the slipped (blue) stitch up, carry it over the top of the stitch you just made, and drop it off the end. Exactly like casting off one stitch.

Done. Three stitches have become one tidy stitch that leans left. Count your stitches afterward the first few times — it's easy to lose track mid-move.

4. The other moves, in plain words

Cast off 2 stitches at the beginning of a row: knit the first 2 stitches, then lift the first one over the second and off the needle — that's 1 cast off. Knit 1 more, lift the previous over again — that's 2. Then just carry on with the row. (You already know this from casting off a whole row; here you simply stop after 2.)

Increase 1 stitch — "knit into the front and back" (kfb): knit the stitch normally but don't slide it off yet; swing the right needle around and knit into the back loop of the same stitch, then slide it off. One stitch has become two.

Pick up and knit stitches (used for the neckband): with the right side facing you, poke the needle through the edge of the fabric a stitch-width in from the edge, wrap the yarn as if knitting, and pull a loop through onto your needle. That loop is a new live stitch. Repeat along the edge, spacing them evenly.

Stitch holder: some stitches are not cast off — they're parked "live" on a holder to be knitted later (the collar is knitted straight out of them). Slip them onto the holder without twisting them and clip it shut.

Turn (in the neck shaping): stop mid-row, ignore the remaining stitches, flip the work over, and knit back the way you came. The ignored stitches just wait on the needle.

Rejoin yarn: start knitting a group of waiting stitches with a fresh end of yarn — just start knitting with the new strand, leaving a 15 cm tail to weave in later.

Slip stitch (SS) sewing (for the collar): a loose hand-sewing stitch with the tapestry needle, catching one strand of the fabric then one strand of the folded edge, so the fold stays down invisibly. Keep it stretchy — the collar must go over a head!

"Ending with a wrong-side row": the last row you work is a wrong-side (inside) row, so the right side (outside) is facing you, ready for the next instruction.

"Work in pattern (patt)": keep doing the Fisherman's Rib two-row sequence without interruption. Right-side rows are always all-knit; wrong-side rows alternate P1, K1B.

5. The Fisherman's Rib pattern itself

Once past the hem, the whole jumper is just these two rows repeated forever:

Row 1 (right side): knit every stitch. That's it. Row 2 (wrong side): K1, then repeat [ P1, K1B ] across the row — except in the very last repeat, work a plain K1 instead of the K1B. So the row ends: … P1, K1B, P1, K1.

The plain K1 at each end keeps the edges firm for sewing seams.

Losing your place after decreases? Read your knitting instead of counting: on wrong-side rows, work K1B into the columns that look like deep fat Vs, and P1 into the flatter stitches between them. If an edge occasionally works out with two purls or two knits side by side, don't panic — the edges disappear into the seams.

The Back

Progress boxes are saved on this page — tick them off as you go.

The Front

Work exactly as the Back through its first decrease row and the 7 pattern rows after it (Back steps 1–7). Now: stitches Repeat the 8-row block (decrease row + 7 pattern rows) 5 more times — one fewer than the Back, because the front neck dips lower. Now: stitches Work one more decrease row, then 1 wrong-side pattern row. Now: stitches

Shaping the neck — left side first

You'll now split the front into three groups: 10 stitches for the left shoulder-slope, parked in the middle for the collar, and 10 for the right. Each side is worked separately on short rows.

Row 1 (right side): K10, then turn — leave everything else waiting on the needle (or slide the waiting stitches onto a spare needle/holder if they're in the way). You're now working back and forth on just these 10. Row 2 (wrong side): repeat [ P1, K1B ] across, but end the last repeat P1, K1. Row 3: knit all stitches. Row 4: cast off 2 stitches, work in pattern to the end. 8 stitches Row 5: knit all stitches. Row 6: cast off 2, pattern to end. 6 stitches Row 7: K3 · sl 1 knitwise · k2tog · psso — that's the whole row's stitches used up. 4 stitches Row 8: K1, P1, K1B, K1. Row 9: K4. Slip these 4 stitches onto a small holder or safety pin.

The middle and the right side

With the right side facing you, slip the next stitches (the center front) onto a holder. They'll become part of the collar later. Rejoin the yarn to the remaining 10 stitches and knit to the end of the row. Work 3 rows in pattern. Row 5 (right side): cast off 2 stitches, knit to end. 8 stitches Row 6: pattern across. Row 7 (right side): cast off 2 stitches (6 remain), then knit 3 together (k3tog), K3. 4 stitches Row 8: K1, P1, K1B, K1. Row 9: K4. Slip these 4 onto a holder. The Front is done. 🎉

The Sleeves (make two the same)

With the 4 mm needles, cast on stitches. Work the same 2-row ribbing as the Back hem until the cuff measures 6 cm, finishing after a Row 2 — but on that very last row, also increase stitches spread evenly across, using knit-front-and-back (kfb). An easy recipe for your size: Now: stitches Change to the 5 mm needles and start Fisherman's Rib. At the same time, widen the sleeve: on the 5th row, and then every following 6th row (rows 5, 11, 17, 23…), work an increase row: Increase row (always lands on an all-knit row): kfb into the first stitch · knit until 2 stitches remain · kfb · K1 Do this times in total. Now: stitches Continue straight in pattern until the sleeve measures cm from the cast-on edge, finishing after a wrong-side row. Raglan: cast off stitches at the beginning of each of the next 2 rows. Now: stitches Work 4 rows in pattern. Work the same decrease row as the Back: K3 · sl 1 knitwise · k2tog · psso · knit until 6 remain · k3tog · K3. Then work 5 rows in pattern. Repeat that 6-row block (decrease row + 5 pattern rows) 8 more times. Now: stitches Work in pattern, then slip the remaining stitches onto a holder. Now knit the second sleeve. 🎉

Sleeve rhythm tip: the sleeve raglan decreases every 6th row while the body decreased every 8th — the sleeve slant is steeper. If you knit body and sleeve in the same sitting, keep separate row counters.

The Neckband (collar)

First, some sewing — then the collar is knitted directly out of all those held stitches, joined into one long row around the neck.

Sew the right sleeve to the Front and the Back along both of its raglan slants, easing the edges to fit where needed ("easing" = gently stretching the shorter edge / relaxing the longer one so they match). Sew the left sleeve to the Front only. Its back seam stays open for now, so the neck opens flat into one long line of stitches. With the right side facing you and the 4 mm needles, work across everything in K1, P1 rib, in this order:

Rib across stitches from the left sleeve holder; purl the last sleeve stitch together with the first stitch of the left-front holder (one purl through two loops — it closes the gap).
Rib the 3 remaining stitches from that holder.
Pick up and knit 10 stitches down the left neck edge, working them into the rib as you go.
Rib the center-front stitches from their holder.
Pick up and knit 10 stitches up the right neck edge.
Rib 3 from the right-front holder; purl its last stitch together with the first right-sleeve stitch.
Rib from the sleeve; purl its last stitch together with the first Back stitch.
Rib across the remaining Back stitches.

Total: stitches Work in K1, P1 rib on all these stitches for 8 cm (the collar is knitted double-height, then folded). Cast off loosely in rib — knit the knits and purl the purls as you cast off, keeping it slack. Test: the cast-off edge must stretch as wide as the neck opening. Too tight = jumper won't go over Luka's head. If in doubt, cast off with a needle two sizes bigger.

Making up (finishing)

Sew the remaining raglan seam (left sleeve to Back) and continue that seam up the short open edge of the neckband. Fold the neckband in half to the inside and sew its cast-off edge down loosely with slip stitch (SS), so the collar becomes a soft double layer. Keep the sewing stretchy! Sew the side seams (hem to underarm) and the sleeve seams (cuff to underarm). Mattress stitch, worked with the right side facing you, gives the neatest result on the K1 edge stitches. Weave in all the yarn tails. Give it a gentle hand-wash or steam, lay flat to dry in shape — and wrap it up for Christmas. 🎄

Washing (from the original leaflet, still good advice): hand-wash in warm water with gentle soap, squeeze — never rub or wring — rinse well, press out water gently, dry flat on a towel shaped to size, away from direct heat and sunlight. Never hang it to dry.

Original pattern: Sunbeam No. 1081, "Raglan Sweater in Fishermans Rib", designed by Rosy Tucker.
Beginner rewrite for Chris — first knit for Luka (size 2), destined for Albert after.