The Ramon Cardigan by Elizabeth Smith has long been one of my favorite knitting patterns. Most of the staff here at EWE have knit it (several times), and it is my go-to for teaching first-time sweater knitters. I was looking for an easy pullover to use in a class and decided it would be fun to knit the Ramona as a cropped pullover — which is my favorite sweater style this season!

To knit the Ramona as a pullover, you will ultimately want to add 2 inches worth of stitches to the front of the sweater. If you are knitting at the pattern gauge this is 7 or 8 stitches, or equivalent to the width of the button band when knitting it as a cardigan.

Follow the instructions in the pattern until you have finished rows 1 and 2 in Raglan & Neck Shaping Part 3 (you can find the pattern here). After these 2 rows cast-on your extra front stitches (7 or 8) and join to work in the round, doing increases on every other round (instead of every right side row).

When knitting stockinette stitch in the round, you will knit every round, which is different from knitting flat, where you knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side.

The other important change is knitting the broken rib detailing on the shoulders, side seams, and hem. For the armhole shaping you will need to alternate knitting and purling every other row between the raglan markers (the same goes for the side seam of the body). On the hem, the broken rib is knit this way:

Round 1: k1, p1 repeat to end of round

Round 2: knit all stitches

Rpeat these 2 rounds until the hem is the desired length.

You can do the shaping on the sweater the same way as for the cardigan, although I eliminated the shaping on my version since I knit it a bit more cropped than the pattern. The body on my sweater is 9". 

I did not make any changes to the sleeves, and I simply picked up and knit the neckband in the round instead of flat.

Good luck with your cropped Ramona pullover hack! We'd love to see what you make, so if you post pictures, tag the shop @ewefibers and #ewemakers so we can see.

My sweater is knit in Quince & Co. Osprey in Honey. If you want to order yarn for your own cropped Ramona, call the shop at 434-409-9095 or email us at info@ewefibers.com. If you email us, please include the color/quantity and your billing/shipping address.