Mama Vertebrae
Mama Vertebrae is off the needles and I'm loving it. Let me count the ways.
One. The yarn; Wendy Merino DK. It's definitely not indie dyed nor luxury by any stretch of the imagination, but it worked with my budget, and it's great. The colour way looked blue-green in the ball but has knitted up much more green and it's kind of rustic with flecks of dark through it. This yarn is super soft post-blocking. Much more than you'd imagine as you knit it up. It also drapes beautifully, but with that drape comes a certain amount of droop ... the arms can't work out if they're three quarter or full length ... Ever the optimist, I push them up if I'm warm and pull them down if it's chilly.
Two. Great pattern. Mama Vertebrae is by the very lovely Kelly Brooker of baby Puerperium Cardigan fame, and is in fact a grown up version of another of her cute wee knits Baby Vertebrae. Mama Vertebrae is knit from the top down and Kelly gives instructions to alter the pattern to suit you. I did just that, ending the raglan shaping a few rows early to make it a little more fitted under the arms. I also decreased down the arms for a fitted sleeve.
Should you think the sides of this cardy seem crazily narrow, let me tell you mine is super warm despite appearing to have no front! It is cosy around the shoulders and falls beautifully down either side of the bust. I had visions of making this in a fingering weight yarn too, and I think I'll have to. It would be a fantastic casual light-weight cardigan in warmer weather. As usual, Kelly has included directions for multiple yarn weights. Here the pattern includes no less than FOUR yarn weights: fingering, DK, light worsted, and heavy worsted or aran.
Should you think the sides of this cardy seem crazily narrow, let me tell you mine is super warm despite appearing to have no front! It is cosy around the shoulders and falls beautifully down either side of the bust. I had visions of making this in a fingering weight yarn too, and I think I'll have to. It would be a fantastic casual light-weight cardigan in warmer weather. As usual, Kelly has included directions for multiple yarn weights. Here the pattern includes no less than FOUR yarn weights: fingering, DK, light worsted, and heavy worsted or aran.
Three. The ribbing is fab and finishes the cardy off nicely. I've fallen head over heels with 1X1 twisted rib. It just looks so snappy. When knitting in the round, knit into every stitch through the back loop. When knitting flat, knit into the back loop of your knit stitches on the right (or public) side of your garment, and purl into the back loop of your purls on the wrong (or private) side of your knit. Try it, you'll love it.
The front band is knitted on and I used Kelly's suggestion to knit the bottom ribbing then continue straight up the front edge without breaking my yarn. It worked really well and, of course, no extra ends to weave in :)
A final word. If you want to avoid my boo-boos and don't want to endlessly rip back to get your cardigan perfect ... make sure you adjust your number of stitches at the bottom rib so that you have a knit stitch at either end, and that you cast on an odd number of stitches up along the front edge so that you begin and end with a knit stitch there too ... I know, elementary, but there you go. It was a ripping summer.
You can find my Mama Vertebrae on Ravelry here.