Have you ever dreamed about a sweater, seeing the details just the way you wanted them?

Well, this is what happened to Laura with this sweater. She knew exactly how she wanted the fabric to feel and went on a quest to find the perfect combination.

This meant that for many months she gathered every heavy weight mohair she could find. This is not an easy task, as brushed mohair yarns are typically sold as a lace weight. Last year, a Cowgirl Blues Fluffy Mohair sample arrived, and it looked like she had found her dream yarn.

From here, the swatching began to find what it would pair with. And the quest to find the perfect needle size also began. While the yarns we were using are thicker, we didn’t want this sweater to feel heavy. So we focused on woollen spun yarns, with their natural air-trapped quality, to use as a match. Our own Blasta yarn created a wonderful combination.

So now that we had our first yarn combination, the next challenge was to find the needle size. If you have knit with a brushed yarn before, you’ll know that it needs a much larger needle size than expected to allow it to fill out and grow. So we started our swatching and kept having to go up and up and up with the needle size.

In the end, we used a 12 mm needle to create the open, fluffy fabric that we were looking for.

But this sweater is all about contrast. The main fabric of the body is open, airy and lightweight, but the edges anchor it. These drop down several needle sizes and are worked in a twisted rib. This creates a lovely, weighted, anchored quality to the edge of the garment and holds it in place.

Alternate Yarn

While Laura fell in love with the Cowgirl Blue yarn, I was still exploring other options.

Many years ago, I had seen a mohair boucle from Cushendale. I was curious if it would work as another yarn option, so we got a few colours in and started swatching. I completely fell in love with this yarn option. It still had the warmth and full effect of the mohair, but the fabric was even lighter weight than the other version.

So this is where both of our options came from!

If you want to knit this from stash, we would suggest looking for a heavy DK or light worsted woollen spun wool and test it out with any fluffy mohair you may have. If your mohair is lace weight, you may need to hold it double to get the desired gauge and fabric.

Sizing

This sweater is like wearing a big, fluffy hug. It’s designed to be worn very oversized, with 15-20” / 38-51 cm of positive ease suggested. That is a lot of ease, but it works with this sweater thanks to its construction. The body is kept cropped, but the oversized nature means that the sides have a little more length. But the neck and sleeves fit nicely, ensuring that the sweater doesn’t look sloppy when you wear it.

Construction

The large gauge of this sweater allows it to be knit up amazingly quickly, but we haven’t skimped on knitterly details.

The sweater is worked in the round from the bottom up. You’ll begin with an Alternating Cable Cast On, which allows the twisted rib to flow seamlessly from it. From here we work a wide ribbing before decreasing our stitches and moving to much larger needles.

The body is cropped so it knits up very quickly. When it’s done, you will separate the front and back to work them separately up to the shoulders. We will finish with short row shoulder shaping and a Three Needle Bind-Off.

Once the body is finished, the sleeves are picked up around the armhole and worked in the round from the top down. The final touch is the neck, which is finished using a Tubular Bind-Off.

Pattern Details

SIZES

To Fit Actual Bust Circumference up to 33 (39.5, 45.75, 49, 55.5, 58.5, 65, 68.25, 74.5)” / 84 (100.5, 116, 124.5, 141, 148.5, 165, 173.5, 189) cm

15-20” / 38-51 cm of positive ease recommended

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Finished Bust Circumference: 48 (54.5, 60.75, 64, 70.5, 73.5, 80, 83.25, 89.5)” / 122 (138.5, 154.5, 162.5, 179, 186.5, 203.5, 211.5, 227.5) cm

Size 54.5” / 138.5 cm modelled with 20”/ 51 cm positive ease.

Length from Back of Neck: 21.5 (22, 23, 23.25, 25, 25.5, 26.75, 27.25, 27.75)” / 54.5 (56, 58.5, 59, 63.5, 65, 68, 69, 70.5) cm

YARN

Yarn held double

Stolen Stitches ‘Blasta’ (60% Irish wool, 40% New Zealand wool, 232 yds / 212 m per 3.53 oz / 100 g); 2 (3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4) skeins

Cushendale ‘Mohair’ (70% mohair, 30% wool, 200 yds / 183 m per 3.53 oz / 100 g); 3 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5) skeins

OR

Cowgirlblues ‘Fluffy Mohair’ (78% mohair, 13% wool, 9% nylon, 219 yds / 200 m per 3.53 oz / 100 g); 2 (3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4) skeins

Approx Yardage for each yarn: 421 (468, 520, 560, 628, 662, 733, 780, 841) yds / 384 (427, 475, 512, 574, 605, 670, 713, 768) m

Green sample shown with Blasta colour Ailm held with Cushendale ‘Mohair’ colour Forest.

Pink sample shown with Blasta colour Nadur held with Cowgirlblues ‘Fluffy Mohair’ colour ‘From A Distance’.

NEEDLES & NOTIONS

US size 17 / 12 mm circular needles, 40” / 100 cm long for St St

US size 13 / 9 mm circular needles, 40” / 100 cm long for Ribbing

US size 17 / 12 mm needles, circular 16” / 40 cm long or dpns for Sleeves (if Magic Loop not used)

US size 13 / 9 mm needles, circular 16” / 40 cm long or dpns for Sleeve & Neck Ribbing (if Magic Loop not used)

Always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed, as every knitter’s gauge is unique.

Spare needle/waste yarn/Barber Cord, tapestry needle, 2 lockable markers.

GAUGE

7.5 sts and 11 rows = 4″ / 10 cm in St St blocked with larger needle holding both yarns

11 sts and 14 rows = 4″ / 10 cm in Ribbing blocked with smaller needle holding both yarns

If you’d like to knit your own Laura Sweater, you can find the pattern and the yarn kits right here after 4pm Thursday April 23rd.

Please note that these are bespoke yarn kits and are set as a pre-order. All yarn kits will be shipped the week of May 14th.