Sarah's Child and Mam Sweater

This pattern was brought to my attention by the trending section on Ravelry, and it was love at first sight! First of all, I love an oversized top, so this was perfect. I also love the combination of a modern, oversized cropped sweater with dropped sleeves and the traditional colorwork featured on the back panel; two things that I never thought could play so well together.

Pattern: Child and Mam by Junko Okamoto
Yarn: the Fibre Co Cumbria, 5 skeins (4 scafell pike and 1 appleby castle)
Size Made: Medium (short length, short sleeves)
Modifications: added a few rows to sleeves

This pattern was designed to be knit up in ultra-rustic, naturally dyed Moeke Yarns from Romania. Because of my super sensitive skin, I can't wear that particular yarn right against my skin and was looking for something a bit softer. I went with The Cumbria, one of the new yarns from The Fibre Co! Cumbria is the perfect balance of a slightly rustic wool yarn but with a soft hand. I got as close to the original pattern colors with a Scafell Pike for the main and Appleby Castle for the contrasting colorwork, and I am so happy with the results! Cumbria makes a lovely, heavy, drapey fabric that suits a boxy sweater perfectly and I love the texture that the little bit of mohair creates. It is also extremely warm and comfy so I find myself wearing it in place of a coat as the weather gets colder. 

I adore everything about this garment! Especially the seed stitch borders around the hood, sleeves, and hem. The increase rows shoulders produce a two stitch wide “seam” that sits just a little forward on the body when the sweater is worn, it’s definitely one of the more graceful and modern details that I appreciate so much about this design. The pattern comes with two different options for hem length and sleeve length so it’s super versatile! I went with short hem, short sleeve and it’s perfect, but I can also see making a more tunic-like version using the long length for the inevitable second Child and Mam I knit up.

I made the happy accident of adding four extra rows onto the sleeves so they taper a little more than the pattern calls for resulting in a tighter fit at the cuff. I’m glad that I didn’t count properly in this case because the sleeves themselves are quite wide, so if this hadn’t happened, I’m afraid they could have swallowed me up just a little too much.

I had never done colorwork before, so that was a whole new adventure for me. I spent extensive amounts of time online looking up different schools of thought on how to hold two yarns, how to tension your floats, etc. Shoutout to YouTube knitting videos, I never could have done this without you! About halfway through, I got comfortable with my colorwork techniques and can definitely see more in my knitting future.

I have worn this sweater every day since I finished it and I’m not going to stop anytime soon. It looks great with boots and skinny jeans, over dresses, with skirts or leggings, this sweater can do no wrong.

Be sure to visit tomorrow to see Britney's cozy Stella wrap in Dovestone!