Minda Pullover
Minda is named after my great Aunt Minda. My great grandfather immigrated to the United States with his parents and younger siblings. Minda was married, and she and her husband remained in Norway. I often think about how hard it is for a family to move away from home and loved ones. I designed this sweater with snowflakes in the contrasting color (white) as an ode to my Grandfather and his sister Minda skiing to school together, and stars in the negative space (in red). Can you see the red stars ? If you can't see them, look at the pattern and squint. These stars are a nod to Norway and to remind me even as we move forward to our future, we carry our family and our heritage with us, and that even when we are far from home - no matter how far away we are from loved ones, we still all live under the same stars. I opted to make a Nordic sweater with American wool, to represent my family in a new land.
Minda is a cozy sweater that is knit bottom up and It has a split hem. The body is knit first, then the sleeves are knit , and then the body and the sleeves are all joined together. Next it's time to knit the colorwork yoke. If you are new to bottom up knitting, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly the sleeves and the body work up, and then of course knitting a colorwork yoke is a blast! I hope you love it as much as I do!
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Materials
Yarn: Worsted Weight | Brooklyn Tweed Shelter | 100 % American Targhee- Columbia Wool | 140 yards (128 meters) approx. 50 g (1.75 oz) skein
Main color (MC): Color: Long Johns 6 (7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12) skeins [812 (910, 970, 1050, 1218, 1320, 1450, 1610, 1690) yards/ [742 (832, 886, 960, 113, 1207, 1325, 1472, 1545) m]
Contrasting color (CC): Color: Fossil | 2 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3) skeins [234 (252, 270, 288, 306, 324, 342, 360, 380) yards / [213 (230, 246, 263, 280, 296, 312, 329, 341) m]
Needles: One 32-inch (80 cm) or 40-inch (100 cm) circular for the body and one set of double pointed needles/Flexiflips or 16-inch (40 cm) circular for the sleeves in size needed to obtain gauge in colorwork and single color
Suggested needle size: US 9 (5.5m)
One 32-inch /80 or 40- cm circular needle one size smaller than gauge-size needle and one set of double-pointed needles or Flexiflips to use for the ribbing.
Suggested needle size: US 8 (5 mm)
Additional Materials
Stitch marker, measuring tape, scissors, and tapestry needle
Gauge and swatch
16 stitches and 20 rounds = 4 inches or 10 cm
Please swatch in the round to determine needle size.
*Note: Swatch in both one color and in colorwork. You may need to knit the single-color part of the sweater with a smaller needle than the colorwork section. The gauge is the same throughout the sweater.
Sizes:
XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL, 4XL ,5XL
3-9 inches (7.5 -23) cm positive ease Sample is worn at 9” (23 cm) positive ease
Finished Measurements
Chest: 37 (40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 58, 61) inches [ 94 (101.5, 109, 117,124.5 132, 139.75, 147.5, 154) cm]
Body length to underarm 15.25 (15.25, 16, 16.5, 17, 18.25, 20, 21.25, 21.25) inches [39 (39.5, 40.5 42, 43, 46.5, 51, 54, 54) cm]
Sleeve length 18 (18.5,19,19,19.5, 20, 20, 20.75, 20.75) inches / 46 (47, 48.25, 48.25, 49.5, 51, 51, 53, 53) cm
Yoke depth: 9.5 (9.5, 9.5, 9.5 ,10.75, 10.75, 10.75, 10.75. 10.75) inches / 24 (24, 24, 24, 27, 27, 27, 27) cm
Total length 24 ¾ (25, 25.5,26, 27.75, 29, 30.75, 32, 32) inches [63 (63.5, 64.75, 66, 70.5, 73.5, 78, 81.25, 81.25) cm]
Skills used to make Minda
Long-tail cast on
Knit
Purl
1x1 ribbing
Knit in the round
DPN skills/Magic Loop/Flexiflip Skills for small circumference
Bind off
Stranded Knitting
Catching floats
K2tog in colorwork
Ssk in colorwork
Duplicate stitch
Backward loop
