Zopflicious

The summer was a constant source of knitting inspiration. In the mids of it all, I created my new favorite cardigan, Zopflicious.

What: Zopflicious / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 4.0 and 4.5 mm

From: Hey Mama Wolf MOKOSH, 274 g

It's usually best to let the yarn tell what it wants to be knit into - as was the case this time too. In the spring, I visited Edinburgh Yarn Fest and fell madly in love with MOKOSH by Hey Mama Wolf. MOKOSH blew my mind: it's organic, non-superwash merino from France, plant-dyed by Hey Mama Wolf in Germany. And as if that wouldn't be enough, the structure of the yarn is amazing: it has the yardage of fingering weight yarn but it knits up like sport or even DK weight.  And the color! What is there not to love

We agreed on yarn sponsorship and I promised to design a cardigan for the coming fall. The soft and squishy yarn was screaming cables and texture, so I had to obey. You try saying no to plumpy organic merino!

Since cables alone weren't enough to make the most of the heavenly plumpiness of the yarn, I paired the cables with seed stitch. For reasons I cannot understand, some folks dislike seed stitch but I love it. It gives such beautiful structure to knitted fabric.

Once I had decided on the stitch patterns it was time to ponder about the construction of the cardigan. I was in the mood for something extra special. Zopflicious is knitted top-down, obvs. It starts off by casting on stitches from cuff to cuff and then working the back and the back of the sleeves to the underarms. Then, you'll pick up stitches for each front and work the fronts and the front of the sleeves to underarms. The shortish sleeves are grafted together using Kitchener's stitch and the rest of the body is worked in one piece. Once you bind off the hem, there's only cuff ribbing left to do. No neckline finishing or collars or anything.

It's an unusual contruction but it works! The cardigan sits on the body so nicely. And it's just the type of cardigan to throw on top of any ensemble to keep you warm. One of my absolute favorite things about knitting is how easy it is to make something so comfortable yet so stylish.

I really love the cardigan, especially the way the fronts start at the center of the back with no shaping what so ever. And how despite of that (or precisely because of that?) the cardigan fits the body beautifully. My favorite things also includes how the big cable panel of the back splits into two for the fronts. And it's all so seamless.

If you're as excited about Zopflicious as I am, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. Until Sunday October 13th you can get the pattern with 25% discount using the code HMW. What's even better, Hey Mama Wolf is having a shop update today and she's also taking pre-orders so you can all get your sweater quantities. What are you waiting for, cast on already!