Mako

March 24, 2018

Today I'm modeling the Laced Front Pullover from Quail Studio using Rowan's new summer yarn, Mako Cotton. I positively love this yarn so much. First, it’s like knitting with a silk cloud. There's a certain delicacy to it despite being machine washable and worsted weight. And second, it’s very lightweight to wear because the chain construction brings an airy loftiness to the weight of the yarn, so while it's as thick as any worsted weight yarn, it's not as dense. Because of it's lightness, I think one could knit a massive cabled sweater in Mako Cotton and have it not feel heavy in the least, nor get droopy. My sweater feels light as air. The pattern is a snap and easy to follow and it's free. My husband and I feel it's a very flattering style. All my links are at the end.

Below are my modifications for fit and for ease of knitting. While I often change a pattern for fit, I just as often change a pattern to use a technique I prefer over the technique that the pattern recommends. I put all the mods on my Ravelry page for easy reference, but just to be redundant, I've added them here too!

I made the XS but casted on 10 less stitches on both front and back to make it less oversized. It is still oversized, but not quite so much--better for me.

Rather than knitting the sleeves separately and sewing them in, I sewed the shoulder and side seams then picked up the stitches for the sleeves at the rate of 4 sts. per 6 sts. To begin the sleeves I made two sets of “long” short rows--I call them long because I almost knit to the end of the rows. After I completed the two sets of short rows (two sets is knit a row, purl a row, knit a row, purl a row) I joined in the round and knit down to the elbow making tapering decreases every 1.5 inches.

For the lace v neck decreases I did this:

K to last 10 sts, K2tog, K1, YO, K1, K2 tog, K4

On the other side of the v I did this:

K 4, K2togtbl, K1 YO, K1, K2togtbl, K to end

The reason for this is because it just looked neater than the way the pattern had you do it. I tried and tried, but this was much prettier. Maybe it’s just me.

For the neck, I picked up stitches as the pattern says to do, but instead of casting off right away, I made 2 rows of moss stitch, then cast off. This was to bring the v in a little and make it not quite so plunging.

My Ravelry project page.

Mako Cotton is a Rowan Selects limited edition yarn--here for a season than gone!
It's definitely worth a summer sweater or two.

I found it at Deramores, Jannettes, English Yarns, and Laughing Hens.

Here is Mako Cotton on Ravelry.

The pattern is a free download from Quail Studio and Rowan.