DIY: The Mistral Pullover by Emily Greene

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I knit myself the Mistral Pullover by Emily Green, published in Breeze by Making Stories.

I bought several skeins of 100% Rambouillet wool yarn from Rambling Yarns. Juliet, the farmer, bought a flock of Rambouillet sheep from Alberta and brought them over to Ontario. Custom Woollen Mills in Alberta processed the yarn, as they have experience working with such fine fibres. I ordered enough for a sweater because I knew I wanted to knit myself a 100% Rambouillet sweater! The yarn itself is soft and puffy, and despite being quite rustic, still has great stitch definition. Rambouillet wool is a fine fibre that can measure between 18.5 to 24.5 microns, making it similar to Merino. However, it has a longer staple length and less sheen than Merino, and I definitely noticed the very matte look.

I loved the softness of the yarn. However, I found that there were several knots in each skein, either in the full yarn or in just one ply. I tried to cut these out whenever I could, but this ended up giving me several ends to weave in. In total, I used almost 1030 m of the heavy DK weight yarn, or about 5.2 skeins.

The Mistral Pullover is knit in pieces from the bottom up and then seamed. First you start with a tubular cast on for the hem and cuffs. After having success with tubular cast ons in Ryan’s Limerick Henley, I made sure I used the same method. I like to work a provisional cast on using a crochet hook and waste yarn. After working the waste yarn, I knit the tubular cast on using this tutorial from Shibui Knits.

To keep the patterns even on each side and to match the front and back, I made liberal use of stitch markers. The yoke increases while the neckline decreases at different rates, there’s a 6-row lace repeat, and I needed to make sure the front is the same length as the back. This was definitely not a sweater for a first time garment knitter! I also love the lovely neckline shaping with lace details and ribbing.

The Mistral Pullover is meant to be worn with several inches of positive ease. After looking at the project photos of other knitters, I decided I didn’t want quite so much ease. The pattern includes six sizes, from a bust of 113 to 164 cm (44.5 to 64.5″). I knit size 1 using 3.0 mm and 3.25 mm needles. However, since my gauge was slightly larger than written, I still got a slight amount of positive ease in my finished pullover. The oversized look makes the sweater really cozy and cuddly, and although the pattern states the sweater is great for cool summer nights, it would also be great for cold Canadian winters.

This sweater took me amost 2 months to knit. Despite the rather large gauge, I took my time knitting the lace panels on the front and back pieces, and shaped the ribbing of the sleeves.

Get the Mistral pullover pattern on Ravelry here.