Note: No pattern links go to Ravelry unless specifically mentioned
Hooray! A Make Nine finished project! I was interested in making the Ursa Sweater by Jacqueline Cieslak pretty much since it came out. It’s cute, size inclusive, and the cropped length means it takes less yarn than a full length sweater, making it a little more affordable.
Now the details. I used Sublime Yarn’s Phoebe in colorway 535. Unfortunately Phoebe has since been discontinued. (remember that, it is important).
I have a bust measurement of roughly 34 inches and while the style of the sweater allows for lots of positive ease, I personally only like some positive ease. I chose to make the size for a finished 38 inch bust.
Being in bulky weight yarn, this project zipped along quite nicely for a while, with a few bumps. It became apparent that the v-neck as designed would never work for my narrow shoulders. On trying it on, I discovered that not only was the neckline too wide for me but also too low, plunging like 1930s evening wear. So I planned to add ribbing after I was finished with the sweater. The next bump was more of a brick wall. Once I had finished the body and moved to the sleeves, it was painfully evident that I would run out of yarn. And run out I did, not even finishing the increases on the second sleeve. Which is bad enough. Only when I went to order more yarn did I discover the true horror. The entire yarn line had been discontinued and I couldn’t find the yarn, let alone my color, anywhere. Not even on Ravelry (this was before The Change). The only place I found my color was the website of an English yarn store. Oh did I mention this was in March-April? Soon after the US went into lockdown with air travel coming to a screeching halt as the world grappled with Covid-19? With all the disruption in overseas mail, which can be spotty in the best of times anyway, I was very hesitant to order from an unknown-to-me source. Eventually, the desire for a finished sweater won out and placed the order. Imagine my delight when it arrived, roughly two weeks after I ordered it and well before I expected it. Based on how much yarn I had used in the sweater and estimating how much I would use for the remaining sleeve and neck alterations, I ordered 3 more skeins. Once bitten, twice shy. So of course I completed it using only one skein.
I am quite happy with my sweater. The chainette construction of the yarn led it to grow during blocking so it’s longer than the cropped length it was supposed to be. That ends up working better for my preferences though so I’m not upset. The chainette means it’s very warm but also light in weight and it feels like putting on a fluffy, toasty cloud.
Before Blocking 
After Blocking
