Thora, actual chest 41.25"/105cm on 38"/96cm mannequin
Thora is a perfect throw on cardi for outside and in. Thick enough to wear as an outer layer on chilly days or you can layer it up too.
Sue has knitted our version in WYS Retreat Twist Chunky. It's 100% pure wool with a subtle colour gradation. Ours uses Harvest, shade number 1221. There are 5 other shades to choose from.
Our cardigan is to fit 32-34"/81-86cm chest and it has a finished measurement of 41.25"/105cm. There's a wide range of sizes available starting at 28"/71cm up to 62"/158cm.
It is knitted flat and seamed. You pick up stitches and knit the button band all in one. Make sure you have a 100cm long circular needle for that bit.
Thora is described as a brioche rib cardigan. DO NOT BE ALARMED.
It is not worked as slip stitches, yarn overs and BRK like 'traditional' brioche but rather in fisherman's rib. Fisherman's rib is where you work alternate knit stitches into the row below the stitch that's on the needle. This creates a textured fabric with extra airiness and stretch... just like brioche.
Thora has another quirk - it's not a (K1, P1) fisherman's rib it's garter stitch fisherman's rib. You knit into the row below (K1B) every alternate row and knit every other row. No purling! This creates a distinctive flat rib effect so it has less 'bulk' than classic fisherman's rib.
It's very straightforward to do although it's not so easy to fix a mistake so maybe put some lifelines in if you're prone to distractions.
Sue found a minor error on page 5 of the pattern. It says to work 4cm rib for the sleeve cuff ending with a RS facing for the next row. THIS IS WRONG. You should end with WS facing.
As the cardigan is knitted in pieces you will have to sew it up. Sue minimised bulky seams (remember you're knitting with a chunky yarn) by:
- Using mattress stitch half a stitch in from the edge rather than the usual 1 stitch in. This took a bit of practice to keep the stitch pattern consistent.
- Sewing up with the thinner Jamieson's Spindrift in a similar colour (Autumn).
Overall it's an enjoyable project which moved along quickly... and there's only 4 buttons to sew on! We used the Flat Olive Wood 4-hole buttons for ours.
Despite this project being very straightforward (and knitted by someone else!) I did go down a small rabbit hole re brioche v's fisherman's rib. I had always assumed they were just similar and not actually the same but with a some research it appears they are actually the same stitch just worked different and with different tension implications.
You can read more about that here.
To recap:
You can buy Thora as a paper pattern in the Pittenweem shop or online here. You can check sizes and yarn requirements here.
You can see our selection of WYS Retreat Twist Chunky here and our other chunky yarns here.
