The Freyja cardigan originally came into the world a decade ago (in 2010) and was my first published Icelandic lady-sweater. To date it is still one of my most popular knitting patterns.

I decided to celebrate the anniversary with a new version of Freyja - this time a pullover knit up with one strand of Icelandic unspun plötulopi, and one strand of fine mohair.

After knitting the yoke pattern, short rows are added to heighten the back of the sweater which makes it fit better. The sweater is all worked in stockinette stitch and to prevent the edges from rolling a crocheted edge is added with the pattern color at the very end. All increases are worked as backward loop increases, also sometimes called e-wraps.

Yarn:
Plötulopi, 110g per wheel - 100g = ca. 300m.
Main colour:: yellow 1424. 2 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3) wheels
Pattern colour: white 0001. 1 ( 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) wheel
Hip Mohair, 25g = 210m.
Main colour: Tropical island. 3 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4) skeins
Pattern colour: Cotton ball white. 1 ( 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) skeins

Needles: 5.5 mm/US9 needles of the type the knitter prefers for working different diameters in the round. My own preference is a 80cm/32 inch circular needle that I use for the whole sweater by applying the popular magic-loop method.
Other: Crochet hook 3.5mm/E. 4 stitch markers, darning needle, two 12 inch pieces of scrap yarn.

About the technique:
Neckline is cast on and connected in the round, increases worked into the following rounds as described and then the yoke pattern is knitted. Note that the pattern chart shows one repeat of the motif - the yoke contains several repetitions of it. The next step are short rows, knitted and purled over the back part of the yoke. Read the instructions well. The yoke is divided into body and sleeves - sleeve stitches set aside on strands of scrap yarn while the body is finished and in the end sleeves are knit at the end, shaped with decreases. At the end you only need to weave in a few ends and your new sweater is ready!
Knitting sweaters top-down has many advantages. For example, you can try it on at any time during the process, and it’s easy to adjust the length of the sweater. Hey, if you’re feeling like it, just knit a dress :)