In August 2016, Louisiana experienced epic flooding that began with a 48 hour, 20 inch rain fall. Rivers overflowed, which led to breached levees, backwater flooding, and four feet of water in my house. The Amite River, which flows through Baton Rouge and was a main contributor to the catastrophic flooding, is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana.

This sweater design was mostly done when my house flooded. I saved it from ruin because at 5 am, when we had 15 minutes to evacuate our house, I had the wherewithal to simply move my WIP basket from the floor to the top of a dresser, just in case. I was able to get back into my flooded house 36 hours later, when I rescued the sweater. Finishing the knitting of this design really helped me feel “normal” again after the flood; it was the only knitting I could find right away (everything that wasn’t ruined by the flood waters was hastily packed in bins and stored at various friends’ houses), and luckily, the needles were with the sweater. I finished knitting the sleeves in our rented tiny apartment, sitting on a desk chair borrowed from my office, watching Netflix on my laptop, because we lost all of our furniture. This will always be my “flood sweater.”

Maurepas starts with a front and back, knitted bottom up separately, then seamed. The back is slightly longer than the front with a split hem. Cables start small at the bottom of each piece, then get progressively bigger going up to the shoulders. Stitches are picked up around the armholes for top-down sleeves worked in the round. A small cable panel dresses up the shoulders. There are two options for the neckline: an off-the-shoulder 80s-esque version, or a narrower version that won’t fall off your shoulder.

I’m 5.5 months pregnant in these photos; the sweater is quite stretchy!

Skills needed: Long tail cast on, cabling with or without a cable needle, seaming, picking up stitches, basic decreases

Sizes:
Ladies’ XS (S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X)
Finished Measurements:
Finished Bust: 31.25 (36, 40.75, 45.5, 50.5, 55.25, 60) inches/79.5 (91.5, 105.5, 115.5, 128, 140, 152.5) cm

Yarn:
Cascade Longwood; (100% Merino Wool; 191yd/175m per 100 g skein); Color: 26 Lavender; 5 (6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) skeins
If using this yarn, I recommend needles with very sharp tips as the yarn tends to split.