Even if Joji weren’t a dear friend, the sentiment of this sweater, to which I wholeheartedly agree, would make me drop everything else and knit it. Even in wool, and even in the summer! We are stronger when we are ALL TOGETHER- whether it is the coronavirus pandemic, or the protests against systemic racism triggered by George Floyd’s death (the latest in a terrible series of unnecessary deaths).

The original design is a beautiful boxy sweater with wool + mohair for the MC. Boxy is not my best look, and mohair in combination is too hot for me, so with Joji’s blessing I am taking her heart-felt work and applying her charts to a fingering-weight yoke sweater.

I looked at the “all together” chart - 126 stitches wide. That means 256 plus some border stitches. I used the wonderful Tin Can Knits Strange Brew recipe (sock yarn, size Women’s M).

Yarn:
Green: 111, 112 and 113 grams to start. Neighborhood Fiber Co. is a wonderful black-owned dye-house. Karida fundraises for many good causes and has a new foundation donate here
Pink: 111 grams to start. Quirky dyer from the UK. 97 grams left.
Silver: 85 grams. My favorite Canadian dyer. 60 grams left.
Purple: small amount of leftover.

Motif 1: 13 rows x 20 stitches
Motif 2: 7 rows x 10 stitches
Motif 3: 30 rows x 126 stitches plus border pattern of alternating peeries 28 stitches.

Helpful Hint - for each row of Motif 3 I wrote down the numbers of the MC spaces so it was easier to knit. Took a minute at the start, then made life easier. See example in the pic.

Cast on 120 stitches with 3.25 mm needle. 7 rows corrugated rib then 1 MC. Switch to 3.5 mm needles. Increase to 144. 1 row then increase to 180. 10 short rows. 3 rows then start motif 2 for 7 rows. 1 plain row then increase to 240 then motif 4 for 13 rows. 1 plain row, then increase row to 308, then Motif 3. Move the BOR from center back to left sleeve/back before Motif 3.
4th increase to 336 Separate sleeves: 106 back, 62 sleeve. C/O 14 so 240 body. Oops- I wrote motif 4 but did motif 1 so my Pink flowers are drooping down instead of up. No biggie!

• added some waist shaping after 4 inches (4 decrease rounds 6? rows apart then 4 increase rounds 8 rows apart).
• 2 x 2 ribbing with body needle 3.5 mm.

Sleeves: pick up 14 plus 2. Decrease 2 first row. Decrease 2 more at pick up edges row 3. 74 stitches. After 15 rows decrease 2 then every 10 after that to 60 stitches. Row 55 after 60 stitches start motif 1. 2 rows, then switch to 3.25 mm needles and 7 rows corrugated rib. 1 plain green row then bind off.