Mortmain

• Description
• Pattern Information
• Techniques

• There is a book Susan reads every year, in the quiet days between Christmas and New Year: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. It follows the trials and tribulations of the impoverished Mortmain family and their seventeen-year-old daughter Cassandra. She has very few belongings and values them greatly, and Susan wanted her Mortmain sweater to reflect this by being long-lasting and timeless. It is a quintessential yoke sweater that is simple to knit, with two sleeve options and a body length that is easy to adjust. Mortmain is worked in the round from the bottom up. The sleeves are knitted separately before they are joined to the body.

  Mortmain is knitted using Susan Crawford Excelana North Lightweight DK and is shown here in two colour ways, using the same shades in a different order; Trefusis, Virginia, Sheffield Steel and Snowdrop.
  

  Samples shown in sizes 3 / Short sleeves (on Ruth) and 4 / Long sleeves (on Susan).

  The pattern includes instructions for nine sizes to fit chest measurements between 71cm (28in) and 157cm (62in) and contains both clear written pattern directions, together with charted colour work instructions.

• Yarn
  Susan Crawford Excelana North Lightweight DK, 100% British wool, 75% Cheviot, 25% Bluefaced Leicester (230 m / 252 yds per 100 g skein approx)

  Colourway One
  Long Sleeves
  3 (4, 4, 4, 5) (5, 6, 6, 7) skeins, shade Trefusis
  Short Sleeves
  2 (3, 3, 4, 4) (4, 4, 5, 5) skeins, shade Trefusis
  1 skein, shade Virginia
  1 skein, shade Sheffield Steel
  1 skein, shade Snowdrop
  

  Colourway two
  Long Sleeves
  3 (4, 4, 4, 5) (5, 6, 6, 7) skeins, shade Virginia
  Short Sleeves
  2 (3, 3, 4, 4) (4, 4, 5, 5) skeins, shade Virginia
  1 skein, shade Trefusis
  1 skein, shade Sheffield Steel
  1 skein, shade Snowdrop
  

  Suggested needles
  Small Needles: 3.25 mm (US 3) circular needle (80-100 cm / 32-40 in)
  3.25 mm (US 3) circular needle (40-60 cm / 16-24 in)
  set of 3.25 mm (US 3) DPNs
  Large Needles: 4 mm (US 6) circular needle (80-100 cm / 32-40 in)
  4 mm (US 6) circular needle (40-60 cm / 16-24 in)
  set of 4 mm (US 6) DPNs

  Gauge
  22 sts and 30 rounds = 10 cm / 4 in over stocking stitch and stranded colourwork worked in the round, after blocking. We obtained this gauge using 4 mm needles.

  Notions
  Waste yarn or stitch holders, stitch markers, tapestry needle.

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