Pattern Review: Ursa Sweater

To be honest, this sweater wasn’t on my radar. I had seen it on Instagram, but I have such a long list of things to make that it hadn’t been added to the queue. However, some friends were really excited about it and an Ursa Sweater cast-on party was organized, and I couldn’t say no to that!

For the above reasons I decided I would not buy yarn specifically for this sweater. I had a couple Lion Brand (affiliate link)options of bulky yarn in my stash and since I have had a real spring-pastel theme going on Instagram at the moment I went with Color Made Easy (affiliate link) in Millenial Pink. I found the gauge in this pattern a little unexpected, and many friends had difficulty getting it. To my surprise I was extremely close, even though the pattern gauge was quite different from what’s on the label for the yarn.

So the pattern. NOT a beginners pattern. Which is why Jacqueline also has the Ursa Minor pattern, which I haven’t bought so I can’t speak to it other than the fact that it does not have the half-brioche stitch. In the Ursa Sweater around the half-brioche stitch there are some things you have to intuit, since you are not told them. Adding to the half brioche to make the triangles means that the stitch you are adding each row is different, and doesn’t follow the repeat pattern described in the early pages of the pattern.

There are many, many beautiful and thoughtful details in this pattern. First of all half-brioche is exquisitely squishy. I actually love the stitches in between more than the more prominent v’s.

The raglan stitch extends all the way down the front of the sweater as part of the under arm detailing. And if I hadn’t made an error it would be even more beautiful.

When you pick up the few stitches under the arm to knit your sleeves, the centre detail going down the side ends up continuing as the sleeve detail.

My tips for success on the Ursa Sweater:

1. Gauge! I know I sound like a broken record. But after category 4 yarn, I would say category 5 varies almost as much. (A friend actually used a category 4 yarn because it met gauge!)
2. Don’t be proud, use the tutorial videos BEFORE trying stitches for the first time. If I had done this I wouldn’t have any mistakes in my sweater. If you knit English style (as I do, meaning you’re a “thrower”) you will probably have to watch a few times because the tutorials show continental style.
3. Print the pattern. I usually only do this when I’m testing a pattern. However, I had to refer back to the pattern a lot, and go between the upper page with stitch explanations and lower pages with the actual pattern, so going back and forth on the small screen of my phone was a little inconvenient.
4. Try it on as you go. It is hard to decide where you want a cropped sweater to land on you, but if you have a longer torso, you’ll really need to try it on to make sure it’s not just barely covering your chest. Also, the sleeves as written are VERY long. I have added length to sleeves in some patterns, and I did 8 fewer rows than are written for the Ursa Sweater.
5. Reverse the sleeve decrease directions, K2Tog first, then SSK at the end of the round before the half-brioche stitch. (This was Nicole of Woolfield Studio‘s suggestion, I have one sleeve each way, you can see the difference).