New World Charm: Introducing Mundo Novo
Can you feel the chill in the air? Smell the coffee brewing? It's September which means it's the start of sweater weather! To get you into the mood for fall, here's my latest sweater pattern: Mundo Novo.
Mundo Novo is a cozy top-down sweater featuring a charming coffee-bean colorwork motif on the round yoke. In addition to the decorative beans on the yoke, the sweater also has a zigzagging colorwork design on the hem and sleeve cuffs. The neckband, cuffs, and hem ribbing are all done in twisted ribbing but otherwise the sweater is just smooth stockinette stitch. All in all, these elements create a sweater with a modern, yet timeless look.
Confession time: I'm not a big coffee drinker. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I vastly prefer tea — strong, hot, and black. But for this sweater pattern I was inspired by coffee beans. And that's also what influenced the name of the design: meaning "new world" in Portuguese, Mundo Novo is named after a coffee variety first discovered in 1943 the Novo Mundo region of Brazil. Today, this Typica–Bourbon hybrid is widely grown in South America due to its higher yield and resistance to diseases.
Mundo Novo the pullover is knit seamlessly from the top down, in the round, and in one piece using fingering-weight yarn. The coffee-inspired motif is done in stranded colorwork with two contrasting colors. Because there's lots of whitespace between motifs in the colorwork, I highly recommend using Ladderback Jacquard for managing long floats. This color-management technique — a close cousin to double knitting — is based on adding an extra stitch to the back of the work where long floats would otherwise occur. Using Ladderback Jacquard will not only keep the colorwork stretchy but also prevent floats from peeking to the right side when they're not caught the usual ways used in stranded knitting.
After the two-color stranded yoke, the body of the sweater is worked in stockinette in a single color. This allows for customizing the fit and length of the garment along the way, making the pattern suitable to a wide range of body types, shapes, and preferences.
As is usual in my circular-yoke designs, Mundo Novo features short rows placed at the bottom of the yoke. This creates a length difference in the back versus the front yoke which prevents the upper yoke from tilting backwards and the front neck from suffocating you. For more technical information on this, read my blog post on improving circular yoke fit with short rows.
Like in my two previous sweater designs, Guilty Pleasure and Salt Tide, bust and waist shaping on Mundo Novo are optional. These shaping sections independent of each other: you can choose to do one or the other, both, or neither.
The pattern is graded for a 5 cm / 2" difference between upper and full bust (or garment B-cup). For larger busts, additional bust shaping instructions are provided: D-cup in sizes L–4X and an F-cup in sizes 5X–6X. You can also calculate custom bust shaping based on your upper and full bust measurements following a separate worksheet.
In sewing patterns it's recommended to place bust darts pointing to the bust apex but ending approximately one or two inches shy of the highest bust point. The same applies to this sweater pattern, too: bust shaping is done as vertical bust darts, placing increases and decreases at the sides of each breast about one inch's width away from the apex.
For a tailored look, create a subtle hourglass figure for your sweater by adding waist shaping. This is done with decreases and increases placed at so-called princess seams, dividing the front and back roughly into thirds. For a more relaxed fit, the body of the sweater can be knit straight, omitting both bust and waist shaping.
For my sample sweater I used the same yarn as for Rockweed: Retrosaria Rosa Pomar Mondim (100% wool, 385 m/100 g, 421 yd/3.53 oz). This rustic, non-superwash yarn is made from Portuguese sheep's wool and has a toothy, woolly feel and a grabby texture that make it great for colorwork knitting. Although it's quite widely marketed as a plastic-free sock yarn, in my opinion Mondim is best suited for garments. The yarn comes in a multitude of colors, ranging from bright primaries to toned-down heathers, so there's a vast color palette to choose from.
Apropos colors, the colorwork motif on the yoke can be interpreted in different ways depending on the color combination you choose. While my rusty brown and white pairing brings to mind a cup of latte art made by an expert barista, the design is abstract enough to be seen as a flower or a four-leaf clover, for instance. Whichever colors you pick, pay attention to contrast to make the motif pop. Some of my test knitters, like @frausonnenburg here, even introduced a third color into the mix, adding another dimension to the design.
Mundo Novo comes in 10 sizes (XS to 6X) with a finished body circumference of 82–173 cm or 32¼–68¼ inches (without bust shaping) or a full bust circumference of 82–183 cm or 32¼–72¼ inches (including aforementioned bust darts). For a best fit in the shoulders, choose a size in the pattern based on upper torso circumference.
To knit the sweater you'll need fingering-weight yarn in two colors: approx. 870–1990 m or 960–2170 yd in the main color and 160–330 m or 180–360 yd in the contrasting color. Size-by-size yarn requirements are listed on the pattern page.
The pattern is now available in my Payhip, LoveCrafts, and Ravelry (seizure warning) pattern shops. And I'd love to see your color combinations! Share photos of your sweater — coffee-inspired or not — on Instagram with the hashtags #mundonovosweater and #talviknits.
Psst! If you're on my mailing list, check your email for a 20% off coupon code that's valid until the end of September 2024.
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