NORA chunky cable knit alpaca cardigan - black

NORA is a chunky cable knit cardigan in black, worn open - there is no fastening, and it is cut wide enough to wrap across itself when you want it to. One broad three-strand braid runs the full length of each front, and another down the outside of each sleeve. The back is not cabled: it is worked in garter stitch, in broad ridges running across the panel rather than a small repeat. In black the cables read as texture rather than pattern, and the whole thing wears more like a coat than a knit.

The yarn is thick and the knit is left lofty rather than packed tight, so the piece has real volume without the weight that usually comes with it. The shoulders drop past the shoulder line, the cuffs and hem finish in deep ribbing, and it falls to mid-thigh.

It comes in two sizes rather than one, so the fit is a choice: S/M measures 116 cm around, L measures 128 cm. Both are meant to sit loose over what you already wear - a dress, jeans, a straight skirt.

The yarn is built around alpaca and merino. Alpaca fibre is hollow, so it traps warmth well, and it carries no lanolin at all; the merino keeps the surface from prickling at the neck and wrists. The full breakdown is below.

Every panel of this piece is knitted to shape on its own - fully-fashioned, never cut out of a length of knitted fabric. The panels are then hand-linked: a person feeds the open stitches onto the linking machine one loop at a time, so the seams stretch with the knit and lie flat instead of pressing on you.

It is hand-finished - hand-steamed over a shaped pad and washed before it leaves the workshop, so it arrives at its true size and stays there. The yarn is spun in Italy.

I design every piece myself, and it is knitted in a small workshop here in Lithuania - a few at a time, never off a production line.

Every piece passes through my hands before it is packed - I check each one myself before it goes out.

It arrives in a plain brown box with the care card inside and nothing else - no filler paper, no leaflets. That is a choice, not a saving - I would rather use less than print something that is made to be thrown away.

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Colour – black.

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Two sizes:
S / M fits US / CAN 6 (S), 8 (M), 10 (M); European 36 (S), 38 (M).
L fits US / CAN 12 (M), 14 (L), 16 (L); European 40 (L), 42 (L).

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Composition – 30% alpaca wool, 30% merino wool, 10% virgin wool, 30% polyacrylic.

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Dimensions, garment not stretched*:
S/M - length 72 cm / 28,35", width around 116 cm / 45,67".
L - length 76 cm / 29,92", width around 128 cm / 50,39".
*as with all knitted garments, these may differ by a few cm.

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CARE:
- Hand wash;
- Maximum washing temperature 30 C;
- When washed, gently squeeze the excess water out of the garment;
- Do not hang the wet garment on a hanger, as it will/may lose it‛s original shape;
- Do not tumble dry;
- Cool iron with steam or other wet method.