Finished: The Mary Maxim Wolf cardigan AKA Project Hail Mary cardigan
I’ll be honest, I’ve had this pattern in my knit-list for many years as it’s of the highly collectable vintage knits from the 1950s! A quick ebay search will show what I mean – originals can sell anywhere from $500 USD to well over $2000.
The yarn had been sitting in my stash for a few years, and when this cardigan recently went viral I thought it was the perfect time to make it up.
When I say viral, wow for a vintage pattern it’s going off! I cast on in March, and there 40 projects on Ravelry, as of today it’s over 600! I really love seeing a vintage pattern get so much attention, I hope more people will try vintage patterns after attempting it. And when I say viral – this is why:
(Image from The New York Times)
One of the Project Hail Mary movie designers re-made the wolf cardigan using foxes for Ryan’s character – and knitters everywhere were suddenly requested to make the pattern for friends and family. You can buy copies of the original wolf on Mary Maxim, and a kind soul has created the fox chart modification here on Ravelry if needed.
I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, which equates to what we call a 12 ply weight here in Australa. The original yarn is actually slightly heavier weight – closer to what we call a 14 or 16ply, so I added a few extra stitches to the sides to increase the width and some additional rows for length
My tip for a nice flat zip insertion is to also back the button bands with grosgrain or petersham ribbon first, and then sew in the zip. It stops the weird bubbles you can sometimes get.
Overall, I really love how this came out. I honestly found it one of the most fiddly vintage graphic knits I’ve made to date though. It had me swearing at a couple of points due to the amount of bobbins and colour changes needed in a single row. I promised myself ‘never again’, but Jakk LOVES it and asked me to make them one for Christmas. So I guess another will come eventually.
Just a quick note crediting the original creators of these knits. These chunky weight cardigans were inspired by Cowichan sweaters, made by the Coast Salish peoples. Their designs were often ripped off (with no credit) and eventually morphed into the 1950s kitschy knits we love today.