The Year of...

Majas Mamelucker by Maja Karlsson

Woolen undergarments, apparently. First the Summer Bralette (blogged here & here), then these Majas Mamelucker (both by the same designer) - what's next? (There are a lot of vintage woolen undergarment patterns floating about...)

Seams? What seams?

The Majas Mamelucker pattern was quite easy to follow, after the translation process and figuring out what was what. (Mods are listed below.) The resulting shorts are very comfortable, as you might expect, although I'm having some fitting issues concerning the crotch area. I actually suspect that it might be because my gauge is off (surprise surprise), though it was close enough that I threw caution to the wind, even knowing the one size pattern would come out a little large... but that's what the ribbing's for, isn't it? Anyway, they're only slightly loose, and even that might just be because I prefer more skin-tight shorts if they're going to be worn under any other clothing. The crotch piece is a couple of stitches too wide though, so I would suggest either removing 5-6 stitches or so from the crotch area (and redistributing to the sides) or not increasing those 5-6 stitches in the front/back pieces in the first place. The ribbing does a great job in terms of fit, and you really don't even need that many stitches if you fall under the size listed.

No modeled pictures because they're short and I haven't a clue what to pair them with. They're also - in case you haven't noticed - super high-waisted, which is great for winter! Next time though, I would make the waist even higher - maybe knit 2~4" more of ribbing, so that when they fold down, they're still at the natural waist.

Look at that waist!

Now, mods:

1. None, really, except for knitting the entire thing in pieces because I wanted to use my Wellington Fibers 30/70 Mohair/Wool, which wasn't enough for the entire piece. So I decided to colourblock the shorts with some Araucania Ranco, which meant knitting the sides & the front/back pieces separately after the waist ribbing. Then I kitchenered them together before doing the ribbing for the legs.
2. My gauge was off, but by a small enough fraction that I just forged ahead anyway, especially since I knew the ribbing would pull in enough for the shorts to stay up.