Mattie Cardigan Pattern

Mattie is a top-down, seamless cardigan with a burst of flowers around the yoke. The inspiration behind this sweater is my grandpa’s grandmother, Mette Petersen Hansen who was born in Denmark. In 1862, twenty-five-year-old Mette and her husband Mads sold their dairy farm and, with their three children, immigrated to America. They crossed the Atlantic on the Athena with her sister’s family and Mette’s mother. Three days before they landed in New York, Mette’s six-year-old daughter Minne got sick, died suddenly, and was buried at sea. Crossing the plains to Utah, Mette’s five-year-old son Hans also got sick and passed away. She then gave birth on the plains to a little boy named Peter who only lived a few weeks. Weakened from childbirth and sadness, she rode into the Salt Lake Valley in a wagon at the peak of sunflower season.When I was little, my Grandma Hansen told me how when Mette arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and saw sunflowers, she got a feeling that somehow everything was going