"Aberlady" sweater finished

"Aberlady" sweater, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

About a week ago I finished my "Aberlady" sweater, but it took days (literally) for it to dry. This is one of my all-time favourite patterns, by my favourite designer Alice Starmore. A Flickr friend of mine suggested I rename this project "Aberlord" :-)

The photo above shows the pattern, but the photo below shows the colour of the yarn better, a light blueish grey of Rowan Creative Linen ("Foggy" 624). And in case you're wondering, yes, those are my lips. Kiss, kiss, dear readers!

I'm making "Water Lily" shawl progress. The photo in my previous post gives a better idea of the pattern, but in this one it is easier to see the shape I have in mind.

"Water Lily" shawl

Check out Ylva's glorious cuffs! Twined knitting, magnificently decorated.

Nu har "Aberlady" äntligen torkat - det tog flera dagar, men det var det värt att vänta på. Jag tycker att garnet (Rowan creative linen) är som gjort för den här sortens mönster, hälften lin och hälften bomull. Den är lite svår att fotografera, bara: i den övre bilden ser man mönstret men den undre gör färgen mer rättvisa. Och ja, det är jag som är i den om ni undrar - puss på er!

Sjalen jag håller på med är ett nöje att sticka! Den kommer att bli v-formad, och så tänker jag mig någon typ av kant runt den.

Wedding shawl

Wedding shawl, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Here is a colleague of mine on her wedding day a couple of weeks ago (haven't found any matching wallpaper of curtains for her to pose next to) in the shawl I was honoured to make for her. The shawl is greener in reality, which you can see in this post.

I've started knitting a pattern from a book I bought some time ago, "Water Lily" from The Haapsalu Shawl by Reimann & Edasi. This is a pattern that actually doesn't have any nupps in it - but I like it anyway ;-)

"Water Lily" shawl in progress

In the book it is used in a rectangular design, but I thought it would work well in a triangular shape. This shawl will be V-shaped, though: I've divided the triangle in halves and am knitting the first half in a way to make it slant outwards from the middle. It will be similar to this shawl, which I made a couple of years ago.

Odd man out

Peekaboo, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Today I attended a book release at Litet Nystan in Stockholm: the best knitting book I have seen for a long time, "Maskor och Medeltid" (stitches and the Middle Ages) by Anna-Karin Lundberg.

She has found inspiration for patterns in Medieval churches in the province of Uppland. In the book there is an abundance of photos of both knits and the paintings that inspired her.

Not only did I add a glorious new knitting book to my shelves, I also got to see many of the knits from the book on display in the shop - and many knitter friends I don't see nearly enough. I got an opportunity to meet the writer-designer-knitter too!

You can only see glimses of a few of Anna-Karin's projects in my photo above, but there is a lot more to see if you visit her homepage Kajsa Sticks. (It's in both Swedish and English.)

Preparing for a workshop

Swatch, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

On Thursday I'm leading a workshop how to knit cables at Litet Nystan. It's the first time I'm teaching cable patterns, so it's exciting! Fortunately, I enjoy swatching: here's one of the two swatches I'm going to let the participants knit.

First there are five ways to use a cable, then another five. I like having several different things in one swatch for comparison and thought it would be clearer with a change of colours.

I'm making progress with the Aberlady sweater, now knitting the second sleeve.

My favourite method for shoulder joins is a three-needle bind-off. This is what the wrong side looks like:

wrong side

Here's how you do it: instead of casting off when you've reached the shoulders you keep the stitches on a needle or a thread. When you've knitted both front and back sections, you cast the back and front stitches of together (with the wrong side facing you unless you want the ridge on the outside - it could be used as a decoration). Back and front will meet beautifully if they end after a whole repeat or in the middle of one:

right side

Ever thought knitters were frightening? I never did - until I saw this post by crochet bloke Theo. Enjoy!

"Aberlady" sweater in progress

"Aberlady" sweater in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

First of all, thanks for your comments on my "Shells" sweater! (And christinelaennec: thanks for making me laugh with what you wrote about the string of pearls!)

I had barely cast off before I bought more Rowan creative linen and cast on to make another sweater This too is a design by Alice Starmore, "Aberlady" from her book The Celtic Collection. Starmore for president!