Showing posts with label Donegal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donegal. Show all posts

Sunday, 4 December 2016

Donegal sweater finished at long last

Almost to my surprise I finally finished my "Donegal" sweater, an Alice Starmore design. My Ravelry project page tells me I cast on in July 2013 - and it seems I haven't touched it since perhaps February 2015. For whatever reason I suddenly got it out the day before yesterday for a diagnosis. Good news: only 1/4 of a sleeve left to knit. Great news: no moth holes! It only took two evenings to finish it, so I wonder what made me put it aside for almost two years - I usually accelerate towards the end of a project. Maybe there was something I've chosen to forget, like getting the colour changes all wrong for a few rows? We'll see.




One thing I do remember is having difficulties deciding where and how to end the front and back for a shoulder join without major pattern cracks and collisions. I even think I modified the chart slightly, which feels practically sacrilegous. (Meddling with a Starmore chart!) Perhaps I get a needle and some leftovers to embroider stitches so that the lines near the neckband meet. To me it looks as if someone took a bite, which in a way is rather charming.

shoulder join


The negative thing is that I ended up with sleeves that are too wide: to get where I wanted in the chart I had to knit more rows than I otherwise would have done. On the other hand, it turned out an oversized sweater (or perhaps I'm undersized?) so it doesn't matter much.

Since summer I've been toying with brioche scarves, using increases, decreases and short rows to achieve zigzag effects. These three scarves are all made with Visjö yarn from Östergötlands ullspinneri, extremely addictive wool.

Z scarves

The past few months I've been teaching unusually much (two weekends a month at HV in Stockholm, for example) which is fantastic. Only a few years ago I never would have guessed there'd be so many opportunites to teach knitting, so I count myself extremly lucky being able to combine my profession and my lifelong hobby. This blog gets to starve, though - imagine dreary posts about my writing instructions. I'd rather write about my private projects here, even though they are few and far between these days, "they" referring to projects as well as blog posts ;-)

Happy knitting!


En av många fördelar med att ha ett frikostigt antal projekt på gång samtidigt är att det plötsligt kan gå väldigt snabbt att avsluta ett av dem. För mig är det något av en gåta varför jag har låtit tröjan Donegal ligga i nästan två år fast det bara var ungefär en fjärdedels ärm kvar. Ärmarna har jag stickat direkt på kroppen, så det var inte ens någon montering kvar. Nå, härom kvällen fick den komma ut och nosa i alla fall, och med så pass lite arbete kvar tog det faktiskt inte mer än ett par kvällar att få den klar. Tack och lov kunde jag inte hitta några gnaghål eller så!

Däremot minns jag att jag fick fundera en del på hur jag skulle få ihop det över axlarna med så få mönsterkrockar som möjligt. Visserligen hittade jag ett bra varv i diagrammet, men jag fick rita om det lite för att inte påbörja nya mönsterformer som bara skulle bli stympade direkt. Det innebar också att jag stickade några fler varv än jag annars skulle ha gjort, så tröjan är i största laget - speciellt ärmarna. Det går nog inte att lura någon att tro att det döljer sig kraftiga bicepsmuskler under dem.

Annars har jag lekt med patentstickning en hel del, kombinerat ökningar och minskningar på olika sätt för att få lite roliga former på halsdukar. Tre av dem syns på fotot ovan, samtliga i Visjögarn från Östergötlands ullspinneri. 

Det blir inte så många plagg som förr, och därför inte heller så många uppdateringar här. Det beror framför allt på att jag har fått fler uppdrag som kursledare i stickning än jag hade vågat drömma om, så mycket av min sticktid går åt till att tänka ut uppgifter, skriva instruktioner till dem och teststicka. Det är otroligt givande att arbeta med kurser, men den processen ser jag inte som överdrivet blogg-kompatibel.


Sunday, 25 January 2015

Leading ladies

Still in the mood for following someone else's instructions I've added Hanne Falkenberg's "Studio Long" sweater to my collection of works in progress. It's not like working with Alice Starmore's "Donegal" pattern, though.

Starmore's "Donegal" and Falkenberg's "Studio Long"


When it comes to Donegal, I'm more than happy working with Starmore's pattern and choice of colours - how could I not? - but there are some things I need to figure out to get the size right. Sleeve length, above all (knitting for myself is like knitting for a baboon) but I also enjoy thinking about details like how to make the shoulder join look as nice as possible.

Falkenberg's design is different: her constructions are so ingenious and intriguing it's difficult to modify the shape. Her "Studio Long" is knitted both sideways and diagonally, for example! Not that I think any modifications will be necessary, it's just that I usually can't help myself...

I've knitted one of her designs before, a vest called Blues, and found it quite fascinating. I remember not always being sure where I was, but I'd heard from various sources what a careful pattern writer she is I decided simply to follow the instructions and try not to even think about interpreting anything as something that she hadn't actually written. There's simply no need to as I don't think I've ever read better, clearer instructions than Hanne Falkenberg's. It's really relaxing: garter stitch, one colour at a time and not having to think - or, rather, being able to think about whatever comes to mind. If I had a television set, this would make for excellent telly knitting. Instead, it's conversation knitting.

Det är välgörande och avkopplande att följa andras instruktioner, även om jag oftast tycker att det är roligt att hitta på själv eller åtminstone göra om detaljer. Alice Starmore är oslagbar när det gäller färger, tycker jag, så då är det lyxigt att ha hennes kombinationer som jag aldrig skulle ha kommit på själv. Hanne Falkenberg är oslagbar när det gäller mönsterkonstruktion och skriver så tydligt att det inte kan bli fel. Det gäller helt enkelt att inte tolka in något som inte står där - något av en utmaning för mig som är ganska klåfingrig i fråga om beskrivningar, men samtidigt skönt. Gör man bara som hon skriver är det förvånansvärt enkelt att sticka en tröja så här på tvären och snedden samtidigt!





 

Sunday, 21 July 2013

"Alba" sleeves

"Alba" shoulder join by Asplund
"Alba" cardigan: shoulder join, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.
Here is the shoulder join: it is identical to the one I made for the sweater I finished some time ago. The sleeve is different, though, as there is no sleeve cap shaped with short rows.

Ann asked how I made those: starting with seven stitches in the middle I knitted back and forth adding three stitches each row until I had knitted all the stitches picked up around the armhole and could start knitting in the round. I was happy with how it turned out, but didn't feel like knitting lots of purl rows with two strands this time.

Alba sweater: sleeve cap


Instead I concentrated on figuring out where to start in the pattern. My aim was to make sleeve match the body, so I knew exactly where in the pattern I wanted the sleeve to end - but I also wanted to start where it would look good (I don't like it when patterns look amputated, and these repeats consist of 40 rows) and get the length right, of course.

Alba cardigan: body and sleeve


Jules asked about the Donegal border, whether it was my own or a new version by Alice Starmore. It is Starmore's, the one that you get with the kit. I modified it slightly, though: instead of casting on with the light colour I chose the darker one and added a couple of purl rows to make the edge curl inwards. There are photos of the original design here.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

The more Starmore the merrier

My second Alba will be a cardigan - mainly because it allows me to change colours in the middle of the front steek and simply cut out the centre of the steek with all the threads. (I did a similar thing a couple of years ago.)

I happened to order a Donegal kit fromVirtual Yarns some time ago. Not because I'm worth it, but simply because I want it. This pattern is slightly trickier to knit: unlike Alba, there are often long floats to catch with both strands. Well worth it, though, as it is like knitting jewellery.
Donegal

Don't you think the wool matches my William Morris tray?