The accidental lens louse

A few days a week I work in a yarn store - today a customer surprised me by handing me a crossword featuring a photo from one of my workshops! (I seem to be writing more about turning up in media than about my knitting these last few posts. Well, it is a fairly new thing for me, so I hope you'll excuse me that I get so excited!)

Now I'm rather curious what the yellow boxes will say when they're filled in. "Triumphal march of the alpha males"? Other suggestions?

"Alfahannarnas paradmarsch"?

A funny thing is that I was actually wearing the very sweater in the photo at work today! Not that it's such an unusual thing: I don't think I've ever been as happy with a sweater as with this particular one, Hanne Falkenberg's Studio Long, and wear it if not daily at least every week. And some weeks daily: this time of the year it's perfect instead of a jacket.

Over to some comments/questions on my previous post:

AlpakkaAnna: ja, det var synd att vi missar varandra på syfestivalen! Men du kanske hinner titta in i butiken på fredagen? Då är jag där hela dagen.

Salve, Sarah! You're quite right I taught Latin - how nice to have a knitter Latin colleague! I got the yarn and pattern through my local yarn store in Stockholm. As I understand it, you can only get them through dealers, not her website. Try www.swedishyarn.com, which seems to be her North American representative. Feliciter!

Thanks for telling me about Jan Brett, knitbrei! Haven't heard of her before - always nice to learn something new!

Inge: to be honest, I'm not sure myself! I've never met anyone called Lavold, only heard her name pronounced by other people - and some say Lávold while others say Lavóld... Maybe someone who reads this will know for certain?

Thank you, Christine! You always write such kind comments :-)

Minor modifications

Hanne Falkenberg's Studio Long is finished and instantly became my favorite sweater - it's incredibly comfortable! I'd probably sleep in it if it was colder, but on the other hand I'm happy under my woollen (of course!) duvet. A friend of mine is allergic to wool, poor guy, while I'd be more likely to suffer from wool withdrawal. (Minimal risk. Too hot to wear it? Knit it!)

Wool galore: not at home but feels like home

As I mentioned in my previous post, Falkenberg's design doesn't call for modifications. Her constructions would make modifications difficult anyway - and it's exciting following her instructions. However, I did two things slightly differently in terms of joining.

side seam

One of Hanne Falkenberg's glorious trademarks is minimal sewing; for this sweater you only need to sew the side seams. As you can see, my sweater required even less sewing since I wanted more ease of movement and left one third open. And didn't mind less sewing one bit.

sleeve join

Typically, she chooses the three-needle bind-off technique for joins, for example under the sleeves. I decided to do it from the right side for decoration - and because I preferred it to the way my first joins slightly folded inwards. Sorry there's no photo to compare. I was too eager to redo it to get my camera, which must have been at least five metres away. I'm sure you understand. Instead, I've got an in-progress-photo to give you an idea of the construction of the sleeves:

one-and-a-half-armed

Last, a photo of my dear grandparents in the 1930s - for no particular reason except it makes me happy to look at. 

Ann-Marie & Gösta Asplund

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!