"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.

Shawl shape

Shawl in progress
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Today I thought I'd share my ideas for the shape of my current shawl project. I want a V shape made up of three equally big sections: the middle/bottom one filled with stars, and the wings with grids similar to the centre of the previous Estonian shawl I made.

You can see a tiny sketch of the shape in the centre of the photo, and in the upper right corner is the start of the grid pattern. The shawl will be framed with a knitted-on border, but I haven't made up my mind about what kind of pattern to use. No need to decide yet, though...


Christine has passed on an award to me, a Stylish award, which is very flattering. Thank you! I'm supposed to write seven things about myself. That will require some thinking, so I'm saving that for next post. In the meantime, I suggest you check out her blog and the other bloggers she nominated. 

Last, I'm going to answer a couple of questions in comments on a previous post:

Ron asked about the yarn. It's "Viva" from Wetterhoff in Finland, easily my favourite yarn for knitting lace. It's a glorious wool-silk blend (70-30%) and 100 grams is enough for a big shawl. It drapes beautifully thanks to the silk, and it has a sheen that enhances lace patterns. I just counted my "Viva" projects on Ravelry: this is my tenth since I first discovered more or less exactly two years ago. For most of them I've used 4 mm needles (US 6), but after some swatching I decided 3½ mm (US 4) worked best to make Estonian nupp patterns.

Ann asked about the edge. I simply slip the first stitch, as if to knit on the right side and as if to purl on the wrong side. I find this makes it easy to pick up stitches for a knitted-on border, and at the same time it looks nice enough in case I don't have enough yarn for a border and the shawl has to be naked. (Shock horror!)

Ron also asked about the green shawl I mentinoned in a previous post. It hasn't found an owner yet, but I have a friend's friend in mind. I understand she'd be interested in having one, and I believe it would be a great colour for her.

Edited to add: I just learnt a new word I could relate to instantly, namely shawlcoholic! Liisa's pun sjalkoholist is even better in Swedish, but I think it works in English too.

Springtime shawl: dry

Springtime shawl
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Here's a photo that shows the pattern better than the one in my previous post, where the shawl is folded in half on a blue towel. All I need now is an owner! :-D

6 July:

Rats! I accidentally deleted a new comment I was about to open. My apologies to whoever wrote it!

Blocking the Springtime shawl

Blocking the Springtime shawl
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I've folded the shawl in half to make it easier to block; not only out of a lack of space, but mainly to make sure the two halves become identical in size and shape.

It's a method I've tried before and I think it's far easier than measuring and rearranging the shawl and all the needles. When it's dry I'm going to dampen the middle of the back and reblock that part to avoid a crease.

Blocking has made it grow considerably in size, from each of the three triangles measuring 46x100 cm (18x39½ in) to 75x120 cm (29½x42 in). In this photo you can also see how much yarn I ended up not using - a close call!

Actually, I had to change my plans and skip the border along the top, realizing there wouldn't be enough yarn after all. Chart C (the big squares without leaves) was far more yarn-consuming than I expected. I had taken it into account how much many more repeats there would be, but hadn't studied the charts closely enough to discover how many more stitches there are in some rows. For example, a repeat consists of 24 stitches in one row, but 32 in another. That makes quite a difference when a row consists of 18 repeats!

This is my first attempt at a crocheted bind-off; I think it suits the pattern very well and it wasn't difficult, so I'm more than likely to do it again. After some experimenting I decided a chain of five stitches would be enough; the pattern has nine, but considering how little yarn I have left it was definitely a good decision to make them shorter.

Springtime shawl

Springtime shawl
Originally uploaded by Asplund

In Marianne Kinzel's First Book of Modern Lace Knitting there's a square-shaped table cloth that I admire and believe would be fun to knit. As I neither need nor want a knitted table cloth I've decided to modify the pattern to make a shawl instead. Not that I need shawls either, but I do need to make them.

The square design consists of four triangles, so by skipping one of them and knitting back and forth instead of in the round I will get a shawl shape I really like and have knitted a few times before (like this shawl). It looks comfortable to wear, staying on the shoulders far better than a triangular shawl. It seems easier to sit down wearing it too, since the back is horizontal.

I first cast on to knit the "Gerda stole", a pattern on Ravelry, thinking this colour would suit the pattern extremely well. I still think so, but ripped it out realizing I would soon get fed up knitting a rectangle. In some ways I'm very patient, in other ways not.

Off topic: I've been house-sitting and taking care of Sigge for a few days. Very relaxing!

If I may say so myself, I got the size and shape of the "Pacific" sweater right! It's far too hot to wear it these days, but I don't mind. Winter was so long and cold I'm still almost surprised every morning to find it's summer!

The joy of blocking

Anna's shawl
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I love blocking shawls! This time the total width grew by some 38 cm (15 in).

Tomorrow I've got two knitting-related activities to celebrate the first day of my summer holidays: having lunch with Anna to give her this shawl and see how it looks on her, and in the evening meeting up with my knitting & sewing group from work.

I did manage to knit in public on Saturday, joining other members of group Uppmaskan at the train station in Uppsala.

Unfortunately, I could only stay for some 20 minutes, between the opening of an art show where a cousin of mine is represented, and a colleague's birthday party. Toil and moil...

Happy shawl!

"Lady's Circular Cape"
Originally uploaded by Asplund

The shawl I finished a couple of weeks ago got to meet Annika last night. I hope and believe they will live happily ever after!

Circular Cape no 2

WIP: Lady's Circular Cape
Originally uploaded by Asplund

One of my favourite yarns is Wetterhoff's Viva, a shimmering wool-silk blend - like knitting with champagne! I recently found three skeins in a colour I hadn't seen before and thought it was my duty to buy them, and it didn't take more than a couple of days to decide what to use them for.

I'm knitting "Lady's Circular Cape in Shell Pattern" by Jane Sowerby (Victorian Lace Today), a design I first knitted exactly a year ago and gave to my aunt ("Lady Caroline's Circular Cape"). This one will be "Lady Annika's Circular Cape", for a dear friend and shawl lover who's moving back to Sweden after quite a few years abroad. Hooray!

Some modifications:
1. Wedge-shaped repeats elongated with increase rows placed more regularly in the original pattern, where it grows very quickly towards the end.
2. 5 repeats instead of 12 to keep her extra warm in the winter.
3. Edging knitted with slightly thinner needles.

Feel like something new for your computer desktop? How about some elephants from Mattias Inks?

"Leaves dancing" shawl finished

"Leaves dancing" shawl: before blocking
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Comparing the difference before and after blocking is always fascinating, especially when it comes to lace knitting. In this picture you can see the main pattern fairly clearly, but the bottom border looks all crumbled.

Nothing like the points in this picture:

Modifications
1. Three sections instead of one to get a crescent(-ish) rather than a triangular shape.
2. Rows 29-56 knitted three times instead of twice, since I used thinner yarn and needles than the instructions call for. It was easy adding rows and repeats to the design. (But I ended up with almost 700 stitches!)
3. At the very end I added six rows, continuing the pattern in the last section to close the points.
4. I skipped the crocheted edge, partly because I preferred the idea of knitted points at the very edge, partly because I was simply too lazy to try to understand the instructions. Charts with explanations in German was ok, but written instructions with abbreviations proved too much when I was eager to finish the shawl. Here's a picture of the original edge.
4. Stitches picked up along the hypotenuse (or what would have been the hypotenuse if I had knitted the original triangular shape) to add a border. I think it helps making a shawl look finished.

Measurements
Width top: 155 cm/61 in.
Width bottom: 390 (3x130) cm/154 in.
Lenght back: 70 cm (27½in)
Length diagonal between each section: 95 cm (37½ in)

The yarn, Viva (a wool-silk blend) from Finnish Wetterhoff, is wonderful: beautiful and a delight to work with. There's a lot of surplus dye in it, though, and it bled a lot when I washed the shawl. I rinsed the shawl at least fifteen times.

I like it that winter doesn't keep people from using their bikes!

Edited to add: here's a link to the shawl pattern.

Slipping through my fingers

"Christoffer" neckwarmer
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Here's a neck warmer I finished for myself yesterday (it's cold!) with some "Lucca" wool from BC Garn.

It was perfect for testing a slip-stitch pattern, a technique I was eager to make use of after seeing some glorious examples of patterns in Britt-Marie Christoffersson's new book Stickning - ett hantverk att utveckla.

This triangle pattern is practically one of hers except I resized it and turned it upside down. Why? To see how it would turn out! Well, also to make it blend with the 3x3 ribbing I had decided on. It's a great book, a kind of stitch-technique-inspiration treasury.

It's a wonderful technique in many ways; what I like best is that you get a lot of effect with minimal effort. I also like it that it's so subtle and that the floats on the wrong side make it warm. However, it's not very elastic. Not that it matters much in this kind of garment (in my opinion, it's actually an advantage here) , but in a sweater it would be important to keep it in mind.

After finishing it I cast on my First Real Knitting Treat of 2010. (Let there be many!) I've promised my friend and former colleague Karin a triangular shawl; about a month ago I found the perfect yarn for it, a wool-silk blend from Finnish Wetterhoff, and the other day I came across a beautiful free pattern on Ravelry: Haruni by Emily Ross.

Needless to say, I couldn't resist testing a couple of modifications, but I'll get back to them some other day.