and it's free!
You will find it if you look me up on Ravelry; my user name is Asplund.
I've proof-read and proof-knitted the pattern; hopefully there aren't any errors left in it, at least not any serious ones.
Thank you everyone for all your kind and encouraging comments and messages since I started blogging!
After all, I decided to abandon the idea of a saddle with yellow and white square and/or rectangles, mainly because the yellow drowned in this shade of brown. (Which I wanted to use since it was next in turn of the background colours.)
Not particularly surprisingly, Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting provided inspiration. I changed this simple but elegant leaf pattern only sligthly (adding a couple of rows) and used two of my three shades of green in it; I knitted one half of the pattern on each piece to be joined in the middle.
First I thought of grafting the two pieces, but in that case the pattern halves wouldn't have matched completely but would have been half a stitch off (shock horror!) so I cast them off together.
I liked the leaves so much I made them the first sleeve pattern too. The russet squares wasn't a good idea as the darkest background colour suddenly looked very dark
and dominant placed vertically against the borders. I should have taken a photo of how it looked before I unravelled those rows, but unfortunately didn't. (Too eager to knit more leaves!) Here's a photo of the steek instead. The crocheted chain probably could have been closer to the body but perhaps it doesn't make much difference.
Finally, here's the hat I started to have something completely different to focus on. It weighs next to nothing, but all the floats on the wrong side make it warm.
Top left: the armhole is slightly shaped. There could be more decreases, but I want the pattern to end in the middle of the big X on each side: I like symmetry, and there's already so much going on in this garment that I believe it's important the "frame" of it is right (so you don't notice it).
Top right: steek stitches secured with a crochet hook. I'm not completely sure where I got this idea from, but am fairly certain it was En till who told me about it. Thank you!
Bottom left: front shaping of neck. I knitted back and forth using wrap-and-turn short rows. The back of the neck is shaped too and about half as deep. Purling with two colours isn't my favourite hobby, but I do it as fast as possible to have it over and done with.
Bottom right: removing provisional cast-on stitches. I like putting all the stitches on the needle first, so I don't drop them or accidentally pull the wrong yarn.
Before I can move on there are quite a few decisions to make. Most important, how to join the shoulders: grafting, casting off together or knitting a saddle. I like the saddle idea best, but that involves more decisions: how wide, what colour(s), a pattern... Perhaps light brown background with yellow and beige squares.
I have to work with something completely different to let my brain work with the jacket project without my noticing it. There's enough yarn from other projects to make a hat. This is also Shetlandsuld, but how different it turns out in dark grey and white stripes!
Hats "Carl" and "Otto" (see previous post) have some woolly company: a green twined hat I knitted late 08/early 09, and two new, blue friends.
I knitted "Alex" with the same yarn and therefore named this hat after Carl-Otto's brother; "Blue Onion" in the upper left corner with beautiful yarn my Kiwi friend James gave me. Kia ora, James!
It's rather fascinating seeing how stripe width affects how the blue yarn looks in the three blue and grey hats. (Yarn: Pälsull, Östergötlands ullspinneri.)
Thes
e hats and some of my sweaters and mittens are in a men's clothing store, Carl-Otto in Västervik, where they will be on display for a few days. Map here.
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Speaking of hats galore, I'm having fun knitting a hat for a friend. He wanted a soft and warm hat with ear flaps, preferably greenish-brown. It took some time, but at last I managed to figure out how to make the ear flaps the way I want them to look. This is what the "Sea Urchin" hat looks like so far.
I'm knitting hats for an event later this month, Smaka på Tjust (Taste Tjust – a Swedish district). This is a kind of market that focuses on locally produced goods etc. Carl-Otto, a men's clothing store in Västervik, asked if I wanted to present some knitted items there. DoI?Yes!
I've made a vest specifically for this event; I bought yarn produced at Östergötlands ullspinneri not too far from Västervik, and there was enough left for some hats. I already called the vest Carl-Otto, so these hats are Carl and Otto; they are twins but not identical.
My knit
ted items (and their creator) will be there Sept. 18 and 19.
Before then there's another knitting activity to look forward to, Progglördag at Nordiska museet in Stockholm on 12 September. There will be a corner where visitors can try knitting graffitti and I've volunteered to help out. I haven't done anything like that before, so it's a fun challenge!
I thought 
of a new way to block hats. Well, new to me at least – many others probably have thought of the same thing. I never liked blocking hats flat and suddenly had the idea I could try using a balloon; that way it would also be possible to get exactly the right size. It worked. Next problem: how to keep it still until it's dry? Ah! That's what lamps are for!
