Swenglish

Natasha's cardigan: sleeve in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

My ambition is to start writing posts in both English and Swedish.

Here is what I came up with for the cardigan sleeves: I took the flower shape from the body pattern (to make the different sections work together) and added small dots between them (to make it easier to knit).

The pattern repeat consists of twelve rows and there are sleeve decreases every four rows. Three decreases in all repeats makes it easier to remember when it's time for them: I like it when pattern and shape go together.

For the cuffs I'm going to repeat the mustard leaves, the pearls and the picot edge from the body to frame the cardigan.

Till ärmarna har jag valt att plocka blomformen från kroppen och använda dem i ett slags rutmönster med små prickar mellan. Jag tänker mig att samma mönsterform gör att koftans olika delar passar ihop även om det inte är exakt samma mönster, och de små prickarna gör att det blir lättare att sticka. (Enklare att sticka en maska i mönsterfärgen än att sno trådarna för att undvika långa flotteringar.)

Ärmens mönsterrapport består av tolv varv och minskningarna ligger vart fjärde varv, alltså tre minskningsvarv per rapport; detta gör det enklare att hålla reda på när det är dags att minska. Jag gillar när mönster och form hänger ihop.

Muddarna kommer att bli som nederkanten på koftan (senapsgula blad, pärlor och uddkant) för att liksom rama in plagget. 
 

The vest designed by Hanne Falkenberg is finished. I'm really happy with how it turned out, but I'm not likely to knit it again. It wasn't difficult, but rather monotonous. A good project to work with on trains, though - and I think the design is fabulous!

Hanne Falkenbergs väst är klar, och jag är riktigt nöjd med hur den blev - men den var nog lite för enformig att göra för min smak även om den inte var svår. Konstruktionen är så sinnrik att det var givande att sticka den bara för den sakens skull.

A helping paw - en hjälpande tass.

Sigge says "Happy holidays!"

, a photo by kajsarulta on Flickr.

And I add hope I manage to finish the Blues vest tonight. Not that it has to be finished by Christmas, I'm simply getting tired of making it. I do like how it looks, though - and Hanne Falkenberg's design is equally intriguing and impressive!

"Blues" vest, a design by Hanne Falkenberg

"Kungsängslilja" no 2

"Kungsängslilja" no 2
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm knitting a new version of a vest I made in November. They're practically identical; however, I'm modifying the shape slightly and have chosen a different shade of lighter pink. I think I prefer the new combination. There's more contrast in the first version, which I think creates visual interest, but the softer change in the second version appeals to me too.

Hard as it may be to believe, I had to have a break from knitting for a few days as my left shoulder was too sore. I first thought it might be due to spending an afternoon crocheting the bind-off edge around the Springtime shawl, but have decided to blame it on cooking instead. (In this case cooking=boiling some potatoes.)

This is my 100th blog post! I had no idea last spring there were so many things I'd want to write about my knitting.

The second time around

Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm taking liberties with Marianne Isager's design "Honey" from her book Classic Knits, original Danish title Strik à la carte.

Apart from making a vest instead of a cardigan, I've added repeats to the garter stitch bottom border (three instead of one) and made the edging significantly narrower. Now, I love her design, I just like experimenting to see what happens too!

However, I didn't quite like my first version to the left - which is what often happens when I experiment. The bottom border is too similar to the main pattern in stocking stitch, and I wanted the two sections to look slightly more different but still blend. Therefore, I added two rows of purple in the version to the right. Not an enormous change, but all the same I like it a lot better.

Edited to add:

Heureka! I just found my tape measure, which has been missing for a couple of days.

This must have seemed like a good place to keep it safe at the time, but apparently it was a little bit too good.

A vest for a vest: finished

A vest for a vest
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I envy my fingers – unlike me they remember things so well! Once I got started with the pattern it was almost like typing, and a favourite movie helped making this a quick knit: Woody Allen's Match Point is so compelling (even the the third time) I knitted faster than usual.

Short notes about the construction:

1. Knitted in one piece until I reached the armholes, then divided into three sections.
2. Armholes shaped using short rows.
3. Back and front joined using a three-needle bind-off and knitting a neck gusset (which I learnt from Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters). Picture here.
4. Stitches picked up around the armholes for a garter-stitch edging.
5. I picked up stitches along front; then knitted gusset stitches, back stitches and gusset stitches; then picked up stitches along other front. All stitches knitted back and forth for garter stitch edging.

My mother seems pleased with how her new vest turned out!

A vest for a vest

A vest for a vest
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Feeling a bit cold this morning I borrowed a grey vest that I knitted for my mother some five years ago and which is too big for her. The length is fine and she likes wearing it, but it gives her "wings".

Guess what? It turns out to be exactly my size, so we've decided I'll knit her a new one. There is enough of some beautiful heathery blue wool from Morjärv that's been in my stash for quite a while, waiting patiently for the right project.

As the grey vest is pre-Ravelry I don't have any notes – or I don't know where they are and probably wouldn't recognize them if they turned up – and that wool is a lot thicker, my challenges for this project are:

1) reconstructing the two patterns, since I don't own the book where I found them (Vogue Dictionary of Knitting Stitches by Anne Matthews);
2) figuring out where and how often to increase to get them to blend (the ribbing and main pattern repeats consist of different number of stitches);
3) knit a different size with different, thinner wool and a different gauge – and place the pattern so it becomes symmetrical;
4) last but not least, get the size right this time!

In addition, I'm knitting this vest in one piece instead of three. Why? To try it! Haven't knitted an open vest that way before.

Wearing and studying the grey vest takes me back to the time when I was knitting it. It was summer and I was staying at a colleague's house while she and her husband were away. They have a wonderful little garden where I spent many hours knitting, reading and picking berries. Strawberries, gooseberries, red and black currants, blueberries... Heaven.

Vests galore

WIP: Square dance vest
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I seem to be on a vest high this month: one frogged, one finished and one back into favour. I knitted this vest early this year, but was unhappy with the shoulder joins and the neck when I tried it on. It didn't look like what I had in mind, and it wasn't as comfortable as I wished (neck not low enough). Three-needle bind-off combined with neck gussets didn't work this time, unfortunately. (Done it before: here and here.)

Since then I've been thinking saddle shoulders would be the best solution, but I wasn't sure what how they should look. What's more, I wanted to try to knit them in place instead of sewing (done here) to learn something new, and I probably wasn't up to all these things at once – then.

The straps are 15 stitches wide and I knit them back and forth, knitting them together with back and front pieces. (Somehow similar to knitting a sock heel.) There are a couple of rows knitted with waste yarn first: I'm going to remove these and pick up the stitches to be part of the neck band. The strap pattern echoes a chain pattern I've knitted instead of side seams.

The vest is knitted on circular needles with steeks for armholes and is my own design. I decided to call it a Square Dance vest; dance for the small dots that surround many squares. First they were everywhere, but that just looked messy, like overly decorated gingerbread. Now they're only in every other section, a simple "rhythm" but definitely an improvement in my opinon. Perhaps it still resembles gingerbread, though – but I like gingerbread, so that's fine with me.

Here's the odd man out, the vest that is finished. It is my own design, the two pieces knitted back and forth and shoulders grafted. I couldn't resist this yarn when I spotted these colours (a not uncommon phenomenon) and tried to come up with a varied strip sequence where I wouldn't have to cut the yarns all the time. It worked!

I liked the wrong side of my swatch, so it was promoted Right Side. There are vertical lines of knit stitches in the sides, partly for decoration, partly to improve the shape. I do like circual knitting, but can't help thinking my sweaters without side seams resemble barrels unless I knit, say, a cable where the seam would have been.

Who knows, this might be a good time to do something about the unfinished blue vest that's been hibernating for two years.