Stranded garter stitch

Stranded garter stitch, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

I'm testing something I haven't done before, namely stranded garter stitch. This cardigan by Tålamodspåsen inspired me - thank you!

It wasn't difficult, but the wrong-side rows were rather slow to knit as I had to make sure the floats stayed on the wrong side facing me). I think it makes a nice frame.

Next step is picking up stitches to knit the sleeves. I may knit a simpler but similar flower pattern, perhaps just white flowers on blue background. The body pattern repeat is 40 stitches wide, possibly too wide for a sleeve. We'll see.

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

Contagion

Blending into the background, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

In April I suddenly discovered my new sweater matched the kitchen curtains at work. It still makes me smile - although come to think of it I probably haven't worn that particular sweater to work since then.

Today my Viften-clad colleague suddenly discovered she matched the curtains in her office! :-D

Pre-blocking

Cardigan progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

The steeks are waiting to be cut. I have secured them in two ways. First with chain stitch - I usually do that with a crochet hook (En till once showed me how to), but the few hooks I have were too big. To be on the safe side (haven't worked with this yarn before) I also wetted the steeks and rubbed them gently to make them felt.

It occurred to me I might as well pre-block it, not that carefully but enough to get a better idea of how the pattern will turn out. The blue looks too dull in this photo, but I didn't have the patience to wait for daylight. Not that you can be certain there will be any this time of the year.

Vest construction

Vest in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Hanne Falkenberg's "Blues" vest is really fascinating!

You knit the two fronts diagonally towards the back centre and then join the two fronts to knit the back across them. I guess I shouldn't reveal more details than that as I don't own the copyright although it's tempting.

However, it's quite safe to reveal that I discovered I had made a mistake knitting the the first front section, ending up with a few stitches fewer than I was supposed to - and corrected it by adding a few rows with increases and making the same mistake on purpose while knitting the second one.

It saved a lot of time and will hardly make any difference when it comes to size; the important thing must be having the same number of stitches when it's time to join the sections.

The construction and colour changes make this a rewarding project to knit, but I do prefer more pattern, to tell you the truth. I accidentally typed "yell you the truth" first! Must be the season ;-)

Cardigan progress

This cardigan will be very light: so far I've used only 100 grams!

My plan is to knit two more horizontal borders and then change patterns for the shoulders, probably reusing this idea in some way.White background with small blue shapes and/or pearls, perhaps?

I think the steeks look rather nice, not so nice it's a pity to cut them, but perhaps they can be used as an idea for a future pattern.

Fair trade

Fair trade, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Look what I got in advance for the cardigan I'm making! Love all four of them, but possibly the skaters best. Natasha is a truly versatile artist, and you can see some of her works at Uppsala konstmuseum (in the castle) until 22 January.

Cardigan modifications

Cardigan in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

The cardigan I am making for a colleague is growing fairly quickly in spite of the thin needles (never used 2 mm for a sweater before) and I'm happy with my modifications now that I see how the turn out:

• Single strands and 2 mm needles instead of double strands and 3 mm.
• Green and blue pears near the picot edge instead of yellow pearls among the mustard leaves.
• Simpler, straighter, mustard leaves (to make it easier to knit).
• Mustard leaves going in opposite directions from the centre of the back section (see right corner in photo above) instead of travelling round in a circle; I want the leaves to meet in front.
• Main pattern also simpler with straighter leaves and the big flowers turned into smaller ones alternating with stars, echoing a sweater I knitted in the late 90s.

Thanks for encouraging comments on my previous post! In particular I took christinelaennec's words about supporting economy to heart :) Guess what I did yesterday? Right. Some more support by purchasing a Hanne Falkenland vest kit I've had my eyes on for quite a while. Those Danes are incredible - such an eye for details and ingenious constructions. The yarn is quite lovely too: a strand of indigo cotton wrapped around a strand of lamb's wool.

Adding even more to my stash

Cardigan in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

What to do when you can't decide how to go on with your sweater(s)? Well, you can always cast on to make another one!

Even though (useful expression!) I shouldn't (also good!) really (one more!) keep adding to my stash before I've knitted up more of it, I just couldn't resist some of the many gorgeous things I found at GarnGalleriet.

To be honest, I even told myself it was my duty to get knitting-related things for what I earned leading knitting workshops. And I bought the argument without making a fuss. Here's what I got:

A pattern book, 5 hanks of blue wool, 3 hanks of white cashmere, 5 hanks of green wool, a cardigan kit

Solveig Hisdal's "Wedding cardigan" may be my top favourite design from her book Poetry in Stitches. I'm modifying the pattern in different ways, though, mainly to avoid long floats with both strands. Just one is ok, but two is too time-consuming to catch.

I recently found pretty Japanese pears on sale at Litet nystan and decided to use them in this project. Instead of the original's yellow pearls among the yellow leaves, I've added a row of green and blue pearls near the picot edge.

The yarn is thin, and the instructions in the kit tell you to use two strands. Instead, I'm using one strand and thinner needles (2 mm/US 0) - and more stitches. I did this to make the cardigan lighter and because I believe four strands in all might make it too warm to wear very often. And simply to see if it works!

PS I recently started and finished a vest with some yarn bought a few years ago, which shows I am capable of using my stash - and which means it's ok to add to it whenever I like ;-)

Sweater progress

Thorsten fiskares tröja, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Back and front done and armhole steeks cut; next step will be joining the shoulders.

Knowing roughly but not exactly what I want to achieve I've been thinking, testing, ripping out, reknitting, rethinking and so on and so forth for a couple of weeks. I've practically made up my mind now:

• Keeping the original design's black and white square pattern.
• Knitting separate saddles instead of finishing the back and front parts with the squares.
• Skipping a horizontal border pattern between main pattern and squares.
• Incorporating the saddle live stitches from the provisional cast on and the last row when knitting the sleeve and neckband.

To be continued...




Thanks for kind and flattering words about my needlework! :)

Carolina asked about blocking and using a frame when stitching. I have thought about using frames to make blocking easer, but like the freedom without a frame: easier both to turn while stitching and to carry around. (I sometimes stitch on trains and buses.) Blocking it to get the right shape can be quite difficult, thouhg, but I guess you can see it as good exercise.

Asplund stitches

Roman head, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

A few years ago I did quite a lot of needlepoint and cross-stitch (Flickr set here) but it wasn't until I came across this needlepoint design by Candace Bahouth at Wincent that I returned to stitching.

I completed the last stitch half an hour ago, and as you can see it will have to be blocked into a square shape. It was a lot of fun to make with all the different kinds of patterns, and I love working with this orgy of colours - you just couldn't knit it, unless you don't mind knitwear about 5 centimetres thick. I haven't decided how to use it, but might make a cushion.

Wrap and sweater progress

Bressay-ish hap wrap, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Bressay-ish hap wrap by Sharon Miller: I've finished the centre section, picked up stitches around it and started knitting the border - and it looks as if I'm trying to knit a brain! Or an udder.

Thorsten fiskares tröja (Fisherman Thorsten's sweater) by Celia B. Dackenberg: I'm getting closer to the shoulders. The original has a similar square in front, but with initials and a year. I wanted some kind of picture instead and found a bird in a book by Britta Johanson, modified it slightly and mirrored it, put a kind of tree in the middle and added some of the picot edge red.

About the edge: you're quite right, Ron - there are two purl rows above the join. I've found it helps keeping it from folding outwards.

Thorsten fiskares tröja

The Pale Cast of Thought

Bressay-ish hap wrap, centre section, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

About a month and a half ago I started knitting Sharon Miller's "Bressay Hap Wrap", a free pattern from Rowan. I do like the design, but should have read the instructions carefully before casting on. After some consideration I have decided to frog what I've made and modify both the construction and the pattern. Here are the two main modifications:

Original design: four outer borders knitted separately with their corners sewn together.
Modified version: stitches for outer borders picked up around the centre section and knitted in the round to avoid seams.

Original design: all garter stitch.
Modified version: a combination of garter stitch and stocking stitch, partly for variation, partly to show and compare the difference in a single garment. (I'm bringing this project to Saturday's lace knitting workshop at GarnGalleriet.)

Encouraged by all the positive comments on my previous post I returned to Litet nystan to add even more to my stash of Shetlandsuld. Thank you! :-)

Ron and Francesca asked about Shetlandsuld, how it compares to Jamieson & Smith and Isager's Tvinni. I have actually never worked with J & S, so I don't know. I'd say Shetlandsuld is slightly rough to work with (which I like - not very fond of slippery yarns) but a lot softer after washing and blocking. It is quite similar to Tvinni, but thicker.

Ron also asked about the picot edge. First, I knit a few rows of stocking stitch; next a "knit two together, yarn over" row (even number of stitches); a few more rows of stocking stitch.

It is possible to fold and sew it in place, but I prefer knitting it in place through the cast-on loops: not only does it look neater to me, but it is also over and done with. I knit through every second loop, the ones about the yarn-over holes - I have found that doing so accentuates the points.

knitting the picot edge in place

Spoiling oneself rotten

Adding to my stash, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Well, well... I decided to make an another exception to trying not to buy more yarn before using up a kilo or two of my stash - and instead have actually added about a kilo and a half. Good boy!

A sale that coincided with getting my salary for the twined knitting workshop resulted in twelve hanks of Shetlandsuld, and then there's irresistible wool-silk lace yarn that I got thanks to Good girl Francesca. Grazie mille! I've used this yarn, Jaggerspun Zephyr, only once before and have dreamt of getting my hands on it again since then.

What else? I've cast on yet another project, yet another sweater. After all, sweaters are my favourite thing to knit, stranded colourwork is my favourite technique, and this particular pattern is from a favourite book: "Ylle & bläck" (wool and ink) by Celia B. Dackenberg.

This gem of a book is a collection of essays about writers (mainly poets) and knitting, sweaters they wear in photos, knitting in their writing et cetera. Some designs are reconstructions of real sweaters, others are knitted interpretations of fictional garments. The sweater I'm knitting is dedicated to fisherman Thorsten, main character in a work by 18th century poet Erik Johan Stagnelius.

Modifications

• Bird added (from a mitten in "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" by Vibeke Lind).
• Straight red edge changed to a picot edge.
• A narrow horizontal border pattern between stripes and main pattern skipped (because I didn't want the vertical lines interrupted).

My photogenic neighbours

Lost & found; right &wrong

Twined mitten in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Shortcuts are great in many ways, but it is a major disadvantage that your knitting might get caught by twigs without your noticing it. Fortunately, a neighbour found my twined mitten among the lilac shrubs after it had been missing for days and I had almost given up hope. 

I started it for my twined knitting workshop to show some patterns you can make with two colours. This project also shows the pattern effect you achieve when you place the increases for the thumb gusset in the middle of it: the two colours almost look braided.

Speaking of braids, one of the participants asked me about knitting a braid in a contrast colour, when to join it in and for how many rows to keep it.

Twined braids

I said you have to prepare for the braid by joining in the new colour the row before the braid - and was later ashamed to realize I had done exactly the opposite of what I had been preaching. More than once I told the group I didn't like right and wrong, the idea that you have to do things in a certain way because that's how they are done.

I also quoted Dödergök: "Traditions are there to enrich my knitting, not to restrict it." I love traditional knitting and have learnt a lot from knitting old patterns and trying to master different techniques, but after all, what is regarded as traditional now was once new. And quite possibly, perhaps certainly, regarded as wrong by some.




Of course you don't have to join in the new colour the row before you make the braid; it will just look different. I'm working on a swatch testing various combinations.

All the braids have exactly the same structure (if they were all white they would be identical) but turn out completly different depending on when I add a colour, for how many rows I keep it and which row(s). These are about half of the combinations I can think of, and it's quite exciting seeing them take shape! And I haven't even added a third colour...

Which one is right then? Well, I'd say the one you want to make is the right one.

Last but not least, Åsa likes her "Viften" cardigan. I think it's a great colour for her!