"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.

Odd man out

Peekaboo, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Today I attended a book release at Litet Nystan in Stockholm: the best knitting book I have seen for a long time, "Maskor och Medeltid" (stitches and the Middle Ages) by Anna-Karin Lundberg.

She has found inspiration for patterns in Medieval churches in the province of Uppland. In the book there is an abundance of photos of both knits and the paintings that inspired her.

Not only did I add a glorious new knitting book to my shelves, I also got to see many of the knits from the book on display in the shop - and many knitter friends I don't see nearly enough. I got an opportunity to meet the writer-designer-knitter too!

You can only see glimses of a few of Anna-Karin's projects in my photo above, but there is a lot more to see if you visit her homepage Kajsa Sticks. (It's in both Swedish and English.)

Preparing for a workshop

Swatch, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

On Thursday I'm leading a workshop how to knit cables at Litet Nystan. It's the first time I'm teaching cable patterns, so it's exciting! Fortunately, I enjoy swatching: here's one of the two swatches I'm going to let the participants knit.

First there are five ways to use a cable, then another five. I like having several different things in one swatch for comparison and thought it would be clearer with a change of colours.

I'm making progress with the Aberlady sweater, now knitting the second sleeve.

My favourite method for shoulder joins is a three-needle bind-off. This is what the wrong side looks like:

wrong side

Here's how you do it: instead of casting off when you've reached the shoulders you keep the stitches on a needle or a thread. When you've knitted both front and back sections, you cast the back and front stitches of together (with the wrong side facing you unless you want the ridge on the outside - it could be used as a decoration). Back and front will meet beautifully if they end after a whole repeat or in the middle of one:

right side

Ever thought knitters were frightening? I never did - until I saw this post by crochet bloke Theo. Enjoy!

"Aberlady" sweater in progress

"Aberlady" sweater in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

First of all, thanks for your comments on my "Shells" sweater! (And christinelaennec: thanks for making me laugh with what you wrote about the string of pearls!)

I had barely cast off before I bought more Rowan creative linen and cast on to make another sweater This too is a design by Alice Starmore, "Aberlady" from her book The Celtic Collection. Starmore for president!

Shells sweater finished

Shells sweater: back, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

I'm really happy with this sweater, very much thanks to the yarn that I tried for the first time. Rowan Creative Linen (50% cotton, 50% linen) is nice to work with as it softer than 100% linen, but the linen gives it an attractive sheen.

Shells sweater: front

The needle size recommended is 4½ mm (US 7) but I used 3 mm (US 2½) for a better relief effect. Actually, I could use even thinner needles, but that would require more yarn - and the sweater is heavy enough as it is, weighing some 850 grams. Also, this gauge was perfect for the number of repeats I wanted.

A couple of days ago I bought a circular needle and must say I am rather intrigued by the picture that went with it. Is this what you will look like if you use this particular knitting needle?

 I should add that I'm really pleased with the needle: it's comfortable to work with, the points are just as sharp as I like, and the size is printed on it. But what made them choose this picture to sell it? Well, in my case it obviously worked!

"Shells" sweater progress: collar

"Shells" sweater in progress: collar, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Today I thought I'd share how I knit the collar.

I divided the front where I wanted the collar to start (it had to be deep enough, but after a whole pattern repeat to make it look nice) not in the middle but after the middle panel. For this panel I replaced the shells with ribbing

To knit the second half I cast on the number of stitches required for another middle panel with a ribbing pattern, and later sewed it in place on the wrong side to make the seam as invisible as possible.

After joining the shoulders (using the three-needle bind-off method) I started knitting the collar back and forth: first one of the front halves, then the stitches from the back, then the second front. I will probably knit about 10-15 cm (4-6 in) from here.

18th century-style stockings

18th century-style stockings, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

I managed to finish the stockings just in time for an 18th century-style weekend at Skansen, an open-air museum in Stockholm. The purl stars on the calves are barely visible in this photo, but they show better in reality. And no, those aren't my legs but they belong to a member of an 18th century society.

I celebrated finishing the stockings by casting on to knit a sweater, Alice Starmore's "Cape Cod" from her book Fishermen's Sweaters. I knitted it in 2006 and will modify it the same way, keeping the shells and cables but changing the model. Here is a photo of the original design.

"Shells" 2012: Rowan Creative Linen

The pattern works very well with Rowan Creative Linen (50% cotton and 50% linen), I think.

At the back of the neck I have added an A for Asplund (and/or for Alice Starmore) instead of half a shell - shaping the neck would behead the shell anyway. Not that it will show, though, because I will use the same kind of collar as I did last time. I think it goes well with the "sea theme" of the pattern.

"Shells" sweater 2006: Rowan Felted Tweed

Ron asked about "Viften/The Fan" - it was lucky enough to get to move to my aunt Caroline!

An exception

Stocking progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Normally, I don't knit socks - for no particular reason, I just don't enjoy it very much. (But I admire hand-knitted socks and the work and skills behind them.)

However, I'm in the middle of an exception after agreeing to knit a pair about a year ago, getting the yarn about half a year ago. What attracted me was knitting something to be part of an 18th-century style costume (they're for a member of the society of Gustafs Skål), trying to create something that could have been worn in the late 1700s.

What didn't attract me is knitting a lot of stocking stitch with hardly any patterns. Fortunately, I thought of a picture in a book I one saw: a pair of knee-length stockings with a stars on the calves, stars that grew smaller to harmonize with the decreases - and perhaps to accentuate and draw attention to a shapely calf? (Or a trompe-l'œil effect to make a less fortunate wearer's calves look shapely?)

However that may be, I tried to do something similar here - to make them less tedious to knit - even though I'm certain those stockings weren't that old, and for all I know stockings may not have been decorated like this in the 1700s.  

I had a lot more fun knitting Marianne Isager's Viften/The Fan for the fourth time, now a red one using Drops Silke-Tweed (discontinued) from my stash. I reused my modifications from last year.

"Knit & purl" sweater no 2

"Knit & purl" sweater, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Here's a sweater I finished for my mother recently, "Knit & purl" from Classic Knits by Marianne Isager. These pattern borders are a lot of fun to knit, easy but enough variation to keep them from getting monotonous.

I've taken a couple of liberties with the design, though:
1. The original is a raglan sweater. I do like raglans, but thought these horizontal borders would look better in a straighter shape.
2. I knitted the pieces back and forth instead of in the round. It's easy with this kind of pattern, and I wanted to accentuate the side seams with vertical lines similar to where I picked up stitches for the sleeves and the sleeve seams.

side seam

I was lucky enough to get to the right length with the diagonal borders, so the shoulder join looks nice:

shoulder join

The sleeves were too long first, but as I had knitted them top-down it was easy to fix: I ripped the cuff and let border above it become the new cuff. I thought of ripping that border too and reknit the 2x2 cuff pattern, but thought it looked nice with the diagonal lines.

The first sleeve version; I think the final one looks better.

Unfortunately, this yarn (BC Lucca Fino) has been discontinued, but at least I have enough of it for another sweater in my stash.

My favourite spot

My favourite spot, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Right now I'm into needlepoint rather than knitting; this is a design from Ehrman by Elian McCready. Lilies are probably the flowers I like best, and all the vibrant colours made it quite irresistible! It's quite relaxing simply filling in the colours somebody else has decided. It's funny, though, how stitching is so enjoyable when sewing a single button in place is so mind-blowingly tedious.

I bought the kit about half a year ago, but it has been too dark to stitch most of the months since then - I need daylight not to mix up all the shades.

This is my favourite place to knit and stitch. Perfect daylight from behind, a comfortable chair (a shawl-chair swap with my aunt) not to mention often listening to my SO playing the harpsichord (yes!) in the living room.

Feel free to envy me - I practically do myself! ;-)

Just nu är det roligare med stramaljbroderi än stickning - och med semester och dagsljus går det betydligt bättre att se skillnad på alla nyanserna än under de mörka vintermånaderna. I den här stolen sitter jag perfekt: otroligt bekvämt och med dagsljus i ryggen. (Jag bytte den till mig för ett par år sedan: en stol mot en sjal.) Dessutom får jag ofta njuta av cembalomusik när min sambo sitter och spelar i rummet intill! Ja, jag har det oförskämt bra.

The Conscientious Shopper

a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

A couple of months ago I spotted The Haapsalu Shawl in a bookstore, but thought it was too expensive to buy at once. And expensive enough to remain on the shelf waiting for me for another few months!

Last weekend I went back, and it was still there - and still expensive. However, I spotted a cheap book (about a tenth of the shawl book) on the same shelf, a reprint of a crochet book from 1848. I bought them both, of course, divided the sum by two and pretended they cost the same.

True, it would have been easier to buy the shawl book at once, but I actually sort of enjoy this kind of justification game.

Not that I think I will ever try to crochet anything from the book (no diagrams but written instructions only),
but I just can't resist books with designs like this one.

My grandmother who taught me how to knit would have turned 92 today, so I'm sending her some extra thoughts.

No knitting tonight

Untitled, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

First of all, thanks for all your comments about the sweater and cardigan I knitted for Nicolas Ottersten's graduation show! Sooner or later I'm certain I will get more photos to show details of them, but I'm equally certain he is too busy for that right now.

I've knitted yet another "Haruni" shawl, this time with Drops lace (a blend of alpaca and silk) and in a different shape: it consists of three triangles instead of two.

There won't be any time for knitting tonight, but there's no need to feel sorry for me ;-)

I'm going to an 18th century party with live music and a lot of dancing! I've attended a course this spring learning (trying to learn) some dances from that period. Keep your fingers crossed I won't mix them (or my feet) up! My favourite is Mr Beveridge's Maggot, seen here in a clip from Emma.

For, by and with Nicolas

Cardigan and sweater, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

This morning I was thrilled to discover that Nicolas Ottersten had sent me photos from his graduation show at Central Saint Martins in London. Here you see the cardigan and the sweater I made.

This was a truly rewarding project in many ways. After exchanging emails and talking on the phone a couple of times we spent a day together. The room was practically covered with my sweaters, his sketches, my swatches, his hanks of yarn etc. It was fascinating how well we understood each other, approaching the same goal from different starting points. We learnt things from each other too: I about different garment shapes and he about construction, like avoiding raglan seams by knitting the yoke in one piece.

Best of all, I feel I've made a friend. Not that I know for certain if or when we'll meet again, but I felt as if we got inside each other's minds in a way that has made a lasting impression on me.

Here's his collection - wish I could have been there and seen it:

Off the hook

Wedding shawl for Stina: corner & crocheted bind-off, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

When I knitted the "Haruni" shawl recently I skipped the crocheted bind-off, but for this shawl ("Springtime" design by Marianne Kinzel) I kept it. I think it's a nice finishing touch, sort of turning the leaves into more flowerlike shapes. There seemed to be enough yarn left to add similar (but smaller) chains along the top edge to, and fortunately there was: when I had finished there was 5½ metre (6 yards) left. Three balls of Rowan kidsilk haze makes it weigh 75 grams.

A major advantage with all those crocheted chains is that it makes blocking a lot easier. As this shawls consists of three triangles I folded it in three to make the sections identical.

Regarding the sweater I wrote about in my previous post: Dan suggested a few rows of the darkest shade first and then a sleeve cap. I thought about that too, but there would be a disadvantage: the short-row wraps in the other shades would show rather clearly against the dark. (They don't show much wrapped around the stitches picked up around the armhole, but sort of get buried.) I appreciate your suggestion, though! :)

Till den här sjalen valde jag att behålla originalets virkade avmaskning: jag tycker att det är ett elegant sätt att förvandla bladen till mer blomlika former. Det var tillräckligt med garn kvar för att göra en liknande avslutning längs den övre kanten, men det var lite nervöst när jag hade kommit halvvägs. Det gick i alla fall vägen, och det med 5½ meters garnmarginal! Det gick åt tre nystan Rowan kidsilk haze, så den väger 75 gram.

En fördel med den här avslutningen är att det är lättare att sträcka sjalen när det finns en massa små öglor till nålarna, tycker jag. Eftersom den här sjalen består av tre trianglar vek jag den tredubbel för att få delarna identiska.

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