Great expectations

Baby cardigan wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

A colleague of mine is expecting a baby and asked me if I could knit her a baby cardigan. She knits too, so we met up at our LYS the other day; there was a cardigan there with a shape that I found inspiring (or theft-worthy, if you like) and we found some baby merino wool there too. Purchase-worthy wool, I should add.

The cardigan is knitted sideways and the two fronts will overlap. I've added a pattern, partly to make it more fun to knit, partly to make it easier to get the three sections the same size. I'm not sure what I think of it, though, now that it's moved from a pattern idea to reality. Green lips, Kaa hypnotizing Mowgli, cabbage... Well, as long as it doesn't look like the evil eye!

Wristwarmers

Annika's wristwarmers
Originally uploaded by Asplund

For the sake of variety I've been knitting wristwarmers recently. This pattern was a free gift from Ravelry's jdw at the knitting camp I attended back in August. I've added pearls in groups of five and a row of holes. They're for my friend Annika, who has asked for white, thin, warm wristwarmers.

The yarn is BC Semilla Fino, organic fingering weight wool, and I used 2 mm needles (US 0).

They're knitting diagonally; you can see it more clearly in this photo. I do like the effect you get with variegated yarn. These are leftovers from a hat I knitted a couple of months ago.

Isn't it fascinating how different they look compared to the white ones? The shape is the same, but the different colours and the way the diagonal is accentuated give them a completely different look.

Correcting a mistake

Winter mosaic
Originally uploaded by Asplund

The past few weeks have been unusually cold. I took these photos on my way to work last Thursday morning. It was almost -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) but fortunately it isn't that cold now.

I'm making progress with the Estonian shawl. My intention was to have identical groups of nupps in all the centre-section quadrangles, but mixed up rows and accidentally started too early the second time around.

I didn't discover this mistake until a couple of rows later, and instead of ripping these out I decided to correct my mistake by simply deciding this was what I wanted instead. Actually, it's a good opportunity to find out how different nupp patterns ideas will look in reality!

Shawl progress and sweater progress

Estonian shawl wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm having a lot of fun knitting the "Crown Prince" shawl from Nancy Bush's book, but can't resist making some modifications.

1. The star is the variation motif in the book. I really like it that there are variations of many of the motifs!

2. I've skipped the garter-stitch frame, simply because I'm not very fond of it, especially not combined with lace.

3. I've resized the centre section repeats, making them the same width as the stars. In the original design they are different and don't match, although it doesn't show that clearly thanks to the garter-stitch frame between the sections.

4. Personally, I like symmetry too much not to do something about it, though, and I also like blending pattern sections. Resizing meant making the repeats bigger, so I'm adding a little cluster of "nupps" too, barely visible in this photo. To be continued.

I've been working with my red sweater too: both sleeve caps are finished. I decided to make the second one while I remembered how I made the first one - and understand my hastily scribbled notes. You know, knitting held in one hand, pencil hopefully in the hand you normally write with...

I'm testing a new idea for sleeve gussets too, but I think that will have to be in another post.

Last but not least: dear friend E. is happy with the hat I gave her for her birthday.

Proving myself wrong

Estonian shawl wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

In a previous post I mentioned that I'm not very fond of bobbles. Well, seeing this shawl by Rod on Flickr reminded me of my natural white Viva and the fact that I've only knitted a swatch or two testing a couple of patterns in Nancy Bush's book Knitted Lace of Estonia.

This is half a star, the Crown Prince pattern. I like it very much that the bobbles are fairly flat; the combination of them and the lace holes of roughly the same size is very appealing too, in my opinion.

Here's a photo of the shawl, made by Knitting Soo on Flickr. It's very pretty, but I can't help thinking about possible modifications... A frame consisting of rows of holes instead of garter stitch, for example.

Getting the tension right for the bobbles was a bit tricky, but didn't take very long after all. I've had more trouble with the tension in the stocking-stitch areas: for example, getting the loops for a bobble (a "nupp" in Estonian) loose enough tends to rub off on the surrounding stitches - and purling all the loops making a single stitch tends to make me purl the surrounding stitches too tight.

I enjoy knitting this kind of pattern a lot, primarily because it's something I haven't done before. (A tiny swatch about a year ago hardly counts.) Also, dear old wool-silk blend Viva is a delight to work with, and the sheen of it makes the bobbles almost look like pearls in daylight. Not captured in this photo due to severe lack of daylight.

Shaping a sleeve cap

Shaping a sleeve cap
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Some people have asked me how I shape sleeve caps using short rows, so I'm going to try to explain in this post.

First, I pick up stitches along the armhole after joining the shoulder seams (see photo at bottom of post) and mark the middle stitch with a thread.

I start knitting the sleeve somewhere near the middle; in this case I chose making the 15 stitches in the middle the top of the sleeve cap. After knitting those I wrap the yarn around the next stitch before turning the work (to avoid an unsightly gap).

Next row I first knit the 15 stitches and then a few more (in this case 5) before wrapping and turning. Each row I add a few more stitches before wrapping and turning until all the picked-up stitches are knitted. It will look like this in terms of shape. How many stitches I choose to add depends on what kind of shape I want the sleeve cap to have.

Two finished objects

"Wightwizzle" finished
Originally uploaded by Asplund

The colour looks a bit strange in the original photo, so I thought I might as well make a black and white version. This was a nice project to knit, quick once past the first few inches and the shape is different from what I usually knit.

Trying something new is always rewarding! Combining alpaca and linen was a good idea too (not mine but suggested at my LYS). We'll just see how my cousin likes wearing it: the garment is rather heavy, almost 800 grams.

The shawl I wrote about in my previous post is also finished. For the bottom border I chose the border from "The Opera Fichu", also in Victorian Lace Today.

As mentioned, I wanted fairly simple lace patterns using this yarn and since I've knitted the fichu before I knew it would curl - I simply cast it off loosely from the wrong side, not bothering about a knitted-on border around the shawl (which I normally like).

My plan is to make it a guest shawl, for people to borrow when they visit. We had quite a lot of snow yesterday, but today is rather wet and windy. And cold: a guest could definitely need a shawl.

Possession

"Töis wool" shawl
Originally uploaded by Asplund

The other day I surprised myself by finishing a project before starting a new one. "Wightwizzle" is washed and blocked and left to dry while I'm visiting relatives for a couple of days.

Less surprising is my ability to buy yarn. Last weekend I couldn't resist buying two hanks of beautiful natural grey "Töis", soft and light 1ply wool from the island of Gotland.

This wool is quite fuzzy, so I wanted a fairly simple design, something based on straight lines (intricate lace patterns would drown) and decided to return to Jane Sowerby's Spider-web's shawls in Victorian Lace Today. I've made use of it twice before, for Eva and for Anna; in both cases I used wool-silk blend Viva, but I think it works with this yarn too. Come to think of it, starting Eva's shawl coincided with starting this blog!

It takes 5½ hours to go from Uppsala to Västervik, so I managed to get quite a lot done even though I kept alternating between this project and a fascinating book I'm reading, Possession by A.S. Byatt. Read a chapter, think about it while knitting for a while, read another chapter... A great way to digest a great book!

The catsitter

"Wightwizzle" wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm looking after a friend's cat for a few days and thought I might as well pack up some projects and books and move in. As you can see, Sally is only mildly interested in knitting.

There's only a sleeve left to knit before "Wightwizzle" is finished. As planned, I'm not knitting the sleeves separately but pick up stitches around the armholes and shape the caps using short rows instead. I find it a lot easier than sewing sleeves in place - and it looks neater too.

Making progress

"Wightwizzle" wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

This is a really quick knit once past the first few inches, so I expect to finish "Wightwizzle" soon. It's good exercise too, because the linen makes it rather heavy!

In the instructions the sleeves are knitted separately, but my intention is to pick up stitches around the armhole instead and shape the sleeve caps by using short rows. I've done that a few times before (here, for example) and think it works really well.

There's a small modification around the neck opening: instead of a few rows of garter stitch I added a "p2tog, yo" row to get a row of holes identical to the bottom border - which I modified too... The original design has a row of bobbles, but they didn't look good in this linen-alpaca combination (they looked clumsy) so I simply skipped them.

I should have taken a photo of the few bobbles I made to post here. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make a swatch and show you. Or maybe not! :-D

The colour looks strange in this photo; the photo in my previous post shows it a lot better.

The more, the merrier

"Wightwizzle" wip
Originally uploaded by Asplund

About a month ago Maria decided to start taking care of her UFOs by devoting extra time to one of them every week. Isn't that a great idea?

Many readers of her blog are following her example; I wish I did too, but seem to do the opposite thing, starting new projects all the time.

"The more, the merrier," I tell myself. By the way, can you tell blue is my favourite colour? :-D

My latest addition is "Wightwizzle" from Louisa Harding's Little Cake. I'm testing a fibre combination they suggested at my LYS, namely one thread of linen and one of alpaca. It turns out very well, and it's nice to work with too. Normally I don't like knitting with alpaca, but the linen thread keeps it from getting slippery. The garment will be rather heavy though!

I wrote about Starmore's Aran Knitting in my previous post. Check out Tålamodspåsen's fabulous take on Eala Bhan!

It's been freezing cold, below zero in the mornings, the past few days. Was it really Midsummer only four months ago? It seems like a completely different world!

Starmore swatch

Starmore swatch
Originally uploaded by Asplund

The joy and satisfaction of trying and learning something new! I have knitted many kinds of cables over the years, but not this kind of knotwork pattern. The yarn is too fine, really, but it doesn't matter. I simply wanted to learn the technique and used what I happened to have in my bag.

Both patterns in this swatch are from my latest purchase, Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore, which is a treasure – easily the best knitting book I've bought in a long time! There are ten adult sweater designs in it (plus five other garments). I would say two or maybe three of those sweaters are for women and the rest of them are unisex, possibly with major or minor modifications. I'm definitely going to knit some of the sweaters! (But when?)

There are many things I love about the book: the variety of patterns and garments, informative and fascinating chapters about different aspects of the history of Aran knitting with photos and detailed descriptions of sweaters in museums etc, a section about different kinds of pattern elements and how to knit them, and a chapter about how to design one's own Aran sweater. I think Starmore is a good writer too: she has a way with words, not only with stitches and colours. And I find her dry sense of humour very appealing. "To claim that one has discovered something on public view in a shop on a busy city street is to stretch the meaning of the word..." (p. 10)

When it comes to the designs, I really like her combination of traditional elements and personal touches. Some of the patterns are Celtic-inspired, for example. The designs all look timeless to me, which is something I find very attractive indeed - a book to use and sweaters to wear now or in fifteen years.

Anything I don't like about the book? Actually, no. I only got it a few days ago, though, so I haven't studied it in detail. I guess there could have been more photos of some of the garments: I like being able to see many details, and I believe it could be helpful seeing things like the wrong side of “Boudicca’s Braid” and close-ups of the saddles of “Irish Moss” and “St Brigid”. Photos of these designs here.

More designs would have been nice, of course, but on the other hand I easily prefer quality to quantity. There's a lot of quality in this book - and quantity too, in my opinion. Fifteen designs is enough, and then all the other things between the covers count too. A truly rich book.

Not enough knitting

Work has been rather hectic the past couple of weeks, so I haven't been knitting much.

In a little while I'm going to treat myself to having my shoulders massaged: they're rather stiff and sore, and my pro-knitting theory is that it's due to not knitting enough. Oh, and the great strain of cooking may have added to it. I boiled a few eggs again the other day!

I have managed to start a new sweater project, though. I'm using a favourite yarn, Rowan Feltted Tweed, and have started a modified version of "Nova Scotia" in a favourite book, Alice Staremore's Fishermen's Sweaters. More about my modifications next time!

Edited to add: of course, there's no such thing as enough knitting.

Variegated hat finished

Sideways hat
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm happy with how it turned out! My friend Elisabeth likes it, so I will give it to her. She and I attended a drop-in bookbinding workshop a couple of nights ago, which was fun. In blurred action here.

There's quite a lot of yarn left, probably enough for a cowl and a pair of cuffs.

And returning to something familiar

"Sideways" hat
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Yesterday I came across a hank of yarn I couldn't resist... Why write a post about that, you may wonder - has that never happened before? Well, two things make this purchase different.

First, I restricted myself to a single hank! (Its weight, 200 grams, may have helped.) Second, I hardly ever buy variegated yarn, but found myself drawn to these soft, muted colours and the gradual shading and blending of them.

I always like the challenge how to display the yarn: choosing shapes, techniques and patterns that will show off the beauty of the material. In this case I thought it would be a good idea to accentuate the fact that it's self-striping by alternating sequences of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch. Also, it would help making a hat knitted sideways warm and comfortable, and the short rows would create a nice visual effect too. And possibly it's a way to make up for my English Patient bowl (see previous post), to prove to myself I am capable of succeeding with stripes after all. :-)

Normally, I prefer (understatement!) symmetry, but in this case I actually like it that it will look different from different angles. For a while I toyed with the idea I'd knit it top-down or bottom-up, but decided I'd much rather see the colours in big wedges than in horizontal stripes.

The red yarn in the photo is the provisional cast-on. My plan is to graft the first and last rows for an invisible join.

Edited to add: I bought the yarn at Yllet in Stockholm. It's pure wool and 2-ply, but didn't have a name. Needles: 4 mm/US 6.