Wednesday 27 April 2011

Twined sweater progress


Twined sweater in progress
Originally uploaded by Asplund
Here's a better photo when it comes to showing the pattern, although the one in my previous post is a prettier photo.

Asplund the Narcissist is trying to knit aspen trees using the twined technique; six trees around the sweater will make an aspen grove, an "asplund" in Swedish. (For a while I thought the trees looked more like broccoli, but now I'm confident about them again!)

Kerry asked about the technique. You knit with two strands that you twist between each stitch. It's time-consuming but well worth it for the deep-relief effect when you combine knit and purl stitches; keeping the strand you don't knit with in front makes a difference too.

In this post there's a photo of the right and wrong sides and a link to a great blog about the technique.

To answer some questions in comments on the "Reunion" post:

Christine: I love the lingonberry pattern too and found it in a book by Inger and Ingrid Gottfridsson. There is an English translation of it, "The Mitten Book". Hope you find it! I agree with you about being critical right after one has finished a project. It's so easy to (or impossible not to) compare the garment to what one had in mind.

Ann: alas, no new labels. Actually, there's evidence I'm still Mormor because a group of pupils once gave me a mug with that word on it!

About the green ribbing (Martin's green and white sweater): I used thinner needles and made it fairly wide (3k, 2 p in this sweater. If it's still flabby (which happens) I'd knit it twice as long as I want it and fold it in half.

7 comments:

Mel said...

We have a copy of "The Mitten Book"! I thought the stitch pattern looked vaguely familiar.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your advice on the ribbing. I have often wondered about this twined sweater. I remember looking at the instructions and thinking it would be perfect for wind-proof mittens. Hope it goes well for you.
Ron

Anonymous said...

Wonderful work !

Anonymous said...

That is so beautiful! It reminds me of American knitted counterpanes, or perhaps whitework embroidery. It looks intricate and delicate but must be extremely sturdy. I look forward to seeing the aspen grove grow! Why not take advantage of your name since you have such a great one?

Knitarina said...

Oj, imponerad! Har fortfarande inte kommit över vantstadiet i tvåändsstickningen. Har dock avancerat till fingervantar, så kanske en egen tvåändströja någon gång kan bli min!
Njuter tills vidare av dina fantastiska verk!

Buck Strong said...

It's beautiful but to be honest I don't know how you have the patience to twist all that yarn. You must be a saint :)

Asplund said...

A flawed saint at best :)