Glowing Colors Sweater

The second of my three projects. It's been so long since I published FO number one, that it seems lame to now bring out FO number 2. We will just forget about that whole numbering scheme... Instead I am naming it the Glowing Colors Sweater, formerly known as the yellow, red and green sweater.


I finished this on Saturday morning, and I have been wearing it ever since. It is so incredibly comfortable, nice and warm, but not too warm, very lightweight. I love the square neckline, and the tapered sleeves. It is practically windproof with that double thickness of wool, but not too hot at all. This yarn is perfect. I have usually worked with worsted yarn before (worsted type, not worsted weight), and this is woolen yarn. It traps a lot of air, and therefore is very lightweight, and seems to keep the perfect temperature indoors and out. Most knitting yarn is worsted, and therefore heavier.

I tested it out by walking all around Cambridge Sunday, in alternatingly sunny, windy and overcast weather, and then sat down on the ground to watch some of the Head of the Charles regatta, and never got cold, never got hot. It's also been great for walking Pippi.

Detail of sleeve patterns

Only problem, you don't get to see this sleeve pattern much, because the sleeves are too long on me and bunch up a little. I may have to make them shorter... Arrgh! Blossom, I am ready to swap this now, for a bottle of tequila...

The finishing for the neck and the sleeve.

Pattern: From "Norsk Strikkebok", 1990, Tone Takle and Lise Kolstad
English version known as "Sweaters: 28 Contemporary Designs in the Norwegian Tradition".

Yarn: Rauma 3-tr Strikkegarn, from Nordic Fiber Arts

Size: Unisex size Small

Colors: Yellow 131, red 144, green 198, honey 146, brown 199
(I think of the colors as Saffron, Red Pepper, Apple, Honey, and Chocolate. I am always thinking of food). The red is one of the most beautiful dark reds I have seen.

Modifications: Square neck instead of round, tapered sleeves with cuffs and picot edge, changed the dark natural brown with a lighter brown. I kind of wish now that I had stuck with the original dark black/brown color; it would have been a much better contrast.

The great thing about this book is that it's kind of a recipe for making sweaters. It has modular sweater instructions in the back where you pick the neck style (boat, round, square), the size (kids to adults), the gauge (baby wool to bulky). But there is so much more than sweaters though; there are several jackets, child's dress, a cape, a long coat and many really cute hats. I have made a few in the past. Too bad this book is out of print, it's one of my favorites.

Thanks to the husband for taking the pictures!

Fall colors

As the leaves outside turn a happy yellow and red, here are some shots of my yellow and red sweater. I think I am going to need these happy colors soon, so yesterday I finally started finishing it.

Armholes were stitched,



armholes were cut,


and shoulders were grafted.


One sleeve is almost attached.

Left to do:
Attach the second sleeve, darn in all the ends, and pick up and knit the neck edging. At my speed this could take all week.

Brrrrr, I need to hurry.

So close

(I have been told that some of my pictures are not showing up in Safari and Firefox. I am sorry, I don't really know how to fix that at the moment...)

C'est la vie! I was going to have this finished this week for sure! Absolutely one hundred percent finished. Absolutely for sure. But now I have decided it is a little too long and I will shorten it by an inch or so. The neck shaping has to be redone, so that means all of the green part will be ripped.




It's my own fault for straying from the pattern. Originally the neck shaping was to start a little sooner, I just thought it would look better this way.

None of this will happen before the weekend, though. It's so hard to put it down, because I am very eager to finish. I am not letting myself work on anything else before then.

Gracie is wondering if she can help.

One border down

The yellow, red, and green sweater is coming along now. The honey and brown border at the bottom is done, and I am very excited about working with the yellow and red yarn for the body. It is such a jolt of color! It has about five large pattern repeats, so it will take a while. I hope to finish one pattern repeat every couple of days. Also, my hands are starting to feel strained, so I am trying to intersperse working on this sweater with finishing the Nellie cardigan.

At one time, I bought a knitting belt and long needles from Schoolhouse Press to try knitting the old fashioned way. Shetland knitters were able to do one sweater a week using those things. I didn't quite master the technique, but I think it's worth experimenting with again to relieve my wrists and hands. I will let you know if it works out. Anything to make it possible to knit more!


Finally, spring is here. I have been so looking forward to the flowers coming out, that I had to share a couple of pictures. This little shrub is a surprise. It has been sitting there quietly all winter, and I was wondering what it would become when spring arrived. Well, spring has arrived, and I have no idea! I haven't found it in my gardening book, but I see it everywhere along the roads around here.


The periwinkles in the background behind the daffodils can be found everywhere in our yard. I love them! They cover the woods under the all trees, and I know they are invasive, but I don't mind, they are so beautiful.

My favorite part of the project

This is the best part of starting on a new sweater. The pattern has been worked out, and everything is coming together. The counting of stitches, over and over, is done. And I am still in the beginning stage where I am extremely enthusiastic about the project. The sleeves are already done in this case, so only the body is left to do.

This is what I am aiming for:

I love the bright colors. The brown and honey border is hardly visible in the photo, next to the red and yellow. This is Sweater 1 from the Norwegian book Sweaters! After working with the bamboo yarn, the wool feels so nice, much easier on my fingers.

Having kept this yarn around for years, and knowing/thinking that I had at the time purchased enough of all the colors, I ran out of the chocolate brown, and had to make an emergency phone call to Arnhild's Knitting Studio, the american distributor of Rauma yarns for more 3-tr Strikkegarn. Problem solved immediately. Thank you, Arnhild!

And thank goodness for a yarn company that keeps the same range of many, many colors for years and years, about 76 colors for strikkegarn, 100 colors for the Finullgarn. If it had been any other yarn, I may not have been so lucky. I have always loved the tremendous color range that Rauma has, it always makes me feel like I have a painters pallette of yarn to play with.

Colors

Yesterday was a really productive day for the Birch shawl. I was spending hours installing some new software on my home computer, and instead of spending the down-time studying the book, a hefty tome on programming, I knitted. And knitted and knitted. It's looking like it might be finished in a couple of days!


A bonus for Birch: It's now multicolored. Well, sort of. I recklesslessly started it with only two balls of Kid Silk Haze, when I knew it needed three. On a trip to the yarn shop (a trip to the big city!) I found another from a different dye lot. The shade was so different that it was even obvious without seeing them next to each other. It looks like my first two balls are Oatmeal, and the third is Pearl. It's got a little bit of pearly pink to it. I was too impatient to shop for another, I mean, what are the odds that another dye lot would match any better... Doing one row at a time with each color is giving it a little more depth. I really like the effect!


I have a new sweater in the works. A sleeve is already done. No more subtle colors for me! This pattern is from the book Sweaters! by Tone Takle and Lise Kolstad. I LOVE this book. And I have always drooled over this sweater (pattern 1) which has green sleeves, yellow body, and red patterns all over. It's done in Rauma 3-tr Strikkegarn from Norway. The riot of colors is toned down a little by the brown edgings. I think it's great for brightening up a long, long winter, and I certainly feel very cheerful knitting with all these colors in my hands. This book is full of Norwegian sweaters in non-traditional colors, and it's been one of my favorites for a long time.