UFO Number 1 - Glittertind

The Beast:
Glittertind, not to be confused with Dale of Norway's Glittertind. That came later.


The Book:

Norsk Strikk: Fra Tradisjon Til Mote. Editor Kari Hestnes, 1992.
The cover model is called Lillehammer, also not to be confused with the Dale of Norway Lillehammer from 1994. All the sweaters in this book are either from, or inspired by, a place. Most are sort of traditional.


This is Glittertind:
Norway's second highest mountain. From this page which makes me all homesick.


Hard not to like a mountain with the word "glitter" in the name. Beats Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest mountain.


Progress so far:
Well, ok, I have only done about four-five rounds, this sleeve was already underway.

Steps to finish:

1. Knit second sleeve.
   
2. Reknit first sleeve.
   
3. Cut the sleeve openings wider.
4. Reknit the ribbing. It's too tight because I liked the way the stiches looked when knit tightly. I knew better.
   
5. Knit the neckline.
6. After attaching the sleeves, check the fit and possibly lengthen the body.(!) Does this seem like a lost cause? If I could redo the body, I would. It's way oversized, like in the 90's when we were all getting the large and extra-large sweaters (it wasn't just the 80's.)
   
7. Graft on the ribbing.

Sigh.

Selbu glove

Dear Friends,

I sure have missed all of you.  The last year just flew by!  I have been working very hard and not been able to fit in much time for knitting, blogging or other fun stuff.  Reading bloglines again is exciting, but I almost forgot all my usernames and passwords for everything!  

There has been a very, very small amount of knitting going on.  Though there has been some buying of yarn...  ahem!  I fooled myself into thinking that buying the yarn makes a project halfway finished...  It almost gave me a sense of accomplishment.

One Selbu glove (unblocked, unpressed) from the booklet Selbustrikk which I got from Nordic Fiber Arts.   This is Damevante No. 16.  There are three different charts for the back of the hand in this pattern. 

The yarn is Rauma Gammelserie (this means Old Series, so it's an oldfashioned, tightly twisted yarn).  I am knitting with 2mm double-pointed needles (us 0), which were quite hard to find!  The only manufacturer of 2mm dpn's I found was Addi.

Well, I hope you are all doing well.  I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to!

xoxx

h

Variations on a sweater

I hope everybody who is knitting fair isle is reading Nanette's blog, Knitting In Color. Her blog is like a class in color knitting, with lots of details and pictures. She wrote the booklet, "Stranded Color Knitting", which is a must for anybody who is new to fair isle knitting. It's like having a friend to show you what to do, how to hold the yarn, how deal with tension problems, the best ways to weave in the ends, and much more. Her latest series of posts has been a master class in knitting gloves. She is so very generous.



The sharp eyed among you may have noticed that two of the sweaters in the recent "inspiration" post were the same. One is a copy of an antique*, knitted in very fine yarn and cut up the front to be a cardigan. It is edged with woven bands. The other one is an updated version in Susanne Pagoldh's Nordic Knitting, knitted in heavier wool and with ribbing at the neck and on the sleeves. If you want to make the cardigan, just follow the pattern in Nordic Knitting, but use thinner wool. Eliminate the sleeve and neck ribbing, and cut up the front. Edge with woven braid.



The Pagoldh book is the only place I have seen a pattern for this sweater, known as "spøta-trøje" from Stord, an island on the west coast of Norway outside Bergen. Though I have seen several other antique examples. Here is another as pictured in Traditional Knitting by Sheila McGregor.

Note the initials and the year 1860 knitted in. I love the way the different star patterns are combined. As usual, click on any of the photos to see them larger.


*1975 copy of an antique sweater from 1846 pictured in "Trollstål og Kjerringspinn" ("Sorcerer's Steel and Women's Webs - Norwegian craft traditions: knife-making, knitting and weaving").
Published by De Norske Bokklubbene in association with the Lillehammer Olympics 1994. This beautiful book reminds us that these three crafts were crucial to survival, knitting and weaving to keep warm, and knife making to keep fed in a country with very little farm land. Lillefix, you would like this book ;)

Some Selbu mittens for your pleasure

From left:

1. Korntrø-rosa, named for Korntrø Farm,
2. Hjart-rosa (Heart rose),
3. Skaltroll-rosa, also named Pine Cone Pattern (I believe)

4. Værhorns-rosa (Rams Horn rose),
5. Endløs-rosa (Endless rose), also called Grankvist (spruce branch),
6. Kinn'tyrill-rosa (though I have also seen this named Rams Horn rose)

Wouldn't they all make beautiful sweaters? Any of these patterns could be either done as bands or all-over. They would fit my criteria perfectly. I am considering designing my own.




In my quest for black and white patterns, I looked through some of my Norwegian text books. I found the above graphic in this book, The Mitten in Norwegian Tradition, which is written by Ingebjørg Gravjord and was published in 1986. Unfortunately I don't believe it is available in English, but I just read that it is being republished, so there is a chance that could spur a translation as well. I hope so.

It is a very comprehensive academic book, written by an expert in cultural history. She is a historian, as well as instructor in textiles at the Academy of Applied Art and Design(?) (Statens håndverks- og kunstindustri skole). It covers mittens in all forms, whether woven, nålbinding, twined knitting, or ordinary knitting, and the regional traditions and history associated with them.

Click on the picture to get a close up of the the gorgeous embroidered mitten from Telemark on the cover, with the year 1730 stitched on it. This mitten was done in nålbinding.
There are no patterns in this book, though it does contain some instructions on unusual techniques. This book, along with another by the same author called Knitting in Norway, are my main sources of historical knitting information. This is how I find out all about the olden days!

I also have a blog to share with you. Kathy has started a new inspiring blog where she is compiling all kinds of resources on Fair Isle and Norwegian knitting in one place, such as links to lots of tutorials and other informative sites. Check it out, she's an excellent writer, and it's a great resource!

Black and White Inspiration

I discovered a curious thing this winter. When the weather is gray and gloomy, and everything kind of blurs together, black and white is soothing to look at. I think my eyes got tired from trying to focus with all the gray and found it very comforting to gaze upon a certain black and white item. It was very surprising.

Therefore, to prepare myself for next winter, I want to knit a new sweater to wear all of January. (And, as it turns out, April. But I am not bitter.)

I have made a list of vague criteria:

1. Black and White
The colors must be deep dyed black and bleached unnatural white. Not natural white and natural black sheep colors. It has to have maximum contrast.

2. Balanced
The balance between the two has to be close to fifty-fifty. Or sixty-forty white-black. My jacket from long ago called for 600 g white and 400 g black.

3. The "Right" Scale
The patterns have to have the "right" size. For example lice patterns are too small, they are visual noise. Solid blocks which are ten cm (four in) across are too big. On the old jacket I really like the large rose pattern which is called "rams horn rose".

4. Norwegian Style
I want to do it in a Norwegian style pattern. Though this could work in an Op Art style pattern as well. (I found these socks by Laura Andersson. How cool are they!)

I have scanned through all my books and booklets looking for inspiration. Here is a little selection. Click for close-up.

Dale of Norway

Oleana. I could probably handle the red border.

Ellinor Flor from "Rosa Heimafrå". I love her. This coffee table sized book is one of my favorites!

Sandnes Garn Maybe if I reversed the colors on the sleeves and shoulders.

Traditional sweater from Nordic Knitting by Susanne Pagoldh

Viking ship action from Sandnes Garn

So hard to choose! The Oleana of course is not available to knit, only as ready-to-wear. But I better get started on this asap. At my speed, seven-eight months is probably reasonable.

Where are my peonies?

Okay, it's three months later and this is the state of my peony border:


It's pathetic. I guess this kills my chances of having this done before winter was over, now that it seems I can finally stop wearing long johns. (I am still however, wearing a thick Fana wool sweater as I am typing this.) Wonder if I should start on the cotton camisole for summer now or keep on trucking with this.

I am including a shot the back of my sleeve to show the increases in pattern.



I usually draw in the increases on my pattern just where I can, like on the flower pattern, and then I eyeball the rest, but see comment from Kathy for a more thorough solution.



Also, on the Hisdal patterns I have looked at, there is no indicator for where to start your pattern on the sleeve. You just have to do a little counting to place the pattern in the center of the sleeve. Another good reason for drawing on the pattern. Not a big deal though, sometimes it's nice to engage the brain.

It's been so long since I posted, I had almost forgotten how to do it!

Boston traveler

My dear friend came to chilly Boston, so it was a perfect time for her to model her hat.




Blossom wished for a Norwegian hat, and I picked this one because I thought it was a little more urban and sophisticated than the standard Norwegian hats. Doesn't she look chic?




We had a great time checking out shops (Yarn and Other) and totally stuffing ourselves with delicious food. Now I want to eat out in the North End every week!


Yarn: Dale of Norway Falk (charcoal backgound) and Heilo (all the contrast colors) , gold lame thread.
Pattern: Dale of Norway book 161

Details:
The edging is knit with standard color stranding. The stars are duplicate stitched after the hat was finished. On the back of the edging I used black cotton instead of the wool.

The pattern called for using a strand of gold thread together with all the contrast color and duplicate stitching, but my gold thread was too thick, (you can see it obscures the companion color) so I only knitted in the gold on the two stripes on the edging. It would have been too much otherwise.



I hope it will keep her warm!

All the pretty creatures

Five-fold symmetry is always pretty:

Starfish

Sand Dollar

Sea Urchin

Dale of Norway Hat

Hat in progress from this Dale of Norway pattern (book #161) using Falk and Heilo yarn. A little bit of finishing and embellishing still to be done, but it should be ready for recipient in a week or two when she is coming to visit the frigid North!

The bad and the ugly

(Edited May 11, 2007)

For knitters who are new to color knitting, I thought I would share an experience from my distant knitting past. This is a sweater I made in 1992. It was not my first try at color knitting, but I guess it's the first one I finished. (I do remember some brown and orange legwarmers in the late 70's when I was in middle school. Probably a good thing they didn't get finished).

This is one of my favorite patterns, but I can't wear the sweater without embarassment, because I know that everybody can see that halfway through the body I learned a lesson. I didn't rip it out, because I really had no idea it would be so obvious.

You all have heard about how you always should keep the same color in front at all times. Or that you should always keep one color in the left and the other color in the right hand as you knit. This is where I learned it. Up until a little more than half way, I was keeping both colors in the left hand (I knit continental) and just picking one up at random. I did not pay any attention to the fact that sometimes the black was in front, other times the white. Then I realized (well, my mother showed me) that keeping the contrast color in the right hand, though slower, would make a much more even pattern. I started keeping the white always in my left and the black always in my right which automatically keeps the white always in front of the black.

Edited to add: I don't mean that my method is the only way, lots of knitters do this while holding both strands in the same hand. The main thing is that the yarns are always in the same position relative to each other. Usually I keep the color there is more of in the left, regardless of whether it's background or contrast. In this case, the white stitches will be more prominent than the black.

Edited to add: Note that with the way I knit, the white background color ends up being the more dominant/prominent color. Most knitters probably want the contrast color to be most prominent, but this works better for me.

Let's see the back of the sweater. See how half way up the diagonals go from fuzzy and irregular to crisp and even?

On the inside, it's also obvious:


The effect on the rose pattern panels is more subtle. But you will see, the minute you start thinking about the colors like this, your stitches and motifs will start to look very even.

Kris wrote about yarn dominance today. This is one of the side effects of that! I don't do this for the sake of the color dominance, but for the sake of keeping the pattern neat. For me it's more of a "color consistency".

It's very simple but it makes a big difference.

I learned so many lessons on this particular sweater, for example about picking up stitches for button bands and collar (they had to be redone), and how white could have obvious dye lots... (when I redid the button bands and collar of course I couldn't get the same lot). I also learned that some shapes might make me look like a football player....

Hope you enjoyed this visit to my hall of shame!

It's a start

The Brocade sweater is underway, and I love working on it. The Hifa 2 yarn is great, it's very soft, and the colors are very saturated and rich. It's so cool the way the peony is revealing itself as I am knitting, because it's not a shape I am used to seeing while knitting, no straight lines anywhere. Since the yarn is thin, you get a lot of detail, but it takes a long time, the entire weekend was spent on these measly 5 inches.

I am, again, experimenting with my 16" (40 cm) long double pointed needles and knitting belt. They are defeating me! I am very unhappy with my tight and uneven stitches. I guess I should find a project to practice on, and this sweater I definitely don't want to be a "practice sweater". By now, I have a love-hate relationship with the long needles. They are so comfortable to hold, and so easy on the wrists and arms. But I have to sit upright on a straight-backed chair in order to maneuver them, otherwise the work is held too high. That's not what I want to do when I am watching tv knitting. I added a fifth needle from a different set, so that I am using four 2.5mm and one 3 mm, which is much easier than just four, but they are still awkward. I love these needles, and I will use them, but it's going to be back to the circular needle for this sweater.

I also started a scarf from the new book Victorian Lace Today. This is a great book, so I went ahead and joined the Victorian Lace Today knit-along. This book has such a wealth of information, and I can't wait to try more of the patterns. I am doing the scarf with No. 20 edging (p. 84) in Misti Alpaca Lace, color Lipstick. I have done two pattern repeats, and it's so much fun! I love knitting lace!

The pattern in the book was made with a heavier yarn than the lace weight, which makes a large 20 inch wide scarf, so I am guessing mine will be about 12 inches wide.

I wish you all a happy holiday!

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.