Nordic arrows

The was the knit festival. And all I had on my needles required way too much thinking. So I was forced to cast on something new, you know.

What: Nordic arrows / Susanne Sommer

How: Circular needle 4.0 mm

From: Frida Fuchs SCHNIEKE Single + Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles + Kässäkerho Pom Pom Donegal Tweed, 86 + 100 + 72 g

I've been meaning to cast on this lovely shawl from the first issue of Laine Magazine for quite some time already. Now was the perfect time since garter stitch and brioche should make for a good social knitting project. Right? What do you mean, no?

Oh... Well, that escalated quite quickly. I realized pretty soon that even garter stitch can be too much thinking when knitting it in brioche style with both colors on each row. And oh my, once the brioche started. There was garter stitch, brioche, several increases, moving stitch markers and all the works. All at the same time and at different paces.

On thursday, I sat at the info booth of the festival and got to show my project to the designer herself. She bursted in laughter and said I shoulden't try to continue the shawl at the festival. Atleast not after row five. Yep. She was right.

But after the festival we went off on our summer holiday trip. There was plenty of sitting on the train, in an aeroplain, for a week in the car, back in the plane and the train. I took three projects with me but couldn't set this one aside. Once I finally got the jist, this shawl was super entertaining knit.

All I had to do after the trip, was to finish the contrast colored edge. And it took me a whole day from morning to night. But all in all, I rushed through the shawl in no time because it was such a fun project.

This triangular shawl starts at the sharpest point. First, there's some garter which is later joined by brioche triangles that get bigger and bigger until there's six of them. I like traditional striped garter stitch more but brioche requires this style, so it's not up to me.

Finally, you pick up stitches for the contrast colored border which is shaped with short rows. The border also has these cute little brioche bits in the corners. So pretty and so beautifully graphic.

For some reason, I was craving for colors for this shawl. I'm a bit annoyed how the light green Shamrock by Hedgehog Fibres totally ate up the lovely navy blue Frida Fuchs but I'm in love with this warm yellow tweed yarn by a Finnish dyer, Kässäkerho Pom Pom. Lovely colors. Though, I'm not sure if the suite me. Therefore I asked a friend to model this one.

And oh, what a friend she is for letting me use this one. Luv you!

Retro stripes

Sometimes a girl has got knit just basic striped socks. Or atleast, that was the plan but the end result is something a bit different.

What: Stripy socks / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 2.25 mm

From: Cowgirlblues Sock weight, 60 g

In the spring I took my sister to a yarn shop with the intent that my sister would shop yarn, I wouldn't. Well, that didn't exactly turn out the way I planned. No surprises there.

But I was helpless. There I was standing in front of shelf filled with super cute little yarn cakes in glorious colors and in the most perfectly sproingy yarn base. The tiny yarn cakes felt like little stress toys. I had no choice. Except on which colors to choose.

The yarn is sport weight which gave me a good excuse to buy three skeins. Just to be on the safe side. I ended up choosing quite a retro color combo. It remainds my of the Weasley family in Harry Potter.

An the simple stripy socks? Well, I started out that way but soon came up with the idea of a different kind of heel to make the stripes go all the way to the sole.

And after the heels, when the knitting started to feel a bit too relaxed, I came up with the idea of anatomical toes. Meaning, I made the decreases only on the other side at first. And ofcourse, I didn't write it all down because of course you can just count it from the finished sock when you need to and life would be way too easy any other way.

Cute but not too relaxing. But when has it ever been with me?

Lady in waiting

The summer has been super busy but I'm back and you should get ready to see more than a few knits.

What: Allure / Kim Hargreaves
How: Circular needles 2.5 mm ja 3.0 mm
From: Drops Lace, 119 g

It feels like a life time ago when I found Kim Hargreaves' books and knitting in English. One alltime favorite I've made from her is been Allure. Even though I knitted it from mohair which I haven't been able to stand for years now. Yet, the mohair Allure is a staple piece in my wardrope.

I've been planning for ages to reknit Allure in some nicer material. A year ago I went a bit crazy and started three different projects in Drops Lace - two sweaters and one shawl that made me insane. Amazingly, I finished the shawl already last autumn and this is the first of the two sweaters. (Actually I'm well on my way on getting rid of all my wips and the second sweater is coming along nicely too.)

But let's get back to the important stuff. So, I took a rematch at the favorite sweater with alpaca lace yarn. This project had three things I wouldn't recomend to anyone who isn't as much of a crazy knitting lady as I am:

1. A lace sweater in lace weight yarn.
2. And not in just any lace weight yarn, but BLACK lace weight yarn.
3. Modifying the pattern the whole time to not be knitted in pieces but seamlessly.

Yep, that's me. Just my kind of a project. Some say it's crazy. I say it's a challenge and boy, does it sound daunting and interesting.

The beginning was easy knitting. The front and back could easily be knitted in the round. All I had to do was to make sure my stitch count worked with the lace pattern. I knitted the body in one piece to underarms and then separated the front and the back. I could've used kitchener stitch to join the shoulders but it was way easier to just sew them together. With this light yarn, the seams are very slim.

Then came the interesting part. I modified the sleeves to be seamless as well and knitted them top down. First, I checked how many stitches there should be at the widest part of the sleeve and picked up that many stitches from the armholes. Then I needed to check how many stitches there should be at the highest point of the sleeve before starting short rows to shape the sleeve tops. After that it was just short rows taking in one more stitch at the end of each row until I had used all the stitches.

This would've been easy and a piece of a cake if the sweater wasn't black lace. And if I hadn't used smaller needles to make it easier to pick up the sleeve stitches and forgot to change back into the bigger needles. I managed to finish the first sleeve top just in time to realize I have to tink it all. Well, practice makes perfect, right?

One little problem was that I had no way of knowing, how long I should knit straight before starting sleeve decreases because the instructions only stated how long the sleeve should measure fromt the wrist, not the underarm. Oh well, I made a lucky guess and ended up being right.

Finally, all that was left was to pick up stitches from the neck opening to knit the turtle neck collar. I can't believe the pattern instructed to knit that in a separate piece as well and then sew on. Oh the times. You know, everything wasn't better in the golden olden days. Oh no, not at all!

The sweater turned out beautiful. I especially love the sleeves that are really wide and a bit too long just above the wrist. Black lace is always stylish and makes for a great outfit for more formal occations as well.

The yarn choice worked nicely to substitute the icky mohair. Except for the collar. The alpaca yarn is way too drapy to hold up the collar and it looks like there's just a pile of yarn where the collar should be. But you can't win every battle. Atleast the sweater isn't itchy.

We found this amazing back drop for the photoshoot and I'm pretty sure we will never be able to top this one. The pics are taken at Armadale caste ruins on the Isle of Skye. The lovely window shots aren't from the caste ruins but the old laundry ruins on the castle grounds

Bobelo

There's no stopping this design inspiration. I hope someone can keep up and knit these new designs.

What: Bobelo / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 and 4.0 mm

From: Brooklyn Tweed Loft, 277 g

When inspiration strikes, you have to get it onto your needles right at that moment. I had a vision of a relaxed, casual yet stylish boleroish cardigan with an interesting texture. So I went and got me a pile of Brooklyn Tweed Loft and started working on calculations and swatching right away. The knitting didn't take that long either, I finished the cardigan in a few weeks. I did have to unravel a bit due to my inability to calculate my own gauge correctly. But it was worth it and now I have a lovely new cardigan-thingy.

Bobelo is knitted in one piece flat. It's a funny shaped piece and you won't see it's final form until a bit later. Once you have finished the piece, you block it and sew two short seams that help make up the sleeves. Finally, you pick up stitches and work the cuffs, hem and the shawl collar. The shawl collar is shaped with short rows and the whole thing is finished with a neat i-cord bind off. The smaller needles are used for the cuffs. The rest of the cardigan is worked with the larger needles.

Bobelo is meant to worn with a lot of positive ease. The sleeves are quite short coming just beyond the elboves. The cardigan is shorter in the back and the fronts are a bit longer. You can wear it open or close it with a shawl pin.

Except for the borders, the cardigan is worked in bubble stitch that consists of dropped and picked up stitches. There is a chart, written instructions and a photo tutorial and I promise you, it's very easy.

The pattern has sizes XXS-XS-S (M1-M2-L1) L2-XL-XXL and you  can buy it by clicking the link below.

I chose to make mine in Brooklyn Tweedin Loft. Its woolly and airy texture is a perfect fit for this pattern. Its light and fluffy, yet warm. I made mine in the colorway Postcard which is this amazing blend of pink and grey.

I've used this one a lot ever since I finished it. I know I'm quite partial, but I thoroughly recommend this pattern.

Summer socks

Oh my, I'm in the mood for knitting socks.

What: Chrysanthemum frutescens / Hunter Hammersen
How: Circular needle 2.25 mm
From: Hedgehog Fibres Sock, 58 g

In the past few years, I've been sitting in the great hall of our university, listening to my colleagues dissertations. Since it's a very formal work thing, I haven't been knitting while there. However, this time it was my dear friend's turn to defend her thesis. And after reading it through and realizing, I wouldn't understand a word of the defense, I was pardoned and got a permission to take my needles with me.

I knew I needed something easy and small. Something that doesn't make a sound. And of course, as I didn't pick a project the night before, I was in a bit of a hurry in the morning. So, I took with me the only caked sock yarn in my stash and the needles to go with it. I had time to pick out a pattern later.

Oh well. This pattern has been in my Ravelry queue for several years but it's nothing close to being simple and easy. Nevertheless, I chose it because it was high time to shorten my queue.

This daisy-inspired sock pattern is a part of Hunter Hammersen's first Knitter's curiosity cabinet e-book. (And yes, I do realize, these aren't daisies in the pics.) The socks are knitted cuff down. First, you make a folded brim and then you knit beautiful lace that is much easier than it looks. I learned the pattern repeat quickly. The heel is worked with slipped stitches but these heels are purls instead of knitted stitches and it makes for a fun texture. The pattern suggests to make these rather short legs. At first, I thought it to be a silly idea but then I realized, I don't have any woolly summer socks. I mean, short legs might work well for warmer weather. And so I did as the pattern suggested.

The pattern called for provisional cast on but I thought it was unnecessary. As long as you cast on loosely, there's no need for the provisional cast on. You can just pick up stitches from the CO edge one at a time. Also, I made an extra half repeat of the lace pattern on the foot which is why there are knitted stitches at a different spot than in the pattern pics. But I don't mind. I like it this way as well. Otherwise there would've been an awful lot purled stitches.

In the end the difficult sock pattern I chose, turned out to be an easy one. Also, to top it all off, the dissertation was very audience friendly despite of the difficult topic and I was very glad the socks didn't require much attention.