Thursday 19 August 2010

Kungsängslilja no 2


Kungsängslija no 2
Originally uploaded by
Asplund

There have been so many knitting-related activities since my last post that I haven't found the time to blog about them. (Well, quite a lot of non-knitting activities have kept me from blogging too... Work, for example. ) I finished the second Kungsängslilja vest a few weeks ago and am happy with how it turned out. For a while I was worried the back of the neck wouldn’t be wide enough, but adding neck gussets (something I learnt from Alice Starmore’s Fishermen’s Sweaters) did the trick.

I spent the very last days of my vacation, August 5-8, at a knitting camp held at Väddö to the north of Stockholm. The very start was auspicious, as I got to sit next to Stickigt on the bus. We first met at a knitting camp in 2006 (the first one I attended) and have met a few times since then. It was a treat seeing other blogging knitter friends again, like Marias garnhändelser, Sannstick, Tålamodspåsen, Stickor o spån and En till. (Links to their blogs in column to the right), as well as non-blogging knitter friends I’ve made the past few years. Fortunately, there was time to make some new friends too – one of the many advantages of spending a few days together!

The workshops I attended were excellent. First there was Estonian mitten patterns taught by Estonian designer Riina Tomberg. Then a whole day with designer idol Britt-Marie Christoffersson, testing different finishing touches. Would you believe it, she had prepared her workshop by knitting a square for each participant to work with so we wouldn’t have to waste time. I added a border to it, a kind of frill, and tried different kinds of fringes (photo here). I also tested one of her patterns in all the combinations possible with three colours (photo here). Isn't it fascinating what a difference it makes simply moving colours around?

Last but not least, I learnt tapestry crochet, traditional patterns from Korsnäs in Finland. They’re famous for their partly knitted, partly crocheted sweaters.

There were also great lectures by Uuve Snidare, Annemor Sundbö and Celia B. Dackenberg. In short, a veritable knitting orgy. Feel free to envy me.

My current project is a lace shawl where I’m using the Marianne Kinzel’s ”Springtime” pattern modules to knit a different shape; I found inspiriation in Maureen Egan Emlet’s “Mediterranean Lace” shawl in A Gathering of Lace. The yarn is Wetterhoff's wool-silk blend Viva.



8 comments:

Marika said...

Kungsängsliljan är så himla snygg!

Anita Tørmoen said...

Flott vest du har laget. Det sjalet ser ut til å bli lekkert.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I do envy you. What an interesting time you had. I am so impressed with the new shawl. My work on English Crystal has sort of stalled until next summer. I really like the shape.
Ron in Mexico

Knitting-twitter said...

..you are such a gifted Knitter,
a fantastic vest and shawl..
ciao cia Christa

Yarndude said...

You, sir, live in perhaps the most incredible part of the world and I envy every little bit of your experiences. The vest looks amazing, too!

herr avig / mr purl said...

Du blir bara bättre och bättre!

Asplund said...

Thanks, everyone! :-D

Lily said...

Great vest, great shawl too. You have very great taste. I like these two projects too. Actually your blog, and your work are amazing.