Sunday 13 October 2013

Learning new tricks

Double knitting by Asplund
Double knitting, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.
On my way home from the knitting event in Denmark a few weeks ago I had a couple of hours to kill waiting for a bus to go to the airport. What better way than to learn something new? Meeting Chrissie Day was inspiring: she was there to teach double knitting, a technique I've been thinking about trying for quite a few years, and I had a book with instructions in my bag. By the time I was back home in Stockholm I had knitted a few swatches testing different patterns and ways to cast on, not to mention discovering different mistakes hopefully not to make again.

It is such a thrill suddenly knowing exactly how to use yarn that has been waiting in my stash! I simply couldn't resist these two colours when I came across them a couple of years ago. The wool is Dansk pelsuld from Hjelholts. My plan was actually not to combine them, but I think they enhance the beauty of each other.

I use Marianne Isager's "Circles" jacket as a starting point but with two major modifications: there will only be two colours and I'm adding a pattern to the big emply squares for variation. It looks like Noughts and crosses!

Autumn is my favourite season, especially days like today - and it is cool enough to wear a sweater I finished about half a year ago. Here is an old post where you can see the sides and gussets. The yarn is Cascade 220 and I used a design in Uuve Snidare's book "Fiskartröjor" for inspiration.

Aranish sweater


En av alla saker som är allra roligast med stickning är att det finns så mycket nytt att lära sig och testa! I flera år har jag tänkt pröva dubbelstickning, men det är först nu som bitarna har fallit på plats: ett inspirerande möte, tid att pröva mig fram, rätt garn i gömmorna och ett mönster att utgå från. Det här garnet hittade jag när GarnGalleriet hade öppet hus i Uppsala för ett par år sedan och nu får det äntligen komma ut ur garderoben.

Det fanns så mycket vackert garn där och jag minns att en god vän som var med mig ställde diagnosen garnsting och sade att jag borde gå ut och svalka mig en stund innan jag bestämde mig! (Faktiskt tror jag att jag lider av kroniskt garnsting men kanske i galopperande grader. Förresten är det nog så att jag snarare njuter än lider av den åkomman.)

Originalmönstret har cirklar och tomma rutor; jag har bestämt mig för att fylla de senare med mindre fyrkanter, så jag får nog kalla min version för Luffarschack.

Thursday 3 October 2013

Brioche shawl finished

Brioche shawl by Asplund
Brioche shawl, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.
Here's the brioche shawl I made based on Nancy Marchant's "Alex" scarf (Ravelry link here). I decreased and cast off each leaf separately, so there were quite a few loose ends to take care of. However, I made it easy for myself by using a crochet hook and simply pulling them through a number of brioche yarnovers.

Inishmore in progress

A Starmore addict I've cast on to make yet another of her designs, namely "Inishmore" from Fishermen's Sweaters. The yarn is Cascade 220, and I think this light colour works well with this kind of cable pattern.