Earlier this week I was doing some Eurovision punditry for ESC Insight (the podcasts will be available soon). As a result I can bring you Eurovision knitwear. Iceland's promotional video offers great knitwear alongside its top-tipped, but slightly dull song. Enjoy.
PS. I'll have a proper Eurovision blog post up closer to the actual contest. However, I can already say that I am tipping Sweden, Italy and Azerbaijan as the biggest scoring countries on the night.
My knitting mojo seems to have returned - although I probably jinxed it by saying that.
I have finished two things - neither of which I can show you right now - and I have cast on for a new project. Luckily I can show you this one.
This is going to be Frontier by Julia Frank. Julia is a knitwear designer that works within the realm of deconstructing traditional knitwear ideas: she works with relatively fine yarns knitted at very loose gauge and with dropped-stitch patterns worked across large areas. Her work is a tiny bit more commercial now she is designing for Rowan: Frontier interprets the loose gauge and the dropped stitches within the context of a cropped summer cardigan. (Oh, and I also really, really like Julia Frank's Clara jumper from the recent Studio 26. Knitted bottom-up in the round with a yoke .. but this traditional construction just seems so fresh in Frank's hands.)
Anyway. Frontier. I am using Rowan Pima Cotton in "Bark". I am always wary of knitted with inelastic fibres like cotton or silk, but my hands are doing just fine. It has been a quick knit due to knitting a DK yarn on 5.5mm needles using a drop-stitch pattern. I had to adjust to the double whammy of a loose gauge and dropped stitches (either is fine, combined they are interesting). It helped when I changed from my customary circs to straight (bamboo) needles to stop the wraps getting tangled. I am just one ball into the project but I'm already at the arm hole shaping for the back.
In lieu of any photos of my two FOs, here is a photo of the delicious vegan date cake I had at Artisan Roast during one of my bike trips.
Yes, the bike arrived this week. I cannot begin to tell you what a difference having a bike has made to my emotional wellbeing.
When I lived in Denmark, I used to bike everywhere - it is simply part of the Copenhagen lifestyle - but I have been reluctant to get a bike here for a number of reasons (traffic & health being two major ones). Recently I have seen a rise in the number of people biking around Glasgow and I decided I might as well join them. I am so very glad I did. Apparently I never feel quite at home in a place before I can navigate it on a bike. Glasgow belongs to me now.
I am also very amused by the male bikers on their 17-gear racers who look at me with disdain as they race past me - and whose facial expressions turn positively green with sourness when this skirt-wearing lass on a three-gear classic ladies' bike catches up with them at the red light.
And, yes, I wear a helmet and I am significantly less suicidal on a bike than I was back in Copenhagen (where everything goes if you are biking). Don't worry.
Happiness is a red bike.
Did you know that March is Ravelry's National Crochet Month? While Ravelry is not a nation (and I think the nation in question is not mine), it does coincides with me finishing a big crochet project.
If you are a relatively experienced crocheter, you will know that crochet works up a lot faster than knitting. I spent less than two weeks making this shrug and I reckon I could even have had it finished within a week if I had worked on it exclusively.
The pattern is Fifi from the new Rowan Holiday Crochet book. (You can actually win a signed copy of the book on Ravelry right now. Go here for details) and I used just over four hanks of Rowan Creative Linen in "Leaf".
Interestingly, Creative Linen is technically a worsted weight, but I used a 4mm hook as called for in the pattern and it worked beautifully. I made no modifications and I crocheted a size L as I tend to do with Rowan crochet patterns. As I noted on Ravelry, I worried that the cotton/linen content of the yarn might wreck my hands, but my hands are absolutely fine. I would love to work with the yarn again - the colours are really saturated and it's very soft.
Seeing as Elsinore is off flying free in the world (and thank you to everyone who made it a trending pattern on Ravelry - that blew my mind!), I have cast on for a new shawl project.
But, Karie, you have way too many shawls!
Yes, but I also have a lot of shawl designs stashed away in my head and I need them to get out!
This shawl will be the very last in my planned 'Danish collection' and it will be offered in various sizes. Unlike the other shawl patterns I have released, it will be shown in two different kinds of yarn: 1) a smooth indie-dyed sock yarn and 2) a rustic 2-ply yarn. I am always amazed at how different designs can look depending upon the yarn choice and I really want to showcase this with this pattern.
I have cast on with Navia Uno, an interesting Faroese yarn that I have previously mentioned.
As you can see, the construction of Navia Uno is unusual (at least to this non-spinner) with two very different plies: one very tightly spun and one almost unspun. The resulting fabric is very bouncy and soft.
I have also played around with needle sizing a tiny bit. My go-to needle size for most lace is 4mm - indeed the last time I knitted with Navia Uno I used a 4mm - but I wanted something just a tiny bit firmer. So far I cannot stop putting my needles down just to caress the fabric. It is a bit disturbing, I know.
And I predict more shawls in the future. After all, I just picked up these two beauties from the post office.
Remember how I 'settled' for Navia Uno because I couldn't find my favourite Faroese yarn in Copenhagen? Well, I found an online vendor for Snældan yarn.. I know, I know..
Yarnia is based in Norway and carries a really nice selection of Snældan yarns. Somehow I managed to contain myself and only ordered two colourways in the 1ply: one is undyed dark grey and the other is surprisingly enough an olive green version. I am not quite sure how I managed to up yet another olive green laceweight.. but someone somewhere must be trying to tell me something because I ran into a hailstorm blizzard when I went to pick up the parcel.
Well.
Remember yesterday when I mentioned a photo shoot for a new pattern? Well, I can show you the results now!
The Elsinore shawl is now available to buy from Ravelry which is why I can now show you some of the amazing photos we shot in Copenhagen.
I had long wanted to shoot some photos in Denmark as I gather so much of my inspiration from my old homeland. Elsinore proved the perfect pattern: I designed it with a persistent idea of 'flatness' in mind: the stitch patterns are quite pared down in order to showcase the fabulous colour of the yarn. Flat and pared down .. all are words that I could use to describe Nordic light, especially during the winter months.
That is not to say that I think Elsinore is a minimal shawl. I started out wanted to capture 'flatness' but the simple lines turned out to be really flattering once draped over a person.
I was really lucky that my old friend Kirsten Marie agreed to model for me. She sings, she knits, she reads, she translates, she sews - and now she models too. And Kirsten Marie introduced me to a photographer who was interested in the challenge of shooting lace shawls in the depth of winter. Win-win.
The original sample is knitted in OMA superwash merino 4ply in "strange rock'n'rollers". It took roughly 390 yards to knit the sample but I recommend 400 yards in the pattern just to be on the safe side. And as always I recommend using a 4mm (US 6) needle to give the shawl a good deal of drape. The yarn was phenomenal to work with and the colourway was very interesting: it kept changing colour dependent upon where and when I was working on it.
And the last chapter in this story belongs to my poor test knitter, S. She kindly offered to testknit the pattern whilst I was gallivanting in Denmark. Unfortunately this meant she actually testknitted most of my next pattern. Amazingly the wrong chart worked really well with the Elsinore charts and she did not suspect a thing. I felt horribly guilty when I realised what had happened - but it's intriguing that the chart worked!
Elsinore was such a joy to design and knit. It came together very quickly and proved a really relaxing knit for me. I hope you'll enjoy it too.
Denmark was not just us larking about Viking settlements or eating six types of pork for lunch (true fact!). Denmark was also about knitting.
I had a photo shoot! I am about to release a new pattern - Elsinore - and we had the photo shoot in the middle of the Kastellet fortifications in northern Copenhagen.
It was an incredible cold day, so whenever there was a break in the shoot, I rushed forth to wrap a warm cardigan around the brave model. The photos turned out amazing. Stay tuned!
I also met up with Signest, aka Signe Simonsen who has been published in Knitty, Twist Collective and Petite Purls among other places. She is one of my favourite designers for innovative, colourful and bold childrenswear (check ou
t the Nova dress and the Viola hat!) but Signe has several, several strings to her bow as you are sure to find out in months to come. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at a design she is currently working on for Danish yarn company Filcolana.
And Signe's also the genius behind my current favourite attire, the I YARN CPH tee. Sorry about the photo - it is not the most flattering one of me but it is the only one I have of me wearing the tee.
Yes, I rather liked Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book. Why do you ask?
Oh, and there was yarn. Nothing really, really fascinating because I only had a few hours to spare so I could not explore new yarns, but I did buy a vast amount of yarn: mainly laceweight - which shocks no one - and mainly of the North Atlantic variety - which should shock absolutely no one either.
My usual Snældan yarn pusher had shut down since my last visit to Copenhagen, so I 'settled' for some more Navia Uno from Jorun Garn in Frederiksberg. They have similar fiber content (though the Navia introduces some merino into the blend) but the construction is slightly different. The Snældan is a slightly overspun single ply whereas Navia Uno is plied with a tightly spun 'thread' around a soft wool core. Navia Uno works up slightly softer than Snældan but has a smidgen less stitch definition. In other words, I should not be writing about 'settling' for anything as the two yarns are so similar and so beautiful. I am just concerned about minutiae.
And then I visited a charity shop where I uncovered a pile of Alt om Håndarbejde (eng: All About Crafts) magazines from the 1970s.
Alt om was really instrumental in kickstarting my lifelong love of all things crafty and I remember trying out loads of their easy kids' projects when I was a kid. I even think the first garment I ever made for myself (a pair of shorts!) was from an Alt om pattern.
Some of the projects are just outlandish seen with today's eyes but others transcend their time period with aplomb. I only took some of the magazines with me (the rest are staying with my mum until further notice) but I picked a few with fantastic sewing patterns for dresses and skirts. I don't think I shall ever outgrow my 1970s dress sense..
There are also quite a few big knitting projects that I can admire knowing I will never ever knit them. Just look at that coat. It is absolutely stunning. I have instructed my grandmother to snap up any old Alt Om that she might come across as the tutorials are worth their weight in gold.
I tried finding Alt Om's modern incarnation - the rather splendid Symagasinet which is all about sewing - but the local shops let me down. Earlier this year I also contacted the publisher about a possible subscription but the shipping costs were ridiculous, so I dropped that idea. Oh, Scandinavia, why do you taunt me so?
Anyway. To come: a brand-new pattern release, news about other patterns, some FOs and so forth. My life's really busy right now!
Earlier today I posted the following on social media websites: I have just gone through my wardrobe. I really, really NEED a warm black or grey jumper/cardigan. I have NO spare knitting time. Would buying one make me less of a knitter? Will I be kicked out of the knitting fellowship?
The response was really interesting. It was an unanimous don't be silly from everybody who replied to me. Selected responses:
Bells said: "I buy at least one a winter. I am a realist." (I like the realism bit)
Katherine admitted to wearing a shop-bought cardigan to her knitting group: "They told me off for being embarrassed that I hadn't knit it when they complimented it"
Catrin was succinct: "NO!"
And Christina pointed out: "Would you want to be part of a fellowship who would kick you out for doing that?" (she is always to the point - it's a gift she has).
So, I won't be a bad knitter if I buy a shop-bought item. It is strange, though, how making things automatically makes me think I should be making everything. It is also strange how guilty I feel at the thought of buying a non-knitted cardigan or jumper.
In an ideal world I would be adding the following staples to my wardrobe. In reality I have no idea when I'd have the time to start just one of these:
How do you combine your knitterly ambitions with your wardrobe needs, time constraints, and your budget?
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