Thursday 27 November 2014

Icelandic, continued

The Icelandic cardigan continues..........
 
 
I have been happily knitting the cardigan, there not being much else I can do, at the moment. Once past the division for body and sleeves, it all went very quickly. Then I thought ''that seems awfully
big'', so I measured across the chest. Five inches bigger than I wanted, or intended!
I checked my gauge, and then the instructions. I can only think that where it says increase twice under each arm, it means decrease. So, I unravelled about eight inches, and did decreases instead of increases. Then the cardigan grew quite quickly. I did about nine inches of length, and then the recommended length of rib.
 
Then it was time to make the reinforcement for the steek. The tutorials posted by Kate Davies, and the video posted by Ragga Eiriksdottir, the designer of the 'Idunn' pattern, gave me enough courage to get on and do it.

 
                                              All ready to cut!
 
 

So, the steek was cut. Then a small matter of picking up stitches along the reinforced sides, and knitting the bands to make the sandwich. Here, one side is done. Phew!
More to follow.....

( the second photo is the most accurate colour. The weather is such that the light is awful for taking pics).




Monday 17 November 2014

Knitting on...

 
The plaster cast has come off. Relief! But of course, I have to get used to walking again.
 
The Icelandic sweater is coming on nicely..... The pattern is simple and well written, the slight problem is in the sizing, and the different understanding of knitters' expressions. Not that it will be a great problem, I will unravel a little of the main body, and put in some ( or a lot of ) decreases.
Apologies for the lack of photos - the weather is so overcast that I can't get any decent ones. If tomorrow is brighter, I will remedy the lack.
 
 
 
And......
 
( cartoon by Jacky Fleming.)

....... Or am I just being unreasonably cynical?

Monday 3 November 2014

Wovember

I have been following the 'Wovember' blog since it started a few years ago. ( go and have a look Here )
This year I was determined to enter into the spirit of the thing properly, so I spent time and effort choosing a suitable project, downloading the pattern, and sourcing the yarn.
The pattern is Idunn,  a top-down Icelandic cardigan, although there will be modifications. The yarn is Istex Letlopi, which is the recommended yarn.  The colours I have chosen are light beige, and sage green. I bought it from Deramores, who were incredibly quick in fulfilling the order.
 This yarn, actually I can say 'wool' in this case, is an Aran weight, so I am using 4.5 mm needles. Cast on late on Saturday, I have done a couple of inches already. The yarn feels a bit rough, at the moment, but I know that once washed and conditioned, it will alter. I also know from experience that Icelandic wool hand-knits go on forever.