Nordic Knitting

Before I leave for my Reversible Sweater Knitting Retreat headed by Claudia/CountryWool, I want to share what I made at a past retreat.

I love this sweater--it's my absolute favorite thing to wear in the winter! I started it in 2006 at the Nordic Knitting Retreat and finished the following year at the next retreat. First I made this hat as a gauge swatch:

Look at the pretty hem (my introduction to hems--LOVE them):

This was my first big project using both hands carrying yarn (stranded color knitting). There's a great video on the technique here: Philosopher's Wool

And here are the pattern details:

Pattern: Lusekofte In The Woods Sweater & Hat by Claudia/CountryWool;
seamlessly knit in the round
Yarn: "Heilo" by Dale of Norway
Required Gauge: I don't have the pattern in front of me with all of the details
Comments: Well written pattern; fun to knit and wear!

Hopefully I will post pictures on Monday of the baby sweater I plan on starting and completing at this weekend's retreat. You can get a lot of knitting done when the kids are not around and all of your time is spent knitting! Until Monday...

Misc Monday

It’s “Misc Monday” here at BuzzandFuzz: a day to tie up loose ends. Today’s loose end is my “Twined Sweetheart Mittens”. But first, an announcement…

I got a shipment of Fleece Artist “Blue Face Leicester Aran” in this morning (7 colorways)! I love this yarn. It’s a great all-around wool and my favorite wool for twined knitting (even though it is “S” twist and not “Z” twist). It is so soft and the colors are gorgeous. I can’t wait to work on some designs with this yarn. Click here to order some for yourself!

Done with the shameless advertising, now on to the knitting. I finished up these mittens last month:

I am really happy with how they came out. The picture doesn’t do a very good job of showing the detail, so I tried to hand draw a sketch (I know, I’m not an artist):

The Mora yarn takes on new life after soaking and blocking. I would imagine that these mittens will become even nicer with time and handling. I wrote the pattern for sizes woman’s small – men’s Xlarge. The XL men’s mittens used exactly 1 skein of Mora yarn. I have a few skeins of Mora available as kits with the pattern: click here.

And because it is “Misc Monday”, here is a random question: Are you a football fan? If so, College, Pro, or both? My answer: I am a huge Pro football fan. It’s what I look forward to in the fall. I love knitting on Sundays while watching the game.

September Socks

Here are my September socks for the "Sock a Month" KAL 4.

The details:
Pattern: My own; cuff down, magic loop
Yarn: Austermann Step (75% superwash wool 25% nylon), 1 ball
Color: ? olive greens
Gauge: 7.5 st/inch
Needles: US#2/3.0mm

This is the yarn with the aloe vera and jojoba oil added. The oils are supposed to last through a ton of washings. It was nice to knit and very comfy to wear, but I wouldn't say I can actually tell there are any oils added. So hopefully I am getting the wonderful benefits of the oils without that greasy feeling!

Moving UFOs to FOs

Before I can dive into a fall sweater project, I am making myself finish a couple of old UFOs that are stuck because of "issues". I am happy to say: one down, one to go!


The project above (it's supposed to be a shrug) has been like this for over 2 years. It was started back during the shrug craze. It knit up very quickly. I enjoyed knitting it and loved the yarn. So what happened? I'm not really sure. It was so long ago, I've forgotten the details. But here's what I found: for whatever reason, I used a provisional cast on and knit across the back and down one sleeve. Then I knit the other sleeve in the round and left it unattached. Also, both sleeves had a flared and rolling cuff.

So, here's my fix: I knit the lone sleeve a bit further, turning it into the flat lace pattern of the back and ending on a right-side row. Then I picked up my cast on stitches from the back and I purl-grafted the sleeve and back together (the wrong-side row of the back lace pattern was purl). Next I ripped back both of the flared cuffs, finished the sleeves with an elastic bind off, and made the sleeves 3/4 length.

I'm not sure I'll end up wearing this, but my 2 daughters love it. I've decided I don't like the way shrugs are loose across the bottom part of the back. If I were to design one now, I would use short rows to fix that.


Here are the details:
Pattern: "Mia Shrug" by Karen Boykin
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns "Miracle" (50% alpaca 50% tencel); 5 balls
Color: 3332 maroon
Gauge: 5.5 st/inch
Needles: US#6/4 mm
Comments: I really liked the yarn and the simple lace pattern. I made the roses from the original pattern, but decided not to attach them.

I'm glad to cross this off my list.

A Mystery solved

So what is this? This is a picture of the wrong side of my MS3 stole before blocking (the wing section). I just thought it looked so neat I had to take a picture. It reminds me of the Japanese shibori knitting/felting. When I have some extra time, I really want to make a shibori scarf. For a short tutorial on shibori knitting, check out this link (click here).

But back to MS3. I have finished my stole (yeah!). I am really happy with the finished product. The yarn is light and warm and incredibly soft. These pictures do it no justice as you can’t see the beads or the shimmer of the yarn, but here you go:

The wing:

And the finished stole (click for larger image):

Details:
Pattern: Unofficially: MS3/Mystery Stole 3; Official name: ”Swan Lake” , available soon from Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn: Prism Lace Wool, color ‘Antique”
Needles: US4/3.5mm

What I learned from this project:

1. MS3 was my first knit-along. It was great to be part of such a large, friendly, international knitting group.

2. Working from a chart. I have worked from charts before, but never enjoyed it. I can honestly say that I now PREFER charts to written instruction! Early on in MS3, it all clicked and I couldn’t be happier.

3. Beads: The technique Melanie suggested for bead placement was great (adding the beads as you knit with a crochet hook). It wouldn’t be efficient for large amounts of beads, but was great for this project.

4. Wine and twine do not mix when knitting lace. Okay, I already knew this, but sometimes I forget…

Now that I have finished “Swan Lake”, I will be finishing up some other long time UFOs and then starting a couple of new sweaters. I love fall knitting and can’t wait to start some new things.

August Socks--Bamboozle

Okay, so I have finished my socks for August. To be fair though, I started these last fall. It's my first pair of "Toe-Up" socks with a flap heel and I really enjoyed them (even if it took me almost a year). Toe -up is perfect if you want to use all of your yarn up--just knit the cuff until you run out of yarn! I'm going to try a toe-up pair with a fancier cuff, but don't expect those until at least October.

So here are the details:
Pattern: "Bamboozle" by Red Bird Knits/Robyn Gallimore
Yarn: Regia Bamboo Color (45% bamboo 40% wool 15% nylon; machine washable)
Color: 1067
Gauge: 9 st/inch
Needles: US#1/2.5mm

I really liked the bamboo yarn. I will probably try to make a pair of anklets out of this yarn for next summer, after I see how these hold up.

Braided Gauntlets

Here's a great idea for a last minute gift:

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Merino
Color: Emerald Blue
Needles: #9/5.5mm (but I knit tight)
Pattern (slightly adapted): Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets, by Rachael Calado

You can knit the pair up over a weekend and 1 ball of the Malabrigo Worsted will make 3-(almost) 4 gauntlets.

More on Twined Knitting

I am really loving this twined knitting. I have finished the other mitten:

and I’m designing and knitting a pair for my DH. So what exactly is twined knitting?

From the back cover of Twined Knitting: a Swedish Folkcraft Technique, by Dandanell, Birgitta; Danielsson, Ulla; Hansen, Robin Orm (Translator) :

"Twined knitting, or tvaandstickning, is a venerable Swedish folk knitting technique which creates an unusually dense, durable, and exquisitely patterned fabric. Twined knitting has been used historically for mittens, caps, gloves, stockings, and jackets. Knitters today are finding that the extra skill and care demanded by this fascinating technique are justified by its heirloom-quality results.”

Basically, it’s a really old technique that involves using 2 strands of yarn from the same ball (the center and the outside) usually knit in the round. It makes a really warm and durable fabric that is more elastic in the width and not so elastic in the length. You can’t twined knit too tightly, which is perfect for me because I always knit tight!

For information on the history of twined knitting:
http://knittingkninja.com/tag/twined-knitting

And for a starter tutorial on twined knitting:
http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter05/FEATwin05TT.html

It’s a bit tricky at first, but once you get into a rhythm, the knitting moves along nicely. The two most decorative stitches used in twined knitting are the “crook stitch” and “chain path”. These stitches are made by carrying one of the strands of yarn in front of the work. Here is a close up of both stitches in the mittens:

The diamond pattern on the hand of the mitten was made with crook stitches:

Twined knitting was originally done with a multi-stranded Z twist yarn (click here for info on Z vs S twist). Most commercially available yarns we knit with are S twist. I used an S twist yarn for the class mittens and I really like the way the finished product feels. But of course I need to know if it really makes a major difference, so I am going to try a couple of pairs of mittens in a z twist yarn. I could only find two companies carrying z twist yarns: The Wooly West Mora yarn and Black Water Abbey .

I am using the Mora yarn right now (fingering weight) and have ordered some Black Water Abbey worsted weight yarn. It will take a couple of months for my complete analysis, but I’ll keep you posted…