Category Archives: Knitting

Free Neck Warmer Pattern

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | 4 Comments

 

Free neck warmer PATTERN

The free Baby Neck Warmer pattern can easily be adapted to make bigger neck warmers. This one is for a full grown gentleman with a rather wide neck. I cast on 66 sts with 3mm needles, for each “flap” , increased 1 st in each side, as stated in the pattern so there are 66+66+2+2 = 136 sts in the collar itself.

A crochet cardigan

A very nice woman gave me this, many years ago:  The back and one front piece were finished, and the second one was about 1/3 done. There is not pattern to follow. I’m going to finish this now. The second front piece is almost done, it’s very quick work and it is easy to follow the shape of the first one. The crochet pattern is pretty, but a bit to sweet for me, for a whole sweater. I’m thinking about combining knitting and crochet.  Ribbed sleeves, pockets, and collar – if I have enough yarn that is. I have no idea what brand of yarn this is. It feels like wool and it’s not very soft.

Perhaps the combination will be hideous, what do you think?

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Mundane Knitting in the Rain

Posted on February 8, 2012 by | 2 Comments

The brown cardigan is ready, but unblocked and missing the snaps (they are not sold in the village and I want to choose them myself). So buying them will wait a bit, until I go to Reykjavík (the capital) in two weeks. I will probably post a photo sooner though, when I remember to block it, that is.

I’m knitting the most mundane of items, a neckwarmer. In grey. So it’s really not worth a photo, at least not until it’s finished. Perhaps I’m just tired and lazy today…

It raining really hard so here are some rain photos for you:

Rain

Regn

Grátt á gráu

Today's rock picture

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Furniture Feet – a free pattern.

Posted on February 3, 2012 by | 3 Comments

My Furniture Feet Pattern is moving up in the world. It was featured in the latest edition of Knit Magazine  along with my Helene Beret

It is also getting quite popular on ravelry. People from all over the world are knitting “socks” for their chairs and tables, in all kinds of feltable wool.

Here are three beautiful examples.

Sabine from München, Germany made these beautiful beaded green “socks” for her exquisite chair.

Helle from Aulum in Denmark, made all these pure white ones:

This fully kitted out dining room is all the way from Colorado. The talenter knitters ravelry name is

endofthepier.

I got this idea in July 2009, and I made a set right away. That set is still in use and none of my “socks” have got a hole yet. Plötulopi seems to be very well suited for this kind of projects, I have teenagers, so my furniture is not treated kindly…

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Finishing a Lopi Cardigan – the Front Bands

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | 3 Comments

 

Seed Stitch Front Bands

I say lopi cardigan, although this one isn’t in lopi. But it’s a lopi pattern and the closest thing to the “real deal”  possible for the intended wearer. The front bands are knit, in seed stitch and sewn to the body. There are nine sts in each band, six for the band it self and three to cover the steek on the reverse side.

They are sewn with Kitchener stitch (grafting). First you stitch into the band, just after the third sts, and then the same way on the body,

right beside the knit sts. When done on the front, you turn the work and hide the steekwith the three sts wide band, that is now on the wrong side, in the same way:

I like this method, it’s very neat, and not hard, although it’s a bit time consuming.

My Lopi Cardigan “Career”

Most lopi cardigans I have done, have crocheted button bands. These three are almost identical:

This one has not only crocheted button bands, but also homemade glitter buttons. It’s not steeked, it was worked flat:

This one has crocheted bands, and a zipper:

but this one has buttons (obviously)

So do these :

This one has knit bands and a zipper:

and this one has an inserted zipper and no front bands at all. Lopapeysa - Icelandic wool sweater

And finally, this one has wide ribbed front bands. This one was worked flat, on very fine needles:

 

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Embroidery – a Little Progress

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Embroidered Hat

There has been some progress on the embroidery front. Not very much though, this type of embroidery is slow work. But if you look at last Sunday’s photo, you can see the difference:

Knit Magazine, Issue 46

Some of you might know Knit Magazine (formerly known as Prince Yarn Forward.) I have two patterns in the current issue, several photo’s and the thing I’m most exited about: a short chapter from my novel in English translation.

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Steeking Tutorials

Posted on January 30, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The brown sweater is now a cardigan. I had of course been planning this from the beginning, hence the two purled stitches running up the front.

Sure enough, I have some finishing to do, and the recipient has not decided if she wants a hood or not – but the steeking is done.

I  usually secure the steek with a sewing machine:

I like to sew twice on each side – that is four seams in all.

Not very exact as you can see, but that doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that at least one seam on each side is very close (but NOT sewn into) the knit stitches.Use small stitches and go slowly.

Cut slowly and carefully in between the two sets of stitches (right up the middle).

And we have a cardigan!

There are many other (and better) steeking tutorials out there. Here is a list of some of them:

Hélène Magnússon Steek With Me 1

Hélène Magnússon Steek With Me 2

The Knitting Harpy – Steeking

Steeking – Sewn Reinforcement 

Crocheted Steek Tutorial 

Hand Sewn Steek

Crocheted Steek

Steeking is easy and fun – not scary at all, once you try it.

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Tender Beginnings – Embroidery

Posted on January 29, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Beginning an Embroidery Project

I know it doesn’t look like much yet, but it never does at this stage. I haven’t made any drawings, but I have a definite plan in my head and I’m (unusually) sure of where I’m going with this. I have laid out all the color and they are mostly soft like the ones you see here. But there will be brighter sparks in between to liven things up a bit.

I will need to make some drawing later though. There will be creatures on this hat that I have never attempted to embroider. More about that later.

The Brown Sweater

The Brown sweater is ready for steeking, but I’m not quite well enough to do it. Hopefully I can tomorrow, because I really look forward to it. There is something immensely satisfying about transferring a sweater into a cardigan, with just a couple of seams and a carefully placed cut.

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Grey Skies and Some Knitting Progress

Posted on January 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

 

Today´s rock picture

This is an old photo. I have a nasty cold so I’m not going out, although I would like to. The sky today is exactly the same color as this though, gray and not very inspiring. There is much more snow though.

I’m all done with the body of the brown sweater and I’ve started knitting the front bands. I have also started embroidering a the green and white hat. There will be photo when I’m a little better.

Until then check out my updated free pattern page, and my resource page. I’m updating them both these day’s and new free patterns will be added soon.

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Some progress

Posted on January 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The brown sweater is beginning to look promising. The bust darts are all done and I have just started the yoke pattern. I’m not altering that much, just adding a color, tweaking some stripes, just to put my mark on it, otherwise it stays as it is.

I have no reason to change is much, Var is a beautiful and well designed pattern and a very popular one too.

The MC is running out. I have exactly in skein left – and there is to be a hood and all. Hopefully the store has more, I will find out very soon.

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Winter and sleeves

Posted on January 11, 2012 by | 4 Comments

Alone

The weather has been pretty bad, all over the country. Power shortage, closed roads, the works. But it’s better now, for the moment at least.

Today's Rock Picture

Light

Birds
A lot of birds stay in and around the village, and are fed by the locals, me included. I usually feed them at noon or so, and they start to check around that time, if I’m late.

There are still quite a lot of tourists around, and some get into trouble. I found a very nice couple that had ventured onto the sand and got their car stuck. I called the search and rescue team and a local guy came very quickly to help. The Icelandic search and rescue is a voluntary service, that is on call day and night, all year round.

I was shocked to find out that the couple were travelling in winter and they didn’t know the Icelandic emergency number, 112. They didn’t know how to drive in snow either, the car was not badly stuck as you can see and the rescue guy didn’t even have to tow it. He just rocked it back and forth for a while and backed it out of the hole.
I probably could have done it myself, but the couple were badly shaken up, and I haven’t done this for ages. ( I have only recently started driving again after years of illness).  So I thought it was better to get someone else to “release” the car, and calm them instead.

If you are planning winter travel in Iceland, please read this, and follow the simple but excellent advise.

Something totally different, sleeves:

Not quite done, but getting there.

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