My box of knitting – a sweater in the round, to be steeked into a cardigan. The whole process of steeking entails sewing down a bead on either side of where you CUT THE SWEATER. From there, well, let’s wait until then! Too scary to contemplate for a first-time activity.
Oh, how Covid-19 makes you bored and brave (or foolish) at the same time!
Ásta Sóllilja is a sweater I just finished, like minutes ago! The first finished object of the season, and I am feeling so smug about it . . .
Beginning mid-December, I started this sweater, designed by Kate Davies, and available in her book Yokes. Asta Sollilja is a sweater derived from traditional Icelandic sweaters, but with waist-shaping (not that I have much of one!) and short rows to make a distinctive front and back. Traditional Icelandic sweaters have neither, but are wearable in any direction, although with regular wear, take on, perhaps, more of the owner’s body shape.
I used Cascade 220 and changed the colorway a bit, cutting down on one color and using navy blue for the dark brownish color as well as the navy.
I just finished this sweater and was soooo excited, I just had to take pictures of it! I used Jeny’s Stretchy Bind Off, which is fantastic in that it is tidy, and stretchy, and can be done quite nicely with 2×2 ribbing at the neckline. You can see the video here.
I still have ends to weave in and armholes to graft before the final wash and blocking – but this is the first Finished Object of the season – my New Year’s resolution – the BIG ONE – is to finish up my plethora of UFOs.
I’ve had an awful cold for the past week – and whilst convalescing, I made good use of my time. I knit a sweater this past week, and watched all of Engregages, and even managed to get to work for a few hours . . .
This past week has seen me seriously down with a cold – out of a 5 day work week, only 2 days had me visible at all! I started getting it a week ago today, and knowing how awful the cold could be – the other half came down with it the week before – I decided I had better figure out something to do with myself. I decided to make myself a sweater. And I am glad I did make that decision early on in the game because, had I not, I would have just watched TV all day long and felt horribly unproductive. Even sick, I just don’t like blobbing around. So, in between aspirin and decongestants, sleeping and sneezing and shivering, I knit up a sweater and watched Engregages, but with English subtitles. Interestingly, I could understand a lot of the French by the time I watched all the episodes available on Netflix.
One of the things that has been haunting me in the world of knitting is my abundance of half-finished projects, meaning things that need a bit of thought. Being sick, thinking is one of the last things I wanted to do. The project needed to be interesting, fast, and simple. The solution was an Icelandic-style sweater. I dug out my Lopi pattern books, and looked at Ravelry, and finally decided on a pattern – which I modified to a degree – and colors. White, light grey, dark grey, black. Contrast.
The yarn is a fuzzy acrylic because I had it on hand. Using US 8 and 10.5 needles, the sweater had a gauge of 3.5 sts / inch. Once that was established, the rest was easy. And, in exactly 7 days, my sweater is completed, finished, ends woven in, washed, and ready to wear. It fits pretty nicely, too, but my grafting skills are not what they used to be . . . so I won’t show you the underarm seams.
If you have the book shown, Volume 17, the pattern is based upon sweaters 19 and 20, with some modifications to the last 2 pattern rounds.
To say the least, I’m feeling pretty smug!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 