knitting bliss

here is my na craga all finished.

stats:

10 skeins of cascade 220 heathers, olive green

needles 4 and 4½ mm

size: largest

alterations: i knit it in the round up to armholes where i divided it and knit back and forth. it is slightly tighter since i was off gauge.

it is the most lovely and logical pattern and i loved knitting it. i would not hesitate to knit another or two (my brother and sister both want this for their autumnal birthdays). i love all the cables and the way they are distributed. and i love the sailor rib at the sides and on the sleeves. it would make a very nice sweater as an over all pattern.

the recipient is andrés who is alba's dad. he looks soooo good in it, i think. he is the right type for this kind of sweater. and i added a picture of alba and dad in my knits. actually we were all wearing my knits yesterday when i came to deliver the sweater. alba her red aran, my niece the fair isle yoke, andrés his new sweater and i was wearing my saddle shouldered aran. close knit family.

and now i am knitting st. brigid. it is more complicated than na craga and the yarn is very elastic which i have to get used to. i have decided to knit it back and forth. i don't really mind seaming. it can be great fun when one takes the time it needs.

wwkip and a lovely gift.

well first things first. kent sent me a lovely pack with great green tea with a coconut scent and a lovely wild blackberry honey. the photo is awful but the tea is so good i couldn't wait for my camera to behave in order to take a more arty picture. everything was nicely wrapped up in red paper and i am not surprised since kent seems so meticulous with everything he does. i am looking sooo much forward to seeing his finished ssac since i am sure it will look like a dream.

secondly i pulled myself together and went to wwkip day yesterday. i always find it hard to go to such things on my own. but i had promised myself to go and see what it is like. it was a lot of knitting ladies have a great day together knitting (and talking) in public. there was a lot of sock knitting and bag knitting. i had hoped to see more people wearing finished objects but i guess it was a little too warm for that. i wore my meg swansen cardi and it got a really nice reception as did the na craga i am knitting. talking about na craga. i actually think i will finish it this week but i wonder if it will be too warm for any climate in these times of global warming. other wise it is a beautiful sculpture to hang on the wall.......

some get a kick from champagne....

and i have to confess so do i. but the arrival of these babies certainly gives me a kick too. as a knitter i am always going for a yarn bargain. the cascade 220 sweater i am knitting now is not pricey at all, and the sweater before that, and the sweater before that.....

but i decided that the next thing i knit for myself should have no boundaries when speaking of beauty and cost and hence i decided to go for knitting alice starmore's: st. brigid in the original 3-ply hebridean. clara parkes praises it in her book and on knitter's review and i have to agree with her. it is not really like anything else i have ever fondled in the yarn department and i have to knit as fast as i can on na craga so i can get this thing going. i remember seeing the roving that tweed is made of on harris, scotland, once. it was a multitude of colours that eventually was spun into a yarn or fabric that looked a little like nothing from afar but that on a closer looked revealed the multitude of shades it actually consisted of. and this is the same. when you look at it so many shades meets the eyes.

the colourway is dulse. dulse is obviously some kind of weed found in scotland and though the overall impression is green there are red, purple, orange, grey, lavender flecks in it and it is the kind of colour that will go with anything. i requested some colour'cards but alice starmore doesn,t do colourcards. but i got 10 generous samples of other colours in her collection. one is prettier than the other. i wish i could go to lewis and do volunteer work for alice for a summer or two. i am sure i would be a better person on return due to the happiness all the colours would shower over me. or maybe it would be even better in the winter.

the january cardigan aka the fishtrap cardigan

here is my version of the fishtrap from knitter's almanac. it is for my dear tall tall nephew with the very long arms. never have i knitted sleeves that looong.

it took 8 skeins of canadian regal from meg on needles 4½mm. it is not a very expensive yarn but very lovely for a rough wool afficinado like me. i am much more after texture than softness. the colour is forest brown a very unusual greyish orangey brown. very hard to define. and i think this yarn has heirloom quality.

i wanted to add a feature of my 'own' and made a ribbed welt that is from the rest of the body by purling one row one the right side. the rib pattern is from ms. starmore's: fishermen's sweaters to be more exact the rib used for the sweater 'inisheer'. it is a usual way to design an original aran. gladys thompson also has a lot of examples of such welts in her book about aran patterns. this year is the year of cables for me. i have at least 3 more cable projects in my head. when i have finished na craga i am going to knit st. brigid form aran knitting for myself in hebridean 3 play from alice starmore. i can hardly wait to receive the parcel from the outer hebrides.

after posting last time i realised i had the same picture twice and claiming that everything went swimmingly. it does actually so i post another picture to prove it.

swimmingly

i cannot begin to say what a big joy it is to knit na craga. the pattern is so well and logically orchestrated. and the result is quite beautiful. i only hope the sweater will stay in shape and not pill awfully..

i am knitting a lot in public these days. i get all kinds of comments from strangers passing by like:

how diligent you are (elderly ladies)

is this for someone for christmas (middleaged men)

and all such things.

the lady remark is very process oriented.

the man remark is very product oriented.

i wonder if that applies for most things in life.

but the funniest thing was yesterday when i saw a youngish woman sitting knitting by one of the lakes here i cph. i went to the bench and took out my knitting too. and after a very short time we were talking and talking about knitting and designers and colours and good and bad ways to write patterns. she was actually writing a pattern for a company. i was shocked to hear how little those companies pay for such a big effort. i sometimes think it could be fun to publish knitting patterns but i want money, that's what i want, as the song goes. it is sad that it gets paid so badly and it is even more sad that it is because knitting is so biased. but maybe that will change in the future. i think we need handwork in the world today where so many people don't do much else but eating and playing on the computer whenever they have some time off!!!

oh and i have decided to go on a small trip to vilnius lithuania. i have heard there is a whole lot of knitting going on there. i will indulge.

na craga

i have started na craga and the fish trap cardi is spending some time with my friend who is sewing the zipper in. i cannot wait to give it to my nephew with the long arms and i hope that this one will fit.

and last week i couldn't help myself buying aran knitting by alice starmore on ebay. i had it sent from lithuania. and the book is wonderful filled with history and technique. it is too bad that there is copyright issues so it cannot be republished since i think it is a must in any knitter's library. she analyses knitting in a way that only literature is usually analysed. and she also tells you to be a thinking knitter in the same way as elizabeth and meg. she calls it: LOOK-THINK-KNIT and the more i knit, the more i subscribe to this view upon knitting and i see that so many people succeed in getting their inner designer out these days through knitting and maybe because there are so many brilliant books on designing knitwear on the market.

so i am knitting na craga. it is great fun with something going on all the time and the cables are beautiful and prominent. i hope cascade 220 will not pill awfully.