Where disability politics, feminism and craft collide.
After starting with fair isle hats, the next progression in my colourwork knitting was a yoked jumper. The classic style of a colourwork yoke knit in the round above a plain knit body seems to have been around forever, but it is in fact a fairly recent invention – Bohus-style jumpers appeared in Sweden c. 1940, followed by Icelandic lopi yokes (or lopapeysa) in the 1950s.* They really took off in the 60s and 70s, then as now contributing to Iceland’s national identity and tourist trade.
You’d be right in thinking I spent most of this summer knitting hats. I tend to knit all year round, and hats are so much easier to manage when a full jumper swelters in your lap and even the thought of wearing wool makes you feel overheated.
Continue reading “Ljós Hat, and woollen vs worsted spun yarns”
I’ve finished my first Fair Isle project, Saudade! In my last post, I mentioned I’d been struggling to achieve consistent tension as a beginner to stranded colourwork. You guys assured me I was on the right track with my technique of spreading and holding in place the stitches on the right needle before knitting on the left with a new colour, and that any imperfections would come out in the wash.
I gave you a sneak peek of my Solas hat in my Indie Pattern Month post – now here is the full review. Solas is an unusual design and one that didn’t catch my eye when it was first published for Ysolda Teague’s Knitworthy 3. But as I was in need of beanies this winter and wanted to experiment with different styles, I figured I’d get my money’s worth from my Knitworthy purchase and give it a go.
When I did my write up on my Merino Blank Canvas jumper, I mentioned that I had knit it both top-down and bottom-up, by casting on in the middle of the project. Here’s how to do it. Continue reading “How to knit a garment in both directions”
This post has been a long time coming. I started this project in August 2016, and completed it in November of the same year, or May 2017 depending on how you figure it. So a blog post is well overdue!
Knitting colourwork has never been my strong suit. Besides my complete inability to choose cohesive colour schemes, the technical skills involved in stranded knitting and intarsia always seemed beyond me. Recently, I’ve decided to challenge myself and take on a colourwork project to broaden my skill set.
The pattern that tempted me was Ysolda’s Saudade. With a traditional Fair Isle pattern and the colours already selected for me in a kit in her shop, it seemed the perfect way to dip my feet in.
