Icelandic cardigan: days 6-7

Done! Now only finishing and that's it :)

This was a very agile knitting project, meaning that the plans got modified with reality and accumulated knowledge. The pattern found its form as I knitted along, and in the end I decided against the hood. I decided to call the cadigan "gimsteinn", which means gemstone in Icelandic. I will write the pattern up and post it later, together with a picture of the fully finalised cardigan.

Icelandic cardigan: day 5

So I got to the yoke! Now this feels like real knitting - no more bling speed-knitting but paying attention to the yarn and the pattern. I calculated that I made 20% of the yoke pattern yesterday, 80% more to go. I hope the white yarn is enough for a hood, though. We'll see!

Icelandic cardigan: days 3-4

The bottom part of the body is now done: afterwards it always feels like finishing a marathon. The true Icelanders knit cardigans also in a round so as to avoid purling, especially in the pattern. I am, however, not really comfortable with sewing and cutting the knitted pullover in the front (in case I want to make changes later on) so I opted for purling.

The sleeves are coming a bit slower than usually since I am making them simultaneously with circular needles. I have to do it this way as it seems that this city does not have double-pointed sock needles of size 5.5! On Saturday I went to four handicraft shops with no luck, so I decided to do with circulars. Some ten more centimetres for the sleeves and I hope to get to the yoke pattern by tonight.



In general, knitting with Álafosslopi is fun because it feels so real. There are little pieces of hay, thorns and whatnot in the yarn: it is almost possible to imagine where the sheep had rambled.

Icelandic cardigan: days 1-2

I finally got the time and inspiration to start the Icelandic lopi cardigan for which I bought yarn in August at the Ístex factory outlet. The yarn is bulky Álafosslopi, and I have seven skeins of white (0051), one of burgundy (9210),  one of orchid (0159) and one of dark soft purple (0163).



The pattern will be something like Var by Védís Jónsdóttir from Istex Lopi book number 29. I will make some modifications, though. For instance, I already decided not to make a pattern on the body, only on the yoke, sleeves and hood.

This is where I got to after two days of work. Mind you, I spent the entire first morning on deciding on which pattern to make (i.e browsing Ravelry and Lopi pattern books) and on and doing the measurements and calculations. I used the free Icelandic knittingpatters.is programme to calculate the required number of stitches.

Icelandic pullover: days 11-13

C'e l'ho fatto! And it's soooooo pretty :)

Icelandic pullover: days 8-10

It's getting there :)

Icelandic pullover: days 6 & 7

Ha! On average it takes me two evenings (after work) to finish a sleeve. Luckily now it's the weekend so I can start the collar :) But first it's maths time. Since I adjusted the size of the shirt, I will have to make sure the pattern fits.

Icelandic pullover: days 4 & 5

First sleeve done :) I absolutely love knitting the sleeves this way (5 sticks or round sticks) - less sewing of seams in the end!

Icelandic pullover: days 2 & 3

Now the bottom front+back part is ready! Height 40 cm. Next come the sleeves :)

Icelandic pullover: day 1

Thought of posting my progress with an Icelandic pullover, day by day.

Here is the end result of the first day:



The model is the classical Icelandic Lopi pullover, but the colours are more bright and yarn is thinner

Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä, colours natural white, lime green, orange, fuchsia pink