Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017

Ella Gordon just announced this winter's knitalong - Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017, where the colours are inspired by Up Helly Aa!

With all the yarn I bought at Shetland Wool Week this year my intention was not to take part in this winter’s KAL. But when I saw my favourite yellow I could not resist, and placed my order… Looking forwards to a colourful KAL!

Photo from the Jamieson & Smith blog

Last year I made a pair of mittens in the Winter Wollies KAL, using seven of the eight colours. The pattern is called "Pysje mæ alt", and is found on Ravelry. 

For the summer KAL I decided to use all the eight colours, and try to make a pattern that would use as much of the yarn as possible. 

The result is the Ringdans  cowl. 

I have an idea for the Fire Festival KAL too. Stay tuned!

Bad shawl karma

During Edinburgh Yarn Festival I knitted this brown shawl. It soon became one of my favourites, pretty and wearable as it was. The pattern is Spring Festival, by Jo Kelly. 

So I brought it with me to Shetland Wool Week, where I also casted on a different shawl, in a Wensleydale wool from John Arbon. If I'm not mistaken, the yarn was a special batch that's not part of their usual yarns. Anyway, the yarn is soft and lovely to work with, a bit fluffy and shiny, like mohair. 

I enjoyed the knitting - the pattern is Velvet Rose Shawl by Helen Stewart, aka Curioushandmade.

I loved my new shawl, even more as I mislaid the brwn shawl somewhere in Lerwick. At the moment, the new shawl also has an unknown location, but I'm hoping it will show up again. Luckily I have another skein of the yarn, but I'm not feeling like casting on another shawl just yet. 

New pattern - the Ringdans cowl

I just published my new cowl pattern, Ringdans ("round dance").

This cowl was designed to make the most of the 8 colours of Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight from the Spring and Summer KAL 2016. It uses just under one ball of each colour and can be wrapped twice around your neck to keep you warm.

Besides that, it's a fun knit.

The pattern is available in Norwegian and English.

Shetland Wool Week photo album - Land of Rainbows

Shetland Wool Week photo album - Eshaness

Crofthoose hats!

Shetland Wool Week Photo Album - Lerwick

Lerwick, on a sunny (and windy) day in September 2016

Shetland Wool Week Photo Album - fairisle knitting

Exhibition on Whalsey

Shetland Wool Week Photo Album - colours

It's been almost a month since I came home from Shetland Wool Week, 

so it's definitely time to share some photos!

The three year sweater

I started this in May 2013. I knew it hat been a while, but was surprised to see how long. Ravelry never lies...

This was one of the main projects I had in mind when I challenged myself with the Finishing&mending2016 in January.

And finally it's done!
And I love it!

I usually am not a fan of Superwash yarns - but for a fitted sweater like this it has one advantage, well two, maybe, when you include the fact that it can be easily washed: It is not as warm as a woolly wool sweater would have been, so it's easier to use. Especially since my husband and I do not agree on the temperature inside the house. I think it's perfectly normal to wear a wool cardigan, while he wants to wear a t-shirt only. I'm sure you all support me!

S for summer and shawls *3*

I call this shawl "Norsk sommer", which means Norwegian summer. It is inpired by the colours of summer in Norway. Originally I made it as a baby blanket, but as it was growing I saw that it would make a lovely shawl when folded double. 

I have used yarn from my stash, except for a couple of green balls that I bought to add more variety to the greens. It is all 2ply fingering yarn, Rauma Finullgarn, Sjølingstadgarn, J&S 2ply jumper weight and probably some other as well. 

The shawl (or blanket) is worked from the centre out, following the same recipe as the "Hurramegrundt" baby blanket that I made last spring. 

I am working on the Norwegian version of the pattern, so if you're interested in test knitting (and knows Norwegian), please let me know. 

S for summer and shawls *2*

I bought this lovely red yarn at Edinburgh Yarn Festival.  It's a Swedish yarn that I hadn't seen before. Extraordinarily red, soft and woolly. The link is for the Swedish site. I bought the yarn from an English based shop run by a couple, I believe she is Swedish and he is British. I bought two skeins, planning for a shawl - every woman needs a red shawl, doesn't she?

The skein in the photo is the darker - dyed on grey yarn. There was only one skein left of that, so I got one brighter skein dyed on white too. Then I had to figure out how to combine the two.

I didn't use a pattern for this shawl. I started with one stitch and worked a triangle, as I learnt from Gudrun Johnstons Aestlight pattern.

I knitted until I almost ran out of the bright red colour, then cast off the triangle. I picked up the yarn over loops on the sides and worked a feather and fan pattern, based on Kate Davies' Northmavine Hap pattern from her book, Colours of Shetland. When I was happy with the border lenght, I cast off. 

A perfect shawl for a chilly summer evening in Norway. 

S for summer and shawls *1*

I first så this shawl on the Knitting Amigas podcast. It's called Golden Sand and is designed by Joji Locatelli, and is made for the charity Sight is Life working in Congo DR, a country that I actually visited back in 1988. I liked the shawl and the project, and when the pattern was published just before my summer holiday, I decided it would be perfect holiday knitting, lots of garter stitch, and a little lace. 

The pattern is written for one colour, I used two. The yarn is a sock yarn from Shibui Knits, in two shades of purple. Ravelry project page here.

The shawl pattern can be bought as a single pattern, or as part of an e-book. There is a Ravelry group for the project. 

I had just enough yarn left from my two skeins to make tassels!

I almost can't wait for autumn!

The thumb gusset and the mitten geek

Mitten geeks discuss thumb gussets when they meet. To beginner knitters the thumb gusset can be a mystery. In September this year I am very lucky to be able to go to Shetland Wool Week. If you're going too, and are curious about the thumb gusset, you can join one of my 

two classes. 

I'm really looking forwards to meeting other knitters, to seeing wonderful yarn and knitwear, and enjoying the Shetland landscape. This will be my third visit to Shetland Wool Week, and I can't wait.

The first time I went to Shetland, for the Wool Week in 2012, I fell in love with the heathered Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight yarn. The first evening I bought a few balls, and casted on immediately for a pair of wristwarmers.

The small houses just popped up in my head as I was knitting, and when I was planning the gusset class, I decided to use them again. I have made this new pattern specially for this class. It features different thumb gusset constructions, and lots of small houses, where you can play with your colours if you want.

I will also be showing some of the mittens from the Mitten Guild's book, "Eventyrvotter"  (Fairy Tale Mittens). For an additional price the book is included, with a download link to get 14 of the 20 patterns in English.