Thursday, February 15, 2007


I've been spoilt!
I've joined the Dales of Norway Knit-Along, an offshoot of Knitting Beyond the Hebrides and found that, at least this pattern, is written more along European than American lines. German instructions are much more general whereas American instructions are more detailed. For example, the instructions on the back of Opal sock yarns go something like this : cast on, knit cuff, knit leg, make heel flap, turn heel, pick up gusset stitches and knit gusset, knit foot, decrease for toes. The Magic Stripes yarn, on the other hand, has detailed instructions on how many stitches are to be cast on, how to make the heel flap and turn the heel, etc.

Now you have to realize that the first time I saw written instructions for turning a heel, I had no idea what to do with them. I remembered how to turn a heel, but not with written instructions. In the meantime, I have been spoilt by detailed American instructions, even though I rarely follow them.

I decided to knit the Dales of Norway Kongle sweater and started with the sleeve, with the thought of the sleeve also acting as my swatch. Wrooong decision! The pattern is charted without the increases for the sleeve; the pattern designer just assumes you work out the increases yourself. Now I have knit for a long time, but colorway knitting in the round and increasing at the same time every fourth row and fitting the increases into the pattern freehand is more than I can manage and make it look good. I will have to take the time and chart the increases; therefore, I decided to put the sleeve aside and start on the body. So here is the beginning of the sweater. The original was designed for Dales of Norway Tiur yarn; however the recipient of this sweater is allergic to Mohair, so I am using coned Brown Sheep Merino yarn. The colors are similar to the ones shown on the leaflet. This is definitely slower knitting than the last sweater I made and won't be finished in a week. Ooh, I also get to practice steeking on this one. But that is an adventure for some future point in time.

No comments:

Post a Comment