Tuesday 12 May 2015

Good progress and a little backtracking . . .

As per usual I got so involved with my lopapeysa/icelandic sweater project that I did not manage to chart my progress as I went, but here's the next part of the 'story' . . .

I finished the main part of the sweater (using an exisiting sweater as a template for sizing - that's the grey one underneath BTW) . . .



So that was the body ready, now for the sleeves . . .


I made two, of course, hehe!  Nothing too challenging so far - just getting used to stranded colour knitting on much larger needles than I'm used to!  Basic increasing every 12th row - nothing tricky, just keep counting!

OK, so now we have a body and two sleeves ready for joining together, that's the fun part Yay! . . .


You now join the everything together on your main circular needle (the one the body is knitted on) - you leave a few stitches from each sleeve on a holder to be sewn up later.  Your sweater is now getting quite cumbersome to carry - it's quite a heavyweight! . . .


The instructions to join the parts together were fairly straightforward - well I managed it anyway - I definitely broke sweat at this point though, pheeeeew!.

It's now time to follow the colour chart for the yoke - this was the part I was looking forward to!  The knitting up of the main parts can get a little boring but this yarn knits up fast :)  I was a little worried about my knitting tension of the colour work - some online advice suggested going up a bigger size of needle but I decided to keep my knitting tension loose instead - this was a little tricky but turned out well . . .


So strange doing colour work on these big needles - it was a challenge to keep everything nice and even.  I decided to strand in some of the longer floats at the back after much ummming and ahhhhing.  This website was reassuring  re floats though so I didn't fret toooooo much - when in Iceland and all that (yes, I know I'm not but you know what I mean - I was trying to be authentic!)

Anyway it's all gone swimmingly - I'll reveal the finished sweater next week after the recipient receives it.  If it's too small  . . . . well I could wear it myself!

See you next week with the finished sweater - hurray!!  BTW I'm making this one here by Vedis Jonsdottir :) Great pattern :)
Alison x

5 comments:

homemade@myplace said...

Amazing work Alison!!!!!! really love your sweater!!!!
xxxxxx Ale

Gaia said...

You are so fast with those needles, Alison!! It is looking lovely, waiting for the final reveal..

Josie said...

It's looking wonderful, love it!

Sam Findlay said...

Wow Alison, it looks amazing, what a great job you're doing! Can't wait to see it finished!

fairislerona said...

It's looking good Alison x