What I worked on Wednesday…

Completed items

I crocheted this cardigan early in the spring, but I have only worn it once or twice. Once the weather begins to turn warmer, I do, too! This is 100% cotton and is rather slubby. It’s one of those Caron Cakes in the color, quartz, I think. This was the first actual piece of clothing I crocheted for myself. I’ve made loads of hats and scarves, but I’ve never crocheted a sweater. Here is a link to the free pattern on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/uptown-chic-cardigan. As I’ve gotten caught a couple of times with too little yarn, I did buy an extra skein or cake as I suppose I should say. This is a bottom up crocheted sweater. I think that’s a little unfortunate in that you aren’t able to adjust the length should you want it longer or shorter. I happen to like the length of mine. It’s about the length of a tunic. And, if you’ve read many of my posts, you know I do love a tunic!

One of the things that can make or break a purchase, or in this case, a project, is the alignment of the stripes. Oh, gurlllls! I cannot tell you how many little balls of yarn I had as I had to break the yarn in order to get the right color for the sides and even the sleeves. I worked hard to keep those lines correct. I used a version of the mattress stitch to seam the pieces together. Shaping the arms and sleeves are two tasks I really don’t like at all! I have a cardigan I’m knitting. I have one sleeve done. I started it early this spring. After knitting that one sleeve, I realized I’d have to do it all over again! But, it will be a gorgeous cardigan when I’m done with it!

One of the things I really liked about this sweater was the varied textures created by the different stitches. There was a knot stitch, single crochets and triple (maybe double) crochets. I wasn’t concerned about striping with the edging…I don’t know that I could have been! I contemplated putting pockets on it. That would have been easily accomplished, but, to be honest, I was just done with this project! I wore it with jeans and a white or ivory tee. I also envision wearing it with a striped tee and some ponte leggings. I don’t think I’d wear this with a skirt, but I would definitely wear it as a topper over a slimmer dress. There is a bit of give to the knit, but not a lot so I don’t think it would be as effective if worn over a fuller type dress.

My Norwegian boyfriends

Early in the pandemic, I stumbled upon a couple of older guys from Norway on YouTube. They had a series called “Sit & Knit for a Bit”. I started watching and fell in love…with the country, knitting, and them! Arne Nerjordet and Carlos Zachrison are knitwear designers with a love for all things yarn! Last year, during their “Sit & Knit” podcast, they would present a knitted colorwork square (they called it a patch). The pattern was free for downloading. Arne is the true knitter of the two. He just sits there and knits while he’s talking…in English…and he’s Norwegian…and he’s knitting! I’m not sure which of the two (my guess is Arne) designed the squares, but they would present them along with stories of what their day had held. You can find them on Instagram and Facebook. While there, if you search back far, far enough, you’ll come across some of the completed patches/squares. At first, they were only going to do nine for a cushion. I think they ended up with almost 50. I have knitted several of them. On their Facebook page (which they got locked out of…I’m not sure if they’re on it yet or not), many of the over 14,000 members designed even more patches. The “quilts” and afghans others have made are amazing! The spirit of camaraderie is wonderful. I goofed and decided to do mine in ivory and navy. I wish I’d just picked a colorway and done that. Now, I feel like I’m kinda stuck with these two colors. But, the knitting was fun and easily accomplished in an evening’s work.

You’re probably wondering what that has to do with the picture above, right? This sweater is knit from merino wool and a “hairy” (that’s what Carlos calls it) yarn. Here is a link to the pattern https://shop.arnecarlos.com/product/olava-sweater/. If it weren’t for my two Norwegian boyfriends (it’s never said, but I’m pretty sure they’re a couple), I would never have had the guts to try colorwork at all. Just give them a listen. You’ll be hooked. They are delightfully unassuming and just a hoot! If you only want to listen, don’t start with their current series which is about Norwegian craft traditions, specifically the Setesdal region. Many of the videos are in Norwegian as the boys traveled to Setesdal to interview artisans and museum docents. These videos are captioned (by Carlos who once worked doing closed captioning for a soap opera) so you have to actually watch the podcast (unless, of course, you speak Norwegian). You will fall in love with them, I’m warning you now!

I am what I’d call an intermediate knitter. This sweater calls for knitting intarsia; however, the boys were talking about layering their knitting. Here’s a video describing their technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bEZ3MCroR4. Basically, when knitting the patterned part of the sweater, you work with the main yarn and a different kind of yarn. In my case, I used the lavender merino with a very thin hairy yarn (I held it double stranded). You carry the hairy yarn over the back just like in any other type of colorwork. I loved how it created this marled effect. One of the problems I discovered after I had finished the sweater was I held the hairy yarn just a teensy bit too tight as I carried it on the wrong side. This resulted in a little bit of puckering.

What kind of neck should I use?

The original pattern called for a kind of slouchy shorter neck. When I finished mine, I could barely pull the thing over my head! I was so disappointed! I’d been working on this for weeks and loving every minute. So, I TINKed it back to the opening and began again! (TINK is knit backwards…get it?) I decided to just keep going and make it a more of really high mockneck and used a stretchy cast off because I knew I’d never wear it if it was tight on my neck.

A serendipitous surprise!

I knitted this shawl last winter. It’s a Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball, but I cannot find the pattern anymore! I love doing little bits of lacework, too. And, when you buy these stripey type yarns, you’re never exactly sure what you’re going to get. But, with this one, I knew I would love it…greys and purples…of course, I was going to love it! This is one of those shawls you begin with a little bitty cast on and build out from there! It creates a nice curvy shawl. And, it has one of my favorite (if time consuming) castoffs…the picot castoff!

Wondering about the serendipity? After I finished the Olava sweater, I just laid (is that the correct word…it wasn’t in the fourth grade curriculum) it down on a side chair in the bedroom. I finished the shawl and gave it a toss over onto the chair as it was probably close to midnight. The next morning, I was looking over the shawl to make sure I’d gotten all of my stitch markers out (I hadn’t…I found one today as I was photographing it). I realized the deep magenta-ish purple matched almost exactly the hairy yarn in my sweater! Huzzah! I had created coordinates and didn’t even know it! Check it out below!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek at some of my needlework. I’ve got a couple of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) or PHDs (Projects Half Done)…maybe more than a couple including the one sleeved cardigan, the partially started tank sweater and countless socks and mittens. If you enjoy watching YouTube, give a listen and a watch to Arne and Carlos. Remember, you’ve been warned! If you enjoyed this post, please leave me a comment. I’d love to have a conversation. Do you knit? Crochet? Needlework of any kind? Or, are you like I once was…a little intimidated by all of those instructions and rows and stitches and etc? Let’s talk! And, if you like my blog, won’t you please consider subscribing? And, if you’re subscribed, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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