Cockatoo Brae

Cockatoo Brae cardigan, the most beautiful and most difficult cardigan ever.

I'd say, the difficulty in this cardigan is getting a good fit. It's not more diffcult than any other cardigan to knit, but getting a good fit isn't easy at all.

I have knitted so many sweaters, so many fitted cardigans so many garments but this one I failed completely to fit my body, even if I was prepared to make adjustments it just wasn't enough.

I have already knitted it once, and I'm not happy with anything else but the Fair Isle colour fading.

The inspiration is an old black and white photo, more yellowish than white and a fading scale of black to palest gray.

 I'll remake the whole body and sleeves since only the yoke fitted (and that before the button panels are knitted.

 The cardigan is way too big around the shoulders from where the sleeves are set in place to where the yoke starts. At the same time the sleeves are terribly narrow and the cuffs too tight. Weird.

Knitting this is like wrestling because of quite thick yarn and tiny needles. You really need a strong needle, so I have bought ChiaoGoo Red even if I normally avoid products being produced in Asia, shipped to US and then distributed to Europe but I have bent all my stashed needles in this size range.
Started all over with beaded rib from Foxglove, 26 rows on needle 2.0mm, else the rib didn't look good, and I got the circumference I needed.
22 rows of full amount of stitches divided into front and back , then decrease in each side every 14:th row (120 rows). Increase for bust every 8th row Three times (144 rows) and 2 ending plain rows.
Provisional cast on for sleeves and joined to continue in the round.
Body looks larger than this size should give so I'm still confused over this cardigan with the narrowest sleeves ever and the generous width over the shoulders.
It's a bit of a love AND hate story knitting this cardi'. It's the most beautiful cardigan ever, but I'm so confused over the fit being so far from my quite normal body shape. OK, a skinny teenegar looks fantastic in this the way it's designed, but the pear chubby me, I'm confused. It must be something with the knitting machine gauge v s the hand knit gauge which is quite hard to match.

I'll make many more short rows after the sleeve join and after the yoke another short row and more decreases to avoid the gaping neck.

Rime Ice Cardigan

It's almost finished, my Rime Ice Cardigan. Well it's the same bolero as previously, but in another yarn and 5.5mm needles.

Granite Hap Shawl

Just another Hap Shawl. Sometimes I feel this is it, lace perfection, nothing more is needed. Hap Shawl=The perfect  Shawl. We're going to hold a knitting class 16-17/9 on Shetland Hap Shawl at Spinneriet i Lindome just south of Gothenburg.

Spetsstickningskurs i Shetland Hap Shawls ges 16-17/9 på gamla Spinneriet i Lindome. Har du ännu inte varit där så boka genast in det i kalendern!

Dip dye Shetland Hap Shawl

I'm currently working on my second Hippeti Hap Shawl. My own new shawl pattern (I know, it's just another Hap but the pattern will yield HAPpier knitters since I reveal all my secrets).

This time in a much thicker yarn than what I usually knit lace in.

I have used three different shades of brown a grey-beige and a natural white. The outermost color looks like chocolate sauce, and it's name is Shetland Black. In Norway it's just called sheep brown 😀. This yarn is so soft, it smells like happy sheep and it's a joy to knit in it. It's Jamieson & Smith's Shetland Heritage.

Mamelucker / Bloomers

Trots att året är nytt har vi hunnit vandra ett par gånger, och julen spenderades i skidbacken. Aktivitet. Varenda gång vi varit ute denna vinter har jag slagits av att man blir så kall om baken. Majas Manufaktur har designat lösningen som hon kallar mamelucker. Mamelucker?! det är värsta snyggaste hotpantsen med fantastisk passform. Alltså, jag har inte testat dem än, men jag har läst beskrivningen. Formstickat kring varenda kurva! En vanlig designer hade kanske nöjt sig med ribbstickning, men här bjuds det på short rows så det står härliga till.

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Bloomers for the modern woman. Design by Majas Manufaktur

Wishes for a lovely new year, and another Estonian Jewel

Here we are, another year has come to an end. It has been a good year in many was and a very bad one in other ways.


The knitting project has a couple of repeats left before I can move on to the edging. 3mm needles and a very thin yarn takes some time with all the nupps along the way.

I have to give it a hard block to untangle these little bird's nests of nupps, the yarn is a bit uneven (in a good way!). The fuzzyness of the yarn makes the fiber cling together but it'll become a lovely lace.

Happy new year everybody!

Birch leaf socks ready for Christmas eve

I'm so glad I managed to finish my Birch Leaf socks on time such that I can spend Christmas in these socks. I will also slip into something very comfortable, and that is the new nighting gown I sew on Saturday.

 Knitting lace in such a flimsy yarn may be a waste of yarn overs since they just blend up with the light coloured areas. But, yarn overs Are so much more fun to knit.

They took 65g of The Birch yarn which Fjällbo Shop hand dyed for me in October, and I have another 39g to use on something smaller. I haven't got a clue what yarn this is really, but it's about 400m/100g and 2mm needles were just perfect.