Faroe Islands

It is not easy getting boys these days to wear hand knits, but the boys pictured of the 1950s on Faroe Islands don’t seem to mind!

The Faroese Fisherman have been wearing these jumpers out to sea since the 1900s, and in Faroes, with each design one could recognise the fisherman by his jumper. I guess with harsh island conditions, there is no better way to rug up with wool! The sheep manage the harsh conditions, so it is easy to imagine their ancestors following suit (no pun intended).

Since Forbrydelsen(The Killing), Faroes was put on the map for me and I am sure many others, as the main Character, Sarah Lund, sported the now very famous jumper from Faroe Islands. The jumper was made in and from wool from Faroe Islands, and has the typical Scandinavian Snowflake design.

 

As I have a Swedish sister in-law, I have long been inspired by the stranded colour knitting of Scandinavia, and over the years I have knitted many jumpers and even dresses knitted with the patterns inspired by their counties.

After a couple of knitted garments I dived straight in the deep end with a few Fair-isle and Scandinavian knits, and have not been afraid to tackle these types of patterns, and am surprise by some knitters fears.

So for new knitters, and seasoned ones that have not been game to try it out, here are a few tips; choose a garment with smallish and repetitious designs, only 2 colourways on a given set of patterns or over a few rows, and something knitted in the round, this way you always see the right side of the pattern and it is much easier to follow. If you have not yet worked in the round, stick with the first 2 tips and the purling rows are not too difficult. When knitting loosely carry the yarn across the back, and remember to iron (under a cloth on woollen setting) to set the pattern, and this will also remove any lumps and bumps.

Lastly, here is a great reference book for Scandinavian designs and the book that inspired my knitted tablet cover!

 

 

Natural Dyes!

Yesterday I attended a 'Natural Dyes Workshop' held by the wonderful Samm of Art'n Around!

Now I am super excited to get some pots set up of my own. Will be fun playing with the endless possibilities of colours and textures from my own Garden, and local Green Grocer!

The first 4 photos are the pots simmering, the next 2 are the results, and the last a surprise. The surprise pot will be kept for a month, and then I can see what it holds!

Meanwhile I will have a play with the samples and see what I can create!

Lopapeysa

I decided to move from Scotland further North to another country well known for great knitwear.... Iceland! Even the name wants you to put on your warmest Winter Woollies!

So in my quest to look into meanings and types of designs, stumbled... onto the best web site I have ever seen.... an Icelandic knitting pattern maker!

Here is the address... and it is free!http://prjonamunstur.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/hello-world/

So you can enter your size, enter your needle size, enter your tension, enter a pattern repeat combination, and with the wonder of technology you have your pattern, and a graph to become your own designer!

Here are the results... you want more I hear you ask..... click on 'File' and 'Make PDF', and you have ready-made instructions, and thankfully, for me, in English! Here is the link... it even estimates how many metres for each colour.. Brilliant!https://www.dropbox.com/s/28wj7lmaiw2sjcn/Icelandic%20Design%2011.pdf?dl=0

Now I just have to find some time to test it and actually knit it.... and now we are in Spring.... it is best a job for next Autumn.

Now for your Icelandic word of the day 'Lopapeysa' - meaning Icelandic Sweater!

Colour Work of Fair-Isle

I remember learning to knit from my grandmother. Mum could knit, but it was my father’s mother that first taught me.

I had already been crocheting up a storm, and made a whole ensemble to wear to my brother’s graduation when I was 10ish. Sadly the only photo does not show much of me, as my brother was 11 years older and 6’3”, and it was his graduation after all.

Back on track to knitting. I dabbled a little, then mum bought a knitting machine. This was very cool, and hand knitting seemed a bit slow, but I still managed to improve my hand knitting and combine some machine and hand knitting together. Machine knitting will be a whole other story one day here.

My favourite type of knitting would be ‘stranded colour work’ or more commonly referred to as ‘Fair-isle’. So I will start with these patterns.

As one would guess the term ‘Fair-isles’ comes from the Island of the same name in Scotland, and is an island of the Shetland group.

The patterns used, are quite unique, and are worked for the length of the garment. Repeated in bands of various motifs of star and cross designs. Some of these designs are said to be influenced by the wrecking of a Spanish ship in the 1500s. These motifs have names, including; ‘Armada Cross’, ‘Star of Bethlehem’ and ‘The Sacred Heart’. I also read that grandmothers would knit jumpers for their grandsons with other patterns to represent adolesces, such as ‘Seed of life’ & ‘Anchor of Hope’.

Many knitters are a little scared to tackle colour-work. The knit rows are easier to follow than the purl, so try a pattern worked in rounds first, and then all rows are in the knit stitch. Also, when knitted, the work is a little ‘bubbled’. As long as the colours, not in use, are carried loosely across the back, these bubbles will flattened when ‘Blocking’.

‘Blocking’ is not so common these days, so a good topic for another day. Meanwhile here are some inspiring ‘Fair-isle’ knits.

My Macramé Bottles

My Bottles are finished, and while I stuck with the basics, I am happy with the colours and shapes of the collective group.

They were all worked the same, with 18 sets of cords attached with a Larks Head Knot, giving me 36 working cords. I... worked close Square Knots down the bottle Neck, then added an addition mounting cord and a row of Double Half Hitches. Then I went back to Square knots spacing them by about 2.5cms creating a fishnet look. Finished off the base with an addition mounting cord and a row of Double Half Hitches. Cut the cords to about 1.5cms and glued a disc of Felt at the base to hide the cords.

Now here are the basic Instructions to get you started with some simple Macramé!
There are loads of ideas on the internet and when you have a little play with the knots, you will see how straight forward it is!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tcax4lo43zcdsmc/Macrame%20instruction%20leaflet.pdf?dl=0 

Micro Macramé and Cavandoli Knotting

My bottles are making slow progress, not because they take too long, just as I have a lot of other projects on the go.... as with most crafters.

While my bottles and those daggy old macramé wall hangings, are a little dated (or retro - dep...ends on your style). Micro Macramé and Cavandoli Knotting will soon have you thinking twice about dated macramé!

I have only just started playing around with Cavandoli Knotting, and the difference I can see, is a small variation to the way in which the 'half hitch' knots are worked.

So as you start drooling over these pictures(if you are anything like me that is), you might want to start learning.... so later in the week I will upload a 'how to' on Macramé to get you started!

 

....... or you can probably save some time, and spend up big on Etsy!

A Small Progress Update!

The weather has been beautiful here at the moment, so slow progress on my bottles. My time has been better spent in the garden, that always get neglected over Winter.

That being said, there is still the evenings and I have made a start, an...d here it is. 1 bottle neck completed, ready to commence the tricky bit, and 2 with twine(yarn really) chosen.

Since each length needs to be 4 times(for my project) the finished length, there is always a lot of twine to be dealing with. So these plastic thread holders are good, as are rubber bands or simply tie them up.

My mum had a sewing poster on the wall in the kitchen, it is long gone and so is the exact wording. However it started along the lines of 'Planning is half the fun', and while the making is fun, really the other half of the fun is the finished project... so I will keep knotting away!