Wow! Thank you. My brain is in a bit of a spin now, but I’ll watch the video (probably a couple of times, at least), and give it a go. Never (quite) too old to learn.
Carinthia, if you really want your mind blown by knitting, try this…
OMCB, who taught me to knit, was herself taught in the 1930s by a woman who was brought up on the Islands and was taught in her turn by the old Shetland knitters in the 1860s. Which may be why she can knit Fair Isle without looking at it. I can’t! (I can’t manage 200 sts a minute either!)
Exactly! Mind blowing. But, even though I’m not a particularly fast knitter, I do find the anchored needle technique the easiest by far. Maybe just because I learned that way, I don’t know,
That’s fascinating, TFM, & the economy of movement at waist level is interesting too. No waving about there!
I think that it was in 2019 when I shared a film about Shetland Wool Week, where one saw children knitting with belts holding an gadget which separated the different colours.
It all seemed to be enjoying a revival.
I think that all sewing/knitting & handicrafts have seen a huge upsurge in 2020. Once the competitive mask-making had slowed down to manageable proportions, then people wanted summat else to do.
Patchwork piecing has also become more popular, as people had lots of cotton scraps frim the masks.
That’s exactly how I was taught too - both elbows stay firmly glued to my sides, my right wrist doesn’t move at all & my left wrist barely does, it’s all from the fingers. Right needle rock steady, left needle moving as little as possible. It’s much less tiring like that.
I am knitting another Norwegian jumper from the polo-neck downwards at the moment and doing exactly what I was suggesting to you: using the longest circular needle I am likely to need for the bottom of the yoke, and keeping about half of it as a spare bight of needle – which curls up, and curls down, and in general tries to be a nuisance, but is easily Quelled.
OK, I’ve downloaded this pattern but I’m uncertain about actually knitting it, any thoughts from knitters would be appreciated - and Carinthia might have some ideas on this one too.
It’s not the actual knitting I’m concerned about but the way it’s put together, and how it would be to wear. If you look at the first of the enlarged pictures you can see that the back looks longer than the fronts, as though the model hadn’t quite put it on properly, but when you look at the second picture you can see why. This isn’t easy to explain but…
The body and the main part of the sleeves are knitted together, so that eg the back is a T shape, with the cuffs knitted on later. Fine so far but each of the fronts is exactly the same width as half of the back, with no shaping at all, so that the shoulder seams go all the way across and meet in the middle. So as you can see in the second photo the shoulder seams sit below the shoulders at the back.
It’s more like a sort of shawl with sleeves than a cardigan in some ways, I suppose. I like it, but I just wonder how wearable it would be.
I have had garments of similar construction in the past and found them eminently wearable and very useful as a medium-warm layer, iyswim.
That design is really lovely.
Did you finish that jacket, the 32-row pattern repeat one?
ETA: and iirc you are quite small/slim. They suited me better when I was slimmer.
Oh thanks Gus, maybe I’ll give it a go then. I’ve got a lovely pima cotton DK yarn which has a sheen to it, should be very useful as a layer.
Yup, I did finish the jacket and am very pleased with it, it worked out well which was a relief considering how much I mucked about with the pattern. I did try to photograph it but completely failed to make it look the way it does IRL so gave up.
Please have another bash at a picture. Maybe TFD could take one of you in it, from the neck down. Not that I imagine your visage is hideous, you understand, but for privacy…
Sounds perfect for a late sping/early autumn/summer evening shrug-on. What colour?
