The ARTD/SSSS Yarncrafters Club

[Laufey]

Aaaugh, how do you knit so fast. Even in my best days, sweaters would take me a while. It looks fabulous.

Well... first off I'm kind of obsessive about knitting. It's almost therapeutic to me and helps me wind down. Secondly my grandma first gave me knitting needles when I was four*, so by now I'm pretty fast at it.
Most of Sigrun's sweater is just one colour though and that's much faster to knit than intricate colourwork patterns like your mittens - can't wait to see them finished by the way, they look awesome already and I can't wait to see them ready! Is that pattern available somewhere or are you creating it as you go?

*She was a bit of a traditionalist in that sense: she also gave me a puukko around the same age so I could learn to carve my own bark boats. Much fun was had, many plasters were needed.

I finished knitting the capelet I chose, its the one that Braidy's big brother is wearing in the last frame in 292.

Problem is, I'm a coward, I can't bring myself to steek it.  I need to, but I can't!  What to do, what to do?   I'll get pictures up once I block it.

I can just offer my sympathy because I know just how scary the thought of taking a pair of scissors to a knit feels like! You could maybe practice on a smaller piece first by knitting a small rectangle and trying on it first, just to see how the technique works?

[starfallz]

Well... first off I'm kind of obsessive about knitting. It's almost therapeutic to me and helps me wind down. Secondly my grandma first gave me knitting needles when I was four*, so by now I'm pretty fast at it.
Most of Sigrun's sweater is just one colour though and that's much faster to knit than intricate colourwork patterns like your mittens - can't wait to see them finished by the way, they look awesome already and I can't wait to see them ready! Is that pattern available somewhere or are you creating it as you go?

*She was a bit of a traditionalist in that sense: she also gave me a puukko around the same age so I could learn to carve my own bark boats. Much fun was had, many plasters were needed.

Ooh, that's awesome. I didn't learn to knit until I was around 12 and all I knew how to do was stockinette scarves (I was always mystified as to why they would always roll up). I geeked out pretty hard about knitting... about 10 years ago... but since having a kid, my knitting time has gone waaaaaay down.

I am making up the pattern. I am basing the construction off of the Ruba'iyat Mittens, but doing all the designs myself. I'd like to publish it (for free) if it works out. I'd like to get Minna's blessing on it though if I can.

[Eich]

And then for something completely different: guess what I finally finished! Léttlopi is much thinner yarn than Álafoss lopi so this one's not going to be such a breeze as the Braidypeysa, but on the upside it doesn't require weightlifting a crazy amount of wool on two needles.

After these two projects all I can say is that Minna is really good at designing knitwear and that this sweater will be worn for both cosplay and just general sweater-wearing purposes because of that. Er... guess I better warn you though that I'm actually a minisize human and nowhere near tall enough to actually pull off a proper Sigrun cosplay but I can always dream... I'll write down the patterns and instructions like with the previous project and post them here.

(Same picture can be found larger here if you want a closer look at the pattern, or my today-36 year old mug.)

Woooaaaaaaahh.  Have you posted this in the comments yet?  I'm sure Minna would love to see this!

[starfallz]

Woooaaaaaaahh.  Have you posted this in the comments yet?  I'm sure Minna would love to see this!

I want to get at least one mitten finished before I reveal to her!

[Aprillen]

I wanted to try steeking, so I knitted a little peysa for my coffee mug, inspired by Reynir's.  My local yarn shop doesn't stock Icelandic yarns, so I used Drops Lima (65% wool, 35% alpaca) from my stash. I followed Ragga Eiriksdóttir's tutorial on YouTube.
 

(Clicking the image will take you to an album with a couple of more pics -- the last one was for some reason uploaded four times, don't ask me.)

Lima is not a super "sticky" wool, even though it's feltable, but based on how this turned ut, I'll make a wider margin for the steek next time, so that there is more to fold under. A couple of ends did come loose when I cut this.

[Laufey]

Aprillen: that's super, super cute and I want six. I don't probably even have six mugs but still.  That's a wonderful idea for trying out the technique and the pattern works really well on the coffee mug peysa!

[starfallz]

Aprillen:
Holy... that is so cute! Would probably be good for the to-go coffee cups too! I might try that out if I ever get up to doing some steeking.

Laufey:
Are you on Ravelry?? I would love to friend you on there if you are.

[Aprillen]

Aprillen: that's super, super cute and I want six. I don't probably even have six mugs but still.  That's a wonderful idea for trying out the technique and the pattern works really well on the coffee mug peysa!

Thanks! I'm sure you can knit six while I'm still on my second, though. 

Aprillen:
Holy... that is so cute! Would probably be good for the to-go coffee cups too! I might try that out if I ever get up to doing some steeking.

Thanks! I figured it would be a good practice piece that would also not be completely useless.

Laufey:
Are you on Ravelry?? I would love to friend you on there if you are.

Me too! (But I'll understand it if you don't want to.)

[starfallz]

Update!


Just need to pick up stitches and knit the thumb.

[Laufey]

Starfallz: It looks amazing! Beautiful colourwork, here, please accept my jealousy! 

+ Aprillen: Well, I sort of am and am not on Ravelry. I do have an account there but I don't actually do anything with it besides occasionally looking for free patterns, so I'd be the most useless Ravelry friend ever... 

[mamioja]

An update on my SSSS-quilt project.

[Laufey]

I'm kind of wordless just looking at that, it's already looking so good and once it's finished it'll be perfection. Great choice of colours too! But oh man, that's been a lot of work already, hats off to your dedication. 

[starfallz]

Laufey
Thank you!

Mamioja
Oh my goodness! That is quite an endeavor and so wonderful!

[Aprillen]

Update!


Just need to pick up stitches and knit the thumb.

Those are awesome! I like how you've mixed and matched design elements. And the colours look great together! I've been thinking of doing a pair as well, and started playing with a chart, even. But I haven't got much further than that and now the knitted gloves season seems to be over. But I suppose there will be another winter, eventually!

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Viisikielinenkantele: aaaw thank you! If you ever want to try it though I would actually suggest something a bit difficult. Simple projects are all very well but they often get boring fairly quickly. Thick yarn is the key, nothing's more motivating than immediately seeing your process.

Aww, thank you for reassuring me, but the last ten tries have shown that it´s too late for me to learn it. I crotcheted quite obsessively a while ago, so needlework is not completely beyond me though