Field Trip: Knitting Along the Viking Trail Exhibit

The "Knitting Along the Viking Trail" exhibit opened at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia in March 2011 and closes July 3, 2011. If you are reading this when I actually wrote it there is still time for you to dash down there and see it. The trip would be worth your while.

As I was preparing for the visit to mom's house and the museum over Memorial Day weekend I wracked my brain to figure out why I didn't go in March when the exhibit opened and Elsebeth Lavold was there doing workshops. Then I remembered it was the same weekend Hubby and I left for our March Break trip to Park City, Utah (which I never told you about). Well, a girl can only do so much.

Since we were there on a Friday afternoon, mom and I had the exhibit hall to ourselves, which gave me plenty of time and space to run from one end to the other examining each piece from many different angles. It was very exciting to see in person the sweaters I've been mooning over for years in the pattern books.

Trud
I discovered Lavold's designs in 2004, pretty soon after I learned to knit. Even at that time I knew cables would be a love of mine and bought the "Viking Patterns for Knitters" as soon as I saw it. Seeing the sweaters in person gave me a new appreciation for how they are put together and the details that went into the designs. It seems silly to say that seeing them in person allowed me to see them in a new light. Of course the sweaters look different in person than in a picture.

I was especially excited to see the Trud sweater, which is from the first Viking Knits Collection book. I fell in love with Trud in 2004 and bought the book and the yarn even though it was beyond my skill level at the time.

Then my skill level caught up and I wondered if I really wanted all that fabric from the pleats around my hips. So I started considering other ways to use the yarn, but kept coming back to Trud.

Well, seeing the sweater in person I found that the pleats don't add a lot of bulk after all. The Silky Wool yarn is light and has good drape so there isn't really a massive amount of fabric around the waist. That was very exciting to see. Trud was back on my to-make list! All I have to do is scale down the top. The size small has a 34" inch finished chest, which will be around 3" of ease for me and a tad more than I like.

Hoods
The other change in perspective I had was from seeing Vigdis from Viking Patterns for Knitters and Skjalf from the Second Viking Knits book.

They both have these form fitting, detached hood. I always thought the hood on Vigdis was a little goofy looking in the book. Turns out they are really cute in person! The Vigdis one is just plain stockinette stitch, but the one for Skjalf has cables on it.

In fact, mom and I left the museum discussing how practical they looked. They keep you warmer than a hat since they cover your ears and neck, but they don't block your peripheral vision and catch the wind like a traditional hood would. Having seen them in person I really want to make one now.

Dragons!
It was also inspiring to see the dragons in person that I want to use in my Celtic Critter Cardigan. There don't seem to be patterns for Urd and Saga, the sweaters I'm standing with in the first picture on the post. But they gave an idea of what can be done with the cables. Getting to examine the details of the sweaters up close and see how they were put together was very informative. I took lots of close up pictures of shoulders, sides, collars, and other parts unseen in the pictures in the pattern books.

Well, I could go on and on about how wonderful all the sweater were, but I think you get the idea.

I'll wrap up by mentioning the blanket picture from my last post.

The afghan was massive! It was all her swatches from Knitting Along the Viking Trail sewn together. Once again, some of the patterns that didn't impress me in the pictures in the book turned out to be very attractive in person.

But I think my favorite part of the blanket was the filled in spaces. Little areas where the swatches didn't come together square that were just filled in with grey garter stitch. That amused me terribly.

I guess because those little grey spots showed it was handmade.

Various Things

I'm not sure what I've been doing in the evenings, but it seems like it hasn't been knitting. I feel like I've made no progress on any of my projects. Maybe it is just that I have too many in the design phase.

Jitterbug Sock
I did manage to get the heel turned on the first sock last night. I reached that point the other day and whatever else was going on, I didn't want to take the few minutes needed to pay attention while I turned it and picked up along the heel flap. But it's over now. On to the gusset and foot!

Celtic Project
I lied. It's not going to be either a hat or a scarf, and I knew that all along.
What I actually have in mind is one of those scarfs with the built in hood. I'm calling it a "harf", for hat+scarf, because it cracks me up. But it's not really a hat, because it isn't as fitted.
Any clue what I'm babbling about?
I haven't seen many patterns for them. If someone comes into the store asking for on, the usual suggestion is to make a widish scarf, fold it in half, and sew a seam as deep as you want it. This makes a rather pointy hood.
Actually, that's how I made one for my sister-in-law back when I was living in New Hampshire (only I crochted it rather than knit it). I wonder whether she still has it?
Anyway.
I had to stop at the yarn store last night. Since I knew Cynthia was going to be there, I took my swatches and tried to explain my concept. At first she looked at me like I was insane, then she, D, and Giggles realized what I was describing and were all like, "Yeah, ok, I've seen those." And we all remembered seeing a pattern in the store, but we couldn't find it.
It probably would have been helpful I had managed to get the hood piece knit before I showed it to her. All I had was the swatches I showed you the other day.
Anyway.

Bobbles? Really?
They liked the Hearts cable better than the XO cable. But then they all decided something was missing between the heart points and I should put a bobble there. (Where the arrow is pointing.)
Uh, I'm not sure that will work. I looked at the chart last night, and there are two rows there, but I don't know if it will interfere with the decreases/increases to shape the hearts. What it comes down to is I'll have to swatch that section to see. All this swatching is cutting into my knitting time.
Since I showed it to you, I worked another repeat, and I'm going to have to add some more rows between motifs as they bump together in an unattracive way if you just dive into the next one. Might have to consider bobbles there to to be harmonius.
It's not easy, this design business, and I'd like to get this wrapped up while the weather is still cold!

Fingerless Mitts
I was at the store because since my mom has taken to reading the blog on a regular basis, she has decided she wants a pair of my top-down fingerless mitts.
After some back and forth on e-mail during the day yesterday, she declared she wants a dark, solid color.
Which, happily, excludes any of my precious sock yarn stash since it is all varigated.
I had also offered to make a striped pair with leftover yarn from my Arrgyles, but she said no, which is for the best as it would have interfered with the pattern.
So I got a balll of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply in a marron color (#22011 to be precise). The guage should be good, but the content is 100% merino, which miss the whole "luxury yarn" point, but we didn't seem to have any fancy fibers in the right color and gauge. The yarn is, however, quite soft and squishy, so I think she'll be fine.
I'm not positive, but I think this is going to be the first time I use any Debbie Bliss yarn. (Aside from helping people fix problems in the store.)

Inspiration
This is the first sweater I ever knit. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool Ease in white with little colored speckles. The pattern was off the ball band.
I think I mentioned this sweater before.
Not bad for someone who had just learned to knit. The yarn choice was a bit unfortunate, it makes me itch a little, but that was right around the time I was becoming a yarn snob.
I bring this up because I wore it yesterday and as I looked at it in the full-length mirror in the bathroom at work I said, "Holy Smokes! This is the shape I want for Inspiration." So all that stuff they say about measuring a sweater you like is true.
It comes just to the top of my hips, so I can copy the length.
I'll have to measure the body as I might want a wee bit less ease.
But the only major change (well aside from the collar, I'm going to attempt a shawl collar) is that the arms are a bit on the big side on the upper arms, so I'll deffinelty have to cut down the ease on the arms.
But, basically, the fit is good, so I totally have a model now.
Of course, I have to swatch some more first.

Half-Cocked

But, really, when have you known me to be fully cocked? (oh, does that sound bad?)
The problem with taking pictures of visiting teachers is they are usually talking, so it's hard to get a flattering shot.
Would you like to hear all about the Beth Brown-Reinsel class at Knitting Central over the weekend? The trick will be telling you enough to be interesting, but not so much you won't want to take the workshop if it is in your area.
Well, that and I left all my notes at home in the dining room credenza.
First off, I totally didn't do enough swatching before class. Oh, and it was a two day class, but I only went to the first day (Saturday) because I had to work at the store Sunday. There was time to swatch during class Saturday, but it still wasn't enough to position me properly for the stuff Sunday, so I was disappointed, but not heartbroken that I couldn't go.
Of course, I think the stuff Sunday was the stuff I would have really needed because it was the charting and figuring out the armholes bit, but the handouts look really good, so I should be able to muddle through.
Anyway.
She talked about the Aran tradition (we didn't get into the symblos having meaning for each family business). And she showed us a bunch of her sweaters and discussed what did and didn't work and why, so we could get an idea of what stitch patterns to use for our own.
It kind of made me rethink what I want my sweater to look like. The one in the movie was great and the ones I've seen on Ravelry are very cool, but now I wonder if mine will be bland after seeing these other examples. But, if I'm following the same principle as the other imitators, I should be ok.
Here are two facts that seem easily researchable, so I won't be giving away secrets if I share.
Beth said Aran sweaters have boxy shapes because people first started making clothes from woven cloth and they didn't want to shape garments out of woven cloth because that was wasteful. Even though Aran sweaters were handknit people were shaping them according to what they were accustomed to.
So I'll be rebelling since I want a close fitting sweater. And I'm not going to do drop shoulders, but I'll probably do square set in shoulders so they are a little easier to figure out.
The other fact was a rule of thumb for yardage requirments. She said to refer to those standard yardage requirment charts for your size and add between 30 and 50 percent.
That made my blood run cold.
I'm using the Silky Wool yarn from Elsebeth Lavold I bought in 2004 at Patternworks with the intention of making Trud from her Book One: The Viking Knits Collection. But I've subsequently asked myself, "Do I really need all that material around my hips?"
So I've got these eight hanks of yarn and no project. Then I thought, all her patterns have cables, so the yarn works for cables, so I can use it for Inspiraton.
However eight hanks it about 1,520 yards. eek.
But that yarn chart says for my size (which was for like a 10 year old or something ridiculous based on the chest measurment) you need like 1,100 odd. So I would, hopefully, have just enough. Of course that also means I can't get too heavily patterned.
Which, I suppose, puts me back at square one.
When looking at the Trud pattern, the chest measurment is several inches more than I would need/want (which factored into my decision not to make it), it a little longer than I intend to make mine, and it has all that extra material used by the pleats.
I'm hoping that all bodes well for my ability to squeeze a whole sweater with more patterning out of this yarn.
Because, as you might have realized, it is very unlikely that I could get more of this yarn in this color and dyelot this far removed from my original purchase!

Swatching
Anyway.
I haven't had time to take pictures of my swatches yet. I kept wanting to have more done to show you and I need to do it during the day because I don't think the yarn will photograph well.
I did three stockinette stitch watches on US 5, 6, and 7 needles. I like the US6 one best. But I appear to have done my center cable on the US7, which doesn't make sense. But then I decided it was floppy, so I did my side center cable on US5, which was much nicer.
However, the whole point of the Sunday class was charting your sweater based on your motifs and figuruing out stitch count based on your swatches—which are wrong in my case.
I'm also kind of rethinking my center cable, but I might like it better on the US5 and I have to do another repeat before I decide.
On Saturday night I did swatch one of the taffy twists that will bracket my side center cable, but I didn't like how it came out. The pattern I followed was for an 8 stitch cable (Cable 4). It just didn't look good and I had a narrower one in mind anyway, so I have to redo it with just 4 sts (Cable 2).
So, again, I didn't even have all the motif stats I needed for Sunday.
Of course, I'm sure the Sunday stuff would have been useful for all the theory I would have learned, but...
Anyway.
Also on Saturday, after Beth discussed ideas for coordinating motifs, we had a chance to flip through pattern books and swatch some. While we were working on that she prowled the room and held consultations with people to discuss their ideas and offer guidance. Of course flipping through all those books totally made me waffel about my cable choices. A trip to the library might be necessary.
She also measured us, disucssed fit/ease, and figured up some initial numbers for us to aim for. The handout has diagrams for, uh, three different constructions, so we scribbled numbers on that based on the guidelines. That will be very helpful later.
Wow, looks like lunch time is over. We're still trying to wrap up the Feburary issue and I really have to get to work on my article, but I've been procrastinating very efficently.
Did I tell you anything useful or informative about the class?
Probably not. Sorry, I am trying to design my first sweater here. If I can't think out loud on my own blog, where can I do it?
Honestly, Baru will only listen to knitting talk if I bribe him.

And Another Thing

I think the stress of my deadlines at work is starting to effect my blogging. I'll have to talk to Boss Man about that.
It's making me forget to tell you things!
In that litany of knitting related obligations I reeled off the other day I forgot to mention a big one.
Beth Brown-Reinsel is coming to Knitting Central on Jan 10 & 11 to teach her two-day workshop on designing your own Aran sweater. My little brain turned off when I heard that.

But, I Have Reason To Learn That
Have you seen that movie The Holiday? Did you not just love that white cabled sweater Cameron Diaz was wearing?
Well, I did, as did a number of knitter out there. After some internet searching, I figured out it was a very expensive, designer, cashmere sweater that was never going to happen in my lifetime. Of course, what I actually wanted was a pattern so I could make one myself.
People have been questing to figure this out. I believe there are already two version available on Ravelry.
Now, although it would be easy enough to get one of them, it wouldn't have the challenge of designing it myself. Also, they stayed true to the fact the sweater appears to be a cardigan. As I don't play well with cardigans (as evidenced by the two years it has taken me to finish the button band on Nell), I was going to switch it to a pullover.

Implements of Destruction
That rusty-red Silky Wool pictured at the beginning of the post is the yarn I intend to use. (Yeah, Arans are traditionally white, whatever.)
Last year I requested and received "Sweater Design in Plain English" with this project in mind, but haven't had time to read it all.
So I'm all braced. The only trick is for homework before the class you are supposed to swatch. I believe in stockinette stitch and then some of the cables you intend to use. (I'd have to check the list to be sure.) And a girl needs time to do that.

Some Is Better Than None
I can only attend the first day of class because I have to work on the second. (I didn't look for a swap because I already had to get a swap for the weekend before so we could attend our niece's wedding.) But I'm pretty sure the first class is going to cover how to measure yourself properly and how to get all the different cables to play nicely. At the least I figure it will set me on the right path. So I have to get stuff organized so I can get swatching!
One lucky thing, my office is closed from Christmas to New Years, so I'll have tons of knitting time then to work on stuff.

Stupid Mohair Cowl, Again
Friday was the holiday gathering for Hubby's school. I wore my Mohair Cowl Pullover so I would look festive and adorable. Well, as I was heading into the bathroom at work before getting on the road, the cuff got hooked on the doorknob and wham! I've got a hole.
The big black arrow in the picture is pointing to it.
All previous damage has been snags that I've had to work in (actually the last one on the other cuff is still dangling since it was just a ply and not the whole stand). This is a big nasty break in the cast off edge. I think I'm going to have to pick up stitches a few rows back and reknit the cuff.
I'm really, really annoyed about the whole situation. I was so annoyed after we got home I was like "I wish I never made this sweater." But Hubby said, "But it's so pretty." And the sweater was safe from being fed to the dogs or frogged entirely. Still, I'm not making another one, or even a similar one. It's just too delicate.

Outside Confirmation
Ok, this is going to be totally mushy, so you might want to turn away.
Hubby's history department is four guys and one woman.
She dragged me onto the dance floor at the holiday party. While we were dancing she saw me making faces at Hubby (who was still with the guys by the tables) and leaned over and said, "He loves you so much."
I was surprised but said, "yeah." Because, really, what can you say to that?
Of course, it does make me wonder what he says about me when he's at school.
Apparently, it's all good.