Knitting projects I have completed or have in progress. My thoughts and review of the pattern, yarn, and outcome. Also knitting project ideas to consider or find for free.
When I finished knitting a recent sweater, I had some wonderful Icelandic wool leftover. About that same time I found the Clacks mittens pattern. I thought it might be perfect for using up more of the Lettlopi wool.
Lettlopi wool mittens
About a year or so ago I knit a stranded mitten pattern by designer Virginia Settler-Reimer. I hadn’t knit any colorwork mittens at that point and was only just beginning to get the hang of mitten knitting overall. The pattern was Glissade mittens and I used Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor yarn. Between the beautiful yarn and the well written pattern I thoroughly enjoyed making that pair of mittens.
Now, the designer has come out with a new, similar pattern called Clacks Mittens. Just like Glissade, this pattern has the thumb on the side, which means both right and left hands will be knit the same way. In fact, I have never knit mittens, or fingerless mitts, with a different type of thumb!
Why I Like the Glissade and Clacks Mittens Patterns
Both patterns are by designer Virginia Sattler-Reimer and this link goes to her Ravelry page. Anyone already familiar with mitten knitting and doing colorwork would find this pattern fun and easy to follow.
Both Glissade and Clacks mittens begin with a Latvian Braid (directions included in pattern). Then, we jump right into knitting the colorwork. There is no boring ribbed cuff to knit first.
The mittens are knit on 4 DPNs which separates the front stitches from the back with a line of similar colored stitches. The first two needles hold the first half of the pattern, and the last two hold the remainder. I use a 9-inch circular needle to cast on and do the braid before changing to DPNs. (The second needle will hold the thumb stitches as well.)
The “make one” stitch is a backwards loop (Andrea Mowry video) which is super easy.
I don’t remember this from knitting Glissade, but for Clacks, the designer has provided two charts – one for a light colored background and one for a dark. Because blue is my chosen MC – I’m following the “dark” chart and using Knit Companion.
The Kitchener Stitch (Very Pink Knits slow-motion video) is needed for the top of the mitten and because there are only a few stitches, it is perfect practice for anyone unfamiliar with this finishing stitch.
Yarn and Knit Companion
After I first saw this pattern, I began to hunt through my stash to find yarn to use. The pattern calls for two colors only, and I just happened to have some Lettlopi yarn leftover from a recent sweater. I decided that this wool would be perfect for mittens.
Once the pattern was purchased it was added to Knit Companion and opened on my iPad. From there, it is easy to follow the colorwork pattern line by line.
I had considered changing to a larger size needle at the thumb, to knit the hand a bit wider, but ended up not doing so and the fit is fine. Maybe do this if you have wide hands. Also these mittens are plenty long (for me) already. Measurements are 3.5 – 3.75 inches wide and 11 inches long.
Fair Isle Mittens and Fingerless Mitts I Have Knit.
After knitting for a while, I’ve discovered that I like to knit hats, mittens (and mitts) and sweaters best. I prefer Fair Isle colorwork and think it is especially nice for mittens to add extra bulk and warmth.
This new sweater pattern is from the Lopi 40 book which I bought along with some Lettlopi yarn recently. I want a light blue sweater with white accents and Farfuglar is the pattern I chose. It means “migrating birds”. The sweater shown in the book uses my same choice of colors (air blue and white) as I chose, but in the opposite way. The yoke can also have more colors in another version.
Lopi 40 is full of Icelandic designs knit with Lopi wool and apparently it is one of the newer books.
This Farfuglar pattern, and other patterns in the book, can also be purchased separately. (This link goes to Ravelry.)
Book CoverPattern page
The Farfuglar Learning Curve
I purchased bunches of the Lettlopi yarn variety which is aran weight. The first pattern I chose was one by Jennifer Steingass. After beginning the sleeve twice, and not being happy, I gave up and moved on. That is when I chose this pattern from the Lopi book: Farfuglar, or “Migrating Birds”.
I knit a flat gauge swatch which matches the required gauge for the sweater. I know that garments knit in the round should have swatches knit in the round, but oh well, I didn’t do that.
The pullover is knit bottom up. I have begun knitting one of the sleeves and really like the way this yarn looks and feels. The pattern uses the same two colors I chose, white and “Air blue”, but the sample sweater is mainly white with blue accents whereas mine will be the opposite. The colorwork chart is in five colors because there are two ways to knit this sweater. As I knit the chart I will convert it to two colors in my head.
The patterns in Lopi 40 are Icelandic and measurements are given as centimeters. Needle sizes are also mentioned in mm except at the beginning of the pattern where they give the US size also.
Increases and Decreases
After the sleeve ribbing is finished, we are told to increase around evenly to end up with correct stitches for the colorwork. I had to go from 42 stitches to 50. I don’t know why, but this was hard to figure out. I will have to do something similar at the neckband except it will be decreases! Oh Boy….
Had to decrease at the neckline from 100 to 84 stitches evenly around. This strained my brain, but I did it.
Learning New Things
Two new (to me) types of decreases are also mentioned: KRPR (right leaning) and SKP (left leaning) – both links go to pages at the New Stitch a Day site where videos show the process.
I’m not a super experienced sweater knitter, but I have finished a few. Most have been top-down knits, but this is a bottom up. The underarm stitches need to be grafted together when finishing, which I’ve never done, that I recall. The pattern doesn’t say how to accomplish this, but I found this page at Laura Chau that explains Grafting Underarm Stitches. It uses the Kitchener Stitch, which I have done.
Joining Sleeves to Body – Notes for the Inexperienced (Me)
I’ve only knit one other sweater bottom up which means the sleeves and body must be joined. It’s not difficult, but for me, drawing out a diagram while reading the directions was helpful. I got a better picture for how this would happen. I also placed a pink marker on the front section so I would know front from back.
I’ll keep this for future reference and noted needle sizes and other hints to the paper.
Notes I made: After finishing the second sleeve, leave stitches on the needle (I used a 9-inch circular). When beginning to join, I used the longer (body needle) to knit off the sleeve needle. When I got around to the second sleeve, I put those stitches from the holder yarn onto a smaller (size 4) needle and then knit off of it. Once that happens, the whole sweater is now combined into one piece.
Needle lengths: Begin knitting the whole yoke with a 40 inch (The pattern says 32, but I found the longer needle to be easier). Changed to 32 inch farther up, and ended up with 16 inch for the neck.
Four places are on holder yarn and stitch holders for the underarms. Those will be grafted together using the Kitchener Stitch when I’m done knitting.
Joining sleeves to body and beginning yoke
Now I have begun the colorwork yoke. Some of the yarn carries are quite long, so knowing how to catch floats is definitely necessary for this design. I was very excited to see the birds emerge!
The birds!Knitting the colorwork yokeReady to bind off
Yarn Used For Size L
Blue Yarn total used: 8 skeins – nearly every bit of 8, so 9 is better just in case
White Yarn total used: less than 2 skeins
October 29th and the Sweater is Finished! See My Photo Shoot Below
At this point I was still trying to decide if that high front neckline would be okay. Without any type of short rows, the front and back of this one are exactly the same. This makes the front neckband ride on my neck. I would probably have a shirt on underneath, so I decided I could live with the neck as it is. Also, I didn’t want to risk ruining things since I am not experienced at changing knitwear designs!
The hat photos were taken in “winter” when the temps dropped to the low 40’s here in Florida. I went out to feed the birds bundled up in my woolies! (Triple-patterned watchcap, mittens, Woolfolk cowl) All other photos were taken before I washed the sweater.
I will be writing a separate blog post about how I finished off this sweater.
Learning About Lopi Wool
The sheep who provide this wool live in the harsh Iceland landscape. If their wool can keep them safe and warm during winters spent outdoors, certainly the wool in your Icelandic sweater will do the same. The yarn comes in lots of pretty colors (if you can find them in stock!) as well as natural colors such as white, gray, tan, brown and black. It comes as heathered, solids, and tweeds in various weights, including unspun yarn. The yarn is a combination of insulating and water repellant, not to mention very warm indeed! If you are not a knitter, the sweaters can be purchased already knit up.
After knitting with the Lettlopi, I found there were quite a few knots to deal with. More than most yarn I knit with, but maybe that is just the nature of the yarn.
I don’t yet have a sweater or other garment to try on so I can’t comment on the scratchiness of this yarn. Some people think it is exceptionally scratchy, but many people say the wool softens over time and gets better and better.
As is unfortunately true these days, finding yarn can be challenging, and especially in the popular color ways.
The Lettlopi (aran) and Alafosslopi (bulky) yarn in my stash has come directly to me from Iceland and is from the Istex company. It was ordered from The Icelandic Store where they still have quite a few colors in stock. The low price of the skeins, compared to prices in the US for the same yarn, made it worth paying the high shipping rates.
My order of Alafosslopi arrived in four days..!!… and came with a little candy surprise. I have already knit up a swatch and plan to knit the Carbeth Cardigan by Kate Davies, but that plan could change.
A little candy surprise in with my Alafosslopi yarn delivery!
For instance, many places in the US have Alafosslopi for around $10 a skein, or close to that price. When ordering from Iceland, each skein is $5.99, which is a big difference, and especially if you need many skeins to knit a sweater. The Lettlopi costs about $5.75 in the US compared to $2.99 each in Iceland.
Webs yarn offers big discounts if large amounts are bought, and the cost can be less in the end, but many of the colors are out of stock at the time of this writing.
Knitting a simple wool chair pad to use up some heavy weight and worsted wool. This DIY pattern uses Fair Isle, colorwork that is simple and can easily be changed.
Five cozy scarf patterns to begin knitting this Fall. Keep for yourself or give to friends and family. The selection has small and long scarves, with many free patterns included.
As a beginner knitter I was always searching for free patterns to try. I was afraid I wouldn’t understand a pattern if I bought it because those were for people who knew what they were doing!
Fortunately some clever people do write up patterns and share them for free. Some of these people are designers who also sell patterns. Free patterns can also be poorly written, so be careful there. Read through a pattern before beginning and see if it makes sense. Or go to Ravelry and see what other pattern users have to say. If the free pattern gets bad reviews it may be best to move on and find another.
At the beginning of 2021 I decided I would make this a sweater knitting year. Right now I have three sweaters on the needles, after having a few “fail” moments to narrow down the patterns.
All three sweaters are pullovers and two have colorwork yokes.
Sweater #1: The Hand-spun Yarn Sweater
Because I really wanted to knit a colorwork yoke with wool, I chose the Meadow Moon pullover pattern by Jennifer Steingass. It is knit top-down with stranded colorwork at the yoke and cuffs.
I’m using dark blue Rauma Finull yarn as the main color along with a hand-spun yarn, purchased from Wound Up Fiber Arts, for the colorwork. The hand-spun yarn is variegated in brown, tan, blue and maroon colors.
I have finished the yoke and separated for the sleeves with lots of stockinette to come. *Update: As of November, I have finished the other two sweaters (see photos below) but this one I am still slogging along with the round and round knitting. It’s great for long car rides or tv watching, but will take me a while to finish.
Sweater #2: The Double Yarn Sweater
I’ve had a huge skein of light green yarn sitting around driving me nuts because I didn’t know what to do with it. The Miss Babs yarn was an impulse buy, or maybe it was on sale, who can remember? But it’s a pretty light green and I wanted to combine it with mohair.
After knitting a swatch combining it with dark green mohair, I moved on to try a very light green mohair and loved it. So, although I wanted to knit something to use up the Miss Babs yarn, I now have a bunch of dark green mohair sitting around that needs to be combined with something…! Can’t seem to overcome the yarn stash blues.
I chose the free pattern called Calliope by Espace Tricot. The pattern is simple, with raglan shaping and it’s a top-down sweater.
*UPDATE: Finished after three months and the sweater is quite large. I think it’s the washable yarn. The fabric is very soft and comfy, but the body is very wide and I have to roll up the sleeves!
Sweater #3: Heading Into New Territory
Last but certainly not least, I am knitting an Icelandic sweater using Lettlopi wool. I saw someone on Instagram knitting with this yarn and thought it looked interesting. I found it for sale in Iceland and bought the skeins needed to knit Farfuglar from the Lopi 40 book. The name means “Migrating Birds”. My colors are opposite from the pattern shown, but using the same colors – air blue and white.
I’ve never used Lettlopi yarn, but I have fallen in love. This pattern book is awesome, but not really for the inexperienced sweater knitter. Instructions are basic. I think I will manage, but I’ve already learned a new rib stitch and decrease called KRPR, which is a right-slanting decrease. I had to look that one up.
This is a bottom up sweater, which is not my favorite, but I look forward to getting to the pretty yoke pattern.
UPDATE: Finished Farfuglar (link to my Ravelry page with notes) the end of October – a one month knit. This was my favorite project of the three sweaters so I worked on it the most! All I would change is the body ribbing at the bottom which tends to curl up. Maybe make it longer, or knit a bit differently. It fits me perfectly!
Last Words
These three sweater patterns are easy enough that I can switch off between them as I feel like. The Meadow Moon yoke is done for now so I’ll be knitting straight stockinette for a while until I get to the sleeve cuffs where new colorwork is needed.
Calliope knitting is also simple with a long rib being knit at the bottom of the sleeve. I will have one more sleeve to go.
Farfuglar (which means Migrating Birds) has a lot of stockinette to accomplish before I begin the other sleeve and then get to the fun yoke pattern.
I’ve never knit more than one sweater at a time, and I’m not a super experienced sweater knitter, but this is fun. I will not get bored and I like having the choice when it comes time to knit.
Now, which one will I finish first? Answer – Farfuglar! Can’t wait to knit more projects with Lettlopi wool.
