Wednesday 27 November 2013

finished knitting - Icelandic cardigan


When I say finished.... it isn't completely finished as it needs buttons and buttonholes to be added but I'm still thinking about those.

This is the "top-down Icelandic sweater" from Craftsy. This is the first Craftsy course I have taken so I don't have anything to compare it with but I did feel that this course needed a little more attention to detail. Nothing too difficult for the experienced knitter but perhaps not so good for a beginner. There seemed to be very little feedback and answers to questions from the instructor and I notice now that the course description has been changed to student-led discussion only. This seems a shame although many of the comments of fellow students were very helpful.

I am mainly pleased with the end result. The short row shaping on the back below the yoke was a good technique to make the neckline sit better. I haven't done short row shaping before and the instructions were very clear.

The wool used is Lett Lopi, I chose a mid blue main colour and then orange and white as contrasts - Iceland is often described as the land of fire and ice so the colours seemed appropriate.


The steek was reinforced with a crochet edging. I was a little disappointed with this as to stop stretching the edge the crochet had to be done very tightly with a small crochet hook. This resulted in quite a firm edge which seemed a bit out of place on a soft, squashy wool garment but does give a neat finish.


I used a broken ribbing on both the body and sleeves.


Tomorrow, after work I am going into town to my knitting group so I shall look for suitable buttons. The button holes will be crochet loops so I'll do those after I have bought the buttons.

Then I will be prepared for the winter weather, these sweaters are designed to cope with winter in Iceland so I should be very warm and cosy here.

Ravelry notes here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very nice cardi, great colours and beautiful knitting. I'm still on hats, socks and cowls at the moment, but would like to gain more skills and work up to a bigger garment one day! Your photos from Stourhead were stunning too, love quiet, calm days like that.