Yummy Yarn

Donna, Jen1, and I spent a lovely hour or so up at Myrtle Station Wool on Friday. Stephanie carries an impressive selection of Lopi Alafoss, Lett-Lopi, and Einband yarns as well as several pattern books. Back in October, at the Woodstock Fleece Festival, I bought the book, "Knitting with Icelandic Wool".

On our trip to Iceland, we saw the sweater pictured on the bottom right at a shop. I like the dogs, snow, snow-capped mountains, whale tails, clouds, and sky on the yoke.

But I digress..

In that book is also the Riddari pattern for Skip's sweater. I just checked a translation and 'Riddari' means 'knight' in Icelandic. It required 4 colours: a dark, a light, and two medium colours one of which was the main colour.

I selected a medium grey as the main colour, black for the dark, white for the light, and for a 'pop' of colour (not necessarily an Icelandic tradition), red. Almost the same colours as my lopapeysa minus the yellow and with a darker shade of grey.

The cuff is rolled followed by a few rows of ribbing then the first chart of colourwork.

Once past the colourwork, it's stocking stitch, increasing at regular intervals until almost the full length.

I'll put the stitches on a holder and start the second sleeve tonight.

These sweaters are so fun and easy to knit. The gauge is quite large (18 sts - 4"/10cm) and once beyond the cuffs, it's all stocking stitch. Magic loop helps things move along quite quickly.

I have almost finished the first Moggie mitten that I knit with the modifications. I'm using delicious Peer Gynt yarn - 100% wool, DK. Here's a sneak peak.  I'll publish a full photo when I finish the thumb.

I had to rip out one 'moggy's' worth as it was making the hand of the mitten too long. I'm not thrilled with the palm pattern I created

and probably will knit the next pair as per the pattern that has the moggies on both the back and palm of the mitten, with possibly a bit of a cuff and, of course, some Lativan braid.

While at Myrtle Station Wool, I also purchased enough off-white Smart (100% superwash wool) DK to knit the baby blanket. I think I'll be doing the Bee Stitch, which will be excellent for knitting on long car rides.