Slipping through my fingers

"Christoffer" neckwarmer
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Here's a neck warmer I finished for myself yesterday (it's cold!) with some "Lucca" wool from BC Garn.

It was perfect for testing a slip-stitch pattern, a technique I was eager to make use of after seeing some glorious examples of patterns in Britt-Marie Christoffersson's new book Stickning - ett hantverk att utveckla.

This triangle pattern is practically one of hers except I resized it and turned it upside down. Why? To see how it would turn out! Well, also to make it blend with the 3x3 ribbing I had decided on. It's a great book, a kind of stitch-technique-inspiration treasury.

It's a wonderful technique in many ways; what I like best is that you get a lot of effect with minimal effort. I also like it that it's so subtle and that the floats on the wrong side make it warm. However, it's not very elastic. Not that it matters much in this kind of garment (in my opinion, it's actually an advantage here) , but in a sweater it would be important to keep it in mind.

After finishing it I cast on my First Real Knitting Treat of 2010. (Let there be many!) I've promised my friend and former colleague Karin a triangular shawl; about a month ago I found the perfect yarn for it, a wool-silk blend from Finnish Wetterhoff, and the other day I came across a beautiful free pattern on Ravelry: Haruni by Emily Ross.

Needless to say, I couldn't resist testing a couple of modifications, but I'll get back to them some other day.

Inspiration

Marmeladkragar
Originally uploaded by Asplund

You never know beforehand what might become a source of inspiration, do you?

I've been knitting some neck warmers lately. The colours of this yarn somehow made me think of a wonderful (ie wonderfully tacky) tea-strainer and I thought I could make use of the shape of it to knit collars of some kind. I had two skeins of each colour, so it was the perfect amount to experiment with this kind of garment.

They are all slightly different; it's fun testing different versions and trying to improve the idea. Hopefully, I will come up with the version soon - and manage to understand my own notes so I can write a pattern.