I seem to be into a period of cabling at the moment. These periods do last a long time for me and I am starting to believe I am coming out of a lace period entering cabling, again. Yes, I have been there before several years back. There are two designers that reign supreme – to me at least – Elsebeth Lavold and Norah Gaughan. Strikk i Vikingmønster/Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold is close to my heart with cables inspired by Scandinavian archeology richly illustrated with photographs and drawings. Here is my version of Lavold’s design Ragna, fitted, shortened without the splits and knitted in double stranded Thin Alpaca by Norwegian yarn company Du Store Alpakka using 4 mm/US 6, see dustorealpakka. Since it was made decades ago – another knitting era – I even inserted shoulder pads!

The book was published in 1998 but it still one of the best books available on imaginative cables. I am not the only one with that view. Do read Karen Berthine’s blogpost and look at the photos of the vest she has designed for her husband using – guess which Lavold sweater? Yes, Ragna – sweatyknitter. Have you knitted one or used it as inspiration? There are hundreds of versions of it here on ravelry. I would like to end with a Lavold quote from her preface: “Knitting keeps your hands moving, but free your thoughts. To knit is a necessity.”