Category Archives: Knitting

Designerkollektivet

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A group of Norwegian designers set up a Collective in 2009, first with a pop-up store but now in a permanent shop in Glasmagasinet, a department store in Oslo.  The shop has recently been launched and contain some stunning pieces made by the 21 brands taking part in the Collective. It feels more like a gallery than a shop and several of the designers offering business-cards to take with you. I was inspired by one-off designs by Sorl ved Strand, they were machine knitted and several were marked with “concept under development”, an extremely fitting phrase for a designer’s work in progress! You can see photos from the launch, which included a fashion show here: designerkollektivet-opens-new-store-during-oslo-fashion-week. Here are links to all the designers participating in the Designerkollektivet.

I love the look of these shoes made by designer Monica Stålvang and were not surprised to find customers trying these ones on. They have heels you can easily walk on without any discomfort, and look trendy – a rare combination, indeed. See more of her collection here: monica-stalvang. You will obviously find beautiful jewelry as well in the Designerkollektivet. Below are some of the stunning brooches made by Siri Berrefjord. They are based on traditional folk costume jewelry several centuries old, but not made in silver nor gold but in colourful plastic. See more at fredenshavn. A marvelous shop, I will be back for more inspiration!

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Beaded Lace by Tilli Tomas

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This is pure luxury in a skein, pure silk yarn hand painted in a rich jade shade with added petite glass beads. Yes, it is not Swarovski crystals which is what Tilli Tomas did add to another silk yarn years ago, but I guess the demand was limited due to the high price. Glass beads are more than good enough for me, and it is ever so nice not to having to thread them onto the yarn in a large quantity by hand. I did that once for a Rowan Yarns’ design that featured approximately 5 500 beads, and have now plans of repeating it, ever. The glass beads in Beaded Lace, is thread onto a separate thread, twisted together with the yarn strand. The gorgeous yarn is available in 29 shades, see here: tillitomas. What am I making? As you might have already guessed, it is a new design and that is all I can reveal at the moment. But I do relish working with this yarn…

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Heather Lace Ridge

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Another vibrant shade of Perle/Pearl, the fantastic 4-ply/fingering pure cotton yarn by Hifa, I could not resist! It is called Røsslyng/Heather after the plant, but you can see more tempting colours here: ull. What am I designing with it? A generous summer top without sleeves to be worn over a tank, made with a long rib to be worn low on the hips. I found a lace ridge pattern and decided I want to knit it with 2 strands held together to emphasize the structure of the stitch pattern as well as the divine yarn. It does make the knitting look rather more like macramé and I relish how exclusive it looks. Of course I needed more yarn to complete it, since I had not originally planned to use it double, but decided to swatch for a cowl in another complementing stitch pattern meanwhile. Yes, I did find a good match and the cowl is now in progress. To be continued!

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Open Triangles Wristwarmers & Cowl Pattern Released

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The pattern rights have reverted to me from the magazine Familien and I am thrilled to release this pattern in both Norwegian and English in a downloadable pdf format available from my Ravelry store. The diagonal triangles with an opening on top makes you think of Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the pyramids with the sun above. A delightful image for a cowl to warm your neck, or accessorise your dress. Fasten it if you wish, or wear it across one shoulder. Or why not use it double? The cowl and the matching wristwarmers are knitted in a lovely soft and warm mixture of merino and cotton called Lerke from Dale Yarn with a stunning stitch definition.

Size: Cowl: One women’s size. Wristwarmers: S/M (L/XL)

Finished measurements: Cowl: width: 25 cm/ 10’’, length: 124 cm/49’’. Wristwarmers: width at bottom: 24 (27) cm/9.5 (10.5’’), length: 30 cm/11.75”.

Yarn: Dale Yarn, Lerke (52% merino, 48% Egyptian cotton, 50 g, 115 m/125 yds): 6 (7) balls in sh 5845. See dalegarn. Cowl: approx 450 m/492 yds. Wristwarmers: approx 165 m/181 yds.

Yarn alternatives: Rowan Yarns, Wool Cotton (50% cotton, 50% merino wool, 50 g, 113 m/123 yds). See knitrowan. Or Hifa, Norsk Pelsull (100% Norwegian furwool, 100 g, 260 m/284 yds). See ull. Or a similar DK/8 ply yarn.

Needles: Straight or 60cm/24’’ circular needle 4mm/US 6 or size needed to match tension. Spare needle for 3 needle cast off if preferred.

Notions: Stitch markers, waste yarn for cowl cast on, and darning ndl.

Tension: 18 sts and 28 rows in Open Triangle Pattern equals 10 cm/4’’ square. 22 sts and 32 rows in st st equals 10cm/4” square.

Notes: Cowl and wristwarmers are knitted flat. Cowl is cast on using a temporary method, and then either grafted together or cast off with 3 needles. If you prefer to sew it together, use main yarn and cast on using your preferred method. Pattern contains video links to backward loop cast on, grafting and 3 needle cast off. In addition to chart & schematic.

Ravelry Store: Here is the link: ravelry.com/stores/linda-marveng. If you like my designs, please join my group, where another test knit will start on Friday; Regal Purple Jacket.

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Mulberry Silk Jacket by Åsa Lóa Larsson

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I am thrilled to show you another stunning Mulberry Silk Jacket, this time knitted in a lush red-orange Tussah Tweed by BC Garn, see garn, also a pure silk, with a black contrasting neck- and sleeve band picking up one of the tweed colours by Åsa Lóa Larsson! Her clever modification includes changing the size from L to XL by making it with a looser tension, making the bands wider and adding a band to the bottom. Åsa discovered my knitting book when she was on a conference trip to Trondheim, and took the completed jacket back a year later, when she brought her family to the beautiful city, to photograph it with a magnificent backdrop, see below! You can find her as mrspetersson on Ravelry and can see more photos there. Thank you, Åsa!

For more versions of my Mulberry Silk Jacket and the original photo in the book, see mulberry-silk-jacket-by-nina-hove-myhre. I would love to see more of my designs knitted up so please find me on Facebook, join my group on Ravelry and show off. Another test knit of another A-line jacket in lace is starting on Ravelry very soon!

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Gol Stave Church

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Gol Stave Church is one of less than 30 remaining stave churches in Norway dating from 1200, and was moved in the 1880’s from Hallingdal to Oslo, presently the  Norsk Folkemuseum/Norwegian Folk Museum at Bygdøy. “The congregation at Gol had grown hence a new larger church was built in the 1870’s. In 1881, the Society for the Preser-vation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments bought the stave church, and King Oscar II offered to finance its re-erection in the public park at Bygdø Kongsgård. Because the snow conditions for sled transportation was too poor, the disassembled church could not be moved to Christiania (Oslo) before in January 1884! In the summer that same year, the church was re-erected at Bygdøy after extensive restoration. When the stave church was disassembled in 1884, it had been and altered and remodeled both in 1664 and 1802.  When re-erected at Bygdøy, only the basic interior structure was reused. The exterior was modeled after Borgund Stavkirke in Sogn on the Norwegian west coast.” Today it is the most popular of the 150 historic buildings at Bygdøy, and one of only five medieval buildings in the open-air museum.

See how it has been altered and remodeled by looking at Hans Gude’s drawing from 1846, here: norskfolkemuseum.

“The term “stave church” refers to the staves, or posts, that support the roof. The hand carved ornaments on the south and west portals has plant and dragon motifs. The runic inscriptions on the choir wall presumably date back to the time when the church was originally built. The paintings on the choir and apse walls date back to 1652.” I love studying the ornaments as well as it beautiful form. The open air museum as well as their exhibitions, see the-norwegian-spirit post, is well worth a visit, during the summer it is a short and pleasant ferry trip from Aker Brygge/Wharf. Do visit when in Oslo.

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New Design: Regal Purple Jacket

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I am thrilled to present my latest design, complete: Regal Purple Jacket. The vibrant, rich purple catch my attention and demanded to be chosen out of the 62 marvelous colours on offer in Perle, meaning pearl in Norwegian, a divine mercerized 4-ply/fingering cotton with a crisp stitch definition from Hifa, see ull. I chose a pattern, I have named Flower Wave, which is half lace and half garter stitch hence easy to memorize. With garter stitch inside the pattern it also became the obvious choice for the edging. Regal Purple Jacket has an A-line shape with added garter stitches in the side for decreasing, with short sleeves and a V-neck with a garter stitch then stocking stitch band. It is knitted flat and sewn together to give stability to the garment. The pattern has been sold to the Norwegian magazine Familien where it will be printed next spring/summer.

As a contrast and an add on, I decided it needed an accessory so I made a cowl, made all in stocking stitch with stripes in reverse stocking stitch, knitted as a tube I turned so I could continue to knit instead of purling to make the stripes, and grafted it together at the end. I still have a bit of work left on the pattern (read: grading) but I am pleased with the result!

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Magic Moonlight

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I just had to share this brilliant photo taken by my husband from our terrace of the moonlight, a few nights ago! He has captured the magic moonlight, so you can let your imagination roam. Let the fairy tales begin. Enjoy!

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Japanese Lace Jacket by Johanna Pyy

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I am thrilled to show you the marvelous Japanese Lace Jacket, knitted in Bamboo by Novita in a fitting vintage pink by Johanna Pyy! It was the reason for Johanna buying “Nyt Neulomann!” (read: my book title in Finnish which translates to: Time to Knit!) and has made her own version of it by modifying the pattern to fit her perfectly: Added length, added 1/2 pattern repeat on each side and continued in chart after the armholes, made a deeper neckline and replaced the neck band with an I-cord edge around the neck, see the gorgeous back below and more detailed photos on Johanna’s blog: silmukkasatuja (read: loop fairytales). Thank you, Johanna!

The book sample was knitted in the lovely cotton and alpaca mixture called Amoretto by Thomas Kvist Yarns, now unfortunately discontinued. It can be replaced with for example Lerke, a cotton and wool mixture by Dale Garn or Luxor, a pure cotton by Hifa, see ull. This beautiful Japanese Lace pattern, I discovered in a stich manual. I have designed a vintage jacket in cream colored Amoretto, a lovely yarn mixture which emphasizes the delicate lace pattern. Knitted in a A-shape framed with pattern borders to avoid decreasing into the chart, or modify it to do just that, as Johanna did! Below is the stunning Francesca Golfetto, photographed by Kim Müller for my book available only in Norwegian and Finnish. So far, that is…

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