Photoshoot at Oslofjord Museum: Vela

The next set of photos I will show you is of the sweater Vela with cowl. I knew I wanted model Emma Ross to wear this set with a pair of pencil trousers, with make-up & hair by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design, and that I wanted some sailboats or yachts in the background. I brief brilliant photographer Eivind Røhne, who suggested this backdrop at the marina at Vollen. We had our base at the Oslofjord Museum at Vollen in Asker, outside of Oslo, during our photoshoot at the end of May.

Sideways pullover in an eyelet pattern with a center join to enable it to hang straight like a sail or Vela – Italian for sail. Oversized body with narrow sleeves to minimize the volume. Vela ends in a round neck with ribbing. Dress it up with a cowl, that can be worn once or twice around your neck. Perfect for summer, knitted in a lovely cotton mix yarn called Hempathy from Elsebeth Lavold with a crisp stitch definition.

Pullover is knitted sideways, so work a larger size if you want a longer version. Adjust sleeve length to fit you. Each body part is knitted in two pieces and bound off using 3 needles for a center join. A circular needle is used to accommodate the large stitch number. Vela is knitted with the yarn held double throughout using a 5 mm/US 8 and a gauge of 18 sts and 20 rows in stockinette stitch measuring 10 cm/4″ square.

Em is wearing size XS/S, with a bust measurement of 120 cm/47.25″ with + 34 cm/13.5″ ease. As it is an oversized sweater I suggest the following ease: + 28-38 cm/11-15″. I have graded the sweater in two more sizes: M/L and XL/2XL, with these bust measurements: 132 and 144 cm/52 and 56.75″.

The lovely yarn was given to me by Elsebeth Lavold herself, the first 10 balls that is, when she and her husband drove past our house last summer during their summer holiday. The second bag of balls I received from agent Thomas Kvist, House of Hobbies, who distributes the yarn in Scandinavia. He was kind enough to send me 10 more balls so that I could complete the sweater and make the large cowl. The Norwegian pattern will be printed in the magazine Familien in issue number 17, on sale the 19th of August, while the English pattern is available on Ravelry and on LoveCrafts.

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New Design: Vela

Last summer I received a Facebook message from the acknowledged designer Elsebeth Lavold (Viking Patterns author)  that she and her husband musician-turned-photographer Anders Rydell would drive past our house on their way to her relatives in Norway, from their home in Stockholm, Sweden. She wrote that she would love to meet me in real life (IRL) and asked if I was up or inviting them for a cup of coffee or tea. It takes about 5 hours from Stockholm to our house, close to the Swedish border so I was happy to offer them lunch and asked if Elsebeth could bring a couple of balls of her two most popular yarns, Silky Wool and Hempathy. She asked what colours I preferred and I gave a few. A month later in June, they appeared and Elsebeth was bringing me several bags of yarns. She wanted me to have enough yarn to make a whole project. I was so taken back but extremely grateful and flattered.

I choose Kingfisher Blue 61 of Hempathy, a divine bright blue shade, and was given 10 balls. Hempathy is made of 41% cotton, 34% hemp, 25% synthetic fibres and comes in 50 gram balls with 140 meters/153 yards. It drapes lovely and has a melange look with an uneven texture. When I finally came around to testing it, I decided to hold it double and use a larger needle size a 5 mm/US 8. So guess what happened? I ran out of yarn! As luck would have it, I heard that my friend and agent Thomas Kvist of House of Hobbies had just made a deal with Knitting Fever to distribute all their yarns, including the Elsebeth Lavold Yarns. All I had to do was ask him to send me another bag of 10 balls and he did.

If you, like me, you might think that Elsebeth is American with Swedish decedents, due to the fact that her first book ‘Viking Patterns’ was published in the US and in Sweden, you are wrong. The fact is that she is half Norwegian and half Danish. I was very surprised to hear this, even more so since she speaks Norwegian, Danish, Swedish (they are all similar but with very different pronunciation) and American as a native, so I could not figure it out and had to ask her.

My idea for Vela was a trendy oversized summer sweater, knitted sideways with a center join made by a 3-needle bind off, so that it would hang perfectly on the body. I decided to make the sleeves narrow to make up for the oversized body. Maybe add a rib at the bottom at the end, or not. I wanted an easy pattern a combination of garter stitch, stockinette stitch and an eyelet row. When I tested them out in the yarn they nearly disappeared, hence I held two strands together and got the result I wanted. I ended up without the rib at the bottom of the body, since I liked it without any ribbing. The neckline on the other hand was given a twisted rib and so was the bottom of the sleeves.

With extra yarn left over, I decided to make a large cowl. In Norway the summer temperature can vary a lot and you might need a cowl. I also feel that a long cowl makes the pullover dressier. Here is the result, photographed on me down by our power station and the Halden Canal. I am wearing size XS/S and have graded it in two more sizes: M/L and XL/2XL.

Finally, here is a detailed photo of the back. I will come back to the date for the test knit later, when I have finished all the new designs for the photoshoot on Monday 27th of May at the Oslofjord Museum.

A longer version of this post can be seen on Patreon, as one of the sneak peeks I offer my patrons that support me. You can find me here: www.patreon.com/lindamarveng.

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Elsebeth Lavold Visit

@ Anders Rydell

Yes, I am excited to tell you that Elsebeth Lavold and her husband Anders Rydell came to visit us last week. They were going on holiday, driving from Stockholm and past our house to Kongsberg. Elsebeth wrote me a message on Facebook saying it was an opportunity for us to meet in real life. I could not let this opportunity pass me by since I have been admiring Elsebeth ever since she published her first Viking Knits book back in 1998 (see below). I did ask her to bring me a few balls of Elsebeth Lavold Yarns, actually the two most popular yarns: Hempathy and Silky Wool if possible. Guess what, she brought me four whole bags of yarn, one in each colour plus a skein of a new yarn. Thank you so much, Elsebeth! I have been in yarn heaven since then, and wanting to do nothing else than try out those new yarns. Only my work commitments have stopped my from doing just that. Elsebeth knew too well that a few balls would not take me very far… In the picture above she is wearing Grainne knitted in LinSilk.If you, like me, have wondered what nationality Elsebeth is and indeed what country she lives in, I can reveal the following: Elsebeth is half Norwegian, half Danish and lives in Sweden. Yes, she has also lived a number of years in the US and is a Norwegian citizen. Elsebeth spoke fluent Norwegian, Swedish and American-English so I could not guess her mother tongue from our conversation. It all made sense when she told me that she studied linguistics at University. Anders Rydell is the Swede. He is a former musician and song writer turned graphic designer & photographer to assist Elsebeth in her design work.

Now, back to the Elsebeth Lavold Yarns. They are distributed by Knitting Fever in the US and will soon be coming to Europe. Who will be your Scandinavian agent, I asked and was not surprised to hear that Thomas Kvist and his company House of Hobbies will distribute her yarns. You know I used to design for him and have also done translations for some of the other yarn companies he now represent. It is a small world at times. Elsebeth presents herself like this online: “I’m absolutely passionate about all aspects of knitting. My claim to fame is having translated Viking Age interlace patterns into cable knitting and
documented them in a travelling exhibition and five books. This has led to my own
yarn line, Elsebeth Lavold Designer’s Choice, supported by pattern books. All in
collaboration with my husband, co-worker and playmate, Anders Rydell.” Above you see her latest hard cover book, which I wrote about on my blog: Viking Knits & Ancient Ornaments. Elsebeth has written another 26 books with her designs, so do take a look at her impressive designs here on Ravelry and follow her blog. I am thrilled that Elsebeth admires my work, especially since I find hers unique. Michael and I had such a fantastic time together with Elsebeth and Anders. We hope to see them again!

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Viking Knits & Ancient Ornaments by Elsebeth Lavold

VikingKnits-300It has been a long wait for a new knitting book by Swedish designer Elsebeth Lavold, since she published the international bestseller Viking Knits in 1998. Her approach as well as use of Viking ornaments is ground breaking. Lavold invented a lifted increase to create interlace patterns rather than just to shape garments and also let the cables do the shaping to a certain degree. I admit I have a special interest, due to my own Norwegian ancestry as well as my love for cables. She has continued to research and work with the ornamental treasures and discovered how multifaceted they are. The book is beautifully photographed and richly illustrated with drawings by her partner Anders Rydell. The book contains 21 patterns; mainly sweaters and jackets for women, accessories, a few children’s garments and only one sweater for men, to some knitters disappointment see the Elsebeth Lavold Fans Group on Ravelry. All the garments are knitted in her own yarn, Elsebeth Lavold Designer’s Choice Yarns, see ingenkonst.se, which she was asked to create after her book success, distributed in the USA by Knitting Fever. And no, I have neither seen nor tested any of them but know them by reputation, especially the Silky Wool which seem to have a large group of admirers. Each chapter covers a group of Viking ornamentation with its history and location of a specific photographed item, in addition to how you would cable it e.g. loops, shown with charts as well as swatches. Not only are the knitting patterns interesting to study, so is all the history, photos, and drawings in this marvelous book. You can have a peak inside the book here: amazon.com. I found my copy at adlibris.com

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