Tag Archives: Aife

Northern Norway Knit Photos

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I promised to show you some knitting photos from Northern Norway; here they are. I brought my Aife pullover with my so that we could photograph it at the Blåisvannet/Blue Lake in Lyngen, outside of Tromsø. Here I am photographed by Michael wearing my hiking trousers and mountain boots with my design Aife knitted in Dye Dye Done Pure Sport. I believed I would need it during our hike to the Blue Lake, but since the weather cleared and it got warmer, I had it in my backpack. The Aife pattern is available on Ravelry and on Love Crafts.

Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.

The next knit design I wanted to show you is the Autumn Symphony that Grete Jenssen, aka ma9 on Ravelry, knitted for herself – and not as a sample for me – photographed by Michael at smooth rock surface at Tungeneset with that view to the Okshornan/Ox horn cliffs at the island of Senja outside of Tromsø. You can see my photo of Michael at the same spot in this blogpost: Postcard from Northern Norway. Read about alpine climbing these cliffs here: Okshornan på Senja.

My introduction to the pattern, available on Ravelry and on Love Crafts, follows: Leaves cover this A-lined jacket knitted in one piece with a false seam in a middle of the stocking stitch panel. The sleeves are knitted in the round with leaves up to the shaping where the lace pattern is changed to reverse stocking stitch. A belt in autumn coloured tweed lengthens the jacket and introduces the orange wrap. Or why not wear the wrap as a belt and opposite. Choose your three favorite colours, then make your outfit.

Last but not least is Grete on the beach outside their house in Markenes, Storsteinnes outside of Tromsø, close to midnight late in July, wearing her stunning Mohair Poncho. One she knitted for herself from my Norwegian book, but now also available in English on Ravelry and Love Crafts.

A poncho not reminiscent of the -70s but fashionable in addition to being warm, was my aim. It is easy to knit in 3 identical rectangular pieces but an intermediate challenge to sew together. The yarn I have chosen is a mixture of alpaca and mohair with a little acrylic from Texere Yarns.

We were waiting for the midnight sun to disappear behind the mountains. The sky went more red by the minute, see the best photo here: Postcard from Northern Norway.

I also want to share a selection of Michael’s amazing architectural photos from Tromsø in a later blogpost!

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Aife Knitted By Georgette

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I wanted to show you the beautiful version of Aife that Canadian test knitter Georgette, aka Gemzones on Ravelry, made in Sweet Georgia Yarns, Superwash Sport in Sapphire. She knitted size Medium since her gauge was a bit bigger than in the pattern – 23.5 instead of 25 stitches – to make it a size Large with a 104 cm/41″ bust circumference. Georgette also omitted the waist shaping on the front, but kept it on the back so it would be more flattering on her.

Here you see the back, with the waist shaping. The brilliant blue hand dyed colour together with the stitch definition in the yarn shows off the cable so well!

Finally, here is a closer look of the side. Thank you so much, Georgette!

Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.

The Aife pattern in both English and Norwegian is available in my Ravelry store and on Love Crafts.

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Aife Knitted by Petra Friedrich

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I am so pleased to present Aife test knitted by Petra, aka Petra777 on Ravelry and petra_friedrich on Instagram. She knitted it in a divine red colour called Zimtapfel (read: Cinnamon Apple) in Blend by Rohrspatz & Wollmeise in size Medium. The yarn is made of 70% wool, 20% goat and 10% polyamide with 499 meters/546 yards on each 150 gram skein. It knits to the given gauge in the pattern: 25 stitches and 32 rows in stockinette stitch using a 3 mm/US 2.5 measures 10 cm/4″ square. Petra initially thought the Wollmeise yarn she had ordered was lost since it took a long time to arrive so she tried a yarn from her stash first. But when it arrived, she wrote in the test knit thread on Ravelry: “I love this design and I cannot wait to see how it turns out using this yarn!” Petra did a wonderful job test knitting it and you can see how stunning it looks on one of her three daughters in these photos! Thank you so much, Petra!

 I also wanted to show you how it looks from the back, with a slightly higher neck. Petra’s chosen yarn has a lovely stitch definition that shows of the cables so well. Here is my introduction to the pattern: “Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.”

The pullover comes in sizes XS to 2XL with a bust circumference of 86 cm to 123 cm/34 to 48.5″ and a waist circumference of 80 cm to 118 cm/31.5 to 46″. The pattern is available in both Norwegian and English to download from both Ravelry and from Lovecrafts.

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Aife Pattern Released

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The test knit of Aife has come to an end and my test knitters did a marvellous job improving the pattern. Both the English and the Norwegian pattern is available on Ravelry  and also on LoveCrafts. Above you see the slightly fitted Aife pullover knitted in Pure Sport by Dye Dye Done, worn by the gorgeous Kaja Kvernbakken, with make-up & hair styling by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design, captured by Eivind Røhne.

Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.

Sizes: XS (S, M, L, XL, XXL)
Shown in size Small
Skill level: Experienced

Finished measurements:
Bust/hip: 86 (92, 98, 104, 110, 123) cm/34 (36, 38.5, 41, 43.5, 48.5)“
Waist: 80 (86, 92, 98, 104, 117) cm/31.5 (33.75, 36.25, 38.5, 41, 46)”
Length: 63 (64, 65, 66, 67, 68) cm/24.75 (25.25, 25.75, 26, 26.5, 26.75)“
Sleeve length: 49 (50, 50, 51, 51, 51) cm/19.25 (19.75, 19.75, 20, 20, 20)”
Intended ease: + 5-7 cm/2-2.75”. Sample shown is 92 cm/36” and worn with + 4 cm/1.5” ease on model.

Yarn: Dye Dye Done, Pure Sport (100% Superwash Merino, 100 g, 300 m/328 yds)
Sample is knitted in Baby Elephant: 5 (5, 6, 6, 7, 7) skeins; 1350 (1470, 1590, 1710, 1830, 2085) m/1476 (1608, 1739, 1870, 2001, 2280) yds.
https://dyedyedone.com/en_US/i/Our-Yarns/20

Needles: 3 mm/US 2.5 straight needle.
3 mm/US 2.5 circular needle (60 cm/24”) for turtle neck.
3.5 mm/US 4 circular needle (60 cm/24”) for turtle neck.
Adjust needle size as needed to match gauge.

Notions: Stitch markers (removable), cable needle and yarn needle.

Gauge: 25 sts and 32 rows in st st, after blocking measures 10 cm/4” square.
34-sts cable measures 10 cm/4” across.

Notes: The pullover is worked back and forth in separate pieces and seamed. The collar is picked up and knitted in the round.

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Bergen Strikkefestival 2019

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I was delighted to be invited to hold workshops and a talk at the Bergen Strikkefestival in 2019 at the Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum at Salhus about 20 minutes outside of Bergen by the Salhusfjord. Michael had never been to Bergen, so he wanted to come along. I had already heard about the well organised event and the delicious food on offer before I arrived. That was no exaggeration, by any means. For the first time, I had access to a Backstage Room and used it well, since the knitting cafe was packed most of the time with a high level of buzz in addition to clicking knitting needles. I met a number of knitters I knew during the even and even spotted designers Marianne Skatten & Rasa Ziburkute, aka Galgen Design, on the same plane, flying from Oslo to Bergen.

The festival began on last Friday 27. September with an Opening Party including a concert with Sigrid Moldestad (vocals & fiddle), a talk by Pickles & Dagny about colour choices in their patterns and a knitting quiz. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert which was a perfect ending to the party. Pickles had encouraged knitters to wear their garments knitted from their recent book and it was fun especially to see all these women on the stage in different colours all wearing different versions of the same dress.

The opening party took place in the Spoleloft/Winding Attic, with seating at the front and tables along the sides of all the old machinery. I saw Rasa walk by, so she and Marianne came to join us. We knitted and chatted through the evening. Marianne was wearing my design Yellow Gold Pullover, Rasa her own design Royal Cardi and I was wearing the Damara Skirt as a poncho. Michael took most of these photos, but I am better at photographing the yarn stands as you can see below.

For dinner I had the lasagne on offer and it was delicious as if I was in an Italian restaurant! You could also have Norwegian homemade waffles or a selection of homemade cakes. On the menu for Saturday and Sunday was two different soups: Indian Dal Soup and Beta Soup (a vegetable soup) and freshly made baguettes instead of the Lasagne. I choose the Indian Dal Soup both days, enough said.

My talk on Digital Strikking/Knitting was moved to the same location on the Saturday afternoon since there was a cancelled talk. They had a technician giving me a microphone, but I had Michael to assist on setting up my laptop. I talked about my social media experience, how much the internet has changed knitting with events such Knit-A-longs and Test Knitting on Ravelry, technical videos and Podcasts on YouTube as well as all the useful dictionaries as tips to be found these days. My experience with the different pattern sales platforms and magazine submissions. I was thrilled with the comments afterwards that it had been a revelation packed with useful information and very professional.

The festival volunteers made sure I was driven to and from the festival so I did not have to take the two buses to get there. 9 AM on Saturday, Michael and I was picked up outside our hotel – the festival hotel Augustin close to the harbour. I was quick to spot Julie Dubreux, aka JulieKnitsInParis, at breakfast since her hair is bright blue and introduced myself. We went in the second car, while the third car had to carry one extra suitcase, and were driven to the door. We had a lovely chat on the way there and will meet up again at Barcelona Knits. Below you see us in the Market Hall, Julie is wearing her Tuva’s Arrows and I am wearing my Aife, in case you were wondering.

I had booked the chartered festival ferry going back to Bergen at 6 PM, since it was so tempting to travel on the fjord. It also gave me some time to check out the Market Hall after my talk.

Flettestrikk Masterclass/Cable Knitting Masterclass was my first workshop, held on Saturday morning at the Strikkeloft/Knitting Attic. Again a very atmospheric large room with a view of the fjord. It was nice to meet knitters I have met at other festivals, that I knew as well as new ones. I had an hour in between the workshop and the talk so I had lunch Backstage. The photo above is from Japanske Mønstre/Japanese Patterns workshop I had on Sunday and you see Rasa wearing her Lithuanian Lily Cardigan at the front.

Here is the view from down along the inner wall.

The view towards the fjord from the Backstage room. Bergen is know for all its sideways rain as it is on the west coast of Norway, but we were lucky and sunshine one day and only a few scattered showers the next day.

I had to photograph all the lovely yarns on display at Norne Yarn where I found Julie again. The yarns are dyed by Tuva, who is an indie-dyer based in Oslo, to the left in the photo above.

Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk is located quite close to Salhus, at Hjelmås, so they had a stand. I had asked them bring more brochures and they had. I met the “Princess” as she introduced herself as from the Faroe Island there. Above you see her flicking through the latest brochure. She knew my designs and book well, I was happy to hear.

Saturday night, Michael and I had another nice evening with Marianne and Rasa. I had brought my knitting, but I got very little knitting done, as usual! Above is another photo from the Market Hall, of Ystabø Gull, taken late Saturday afternoon when it was possible to walk around in there. I had a wonderful weekend! Thank you to all the knitters, designers and yarn dyers I met! Well done, Bergen Strikkefestival!

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Photoshoot at Oslofjord Museum: Aife

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Next out in this series of photos taken by Eivind Røhne at the Oslofjord Museum is Aife, worn by the gorgeous Kaja Kvernbakken with hair & make-up by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design. I decided to style this fitted pullover, knitted in the divine hand dyed Dye Dye Done Pure Sport using 3 mm/US 2.5 needles, with a pair of Japanese culottes and Evelina ankle boots by Monica Stålvang. The yarn is made of 100% Superwash Merino and comes in 100 gram skeins with 300 meters/328 yards. The sample in size Small took 5 skeins and 1470 meters/1608 yards to make.

Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.

Kaja is wearing size Small, but I have graded the pattern from size XS to 2XL with a bust and hip circumference of 86 to 123 cm/34 to 48.5″. Intended ease: + 5-7 cm/2-2.75″. Sample shown is 92 cm/36″ and worn with + 4 cm/1.5″ ease on model.

Above you can see the hand dyed tones in the yarn as well as the details of the cables. The pattern is being test knitted and will be released tomorrow in both English and Norwegian on Ravelry as well as LoveCrafts.

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Strikkefestivalen in Fredrikstad 2019

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I have been back to the lovely Fredrikstad Old Town; the oldest fortified town in Norway (founded in 1567) and in the Nordic countries, and one of the best-preserved fortress towns in Northern Europe. The Strikkefestivalen/knitting festival is in its 4th year and still going very strong, run by four Knitting Motors: Marit Larsen, Lill Bjørnstad, Mette Bakken and Rita Walter together with numerous volunteers. They offer an impressive program with workshops, talks and including events such as “Knit & Poetry”, “Psalms & Knit” and “Knitting Cinema”. Above you see the courtyard surrounded by the museum, the market hall and the knit café, all held in these magnificent historic buildings dating back to 1775.

Michael and I went down to the Fredrikstad Museum on the day before the festival to mount my exhibition. Above you see a photo Michael took of me and my corner. I am wearing Aylwen next to my blue Vela, behind it is the grey Prescott Pullover. On my other side is the natural Nemetona and behind it the green Rørbye Cardigan. I used the opportunity to check if Makeløs – Remarkable Kristin Elise Halkjelsvik if she wanted to meet us for lunch at Café Magenta and she did! Read more about the café at the bottom. Indeed, she found me several times during the festival too and brought her husband to the Indian restaurant where designer Tove Fevang, Michael and I had our dinner on Friday night.

Lunchtime on Friday, Kristin found Tove and me having lunch at the knitting café. Kristin is a culture stylist and her outfits are magnificent and combines stylish elements with bright splashes of colour here made of tulle around the neckband plus cuffs of this otherwise traditional Setesdal Inspired Kofte (read: stranded colorwork jacket with traditional borders from the Setesdal Valley). Michael captured them better than I did.

I held two workshops on Friday: Flettestrikk Masterclass/Cable Knitting Masterclass and Engelske Mønstre/English Patterns. Luckily, I met both knitters I knew from previously but also knitters I had not met earlier! Above is three of them yarn shopping at the Projo stand.

Of course I also had a chat with the other designers present: Tove Fevang, Helle Siggerud, Denise Samson, Kari Hestens and Annemor Sundbø – the Norwegian knitting legend.

Just like me, Helle Siggerud also had an exhibition in another corner of Fredrikstad Museum. Unlike me, Helle is a sewer and have designed all these lovely outfits, inspired by our national costumes. Yes, Helle also sews national costumes, see more on her webpage: Helles Syskrin.

Yarn dyer Hege Dagestad was there – see above – and so was Karen Walthinsen of Enchanted Forest Fibers, who I had not met before. Below is another yarn photo, as I know I cannot include too many of those for you to look at.

Below is a photo Michael took of Tove and me checking out the stands. I am wearing my Aife knitted in the gorgeous hand dyed Dye Dye Done, Pure Sport and it is currently being test knitted before I release the pattern in English and Norwegian on Ravelry and Love Crafts.

I took the other photos above on Saturday morning before the Market Hall became too full and before my third workshop. The festival had booked all the workshops holders into the same hotel so we all met up for breakfast on Saturday morning. That was a nice treat.

Above is the sign and the outdoor seating for my favourite coffee shop in the Old City, Café Magenta – where the captives of the fortress were held back in 1731. The owners have come to love the knitting festival. Back in 2016, they had no idea what caused the invasion (of mainly female vistitors that is) during the first knitting festival. This year they were prepared and their meny was found printed to take away, inside in the Market Hall.

After my workshop on Saturday from 3 to 6 PM, Michael and I drove home. While I was finishing up my workshop, Michael dismounted my exhibition. I had a fab time, as always! Thank you to the organisers, to all the knitters I met and all my designer friends!

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New Design: Aife

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Aife is a slightly fitted pullover beautifully knitted by Grete Jenssen, aka ma9, in the hand dyed, Dye Dye Done, Pure Sport in Baby Elephant. Last year Hanna Maciejewska’s husband Daniel started hand dying yarn and Hanna asked if I wanted some sportweight for a design. How can I refuse gorgeous hand dyed yarn? She suggested the popular shade called Baby Elephant, a taupe colour and I was happy to accept it. I had already designed Gillah Swoncho but I was not finished with that cable, by Devorgilla, so I made it into a fitted pullover too with two mirrored cables. I am wearing size Small, with a bust circumference of 92 cm/36.25″ but the pattern will be available in sizes XS to 2XL, in these photos taken by Michael at The Halden Canal Museum in Ørje. The English pattern will be test knit in my Ravelry group, beginning on August 12, before its release in both Norwegian and English.

I actually met designer Hanna & Daniel first time in Vienna for a knitting retreat in October 2015 (Wollness Weekend), then for the second time around at the Vienna Wool & Design Festival in May 2017. We connected straight away and have been in touch ever since. Their lovely Pure Sport yarn is made of 100% Superwash Merino and comes in 100 gram skeins with 300 meters/328 yards. The sample took 5 skeins and 1470 meters/1608 yards to make.

The swatch took quite a bit of time to make using 3 mm/US 2.5 and a 25 stitches in stockinette per 10 cm/4″ square gauge, so I knew I had to ask turbo knitter Grete to help me, since I was still knitting Gocce. Grete suggested 2 central rope cables instead of just one and I had thought about it so I did. The cross back became wider than I had planned and the merino yarn has less bounce than I am used to from the pelt wool.

Aife was the Queen of the Isle of Shadow according to Celtic mythology. This elaborate cabled pullover with a slightly fitted waist, is made for a female warrior. A large cable panel, created by Devorgilla, is mirrored with two small cables at the center. The sweater ends in a generous turtle neck in ribbing. To show off the stunning hand dyed Pure Sport yarn by Dye Dye Done, the sleeves are in stockinette stitch with only two small centered cables. Aife is knitted in pieces for the ultimate fit.

Coming soon on my blog is news about an upcoming Norwegian book I am taking part in.

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