Tag Archives: Vela

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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Vela in Familien 17/2019

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I am thrilled to have yet another design in the bi-monthly magazine Familien, this time it is my Vela that was published in issue number 17, which came out last Friday. Above is the cover and below is the first of the pattern pages. Vela is worn by gorgeous model Emma Ross, with make-up & hair by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design, and captured by Eivind Røhne at Oslofjord Museum at Vollen in Asker, outside of Oslo, in May. The pullover is knitted in the lovely Hempathy from Elsebeth Lavold held double with a gauge of 18 sts and 20 rows with 2 strands held together in stockinette stitch using 5 mm/US 8 needle measures 10 cm/4” square.

“Hullstrikkgenser” directly translated means “hole-knit pullover”; the first word is the Norwegian word for lace knitting including all eyelet patterns. On top of the page is my introduction, slightly abbreviated: 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 Yarns with a crisp stitch definition.

The 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.

I have graded the sweater in three sizes: XS/S (M/L, XL/2XL), while the cowl is one size but can easily be adjusted. The sample shown is in the smallest size with a 120 cm/47.25” bust circumference with + 34 cm/13.5” ease on model. Intended ease is + 28-38 cm/11-15”.

The Familien magazine is available at selected news agents and super markets. If you are in Norway you can buy a digital version for iPad, see www.klikk.no. If you live abroad you can order the Norwegian special magazine by e-mailing kari.bachke@egmont.com and then transfer payment into their bank account.

The English pattern is available on Ravelry and Lovecrafts.

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Vela Pattern Released

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The test knit of Vela has come to an end with some stunning projects. As usual my test knitters did an excellent job of improving and correcting the pattern. The English pattern is now available on Ravelry and Lovecrafts, while the Norwegian pattern will be printed in Familien issue 17. Above you see model Emma Ross wearing Vela, with make-up & hair by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design. She was brilliantly captured by photographer Eivind Røhne at the Oslofjord Museum at Vollen in Asker, outside of Oslo, in 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.

Sizes: XS/S (M/L, XL/2XL)
Shown in size Extra Small/Small
Skill level: Intermediate

Finished measurements:
Bust: 120 (132, 144) cm/47.25 (52, 56.75)“
Length: 57 (59, 61) cm/22.75 (23.5, 24.5)”
Sleeve length: 46 (44, 42) cm/18 (17.25, 16.5)“
Cowl: 117 cm/46” long, 31 cm/12.25” wide
Intended ease: + 28-38 cm/11-15”
Sample shown is 120 cm/47.25” with + 34 cm/13.5” ease on model.

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold, Hempathy (41% cotton, 34% hemp, 25% modal, 50 g, 140 m/153 yds). Sample is knitted in Kingfisher Blue 61:
Pullover: 13 (16, 19) balls; 1806 (2226, 2646) m/1975 (2434, 2893) yds.
Cowl: 6 balls; 818 m/895 yds
Note: Yarn is held double throughout.
Yarn is available from Loveknitting in the UK and distributed by House of Hobbies in Sweden and Norway.
https://www.loveknitting.com/elsebeth-lavold-hempathy
https://www.houseofhobbies.se
https://knittingfever.com/elsebeth-lavold/yarn/E-HEMP

Needles: 5 mm/US 8 circular needle (80 cm/32” and 40 cm/16”).
5 mm/US 8 straight needle.
Adjust needle size as needed to match gauge.

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

Gauge: 18 sts and 20 rows with 2 strands held together in st st using 5 mm/US 8 needle measures 10 cm/4” square.
17 sts and 22 rows in Eyelet pattern repeat measures 10 cm/4” square.
15 sts in rib measures 10 cm/4” across.

Notes: 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.

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New Design: Vela

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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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