KAL: Hyrna Herborgar... one more time.

It has been quite a while since my last post!

As I said in the last post I am taking part of a new KAL. We are the same again: Kristín Hrund, Gummi, me and a little later Jóhanna joined us.

After having knitted the Aeolian the three of us together we definetely wanted to repeat the experience. The original idea was to knit a shawl called Laminaria but under my request we changed plans and started with the beautiful Hyrna Herborgar.

I have already made two of those (but neither Gummi, Kristín nor Jóhanna have knitted it before). I just love, love, love, love this shawl. It is incredibly fun to knit, it is not as complicated as it looks and the result is always WONDERFULLY beautiful.

For those who don't know this shawl, these are the two previous one that I have already made:

Hyrna Herborgar I

Hyrna Herborgar II

To make the new one I am using a mix of wool and linen from Evilla. I have used this yarn only once before. It is really nice and it comes in very pretty colors.

My only criticism to this yarn is the fact that since it is made of one thread of wool and two threads of linen it is very insert the needle between the threads and slip the linen and knit only the wool thread. It has happened to me a couple of times.

I remember when I was knitting Maikell and I had to cross stitches I promised to myself never to use this mix again... and here I am, hehe, using it again! It is just that the colors are so cool that I couldn't resist it!!

Maikell: blocking (and very serious me)

Yes, it is the pattern I put as a background for the blog :)

So, the yarn and new Hyrna look like this:

In this picture is easy to see the threads: pink is wool and white is linen.

Looking good :) I think that the colors is very nice. It is a very soft and soothing pink.

I chose pink because, I think I have mentioned this before, I don't know what is happening in my brain that everytime I go to the wool store PINK is the first color that catches my attention. I wasn't like this before! hehe. So here I am... using pink again.

The other two projects I have already began are in stand-by:

The lopapeysa that I am designing: I am waiting for the people of the Spanish Swap group to get the lopi they bought online so we can begin all together to knit our lopapeysa (even though I have already begun, hehe.)

And the green shawl, Leaves and Nupps, is waiting until I finish this one.

The other thing I promised was to show was pictures of the Aeolians that Gummi, Kristín and I knitted. It was a little bit difficult to take a good picture because the shawls were so big! (especially Kirstín's and Gummi's!) and because of the light... we met in the evening so no natural light now.

Anyways, here they go:

Three together.

The knitters with their shawls (I hate being in front of the camera!!!)
Gummi used wool+linen Evilla. I used Artyarn Evilla. Kristín used einband that she dyed herself!

And to finish, I wanted to share a couple of funny pictures of some funny sheeps we found on our way when we were driving in a remote corner of the island:

Most of the bridges in Iceland are very narrow and have only one lace... we wanted to cross this one but three girls were standing there... It is not uncommon to see LOTS of sheep everywhere (and I mean everywhere!) around. They are free in the mountains during the summer, eating grass and mountain herbs... and that is why they say the the icelandic lamb tastes so good :)

A little closer... It seems that they are thinking "well, we were here first and we are NOT moving". Well, it took just one honk on the horn to make them run scared! ha!

Oh, and now this is the last, last picture. This is bird that in icelandic is called Rjúpa (Rock ptarmigan in english). I took the first picture at the end of winter and the second one in summer... as you can see the change their feathers... cute, isn't it?

Winter and summer clothes.

Needles in a frame and trying to make a pattern.

Remember all the things that Judi sent to me?

Among all the things there was a pair of needles that belonged to her grandmother. A pair of double pointed needles size 3 (3.25mm) and 11" (27cm) in lenght.

Well, I think it is such a nice piece (almost like a museum piece) that I was thinking that it would be nice to have them framed. To do so I needed to find a nice frame that would honour the beauty of this needles.

Last weekend we went to a farmer's market very close to Reykjavík (in Mosfellsbær) to buy some fresh and locally produced vegetables.

Tiny market in Mosfellsdalur

When we were coming to the market and just before entering into the farm I saw a couple of women that were taking things out of their car and putting them on a table. They were probably getting rid of some old things by selling them outside of the market. One of them was very familiar... I actually recognized her almost immediately: it was Hafdís Huld, an icelandic singer (know fro having been part of a band called Gusgus and now for her solo career).

After having bought some vegetables I stopped by to take a look at what they were selling. And yes! They had a perfect frame for my needles! So, I bought an old frame for only 250 ISK (about 2USD)!!

This is how it looks :)

For those who don't know her, this is one my favourite songs and video of her:



A little bit about knitting.

On Ravelry, in the Spanish swap group, a few weeks ago was proposed to make a new KAL and this time it would be to knit a lopapeysa. The KAL was suposed to begin in September but there is a little bit of delay because some of the people who is taking part of it are waiting for the wool (lopi) to arrive (since they made the order on the internet).

In the mean time I have been thinking about what pattern to use for the yoke, sleeves and waist. I really didn't feel like using any from the magazines. I think I have alreadt knitted all myt favourite ones so that meant only one thing: It was time to try to make my own pattern.

With the help of the book Íslensk sjónabók I have been trying to make the charts using paper and color.

Messy charts!

It is not as simple as I thought. It is kind of complicated to find the right spots to put the decreases but with some patience I guess I will work this out. I still haven't finished the yoke pattern... I guess i will decide how to finish on the go. I don't know. I will see.

I already chose the colors and decided to begin just to see how the waist pattern would look like. I think it doesn't look so bad at all!

What do you think?  :)

Besides this I am knitting a shawl based on an Estonian pattern and recently me, Gummi and Kristín have started a new KAL. We are now knitting a Hyrna Herborgar (which will my my 3rd!). Which reminds me that I still have to post the pictures of our first KAL (the Aeolian!).

Next time I will be talking abut the new shawl, the new KAL and the old KAL pictures!

Now, I want to hand a few pictures from the southeast... pictures of Vatnajökull, the largest glaciar in Iceland as seen from the road : )

This is in Skaftafell, a national park. 

Aeolian: A shawl that made me think about my first steps in knitting lace.

My journey on knitting lace began in June 2009, six months after I began to learn how to knit. Lace had alway cought my eye because of how complicated it looked and it was definitely a challenge!

Noro Kureyon

I started to look for patterns on Ravelry until the Springtime Bandit came my way. It looked nice and not so complicated. By then I really wanted to try something that wans't lopi. Since I had started to knit back in December 2008 I had only used lopi, mainly because of its price and how easy it is to knit with it. Among the yarns that I wanted to try it was Noro in its wonderful colors! I began to look for Noro in Reykjavík until I found it in a shop called Storkurinn. Even though it was HUGELY expensive I bought 5 skeins to give a try.


The result was ok. I made a Springbandit that looked fairly well:

Springtime Bandit

In Skógafoss

By knitting this I learned a couple of things:

* Crochet provisional cast on.

* Read charts.

* That decreases slant! Yes... that was a huge discovery! And that slanting thing meant that I had to switch all the decreases of the pattern in order to get the lace well made  because I am left handed!

* Blocking. This was the first project that I had to block and stretch for real. I remember that I had to block it twice because the first time I was so afraid of breaking the shawl that I didn't get it to blossom and show the pattern nicely!

About Noro... I think that it is totally over rated and over priced. It was really nothing special about it. It even had lots of knots! (I gave Noro a second chance but this time with Silk garden... it was much nicer and softer (and more expensive as well) I made a baby surprise jacket).

The shawl ended up frogged and later on became a cowl that my sister owns now.

Cabled cowl.

After I finished my first shawl  I saw the Aeolian for the first time on Ravelry and I fell in love with it. I liked it so much that I decided to try to knit it. The furthest I got with it was the swatch which was a loooong and painful process. I think that I was definitely aiming to high with the little experience that I had by then in terms of knitting. I found it hard to handle the thread (einband, the thinest band I had tried that far) and the beads were a headache.

Aeolian: Swatch July 2009

I put the Aeolian to sleep but a few weeks ago Kristín Hrund, Gummi and me were talking about how much we wanted to try to knit the Aeolian so we decided to make our own knit along (KAL). It will be really fun to see how similar or different out shawls turn out!

Now, I guess that after having knitted a few shawls the Aeolian will be much more simple than it did back in 2009!!

I am using on skein of Evilla 8/2 that I had left from knitting last Hyrna Herborgar that I made. The colors are so nice and go so strangely well together.  For now I am done with the set up chart and 6 repeats of the Yucca chart. The pattern calls for 4 repeats of the Yucca chart for a shoulderette and 12 for a shawl. So I am making something in between.

Aeolian: July 2011.

I decided not to use beads this time. I think that it would be too much added to the color changes. But it will definetely have the nupps in the edge (I love nupps! Both to make them and the way they look!).

I have also finished the little bobbin lace sample that I was making with the new cotton thread that I found in Reykjavík. I am very, very happy with it! This is the first somehow more complicated pattern that I make using the bobbins. It is a combination of the exercises I made at the beginning.

I am very pleased with this little piece!!

In this little sample it is possible to see:

* A foot (which is the base of the piece).
* A torchon ground (made using half stitch).
* Spiders.
* A fan (the orange section).

It is so nice and relaxing to work on bobbin lace! And it is above all very rewarding to see the results even though it is a small piece.

Now I am thinking about the next piece to try!

Harebell Fichu: Finished!!

 The Fichu is finally finished and blocked!!

After blocking laying flat.

Against the light.

When I started it I thought it was going to be an easy project. Well, I was wrong. It took me a while to get it but once I did... everything went just smooth and fine.

Details:

* Pattern: Harebell Fichu.

* Book: Victorian Lace Today.

* Yarn: Einband (Icelandic lace).

* Weight: 62g (So it was one ball and a little more)

* Needles: 3.5mm

Pattern detail: I would say that these are flowers, aren't they?

Things I learned:

* How to make a picot edge.

Picot edge.

Picot edge detail against the light.

* Attatching the lace section to the band making joins along live stitches that lay perpendicularly to the direction of knitting (wow this sounds weird!). Look at this diagram I draw to (maybe) understand the idea a little bit better. The joins look actually really good. They are very even and somehow invisible.

Section. It is possible to see the joins that are right below the band (where the inverted V is)

Difficulties:

* First of all, to understand the pattern and the construction of the Fichu (Diagram).

* In terms of knitting I HATED making the S1K4togPSSO (Slip one stitch was ok. Knit 4 stitches together was TERRIBLE! And passing the slipped stitched over was a piece of cake :p)

* Blocking: This is the first rounded lace project that I knit and blocking it was a real challenge. The challenge was to have it even and nicely rounded and well proportioned. It took me over an hour to get it done (and a lot of sweating and pain in the knees and back!). I started by pinning the inner circle trying to have as rounded as possible.Then I put one pin in each picot trying to stretch it evenly. After having the outer circumference all pinned I just removed the inner pins... they were no longer necessary.

I think that the time, sweat and pain definetely paid off!

Blocking

Against the light.

Final thoughts: It was really nice to knit this piece even though all the difficulties (from which I learned a few new things :) The Fichu is very light and airy and the lace pattern is just beautiful. If you have the book... definetely give it a try!