Monday, January 23, 2012

** Cortinarius semisanguineus


Knitting looks monotonous. Working one stitch at a time for hours and hours. I have even talked to people who seriously believe that knitting can be used as  a tranquilliser. Not my way of knitting. It is thrilling. Here is how it works:
I want a cardigan. In stead of going shopping and buying one which fits me and I can wear immediately, I cast on, hope it will fit and will know in a month.
Now here are some other choices I made which made my cardigan  knitting even more exciting:
I chose a well written pattern with lots of innovative details.
May I present Walnuss "A classic and light cardigan with details that make it unique. The “Walnuss” cardigan is worked with a traditional saddle shoulder construction: 
 and is then worked top-down, seamlessly in one piece"

I could have chosen the yarn which the pattern called for. Well, I wanted to use a present, two skeins of vegetable dyed wool, 600 meter. Color, what you get when you dye with this: a medium-sized mushroom with a pale brown to ochre cap, and bright blood-red gills.
Even before I cast on, I knew that I would need an extra skein. I want my sleeves to be long. Karin, who dyed this wool, is local. She blogs here: Vilde Farver  I contacted her and was lucky to get hold of a skein in the same color, however, not the same dye lot. That really jazzed up the creativity. I searched the pattern for natural places to replace the main color.  The edges and the pleats. 
Fallmasche suggests a drapey and light weight yarn. My yarn is a bit rough, reminds me of Blue faced leicester.
- Here it has a nice lukewarm bath with a splash of vinegar.

  I wanted this cardigan to have negative ease and used a needle size 3 in stead of 3,5. That made the fabric a bit tight. After all these considerations I just followed the pattern as written..
Now it is done and I am very pleased with it.

The button artist is Birthe Sahl.
You can find them here.
This is the back. Short row construction makes the front longer than the back.
- a good thing if you want to hide the body part a bit south of the waist.
**Cortinarius semisanguineus

4 comments:

  1. Love it! My boyfriend is working on growing mushrooms out of a cut off log! Negative ease possible...good for you!

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  2. What a wonderful creation Mette, I love the way the colours move through it, and the buttons are gorgeous :D

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  3. How beautiful! I love your description of the thrilling uncertainties of knitting - too true.

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  4. Fantastic gardican - love it! And your approach to knitting is very similar to mine, both the actual knitting and also the hand-dying of the wool with plants and natural material. The magic is when you are only 95% sure of the end product ;)

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