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Friday, 21 December 2012

Icelandic gardigan


When we were in Iceland year and a half ago I saw that (↑) Icelandic gardigan on a rack in a shop. It was hand knitted, fairly modern, a gardigan - not a pullover, from soft yarn, it was just really lovely. And it cost 300 euro. Outch.

So I didn't buy it, but I thought I can make one (hence I took the picture of it). I knew I would knit something anyway so I might as well do this. On September I finally started to knit it. I did not find any exact pattern from the web. I did find some similar ones with much thicker yarn and different pattern on the shoulders. But based on those I calculated a new pattern which you saw here. I estimated the amount of yarn I need and got to work.

I used Drops Alpaca yarn. I'm used to knitting with wool so the alpaca at first felt really silky and bit slippery to knit, but I got used to it quite fast. I knitted the sleeves and the middle part surprisingly fast untill the pattern for the shoulders started. Knitting with three different yarns turned out to be really slow. I can not remember when was the last time I had done a colour knit. I did not remember I was so slow at it. It took me quite some time to finish the rest of the cardigan. I even started knitting another thing in the middle of the project, because I needed something simpler. But eventually I did finish the Icelandic gardican and I love it, it's almost exact copy of the one in the shop, it's light but warm and just lovely. The first few rows of the colour knit are a bit poor quality, I should have practised with some test knit before hand, but I did not bother. So now the thread that runs in back pulls slightly, but I don't mind about it that much. I'm so happy about the gardigan, I jumped up and down when I had the gardigan on for the first time.




And I would not sell it for any less than 300 euro.

8 comments:

  1. What can I say, you did it again :) The cardigan looks very good.

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  2. Your cardigan looks great! I think it looks even better than the one from the store and you made it yourself which is priceless!

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    1. Thanks Nina. Yes I must say I would not sell it for anything.

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  3. It's so pretty! I'd love to be able to knit like that someday. I wouldn't sell it for anything if I were you, either.

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    1. You will learn, just practice. It wont take long that you notice that you can knit even without looking at the work all the time. Then bigger projects too will become easy and fast.

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  4. Fantastic job, well done you. These are exceptionally beautiful garments, and to have hand made one yourself, incredible!

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    1. Thank you. I remember the post from you where you showed some opshopped knits.

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