Has it been so long since I last wrote? Time flies, huh! Actually, I’ve been having a somewhat shitty time in my personal life and have spent most of my free time thinking about life, the universe and everything, while knitting. My mom came for week’s visit to cheer me up, which was really really nice. Aren’t mom’s the greatest? Hopefully things will start to look brighter in the near future.
Last summer was the Big Summer of Sweater Knitting. I knitted 3 sweaters and a vest, all of which I gave away, and afterwards I was all sweatered out. I therefore turned to smaller projects (in addition to the shawl) to cool off. Now that a few months have passed and winter has arrived (and left again, it seems), I felt it was time again. I longed for a wool sweater to keep me warm. When I was in Iceland in August I bought some plötulopi (plate-lopi) for a yoked pullover, so I wound it into balls, knitted swatches and did some calculations. A sleeve got knitted, and then I spent two weeks wondering what kind of pattern I wanted for the yoke. I spent hours and hours drawing up sketches and rejecting them, until I got so fed up that I decided to move on to something else. No warm sweater for me this winter.
A while later I bumped into a bag of leftover lopi balls, things I had bought with some sweater in mind but then used parts of it to knit something else. An idea came to my mind, and shortly thereafter the leftover lopi sweater was born.
It’s already a little bit stretched and worn, since I’ve been wearing it constantly for 2 weeks. I am totally in love with it, and already planning another one in a little bit different style. This one was knitted in the round, like a normal raglan pullover in stockinette, and the colors were chosen randomly by drawing cards. Then, once it was finished, I turned it inside out and voilá!, pretty color changes in reverse stockinette. Due to the frequent color changes I had to weave in a trillion ends, which made the progress rather slow (I was wise enough to weave in the ends while knitting), but that’s a small price to pay for a pretty sweater which used up leftovers. Hooray!
Tomorrow I have a 45 minute presentation at the lab where I work. I’m almost done with the slides, just some finishing touches left, and then I have to practice. I am a little bit nervous, but not nearly as much as I would have expected. Wish me luck!
Good luck with your presentation! Your leftover sweater is great! I have a bag full of Lopi but still haven’t decided on the yoke design either. The main color is light – Ash, which I wish it wasn’t, but oh well. Maybe when you come up with a design I’ll just copy!
Comment by Janet — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 3:11 pm
I like your sweater! Can it be worn right side out too? I recently found a tutorial on weaving in ends as you knit. It’s at http://sockpr0n.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-weave-in-ends-while-knitting.html
I don’t know if this is what you did. It looked like a good idea.
Comment by Stitchy Fingers — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 3:47 pm
frábær peysa, kannski maður bara taki sig til og steli hugmyndinni, þó ekki með lopa, fer svo í nefið á mér þegar ég prjóna með honum!
kv.Fríða
Comment by Fríða — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Æðisleg peysan þín! Virkar rosalega hlýleg og minnir mig á gamla peysu sem ég átti þegar ég var lítil. Sniðugt að snúa henni við.
Comment by Stella — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
Beautiful sweater. And so thrifty too! Love the whole idea behind it.
Something I always forget to do: when working with 100% wool, you can spit splice the ends together when changing colors or balls of yarn. That way, no ends!
Hope things start looking up for you and the presentation goes well!
Comment by Faith — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 5:23 pm
oh i LOVE that sweater! i made one like that for a godchild a few years ago. but what i REALLY love is the neckline—so attractive.
good luck with the presentation—i’m sure you will do well!
Comment by anne — Sunday, November 19, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
What a smart idea how to use left over Lopi and what an elegant outcome! It spells to me that life must turn better when wearing a pretty sweater like this. Hurry up, knit the other one ;-)
Good luck for your presentation tomorrow!
And on the weaving in ends: haven’t you tried felting the ends together while you go? I sometimes do this with Lopi. Of course, it wouldn’t work if you really want to be accurate with the colour changes matching the exact stitch.
Comment by carola — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 12:06 am
cute sweater. i hope you’re doing ok — it’s nice that your mom helped you out. i can’t imagine my parents being helpful in that respect — i’d likely have to rely on my sister or cousins. though i live so far from my family, so i feel quite isolated at times.
anyway, rock the presentation.
oh an aside: i’m sure you know how popular online videos have become (ie youtube). it’d be pretty cool to see your yarn move — movable yarn. film that sweater shimmering! make it work!
then post it on youtube and then on your blog!
Comment by omar — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 4:33 am
I hope you’re feeling better. Thinks usually sort themselves up given time. Knús og klem þangað til.
The sweater is brilliant. I normally don’t like the inside out look but I just love this one. I think it is a combination of beautiful colors, random color changes and the ribbing that makes it a winner.
Good luck on the presentation. That is longer time than I got for my defence. I used to have a hard time keeping within a time limit, needing more time. So as long as you have something to say this won’t be a problem.
Comment by Sonja — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 7:14 am
bara smá athugasemd, þegar maður prjónar í lopa er óþarfi að fela enda, nóg að prjóna undir/yfir nokkrar lykkjur eða bara að nudda endunum aðeins saman, þeir þófna strax fastir, engin hætta á að þetta rakni upp. svona gera þær sem prjóna lopapeysur fyrir kaup.
kv.Fríða
Comment by Fríða — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 11:18 am
Dearest Sigga Sif!
Your leftover pullover looks fabulous! I especially like the neckline, cool;-)
Nice to hear that your mother came to cheer you up. Mothers can make wonders (that I know from experience). Since I’m not connected at home I’m too late to wish you good luck, unless the presentation is later to day, so good luck -or hope you did well!
Comment by Sigurlaug — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 1:39 pm
Oooo, you’re sneaky, keeping that to yourself all this time! Its beautiful, and I’m sure it will keep you plenty warm (whenever it is that winter returns, probably soon?).
Comment by Cassie — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
Ummm, I must add: The photos of the new pullover look as though they were taken at a studio. Did you just take them yourself with a tripod? Couldn’t copy that, that’s for sure! Anyway, you can definetly use them when you publish your first knitting book;-)
Comment by Sigurlaug — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 7:15 pm
a new jumper popping up just like that! a little scary! it’s absolutely wonderful. i love the purl side colour changes. well done!
Comment by strikker — Monday, November 20, 2006 @ 10:25 pm
I love knitting a sweater that I end up wearing all the time. And what a beautiful way to use up leftovers!
I hope that the personal life stuff straightens itself out.
Comment by Rebecca — Wednesday, November 22, 2006 @ 1:44 pm
This came out lovely and so comfy-looking. Great job! I hope the rest of life catches up to the wonder of the sweater, very soon.
Comment by Valerie in San Diego — Thursday, November 23, 2006 @ 7:17 am
i absolutely love it. could you provide us a shot of the ‘wrong side’ (stockinette) to give a better idea of your color changes?
Thanks for sharing!
Comment by j a r e d — Friday, December 8, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
I love this sweater. Great concept. Amazing!
Comment by ChristineMM — Friday, September 4, 2009 @ 12:22 am