Month: March 2025

Places to Sit and Knit 5

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Hello, and welcome to the 5th instalment in the VERY irregular series Places to Sit and Knit (the last instalment was published nearly three years ago, crikey!). To get to today’s place, we first need to walk a short way along the path on top of Steenwijk’s old town ramparts. They date from the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648).

After last week’s post, my husband said, ‘Your readers must get a very strange picture of our country with all those old buildings and idyllic spots. No industrial estates, no modern apartment blocks, no motorways.’ This brought me up short. Am I being untruthful? It is not my intention to paint a false picture, but, well, take the photo below:

From the top of the ramparts, I could have pointed my camera downwards and photographed a parking space with cars, old garage doors and wheelie bins. Or upwards towards the rooftops and the sky. I happen to prefer the latter. I also enjoy taking you (and myself) to places that bring a sense of joy and/or peace. I hope you don’t mind my giving you an incomplete picture. Perhaps we can call it being selective?

A little further along the ramparts, I am pointing my camera downwards, for an overview of a small park called De Nettelbosch.

The red arrow points to the bench that is today’s Place to Sit and Knit. Sitting on the bench, this is our view – the Nettelbosch itself, a shopping street and the spire of the St Clemens Church:

The knitting project I’ve brought is the first of a pair of Imker socks. Another pattern from that wonderful book 52 Weeks of Socks (for anyone not on Ravelry, an overview of the patterns in the book can be found here.) Socks with all-over cabling that will keep me on my toes.

The yarn I’m using is Onion Nettle Sock (50 g/202 yds/185 m), made from 70% wool and 30% nettle fibre. This (and the fact that I had an errand here) is why I’ve chosen this spot to sit and knit – Nettelbosch means Nettle Patch, which is what it was before it was transformed into a public garden. Ah, it’s lovely to sit here, knit a few rounds and look around. There is a witch hazel with vibrant yellow flowers, fresh green shoots are appearing, and the rhododendron already has fat buds.

No need to feel embarrassed about knitting in public, because there is nobody else around. Do you feel comfortable knitting anywhere? I don’t, although I’ve only ever had positive comments.

There are so many things I’d like to knit and make, that I often find it difficult to choose. And then more project ideas come along on Ravelry and in newsletters to distract me. That’s why this time I’ve made a looooooong list of possible projects. Getting them out of my head and onto paper felt better straightaway. Then I chose several to focus on this spring and put all of the materials together in a box.

Yarn for two cardigans and several small projects, some spinning fibre and some fabric and ribbons. And then there are the socks and the wee Norwegian pullover on my needles. Far too ambitious? We’ll see…

Well, that’s me nattering on about my making. How about you? What do you have on your needles? Or do you crochet, embroider, quilt, spin, felt, paint, draw? How do you choose? Do you have multiple projects going on simultaneously or do you focus on one at a time? Any suggestions for great patterns to add to my long list? I’d love hearing from you in a comment, but if you don’t feel comfortable commenting that’s fine, too. You’re always welcome to just spend some time here. Well, it’s time to go. Hope to see you again soon!

Spring 2025

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Hello! Today, spring has officially sprung and it really feels like spring here, too. Our crocuses that have done so well this year have finished flowering. Now the scillas and miniature irises are in bloom, and the grape hyacinths are poking their heads above the ground as well. The daffodils in our garden are still in bud, but I saw some blaring their trumpets in Zwolle the other day.

They literally brightened up a dark and cloudy day.

The daffodils grew next door to the bookshop I was visiting for some gifts. In the fantasy novel section, I leafed through a fantastic knitting book – The Fellowship of the Knits: The Unofficial Lord of the Rings Knitting Book. It contains 27 amazing patterns by many different designers. I would not particularly want to knit a Gollum softie or a pair of mittens with Sauron’s scary watchful eye on them, but I find the Elven Armor Pullover absolutely stunning.

After that dark day in Zwolle, the sun began to break through the clouds.

And now it is gloriously warm and sunshiny weather. Perfect for some gardening. I’ve been pruning and weeding, and have sown some edible flower seeds.

I have also started on a fresh springtime knitting project – another sweater for our grandson. It is a bit like a blue sky with puffs of white cloud.

The pattern is Nordsjøgenser from Sandnes Collection 73 Norwegian Icons for Kids.

There isn’t a single sweater in this pattern collection that I wouldn’t like to knit. Besides looking adorable on the models, the pullovers and cardigans also look interesting to make – some with round colourwork yokes, some with all-over patterning and some steeked.

The yarn I’m using is Babyull Lanett, a 100% wool yarn, but so fine and lightweight that it’s ideal for springtime knits. Ah, spring, lovely spring. I’m fine with winter and don’t mind dark and cloudy days, but basking in the light and warmth of springtime sunshine is truly wonderful and relaxing.

Wishing you a wonderful and relaxing weekend, whether spring has sprung where you live, too, or not.

Sundborn and a Hand-Sewn Steek

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Sundborn

‘Var välkommen kära du, till Carl Larsson och hans fru!’ it says above the front door of Lilla Hyttnäs in the Swedish village of Sundborn. ‘Welcome to the house of Carl Larsson and his spouse!’ A warm welcome to the house that Carl and Karin Larsson made into such a special place, Carl with his paintings and Karin with her textiles.

Carl and Karin in a detail of Carl's painting When the Children have Gone to Bed.

Carl is best known for his watercolours of family life at Lilla Hyttnäs. In the house itself, beside all kinds of other decorations, he also painted his family on walls and doors.

Karin was a painter as well, but after getting married and having children she poured all of her creativity into embroidery and weaving.

Walking through and around the house, I was amazed by everything they achieved while raising eight children. Below, a photograph of their living room from the outside, with a bird decoration by Carl between the windows.

After my first visit, in the early 1980s, I had a postcard of one of Carls paintings on the wall of my 6 m2 student room for a long time. It was the well-known painting of the interior of the Larssons’ living room with one of the girls watering the plants.

In her cardigan book Koftor, knitwear designer Maja Karlsson tells us that she spent some time at Lilla Hyttnäs studying the colours and patterns of Karins textiles, and that this inspired her Sundborn cardigan design. She photographed the cardigan in the same living room, with the model watering the plants just like the girl in Carl’s painting. The stars in the cardigan’s yoke echo the stars along the edges of Karin’s blue-and-white table cloth.

I thought it would be fun to photograph my Sundborn cardigan in the same way. Only in our own living room instead of at Lilla Hyttnäs. The little red wooden Dala horse on the window sill is a souvenir of my second, more recent visit to Sundborn. And now I also have the cardigan to remind me of that wonderful place.

At this point, I’ll say goodbye to the non-knitters among you. I quite understand that you’d rather do something else than read about cutting a pullover open to turn it into a cardigan. See you again next time!

A Hand-Sewn Steek

For those of you who are interested, let’s dive into steeking. In this case, I knit the button bands on first, before cutting the steek.

Instead of machine-sewn steek reinforcements, I wanted to use hand-sewn seams this time, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Fortunately some of you came to the rescue. Helga checked the Swedish version of the pattern book and confirmed that the designer uses machine sewing thread. Angelique said that the seam might become too tight using machine sewing thread. I have never liked the idea of synthetic seams in my woollen sweaters anyway, so that was out. She also suggested trying things out on a swatch first, and that was what I did:

As an experiment, I sewed a back-stitch seam using the same yarn used for the cardigan (Léttlopi) on one side of the centre stitch and on the other using a thinner yarn (Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight). The Léttlopi was on the bulky side; the thinner yarn worked better, as L. had already predicted, so I used that on the cardigan.

L. also advised ‘piercing every row’s stitches’ and to be on the safe side I did that as well. Then, using my small embroidery scissors and holding my hand between front and back, I cut the steek.

The steek stitches looked fairly stable after cutting. (Below, the blue line through the centre of the pink stitches is one of the hand-sewn seams.)

But I’m glad that I pierced through the yarn of the knit stitches while back-stitching the seams, because at the top end the knit stitches did fray. With the extra strong reinforcements they wouldn’t unravel any further.

Finally, the steek stitches were folded over and stitched into place using whip stitches on the inside. Very neat!

All in all, I’m very happy with this hand-sewn steek reinforcement. It is easy and relaxing to do, and doesn’t stretch the knitted fabric as machine stitching can do. No more machine-reinforced steeks for me from now on. Thank you for your advice Helga, Angelique and L.! And to all of you – thank you for reading on to the end!

Links:

  • Maja Karlssons cardigan book Koftor can be found here on Ravelry, and the Sundborn cardigan here. (It has been translated into English, German and Dutch.)
  • Lilla Hyttnäs is now a museum called Carl Larsson Gården. Although only Carl’s name is mentioned in the museum’s name, the museum’s website now pays equal attention to Carl and Karin.

A Stroll through Deventer

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Hello! Thank you so much for your thoughts on steeking my Sundborn cardigan – very helpful! It isn’t finished yet, but I’m getting there and will tell you about it next time.

Today, I’m taking you on a little outing. In between an errand and a visit, we had a couple of hours to spare in Deventer. I brought my camera because I thought you might like to stroll along through its lovely old city centre (it has two yarn shops!). It is market day…

… and the barrel organ treats us to some cheerful music. A similar one used to drive through our street every Saturday when I was a child, and I still always put a coin or two in the organ man’s  money box.

I like the hustle and bustle of the market, and I love the quiet back streets. There are so many fun and interesting things to discover. Take Thomas à Kempis’ words on a wall in a narrow alley, ‘You’re sure to feel happy at night after a day well spent’.

The combination of picture and words makes me smile. It reminds me of our grandson who loves cleaning with his own little broom and his dustpan and brush. Who did he get that from?

And take this gable stone, with Barbie looking at it through the window.

Dat regenvercken – the rain pig. Huh? Oh, I get it! A piggy bank for saving water instead of money. A hogshead! The spelling and general look suggest that it is centuries old, but the date on it says 1984. Such fun that someone would add a decoration like this to a wall just because.

The building on the left at the top of this post used to be the municipal savings bank. There are three words above its three upstairs windows: Arbeidzaamheid, Spaarzaamheid, Voorzichtigheid – Diligence, Frugality, Prudence.

The building was renovated at the end of the 19th century. I wonder what the words above the windows would have read had it been renovated recently. Spend, Spend, Spend?

Via a circuitous route we’re arriving at the Kleine Overstraat. With its small non-chain stores it is one of the nicest shopping streets I know. It is extremely hard not to spend, spend, spend here. Yarn is my weak spot (or one of them anyway).

Astrids Wol is specialized in Noro. She has other yarns as well, but many of her shelves are filled with these colourful Japanese yarns. So beautiful! I have knit quite a few things with Noro yarns over the years, and now there are some very attractive summer yarns, but I’m being frugal and prudent.

Astrid also has socks for sale – machine knit socks. They look deceptively like hand knit ones. It’s unsettling – why would I keep knitting socks if similar ones are for sale for little more than the cost of the yarn? Fortunately they are not the same thing at all – not nearly as nice and soft as hand knit socks. And look at the toes:

No, we hand knitters can do much better than that. I’m so glad we have not been completely made redundant by machines yet.

The second-hand shop where someone has spent so much love and attention on the window display…

… has vintage wooden knitting needle cases in a basket outside.

Walking past the stationery shop where I love spending time (and money)…

… we arrive at the second yarn shop – Dol op Wol.

Oooh, look at that! All those gorgeous blues and greens in an oh-so-soft blend of cotton, wool and cashmere. Yum!

But I already have so many other knitting plans. Still in frugal-and-prudent mode I file the yarn away in my memory, perhaps to take another look at later.

Well, time is up. I hope you’ve enjoyed our stroll. xxx