Swedish Stash

Please reassure me that I'm not the only knitter who's planned to get a couple of balls of souvenir yarn, and then come back with slightly more than planned?  Yeah, that.

The first place we visited was Litet Nystan, Sankt Paulsgatan 20  (No photo as it was behind scaffolding).  Of course, I forgot to write down which number of the road the shop was located at, so we did a bit of going up and down.  Once I saw a yarn bombed tree, I knew I was going in the right direction.

Loved this shop.  Quite a lot of cotton, some Italian made sock yarn and lots of stuff with no labels - which I found quite exciting.  I got this:

I did think about getting a second ball, but I couldn't assume that they were both of the same dye lots.  I could have bought more, but the husband was with me, and was already questioning what I was going to use the one skein for. 

The next shop we looked for was Sticka & Virka which has now closed (although the website has only just updated to confirm that). We spent some time going up and down the street to make sure. 

The next lot of yarn was the linen yarn I bought at the Nordic Museum (Yes, they sell knitting yarn in the museum shop). One hundred percent linen yarn,which I've never knitted with before.

Then, on the last day, I went yarn shopping on my own.  Again, I couldn't find Anntorps Vav - I suspect that it's shut down and is internet only.  Gamla Stan (Old Town), the part of Stockholm where it is/was located is beautiful and I wish I had time to look round more.
And you know what, I was!


The thing I love about Stockholm is the way the signs show you which block you're on. So, if you're looking for Ljungqvist Garn, Odenplan on Karlbergsvägen 10, then you know you're getting close:

And do you know what ?  I was. 

And in the absence of my husband, I may have lost a little control - to the point that the lady behind the counter asked if I needed a basket, as I was dropping stuff all over the floor.  (I only went in for enough for one project). 

First, I wanted something for the Easy as Pie shawl from Ravelry.  (There were others,but they needed longer lengths of yarn).  So I got this one from Marks and Kattens:

Marks and Kattens Fame

It was available in purple, but as I'm trying to expand the colours in my stash, I went for the grey and black.

Then was the sock yarn I saw, and bought for my husband. I keep telling him I'm going to knit him something.  He wants a dark red jumper, which I've promised him at some point.  I thought the dark red and black sock yarn would be a good start for a pair of socks for him.


Finally (and trust me, I could have bought the same again), was this, which I loved because of the colour.  There is a cuff-down sock pattern on the inside of the yarn band, which I may not use for knitting - but may use to help with learning Swedish.

The final yarn I bought, I bought because I loved, loved, loved the colours.  No idea what I want to knit with it, possibly another shawl/wrap or socks.  (There are apparently 12 projects on Ravelry, so not a lot of inspiration there, at the moment)

The colours in the yarn bring to mind the yellow and blue in the Swedish flag, which feels kind of appropriate for souvenir yarn. 

What's your favourite souvenir yarn, and what did you knit it into ? 

The Frances sampler scarf

This came about after going through my stitch dictionary and realising that there were several patterns which could be worked over 35 stitches.  As a learning exercise, I'd recommend it, but as a knitting project there's still a lot I need to learn!

I started by trying to work out which stitches would go best together, have a similar drape etc.  Then I tried to work out the length of yarn needed.  I did this by knitting a set number of rows in garter stitch, measuring the amount of yarn used, and worked out how many rows I could do with the yarn I had. Note - this isn't a method which works!

NB - all photos taken before blocking.

I still have a lot to learn, like the fact that different stitches take up a different breadth of the scarf:

Ooops! 

I started with ribbed border stitch, worked over a two row repeat.  Loved it as a stitch pattern, but it has a clear front and back - which I don't like for scarves.  (I like my scarves to be the same back and front).  The problem was, I couldn't work out which was supposed to be the front, and which was supposed to be the back.  

My least favourite side:

ribbed border stitch

My favourite side:

ribbed border stitch

Close up of the crossed stitch pattern:

ribbed border stitch

I'd probably use this one again, but on a jumper or other piece of clothing.  Not sure it's stretchy enough for a ribbed edging, but it looks pretty and is easy to knit.

Next were the open striped rows, again worked over a two row pattern.

Open striped rows

I think I changed this from a stockingette stitch pattern, to a garter stitch pattern to make the fabric lie flat.  Again, liked the pattern, would use it for a scarf or something similar for future patterns.

After that were the open worked squares, in both stockingette stitch and garter stitch - to stop the scarf rolling up too much.  This was worked over a ten row pattern.  Interestingly, the garter stitch squares were much shorter than the stockingette stitch (which was how the pattern was written).

Open work squares - stockingette at the bottom and top, garter in the middle.

I think the pattern needs to be worked at a tighter gauge than the one I used.  The pattern doesn't work  as well in garter stitch and I wouldn't use it in stockingette stitch for a scarf.  I like the look of the pattern, but am unlikely to use it again, as I don't know where I would use it.

Then came the crossed cardigan stitch

Crossed cardigan stitch

I liked this one - worked over one row, so the same back and front.  It looked like ribs, but wasn't.  It was much thinner across the width of the scarf, so if I were making a scarf with this stitch again, I'd probably need more stitches on the needle.  I'd also use this for sweaters or other clothing. 

Then, my second favourite stitch - eyelet mesh, worked over four rows. 

Eyelet mesh

The only downside is that the front is not the same as the back (one side is flatter than the other), so not one I'd choose for a scarf again.  I don't know about using it for other clothing, as I don't know how much it would stretch after being worn and washed a few times.  No point having a sweater which sags and looks like a tent after knitting, is there?


Then, my favourite, just because I thought it looked so pretty - Turkish stitch.

Turkish stitch

Again, this was worked over one row, with an odd number of stitches: k1 *YO, k2tog - repeat from * to end of row.  The YO K2tog combo felt a bit hard going at times, and didn't do my wrists any favours.  I'm sure there are other variations which could be made: moss stitch border, slip the first stitch rather than knit it, cast on an even number of stitches and knit both the first and last stitches.....

After the above pattern, I then reversed it and went back through eyelet mesh, crossed cardigan stitch, open worked squares, open striped rows etc.  Only, I ended up with this much yarn left for about thirty or so rows.  Now maths isn't my greatest strength, but....

Overall, as an exercise I was glad I did it.  I discovered some stitch patterns which I'd use again, I've discovered that guessing the yarn length needed isn't really the most exact way of doing it.  I almost managed to join in My Sister's Knitter  stash down knitalong, but just flunked the deadline.  I've got a vague idea about how to write a pattern, albeit a scarf pattern.  I'd recommend it to others, and would do it myself again.

Reader, I frogged it.