VIking Sweater

The boat has sailed! Off to explore new lands and bring back great riches, the Viking Boat sweater is now keeping me warm thru chilly nights and grand adventures.

It began as a simple idea, I was inspired by Betsala's project on Ravelry, a brilliant take on an oversized drop sleeve sweater. I picked up large quantities of Imperial Ranch yarn on sale, one skein goes a long way and I got several! As always, I needed to change every last thing about the design, I never follow patterns! I have grown fond of yoked increases, so I spotted a nice chart for my fingering yarn. (in Norwegian of course, no matter for the chart tho.)



I ended up re-doing the chart, simple because the "x" in a grid is hell on the eyes after a short while! The chart itself was not difficult to follow, but very time consuming, and it needed plenty of table space! Each round on the sweater involved doing four passes of the chart, back and forth for the mirroring. The upside is that a pictorial chart like this makes it very easy to see if you're doing it right!

Beneath the main chart I went back into the red and black. I wanted something suitably scandinavian, but also badass - the Deathflake was the answer! I altered the skull to look like a dragon's head so there weren't too many conflicting motifs.

Below that I did two repeats of Furthak runes, charted myself. They are all straight lines, so it's not that hard!

As for the sleeves (It's soooo sad to get to the bottom of the body and realize, with horror, that the sleeves are yet to come. *sigh*) I decided to go with the traditional "lice pattern". Sounds tasty? I'm guessing that's why many fiber people just call it a Setesdal. It's nice and simple, but still involves the stranded carry, for extra warmth.

The bottom of the sleeves and body had a basic colorwork pattern from the Setesdal Sweater book I picked up in Norway.

In traditional style the sweater was steeked. In non-traditional style I put in a zipper instead of fussing with a button band. It was sewn in by machine and simply tacked down without a covering ribbon.

Then I tested it out by going in to the high mountains and drinking, just like a Norsewoman.

But wait, there's more! (Yarn, that is. I told you, these skeins are huuuge!) I was digging the red and black, and I do enjoy colorwork. It's super warm and sturdy. I pulled up ye olde Deathflake, and found a chart for some mittens. As I cannot stand to simple knit a pattern straight thru (see above), and Mr. Crafty prefers gloves, I gave them a split finger. Perfect for cycling in the cold!

What did you make this summer for the cold season? I, for one, am delighted for Skadi's return!