Corrugated – new pattern

From time to time I get obsessed with mittens. My absolute favourite material for comfy and just toasty enough mittens is Léttlopi. You might find it odd to publish a new mitten pattern in the middle of summer… but this is done in the spirit of the late great Elizabeth Zimmermann who strongly recommended knitting mittens well before winter – that way the knitter would have patience to knit them long enough. I agree! Mittens are also a great gift, so I knit several pairs every year and store them in my gift drawer.

Corrugated is a design from a few years back – the pattern premiered this spring when the participants of Mohonk Mountain house knitting weekend got them in their goodie bag.

The Estonian cast-on makes for an interesting start, I love the unusual colorwork… and I’m obsessed with the lifeline thumb!

Now the pattern is available on Ravelry. Enjoy!

Iðunn revisited

After waking up last January I’ve been busy with some knitting related projects. One item on my LOOOONG time to-do list… which I’m also inclined to cal ta-da! list (heard that somewhere… sounds so much better), has been to publish my beloved Iðunn sweater on Ravelry in Icelandic. And finally here it is!

The original version was published by Knitty in the 2012 winter issue, and of course the English version is still available there.

What I love about Iðunn is that it incorporates so many of my little tricks that make the classic Icelandic lopi-sweater fit so much better on all sorts of bodies. The placement of the yoke pattern is key, there are short rows in the back, the waist is fitted and body tapered in a flattering A-line, and the pattern comes with a sleeve option with shaped elbows… you know, elbows get holes, so shaping with short rows gives more fabric just where it’s needed.

A return to the needles

Hey people! After a hiatus that lasted way too long I’m back knitting. Inspired after what I can only describe as a knitting burnout.

This fall I moved to the Westfjords of Iceland and the nature all around me is so insanely beautiful that it’s impossible not to knit. Mark my words!

The photos are my recent knits. Two tiny sweaters for my little maltese Mosi, and a very unexpected freestyle yoke sweater in all kinds of soft yarn, along with a bit of hand spun, insanely soft, white cormo I found in my stash (something I spun around 5 years ago and in fact found too fancy to use for anything). My youngest granddaughter Freyja (yes like my sweater) got the sweater and I’m waiting for some photos of the little person wearing it! I’m working on a second version now and just might whip up a pattern/description for adventurous knitters out there looking for stash-busting projects.

I know how many knitters have been searching high and low for my Óðinn and Loki patterns… my Ravelry links were broken and my online knitstuff a total mess. A while back I felt so bad about it I decided to send the patterns for free to around 100 knitters who had contacted me by email. I’m working on fixing these issues to make the patterns available online again.

My classes

Hello darlings! I’ve just updated my class catalogue. Click here to have a look 🙂 Please send class inquiries to raggaknits@gmail.com This summer I’ll be staying in Amsterdam quite a bit, teaching at Penelope Craft Boutique, and in other awesome places in the area. Keep checking in for more class dates and location. Oh, and remember the Unwind festival in Brighton on July 12-13 this summer. I’ll also be there. Whoop!

Unwind Brighton

This July I’ll be teaching at a super exciting event in Brighton UK, Unwind is the name. It will be packed with amazing teachers from North America and EU. I’ll teach my Lopapeysa knitting classes, steeking of course and speak on Icelandic knitting and vikings and wool and sheep and midnight sun. Whoop!

Knit to the music – photography

The project is still going on. Now we are preparing the patterns and finalising the book. Pre orders will be available in July. Whoop! Our amazing photographer Baldur Kristjánsson has a few behind the scenes photos up on his site. Take a look!

More ink

One of the international superfriends, Cirilia Rose, lives in Seattle and knows EVERYTHING about ALL the best stuff the city has to offer. Needless to say I’m totally hooked on Seattle after staying there for VKL and with Cirilia the following week.

One of the things I did in Seattle was having my upper arm lady tattoo coloured in by the very talented artist Electric Alivia. And yes she’s super into Wonder Woman and taxidermy and other cool stuff. The result is SO BEAUTIFUL and I couldn’t be any happier with my goddess lady 🙂 If you like ink and are in Seattle you should definitely look her up. The studio she works at is also very nice, Artful Dodger Tattoo and Comics. Check it yo!