HF Plissé

Thanks for letting me join the KAL! Is anyone still working on Plissé? I started a year ago and gave up, but now I'm game again and I'm working on the front. I'm hoping to find a spreadsheet, because I'm working in the chocolate and can't see a thing! If not, I guess I will have to graph it myself, but I sure hope not to have to reinvent the wheel.

Blues instructions

Well, I'm working along on Blues and mostly it's going fine. I solved my yarn problem from the previous post and to my great surprise, I have a second yarn which fits nicely into the pattern. However, the line which says 'decrease alternately on the 7th & 8th stripe' leaves me confused. So I'm decreasing every 7th stripe by 2 stitches. The rest doesn't make sense. Does anybody have other suggestions for me?

gauge on Blues

I received Blues a few weeks ago and was horrified at my colour choice. I'm trying to solve it, but don't yet know how I will do it. Among other things I'm swatching the base colour with a strand of silk that goes very well. But I certainly don't get gauge. Is 60 stitches to 10 cm really possible? I'm even working on 2mm needles. Does anyone have a comment or suggestion?
Gillian

Hi! Thanks for letting me join in your KAL. I have just recently freed Mermaid from exile island and am ready to tackle the second half of the body. I was discouraged by the instructions that read to just reverse the instructions for the second half. And if that wasn't bad enough, I also just purchased the Diva kit (forgetting how disillusioned I am by the instructions!). It's a good thing that I love the designs.

Tina in Houston

Harmony Sweater

Has anyone knitted the Harmony Sweater? This is the first H.F. item that the directions seem confusing to me. I have knitted Tokyo and Stella without any problem.

Momaphyllis

Blues

Can someone who has the Blues kit, or has completed it, please tell me how much of each color was included in the kit? There seem to be both 2 color and 4 color versions. I'm interested in the info for either or both.

Thanks

Jazz sweater is done! I needed to redo the bottoms of the sleeves with a slightly smaller needle, as they seemed too long and too wide. I am very pleased with how it came out.

Blues

I'm looking for a copy of Blues (in English or that you can translate into English) that you'd like to trade for a different Hanne pattern that I have. Anyone get it for Xmas and finish it already? Trading patterns is perfectly legal, by the way before someone jumps on this and talks about stealing. Early on someone from Hanne's organization had a post confirming this, by the way.

If anyone is interested, please contact me off-line at elweyu@hotmail.com

Thanks and everyone's projects look fabulous. I've just finished Gloria and I love the way it came out. If I ever get a camera ...

Ballerina Done

I have finally finished my Ballerina. I had to do some steeking to adjust the size. I also added and applied i-Cord around the edge. I enjoyed knitting this wonderful design but am glad it is done and ready to wear.

La Strada

HI All

I've just joined your group and am looking forward to see what everyone is working on. I got 2 kits for Christmas, La Strada and Gloria. I cast on La Strada the other day and can see that this will take a whild, but it will be gorgeous!

Karin

Mermaid Shawl Collar

I was asked (quite a long time ago, I'm sorry!) for how I did my Mermaid collar. Here is as best as I can remember. Ask if you have questions.

I did the provisional cast on for the sweater at the Color A stripe AFTER the decrease for the shoulder (23 sts for size medium.) I started knitting on the right side so it matched up on the other end of the sweater. I then knit the sweater to just before you cast on the stitches for the other shoulder. Pin or sew the shoulders together at this point. I picked up the stitches across the back neck (46 for a medium) and knit both sides at the same time. That eliminated the back neck seam.



I don't have exact information on how I did the shawl collar as it is in the hands of its intended victim so I can't look at it to reconstruct my method. I placed markers on both sides as deep as I wanted the collar. I started on the center 80-90 stitches and started doing short rows until all of the stitches between the markers were used up. That gave me a collar about 7 inches deep at the widest.

MiMi, part two

Hi All,

I'm just about to frog part of this again... for the 3rd time. I've gotten myself hung up on these dratted texture stripes. Reading the swatch instructions, it gives an indication that 16 texture stripes gives more or less the 10 cm, and that the 16 texture stripes should be 48 rows.

But then below, it says that a texture stripe is seen as three rows knit and three rows purl.

Long story short -- I'd come to the second row of decreases, looked at the completed work, and thought.. that's way too small. So I ripped it out with the idea that a texture stripe should be 6 rows, and I'm almost back up to the 13 texture stripes. But at this point, I've nearly reached 16 cm... which is way too large. Then I looked at the actual dimensions of the finished garment, and realized I was right the first time.

Considering it takes me nearly 20 minutes to knit one of the rows (before any decreases occur), I'm seriously considering stuffing this thing in the closet and leaving it there for awhile.
-- Laurie

MiMi

Hi All,

No pictures yet, but I wanted to ask some advice. I just bought this for my daughter after seeing the sample hanging on the rack and handed over my credit card without looking at the kit.

My daughter is definitely a plus size, and the kit only comes in small or medium/large. I've taken the needle size up to US #6, and added an additional 35 stitches.

So far, I've completed 8 t-stripes, or 24 rows of pattern. The weave is coming out slightly looser than I remember from the sample, but that's okay. But I just wondered if anybody else had tried to enlarge a pattern, and what kind of results they were having. -- Cheers, Laurie

Blues finished

I have finally finished my Blues.
It was easy to knit when I figured out the instructions.

Unfortunately I mixed up two colors while watching TV. But as my dear husband said then it will be unique!

I made the M/L size and I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Ballerina

After on and off knitting, I am almost done with knitting Ballerina.  I decided to alter the edges of the pattern and finish it with a 3 stitch applied i-cord.  I first noticed this idea on the Raineysisters blog.  My problem is this.  I only have part of a ball of black yarn left.  I know I will need more to complete this design.  My kit was the black and sage green design.  I have a full ball of the sage green left and am asking if anyone has an extra black ball.  I would be happy to trade.  I made the small which is why I thought there would be more than enough black to apply the i-cord edge.  I will post some photos if and when I am able to complete the jacket.  Thanks, Jane

Gloria

I am currently knitting Gloria. It's moving along fairly well but one of the things I wish the pattern had was finished measurements shown at various points on the pattern schematic. Given that this pattern, like all of Hanne's patterns, has a very unusual engineering design (which is part of the appeal to me) it is very important to know that you are not way off on the sizing, and also, to make sure that you don't want to adjust the pattern slightly (several people have complained about the size of armholes or amount of material at the armholes on several designs). Even if your swatch before starting, even a very small difference can telescope into a large one when you are talking about a row with 4 or 5 hundred stitches, especially when the garment is curved like Gloria is.

I would like to contact Hanne and ask her for measurements for Gloria and suggest that she add that to her schematics, but I could not find a contact address on her website. Does anyone have one for her?

I would have loved the same sort of info when I knit Studio Long and Mermaid, by the way.

For those knitting Blues. How is it going? Any major bumps in the road on those instructions?

Knitting the Blues

I've bought Hanne Falkenbergs new kit, Blues, and like Suzy, I think it's lovely to knit. The yarn is half cotton and half lambswool and is knitted on 3 mm needles.

If it's a vest, a short-sleeved jacket or cardigan, I don't know. I bought the kit at Sommerfuglen in Copenhagen. They had one I could try on and I felt very comfortable in it.

Progress on Jazz

I completed the gauge swatch - it was a little off - too many stitches/rows - on the 2nd needle size, but the difference will make it a hair smaller, which will be fine.

This garment is knitted starting at one sleeve, across the body, ending with the other sleeve. So I have cast on, knitted up the sleeve, and have cast on the additional stitches for the body. I have a plane flight ahead of me, so I am hoping for a lot of progress over the weekend.

Blues Kit

For my hols, I have just bought the new Hanne kit in no. 1 colourway (4 colours). I have only just started it but the yarn is lovely to use; lambswool and cotton. I'll keep you posted as to the progress which hopefully will not take too long as it is sleeveless.

Suz

knitting_craze

Hi Becky,

Thanks for your invitation. I'm new to the blogging world (other than checking my niece's knitting blogs, so forgive if I'm not correct.

I started the Gloria sweater, got freaked out and set it aside. Tuesday night I went to the knitting guild meeting, talked to a couple of knitters and decided I was reading too much into the pattern. In other words, second guessing myself. I'm just at the beginning, so if you have any words of wisdom, I'd appreciate it. I love the way the colors work together. 

Marilyn

knitting_craze

DaCapo Finished!

Hello everyone. After three years of knitting my DaCapo, I have finally finished. Its been a journey, albeit, one with a satisfying ending. I just bought a Jamieson and Smith colour card and am debating a second sweater. I feel like a pro now.
Here is the story of my finish.

Help on choosing next project

I am more than halfway through Dacapo and in love with Falkenberg. I have been looking at other kits and have several questions. I am a hefty hourglass figure----I usually like swing jackets. I have been looking at Mermaid, Ballerina, and Gloria.

Mermaid and Ballerina seem to have some characteristics in common although Mermaid seems more fitted. Has anyone done both and have opinions on the pros and cons of each of them? Also, on cucumberpatch.co.uk for several of the projects it describes the yarn as 2 ply but knit as 4 ply. Does this mean the projects are knit with two strands? Looking at ravelry for these projects there seems to be a wide range of needle sizes used and i haven't been able to figure out if it is one strand or two of yarn.

I actually like small needles and fine gauge and have been quite happy with Dacapo, although I could see that for larger projects, one might want the fabric to have more heft.

Finally, I am not sure I have gotten the tension right on the self icord on my Dacapo--esp in the striped section. I was so worried that it would be too loose that I fear that I may have knit it too tightly. It does not pull, but it is considerably less stretchy than the rest of the fabric. I have not finished putting it together or blocking so that might change as well.

Thanks for any help.
Sandy

Mermaid #4

I started the body after the collar decrease with a provisional cast-on. I knit the rest of the body until the same place (I can check later and tell you precisely the start if anyone needs it) then picked up the stitches along the neck (instead of sewing the collar on later) and then picked up the front stitches from the provisional cast-on.

As you can see, I revised the collar as well, because I've not been happy with the collars, they tend to flip up instead of staying flat. So I went into SweaterWizard and used the information from that program to make a shawl collar. I knew I had more than enough yarn from the kit to do this.

Another long car trip provided the time/inclination/whatever to do the i-cord edging. (I hate i-cord, I really do!)

I just popped this in the mail for the Intended Victim (she is going to have to sew in the arms and the shoulder seams -- I was going to do it for her and realized that all of my pins are packed for moving.) This is Color #5, kingfisher, cypress and black.

Knitting Jazz Design

Hi Hanne Fans-

I am new to the blog, having just purchased my first kit, the Jazz sweater. I haven't seen that many posts about Jazz, so I thought I'd introduce myself and bring other Jazz knitters out of the woodwork.

Status on the sweater: I started swatching with a 3.0mm needle last week, and the gauge was off, so now I'm going to try a 3.5mm (US 4), but haven't started that swatch yet.

Cheers-
Tracy Hoover (aka Gamba Girl)

Another Studio Long Questions from New Member

Hello all,

I am knitting my first H.Falkenberg...and I seem to a a little stuck. Would anyone be able to help me? Many thanks in advance in any case.

I am joining triangle Z to the side panel. I have slipped the small triangle stitches over the the main needle.The instructions say: With B beg at (1) from RS; k1, sl2 B(=the 3 edge-sts), sl 2 knitwise, k1 etc

confusion: what does sl2 B mean?

I don't want to move forward on this sweater until I resolve this latest challenge.

Thank you.

Cate in California

Studio Long Question

I am confused about the ridge count. When you divide the work for the neck, you have done 72, 78, 81 or 87 ridges. In all cases they are a multiple of 3 and so I understood that you ended with 2 A ridges and started the neck divide with a B ridge. Is that correct or should I have ended with 1 A ridge and started the neck divide with the second A ridge?

Then you do either 22 or 25 ridges from the split. The last ridge would then be a B ridge if you started with a B ridge, but the instructions indicate that you are ending with 2 A ridges. The only thing I can think of is that the cast on and first row (in A) count as the first ridge and so when you split for the neck you end with the first ridge in A and the first split row is the second A ridge? IS that right?

When you knit together the back piece and the front piece stitches are you knitting together a B ridge, a first A ridge, or a second A ridge? I guess that is the most important question I have.

Gloria jacket

I am working on the Gloria jacket and am excited to see it start to take shape. The directions are not so clear...but I think I am managing. Is anyone else working on the Gloria?

Ping Pong

Greetings, I'm new to this blog but relatively 'old' with Hanne Falkenberg.
I've make two mermaid jackets - the second using a Rowan yarn with exactly the same weight as that provided in the kit, I just picked out my own colors.
I'm currently completing the Ping Pong jacket, sans bobbles. I loved the shape of the jacket, but the bobbles are huge, and after testing them on a swatch, I decided that one wouldn't want to sit down wearing a garment with that many lumps on it. (And the possibility of looking something like a colorful Michelin Man, did not appeal.)
Regarding the HF patterns, I've often wondered whether there is a site that lists corrections to pattern errors - it has there never been such a case?

Plisse Along

A group of us on the Hanne Falkenberg board on Ravelry have decided to start Plisse on July 1. That gives us time to get the kits, start our swatches and...

Some of us plan to write about it here as well as on Ravelry. But we are hoping that interested people will join in on either or both places.

I'm waiting on the current Mermaid for correct sleeve length of the intended victim. I love knitting her pattern!

Gloria

I'm very pleased with the way my Gloria turned out. I'm a size 12 U.S. and made the M/L size. The style is sort of long in the back, but just right in front.

I need to get a picture of her on a body,but in the meantime, here she is. I've worn her pinned and unpinned and like her both ways, but I have this idea to put in a hidden hook and eye (one like they use on fur coats - heavy and wrapped in silk) to bring the two front sides together with the lapel turned back all the way down the front. I think she's going to look terrific that way! I know wrapped styles are supposed to be slimming, but she just feels unnecessarily bulky over my already bulkiest part when wrapped! (She looks just fine unfastened.)

My one big suggestion is to use a sewn bind-off. I almost didn't until I realized that I could use spit-splices to avoid the lumpiness my normal technique for joining in (two stitches with both the new and the old strand) would cause. It worked beautifully. The edge is totally stretchy and looks more like a cast-on edge than a bound off edge. I am totally incapable of binding off without the edge getting too tight, so this was a real breakthrough!

Oh yeah, my other big suggestion is to use spit splices all the way through. Duh. They work great with this yarn, and I would have avoided what seemed like hours of end-weaving!

JudiP53 (same ID on Ravelry, where there's a little more detail)

Addendum: Commenters asked about the spit splice and the sewn bind-off. I only used the spit splice during the bind-off, which is done all in one color. To do it, just lick your palms, then place the ends (helps if they were pulled to break instead of cut with scissors) overlapping between your hands and rub fast to create heat and friction. Add spit if needed and keep rubbing until both ends are nicely incorporated into the strand. Virtually invisible and absolutely no ends to weave in. Just wish I'd thought of doing it during the knitting of the rest of the sweater. I had to do LOTS of end weaving! The splice only works when joining the same color. There will still be the need to weave in ends where new colors are joined at the selvedges.

As to the comment about the yarn getting too worn with the sewn bind-off, I didn't have that problem at all. I avoided it by only working with a modest length of yarn, spit splicing as needed to go around that long, long, long stretch of collar, fronts and bottom. I used a double-strand to bind off (the solid band around the edge is knitted with a double strand of yarn) and I did make a point not to splice both strands in the same place. It worked great -- looks fantastic and I feel confident no excessive wear and tear on the yarn.

Be sure to check the comments for a description and link to a blog with more description and photos of Hanne's visit to a Dutch yarn shop. Sounds like she charmed everyone!

Plisse

Hi All

This is my first time posting. I am having trouble with an instruction on this one and wondered if somebody could help?

Thanks

Suz