New blog

I joined this group yesterday and am working on Decapo. I finally got a chance to start my blog. . Please stop by and check out it out. I would love to hear from you. I you would like me to add your blog to my daily reads please post a comment.

Veloknitter

Promenade

Hi!! Shyly stepping up to say hello.

I bought my first-ever Hanne design from eBay. The Promenade shawl in colorway #5, I believe. I'm terrified, but excited. Of course, I have 2 things on the needles I have to finish, and a vest I've been promising my husband for... oh... coming on 2 years now that must be completed before I can begin. But then... off I go!!

Has anyone knit this pattern before and have any advice? I was surprised at how kind of bare-bones the pattern was. I think I'll have to do some re-writing and printing in color (all those symbols give me a headache,) so that it's easier to follow.

Are there errata anywhere, or are her patterns pretty spot-on?

Thanks everyone, all your mermaids are STUNNING and I am wanting to knit one... but I fell in love with Promenade at Stitches West and heard it calling my name...

Margo "Beanmama" in California
http://www.xanga.com/beanmama

New Hanne design

Have you seen it? There's a new Hanne pattern: Tivoli

Mermaid Spreadsheet update

I've updated the Mermaid spreadsheet to fix a few things I found during my knitting (I'm just past the center back, but I'll post that progress later). I also charted out the sleeves after a few requests from those of you who are ahead of me. Again, the usual warning that I have not knit it yet!

If I sent you the Excel or PDF version in the past, I've sent you an update. If you didn't receive it, please e-mail me.

If you're new to the group and would like a copy of the spreadsheet, send me an e-mail with the link above. I'll reply with a challenge question to verify that you own the pattern. When you answer that, I'll e-mail the spreadsheet in whichever format you prefer. Please note, I've only charted out size Medium.

All Hail Amy...

... Goddess of the Spreadsheet!
What an impressive 25 pages I just printed out, I can't thank you enough. It must have been an amazing amount of work!

Can't wait...

to start Mermaid! I was nervous about attempting it, but finding this blog made me feel like I could do it, with ya'll's help. My kit arrived (from Cucumberpatch online) in color 5 - black, grey-green & blue. I've read through the directions, and am trying to remain calm! As soon as I finish my Olympic Knitting (currently soaking before blocking) then I'm going to start.
Thanks to everyone's inspiring posts & pics!

Week 2 of Mermaid Knitting

I haven't had a chance to update my blog yet with pictures of Mermaid, but I wanted to share this photo with you-all first.

Week 2 of knitting Mermaid, and I'm still loving it! Of course, I don't know where I'd be without Amy's spreadsheet. I can't emphasize enough how helpful it is to have the knitting broken down into a row-by-row format.

Last night I finished the back gusset. I think that makes me half finished with the body. It seems huge to me, but I keep reminding myself that it starts at the front and works around to the the other front. And by the way, I'm knitting the size medium.

Hi, Everyone and...break it to me gently......

Hi, Everyone!

My name is Jeannine from Southern California and I'm really glad that I found this group. I LOVE the Hanne Falkenberg designs, but am very, very intimidated about even thinking about knitting one of her designs. With that said, I cannot stop thinking about it. I keep coming back to the website, doing searches for photos of finished pieces and I am obsessed. What I really want to know is: What level of knitter *should* one be to tackle a Hanne? I know anyone can try, but I am afraid of starting and being so overwhelmed, that I never finish it. How bad is it, really? I am not a beginner-beginner, but I am not advanced, either. Right in the middle. Also, I am loving the Diva design, but it seems like Mermaid is most popular. I probably should start the design that everyone else is making, then I can have lots of help. Hmmm......don't I sound obsessed?? I love all the posts and photos on this site. I am amazed at all the beautiful work here. It gives me a glimmer of hope that one day I, too, will have a Hanne on my back!

I finished Ballerina!

Ballerina in colourway 15 tomato-poppy-cyclamen-fuchsia. More photos here.

Studio sweater pattern

Hi!

I'm so excited. I ordered my first HF sweater kit, Studio-short in Lagoon and Sea Blue. Has anyone made this sweater before? I'm just curious as how the diagonal stripes are done. I'm thinking somehow it's knit diagonally.

Once I get it and get started, I'll post some pictures.

Tried it on!

One of the vendors at Stitches West had a finished Mermaid in size large in the booth. I tried it on and am glad I'm making the medium. I'm also reassured that my gauge is good. The drape of the fabric is the same. I was a little worried after handling the sample of Diva which seemed to be a tighter fabric.

More reports later.

New Knitter Questions

I am a beginning knitter, but never being afraid of a challenge, I am doing the Mermaid sweater. I saw it in a knitting store when I went to the store with a friend who is a knitter. It inspired me to finish a sweater I started 15 years ago and take on the Mermaid as my next project.

I am at the point where the stripes start. I don't understand the directions for:
Change to B: Pick up B inside and under A and place it on your finger.
Change to A: Pick up A outside and over B and place it on your finger.

Where is the inside and where is the outside?

Thanks for all your help. Especially thanks to Amy for the spreadsheet. I started modifying it last night to work for the large size and several things make more sense now.

Sabrina

Mermaid progress and cast-on tip

Here's what my Mermaid looks like now:


Seeing as I'm just past the armhole, I have a tip for casting on those stitches...

The pattern suggests you use a double strand on your thumb and a single strand on your index finger for a long-tail cast-on. I found a technique I liked a lot. I wound off a long piece of color C from the outside of the ball. I doubled it and tied a slip knot at the fold. I inserted this slip-knot between the last two stitches on my right needle. Then I used both tails from the slip knot on my thumb and the working yarn from the right needle on my index finger and cast on my stitches, remembering that my slip-knot was the first one. At the end, your working yarn is exactly where you want it to be to knit the RS row.

Update: I also collected all of my notes and tips for this project together on my Project Notes page for it. Includes description (and sample image) of the spreadsheet, discussion of my i-cord experiments, and the new tip above so far.

Substitute Yarns

Thanks for all the suggestions on the substitute yarns. I was able to compare the Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift and the yarn from a Vivian Hoxbro kit at my LYS. The Jamiesons looks identical but feels slightly heavier. The Vivian Hoxbro felt and looked pretty much the same. Thanks for all the tips I will be able to make one in the colors of my choice when this one is finished. I am taking an Olympic knitting break from Mermaid. It was my original project but I couldn't wait till the opening ceremony to cast on. I am on the forst gusset beyond the back 1/2 way point. The next one will be much easier!

I'm off and running...

Here's my Mermaid progress:



I've since finished the 2nd gusset and am about to do the armhole stripes. The spreadsheet is working great. I'll be making a few updates to it soon. If I've sent it to you before, keep an eye on your e-mail.

Hanne Yarn Substitutions

I am seriously thinking about making another Mermaid. Do any of you know of a substitute yarn? I went to the Hanne website and it appears that the yarn is only sold in kits. I can buy yarn based on the gauge but have no idea how much to get. I know how many balls I got with my kit but didn't weigh the balls to even begin to figure the yardage. Anyone have thoughts?

My Finished Mermaid!

Mermaid is complete! This is in colourway 5: black / grey / kingfisher. And it turned out beautifully, although I had issues with the applied icord on the sleeves. Which were too long and need to be hemmed anyways, to account for my stubby little arms.

More pics here. Best of luck to everyone else working on these fabulous patterns. I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the other kits work out so I can start thinking about my next Hanne project...

Hanne Falkenberg Knitalong

Hanne Falkenberg Knitalong
Just a note to the other knitters who haven't made it to the center gusset on the back. It is not the same color as the gussets on the bottom of the sweater. I made a trip to the frog pond this weekend after not carefully reading the pattern and using the wrong color yarn.
Holly in CT

pagode beginnings

I'm very impressed with you all knitting Mermaids. That appears to be one complex pattern, at least to me who is at a usually-knits-socks knitting skill level. I'm glad my project is Pagode, the mitered design with minimal shaping. I have cast on a gazillion stitches (actually 450 430 stitches) and have begun. It took me 30 minutes of steady knitting to knit one row. Gaack! At least it is pretty mindless knitting, all garter, decreases at the markers.

More is posted on my blog here, including pictures of my gauge swatches (how exciting!) and a lovely addi turbo with only 1 and half rows knit in main color A (blue) barely visible
trish
www.randomthreads.com

Explorations with i-cord for Mermaid

After all the discussions about the i-cord, I decided to give the different options a try and see what I liked best. In my book, Holly's suggestion of provisional cast-on followed by i-cord bind-off (especially when started at the collar and worked toward the hem) was the clear winner.

I also did a little practice swatch of the collar and hem edge techniques to understand what is going on.

There are photos of all of it and more commentary on my blog. click here.

Ta-da!

My Mermaid is done! And it actually turned out fairly well - a first for me in the sweater-knitting arena.

Pictures on my blog.