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KNITTING IN ICELAND (PART 2) TIPS AND TRICKS By: Carolyn Hanson Carolyn Hanson is a local knitting and crochet designer, teacher and fiber artist. She can be contacted at cchanson3@gmail.com . Welcome back. As promised, here are my tips and tricks for knitting an Icelandic sweater. There were so many beautiful designs to choose from I had a hard time settling on one design. I wanted something traditional yet modern. I chose a zippered cardigan using a 22” separating zipper in a sport weight. For ease of doing color work on the yoke, both Icelandic pullovers and cardigans are knit in the round. The difference is that for a cardigan, there are extra stitches added to the center front and later used as a guideline for cutting open the cardigan. Yes, CUTTING. This process is called steeking. It seems a bit scary to take a scis- sor to your finish sweater, but was simple and worked out just as expected. Here goes. This sweater knit up so fast. I was finished in less than a week. I used 2 strands of Ptolopi (Lopi Lite) on size 10 needles. The free pattern, called Hela, is available on the Lopi site. (www.istex.is/english/free-patterns/). P tolopi is unspun yarn so it pulls apart quite easily, but reattached easily by overlapping the 2 broken ends and rubbing them together in your palms with a few drops of water. The body and sleeves were knit separately in the round and then attached to begin the colorwork design. This design used 2 colors, light gray and dark gray (hard to see in the photo), plus the main color, black. The pattern design is in a grid format. You read the chart from the bottom right starting on row 1 and following the symbols for color changes to the left. Each box represents one stitch. You begin knitting the design (Row 1) at the center front. The 3 colors are carried in the back of your work, mean- ing, you do not cut them as you change color but loosely let them sting along on the wrong side. Keeping the carried yarn loose is important so the color changes do not cause puck- ering on the front design. The design repeats around the yoke until you reach the end of Row 1. Then, follow the color changes on Row 2 of the chart. This continues until the design is complete. The neckband is next. The neckband is knit side to side, not in the round, since it is ribbed and does not need to be steeked. Now the sweater is ready for finishing. First step is to block the sweater. This is done by dipping it in tepid water, squeezing out the excess, no wringing, and then pinning to a blocking board, or a large towel, to the finished measurements. Wool has memory. By pinning it in a certain shape and allowing it to dry it will maintain that shape. Once it’s dry (may take 24 hours), it’s time to steek.Steeking sounds much more frightening than it is as long as you follow the steps. First, use a backstitch to secure the stitching keep- ing in a straight line of either side of the center stitch. This is done for 2 reasons: 1. To keep the stitches from unraveling, and 2. To keep the sweater from stretching when adding the zipper. Next, slide a piece of cardboard between the sweater front and back. This will prevent accidentally cutting into the sweater back. Then with sharp scissors, cut only the sweater front from the bottom through to the neck to open the entire sweater. The next step is to add the separating zipper. Separate the zipper. Starting at the bottom of one side, align the right side of the tape edge of the zipper with the right side of cut edge of the sweater and pin up to the neck. (The zipper teeth are facing the body.) Keep the sweater flat; do not stretch. Fold over any extra length of zipper that extends beyond the top. This can be cut later. Make sure the zipper pull itself is positioned between the neck and bottom edge of the sweater. Using a zipper foot on your machine, stitch the zipper to the sweater about ¼” from the edge. Turn the zipper so the teeth face the center and stitch again through all thicknesses stitching in a straight vertical line on knitting. Repeat on the other side assuring that the design, bottom and top edges align perfectly before stitching begins. Final step is to whip stitch the underarm seams and the neck edge (covering the top of the zipper’s cut edge. Done. If you are ready to try an Icelandic sweater either on your own or in a group, feel free to contact me. When Was the Last Time You Had Your SEPTIC TANK PUMPED? Family Owned & Operated Since 1978 908-204-1951 Cleaning out septic tanks, cesspools, drywells & holding tanks for residential, commercial & industrial properties • Jetting, Camera Inspections, Snaking & all repairs on septic systems B. Horstmann Septic Service LLC. $ 20 www.septictankcleaningnj.com OFF our service Please show coupon for discount. Limit one per customer. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Expires 5/31/17. $