I've done a Norwegian sweater before but it was from a Dale of Norway pattern. It's done in Dale Heilo and wears very well. I was not so keen in doing the Norwegian sweater but now that I'm getting into it I'm getting more excited about knitting this up.
I already had my yarn set aside for such a project. I had scored a deal on Heilo yarn in the colors I've wanted to use in Woodland Woolworks' back stash room so that part was all set. I'm opting to go traditional with the black and white with touches of red for my colors. Lately I've been treasure hunting for designs to use on the sweater. Lizbeth Upitis' Latvian Mittens and Terri Shea's Selbuvotter have been great sources of inspiration. The Dale of Norway sweater for the Lillehammer Olympics gave me an idea of using lozenge panels on the chest panel to frame images that define who I am. There wouldn't be a string of panels like that sweater but panels between lily motifs. It will help make the placement easier.
One thing I learned while doing Dale patterns is that their charts run from one edge of the motif to the middle with the center column worked once. In other words, the knitter starts at the right edge, works right to left to the center column, then works left to right. I liked this and have incorporated this method in how I'm setting up my charts and creating my motifs. I have a feeling that when I do my headband to test the top band of colorwork that it will be so wide it will end up a hat instead. We'll see.
2 comments:
That's a gorgeous sweater! We can easily modify the headband and make it into a hat for those with very tall motifs. We'll also talk about different ways to balance and center the motifs, so your observations about how Dale does this are very interesting.
The Dale chart I have starts on the LEFT side. It is hard to adjust to. I will make some working copies to follow more easily and color them. I like the hat idea as I am considering a tall motif.
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