Monday, May 07, 2007

Meet Henry


There were some preparations to do before I could really cast on for Henry.
(Of course at first I right away had to find the first colour to cast on for the stitches but then when that was done I could calm down and start all over again...)
I read through the pattern several times before I felt comfortable. There were many skeins to be wound into cakes and to be separated into little plastic bags and those bags to be labelled not to get the colours mixed. I copied the chart so that I can colour each row before knitting it and that way get myself prepared for the row and to get to know if there are long floats to deal with. I am not very satisfied with my result of the knitting but I have decided not to start over and over and over again… I know the result will get better with time and practice, but only with time and practise and Henry is a lovely pattern and I rather go on with the chart now.

I sort of could imagine how entertaining fair-isle-knitting would be but I thought that there would be too many worries of getting the stitches look good enough. But this is even better. Right now I’m knitting rows that are very beautiful colour-wise, the names of the colours are “golden plover” and “storm petrel” and I just simply love both of those colours. If you want to you can read about the colour stories in Virtual Yarns site.


My Henry has just barely begun and I’m already thinking next projects. They are all fair-isle.

Right now the few at the top of my list to do would be Rheingold and Glen Albyn, both from the Out of the Blue collection. And Abalone in AS classics. Not to forget few from Collectors Item. Or some Dale designs from the book the Best of Tiur, designs like #9 or #12 or #4.

Fair-Isle sweaters are just the thing for this weather. The cold front has made himself stable over this barren land. The ice lies like a heavy blanket on the water. The sky is overcast. There is still snow left and it is disappearing so slowly. I tried to work outside yesterday but rain and fleet brought me back inside to my Henry.

Other than time spent with Henry I took long walks and shared tasty meals and lovely wine with a good friend over the weekend. Here some pictures from Saturday’s walk. PS. I'm trying hard not to complain about the weather. The truth is I would love to see the sun again.

PS. AS sells kits. Some of the kits come complete with a pattern but for some of the kits you need the actual book.

22 comments:

  1. Gorgeous colours! I hope you'll continue to show us your progress as you knit, Lene.

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  2. Henry is looking quite beautiful, I really love those colours you're using.
    Love the photos also, at first sight you might think..so drab..but even at first glance there's a definite richness to the colours in your landscape that have me completely charmed.

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  3. Anonymous14:15

    Gorgeous! I love your ideas for the next one(s) also. Have you seen Poetry in Stitches? Not as intricate but so pretty all the same.

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  4. He's magnificent with rich colours befitting a King! The knitting looks lovely, very even from here.

    I love your list. Some of those are on mine!

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  5. Anonymous15:16

    You'll see that once the sweater is ready, washed and blocked, the knitting will even itself and all the irregularities that come from a hand-made work will disappear. Henry looks gorgeous already!

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  6. oh the river is so strong and mighty . .. it gives me strength just to look at it. how i would love to stand and feel the vibration of that water rushing by and smell the air kicking up from it. sigh.
    the sweater is looking beautiful; i can't wait to see more.

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  7. Anonymous15:33

    It's going to be FANTASTIC! Have fun!

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  8. Wheee!!! That looks like fun!

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  9. Anonymous16:02

    Beautiful beginning! It is addicting, fair-isle knitting. Fun to see you falling for it too.

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  10. Anonymous16:54

    That's a lot of churning water - the snow must be melting somewhere upstream! Henry looks lovely; I know it will be beautiful!

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  11. Anonymous17:02

    Your local scenery is very similar to parts of northern Saskatchewn. It's quite haunting. Henry looks good- maybe someday I'll try another fair isle.

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  12. Anonymous17:59

    Thank you so much for the link to VirtualYarns. So beautiful and so romantic :).

    The combination of colours in Henry, is really beautiful. It's calm and it gives the warm feeling. Can't wait to see it finished :).

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  13. Anonymous19:07

    I looked at the colour stories site, the depth of each colour is amazing and it certainly makes a rich looking sweater. It is beautiful. I was driving in the Coast mountains, yesterday and the country side is similar in British Columbia.

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  14. The birch forrests are enchanting. Henry is so attractive, I will eagerly follow your progress. thanks for pointing out the website.

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  15. Oh, Henry is beautiful! And yes, once you start knitting fair isle, you can't stop thinking about it. I think it's because you see results immediately when you're knitting. Just a few rows and the fabric changes completely.

    I hope you get to see some sun up there soon. We had almost 15 degrees in Turku today! :)

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  16. Your knitting is amazing and so is where you live. Just beautiful!

    I will keep good thoughts that the sun returns soon to you.

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  17. Anonymous20:33

    Those birches are just lovely. And so is Henry! :-) I'm really impressed--so far he looks very well knitted. :-) And the colors are just incredible--so rich!

    I love the Glen Albyn design--that's on my fantasy project list, along with the autumn colorway of the Oregon cardigan.

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  18. beautiful work and beautiful landscape. Henry is going to be amazing! I aspire one day to work like that. It's all I can do to manage two colours right now!

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  19. Drool. Beautiful eye candy all around!

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  20. Henry, I am pleased to meet you! What a handsome pattern and the colours are beautiful. If I didn't have a few knits in the queue, I just might have to order a fair isle kit!
    Your landscape is beautiful, Lene. We have a girl from Brazil, who was a Rotary Exchange student in California, and she says they have no use for wool knitted garments. Imagine, no wonderful wearing of wool!

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  21. I'm getting great color combination ideas just from viewing your pictures of the landscape!

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  22. You have such an infallible sense of colour Lene.

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