May 27, 2017

Den Blå - The Blue One was originally designed by Kersin Olsson in 1959 for Bohus Stickning. It was recreated by Solveig Gustafsson in 2012 and revised by Pernille Silfverberg in 2016.

As stated in the pattern project page notes: “It is actually a Blue Light design in an alternative colorway. The Blue Light was designed by Kerstin Olsson in 1959. Some years later, she recreated the design using shades of turquoise and red in place of the blues shades- TURQUOISE LIGHT and RED LIGHT. The pattern charts are identical for all three versions.Blue, Turquoise, or Red Light are alternative colorways for this pattern.”

This is why one sees both 1959 and 1964 as the year Den Blå was created. I think this was the final design in the “Light” series, therefore it may well have been 1964 when this colorway was issued.

This kit was intended as a 38th wedding anniversary gift so it was quite appropriate that I spent some time that day (May 26) finally winding the yarn and then happily cast on the next day.

I prefer the ribbed neckline, only slightly wider than the pattern states, so I started with 168 sts and worked ribbing for 2” and then skipped the increase in the first row of chart.

This was a very easy yoke to knit since the increases were quite straight forward and there were only two rows with 3 colors carried per row. Interesting to note as I studied the chart more closely, it is actually mirrored (with the exception of the increases and the direction of knitting influencing the way the purl stitches appear) starting with rounds 1-33, then a plain middle round at 34 and then rows 35-68 are as 33-1.

I do love it for these reasons as well as the marvelous blue MC!

June 4, 2017

Finished knitting the lovely yoke and placed markers for sleeves and body divisions as well as short row placement. Trying the German short row technique as suggested by Bohus knitters Donniestatzer and Annalaura1 . So far this is working great but I’m a bit concerned about closing the very last gap from the public side of the work. Will figure that out soon.

June 6, 2017

Finished short rows and I do like the German method! I did a small swatch to examine the spot were the final gap is closed and although it is not entirely invisible, it is every bit as workable, IMO, as the method I was previously using to close the final gap - which was Carol Sunday’s version of the Japanese method. The tiny gauge helps as well as the fact that there is a purl blip from the previous chart row just below this spot.

June 14, 2017

Halfway thru the body knitting.

June 20, 2017

First sleeve finished.

June 27, 2017

Finished second sleeve. Now to finish body by knitting lower ribbing.

July 6, 2017

Finally finished this one and I’m delighted. Need to soak and block.
Remaining yarn:
MC 74g
100 3g
282 2g
332 1g
214 1g
296 3g
146 less than 1g
174 less than 1g
Final weight of sweater: 311 grams.