I’ve been working on Idunn by Ragga Eiriksdottir for myself since Boxing Day. It’s one of those beautiful sweaters that gets in your queue and becomes a bucket list item. I’ve liked it and wanted to knit it since it came out, then I had the opportunity to hear a talk by Ragga at Knit City and it cemented my desire to knit it. When I received a box of the new Ancient Arts Yarn “Reinvent, Too” I knew this was the perfect yarn for this project!

I knit a swatch (that’s code for I started knitting the actual garment and pretended I was swatching) and found that even though I was getting gauge, the fabric was a bit looser than I wanted. I want a sweater that will last forever, so I went with a denser knit. I switched to 4mm needle and to compensate for the smaller needle size I went up a size. This is something I do quite often to accommodate my refusal to use yarn appropriate to the pattern. To date it has worked every time I do it, but I know it’s a kinda of knitting Russian roulette, and so far I’ve been VERY lucky. My formula is simple, if I go down a needle size I knit one size larger. If I go up a needle size, I knit one size smaller. But don’t quote me on that, I don’t want to be responsible for any sweater knitting disasters!

This pattern is knit in the round, and has a crocheted steek. I’ve steeked once before, so thankfully this won’t be my first, which I think would require some meditation and maybe a giant pot of calming chamomile tea.

This sweater has been a joy to knit, and I am LOVING the Reinvent, Too yarn. I’m not overly fond of a lot of mohair yarns, but I do love it in a wool blend. This yarn is silky and strong and will last the ages! And the colour on it is incredible, the mohair makes the yarn luminescent! The Reinvent lines are wonderful reclaimed fibres yarns. The fibres are from carder waste. They are new, unused fibres that otherwise would have gone to the landfill, 49% Wool, 34% Mohair, 11% Nylon, 4% Acrylic, 2% Silk.

I have had a few roadblocks to this sweater, but none have been yarn or design based. The first issue was that despite having more knitting needles than some yarn stores, I apparently no longer possess 4mm DPNs. Not a big deal, I picked up a set for the sleeves. However, at some point while playing video games, one of my kids managed to snap one of my needles in half and run a bunch of stitches. After much cursing, I manged to get the lost stitches worked up and back on a needle and finished up with one less DPN. Luckily it was at the end of my second sleeve so it wasn’t too annoying. When I finished the second sleeve I decided I wanted a tiny bit more length in the body. I’m 5’10” and have spent my entire life settling for garments that are too short, I’m not doing that with my knitting! So I picked out cast off and added a couple more repeats on the ribbing. Somehow, one of my kids managed to bend my metal needle.

I muddled along and finished the bottom with my bent needle. It was disconcerting and rather what I imagine knitting drunk would be like. I was pretty excited and decided to start the crocheted steek right away. But it turned out that I don’t have a crochet hook small enough. My very wonderful spouse took one of my DPNs and carved it into a crochet hook for me! It’s working perfectly.

They say bad things happen in threes and I really hope that’s true, since the next step is breaking out the scissors and cutting that steek. I’ll post on my personal Instagram and repost on the Ancient Arts Yarn Instagram when I do it, wish me luck! SNIP SNIP!