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Dear Ann,

Well, Ina got me (again). She emailed last night with a link to a new pattern by Beatrice Perron Dahlen:Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 9.57.48 PM

(Photo copyright © Tolt Yarn and Wool.)

Blaer, a  cardigan in a feather-light Icelandic wool, Einband by Ístex.

Blaer is knit top-down, but the yoke construction will be familiar to anyone who has knit a lopapeysa. (Hello, all you Stopover finishers! This might be your next sweater.)

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 9.58.24 PM

(Photo copyright © Tolt Yarn and Wool.)

The pattern is published by the lovely people at Tolt Yarn and Wool, who can fix you up with the necessary Einband yarn.

Einband is a laceweight yarn, but Blaer is knit on size 4 needles. In the extra small size, the finished sweater will weigh less than 200 grams. That’s what I call a spring/summer cardigan.

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 10.17.41 PM

(Photo copyright © Hélène Magnusson.)

Speaking of small cardigans, I have a tiny hoard of Einband that I am saving for  a wee Gilipeysa for a new baby, but now Blaer is calling to me, too.

I’ll see how Ina’s Blaer comes out. It usually only takes her a few days.

Love,

Kay

37 Comments

  • Ok, if I knit the sweater, do I get the adorable baby with it?

  • What a gorgeous, gorgeous sweater (Blaer)! So elegant and simple.

  • Both of these sweaters make me want to call in sick to work and knit.

  • That is one gorgeous baby…..

    • I know–the beaming baby could sell me on anything, but I think even on a hanger it’s a sweet sweet cardi.

  • Drat you I just bought the pattern, now to find the yarn – do you have multiple sources for that too? Guess I am off to Ravelry to see what it says….I need this cardigan so much….spring is coming you know

  • Very elegant cardigan indeed! Thanks for enlightening your readers to another designer. Sorry I was not aware of Beatrice Perron Dahlen earlier.

    I have been thinking to knit another Einband (6-skein for size L) sweater – a pullover, Aska. It calls for 6.00mm needles to produce its airy fabric.
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aska

    • Lisa–Aska is exactly the pattern that caused me to acquire my Einband collection in the first place! In the meantime I have reconsidered knitting it at that gauge after reading about how it has a tendency to stretch etc. I feel more confident about using my Einband for the Gilipeysa or Blaer, but Aska is stunning. If you do make Aska please let me know how it goes!

      • ha ha that Einband has only been in my stash one year. Seems very fresh yet.
        But I do want to try Aska so maybe 2016 is really a year for Lopi products.
        Still enjoying the Stopover up here in Toronto but spring is coming.

  • Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh. I have spent the past two months plowing through all my UFOs. (When you’ve been knitting for 30 years, they pile up without you realizing it.) I have completed 15 so far, which sounds great, until you hear that I still have 23 more to finish up, including 5 sweaters, two blankets, the 2nd socks of 10 pairs, and assorted other things. But I want to cast on for a *new* sweater. This sweater. Dammit.

    • Finished 15 already? You go girl! 38 UFOs in 30 years of knitting , a little over one per year, and you have finished Fifteen in two months! As mom would have said, Bravo!!
      Knit on!
      LoveDiane

      • Most of them are from within the past 8 or 10 years, with just one cardi that needs seaming that dates from before I met my husband (we have two kids in college). It’s not unusual for me to complete 40-50 projects in a year, so I *should* be able to get through all of these this year, but still…I wanna start a NEW project. (That’s what got me into this mess!)

        • Keep ploughing through those UFOs! I finished all of mine at the end of last year (for a minute I had nothing at all on my needles…very weird) and it was so satisfying! No more projects sitting about making me feel guilty!

  • Ah, lace weight yarn. I love how one could spend about $32 and have enough for a sweater. Thanks for this!

  • Oh, that’s just scrumptious. 🙂

  • Tee hee … just placed the order for mine … endorsed by Madame du Jardin I will knit as fast as I can once I have the yarn in my hands … kiss Olive on the nose … knit faster … knit happy … and long live bargain knits!!! Gimme 10 times $1 rather than one time $10 … spreads it further!!!

  • This is such a great sweater! The problem and the miracle of knitting is just when I think I have seen it all, another intriguing project comes along to add to the bucket list. When Ann reported last week that her Euroflax guest towels are still going strong after 12 years, I wanted to make some Sooo bad! This put my bucket list over the top. My bucket runneth over.

    LoveDiane

  • Oh, I love it!!! I was tempted by the Stopover Cardigan, but I feel compelled (!!!!!!!) by Blaer! Ir’s lovely!

  • Of course I need a spring sweater! As soon as I finished my Stopover, wore it twice, it got unseasonably warm in Cleveland!

  • Oh, that Blaer is so tempting! Top down yoked sweater? Little bit of lace? Miles of stockinette for binge-watching/binge-reading? Perfect. But I don’t have another full sized sweater in my knitting hours right now. Into the favorites it goes for later consideration!

  • Are you going to host a Blaer KAL? With lace detailing instead of stranded knitting, you just might sucker me in…

    It made my day to see this sweater! Thank you for sharing, Kay. (Also the baby. My daughter, who has been due Any Day since the end of February, was hoping for a pi-baby yesterday. 3-14-16 is a once in a century event, after all! Didn’t happen, but that’s okay. Just hoping she doesn’t end up with an April Fool’s baby.)

    • April 1 is too far off! But a Gilipeysa should only take a couple of days…..

  • I love the lace yoke. Looks like the perfect sweater for cold airplanes on summer journeys: warm but lightweight. Not to mention lovely and fun to knit!

  • You got me with this one. I’ve printed the pattern and ordered the wool. I did the same with Stopover but am still intimidated by the stranding, but lace – I can totally do that.

  • I love that cardigan. And the baby!! I’ve been looking at Helene Magnusson’s site, and wondering whether it might be worth it to order her version of super soft Icelandic lamb’s wool for a Gilipeysa baby sweater, just because it doesn’t itch. The real problem here is that the baby-to-be will live in Southern California. I keep telling myself to find something in cotton, but it isn’t working.

  • Both these sweaters are so sweet! Love the fawn-like quality of the adult sweater, and the baby sweater is about 25 kinds of adorable because well, baby. It’s still in the 40s (fahrenheit) where I am, so my finally-finished Stopover has definitely been out and about! I love it and am so proud of it. It has also led me down the garden path of thinking about making another sweater. Though this is lovely, for “next sweater” I think I will stick with the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool I have stockpiled for Amiga. (Knitty, Spring/Summer 2011.)
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amiga-2

  • This cardigan is so beautiful and ethereal. Like Stopover, the hardest part will be deciding on color!

  • Dang it…now I need to make my best friend a sweater. But the good news is that Tolt Yarn and Wool is my LYS!

  • If I am going to keep reading your blog, I might was well open a line of credit with Nordic Store in Reykjavik.

    • Yep!

  • I bookmarked that sucker the second I saw it on Ravelry. It’s just lovely.

  • DANG — and you got me — resisted the bang out a sweater in February – this is too good to pass up!!! And Tolt is fabulous to work with! THANK YOU (although my bank account might disagree!)

  • Einband is lovely yarn, its a bit like string off the skein but then when you wash it, it goes all fuzzy and GROWS. I’m making a Knitbot “Breezy” (for a light Spring/ summer cardigan) of it. Slow going on 3.5mm needles but it’ll be worth it!

  • In at present’s smartphone nation, it’s easier than ever
    to make extra cash selling stok photogralhs
    from your cellphone, too.

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