Birkenwasser knits

For the past decade or two I've had this brassy bling bling yarn, Novita Byzantine, in my stash. A true retro yarn! For the first decade or so, I had no idea what to do with the yarn. Then at some point, most likely when I was a student and short on cash, I decided to knit a sweater with the yarn. After seeing the result, the thing stayed unfinished in my stash for another decade or so. And then one morning in the subway I saw someone with a hat knitted in similar bling bling yarn! Now the only problem was that the yarn is pretty thick (77m/50g), but the fiber content doesn't make it that warm (28% mohair, 27% polyamide, 24% polyester, 14% acryl, 7% wool). I had to get some warm fibers to make the hat as warm as it looks like, so I added some alpaca and wool to the mix. I think the result is pretty cool, but I'm afraid that we are almost done with the winter here so testing in freezing temperatures will have to wait until next winter. We did get some nice wet snow for the photo shoot, though!


As I had some yarn left after knitting the hat, I decided to knit something from my knitting queue: The Wham Bam Thank You Lamb Neckwarmer by Susan Chang. For this one I combined all three yarns to get (almost) the gauge required. Of course, half way through, I ran out of the alpaca wool. As I didn't want to buy more yarn for this project I simply picked a similar weight black yarn from my stash. It's either a wool/polyamide mix or 100% wool - no clue of yarn name to be found.



These two made a nice little retroyarn stash busting project in between other things. And now I only have about 7 skeins worth of the lovely bling bling yarn left - in sweater format. Anyone in need of some bling bling? You are welcome to come and rip all you need. Take my word for it, this yarn doesn't unravel easily.



Instructions

The hat is knitted with wrong side facing you. After finishing, turn the hat to have purl side out.

Cast on 70 sts on smaller needles in Byzantine. Knit 4 rows in garter stitch. Switch to larger needles and join in the round. Knit every other row with Byzantine, every other row with Alpaca Wool and Alpaca Superlight combined.

Continue until the entire piece measures 18 cm (or desired length). Decrease 7 sts evenly. Knit 4 rows, decrease 7 sts evenly, knit 2 rows, decrease 7 sts evenly, knit 1 row. Last row: *k1, k2tog*, repeat. Break yarn, pull the yarn through sts, tighten. Sew garter stitch edge seam. Weave in the ends.

I have always been knitting. At school, while others were learning how to knit mittens, I dyed my own yarns to knit a multicolour pattern sweater. But. To start from the beginning, my very first self made sweater was an easy pattern for beginners: basic garter stich all the way. In lovely 80's colors and design:

Wearing my first pullover at my 10-year-old birthday party.

Pretty soon I learned that it's more fun to design your own sweaters. Then again, it might be that I didn't have the money to buy yarns, so I had to do with whatever I found from my mom's stash. Experimenting with different styles, patterns, techniques, yarns... You name it, I've tried it.

"Is that Madonna?" my spouse asked.

Badges were the thing in 1989.

Luckily I also kept a picture diary of the sweaters I've knitted, starting from the first one back in late 80's to number 27 ten years later. It's too bad that I quit taking pictures of my knits. Now I'm missing almost 20 years of knittings!

Remember these yarns from the 80's?

My knitting diary is almost a fashion highlights parade from the 80's and the 90's! Almost. Then again, I might not have been the number one trend setter at the age of 10. Or 20. (or at any other age, for that matter.)

Using leftover yarns.

Pattern and yarns from Novita.

I also noticed that if you want to knit something that you want to wear as well, it might be a good idea to use a pattern designed by someone else. But hey, it's more fun to design your own, and once in awhile you hit the jackpot and make something that not only looks and feels nice, but is also unique and your own design. The plan is to share those highlights and switch from the picture diary back in the day to a blog - with pictures. Stay tuned!