Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

I was sitting on the loveseat last night finally knitting again on that long-suffering Kimono Fana cardigan (almost to the neck on the raglan shaping) and was thinking about my next design. Knitting is perfectly suited to letting your mind wander, especially a simple, repetitive stitch pattern. The fingers can work away, whilst the brain takes a holiday.

Cascade yarns had sent me several skeins of cascade 220 and Cloud 9 for swatching my next design, which is to be a Fair Isle twin set.

Except.

I'm not so sure I don't want to design a Bohus-inspired sweater.

Now if anyone isn't familiar with Bohus, they should be! Here's a few links to whet the appetite:

http://www.oneofsusannas.com/bohus.htm
http://bohuskal.blogspot.com/
http://www.solsilke.se/
http://www.knitchmagazine.com/features/bohus-stickning.html
http://redhatknitter.blogspot.com/2009/01/bohus-stickning-exhibit.html

I love the interplay of colors that happens when one purls on the RS of the fabric within a color pattern. And using angora blend yarns with plain wool yarns should add additional interest.

It's a shame Emma Jacobson couldn't find someone to carry on her work, which left Bohus design a shining gem in our hand knitting herstory.

We can carry on, though, using the technique that Emma and her talented team of designers became famous for back in the '30's, though to be sure and never call it Bohus, but instead, Bohus-inspired, in deference to her work.

Anyway, I think doing something Bohus-y might be just what I need to spark my little designer gears back into action.

And what I think will make this style of sweater a good type of design for 2010 is that it can use up stash hanks of yarn in a pretty way, just as Fair Isles can use many colors. But some knitters can be afraid of mixing colors - unsure about what looks good together. I may need to do a blog post or 2 about that, when the time comes.

Though Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, now reprinted by Dover, is an excellent source for this info! My copy is about 18 years old and I'll never part with it. Same for my 2 copies of Knitting in The Old Way. Some books you just know you will always need, always want to refer to.

The web is great, but books are greater!

And I haven't forgotten that I also need to put the Fana KAL into a booklet. Need to do another sample, though, in that gauge. This Kimono Fana is another gauge and a totally different design.

In the meantime, must finish the raglan, do the wide front border and figure out the inner cuffs for these wide sleeves, beginning sometime after the 3, count 'em 3, showings I have today. Good hubby is bringing home pizza for dinner.