Project: Hønsestrik Inspiration by Marianne Isager

Hi there! Long time no see, I know. I’ve been neglecting my blog lately, but in my defense, I’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on. That’s why I didn’t write down anything about another knitting project I had finished – the Hen Knitting Sweater (as I call it). You can find the pattern on Ravelry under the name “Hønsestrik Inspiration“.

I just love the design. It was one of the main reasons why I bought the book ÅLJ published by Isager. I could not afford to buy the Isager yarn for it though, I would have to have it shipped from Denmark and plus I would feel really guilty as I have too much yarn in my stash as it is. So I used what I had – another Danish yarn – Holst Garn Supersoft. It’s a fingering weight yarn with so many pretty color options, and you gotta love the price too. Anyway, Holst Garn seemed like the perfect replacement. Because I’m an impatient person and I can’t resist to start a new project as fast as I can, I just thought I didn’t need to knit a gauge sample. MISTAKE!

I’ve done this numerous times before, I honestly don’t know why I keep neglecting that. I thought I wouldn’t mind if the sweater would be a bit bigger or smaller as it’s supposed to be more loose anyway. But my first attempt turned out to be huuuuge. I could fit in that sweater twice, maybe even three times! Learnt my lesson, started over. At least I could use the first attempt to measure the gauge.

The pattern had some issues as well: the graphic chart was not symmetrical, so I had to adjust it. I was not the only one, based on some other projects on Ravelry. Hopefully they can fix that if they ever want to print a new edition of the book. I was also a little dissapointed that there’s no body shaping – you work with the same amount of stitches all the way up to the sleeves. I decided to do my own body shaping.

I had tried it on a couple of times as I was knitting and it came out pretty good. To my surprise, it turned out to be more of a dress than a sweater. The only thing I regret is not doing more decreases in the chest and shoulder area as it’s a little bit moore loose there than I would like. I love the result nevertheless and it’s going to be perfect for the winter!

Ravelry project: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/MatyldasBarn/hnsestrik-inspiration