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Viking-Inspired Knits from Elsebeth Lavold

August 21, 2017 by Sarah White

viking knitting books

Heidi is the winner.

This week’s giveaway is two amazing pattern books from Elsebeth Lavold, both having to do with Viking-inspired knitting patterns.

Lavold spent years researching Viking knots and other ornamentation and translating those designs to knitting, the result of which became her book Viking Patterns for Knitting. It includes 60 charts for patterns inspired by Viking motifs, and shows the item that inspired the design, which is really cool.

There are also 14 full projects in the book (you can see them on Ravelry) including sweaters, coats and accessories for the body and the home.

Viking Knits and Ancient Ornaments is a continuation of that book, produced more than a decade later and incorporating more design charts and another couple dozen garment and accessory patterns.

I’ve read online that it’s helpful to have the first book to work out the techniques used in the second, and it’s clear that neither of these books are for beginners, or those without a great level of comfort with cables and traveling stitches.

That’s why I’m giving away the books together. The first is paperback and the second hardcover, so because of the weight they need to go to someone in the United States (sorry, international knitters, you know I love you!).

If you’d like a chance to win these books, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, August 27. Just for fun, because it’s eclipse day and this is a USA-only giveaway, I’d love to know what you are doing/did for the eclipse. Did you travel to see it or was it visible where you live? As I write this it hasn’t happened where I live yet. We’re supposed to have 91 percent coverage, and I’ll probably slip outside during it but also watch videos of the totality with my daughter when she gets home from school.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. kbsalazar says

    August 21, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Watched it at work, using a pinhole device improvised from shipping boxes, a presentation easel, and other bits. The whole company called a break for the 15 min before and after the height of the partial here in Massachusetts, and we all behaved like very curious kids at a Science Museum. Love working in a nerdy start-up!

  2. Linda Petras says

    August 22, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Love the patterns in these books. Just getting back into it after years of alzheimers caregiving.

  3. Cheryl says

    August 22, 2017 at 9:11 am

    I work in a call center and therefore did not get to go outside to see the eclipse, but wanted very badly to see it. I will have to settle for internet or TV news to watch it. We were supposed to have 90% coverage here in Oklahoma. I traveled to Iceland last year and am very interested in the Viking culture and would love these books. Thanks for the chance at a giveaway.

  4. Heidi Christine Kirsch says

    August 22, 2017 at 10:04 am

    Loads of us met in a downtown park. Rather festive environment. Had glasses from library this time, but can remember making some with my Dad for an eclipse when I was a kid.

  5. spierssusan says

    August 22, 2017 at 10:13 am

    I am a knitter-for many years now- great books! Since I had no glasses and saw the last eclipse, I sat on my porch and watched the darkness come and go! My son sent me some fab pics he took-amazing stuff! Thank you, Susan

  6. Lisa McClellan says

    August 22, 2017 at 10:34 am

    wasn’t able to see it — clouds in the way!

  7. Stacey says

    August 22, 2017 at 12:11 pm

    Didn’t go outside for it. Saw pictures other people took on Facebook.

  8. Kitten With A Whiplash says

    August 22, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Here in SF we had a lot of cloud cover, which worked in the favor of those without glasses. We still didn’t look right at the sun, but aimed our cameras at the reflection in the nearly black uv windows on some of the bigger buildings. Not great for taking pictures tho.

  9. Martha Donley says

    August 22, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    Stayed home for the eclipse. watched it on the news and through my pinhole damera

  10. Linda says

    August 22, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Watched from home. Only 70% and intermittent clouds.

  11. Lee says

    August 22, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    I was working and so busy i did not get time to go outside for the eclipse 🙁 viewed on social media though – nice pictures

  12. yarnaddicted says

    August 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    I didn’t go outside, just watched from a window inside and saw lots of photos on Facebook later.

  13. Deborah Hetrick says

    August 22, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    We had a nasty storm at the same time the eclipse would have been visible to us, so….I stayed inside and knitted! I always get excited about new books, better than Christmas!

  14. Jane Stephens says

    August 22, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    We had 100% coverage here, so we all sat in our lawn chairs in the driveway and watched through eclipse glasses. Very quiet with no bird or chipmunks calls, it got kind of cold out, and it looked like one of those night filters that film makers use! Really a fun experience!

    Also fun would be working all those knots and twists in the two books — thanks so much for the nice giveaway. 🙂

  15. Ruth says

    August 22, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    I stayed home and watched it through glasses and on TV. We had 90% coverage, but heavy cloud cover. I lived it through my daughter who traveled to Southern Illinois to see the totality. It sounded amazing!

  16. Sheila says

    August 23, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    I live in the path of totality in Corvallis Oregon. The media was predicting grid-locked traffic (which largely didn’t materialize), so I watched the eclipse from the comfort of my front yard. We had ideal conditions with perfectly clear skies. It was really cool watching the moon slowly eat the sun, then seeing the bright circle around the dark moon, and even a few stars.

  17. Sally H. says

    August 24, 2017 at 11:22 am

    Wow! Can this week get any better? Two exciting happenings – the eclipse and your giveaway. I am always so inspired by Elsebeth Lavold! She is my most favorite designer and I love the way she so aesthetically puts together her books. Inspiration on so many levels. As for the eclipse, I was working and went outside during the peak to take a peek. Even where I was the partial darkness was an amazing experience and can only imagine what it was like experiencing the total eclipse of the sun.

  18. Jeanne says

    August 24, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    Hubbo & I both had glasses and popped outaide to watch. We had about 85% totality. My drove to Oregon and my daughter is in Kentucky… they both had the full experience.
    BTW, I’m intrigued by these books.

  19. Joy Jannotti says

    August 25, 2017 at 9:45 am

    I went to visit my cousin in Maryland and we watched the eclipse on the beach. We had fun. I love Elsebeth Lavold!

  20. sherrytx says

    August 26, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    We had about 75% coverage in North Texas, so I watched the eclipse on TV. I did go outside at the peak of the eclipse here. I failed to get the proper eye wear in time, so I took pics of the crescent-shaped sun spots coming through the tree leaves. We do get to experience a full eclipse in 2024, and I will be fully prepared!

    The books look fascinating.

  21. Betty Clay says

    August 27, 2017 at 5:20 pm

    Thanks for the giveaway. We were planning to view an 87% eclipse here in South Dakota, but it was a cloudy, rainy day. We watched the eclipse on the NASA broadcast.

Have you read?

Knit a Linen Stitch Hot Pad

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough. 

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern. 

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed. 

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do. 

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces. 

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls. 

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry. 

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