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Viking-Inspired Knits from Elsebeth Lavold

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

  3. 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. 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. 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

  8. 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.

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

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

  20. 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. 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 Garter Stitch Blanket with a Twist

When I first started knitting again after a long absence from the craft (which has now been almost 25 years ago!) I really didn’t like garter stitch that much. I found it super boring, somehow even more boring than knitting stockinette stitch in the round, even though it’s exactly the same thing.

Over the years I’ve softened my opinion, and even grown to like garter stitch. There’s nothing wrong with being plain, and actually the texture of garter stitch is more interesting than stockinette.

Also there are fun things you can do with garter stitch to make it more interesting if you want to, such as adding stripes, working on the bias, or doing fun effects to change the look.

That’s the way with the Bernat Twist My Way Garter Knit Blanket. Using combinations of casting on and binding off creates what they call a Swiss cheese effect along two sides of the blanket. This is a lot of fun in the self-striping ombre yarn they chose for the pattern, but it would also be fun in a solid color or making your own stripes.

Despite the dramatic effect, this pattern is rated easy. It’s worked from side to side (if you consider the “cheesy” edges the top and bottom) and has an eight-row repeat that involves binding off and then casting on again to make the holes. They’re kind of like giant buttonholes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a pretty easy repeat to remember, and it will be smooth knitting as big as you want to make it.

You can download this pattern from the Yarnspirations website for free, or you can buy a kit direct from them that includes the yarn you need (and knitting needles if you need those, too). Bernat Sport Ombre Twist, which is what is used in the pattern, comes in 12 self patterning colors and is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]