Dark show, Bright Sweater
I did it! I spent most of my time in the Summer Sweater Knitalong trying to force my hands to knit with fingering weight and being frustrated as they rebelled. I finally gave up and pulled out some older bulky yarn, because nothing cures frustration like a quick knit.
(on my ravelry, instagram, flickr, and kollabora)
There was the Cascade Eco, bought for a song from Craftsy, and some discontinued Sweet Georgia Bulky, also from Craftsy. You know, when Craftsy has a big sale on yarn, they are the best prices I’ve seen for brands like Sweet Georgia, Madelinetosh, Cascade, and Malabrigo. And I’m all about spending too much to spend less, it seems. The fact that it’s slighter deeper in the stash also makes it a good project for the ongoing Purposeful Stash-along.
…Anyway, there were only four skeins of the Sweet Georgia and, it being a pretty serious burgundy semi-solid, so it would have to be the contrast color in a color work sweater. A quick scan of my favorites on Ravelry, and I knew it was time to emulate Sarah Linden’s wardrobe again and knit the most famed of The Killing Sweaters. Below is the star of the Danish series in “the” sweater. the photo just beneath it is the look I was going for.
(image via Pinterest)
(image via Pinterest)
I found a color work chart for free on Ravelry. I just love the devotion of tv-addicted knitters! Had I slipped this into an Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage yoke sweater formula, it would’ve been easier. But I liked the raglan look and love the fit of my worsted Ease, by Alicia Plummer, so I decided to combine the two. I also thought it would be safer to stick with the basics of a pattern I already knew, only in a bulky version. I needed something quick if I was going to complete a knit for the SSSKAL. Then, there’s always the lure of near-instant gratification.
The Killing was first recommended to me by a knitting friend. I’ve watched some pretty dippy shows just for the sake of crafting inspiration, so I probably would’ve watched it if it were awful. But it was wonderful. Dark, but wonderful. (Not the Netflix- produced season, though. Just skip that one.) Sarah is all presence, no pretense. There’s no putting on her best face, no ‘do. I’m not sure what her look is supposed to say to the non-knitting world, with her scrubbed face and utilitarian ponytail, because I can’t see past the gorgeous sweaters. They may be in somber colors, but they are inspiring all the same. Are they meant to look frumpy? practical? covering like a sort of armor? I don’t know, I’m transfixed by them. I’ve read that in the Danish original series, The Crime (which I have yet to watch because I can’t knit and do subtitles on a really good tv show), Sarah Lund’s sweaters look a bit homemade, imperfect. After looking at some photos, I can see why they’d say that. In the US version, Linden’s are not so hand knit in appearance, but wether Linden’s or Lund’s, they’re still food for the crafty brain. Besides, what’s wrong with a scrubbed face and ponytail… and piles of yarn… and cats… everywhere?
So this is one of those shows knitters obsess over because of the wardobe. I’m not covering any new ground here, lots of people have blogged and talked about knitwear in The Killing. But since I’m copying one, I thought I’d consider a few of the sweaters featured on the show and the knits they bring to my mind from my queue and projects page. Here I’m seeing Kate Davies‘ Owls sweater, one of my favorite knits.
(via Pinterest)
(My Owls Sweater)
This one’s super traditional. No doubt, you can think of several you’ve seen like it in the last couple of years, with Nordic knitting being so popular.
(image via Pinterest)
(image via Pinterest)
It makes me think of my Bus Stop Pullover knit using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s percentage pattern
of Ysolda’s Strokkur, with a lower modern neckline,
(image via Ravelry)
and Isabel Kraemer’s Elementary or Ingrid pullovers.
(image via Ravelry)
This one makes me think of a couple of patterns out that are basically knitting samplers. I love how many kinds of stitches are included in one garment.
(image via Pinterest)
I’m thinking of Henri, by Ann Leachman, which I knitted and love, that does the same thing with side to side construction
(my Henri)
and Quadrillion, by Meghan Fernandes, which I think looks most like Sarah’s sweater.
(Quadrillion on Ravelry)
The cowl neck on this makes me think of one I’m longing to knit this winter:
(image via Pinterest)
(image via Pinterest)
Oshima, by Jared Flood. It doesn’t have to be a neutral either. Look at Tanis’ version with two different colors of her fingering weight yarn held together.
(Oshima via Ravelry)
Another cowl-necked sweater it brings to mind is Furrowed Pullover, by Hope Vickman, which I’ll be starting soon for a Midwestern Knits Knit-along.
(Furrowed Pullover via Ravelry)
I plan to use City Tweed in Jacquard. I’m very impatient to start this one.
(Image via Knit Picks)
This one reminds me of the Furrowed Pullover again, with the center cabling, but the high neckline brings other less-likely comparisons to mind.
(image via Pinterest)
The latest issue of PomPom has a sweater with center cabling- Jean, by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne.
(Jean via Ravelry)
And there’s the eternal knitter’s fave, Beatnik, by Norah Gaughan, which I knit and loved so much I did another one in colors I think Sarah Linden would find more appropriate. Below, you can see the one her doppleganger might wear.
That higher neckline reminded me of a couple of new patterns I’d love to knit within the next year. The first is Ready for Spring by Yellow Cosmo. This is so different than anything I’ve seen, yet it feels familiar and old-fashioned.
(Ready for Spring via Ravelry)
The other sweater I was thinking of was Hannah Fettig‘s Moto Jacket. It’s a totally different type of sweater, but that high neckline, when buttoned, is really cool. I think I need this to go with my new boots.
(Moto Jacket via Ravlery)
For my Sarah Lund sweater, I first thought I’d make the color work travel, uninterrupted over the raglan stitches, like the version used in the show. But I didn’t really like the look. I also realized that using a stitch count similar to the 40″ size of Bulky Ease pattern would make continuing the color work “stripes” around the sides very difficult. It increases very sharply at the hips and I didn’t want the color work stripe changing drastically within it’s 12 rows. I was also not in the mood for math and such.
So I decided to leave all of my raglan stitches in the main color, along with two main color side “seam” stitches all the way down each side and the inside of the sleeves. Super easy. It only took a night of swatching, fiddling with numbers, and playing with my daughter’s old graph paper. After that, it was cake.
(on my Ravelry, kollabora, instagram, and flickr)
I did change a few stitch counts to get a smooth even pattern, with the snowflakes lined up in center front and back. I also used fewer decreases. I’ll have all of the particulars on my finished Lund or Linden Sweater post, if you’re interested.
The pattern smoothed out so nicely after blocking. Now I’ve just got to sew in those loose ends. Or at least weave in enough to take photos for the SSKAL.
(image via Pinterest)
If you’re obsessive too and looking for more tv inspiration, most of the Pinterest links in this post will lead to other blogs discussing Sarah’s wardrobe.
