Sigil

Sigil: 1) seal; signet; 2)a sign, word, or device held to have occult power in astrology or magic.

Taken from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Yesterday, MissBedora left a comment asking about the origins of my name selection for this project (if you missed it, it's the category name below the post). Originally, I picked the name based on the first definition, a symbolr or a seal carved in stone. But I do like the second definition as well. After all, knitting is something like modern day alchemy. Through the magic of two needles and some loops, yarn is transformed from unwearable string to a useful garment. I'm hoping that the name will also bring a little magic to the project.

So what do I envision for this sweater? Well, first of all, I don't really have the entire vision in place yet. But I do have the basics. I want it to be a boxy sweater, not too long. It will have set-in sleeves because too much fabric under my arms makes me crazy, and I want it to have a few tailored looking details. It will definitely be a cardigan. It will most likely have a zipper. The Viking design will encircle the bottom of the sweater and run up the sides of the opening, and that edging will be trimmed out with an attached I-cord to make the finished edges seem a little more polished and to give the possible zipper some place solid to be sewn to. I haven't quite worked out the collar details yet. I think it will be crew neck height, and it is very likely that a band similar to the one at the base of the sweater will also appear at the neckline.

So far I have the schematics for the back and the sleeves:

The Beginnings of a Sweater

To put these schematics together, I had help from three very excellent reference texts that I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for information on desiging a sweater.

Vogue Knitting was the first book I ever got that covered the subject of knitting and knitting techniques. And I still go back to it almost everytime I need advice. I have the edition before the current one. This book was very helpful as I was working through the cap shaping for the sleeves.

Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English is both incredibly practical and incredibly helpful. She doesn't spoonfeed you schematics and formulas to memorize, she helps you think through the process of designing sweaters. And she includes tips from everything from dealing with color and patterns to shaping for different body types to knitting math. It's not a glossy full color book, but it's still one of those reference books that I think everyone should have. Plus, she has a great sense of humor and her writing style is a lot of fun.

Deborah Newton's Designing Knitwear is now out of print (I found it at a local used bookstore). It is another book that has great information about shaping and sleeve type selection for different garments. She also has lots of color, texture and pattern inspiration and encourages you to take your design ideas from interesting things that you encounter. There's a Aran biker-style jacket that I think is really fabulous.

Now back to my sweater...

The place I am going to start with is the back. I'm treating it a bit like a very large swatch, since a wise woman doesn't trust her swatches blindly (however, just to set the record straight, I did completely wash and dry my swatches before measuring -- to dry them, I hung them from a hanger so that gravity could take it's full toll) To answer Jasmine's question about how I am going to deal with the horizontal design, I've decided that I am going to knit the bottom panel separately, then pick up stitches along one of the edges when I start knitting the main part of the back. Probably not as elegant a solution as Elsebeth Lavold might have put together, but I think it will work out well.

So here's the first set of instructions for the band on the back:

With US 11 needles, cast on 12 stitches.

R1: K2, P8, K2
R2: P2, K8, P2

Repeat rows 1 and 2.

Knit the 6 rows that form the base of the motif*.
Knit 10 repeats of the central part of the motif.
Knit 6 rows that form the cap of the motif.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2, then repeat Row 1. BO all stitches "in pattern"

*You will need to have Elsebeth Lavold's book in order to have the exact pattern. I don't think it's either correct or legal to share that here on my blog. You can find more information about it here:

This book is actually more of a design book than a pattern book as she focuses on how the Viking designs are constructed so that they can be used in your own adventures. Defintely a book I will be refering to a lot in my knitting future.