Corona times... What about quarantine knitting?
Will I really make a Totoro sweater and wear it to work one day???
I do have this great working-from-home-room, one of the biggest in the house even! It is in fact my studio and it is great to use it for office work as well. It always has been good to balance work-work and art-work, just to keep me + family healthy!! Even in these Corona Quarantine times.
However, the to balance between things shifts a bit. Now I need to get away from both types of work sometimes.
And that is where knitting comes in this story.... Consider the benefits: It's quite harmless overall. It is an accepted fact that you only need to contemplate the next stitch. And your biggest problem is choosing the next color. Color problems I can handle anytime! Then there is the endless counting and measuring. Just plain simple counting, nothing more soothing. (This is probably a good time to own that I did study maths once...., but let's leave that for now).
Anyway, I had just started a decent yoke sweater when the Dutch lock down came into operation, using the Mackworth pattern. And I started to just slightly adapt it... first only to include one nerdy Totoro figure... It ever there is a feel good movie that has beautiful colors situations, it is Studio Ghibli's Totoro. More and more patterns seemed to want to be included, many more.. So it was turning into a full length fairisle/colorwork sweater. (Then I wanted to tailor is to some sort of waist-shaping, imagine the counting that got into that decision...!)
Some pics on instagram let to people asking about this pattern, and whether is was sharable... perhaps? Now I do love to share share these crazy things, and I would love to see whenever anybody else starts such a quarantine knitting project. That being said, I also used a lot of shared&sharable patterns, so grateful for them!! There isn't any overal pattern really, just my notes for a my-size sweater and links to existing patterns... But try if you like :) And please show me pics!!!
PATTERN NOTES
Start at exactly the right moment - in a x o x state of mind....
Start with exisiting pattern, I bought and do love the Mackworth yoke sweater, works great.
All fingering weight, I used Baa Ram Ewe Titus yarn for grey and dark red, about 100gr each works great!!! Shilasdair yarn for the dark pink, such a perfect color!! found again in my secret yarn stores... about 50 gram. And Olann + Westwool light pink, had to mix....
Pattern #1: geo-pattern (stranded colorwork basics) / row / house+tree / 1 row
Pattern #2: soot sprites from Totoro blanket / 1 row
Pattern #4: 2 rows / big Totoro's + team + flowers / geo-pattern (scandinavian basics)
pattern #5: acorns / geo-pattern / team Totoro
pattern #6: geo-pattern / arrows / trees / flower from 150 Scandinavian Motifs
Looking for more? Knitting patterns - inspiration wanted? Check https://nl.pinterest.com/lotjem/knit/