Vossakofte

Pattern Info

Pattern info for this project can be found here:
Norsk Strikk. Fra tradisjon til mote - Vossakofte (by Rauma Designs)

Instructions

The pattern is from "Norsk Strikk. Fra tradisjon til mote". The book was published in the 90's and is unfortunately out of print, but who knows, maybe somebody can want to sell a used copy?

Since the pattern is from Rauma Designs, the suggested yarn is Rauma Strikkegarn 3-tråds, handwash. I used a superwash Smart from Sandnes Garn.

Difficulty:

Category: Knitting

Type of item: Clothing

For: Men

Style: Ethnic, Traditional, Casual

Materials

Sandnes Garn - Smart (1099-black), 11 skeins, Sandnes Garn - Smart (1012-cream), 7 skeins

What was your inspiration?

I had had this book for about 10 years (maybe more). I bought it in 2000 or something - when I just started knitting - and had been dreaming since then to make something from it. Ambitions, yeah...
But this time was the time. It was supposed to become a Christmas present for my husband, so I took several magazines, pattern books (including this one), and made him choose one. He picked up this pattern almost at once. Half of his family is from Voss region (it's a place in South-West Norway - it's pretty nice there, by the way!), so this was not an unnatural choice...

What are you most proud of?

I must say, I'm quite proud that I managed to trick with this pattern and change it a bit.

The pattern says "knit in the round with steeks and then clip in the front, clip and make the armholes, clip away the stuff and make a neck opening. Too much clipping, I think! I got frightened by all this clipping and knitted back and forth, rather shaping the armholes and the neck. It may be a bit awkward in the beginning, but soon becomes a rhythm and no big deal.

I also picked up the stitches from the shoulders and knitted the sleeve from there.
(The original pattern suggested that the sleeves were to be made separately, from the cuff and up, and then to be sewn to the shoulder.) So I adjusted the squares in the pattern, did the increases - and now I'm quite happy with the result.

The only seams are to be found on the shouldres when I knitted the front and the back together before picking up the stitches around the armhole.

I like "seamlessness". It makes the whole thing more... flexible, I'd say...

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Don't be afraid to experiment.

The project may be a bit demanding, but it's fun!

And one more thing: trap the long floats!