Inspired by the success of Woodsmoke sweater I am yet again after a sweater, this time for myself. I am trying to restrain myself by thinking that I might not be ready for something advanced and buying some yarn instead to knit a dress for my daughter.

New discoveries

At the same time, I am on the journey of discovering that YouTube could be a useful platform for getting to know and being inspired by other knitters. I particularly enjoyed watching the first knitting episode of a lady from Denmark (Danish Musings channel), where she showcases all the sweaters she has knitted in 2022. I watched that video a few times simply because I could not stop being in awe with her knitting journey. She was the one who introduced me to the whole world of Scandinavian knitting patterns and specifically to Anne Ventzel, a Danish knitwear designer. There are quite a few of her patterns which I wanted to knit but I thought I needed a bit more experience before I could embark on something so beautiful.

Then suddenly it turns out that Anne Ventzel has a cancer and is undergoing the cancer treatment. The knitting community decides to support her by organising a knit along (KAL) of her newest sweater pattern called Super Selene.  A shop owner from the UK has organised an English-speaking KAL and I am seriously tempted to participate. It is an opportunity to ask questions should I have any and to having the support means a lot to a newbie. So, I have purchased the pattern, more needles, some yarn. Hence, another sweater started right on the first day of the new year.

Participation in KAL

Being limited in time, I could not acquire the suggested yarn. The yarn I used is Drops Air in combination with Drops Kid-Silk. The former is quite bulky in comparison with the merino I used for the first sweater. So, while everyone seems to be complaining about using 3mm needles, I found that size quite comfortable to knit with (even if it takes longer to finish an object) and had to purchase a whole set of interchangeable needles to accommodate for the larger needle sizes. I just did not have any needles of that size.

The Super Selene sweater is quite oversized and while I was after the simple Nordic pattern, I did not really want my sweater to be that big. It is here where my knitting tension came handy. I still knitted the smallest size (and skipped a couple of rows in the yoke to lift up the sleeves) and  the achieved look was roomy but not that of the other pictures of the sweater I have seen. I am super happy with it and most importantly, it is AMAZINGLY warm. For someone who is constantly cold it is just perfect.

There is a special sort of feeling of being able to wear something you have created yourself. I found that it makes me rethink about my buying patterns and oddly enough to slow down and rather spend the money on yarn instead.