#3 / 2015: The Veme Sweater

A happy lady with her new Veme sweater.

In Norway, the traditional sweater, the "kofte" is having its renaissance, being more popular than ever. In the autumn of 2014, a fellow member in the sewing group Nydeligfin told me about the facebook group Koftegruppa. The group shared all kinds of Norwegian sweaters, and it was incredibly inspiring. In November, Kofteboken was published, featuring new and wearable versions of the traditional sweaters we love (but maybe not know). Like the good knitter I am, I wished for it for Christmas, and lucky me it lay underneath the tree!

Let me just gush over this book for a bit. It's just so nice. The photographs are lovely. It does not feature the most well known sweaters, but I think that is even better. Most of the sweaters are knit in fingering weight, which makes for more wearable garments, and many have got a round yoke or raglan. Very nice.

The first sweater I cast on for is not actually the pictured one, but the one in my header. That was the one that caught my eye at first. Actually, I did not really like the Veme sweater so much at first sight. It took some time. It was when I decided I must slim down my  stash a bit, and wondered what I would do about this brown, yellow and orange yarn. The pattern grew on me, and I decided to supply with some undyed yarn.




The yarn I knit with was Rauma finullgarn, a kind of grabby pure wool yarn from Norwegian sheep, no superwash. It is perfect for stranded knitting, and knitting with steeks. I love it! At first, I was a bit unsure about the colours - they were kind of... seventies-ish, and actually reminded me a bit about my grandparents' house. I seem to remember some wallpaper with the same colour scheme...





Thankfully, the colours grew on me after I was finished with the yoke.

I bound off yesterday (31st of January). I had started the 14th, so it was a quick knit. I immediately threw it in the wash bucket, and today I sewed on buttons (tin buttons, yay!), caked on some make-up and asked my boyfriend to be my photographer whilst doing a nice Sunday walk, so the scenery was not too bad.




I am very satisfied with this cardigan and I definitely recommend it. Just look at how genuinely I am smiling ;)