Stopover – Bang It Out – Mason-Dixon Style!

Stopover Fun! filmed by Kathy Cadigan on the island of Unst, Shetland. 
Acting silly and leaping like a gazelle in Stopover.

 

Bang out a sweater in no time – that’s the plan.  Mason-Dixon Knitting is having a Knit-A-Long!  Yes Ma’am!

Kay figured out that you really can knit Stopover FAST!!!

Mason-Dixon is the Headquarters…so go there immediatly!! 

I would love to join in but I have a heap of other obligations…so although I have a basket full of Lettlopi that is beckoning and tempting me I must not succumb…though I really really want to….we shall see how strong my willpower is…In any case I’ll be pretend playing along and available the whole time for hand-holding and consultation…although Stopover is so simple you probably won’t need any.

Today I’ll tell you a little history!

 Left: Photographer Jeni Reid's Stopover for Wovember.
Right: Designer Kirsten Kapur's Long Weekend Stopover

When I decided to make the first Stopover I was headed to Shetland 5 days later, (see video above) and I remembered I should be wearing something I made in the pictures…It had to be light, because of packing and traveling, plus it was summer. An Icelandic Lopapeysa was the obvious choice – the yarn is light and lofty and weighs next to nothing! My mom bought one in Reykjavik way back in the 70s – and it was light as a feather! She wore this sweater to death, and it held up great, only needing a little mending at the cuffs after about 5 years, and if it weren’t for the dreaded moth problem at her house it would still be going strong. Almost the same sweater can be found in the Handkknitting Association of Iceland shops today, but at the usual denser regular Lopi  weight and gauge.

 Left: Kiki's Don't Stop (East Road Knits on Ravelry).
 Right Lori's Embellished Stopover (loritimesfive on Instagram)

I’m a gal that does not stick to the ball band suggestions. Yarn companies are in the business of selling yarn, so they want you to use as much as you can, smaller needles means you use more yarn. I make things based on what I want. I wanted to reproduce that super light fabric, so I used Lettlopi – what they call an aran weight – at the regular – bulky – Lopi gauge. Because of the qualities of Icelandic wool, it fluffs up and fills in the spaces, so the resulting fabric is full of air, and does not droop or sag like might happen with other yarns. I am sure there are other yarns that might substitute well, I remember a mohair blend when I worked at a yarn shop that I used the same trick with, knitting it at a way looser gauge than the ball band said…I’m a renegade from way back!

Light to pack and fast to knit, my rules. I got my Stopover  designed and finished before takeoff!

The KAL officially starts next Monday, February 1.

Ready steady GO!
Get thyself to Mason-Dixon Knitting!!!

PS: We had a KAL over on my Ravelry group last fall. You can check out some fabulous color combinations in the Finished Objects thread!