Flowerpot

“Ever since I first saw them, the little Icelandic inserts inspired me. They were worn in soft fish skin or sheepskin shoes with all sorts of beautiful and colourful patterns. A beautiful pair of inserts decorated with a stylized flowerpot motif in the Skógar Museum inspired me this coat. It’s like a giant flowerpot!

In knitting this coat, it made use of the special qualities of the Icelandic wool. The wool is very light, which is essential for such a big piece, especially when it’s knitted in garter stitch. The Icelandic wool lopi will work miracle and the coat will hold its shape and it won’t get distorted. Very elastic, the garter stitch also allows the coat to have no real shoulders but still sit on them. Lastly, the Icelandic wool ages quite well which is perfect for a long lasting garment such as a coat. Plus it’s very versatile: all buttoned up you can lift it on the hips to makes a very cool sweater and it has often served as a very warm blanket!”

To know more about the Icelandic intarsia, read Hélène’s book: Icelandic knitting using Rose-patterns. More than a fascinating research on the Icelandic shoe-inserts, it is also a breathtaking collection of 26 modern patterns inspired by the inserts.

Design:  Hélène Magnússon

Sizes: XS(S,M/L,1X)2/3X,4X

Finished hips: 90(100,126,144)162,180 cm / 30(36,42,48)54,60”

Select your size: choose the size for which the finished hips measurement is the closest to your own measurement at full hips or at largest part of your body.

Height: H1(2,3) for petite(average,tall)

Finished length: H80(93,107) cm / 32(37,42)”

Select your length: the best way to determine which length fits you better is to let a tape measure hang from the top of your clavicle. Coat should reach under the knees. Note that you can achieve more lengths, for example by having H3 up the waist and H2 above the waist.

The coat shown on the pictures is a size M, H2. The girl is about 175/69” tall.

Yarn: Álafosslopi from Ístex, 100% Icelandic wool, 3 ply, unspun, 100g/ball, 100g = ca.100m/109 yds:

• – MC (grey) #0054: H1 3(4,4,5)6,6 – H2 4(4,5,6)6,7 – H3 4(5,6,6)7,8 balls
• – CC1 (black) # 0005: H1 2(3,3,4)4,4 – H2 3(3,4,4)5,5 – H3 3(4,4,5)5,6 balls
• – CC2 (prune) # 9210: H1 2(2,2,2)2,2 – H2 2(2,2,2)2,3 – H3 2(2,2,3)3,3 balls
• – CC3 (blue) # 9967: H1 1(1,1,1)1,1 – H2 1(1,1,1)1,2 – H3 1(1,1,1)2,2 balls
• – CC4 (beige) # 9972: H1 1(1,1,1)2,2 – H2 1(1,1,2)2,2 – H3 1(1,2,2)2,2 balls
• – CC5 (white) # 0051: H1 1(1,1,2)2,2 – H2 1(1,2,2)2,2 – H3 1(2,2,2)2,2 balls

Total yardage about:

H1 741(889,1037,1185)1334,1482 m /810(972,1134,1296)1458,1620 yds

H2 864(1037,1210,1382)1555,1728 m /945(1134,1323,1512)1701,1890 yds

H3 987(1185,1382,1580,1778,1975) m /1080(1296,1512,1728)1944,2160 yds

Needles: long needles 6 mm/US 10 – I don’t recommend using circular needle when working intarsia.

Gauge: 10×10 cm / 4”x 4” = 12 sts and 12 garters (24 rows) in garter st on

Material: darnig needle, 7 plastic rings (or thin rings made of stainless steel, in handy shops) to make the lopi buttons about 3 cm/1” exterior diameter and 1.5 cm/ 0.5” interior diameter

Techniques: Icelandic intarsia

Pattern: once you’ve made your payment, you will receive an email with instructions on how to download the pattern. It comes as a PDF file. We don’t send pattern by snail mail.

Errata: no mistake was found in this pattern.