The seventh pattern in The Almanac Series II is a gorgeous Nordic sweater design from Swedish designer Lotta H Löthgren!
We have had the pleasure of working with Lotta H Löthgren for several years. She was our first stockist in Sweden and carries a range of The Fibre Co. yarns in her ‘small yarn shop in the forest’, and she designed the popular Lowther cardigan pattern for both Cumbria and Cumbria Fingering yarns.
We were thrilled when she sent us her wonderful Perseids design idea for The Almanac Series II, and even more thrilled when we saw the finished sweater—it’s an absolutely classic sweater that reflects Lotta’s skill for producing beautiful, thoughtful knitwear designs. We were happy to catch up with Lotta and learn more about her process and inspiration.
Lotta’s Knitting Journey
Like many a knitter, Lotta learnt to knit young and left it for some years, but then found her way back to it:
“I started working hours in my local yarn shop when I was in my early 20s and sort of relearned to knit – reading patterns in English instead of Swedish and picking up a lot of new techniques that made things a lot easier, and more fun, like Magic loop and seamless knitting. Then I had a long break from knitting when my kids were little, and when I picked up my needles again I decided to try my hand at writing down my own designs.
I’ve always been a freestyle kind of knitter and mainly used patterns as a starting point rather than an instruction to follow closely, and while I do love designing, I also found that I love the technical part of pattern writing – grading, figuring out how to adjust fit and design elements across sizes, seeing the numbers work out in my spreadsheet. The combination of the intangible and often inexplicable process of creating a design and the very concrete, hands-on math it takes to make it into a useful pattern is perfect for me.”
The inspiration for the Perseids Sweater.
Designers can be inspired by so many different things, we were keen to hear about where Lotta found hers:
“For me, it’s important that my designs find a place in my everyday life, that they are beautiful, but also comfortable and age well. In the Perseids Sweater I wanted bright stars on a deep blue background, and I wanted a garment that I could wear when stargazing, most often from the field just outside my house. One of the perks of living out on the country is that there isn’t much light pollution and you can clearly see stars, planets, meteors and even the Milky Way!
Cumbria is my go-to yarn for soft and warm sweaters so there wasn’t much debating which yarn to choose – it has the perfect combination of structure and drape and is wonderful for colourwork as it’s a rather forgiving yarn that blooms and becomes really smooth after blocking.
The Perseids Sweater was dreamed up when I was studying astronomy and I’d like to think of it as pulling a bit of space down to earth, translating faraway objects into stitches and, in the end, something you can wear – perhaps on an evening in August, when the Perseids meteor shower peaks and is visible as shooting stars across the sky.”
Could you share your design process with us.
We asked Lotta about her design process once inspiration has struck:
“This is a tricky question! My design process isn’t very linear, and I often try out design elements in many different combinations and yarns before they find their right place. Sometimes an idea has been floating around in the back of my mind for years and then suddenly the perfect yarn or colour appears and I can finally get it out of my head.
When I do have an idea I want to try out I make a swatch and decide on fit and the basic construction. Then I take the gauge from the swatch together with the approximate measurements and create an outline in a spreadsheet. After I’ve finished a first sample I make the detailed calculations in a spreadsheet, grading it and making sure everything works out on a mathematical level, and oftentimes I begin a second sample and use that as an aid for writing the pattern out.”
The Perseids Sweater plays on traditional Nordic designs for stranded colour-work yoke to create a classic sweater pattern. This is a beautiful project for the ambitious beginner who would like to try a colour-work garment.
About The Almanac Series
The Almanac Series is based on the original farmer’s Almanac guide to the seasons, this collection acts as a seasonal guide to knitting with The Fibre Co. and celebrates each month of the year with an ascribed Yarn of the Month, paired with a new design launch in that yarn. For this year’s series, we looked to the heavens for inspiration, letting the beauty and grandeur of the night sky guide us. In the first half of this year’s series, we cover the Autumn Winter season, where each month’s yarn has been specifically chosen for its qualities to compliment colder conditions in the northern hemisphere. Erika Knight’s Zodiac Sweater was the first design in The Almanac Series II collection, in which you can read our interview with Erika here.
An Inspiring Landscape
If you have ever seen Lotta’s Instagram page, you will appreciate her beautiful moody aesthetic and the relationship she has with her environment and we were happy to hear what role that environment plays in Lotta’s work:
“My close surroundings are my main inspiration. I often say that I live on the countryside on purpose, after growing up in the city, and I’m out in the forest every day, in every season and weather, with my dogs. The landscape around me is always changing and even if I walk the same little paths every day there’s always something new, like catkins in spring or a huge old pine tree suddenly on the ground after a late winter storm.
There are so many patterns, colour combinations and textures out here and they influence my designs in ways I sometimes don’t even notice until after I finished. It’s an ongoing conversation with the land I inhabit, and it’s amazing to think that my little place on earth in this way is recreated and reimagined by other knitters, living in very different landscapes, rural or urban, across the world.”
What was your first knitting memory?
“It’s actually an awful one! When I was around 10 we were to knit Lovikka mittens in school. My first mitten turned out wonky and had dropped stitches and everything you’d expect from a first mitten made by a kid, but my second mitten actually looked rather nice – so nice that my teacher accused me of cheating, saying that my mother or grandmother must have made it for me. No wonder I didn’t start knitting again until I was an adult, right..”
What is your desert island knitting project?
“Sweaters, for sure! I always have a simple top-down sweater on the needles for mindless knitting when I need to turn the thinking mind off for a bit, and even if I do love interesting constructions and engaging techniques, I think basic sweaters are my favorites both to knit and wear.”
Knitting the Perseids Sweater?
If you are knitting the Perseids Sweater, please do share it with us!
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