Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Viking Knitting

For years I've been waiting for the right opportunity to take a class in viking knitting--and a few weeks ago the time was finally right!



Working with wire can be really challenging to learn, but the finished pieces are so much fun to wear.



This technique does in fact create a knitted wire tube, but the process of creating it is counterintuitive.



The work is done in the opposite direction as you normally work with knitting needles. That is, the "stitches" are worked from the top down by weaving the wire underneath the previous round.



It really is more of a weaving technique, but the end result produces a "fabric" of twisted knit stitches that is very durable.


Here the ensemble that went on my arm to the office today. It's a lot of fun putting different textures together. I made the top bracelet using an old 2-ply braiding technique and the middle one is a bead crochet rope bangle.




And the viking knit bracelet really needed a companion necklace. Here's a little detail showing one of my favorite frog beads.

If you like wire jewelry, be sure to stop back by the blog on Friday. There will be an interview with a young artist who does amazing jewelry design with wire crochet.

10 comments:

BumbleBri said...

Seriously, this is just plain amazing! so beautiful :)

Kitty said...

I love knitting with wire but I find it really cuts into my fingers. I'm using some 24 guage beading wire, any suggestions on better material or is this just a "suck it up buttercup" kind of project?

Sharon said...

Thanks for the compliment, Bri!

Kitty, for regular knitting using knitting needles with wire, I've read (and can confirm) that the best gauge to use is size 28, 30 or even smaller. The size 24 gauge works well for vikingknitting that will get drawn down to a smaller size, but for regular knitting with needles, I'd go with a finer gauge wire.

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

What!? That's nuts! I'm going to ask my husband if he knows about viking knitting. He does chainmaille n' at.

Sharon said...

It's a little nuts to do very much of the Viking knitting because it's a little hard on the hands and shoulders, but it's an easy-to-learn technique with fun results.

T@PoppyPlacePdx said...

How amazing. I have never heard of that before but they are beautiful. :)

I loved all the hats that you found on etsy but some of the "ROYAL" hat left me a little "NOT' so proud to be British (He! He!)

Have a lovely Day, T. :)

Sharon said...

T, you're right. Some of those "Royal" hats were downright gauche and embarrassing.

Anindita Basu said...

I love your Viking knit bracelet. I'm into it lately. I like the way you only did half of the bracelet and incorporated coordinating beads. The beads are looking great with the color of the wire. Did you use artistic wire or colored wire?
Dita from http://www.alankarshilpa.etsy.com

Sharon said...

I used 24-gauge gunmetal-colored Artistic wire on these projects.

Anindita Basu said...

Gun metal artistic wire! It looks great. Thank you for dropping by my blog post. You make beautiful knitting too. Nice knowing you. Dita.