Dale of Norway Sirdal, knit in Heilo yarn, by Karin
I’m very fortunate to have some tremendously talented customers. This past week, a charming coincidence arose: two of my wonderful customers showed me their very special renditions of Dale of Norway’s beloved “Sirdal” design, a traditional Norwegian knitting classic (which, by the way, is available for FREE at Kidsknits, with the corresponding Dale yarn purchase – more about that below.)
Karin from Fort Worth, TX is a delightful woman with a gorgeous garden and a beautiful family. That’s a close-up of her Sirdal vest that you see above. Karin knit it for her son, Rob, in charcoal heather 0083 and natural 0020 Heilo.
The Dale cognoscenti among you may be scratching your heads, thinking “I’ve never seen a Sirdal vest pattern?!” Along with her Heilo yarn purchase, and with Dale of Norway’s approval, Karin received the Sirdal cardigan pattern from out-of-print Book 147. She knit the body straight up, as usual; then, she sewed her armhole lines on the side, cut them open, closed the shoulders, picked up around the armholes, worked the ribbing, shifted the ribbing for the fold, worked a facing and hemmed it all in place. It even looks great on the inside:
Such a great idea and such beautiful work!! Rob must be so thrilled! Thanks so much for sharing your photos with us, Karin – everything you do is always so lovely!
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Lynda from Gwynedd, PA certainly knows how to show her love for her dear friend, Charlotte! Here’s lovely Charlotte in the Sirdal Pullover Lynda made for her, using black 0090 and natural 002 Heilo yarn:
Now, this is not just any old Sirdal, either! Check out the center of the collar – Lynda worked Charlotte’s initials into the diamonds – isn’t that a sweet idea?!
Lynda is chock full of wonderful ideas. Look at Lynda’s idea for a coordinating hat:
Isn’t that magnificent?! Thanks so much, Lynda, for sharing your wonderful work with us! And thanks, Charlotte, for letting us see how great you look in your new Sirdal. I hope you always have fun in it.
Points to consider:
First of all, the Sirdal design is not mine to give away, it’s Dale of Norway’s design to do with as they, as copyright holders, please. As I’ve mentioned here before, their policy allows Dale dealers (like me) that are interested in supporting old, out-of-print Dale designs to give FREE copies of their out-of-print patterns to knitters when they purchase the corresponding Dale yarn. If you’d like to see other out-of-print Dale designs that would be available under the same policy, I’ve listed most of the old Dale books that I have in my library on Ravelry, here.
Second, sweater silhouettes change over time. Thankfully, traditional designs never change radically. But, realize that the armhole depth on an old, medium-sized Sirdal Pullover was 11″ – fashionable in its day, but that day was quite a while ago! On the newer (reworked) cardigan from Book 147, it was 10 1/4″ – more moderate, as they go. Now that silhouettes have gotten even slimmer, on the brand new Oslo design in Book 228, it’s down to 9 1/4″. As you might guess, Lynda narrowed the sleeves on her Sirdal considerably. Thankfully, with dropped shoulders and Norwegian steeks, that’s a pretty easy thing to do. If you need details, you know where to find me!
ETA: I’ve gotten permission to add the measurements and yarn requirements – see below!
Dale Sirdal, from out-of-print booklet 6007.
Sirdal from Dale of Norway Book Nr 147.
Sirdal for babies and toddlers, from Dale Book Nr 147.