about Hanne Falkenberg ...

The first time I saw a Hanne Falkenberg sweater was in Copenhagen in 1998. It was in a shop called 'sommerfuglen' . The shop is still around, and it's worth checking their website (www.sommerfuglen.dk). At that time, I found the garments to be lovely, but a bit scratchy. I have grown up knittingwise since then, and although I would not consider the yarn to be supersoft, I now quite like it. It has that crisp, crunchy shetlandwool feeling.

I had been longing to try out a Hanne Falkenberg sweater since ever since, and I finally bought my first kit (Da Capo) when I was on holiday in Aarhus, Denmark in 2002. The great thing about buying there was that they had all the sweaters on display, and that you could actually try them on. I was in love with Pagode, but decided that it didn't look good on me. I am short and very round, and this is a long coat for tall people. Ballerina and Jazz looked good on me too, but I had to make a choice.

In 2003 I bought a second HF kit on Ebay (Delta). This was not a good decision - I hadn't tried it on, but thought that any HF sweater would be fabulous on me. I had good customer service from the vendor, but nor the colors nor the model worked for me. Of course, I only realised this when I finished knitting it. (it's also the only HF sweater that doesn't get me compliments when I wear it). It's not on her website any longer, but you can still buy it through Sommerfuglen. Mine is in curry, khaki and turquoise.

I kept searching on Ebay for other HF kits I liked and in colorways I liked. In 2004 I bought Ballerina and Jazz'on Ebay. When the Jazz kit arrived, I decided I didn't like the colorway. It was n° 3 Dusk/Cyclamen (dusk is a nice dark blue with purple/pink flecks, but cyclamen is a bit too bright hot pink). And then I heard that a collegue was travelling to Copenhagen, and I asked her to go to 'Sommerfuglen' and bring me another kit LaStrada. So I bought 3 HF kits in 2004 !

I started LaStrada right away, and finished it in 3 months. I knitted colorway 7 - black, rust, grey-mix, curry. That was it in 2004. Apparently I can only knit one HF a year. It's a lot of knitting, and sometimes requires more then average concentration.

In 2005 I decided that I could not let the other 2 HF kits gathering dust on my shelf, and I started Jazz. I resolved the color issue, by swapping the colors from the 2 kits. I bought 'Ballerina' in color 13 - blueberry and black, with accents of pea green and cyclamen. I used the black and blueberry to knit Jazz. Of course, I didn't know if I had enough to knit this kit. But I figured, with Ballerina being a long swing coat, and Jazz a short boxy jacket, I would have enough of the main color (blueberry). And I still had a bit of black leftovers from the previous kit, so maybe that would even out ? HF doesn't list the required amount of yarn in her patterns. The kits are made up to contain enough. Turned out that I didn't had enough black yarn. I decided to order some shetland yarn online (http://jamiesonsshetland.co.uk/). I carefully compared yardage, and ordered some 'spindrift' yarn. Turned out a perfect match - the same weight, the same feel, and even the same black. They also had a color named 'Dusk' so I ordered that too - seems a perfect match again (but I haven't used it yet). My suspicion is that HF uses Jamieson spindrift in her kits. Jazz took me more then a year to complete (sept 05 to jan 07), but then I have struggled with 'frozen shoulder'.


So that leaves Ballerina to be knit. Of course, now I don't have enough to knit it in the intended colors. I'll have to make up my own colorway. I am thinking of knitting this with 'Dusk' as a main color, but I don't know if I will have enough. And I could use blueberry, cyclamen and pea green as accent colors. I have also found some other colors in my stash of shetland yarn that will work. This will be fun !

One lesson learned though : try the garments on - and decide on the color 'in the flesh', so to speak. It looks like I will be travelling to Scandinavia this summer.
I am looking forward to visiting shops that carry HF designs and try on some of the newer models. I have my eye on Diva, Mermaid and Tivoli. I don't think I will actually buy a kit now, but I can save up for next year !