Nov. 30, 2011
Right now I’m planning for aran weight sweater for moi.
Every since I finished the Aragorn sweater for husbeast, I’ve been wanting to do a Tolkien inspired piece for myself. I finally decided on an sweater inspired by Lúthien, the half-elve princess of the Elder Days and ancestor to Aragorn and Arwen.

She fell in love with a mortal man, Beren, and their doomed love story is one of the greatest stories of the Elder Days as recorded in the Silmarillion.

Tolkien regarded his wife, Edith, as his Lúthien. This association is regarded on their gravestones.

In our smooshier moments, my husbeast refers to me as his Lúthien ;)

Upon seeing her for the first time, Beren had named her ‘Tinúviel’ meaning, Daughter of Starry Twilight. This is where I get the inspiration for the colour palette.

The general structure of the sweater is seamless raglan from EZ.

The yarn is handspun from a blend of Shetland, BFL and merino. The fleeces were carded once and then spun. The fleeces natural colour ran from a white to greys to light browns. I wanted to maintain a more mottled base. The yarn was spun in long draw mainly with a few semi-worsted parts for textural difference. I’m still spinning up yarn. Hope to have it done in a week or so.

The design is simple cabling which is meant to reflect a few elements:
Forests/Trees - Lúthien was born in the Years of the Trees. Beren first sees Lúthien dancing in the Forests of Neldoreth, a beech forest. She was also imprisoned in Hírilorn ,a three trunked tree, by her father in an attempt to keep her away from Beren.
Elvish architecture - or at least, what I imagine elvish architecture from the Elder Days to look like. To me it would be stylized gothic style with sweeping arches and fine detailing and a sense of space and lightness.
Like Gothic architecture, I wanted to pull the eye upwards to the yoke/neckline.
Organic - I wanted it to be more organic, as if it was grown from the elements. This is reflected in how I spun the yarn. I wanted texture so I spun the yarn thick and thin and plied it together.

Dec. 10, 2011
Finally finished spinning and dyeing the yarn. Time to start knitting!

Dec. 20, 2011
Finished the bottom part of the body. Gotta start figuring out the sleeves. I want some sort of elvish cabling going up the sleeve. To the design cave!

Dec 25, 2011
After 3 prototypes, I think I’ve figured out a cable design that I like. It has been a semi-frustrating week of knitting and frogging and designing. Now onto the second sleeve.

Dec 30, 2011
Frog frog frog frog
stupid inept brain…stupid math…blah

January 3, 2011
Got both sleeves done (finally). Everything is squished onto one needle and I’m working the top third of the sweater.
Due to changes in the sleeve design, I’m going to have to retinker with the design for the body.
Sigh.

January 7, 2011
Stepping away from the sweater for a week. Need to regroup my throughts and ideas. Time to finish up other projects.

January 16th, 2012
Picked it back up. Finishing the yoke. I think I’ve figure out the rest of the pattern. Crossing my needles and giving her this week.

January 21, 2012
DONE!
Off to block.

March 26, 2012
Finally got up the rest of the photos. Because of the dark colour, it was difficult to get a decent photo of cabling unless I shoot in natural morning light.

I loves it!
I’ve been wearing it all month. It’s the perfect weight for dog walking and cross-country skiing outtings on those frosty -27C days.