Short Rows

 

The short row experiment turned into s small little hat, much appreciated by M. There is a hat craze going on at their school at the moment with most of the children wearing hats all the time…. This one was very good, according to M, since I added the small flowers at the brim.

It was a very nice experiment, short rowing for shaping is such fun. The yarn with the long color repeats helped too although I wouldn't buy this  particular yarn (Let's Knit of Svarta Fåret) again though, splitty is my complaint. I actually do not complain a lot about splitty yarn, but this one is. The coloring and the texture of the knitted fabric are quite nice though. Any light fingering yarn would do for this pattern and I guess I will make some more of these hats in the near future.

Since it was fun to knit and quite easy I made it into a pattern (Short Rows) which one can get at Ravelry for free here or

download now

In Between Days

 

The "mellandagarna" (in between days) are upon us. Christmas was quiet this year, no traveling (for the first time in years) and that was actually quite nice. We watched "A miracle on 34th street" (the old black & white one) on Christmas Day and yesterday we went to the movies to watch Arrietty (by Ghibli Studio).  That meant also some knitting time…. Arrietty is really wonderful, just want to stare at all the details, of the house of the borrowers, the doll-house, the meadow and so on and so on…. S wants to go again (already)….

Present-wise, I got some real nice things as well, mitten-kits and a real nice book. First of all, there are so many smart cardigans and sweaters in it, and I also love it that it is details that are high-lighted in the book and most designs are in sports to DK weight, which suits me well, since that is my favorite range as well. But my first item from the book will be in worsted weight; the Albero Cowl.

Why…..well I splurged a little bit just before Christmas and have a Sweater amount of this:

It is Madelinetosh Erin in "tart" and I think the little jacket will be just perfect in that yarn

So knitwise, I finished Astrid in Quince Lark "Iceland", loads of stockinette followed by a huge cowl in garter. Just the thing that S loves. I a way it is a shame that it is so mild here at the moment, since this is a real good comfy winter sweater.

and I started this:

a hat in short rows just improvising…. it is a quickie, a "mellanprojekt" for in-between days….

 

 

Comfort Cat

 

This is Totoro, our comfort cat…. not only does he have a nose to find anything soft (and knitted) within seconds of me putting it down, he also is very pettable . Simply, he has a very huge "aaibaarheidsfactor", so he gets away with quite a bit. So him sleeping there was a photo-opportunity…..

Anyway the item he found comfort on a couple of days ago, was my almost finished shawl "Highland Fling", made in Madelinetosh Alpaca Dream. The color is "Teddy Bear". It is a singly ply mix of alpaca and merino wool. For a single ply it feels very "heavy" and it is really lovely to knit with.

Now at work they have installed some "fresh air" thing in my office. The place of my office is totally enclosed within a building and the windows that I have give me a look onto loads of equipment. So fresh air is an issue, especially in summer time. But right now it just drops down on me and I just feel a very cold draught. So I need shawls and such more then anything else. I spotted this design on the back of an interweave knit magazine and I know that it would go really well together with this yarn. It is called Highland Fling and comes from a Classic Elite brochure.

Today I wore it, and yes this will be so good for potting my shoulders… I  have a soft spot for garter stitch, and this yarn really shines in it.

Now I have to excuse myself for my wet hair, but we were in a hurry and daylight being scarce these days, S just made some quick pictures before we were off for the last bit of christmas presents shopping in town.

Colour confusion

 

There are so many colours of Spindrift, it is easy to get confused….. I thought I lost a skein of "Sorbet", but when I got the replacement skein it was a more muted color pink then the one I had been using. I also got an amazing colourcard with that skein, so I could check.

My colour pink turned out to be "Sherbet" and not "Sorbet"…… I guess I can be excused for that mistake….

Anyways, I bought another skein, another week of waiting and then finally I could knit the yoke band...

I love how it tried out. It is understated, but vibrant as well. The yoke is a mixture of a raglan followed by a round yoke for the colourwork band. I did series of short rows to bring the back up.

I was lucky with the buttons too. I found some neat vintage buttons in a gentle pink colour. I opted for many buttons (11) and I do think that works well with this type of cardigan. When I was knitting it, M tested it for size a couple of times, but she found it was a bit "itchy". Luckily she I had blocked it and neatened all the loose threads, she thought it was not bad anymore at all. In fact she likes it so much she wants a beret with the same motifs….. I have left-overs so, who knows….

The sleeves and body are slightly log, but that is on purpose as she will grow into them and then hopefully it can worn a bit longer.