The simple things of life....

 

Sometimes the simple things will just do… miles and miles of stockinette with a humble yarn and a sleeping cat….

Just what is needed for these days. January is here, cold days with a minimal amount of snow but so much more wind. Days to stay inside and cuddle up. As Zai knows how to do….

As the project, this will become a boyfriend type cardigan for S. She wanted one in a particular colour. So we spent some time with the colour card of Jamieson’s double knitting and Mooskit was it…. I knit it as a single piece, but will split it up in fronts and  back for set-in sleeves. I will use a top-down short row approach for the sleeves… 

And yes it is simple and such, but it has its place….

Camera no!

 

Fashion requires fashion photography…apparently….

 

Argyle

There are things in knitting that are so rewarding. Texture and shapes and seeing how a string gets into a garment. Now I have to confess I am a kind of a yarn-snob, I only like acrylics in combination with cotton, and really only of it is micro fibre. But apart from that I will knit with everything, from wool to hemp and anything in between. I love my soft merino, but ask the hardy shetland wool and I do like clever combinations. Like wool-cotton…. Rowan wool -cotton is a lovely yarn, wool and cotton mixed such they totally blend together. The wool-cotton in the yarn in the cardigan above is different, you clearly see and feel the cotton and it is crisp and has a very lively colour… Two yarns, same combination, feeling very different… Just so nice!

The yarn is Balance from O-wool, 50% merino wool, 50% cotton, a worsted yarn. Organic too and it feels lovely to work with. Has a very nice stitch definition, which is why I went for cable and just a little bit lot lace..

And that is the other thing about knitting, or if one can read knitting charts, is that there is a wealth of different sources available to get inspiration from. The stitch pattern comes from a Japanese stitch pattern book and browsing through the book it was just so obvious that it had to be used… Is is a riff on an Argyle pattern, and thus….

There is no-sewing in this one, there are top-down set in sleeves, using short rows for the shaping. More short rows for the shawl collar. This was fun to come up with...

Yesterday I was in Malmö, and my teenager took me to a vintage clothes shop. That was very lucky since in the back of the shop they had this selection of vintage buttons, many still on their cards… I love vintage buttons, and a suitable set was found so nice shiny buttons as a contrast:

Oh and the back:

Tomorrow an action shot or so, probably in the snow….

Studies

Two more days of the winter holiday to go, today is 12th night, which is an official holiday day here and tomorrow school is closed as the teachers have their start of term study day. Still grey and warm weather (kind of the opposite of the US right now) but at least no rain today so far…. The last couple of days have been quiet and uneventful, apart from giving the house a good clean (need the extra time to do that), rearranging bedrooms to give the teenager a bit more privacy (her sister had to pass through teenagers room to get access to her bedroom, which is really not fair to a teenager…),  the little fair-isle hat got finished…. I think what I need to do next is tinkering…. I like the colours, but the patterns get a bit murky as the contrast is not very high between the browns, so I need to get that better. I think one colour needs to be replaced and I guess than the hat will look quite different. I also think that the decreases at the end need to come faster, but that is also an adaptation that can come easily. So another hat will get knitted in due time as I do like the paintery approach to making fair-isle items and who knows I might write it out as a pattern….. 

And no matter what, there will be always a recipient for a hat…...

The bag she is carrying here is another of M’s sewing projects. She really basically made this herself and it is a sturdy little bag, just big enough to carry some useful things around. And she put in some velcro to make sure that it wouldn’t unexpectedly open. I think she is really ready to go back to school now….as I am ready to back to work. It is funny that after a long stay away from work (nearly 3 weeks) one really wants to go back… I guess that is a good sign…..

But for M, not too much praise please as shyness can attack suddenly:

Grey days call for colour

This winter until now has been warm, windy and grey. The warm bit actually means that small pansies are flowering outside my front door, and I really don’t recall that I have ever seen that. But the grey overcast skies and the fact that the days are still so short gets to one at the end. If it was cold (as it should be), it would be open skies and that pale blue light that is so special for Scandinavia. Now it is just grey and depressing, staying at home, in bed, and watching Supernatural kind of weather….

So to counter all that gloominess, I started a small fair-isle hat. I asked my husband (who is really supposed to be born and raised in Scotland, from many generations of Scots as well) if he knew what fair-isle knitting was… he looked confused and said “ something with cables?”. OK I guess I need to educate at home…. In any case I started a small hat with my own colour scheme using fair-isle motifs. The yarn is Spindrift, lovely stuff for this kind of thing and I do love the impressive colour cards. I think I will make another one of this, with a small tinker of the colours and then go on with a sweater for me with a fair-isle motif. Nice to play with all the colours… 

One other thing to do on days like these, finish old projects:

 

This is a quilt for M that I started in summer 2011. I did the piecing and putting them together, but never got a backing and got round to the actual quilting. Now finally I did that… M is as happy as a bee with the quilt, it is on her bed now and she will have the best dreams ever (she says…). It feels so good to have this finished, I am still a beginner quilter and my sewing machine probably needs a service, but it is a nice thing to do after all.

M agrees, her sewing machine is also purring:

2013 Review

 

Lots of hats, lots of mittens, a good year!

Busy in between days

As they say, a picture is a thousand words:

 

I got backing material, so that’s what is going to be done next….