Kantajour

Learning Things

2012-03-10T12:00:00.001+01:00

I do like it when I come upon something that just shouts to me: try this, it is clever and you can learn from it! The thing I stumbled upon was the contiguous method (thank you SusieM) to make set-in type sleeves without the seaming. While I do not think it replaces the set-in sleeve completely, it is very nifty indeed...

So I needed to try it out. I figures the best way was to use a pattern and I used Same, Same which is nice, but unfortunately I do not like tables too much (I like it if patterns to be all in the text and start to over interpret things if I have to look at too many different places) and so I just used the start and went from there since I do love these little garters at the shoulders.

I'm quite pleased with the result, but also think there could be improvements. I would make the button edges bigger, these ones are not very stable and although I have a bit of positive ease, they gape slightly. I have put in quite a lot of buttons, but not even that helps… I would make the neckline lower (this is just personal taste) and I would make the sleeves a bit wider (they are narrow now) . But overall this is a nice light-weight cardigan, good for the change of season since spring is really coming soon!

Happy as a Bug

2012-03-08T16:44:00.001+01:00

Damson is ready, even M thought it was quick…. and she is very happy with it, so of to school this morning, wearing it:-)

On Ravelry there were luckily nice notes on projects how to make a smaller Damson, so I followed those and got a good M-size shawl. The shape is very good as well, since it really sits nicely on her shoulders and no pin is required to keep it were it should be.

All in one, a nice little project and more stash used in a very nice way!

Waiting for buttons

2012-03-05T12:41:00.001+01:00

I nearly finished my "Not quite similar", but I didn't have the buttons I thought would work well with this little cardigan. It was quite an easy knit, but still having that cold and not doing much except watching old episodes of House probably made that this one was knitted really fast. And that is one of the advantages of loads of stockinette, excellent TV knitting :-)

I didn't do any alternating skeins for this one. The yarn I used is Madelinetosh Sock "grove" and I had the feeling that I wouldn't need to do so.

I thought a small neckband would work best with this one, so I picked up the sts up & knitted them, 1 more row of knit and then an I-cord bind-off. A very neat and small neckband that is still giving structure to the finished object.

My next project is giving me a dilemma….

M wanted a small shawl, so I thought, well that makes a good change of projects. So we went to Ravelry and M thought that Damson was a good little shawl for her. Next thing was the yarn, she wanted a green shawl, and my stash does contain a bit of green fingering yarn, so after some thoughts she wanted "Eat your Veggies" (Claudia hand-painted fingering). Now comes the problem, I have only 2 skeins, 350 yards. The pattern needs 440 yards…. So either I need to make it much smaller, or I need to find a third skein that goes with it, or I need to buy 1 more skein of "eat your veggies"...

For the moment I have decided I will make a smaller version, M is small so that will work out anyways…. but I also will have a proper excision when I have used the first skein. That will give a bit of a better feeling on how big/small it will be...

Sunday Walk

2012-02-29T18:54:00.001+01:00

Sunday was a really gorgeous day. Sunny, dry and above 0°C. So the perfect day for a walk in the forest. The part of Sweden we live in has many many castles and grand houses and some of them are in a wonderful environment as well. So we went to walk in the forests of Häckeberga Slott. The castle itself is used as hotel/ conference center but the forest/lakes around it are a nature reserve. We live quite close to it and have driven many times past it, but for one reason or another we never actually walked around there. So this time we had to do it. And it is just lovely, just wonder why we never did it before. Now one reason is that there are many lovely places to go, but still..

Some of it felt a bit like it came from a game, like Myst. Especially the bridge pictured above, which had that quality of being a bit unreal, but quite real at the same time. There was also a place with a very big tipi. We started to wonder who had built that one, but no clue. It was quite eery in a certain way. There were also all kind of other constructions around which made it even more odd.

This time of year is actually the dullest possible. We had a period of sharp cold, so things are a lot less green. In a couple of weeks, real signs of spring will start to pop up, but not yet…. but we are in a warm spell right now, so tomorrow I will check the garden and look for snow-drops!

And talking about spring, I started this:

it is a pattern called Same, same but different. I wanted to make it since it is using the contiguous method for shaping a top-down set-in sleeve. I do have to say that I do like this method of making sleeves. So it was a good thing to try, I am not following the pattern though apart from the set-up and the gathered stuff at the shoulders.

Winter Smockie

2012-02-22T14:59:00.001+01:00

I finished the winter Smockie today. Last week I had to go to Stockholm for work and on the way back in the plane, I knew that something was amiss…. The new day I was on my way to work but D turned the car around half-way and dropped me of, home again with some miss-mash of influenza and common cold. Not a good week thus. Haven't done a lot and not even knitting a lot.

This week I have been back at work 1 day, but M is not well now, so today I am home again, but as I am still feeling under the weather I am not that unhappy about it.

I'm not the only one that is being not well, at work I am part of a committee of 6 and of those 6, 3 were ill….and that is I think the average at the moment.

Well the snow is gone, it is back to gray and rainy and a nice green winter cardigan to start to think of spring is just what is needed maybe…. M is anyways mightily pleased with it, since it sparkles very discretely :-)

Winter Smocky in Dream In Color Stardust "Mountain Moss".

Choice

2012-02-12T13:14:00.001+01:00

Last summer I knitted a small cardigan in cotton for M: smockie. It had some smocking at the yoke and was short-sleeved. It is well liked and worn quite a bit. But now it is winter and I thought a woolen, long sleeved one would come in handy. Knitting from stash also means to go through and see what one has and what one can use. So I had three DIC lots that could be used. I lined them up and M could choose her colour. I had expected it to be red, but no she choose green…. Well to be honest this is DIC Stardust (a yarn only made in very small amounts, a forerunner of DIC Starry, bought from somebody selling their stash at Ravelry), so there is this small amount of glitter in it…. And glitter works….

So happily knitting it:

Hats

2012-02-12T13:06:00.001+01:00

This was a week for hats. Just having finished a sweater, I wanted to make some small objects. So hats it was… Going through my stash to find appropriate yarn was not hard either. Sock-wool is good and so are leftover amounts of sweaters. The hat above is made with Smooshy "Ruby River". The pattern is Noo, which comes in different sizes and can be knit as a more or less slouchy hat. M wanted of course a slouchy hat and that it became….

The other hat is made from leftover yarn from Lauriel, Artesano Superwash merino. The pattern is the Ruche Beret from Weekend Hats. Loads of nice hats in that book, will be used again

Repairs

2012-02-05T11:44:00.001+01:00

Late yesterday evening I finished the Albero Cowl. When I see the finishing line of a project I really like, si start to go faster and faster since I want to wear it. This is definitely the case for this jacket. It is one of those projects were design, yarn and color come together. So I am really pleased. The design is from Connie Chang Chinchio's new book. I didn't do any modifications whatsoever. Plain sailing all the way. The yarn is Madelinetosh Erin in tart. I love tart, this is the 2nd project I knit in this color and it is just such a nice deep red. Just love it.

The jacket can be worn in different ways, so since it is cold here, serious cold, this way is especially useful:

this however is not that nice:

M came hone from school with these holes in her sleeve….

Nothing to do be done so, I took a breath and a cut:

and now I am knitting the last bit again:

Hemp in winter

2012-01-29T13:54:00.001+01:00

Since about a week, it is suddenly winter here. We had weeks of rain and wind and general misery weather-wise, but now it has changed. It is colder, brighter, and it is supposed to get even colder. I do admit that it is a lot better then the rain drenched ground we had to live with during most of December and January. So to start an image of the landscape from my bedroom window. As one can see, the one thing lacking is snow….. I do love snow, well that is at the beginning of the winter. At the end of it, I hate it, hate it with a passion. But each year I can't wait for a good think layer to go through. Hopefully some snow will fall soon, it gives protection for the plants!

So now for the title and plants that do not need protection…. In the back of the photo, the field with hemp is visible. It is left standing on the field until the end of winter, then it has become much more pliable and it is easier to get the fibers spun…. So yes there it is: yarn to be!

I do like hemp (not only to knit with). The plants grow extremely fast, it is an annual that grows up to about 2 m here. During the summer it is green and lush. In the autumn great flocks of birds live in it, eating the hemp seeds and in the winter it gives a nice cover to the field. It hardly needs any fertilizer and can grow even on poor soil. The only negative bit is the enormous amount of paperwork that needs to be filled in in order to grow it….

Anyways, the yarn is great for summer, but now it is winter so a winter knit...

This is going to be the Albero Cowl from the Textured Knits book by Connie Chang Chinchio. The yarn is Madelinetosh Erin, a 100% wool in a worsted/aran weight. The color is "tart". This is the second item I knit in "tart". The other one was a Moineau in Madelinetosh merino light. That yarn had a wonderful black haze and other colourways I have in my stash, also have a haze whether black or white. Erin doesn't have a haze, it is much more straight-forward. So the color is more "direct". Very lovely still and a good match to the pattern (I think…).

Making the pictures was a challenge….

This week I discovered pinterest, so I have bee pinning. I put a knitting board up, but I do think it is even better for food pinning. Now I finally can organize nice recipes that I find on the web and want to make later in some neat way.

Yesterday we went for a major bit of indulgence:

Homemade Nutella

Today we were more restrained, S and I made Lai Wong Boa, one of my first pins…. Our efforts were quite good:

Ease

2012-01-24T17:33:00.001+01:00

Today I finished Goose. But since I was at home (since I am not feeling 100% for the last couple of days), and the others working or at school, the recipient was not here and I wanted to have a picture. So I worn it myself. Now here it gets interesting. The pattern is meant to be worn with 4" of positive ease. I knitted an XS so this one has only 1.5" positive ease for me. It is not super fitting, but it is not an overbid sweater either. I quite like it like that.

But I made it not for myself, so at dusk, when S came home, I just had time to take a picture of her...

Worn as an XS with 4 to 5" positive ease. It worked too and for a nearly teen maybe even better.

Nice experiment anyways.

Tomorrow I will luckily be back at work, I don't really like being not well, but it feels as if I am OK to go tomorrow!

Half a sweater

2012-01-21T14:22:00.001+01:00

Normally I do not do New Year's resolutions, they are just made to be broken, so why make them…. But having done the bit of decoration and moving things from here to there, I realized that, really, I do have plenty of yarn. And plenty to play a long time with, with quite some sweater amounts of stuff. So I made a "public" promise not to buy any yarn at least until the first of April.

So now I am knitting and planning from Stash and not looking at the MadelineTosh shop, since that would be really tempting.

Anyways this is my first item made with Dream In Colour Classy in Midnight Derby. I think I bought this yarn more than two years ago, so really high time to work with it. The pattern is Goose by Heidi Kirrmaier. It was a very kind gift of the raveler Yvonnegut.

Of course I can't just knit it, I had to tweak it slightly. I make it not as long (it is for S), the sleeves will be 3/4 (I don't have enough yarn…) and I have done the decreases in the sleeves different as well. I was going for already 10 cm or so when I found out I had skipped over the word "provisional", so instead of a 3 bind-off, I will have "deconstructed" seams…. Post-modern that :-)

I'm half-way now and I do like the half a sweater look of it!

Now I am digging in my stash to see what I would like to make next….

Yes I know…..

2012-01-14T10:37:00.001+01:00

Ok yesterday it should have gone down, as it is the habit in Sweden. That is the Christmas tree…. But yesterday was friday and really, on some fridays one only wants to sit and sip a glass of wine. Which is what we did, so the tree is still there this morning. But then I could use it as background for my "Muted Thistle"…..

I like this version just as much as the earlier one. I did tweak a bit, which means that there are more short rows in the yoke so it is not as wide. About the yarn (Brooklyn Tweed Loft), it has a lovely feel to it and it is very "airy" (it has indeed loft), When I just got it, I was a bit disappointed since the colors were more muted then what it looked like on my computer screen when I had ordered it. But when knitted up, I can see that there is more depth and it is very lively and lovely. It was also very good for colourwork since just like Spindrift, it has a real nice "grab" which makes it very easy to keep an even tension. Only slight-negative thing, since it is woollen-spun (mule spun?) yarn, it breaks really easily. But then if it wasn't spun like that, it wouldn't have the nice "loft"…..

I was quite lucky here as well, since I used exactly 2 skeins of the MC. I have 2 left, so I guess I nice shawl …. maybe with some of the other colors as well….

It is well matched for vintage inspired knitting I think and I could see myself in a similar cardigan as well. S wants one like this as well, so maybe I will scale up….

Just two more shots:

and a slight update, here it starts to go down:

Almost there

2012-01-13T18:40:00.001+01:00

Other Things

2012-01-05T12:44:00.001+01:00

The winter break can be a real good time to do those things, we never get time for the rest of the year. In our case it is home improvement. I have not knitted a lot the last couple of days, but we have set tiles (in that square meter in the kitchen that needed to be fixed), put on new wall-paper (the study) and now only floor tiles have to be laid down….

A good start for 2012!

I hope you had one too!

Short Rows

2011-12-29T10:36:00.001+01:00

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

2011-12-27T13:02:00.001+01:00

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

2011-12-17T17:16:00.001+01:00

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

2011-12-11T15:04:00.001+01:00

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.

Storm

2011-11-28T09:46:00.001+01:00

Last night, a small but violent storm visited the south of Sweden. During the day the wind picked up in speed and in the late afternoon it started to be "full-on". D was supposed to play a concert in Denmark, but just 3 minutes before he wanted to cross the bridge from Sweden to Denmark, the authorities decided to close the bridge for all road-traffic. He came home safe and I was actually glad that he didn't make it to the other side of the Sound.

Anyways around 10 to 11 in the evening things started to get really spooky….. and somewhere around that time the first one of our elms came down. We actually didn't noticed at first, there was too much noise to do so. Little background, our elms are a group of 5 to 6 elm trees that are in our garden. When we moved in they were grand trees with a really impressive canopy during the summer. About 3 to 4 years after we moved in we were told that they had gotten "Dutch Elm Disease" and they would die. Indeed they did, within 3 years they were all dead. They are not very close to the house and birds (especially woodpeckers) were around the trees a lot, so we left them for the time being. Elm wood is a bit strange since it actually gets harder and we were told that they wouldn't really cause big risks. Last summer our neighbour (a farmer) proposed to help to finally remove them and that was more or less planned to happen next year.

But now it happened a bit faster than that…. We were lucky since the wind was pure west and the tree fell onto the road and not on the garage. We were also lucky that it was the farmer-neighbour who spotted the tree around 11 since he just went got a saw & tractor and rowed the debris from the road. When he & D were dealing with the first tree, a second one came down too… Scary stuff.

As said we were lucky with the direction of the wind, OK the fence is pretty much destroyed but it could have been much worse, and yes the remaining trees will go now a bit faster too..

But for cats & girls it has a positive side as well:

And to finsih, I have started a test-knit for In Transit, see this post on Ravelry for the details.

Sad Case

2011-11-26T11:15:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, it happened….. D managed to felt this cardigan that I had made only a couple of months earlier this year. I know accidents do happen, and as one says in Dutch "waar gewerkt wordt vallen splinters" but still…. It wasn't the first time it happened and yes I got a bit upset. Yes it takes a bit of time to sort the wash, but there is a reason to do it nevertheless…. I guess I was also upset since I had finished it so recently, I hadn't really worn it a lot either.. And it just hurts…..

Anyways D realized that I had reasons to be upset and he bought me replacement yarn. It came earlier this week, so now I have started to make Cecily's Cardigan again. It feels sad to do so, but I did like this little cardie, so…. Anyways it is a quick easy knit, so second time around it will be even better?

I'm also in a "hat" state of mind. I had a bit of Pashmina left from a Audrey in Unst that I made earlier. Quite a bit actually, so I thought another hat would be perfect for it. It is almost black yarn, but a lace pattern goes well:

This is a Soft Linen Lace Beret from the Classic Elite newsletter. Quite an easy fast pattern and I really have to say, I love this yarn. It is soft, lovely to work with and the colors are so nice. Just great stuff!

Grrrrrrrrr

2011-11-19T13:47:00.001+01:00

Last week i came home quite late a couple of nights, traveling by bus. We had a small conference at the start of the week and a dinner attached to that, the next day we ran into technical problems at work and they had to be solved. Late nights….. But anyways that isn't the cause of the grrrrrr itself…

I do most of my knitting during the week when I'm commuting so I knitted those two nights on the bus home as well, but it was dark and I was tired. And then I discovered yesterday that I had lost the ball of one of the contrast colors on one of those nights. So now I am stuck on the yoke, and the finish is in sight and I can't make it. And that makes me go grrrrrr. Of course I searched the whole house, our car, my office at work and whatnot, but it is gone and the bus is just so likely. Especially since I did one of the stranded motifs for a sleeve in the bus and I did cut the thread…..

I ordered a new ball from Scotland (no supplier around here), so it will be at least a week before it will arrive. Ah well that just shows me to be more careful, even when being tired after a long day….. But on the bright side, I did order a colourcard for Spindrift….. so maybe it was just meant to be so….

Thistle

2011-11-12T09:54:00.001+01:00

Even though D is from Scotland, I have never knitted with true yarn from the Shetlands. I have admired the colour work produced with it, but for one reason or another never done anything with it myself. I didn't see it in the shops, and on the net it is difficult to make a proper choice from all the colours available. Until this summer in Edinburgh….

There they had a small selection of Spindrift and I just had to try it. They didn't have a lot of colors so I just picked 2 greys and 2 pinks and thought this should do for a light-weight cardigan for M.

So now I'm knitting with it, and it has to be said, never has colour work knitting been so easy. The yarn grabs and is extremely easy to tension and even before a slight block it looks beautiful. Yes it is a bit scratchy, but this is to be worn over a long armed T-shirt anyways. And I do guess it gets a bit softer when it is washed. But what a dream to knit colour with, maybe I should try to order some colour-cards…..

Grading

2011-11-05T16:07:00.001+01:00

I had the last two days off from work. It is autumn holiday and I thought it would be good to have some days off as well. On Thursday we went to Copenhagen, yesterday we stayed at home and baked cake & cookies. Copenhagen was nice, we went by bus & train and the connections we excellent. It was a nice busy day so it was nice to relax and do not so much on friday.

I also started to work on the last bits of pattern writing: grading. It requires a bit of concentration & attention so it is good to do it on a quiet day. I have still some parts to go but it is not much so I guess it will be done by tomorrow. Pattern writing can take up more time than I normally plan. One thing is that while I can do knitting on a bus or a train (yes lots of knitting time on thursday), I can only work on a pattern when children are not interrupting me and on my desk. That makes it a bit more difficult to plan. But I'm not complaining!

Since I had all that knitting time while travelling, I also finished a real speedy knit: Idlewood by Cecily Glowik MacDonald. S spotted this sweater almost on the same day that the pattern came out. She just loved the very big cowl. I got some yarn for it in the beginning of the year, but for one reason or another I only casted it on last weekend.

The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool Aran in "forest". I have used this yarn before and the item I knitted with it held up really well. I think it is a nice yarn, but there is one problem with it and that is knots. I remember from the last time that I have many many knots. So that made me a bit hesitant to use it again. This time however, I had only 1 skein with 1 knot…. so I'm pleased. I knitted it with exactly 4 skeins, I had 10 cm leftover. I have a fifth skein, I guess that will get made into another hat, one never can have enough hats even if cowls can do sometimes too.

Autumn

2011-10-30T13:09:00.001+01:00

I finished my In Transit 2. As it turns out, it has Autumn all written over it. The main thing is of course the yarn, which was Quince & Co Chickadee in "Honey". The color is a kind of yellow, amber, golden hue that really fits with this time of year. The trees are now almost bare, and there is a musty autumn smell in the air. Today the clocks changed backwards. I don't like it, now it will be dark when we come home…. But on the bright side, next week the children have holiday and I'll be taken 2 days off for a small break...

Anyways for some reason I think this one has more vintage feel then the one knitted in Madelinetosh yarn. I guess it is the fact that the yarn is uniform in color and the color itself is kind of old-fashioned.

I put more buttons on the deep rib, and the straps are a bit wider & longer. I was lucky since I had cute vintage buttons in my button stash that were just perfect for this cardigan.

Now writing the pattern…..my goal is still to have it finished at the end of December (test knitted and all), I have most of it written down, just grading the sizes remains.

Other news, This morning when having breakfast there was a strange cat sitting in front of our kitchen window miaoing very loudly. D opened the door and without hesitating she came in. She was quite thin, very hungry and very very friendly. She also looked as if she is well-looked after in general, with a nice shine on her fur. I guess she got lost some time ago and since she made herself (after eating a lot) comfortable next to me on the sofa we decided to let her be. So for the moment she stays in our house. If she is still here in a couple of days, we will put out an advertisement since I am sure someone is missing her...

Myrten Hat

2011-10-22T16:39:00.001+02:00

Since there was such a big lack of hats in our house, I spent one evening last week looking at hats on Ravelry. There are so many patterns there and some are so very nice. Some are also amazing in the sense that so few people actually used the pattern. I spotted the Myrten Hat by Hiroko Fukatsu and there were only 5 projects….

I really liked the flowers and the way they were put on the hat in only two colors. The very clever way of having the solid flowers and the outline of flowers and I was also up for a bit of stranded knitting. My smallest one choose the colors and the yarn. It is Drops Baby Alpaca in a purple and natural color. This yarn is like a thinner version of Blue Sky Alpaca Alpaca-Silk, it is very soft and has a nice sheen. It is more loose than the Blue Sky yarn and thus just a little bit splitty. Not that bad to work with and I can imagine it works really nice for a shawl or something lacy. I think it works well with this hat and I hope it will keep some child warm this winter….

Frost

2011-10-16T09:57:00.001+02:00

Just two weeks ago we had the lovelies Summer days of this year, but now the seasons have caught up with us….. Sharp frost in the mornings and lovely sunny afternoons. Lovely Autumn days even though it is sad to see the last blooms now destroyed.

But I also quickly discovered that M didn't have any warm fitting hat anymore and she really needed one. The one I spotted was the Effie Beret by Melissa Labarre, since I do like the way the decreases are organized on the crown of the hat. Also, I had quite some Osprey leftovers from the two Camillas but not enough to make a solid color Effie beret. So instead I made the brim in Crocus and the rest of the hat in Winesap. Since her winter coat is grey, I do think the brightness of the hat goes well. Finally I will be able to spot her from afar….

In Transit

2011-10-09T18:00:00.001+02:00

Some time ago in the spring, I was at an airport. Bored and waiting for the flight to board, I started to draw small items. There was one of a cardigan with some ties. I quite liked it but just a plain cardigan with ties didn't completely make it. So I wanted to have some lace too. Back home I browsed through my stitch books and in Barbara Walker's first book there was one that I liked a lot. It is a simple lace pattern over a small number of stitches: English Lace Mesh. So it is good when there are slopes and all that involved. I wanted deep ribs and a vintage feel, but still modern too.

The drawing and some notes lay unused over the summer, but now in Autumn time it was good to start it. So here is the first version in Madelinetosh Tosh sport. The colours is "Stovepipe" a grey with steel-blue undertones. Lovely stuff. I wanted to make a very slightly variegated version and this yarn is just perfect for that kind of thing.

There are some things I want to tweak, so I'll start another one. For this one I have actually kept copious notes so it should go speedy. The tweaked version is going to be in Quince & Co Chickadee "Honey". I will be fun to see how that one will develop.

But until then:

To end ,just a small picture of my lovely assistant and photographer:

Goodbye

2011-10-02T15:34:00.001+02:00

This morning, my Kara died. She was old and the last couple of days she got worse very very rapidly. Yesterday morning she had still great appetite and cuddled up to me. During the day she enjoyed the sunshine while laying in her cat bed in our bedroom, but in the evening she wasn't interested in either drink or food. During the night she woke me and it was clear she was saying goodbye. I cuddled her, she lay down and fell asleep. This morning she died, peacefully.

I miss her already, but I'm happy she said goodbye.

The photo was taken a couple of summers ago, she loved to lay in the sun. I don't have many photos of her, she was a shy cat. Of all our cats, she was really mine and she was the first cat I got as an adult. As I said, I'll miss her very much.

Indian Summer

2011-10-01T09:52:00.001+02:00

The last couple of days have been really nice. We are having an Indian summer and after the very wet summer it feels so good. I was at a meeting in the country-side for work the last couple of days and on Thursday we walked to the beach and dipped our toes in the sea… Lovely to be able to do so in late September. Not that we spent a lot of time on the beach, we had quite an intense meeting and so on, but we are embarking on a very big project at work so it felt good to get the extra energy.

Anyways, I like an Indian summer, the colors right now are so intense, the leaves on the trees are going into their autumn colors and spiders weave their webs everywhere. The flowers are putting on their last show and a last glut of autumn raspberries and tomatoes should be harvested. In the morning there is quite a heavy fog and everything is covered by small drops. Just all very nice...

Knitting related; I'm working slowly on a new cardigan, will not say to much on it yet, just a teaser:

In Transit….

Small update 2, now in red

2011-09-25T18:08:00.001+02:00

Cardigans to be

2011-09-24T11:38:00.001+02:00

I'm at the last stages of the second Camilla and my fingers are itching to cast-on another project or two… I have two ideas for cardigans in my head and it is now really time to get them onto my needles. One will be a cardigan for me and a subsequent pattern for adults. The yarn, Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in "Stovepipe". There will be lace involved….. I really want to cast this on, I have some rough sketches but that is all and it will be so nice to see whether that what I have in my head can become a real cardigan.

The other will be a small cardigan for M, Scottish in nature:

This is Jamieson Spindrift that I bought in Edinburgh. It will become a cardigan with some stranded knitting details. I have the colourwork already in a chart and I do need to get the numbers right for the cast on. It will have a rounded yoke and be quite like a previous cardigan I knitted for M.

Finally

2011-09-18T16:03:00.001+02:00

Finally the pattern for Moineau is finished. Thanks to a good tech editor and a very helpful group of test-knitters, it has been released now. Thank you all!

Just a small update

2011-09-18T09:56:00.001+02:00

Purple?

2011-09-17T13:09:00.001+02:00

For one reason or another I am in a purple case. It's not that I am particularly fond of this color either, it just happens to be the color to knit with.

Three items in the purple and one with some purple planned (watch this place…..).

But at least the fibers are all very different, hemp, alpaca-silk and wool. One needs some kind of variety after all….

The sweater at the top is for M. It is Camilla Girl in Quince & Co Osprey "crocus". Normally I tend to stitch to needle sizes between 4.5 and 2.5, but this is aran weight yarn knitted on 6.5 mm. Needless to say, it flies…. The yarn is squishy but it feels sturdy. Good for items like this. M doesn't like jackets , so a sweater might be it for playing outside.

This was a quicky as well, Blue Skies Alpacas Alpaca Silk is just lovely soft and warm with a pretty sheen. The pattern is also from them, design by Cecily Glowik-MacDonald. Easy to follow and easy to knit. Good as a layering item now that autumn is upon us.

This one I showed already, hemp is really nice to wear. The pretty buttons are from El Corte Inglés, a nice memory from Madrid….

But before I will do that I will make a snappy red sweater for my big daughter..

A change of Season

2011-09-03T20:09:00.001+02:00

Our sweet peas are in full bloom and produce so many flowers that I can't keep up with them. I love their smell and have small vases with them in our house… the very last days of summer are upon us….

We were (for work) 10 days in Spain and that gave us enough sun-shine and heat for the winter to come which is of course a very good thing if one lives in Sweden. And the change of season is really upon us. So my knitting is also changing gear. I finished my last bit of summer knitting:

This is Sparrow, but made in AllHemp 3. Hemp is a funny yarn. I need to get used to it and I have to be careful since if I drift my tension starts to become very different. But I can throw it in a regular wash and let it dry in a dryer and the fabric becomes actually much nicer than before. Great stuff to wear too and of course one of the most environmentally friendly fibers around...

So now onwards to more in between seasons stuff. I started a small layering cardigan in Blue Skies Alpacas Alpaca Silk:

It is a design by Cecily Glowik MacDonald, who is really very very good at this kind of understated simple garments that are so very wearable! Love her stuff.

I also plan some winter stuff:

Quince Osprey. Camillas for both my daughters….

Buttons

2011-08-20T12:16:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I got the extra ball of yarn and some "frantic" knitting ensued….but I finished it. We are leaving today for Spain (work-related) and I know she won't need it there, but I wanted to have it finished. I had ordered some buttons from Etsy but they didn't arrive in time, but going through my button stash I found some real nice vintage ones. In fact more perfect than the ones I ordered…. They give that little extra.

Anyways I will have lunch now and then we are leaving….

Stuck

2011-08-14T17:50:00.001+02:00

When we were in Scotland I bought some yarn to knit Lauriel for S. Very appropriate since it was in Edinburgh and…. The yarn is Artesano pure merino super wash and it is nice, but mainly chosen for the colour (by S). It is a very nice design, unusual construction and the book it comes from…. well I can't praise it enough. Little red in the city has such a good section on sizing and adapting that I'm talking about it everywhere. It helps that I do like the patterns very much as well, and S loves them as well. Originally I was planning to knit this for myself, but S really liked it as well and a neat small cardigan for the autumn she can use.

Anyways I bought 7 skeins, thinking it would be enough for a 30"…. but it isn't….. That small ball of yarn in her hand, that is what I have left…. Stuck….. Oh how I hate to run out of yarn :-(

By now I have ordered an extra skein and I really really hope it won't be too jarring a color change. Otherwise I will have to frog a bit and alternate skeins and I really don't like to do that. Ah well, doesn't happen that much to me but still

So I started Sparrow (the pattern by Pam Allen in Twist) but I'm not using sparrow the yarn. Much as I like sparrow (the yarn) i want some bold color for that design. So Allhemp 3 in a nice deep purple it will be….

Not that I ever liked "Deep Purple", not my taste in music, but color wise...

Exotic

2011-08-04T10:24:00.001+02:00

We just came back yesterday from visiting D's parents. We had quite a good time and for once we actually had some days with brilliant weather. I'm not going to write a lot, just a couple of pictures of exotic Scotland...

Smockie

2011-07-25T13:55:00.001+02:00

Some yarns just give an idea.... Originally I had bought this yarn (Sock Candy from BMFA) to make a "Darwinia" but it didn't feel right. This yarn is quite stiff and I didn't really think it would work for that pattern. So I put it aside and let it be. Then some weeks ago I thought that a smock pattern would maybe work instead, so that's what I decided to make instead. The smock pattern I have used is a Mock Honeycomb stitch that I found in a Japanse Stitch book. It also can be found in Barbara Walker's first stitch collection. I think it works really well with this yarn. There is also colour variation and only obvious patterns-stitches can be used if one does stil want to see the pattern.

M is happy with it, which is always an important factor too!

Kiba!

2011-07-19T08:47:00.001+02:00

I never knew that Manga could be popular around here.... S and most of her friends have become "obsessed" with Naruto and on a good day all I hear is stories about Naruro, Sasuku, Kiba, Kakashi, Neji and who not. I can't really follow...but I did read the 2nd book.

Anyways S has been very nice and helpful the last couple of months with all kind of things from helping in the house without complaining to looking after her little sister, so when she requested a Naruto based knitted item I thought it was a nice reward. She wanted a black shirt with a big Uchiha Sign on the back. The first thing we did was chart it. She actually made the chart. I used intarsia to knit this symbol. Since she wanted it for summer wearing I used BC garn Allino. It comes in a very nice range of colours and is quite nice to knit with.

The front is plain black, with a polo like opening for the neck in seed-stitch, I tried to photograph it on two different days but I can't catch it, black just obscures all details. Short set-in sleeves make it more T-shirt like. The hems are seamed and plain.

Scullery Trouble

2011-07-15T10:07:00.001+02:00

It is supposed to be the warmest bit of the summer.... but no instead we have rain and cold and miserable weather. I'm in a lousy mood since we are rebuilding the scullery and of course it takes much longer than we thought it would. We have too little tiles, they have to be re-ordered and thus a week delay. It wouldn't be so bad but the scullery is the place where we have the washing machine and so on and that means that at the moment we do NOT have one. Sweden doesn't have many launderettes (if you life in a flat there is a communal one attached to it) and that means that we have to do washing by hand. Not my type of fun! And with all the rain nothing dries either. Bleeh.

I probably wouldn't complain that much but we had to go to the Netherlands for a week and coming back there were just piles of stuff to be washed and then suddenly one realizes how much help modern devices really are. It was planned that things would be kind of functioning when we would come back, but instead we are in a heap of turmoil. Best laid plans and all of that.....

On the bright side, it was quite nice weather in the Netherlands, so we had a nice visit with my parents. Lots of knitting time too, all that car travel... I finished Uhura and was able to wear it, some photos in my mother her garden:

On the way back I worked on a Naruto inspired polo-shirt for S. On a good day we do not hear anything else but Naruto, but she has been really helpful the last couple of months so it was easy to grant that wish:

ps. I do like the word "scullery", so much more evocative than "grovkök" or "tvättställe"......

Day and Night.....

2011-07-04T10:41:00.001+02:00

The woolly one got finished. M thinks it is really cool that it can be worn either way. She also thinks it is practical since if it gets dirty you just turn it around and presto...... I hope that this will not cause extreme stains to appear on this little top since I do like it quite a bit. The yarn works just as well as the linen and with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath it can be worn long into the autumn which makes it pretty versatile. I do love the different impression the dark and light sides make. Colour play is quite a nice game.

I have the pattern for Moineau nearly written up, I just need to check some math for the in between sizes and then it should go to a tech editor. I hope that I will be able to do that little bit of work tomorrow. I know it won't be a lot of time but it sometimes difficult to find the time to do things in a concentrated manner when at home. Also the last couple of weeks/months have been very hectic at work and that means that in the evening I just find it very difficult to do "pattern writing".

I have holiday now so it should be easier and it also feels so good to have holiday.... On Wednesday however we'll go to the Netherlands so for a week nothing will happen. It is about 800 to 900 km driving, so I better have some things to knit too.... But really I ought to do the last writing bit tomorrow....

Thumbs Up

2011-07-03T09:30:00.001+02:00

Green is so much better.....

Contrast

2011-06-28T20:20:00.001+02:00

To have a pattern ready takes time and effort. For Moineau I decided that I wanted to see what would happen if I used a completely other fiber then the linen I had used at first. I decided to use Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light again, since it is my favourite 4-ply woolly yarn. The colours are rich, it has drape, it is quite sturdy for a single ply yarn and I just love knitting with it. So 1 skein of Porcelain and 1 skein of Tart were bought. But I did do my calculations wrong....

I thought I would have enough yarn with only 1 skein MC and 1 skein CC..... That doesn't work out of course. After I knitted the front I realized that I need 1 and a bit skein MC.... What to do, what to do.... It is handpainted yarn, so no guarantees on colour whatsoever, and I would of course have huge left-overs. To make matters worse, the shop I bought the yarn didn't have the colour (Porcelain) left (Eat.Sleep.Knit, they have a huge selection of Merino Light), so stuck...

I decided in the end to take the CC for the front and make it MC for the back.....and it looks so different:

Of course there is the difference between a sunny day and an overcast rainy one, but it is more than just that. Both are nice, but they are different. So I'm looking forward to this two-faced top....

It is real nice warm weather right now, so good days to wear summary tops. I knitted a summary top years ago for S, now M can wear it with pride, and Totoro is just good natured as he always is....

Learning Curve....

2011-06-19T20:07:00.001+02:00

Knitting for older childern is a learning curve.... one should not forget to engage them in the process otherwise it is just frustation and the end of any items knitted for them. I had the "brilliant plan" to knit some Shetland Shorties for me, M and S just in time for my father's big birthday dash in July. S & M liked the pattern so OK, I went ahead. But I forgot that all important question, the colour... I though pink for S would be nice since it really is nice with her dress. But no, no and no again. Pink is apparently the most foul colour in the universe... I only learned this fact after I had finished the first one that was meant for S. Luckily the pattern is very very stretchy, so I can wear it (even though it is a bit small) and pink goes with my dress as well, so just a change of plans then and never forget to ask about both pattern and colour and....

So I decided then to let S search my sock-yarn stash for a nice colour, so it is going to be green (what a surprise...):

It is yarnchef Mulligatawny in "Sour Apple", lovely soft yarn. I have finished the bottom bit now and it is proceeding..

I also finished my Salina from Rowan Vintage Knits, a quite simple sweater in mainly stockinette. I used Rowan Purelife Revive, a real lovely silk/cotton/viscose mix and recycled too. It is a nice summer sweater for those days that are so typical of a normal north european summer, a bit of sun, some showers, quite a bit of wind and not that warm. I do love this yarn. It is tweedy (always love that) with really brilliant bits of colour, it has a nice drape and feels really strong. Nice stuff!

Crochet?

2011-06-08T17:11:00.001+02:00

I have to confess, I am not a very good crocheter. I can do it, made some hats when I was younger, but I find it more difficult than knitting. Both my mother and grandmother did equal amounts of crochet and knitting so I did learn it as a child. Also I do like crochet trims and Granny Squares in bright colours are very neat indeed, but nevertheless I stick to knitting.

M was ill last evening and night, so we had to stay at home and take it quiet. She has a low fever and throwing up half of the night means that it is a no-no for going to school. She was extremely annoyed, since it was school-concert today and she was going to sing, instead she had to stay home and.....

She decided that she wanted to learn to crochet. So here she is making the line longer and longer and taking it very seriously indeed. I guess this means I have to fresh up on my crochet skills as well, to be able to learn her how to do single and double stitches and all that. Now it is only a chain stitch, but one has to start somewhere doesn't one? So any suggestion for an easy pattern that a 6-year old might be able to tackle, I'm open for suggestions!

Knitting news, I bought some DIC Starry to make some Shetland Shorties for all of us (except for D). So here a closing picture of some yarn and from left to right it is Happy Forest, Lipstick Java and Cool Fire.....

Bosbes

2011-05-30T20:36:00.001+02:00

I guess that everybody knows what is the worst kind of stain in whatever thing you are wearing, yes right blueberry (bosbes in dutch) juice.... July, walk in woods, blueberries in sight and children will get covered in those intense blue-purple stains just everywhere.... The yarn I used for the skirt is called Blueberry Jam and so right it is. It has all those juicy stain colours and little flecks of it too. It is quite a nice cotton too, soft and a nice hand.

It is quite a simple dress, a bit of A-line flair, Latvian Twist at the hem for a bit more swirl and a twist rib top. There are two straps with buttons that can be changed in position so that the dress can be worn over a longer time. Good for going into the woods on warm summer's days.....

A good thing comes in two.....

2011-05-30T16:48:00.001+02:00

I had a good productive weekend and actually managed to seam and finish the two cardigans that were laying around. It feels really good. The one above is Lente, the 2nd version. I think this one is actually an improvement, the shoulders are better and the sleeves fit perfect. The gauge of the Classic Silk was just slightly different and there are more stitches in 10 cm than for the Angora Tweed and it works just better. Funny that is since the difference is only very small. I have made very extensive notes, so now I will have to work them out, do grading and write it all up.

The 2nd cardigan is a Norah Gaughan design in Linsey, a linen-cotton blend with lots of drape. A nice small cardigan excellebt for wearing over dresses. It flows and it feels nice to wear. I thought the pattern was very unclear for the shaping at the top of the back so I did my own thing. In the end that meant that I also had to adjust the fronts and the sleeves so that it all fit together. It worked out OK in the end. Here and notice same dress, which actually goes with both these carigans:

Procrastination

2011-05-26T18:16:00.001+02:00

I guess we are all guilty about it, some time..... Right now I should be seaming older WIPs and really no excuse...I normally even like seaming. But right now, just no, I just want to do mindless knitting and do not anything that requires more attention.

That is also the reason why pattern writing goes so slow. I have Moineau in a state that it almost could go to a tech-editor and for Lente I need to do more calculations for the bigger sizes, but it is really not that far off. But it requires attention and time, and that is just too hard to give. My day-job is taking a lot of time these days and in the evenings and weekends I just have too much else to do. And then I want to watch Dr Who and just knit mindlessly.....

But to knit mindlessly I need a new project, since my others have gone to that other state.... So here comes BosBes, a simple summer dress for M in Cotton Supreme batik by Universal Yarns. I saw this yarn on the web at The Loopy Ewe and got intrigued and I do see why they sell it. It is lovely soft and the colours are quite nice too. I do maybe like the "solid" version more, but M wanted the multi-colour version.... I will use a solid colour for the chest-part of the pattern anyways.

To give the hem a bit of a swing I used a Latvian Twist, which I really like. The knitting goes really very fast on 5.5mm needles....

Swing

2011-05-21T10:54:00.001+02:00

The bigger Moineau is finished. A nice top to wear with skinny jeans thinks S. It has a bit of swing and a summer feeling.

I wanted to take some pictures of it on the floor, I put it down and one second later Totoro was lying on it. So typically catty....., but I managed anyways after some shooing:

And just some modelling shots by S, she wore it to a party today, yoohee!

Green

2011-05-08T16:27:00.001+02:00

S wanted green as CC for her Moineau, so green it will be. Allino comes in real nice bright colours that are a lovely contrast to the natural coloured Sparrow. Knitting this is relatively fast since it is mainly stockinette.

Other green news, Lente-2 is nearing it's completion. I finished the body and one sleeve... pattern writing will be a bit slow I fear. It costs me more "undisturbed" time to write a pattern than actually knitting the item. But who know in June or so I should really have it finished (good to give myself a deadline....)

Fast Fun

2011-04-26T20:23:00.001+02:00

Long weekends with plenty of sunshine are a very good time to do some summer knitting.... My Moineau prototype is finished and I'm very happy with it. I will now go for a bigger version for the big girl, but she wants to choose the contrast colour (not the one I choose is the major thing, I think....)

It was not only fun to knit, but to wear as well:

Mussen

2011-04-23T16:40:00.001+02:00

One of the nice things or our garden is the huge hedge that goes round it. It's bare in winter time but in summer it is this nice green wall that makes the garden more sheltered and warm. It's also a source of shelter for local wild-life. There is a family of hedge-hocks living in and many many birds. One of the many types of birds living in our hedge are sparrows. Now sparrows are under decline in many places, so I'm happy with our little flock whose chittery-chattery wakes me up in the mornings.

I've always like sparrows, my mother used to tell that the first time I went to a zoo I was more interested in the sparrow that ate my crumbs than any other animal in the zoo.

Anyway when I saw Sparrow (Quince & Co) I knew it was the perfect yarn for a design I had in my head. It's humble in its colour but in its quiet unassuming way very elegant. The french name for a sparrow is Moineau, so that's what is's going to be called. Hopefully in child to adult sizes. Just the start of it:

The purple yarn is Allino (BC-garn) a nice cotton/linen blend that works very well with the Sparrow.

Other knitting things, Lente is coming along, and I finished a small summer cardigan as well.

Vår....

2011-04-17T16:10:00.001+02:00

Things are really happening right now. Every day something new pops up and the last week has just been glorious. I'm still suffering a bit from sinusitus, but hopefully soon it will be over.

I started a 2nd Lente. The prototype was knitted in Angora-Tweed, and that has been discontinued. So I thought it would be better to reknit it in a yarn that is available. Also I did have gauge problems. The tweed knitted up in an unexpected gauge and an odd one too. I'm reknitting it is Classic Silk, a nice blend of silk and cotton. Still a bit rustic looking, but quite soft and nice for this time of year. The colour this time is green, after all it is the green season....

Sparrow

2011-04-11T19:21:00.000+02:00

Today I got a nice packet in my mail...from Quince & Co. It is Sparrow yarn, their new organic linen yarn. It is a lovely soft linen yarn in an nice unbleached colour. Perfect for summer knitting. Together with some Allino (BC Garn) for some colour it will become a summer dress/ top for my children. I have it in my head, now I can start to knit it.... I hope to make it in two versions, a dress for my small one and a summer top for my big one.

I even bought enough to make myself a Sparrow from the latest Twist Collective...

Ill

2011-04-04T15:28:00.002+02:00

It is such nice spring weather and everything is getting greener and greener and I am ill. I've got acute sinusitis (first time ever) and the worst bit is these terrible headaches. My eyes start to cross and I just want to do nothing at all. I even wake up in the middle of the night from the pain. Yesterday I got penicillin, maybe it will be over in a day or so....hopefully some knitting again as well.

Spring time....

2011-03-19T11:22:00.001+01:00

Lente is there, even though it snowed just yesterday. I really like how this turned out. It is a warm, tweedy cardigan, but with spring-like as well. Good for this time of the year.

It will also be another challange, since I want to write it down, grade and chart it. New territories to explore. For Quimper Stripes, I still have to grade the sleeves, but otherwise it is almost ready to go to a tech-editor, but this one might even have bigger challenges. It's nice though, I'm learning new things and that is always a good thing.

The other slight problem is the yarn, I really like this yarn (angora-tweed from Yarnstudio/Drops) but it is not produced anymore. So to make it into a real pattern I need a substitute. A tweedy DL weight would be perfect. I'm thinking at the moment about Classic Elite silk and I will look more into that one...

The lace pattern comes from a Japanese pattern book, I adapted it slightly for symmetry reasons. The last time I was in Japan is exactly two years ago and some cherry trees were in flower. The colour of the cardigan reminds me of that blossom. I'm still chocked and worried and hope for the best.

Just to remind one that spring is coming, just see

Fundraising

2011-03-17T19:23:00.001+01:00

I have very fond memories of my trips to Japan, have collegues and friends there, so this week's news is just sad, worrisome and then some. So I have decided to donate all my proceeds during the next month from sales of my pattern Water Lilies to he Red Cross. It's not much, I know (and I will top up), but I just want to acknowledge the horror.

if you want to

just press...

I really hope that things get under control and that a rebuilding can start as soon as possible.

New Here, Lente

2011-03-09T09:24:00.000+01:00

I decided to take my knitting stuff from Veberöd Chronicles and place them here... Nice to have an own spot I guess.....

Just to show what I am working on now:

A cardigan for the after-winter period..... I thought a cardigan with some lace would be nice for the tweedy yarn I got in a sale. I wanted to have a combinations of bobbles and lace since I think they look nice in a more rustic yarn. Also bubbles remind me of buds and buds remind me of spring. And spring I do need! After some searching I found what I wanted in a Japanese Pattern book, I adapted it such that the arrangement of the lace on the two fronts panels is mirrored. It will be a slightly fitted cardigan with a nice round neckline. The yarn is angora-tweed from Yarnstudio, unfortunately now for the 2nd time discontinued. I think the colour range was way too restricted, but I do like this soft rose which does seem spring-like to me. The angora will keep me warm, since it is still cold here.

The name Lente means "spring" in Dutch, and I'm so looking forward to spring...there is sleet falling right now.....

Quimper Stripes

2011-03-01T14:29:00.000+01:00

Breton stripes are a huge thing here this year.... and if you are 11 you have to have a breton shirt.

Or you ask your mother whether she can knit one....

So here is the result: Quimper Stripes.

It is quite a simple sweater, but with Brettony stripes, a nice small roll neck and a bit of waist shaping. It is knit in one of my (at the moment) favourite yarns: Madelinetosh Tosh DK. The white is "antler", the blue is "Betty Draper Blues" . And yes the lure of that yarn is as much the name as the colour itself....

I hope to have the pattern ready somewhere in April....

And the little cat (our Totoro), he broke his leg 2 weeks ago and he is a very sorry little cat. He's getting better though (caught a mouse even with a broken leg just today), but he had to be in the picture!

Water Lilies

2011-01-23T14:33:00.000+01:00

Last year I had a lot of meetings...I did a lot of doodling....

And one of these doodles became this little cardigan. The doodle had some dramatic pleats and I did like that, so I wondered whether I could actually make it into a knit. I knew the yarn to be used had to have drape and it probably would work the best in a fingering weight yarn. Which is of course not a problem since there are so many gorgeous yarns in this weight around. Since there is some contrast between the stockinette and reverse stockinette, I think this works best in a hand-painted yarn. The box-pleat has some unexpected columns that don't show immediately. Each front panel has a pleat while the back has a central pleat. Since it is mainly stockinette, it is only making the pleats which needs some extra attention.

The first cardigan I knitted, I used Jitterbug "Monet" and the knitted up fabric really reminded me of the "Water Lily" paintings that Monet made, so WaterLilies it is. The second cardigan is knitted in MadelineTosh Merino Light "Nectar" and this is a really lovely dusty rose-coloured yarn. And yes water-lilies again...The Jitterbug is just slightly thicker than the Merino Light and the cardigan has just a slightly different feel to it. Also the MerinoLight is a singly ply and that makes a difference too.

In both cases I was careful and alternated the yarn every two rows in order to avoid funny colour differences or pooling. The pattern is available in sizes 4-5 (5-6, 7-8, 9-10) years with actual measurements at theh chest: 68 (72, 76, 80) cm; 26.5 (28, 30, 31.5)".

And after standing still since mum is making dull photos.... this is what you do:

Little Summer Dress

2010-06-19T14:42:00.000+02:00

Summer is finally here so time for easy clothing....

Last year I made small summer dress for M which she really liked. It was easy to wear, not too warm and a simple design with a bit of embroidery. I knitted it in Jaeger Trinity which is discontinued unfortunately. That yarn is like a thinner Rowan Summer Tweed and I really like it. Since I really wanted to make this into a pattern I thought it would be better to make it in a yarn that is available in shops. So I reknitted it in Debbie Bliss Amalfi and made it into a pattern. My first one! And I extended it to 3 sizes! I hope it works out, I feel still nervous about it but it is a nice nervous feeling. Marit is quite small and thin so I really hope the sizing is correct. I used tables (of course) but still... I guess this is just normal for a first pattern also meant to be knit by other people, the jitters I mean.

I just choose the Amalfi because I liked it (it has a bit of a rustic feel, not a dainty yarn) but really any DK yarn with a nice drape will work (think linen, hemp, bamboo, viscose or whatever). It's a pretty easy knit, you only need to know how to knit, purl and decrease. There is a bit of grafting for the underarms and a short-row construction in the yoke, but I think this is advanced beginners level. There are links to tutorials and such within the pattern.

And just to end with a picture: this was the one I knitted last year:

I did add an extra scheme to the pdf on the 21-6. Just to clarify how the markers are placed and how the short rows are knitted.

The pattern can be downloaded from:

download now

Totoro Dress

2008-10-16T14:45:00.000+02:00

For once this will be a knitting blog. Doesn't happen very much but I needed a place to write about this dress. Anyways here it goes,

Marit has been watching Totoro over and over again and I have to admit I am a fan too. She loves the Tororo's and she has been singing the song all day long as well. So on saterday evening I got an idea. I had some Blue Sky Alpaca's dyed cotton in my stash since about a year ago and I always wanted to use that for a dress for her. The main problem: no dress that I really like. Well that's not really true, I like "Oh Jan" by Wendy Bernard but i had already knitted one for big sister and I didn't want to do it again. So the yarn stayed in my stash and nothing happened. Until Saterday when I had an idea: a Totoro dress!

The main idea is a quite simple dress with pockets adorned with small Totoro intarsia knitted motifs. The main shape of the dress is inspired by a denim dress of the Gap that Saskia got five years ago. Marit is wearing it now and it is a quite a nicely shaped dress. It has a rather full shirt with a straight body and it is rounded at the hem for a nice drape. It has buttons at the front along the whole dress but i didn't want to copy that. Instead I thought a small opening at the back with two buttons was nicer. So that's what I based my design on. Just above the border which is knitted in seed stitch I have added some small rows to give the hem the same rounded form. The contrast band and all the borders are knitted in seed-stitch and the pockets have small seed stitch borders too. I will try to give the pattern directions below as well as I can and since big sister wants a Tororo dress too I will try to make a big version too but that is in the future... The pattern is written not very neatly and I will try to make it better in the coming weeks but this is the fast and dirt version...

Yarn: Blue Skye Alpaca's dyed cotton 3 skeins Tomato (619) (MC), 1 skein Shell (606)(CC)
Needles: 1 pair 4.5 mm straight needles, 1 40 cm 4 mm round needle

1 marker
2 small buttons

Gauge: 17 x 23stitches = 4x4inches. The dress is 57 cm long, at the bottom 55cm wide (110 in the round), at the middle 30 cm (60 cm round)

Seed stitch: row1 k1,p1,k1,p1 etc end with p1, row 2: p1,k1,p1, etc finish with k1.

Back

Cast on 92 in CC on 4.5 mm straight needles. Place a marker after 46 stitches. Knit 8 rows in seed stitch. Switch to MC and work in stockinette (knit on right side, purl wrong side). Knit to 25 stitches after the marker (71 stitches total) yarn forward as if to purl, slip the next stitch, yarn back as if to knit, turn the knitting, slip the 1st stitch on the left hand needle (the one you are wrapping) purl to 20 stitches beyond the marker and yarn back as if to knit, slip the next stitch, yarn forward as if to purl, turn the work. Slip the first wrapped stitch and then knit to the wrapped stitch and knit the slipped stitch and the yarn wrapped around it together to m ake one stitch. Knit 9 more stitches and wrap next stitch as described before. Purl back to wrapped stitchand purl the wrapped stitch and the yarn wrapped around. Purl 9 stitches more and wrap next stitch. Knit to the next wrap stitch and knit together, knit 4 more and wrap next stitch. Purl back to wrapped stitch, knit together and purl 4 stitches and wrap next stitch. Knit to the next wrap stitch and knit together, knit 1 more and wrap next stitch. Purl back to wrapped stitch, knit together and purl 1 stitches and wrap next stitch. (In total 4 short rows at 25, 35, 37 and 39 at either side of the marker). Turn and knit to wrapped stitch, knit wrap and stitch together and conitinue to the end. Next row purl to wrapped stitch, purl wrap and stitch together

and purl to the end of the row. Work in Stockinette for 31 cm during which 20 decreases at either side have to be made as following K2, k2tog continue knit until 4 stitches remain SSK k2, purl next row. The decreases have to be distributed evenly over the 31cm, approximately alternating every 2nd and 4th row. After last pair of decreases (now 52 stitches on the needle) ending after the purl row work 2 more rows.

Change to CC knit 1 row. Continue in seed-stitch for 7 more rows. Change to MC, knit in stockinette straight for 6 cm

Armholes: In next two rows cast of 5 stitches at beginning of the row (42 stitches), decrease 1 stitch at either side for next 3 rows. Purl 1 row. Decrease 1 stitch at either side in next row (total 34 stitches). Work 3 more rows ******

Next row knit 18 stitches, turn work and leave rest scarp yarn. Knit first 4 stitches of next row in seed stitch (this is in the middle of the back) and continue the other 14 stitches in stockinette. After 3.5 cm make a buttonhole in the middle by, work 2 stitches in pattern , yarnover, work rest stitches in pattern.

Continue until distance from beginning armhole is 15 cm end with a right row. Cast off 6 stitches from the middle, continue. Next row: knit to the end. Next row: castoff 7 stitches. Next row cast of remaining 6 stitches. For the remaining stitches, cast on 4 stitches at the middle and continue with same shapings as the first part.

Front:

Work as back until ****** Continue straight until 12 rows less then when final stitches were cast of for the back. Knit 14 stitches, turn, purl back. In the next rows cast off on alternating rows 4, 2,1 and 1 stitches from the center, 6 stitches remaining on the needle. Work 3 rows ending with a wrong side row. Cast of remaining 6 stitches. Work other half in reverse. Put the 6 stitches in the middle on a safety needle ( will be used for neck border).

2 x Pockets: Use drawing as a guide. Cast on 26 sts, knit 2 rows at bottom & top and 2 stitches at either side in seed stitch, rest in stockinette following the small scheme. Place pockets on front piece and attach by sewing.

Putting together: Darn and neaten all pieces of yarn. Seam shoulders together as well sides (I use mattress stitch for the neatest result). Pick up and knit 55 stitches with 4 mm round needle for each arm. work 3 rows in seed stitch, cast of in knit. start at left side of the back pick up and knit 14 stitches at the back, 11 at the front side, 6 from the middle (where left on the safety needle), 11 at the other side of the front and 14 from the back (56 in total). Work 4 rows in seed stitch. Make button hole at the buttonhole side. Cast of in knit. Darn and neaten last peices of yarn. Sew button strip in place. Sew on two buttons.

Maybe one day I will write it out as a proper pattern.....