Tiffany mittens completed

I was looking into my pattern list and saw the TIffany mittens from Knitty and felt I had to make me a pair. I found some odd yarn, mostly from the autumn sweater and started. ... and here is the result, maybe a bit big but they do look nicer now then before I washed them.



The Back Home to Vermont Sweater is also ready but not at home in for the moment, I'll take a picture and post it later.

Back home to Vermont sweater - in progress

The Back home to Vermont sweater is well in progress. So far no more redos after the incident with the sleaves (or me not reading properly).

New idea - Mosaic Yoke Jacket

Home with N today and I had time to pass by Maria with my latest project idea, the Mosaic Yoke Jacket from the fall 2008 number of Interweave Knits.

Home with a sample to see if it should be in Alpaca (Garnstudios Classic Alpaca) instead of wool.

Relief Crochet

Apart from the crochet lovvika mittens in school at the age of 13 I've only done one project, the Chantel shawl. So when Maria arranged a crochet course with relief pattern I signed up.

Intersting time with questions such as "what is a row", "how can I count rows", which side is the right side", "it should have been 20 and now I have 21...." and me being a true beginner had them all but managed to do some result at the end.

Fun! I'll try it more but think I'll stick to knitting.

More pictures here.

Nålbunden vante upphittad

Hej,
Jag hittade för en vecka sedan en vante på Söder i Stockholm som jag nu söker efter ägen till. Jag tror att den är nålbunden, den är i alla fall otroligt vacker.

Hör av er om ni saknar den.

mvh anna

In English in short - I found a hand-made mitten on the street and is now searching for the owner.

Back Home in Vermont Sweater

Most things I completed this year has been for N, some for me but very few (any?) for T. I have this UFO that will take forever to complete. Specially since I'm not knitting on it at all for the last years. It is Stone Circles by Kaffe Fassett. Having the guilt I last year showed him the Back Home in Vermont Sweater in the book "The Natural Knitter". Better (and so much faster) to do other projects for T. At the "Syfestivalen" last year I even bought the yarn. In October this year I started.

It is always better to read the pattern, and I mean really read it. "Increase 1 st in the beginning of each row" does not mean to increase in the beginning and in the end.

So now I have done half a sleeve twice and remade 14+14 rows of the body. But I'm on the way.

The pattern is easy and the yarn is really nice. It's a cable but not using an extra needle, just twisting the stiches. It's a top-down knitting and is getting quite chunky right now. I need a new knitting for the subway soon.

Laminaria

Starting working this fall I had the need for a "subway knitting", meaning something to knot on for the at least 30 minutes I have each day getting to and from work. It is a big plus if the item is not too big to carry around. Maria made this beautiful Laminaria and also stated it was relly fun knitting. I had looked at it and loved it but thought that it would be too tricky.

Inspired by Marias words, result and not the least her hand-dyed yarn I decided to give it a try.

To get fully inspired I invested in a set of knit pick needles. No regrets!!!!

I followed the pattern , but using larger needles than described, 5.5 mm for the first part and then 4.5 mm for the remaining parts. Copying Maria I also added beads at the edging lace part.

I also made two extra "rows" on the second lace part, making the shawl a bit larger. And this one I blocked (again thankful for the blocking wires).

Last minute purled beret

The weather was changing and I was feeling cold standing at the slide in the play-ground. I wanted a new hat. Browsing Ravelry I found this beret and taking my one skein of Maya yarn I started. First attempt is got too small (I was afraid to run out of yarn) the second attempt was better. Here (and still) it is not blocked so there is no nice edge. The mittens are made a few years ago based on Nysta Ninas pattern. This was the first pair I made, the second pair got lost this spring.

N can fool anyone that she actually made this but I must say I did the most part. Don't missunderstand, I'm being extremely proud and hope she will continue her knitting learning journey. Maybe I also should explain her hat - that is completely her own choice!!

Waldorf doll for N

At N's day-care all children should have a "I doll" (Waldorf doll). Already the first day all parents got a kid with very detailed instructions. It took a while before I started but it (mini N) is now ready and dressed. The doll is about 10 cm tall.

If knitting small sweaters with big needles was fast and fun, knitting tiny sweaters with small needles was equally fast (I actually made the first one a bit too long in the sleeves so I just made a second one). All clothes are sewn on, made to stick, but she has a belly button (all according to instructions).

Retro sweater for N

Finishing the February Lady Sweater I had some "cable twined" brown yarn left. Since I really liked the yarn combination I wanted to make another sweater for N using the leftover.

Exploring the shelfes in Maria Garn I found an orange color that looks great with the brown.

I got the retro feeling of the 70's and it has a nice "raggsockseffekt".

Again I used the Wizard Sweater as a base for this one for N.

Striped Wizard Sweater for N's friend F

Small sweaters on "big" needles are fast and fun. Using yarn from the same stash as the Cookie Sweater I made a striped sweater that F, N's friend at daycare, got as a birthday gift when he turned 2. The pattern is from Rowans bookMiss Bea's Dressing Up.

Cookie Sweater for N

N started daycare in August and to prepare her (and me) for that event I started knitting some sweaters for her to use. Here is N playing around in her "Cookie Sweater" from Rowans "Miss Bea's Rainy Day". I like the book with a number of basic patterns for children.

The yarn was from my stash, 8/8 cotton from Marias Garn sale some time ago.

Visit to Huskroken in Gotland - kid cardigan

My dad moved to Gotland earlier this year and we went there this summer to see his new house. It was very nice and luckely not that far from where Huskroken, a local yarn shop that hand-dyes and sells ecological yarn. I managed to get 7 relatives thinking it was a great idea to visit this nice place. Well there I had to buy some yarn (what else!). Not only beacause it is almost irrestistable but also to motivate any future visits to any yarn shop with a caravan of relatives.


I bought some cotton dyed in 4 different colors and on the way to the car I passed the sales basket (how did I miss it on the way in) and found one hank of brown cotton to make the cuffs and edging.


I used the same pattern that I have used for many (1, 2, 3, etc) other cardigans for N, but I like the simplicity and it fits her well.

February Lady Sweater

I started this cardigan for vacation. The intention that it is a quick and fun project, not that complicated. Since this cardigan has sleeves not in full length I thought that I wanted to do one in cotton. I bought the yarn at Marias Garn and it's a combionation of Muskat from Garnstudio and one "kabeltvinnad" (cable twined???) cotton. Both in brown but slightly different shades.

I just want to say again that I did swatch!!! Having figured out that size 4.5 mm needles was right I went around Kalmar (wacation stop) to find new needles. ...And off I went.

Almost at the shoulders it became clear that it would be difficult to close the cardigan and breathe at the same time. Time for re-start number 1!

Changing needles to 5mm but keeping the size this time I restarted - much better. Somewhere along the "waistline" I saw that I had made one row off in the pattern....time for re-start number 2!

Just go for it!!! Now in progress.

But it is completed and I like it very much. The yarn combination was fine, as expected with cotton it is bit heavy but still nicely and very wearable.

In the end, it was fun knitting and I would like to make more stuff top-down.

Geno - spring cardigan with restart

Geno is one of the projects that made my knitting halt. Still, I love the pattern. I bought the yarn (Saffran from Garnstudio) at Marias Garn, Spring 2008.

Here is the proof that a re-start was needed. Thanks Anna for pointing that out before I had done the complete cardigan.

I just want to say that I did swatch! I picked size "L" and needles 3mm to start with. In this picture I have put the "second back" on top of the first and there is at least 12 cm difference.

The new start is in size "M" and needles 2.5 mm. The result is so much better.

The original pattern has short sleeves, I decided I wanted a bit longer, inspired by the picture from Rowan I made them longer using the lace pattern. Since I'm fairly tall I made the cardigan 5 cm longer than designed.

Knitting - not blogging

This has been a quiet corner this fall. N started daycare in August and now it's middle of November. What happen?
At least I have a few projects to show now, mostly completed (not from the UFO file unfortunately).

Here they are in separate entries !

I'll try to show things more often again.

See you soon :-)

Knitting again - some progress

I have finished one project! The baby cardigan is done and now in the mail to P, as a late gift for his Christianing. The yarn is Opal cotton sockyarn that I bought at Warp&Waft yarn sale last year (I think). The pattern is my favorite one, Strawberry bud, from a Rowan book.

I'm stuck :-(

It was WWKIPD this/last Saturday and I was there. Unfortunately it rained and was cold so we moved indoors to Maria. (see also her pictures). It was my first social knitting this Spring (apart for the HV school weekends). It was so fun meeting everyone there and I managed to do a few rows. Anna helped me discover that I'm knitting a cardigan WAY too big and need to frog and redo.... kind of made me sad, my knitting status now is:

• Bloomsberry, packed in a bag - again
• Two-end mittens, subway knitting, getting closer to the end of the second one - it feels so odd to knit mittens in June.
• Baby cardigan, should have been a gift for a christianing last weekend, went away to finish it and forgot to buy buttons (National Holiday and everythings closed) - still not ready
• Nice Spring cardigan "Geno" for myself in green. Needs to be frogged and recalculated...uhhh

Time to stop whining - I think I need yet a new project - knitting should be fun!!!!

Street knitting (in Swedish)

If you havn't seen it yet. Take a look at this!
http://webbtv.dn.se/?id=3905

Mothers Day and color inspiration

Today is Mothers Day in Sweden and we went to Skansen, an open air museum in Stockholm. Here is one of the new cubs giving her mother a pet?!.

N enjoyed all the animals and of cause also the ice cream she got. I got inspired by the colors of this peacock. Imaging this knitted.......

I almost made it and a mitten

I didn't have time to finish all 5 projects until today. One excuse is that I spend too much time knitting (maybe the best excuse there is). I'm done with the "body" of the first two-end knitted mitten and will start on the thumb now, and then the second mitten of cause.

However I did complete 4 of the 5 project. Here is N in her new eco (cotton) cardigan. I've used this cardigan to practice on the new ways to finsh that I learned at HV school. I like the result and it wasn't too tricky.


The project that is still a UFO is my Bloomsberry cardigan. This has been in progress (hybernating) for years. I love the yarn (Rowans' wool cotton) and I like the model as well. I think what made me reluctant to pick it up is the embroderies. It's difficult to make them look good. Well I'll continue working on this but I don't think I'll put up a new deadline. The mitten is there in the picture, but difficult to see.

Big yarn day and slow progress

Yesterday was the "Big Yarn Day" at Warp &Weft with discounts on Fall and Winter yarns.

I came home with 4 skeins of Lovvika Yarn to do mittens, and a cotton reel - a gift for N.

This is a crazy time to think of more mittens considering it will be above 25C this weekend but my youngest niece got her black mittens washed in the machine so they are "a little too small" as she puts it. Same rule as before is valid, when a girl asks for a knitted item it's irresistible.

I have slow progress right now, only three days to go and I have two things to complete.... Better get started tomorrow.

I continue to scare other passengers on the subway in the mornings with 5 sharp needles and a half-finished two-end knitting.

1, 2 and 3 - Half time in cleaning challenge

A challenge isn't a good challenge unless you make it harder for yourself. I sat up 5 projects to finish, I gave myself 12 days to do that, and then I start a new project and spend a lot of time knitting on that. Here is the progress so far on my two-end knitting mitten. Fun but fells backwards.

At least I have now completed 3 of the 5 projects (of cause the easy ones).

1) Lords & Ladies now is washed and have bands to tie it (instead of Icords). Really bad picture - in the mirror with a flash :-(

2) The Icarus shawl is blocked! and ready - it is huge. The quilt cover is for a kind size bed!

The blocking wires were a good investment.

3) Chantel is ready, washed blocked! and fringed. Blocking with children is difficult. Here I built a tent for Chantel. Pins and kids are not ready to meet yet. But when it's done blocking it was fun to play peekaboo with.

What's the progress for Elena and Tant Berg?

Spring cleaning in my knitting basket

I want to start new projects. In addition to the ones listed a few days ago I also want to make a pair of two end knitted mittens. I want to work some more directly after the course to see if the (for me) new way of knitting will stick. I have the yarn so now I need to decide on a pattern and color combination.


But I do need to finish some of my projects.

I now start a challenge, spring cleaning. I should finish 5 UFO projects by Sunday, May 11.
Anyone up for it?


Here are my projects:

- Lords & Ladies, Rowan kid mohair cardigan (no picture)

- Blomsberry

- Icarus shawl:

- Chantel shawl:

- Eco cardigan (for N):

Tvåändsstickning - Two-end knitting

This weekend was the last on HV school for this time. Two days dedicated to two-end knitting. This is something I have never tried before so I was looking forward to it.

• It was fun!
• It feels backward
• It takes time for progress
• My hand hurts (and the sholders as well...)
• The yarn was very nice
• I like the result
• .....and I invested in yarn to try some more

The mitten(-like swatch) in progress is for a child (and there will only be one of this)

HV homework completed

I'm done with my pair of HV mittens! I even washed them, so now they are ready to use (hopefully not needed until the fall). The homework was to design and make your own pattern. It was difficult because I wanted to design the "best pattern" ever. What style? What color combination? what....?

At first I wanted something white with red embroderies but it turned out too tricky to turn the delicate pattern into knitting.

Then I looked at my knitting bag and decided to get a matching pair of mittens.

First a swatch and the first mitten:



Then number two is knitted:

Ready to be used :-)

Itching for new projects

I have a pile of thing to complete but I want to start new projects!!!
Here are a few things I want to do:

- Geno, maybe with longer sleeves. The lace pattern on the front is so beautiful.


- Trench this is crochet on "level 3", so it might be too difficult, but I think it is very cool.

- Spook How can anyone resist Kid Silk Haze ?