Writing a pattern

It's not easy. I'm a chatty person and writing patterns requires discipline :-). It's fun and I am experimenting with the pattern. I want people to have value for money so a few sample shawls are required to show the details.

The office, winter photoshots

Christmas will soon be here and Father Frost/King Winther really has made an effort decorating the surroundings. Nice, isn't it!? I love Christmas and I love snow.

Beanie for my brother

My bother has asked me to knit a beanie for him. That’s strange, my brother has never asked for a hand knitted item before…

Well, I had to make a modern beanie for him with extra length giving it a little x-tra top on top of his head. I think, maybe, he would have chosen a more standard one for himself :-). If he doesn't like it, well then my partner can have that one too (he has also asked for a beanie, maybe he has not dared to ask for one until y brother did...). Therfore I am knitting and knitting boring stuff at the moment. Boring but necessary. It's about -20C outside. Brrrr.

Estonian jewel

This shawl seems to be the most beautiful thing I have ever knitted. Ravelry response verifies that :-). In a couple of hours after publishing the pictures I think received more nice words than I have received in all my life. Love-love-love. I deserve it! I have worked hard and been good. At Ravlery nobody writes anything negative, just positive things like compliments and pep-talk. Ravelry sets the good example.

Back to this little project, it was not exceptionally fun to knit at the contrary it may have been the worst lace project ever. I have designed it myself (oh no, not the basic pattern repeat, it is from a lovely book, but I made my shawl triangular and added an edging of my preference).

Christmas crocheting

A couple of small projects have been produced in between all working and knitting. These are aimed for Christmas cards.

Wool Ballerinas

Excellent because I have no patience knitting socks, it's boring. These are cute, fit perfectly in wellies where the top of the socks normally don't fit and they have that little extra making people say -Wow! And finally, they take just one evening to knit (a pair!).

I made them in childrens size too. I was forced to which is the best feedback :-)

Just have to add som bling-blings, and then they are the perfect gift (couldn't stand giving away a shawl that took nine months to knit... but these are OK).

Cobweb Crepe No 2

This pattern is a modification of the Cobweb Crepe Shawl in Heirloom Knitting. It is my second shawl following this pattern so I took the opportunity to adjust what I did not like 100% with the first one. I lost my Cobweb Crepe No 1 this winter. I just had to knit a new one, cause I can't live without it. Chic enough to wear with a coat in business, leisure enough to wear with... pracitically everything. I lived it that shawl (but used it as a scarf). Finally it is finished.



Less is more, it it dull grey, but I did chose exactly the same colour also the second time.



The edging is tedious. Too complicated to learn by heart, but it is worth the effort.

Haapsalu Shawl Butterfly No 1

The trip to Paris was not a knitting success (but in business it wasn't too bad :-)). I started on a Butterfly No 1 shawl. I can't stick to a pattern so I made it triangular. It didn't take more than one repeat before I knew the repeat by heart... I didn't say it was without any faults I knitted this... but it looks more advanced than it really is. A really nice travel companion, just like I hoped.

Haapsalu shawl

This must be the most beautiful knitting book made ever! Haapsalu shawl. I ordered it from Estonia, and added 200g of authentic wool (made in Lithuania).
I had to test knit the yarn and the butterfly pattern No1.

The appearence is absolutely wonderful, and the yarn isn't too itchy for being made from an undestroyed and non-fancy fibre :-). Thy, this will be my travelling companion for Paris!

Glitter

Not much knitting lately. I work too much and during the weekends I have been trying to finish off a few projects in my office building before winter arrives. This weekend I made my own paint aimed for the interior chimney. Old fashioned glue paint. Just powder chalk, water and some wall paper glue (the water soluable, old fashioned thingy). It's beautiful, but I have been trying to get rid of the dust since. Chalk will not blend with water on its own. It is very hydrophobic. Adding the glue forces the powder, at least some of it, to stick to the wall. Which means, it easily comes off the wall when touching it. Still, there is no more beautiful paint than this. Well worth the effort.

But, at least I managed to finish off these cuffs for a turquoise loving, lovely lady.
I hope they meet the expectations :-)

Salvation to cultural starvation

Yesterday I realised I'm suffering from cultural starvation. It has been going on for nine years, since I moved to Åmål. But spontaneously the cultural level reached its maximum yesterday. There was an asian after work at Not Quite We did expect it to be a nice evening, but it was really something extra. After finishing the sushi (they also made a kids meal sushi which my six year old kid surprised me by actually having every piece of), which was excellent, a presentation by a Japanese artist started, see http://onys.net/. It hit me by surprise and we all keept saying wow over and over again. After the presentation we started talking to the artist, and even if the exhibition was closed for the day, he unlocked the door to the art gallery and again we started wow-ing. My six year old said -This beats Swedish Idol! So, just don't miss it or you'll regret it.

With thin sheets of plastic and glue this fantastic pouring rain on sea effect arise. It took the artist two weeks to assemble, and this installation is small compared to previous work!

Will this inspire my future knitting? I hope it will, or in some other area maybe.

Norwegian Rosemaling in knitting

It's cold outside and I have started using my knitted jacket again. It was knitted in 2007, but has not been shown here before. Rauma Istra kamgarn is according to the designers instruction. Lovely cardigan, but I haven't got a clue of what happened to the camera...

Lacy cuffs

It is getting colder and colder so I knitted a pair of lace cuffs for myself. Cashmere from Colourmart, as usual, 2x2/28nm with a lurex strand.

Pumpkin

A little present was delivered to my garden last week. A huge pumpkin! I have been growing a pumpkin quite close to where this is placed and we really fooled a couple of people that the size suddenly got supersized. My pumkin is about a handball big...

Estonian stars

Another tassled estonian type of lace shawl, but this time my own design with more nuppy rows. The shawl is knitted in 2/16nm angora-merino from Colourmart. A yarn that bloomed a lot when washed the first time. 4mm Addi lace needles were used. The yarn has a little marl effect which is subtle and I liked the yarn very much.

Turquoise evening

We had a cosy evening yesterday. First we made home made play dough and then it was time for baking and knitting. Our hobbies were matched in colours!

Mix:
2.5 dl of flour (wheat)
1 dl of salt
1 tablespoon citric acid (powder)

Heat:
2.5 dl water
1 tablespoon cooking oil
houshold colour

to boiling temperature and add the flour mixture and work it for a couple of minutes when it has cooled off a little.

There it is, your own home made play dough! Good luck!

... and yes, it is another turquoise shawl of my own composition. Stars of nupps.

Finished poncho

The poncho is finished, and I just love it!

Annis

Next one coming up is the Annis shawlette from Knitty.com. The yarn is an angora-merino mixture, 2/16nm bought from Colourmart.com (though, I suspect the angora to be cashmere, but I don't mind cashmere :-)). I added two nuppy rows, I like nupps. To be honest, this is a small size... scarf, not a shawl. If I would do it again I would turn on every stitch or every other, but every third gives a too small shoulder warmer. Though, my 6-year old loved it. She uses it every day and she has never accepted scarfs before. Says something about the softness of this yarn, doesn't it?

With a little bit of make-up...

With a little bit of make-up...

Before:


And after:

Barbie's coctail dress

If I can add lace and frills I can accept knitting Barbie clothing. This time Barbie, or rather Merliah, the role Barbie is playing in the latest surfing movie got a new dress. Yes it's true, Barbie is a moviestar... Well, this Barbie actually has toes where the toenails turn pink when wet. Standard Barbie shoes don't fit, so this'll be the Barbie beach coctail dress :-)

Poncho, time for the edging

The edging is almost half-way done. I has been terrible weather today.

Poncho

Fall is arriving, so I decided to knit a poncho. Ponchos are very trendy at the moment, but I was never fond of them earlier. It took some time for me to put a shawl on, and now I wear one almost every day, so maybe if I go into training I can do the same with a poncho? Certainly if it is a Rowan Kid Silk Haze poncho made completely in Shetland lace technique. I must tell you a little secret, I have become a bit too aware of the appearance of the finished details so I am purling every other row knitting it in the round to avoid the seam. Yes, of course I could have sticked to stockinette stitches, but that wouldn't be the same, so I am purling, and purling instead of just knitting a garter stitch item! So if I like the design very much I can stand a little inconvenience. By the way... I look forward to make the tassles :-), this time they are in the pattern from start. I like the pattern!

Reunion!

It's time for a little reunion. Some of the "pupils" of the knitting class I held this winter have asked for some inspiration and help to get started on new projects. So, I have plenty of space in my office and I would appreciate some knitting company. Therefore I have started asking, the most eager knitters, if they would like to come over.

I have stashed a lot of yarn and written a couple of patterns.

Welcome! and don't forget to bring the result of the knitting class :-)

If you were not invited it was because the number of seats are limited, but go ahead and tell me if you want this knitting evening to take place again!

Lyra

I have started knitting in cottton. The fantastic Herbert Niebling Lyra. It will not be suitable as a shawl (cotton is not luxurious enough for my taste). Neither will it be a doily ( I am not a table cover up kind of person, is that because I am a mom?). No, it is a surprise project which I hope I can finish if I find the accessories required...

Miralda No 2

I knitted the second Miralda in less than 8 days. This time I have chosen a more dense yarn which I doubled and a smaller needle. What I did not change was the additional tassles.

This is a lovely shawl, but I think it needs my correctments to the pattern. Both because it makes it a little bit larger and because the centre corner looks better this way and all the shawl is symmetric. I prefer symmetry.

Tassled Estonian Miralda

The Nancy Bush Miralda shawl needed tassles, don't you agree? A lovely shawl wich is better in reality than in the book. I extended the pattern for a symmetric shawl. I used two strands of yarn which become a 4-ply 100% cashmere from Colourmart which in its original 2-ply should be about 2/22nm. The shawl took 56g yarn and including tassles it's 63g (693m if I have guessed the yarn weight correctly), which means there is plenty of yarn left for another equivalent! I used 4.5mm Knit Pro which gave me a 196cm hypotenuse and 81cm from top to tip (blocked size, relaxed it is slightly smaller).

Ravelry contest shawl finished

You shoud wear proper clothing when using this shawl. It does not really cover up anything :-).

Summer in the garden

Summer is here! The temperature reached 40C in the sun yesterday. The garden is thrieving. I mix Hosta, Heuchera, Astrantia with strawberries and cherries.

4 weeks knitted lace, cobweb version

The shawl is growing pretty quickly even if the needle is just 2.5mm the final size will not be very different from the Grignasco rasberry colouerd shawl I made previously.

Ravelry contest, 4 weeks lace

I have added a Ravelry project to the ColourMart Lovers contest. I am again knitting in the Cariaggi Jaipur 2/56nm which I bought from Colourmart.
The appearance is very sheer, you can actually read a magazine through it.

Princess Cakes

On Crown Princess Victorias wedding day we just had to have some cake to celebrate. Two cakes. One home baked to eat and and one crocheted to give to my daughters friend. Happy, happy, wedding! Maybe I should add, the two little girls have played Princesses all day, with Princess cakes.