Warm and fuzzy feeling

This gives me a warm and fuzzy:

Specs:

pattern: Something Red by Wendy Bernard

yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, 8x50 g balls

needles: 4.5 mm Addi Turbo circular

size: M, adjusted for gauge

I really enjoyed knitting this. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. The fit is great, partly due to the fact that the sweater was easy to try on when it was in progress.

The other day, this appeared on the fridge door:

It reads: "Watch out because it will be slippery". Mr S. (5 yrs) decided to clean the kitchen floor on his own initiative. Afterwards he told me "Mom, now you have to give me one of those green things." That would be money -the green kind, as opposed to the metal kind. So he got paid $ 1, and I got a clean kitchen floor. Not a bad deal at all, if you ask me! I sure hope this is a precedent for times to come, and when he's 17, I don't need to tell him to go get a job to make some money. And as I'm doing all this knitting, I don't have to worry about house work!

Happy Halloween!

Since the last update, I've been working on a few different things. The amorphous mystery sweater has only progressed little, and is currently out of favor and out of the knit cycle. This always seems to happen, when I get back into the knitting groove. I frantically go back and forth between a few projects, trying to figure out what I really want to, or need to be working on, before actually settling on something that feels right. In addition to the mystery sweater, I've been working on Tweedie, started a shawl and another sweater, and even finished something:

This is Amelia, Laura Chau's pattern from the -08 Winter Knitty. I used Louet Riverstone in color Burgundy. I think it's a very nice, solid worsted wool, one of those basic yarns that is always good to have around. I was between sizes, and cast on something in between M and L, because I didn’t want the sweater to be too tight around the bust. A couple of other changes I made were:

• Button holes every 14 rows instead of every 10. I wish I would have started them an inch or two earlier.
• I modified the sleeve cuff to twisted k1p1 rib, and I did the sleeve increases slower and made fewer of them than specified. Looking at other people's projects, sometimes the sleeves seemed too wide, at least to my taste.
• I made the front neck line decreases one stich further in (k1, p1, ssk), and I added a button hole in the neck band.
  

Overall, a nice project, and a good, well written pattern!

After finishing Amelia I thought, what I really need is a couple of new sweaters I can wear to work. I searched through patterns and rummaged through my entire yarn inventory, and paired up yarns with patterns, deciding what is going to be what. The first sweater that got on the needles was a silvery gray version of Wendy's Something Red:

I'm using Rowan's Kid Classic and Addi Turbo 4.5 mm circulars. (Shocking news: Addi has changed the color of the cord in their circulars from the familiar gold to a transparent blue!) This sweater should take me another couple of weeks with the sleeves and the neck band, if I manage to stick to knitting monogamy from now on.

October is birthday-month for me, and despite having made a resolution to be on a strict yarn diet, I figured I'm allowed to splurge on my birthday. Right?

This was my "happy birthday to me"-gift: a soft pile of Malabrigo Silky Merino in color Topaz. I'm thinking a shawl, something in the style of Jared Flood. Jared is one of my favorite bloggers and designers, and I'm really fond of his use of thicker yarns for lace patterns. By using a DK or a worsted weight yarn in a lace, you really get the best of both worlds; the intricate texture and pattern, but also the substance (and warmth!) of the thicker yarn.

The weather has been absolutely miserable lately around these parts of the world, but only during the weeks. Somehow magically it always seems to clear up for the weekends, and this weekend is no exception. This of course makes me very happy -not only for the kids, but for poor old me, who has to take them trick-or-treating tonight, and if the weather was as bad as last night, no amount of knitwear could keep me warm! I hope you all have a happy (and scary!) Halloween. Stay warm!

End of hiatus

I didn't even realize how long it had been since I last posted... Seems like time to end the hiatus and bring the blog back to life! The past year has been chaotic, stormy and challenging on a personal level, and posting in the midst of all that just didn't feel very appealing. But life goes on, and now that the dust has settled (and the weather is getting colder!), it's time to come out of the hiding, and take out the needles and yarn again.

So what is going on on the knitting front? Some of my work that I finished between the last post a year ago and before I completely stopped knitting for a while (that's right! completely stopped... didn't see that coming!) I have posted on Ravelry, available to those of you that are members there. Recently, I tried on a lovely cardigan at a store and thought, no way am I paying $ 119 for that! A two piece construction in garter stich, fairly simple and should be a quick knit. This and the afore mentioned cold weather were enough to get me to go rummaging in my yarn totes for something suitable that could produce the same cardi, albeit in a prettier color. I found a bag of fingering weight Knitpicks Gloss in color Cosmos, knitted a 5x1.5" test swatch, and cast on for a sleeve.


This will be one of those "make it up as you go" pieces. Yes, I'm taking a risk here, and yes, you may slap me, if it doesn't turn out because of the lack of planning. In my defence, I do have a couple of scetches in my notebook, and I have taken one measurement! The back piece measures from my elbow to my knuckles. Very scientific, no? And the reason I think this has any chance of working out? Well, the shape of the sweater is very "organic", not fitted in the least, so the exact measurements aren't absolutely critical. Famous last words, before a knitting disaster...

Maybe I want to think that I've still got the touch, and I can figure this out without spending two days planning. Maybe I'm just delusional... Or maybe I've totally forgotten anything I ever learned, and that unplanned pieces of knitting rarely turn out. We shall see. Until then, let's admire the magnificent October sky (the sky is so big here in South Dakota!) and the pretty view from my deck:

End of Summer

The Leafy Lace cardi got finished a while ago, and I've worn it a few times already.


After that got done, I started on a Very Secret Birthday Project on a rather tight schedule. What caused the schedule to be tight was not so much the upcoming birthday, as my mother turns a year older on the same day every year (very helpful), but the fact that I just couldn't decide on the pattern or the yarn. I finally ended up reverse engineering a pattern that I'd seen pictures of, but that was only available in Russian, and a similar pattern that would have been in past issue of a Norwegian craft magazine. It actually was a very simple crochet stitch pattern, which is used quite a bit in shawls. I had my mind set on crochet for whatever reason, I've already forgotten why, but I was very determined that it had to be crochet. I started the project twice with yarns that I had in my stash, but at the end ended up going and buying a new yarn, as I didn't have anything that would have fit just right. It was either too woolly, too stiff, too thin, too something. The yarn got is Berroco Twist, wool and viscose, a very nice and drapey yarn with a nice sheen.

The main idea I stole form the Norwegian pattern was the pseudo fringe. It's constructed from single crochet loops that are attached to one another, it's fringy without being too much so. I very much like it.

As far as I could tell, mom was very pleased, and I liked the shawl so much myself that I bought yarn for one for myself, too. As far as progress on that one... well, I've started, let's just say that. The yarn I bought (not the same one as my mom's) is very splitty and a pain to crochet, so I quickly came up with other projects that were more urgent.

Last weekend I started a new cardi, which I'm calling the "End of Summer Cardi". The yarn is Elann's Callista (no mom, it's not expensive), a blend of cotton, linen and viscose. I've planned a one piece construction with slightly puffed sleeves (we'll see how those turn out...), V-neck, and raglan sleeves. So far I'm about half of the way done.

A bunch of my co-workers have been reproducing lately, and baby gifts are in order. So far two girl gifts and one boy gift are needed, plus one unknown, due within the next two weeks. I've worked on some baby bootie patterns, and here are two of my favorites:

Now a couple more pairs of cuteness, and maybe a pair or two to have in the stash for future small people.

Summer knits

I'm in need of some more summery knits than all the wool sweaters I've been cranking out lately. I was working on a lace cardigan design, but found a free pattern that was so close to what I was doing that it just wasn't worth re-inventing the wheel.

This is the back of the Lacy Leaf Cardi by soobeeoz. The yarn is Lily Chin Chelsea, a wool/cotton/acrylic blend, perfect for summer clothing. I'm already done with the body pieces and one sleeve, so this cardi should be finished pretty soon.

A few weeks ago I bought some Jojoland Melody yarn that was on sale at Needlework Unlimited, and thought it would be perfect for a shawl. Something fairly simple that would benefit from the beautiful color changes of the yarn. I found the perfect pattern in Ulla; Revontuli by AnneM.

One thing I wasn't too excited about was how the stripes would get progressively thinner, as the shawl got wider, and I wanted to somehow work around that. I contemplated a couple of strategies, and ended up knitting each section (or actually each two sections) from a separate ball of yarn. I wasn't quite sure how it would work, if it would look weird or stand out too much that the sections are all different, but it worked out ok, and I'm very pleased with the result.

I really like the three-dimensional look that is created by the pattern and the slight sheen of the yarn. I've worn this to work a couple of times already, and the really nice thing about it is that it goes with almost every shirt that I own! :)

Spring has sprung

My excuse for not posting for a while is that my dear little laptop had an accident a while back, and I had to take it to the PC doctor. Because of a misunderstanding, it took them a whole month to fix it. Well, not quite, but because they ordered and installed the wrong cover for it, it took twice as long as is should have. I got it back now, and I have to say, I really missed it! And mom started complaining already that there aren't any new blog posts, so I better write one immediately. Here comes, mom!

Since the last time I posted, I had to go on another trip, this time for more unfortunate reasons. My 84-year-old Grandpa passed away, and I went to Finland for the funeral. The whole family came together for the event, and even though a funeral's a funeral, it was great to see everybody. We spent a lot of time reminescing about the last, oh, 60-some years. Or however long each one of has had known Grandpa. The things that everybody seemed to remember about him were that he was fair, just, honest and hard working. What an honor to be remembered as such an exemplary individual. I will miss him greatly! The whole time I kept thinking that he had such a great life, and that I wish people could say the same, when my time comes.

It was great to go back home after a two year long hiatus. I'm going again this summer, for happier reasons and with more time. This time I was there for only a few days, and without the kids or my husband. This of course meant a lot of uninterrupted knitting time on travel days. I usually travel through Amsterdam, and this time was no exception. On my way back I had a long lay-over, and I went on a little tour of the Amsterdam area:

What a great way to spend those few hours that otherwise you'd spend sitting around at the airport!

On my trip I finished Salina -it is one of my favorite patterns, and I just love wearing it. The fit is just perfect, the style is nice and simple, but not without a couple of interesting details. I love Rowan Felted Tweed, although it could be just a little softer. I might have to try and give it a vinegar rinse and see, if that would take off the scratchiness.

I knitted the whole thing in the round, sleeves and all. That is my preferred way, because I just love miles and miles of plain stockinette! And piecing the thing together was a breeze! I also knitted the sleeves quite a bit longer, because I don't like short or even 3/4 sleeves on wool sweaters. I'm always cold, and my hands especially, so I like loooong sleeves. I also made just 3 button holes, as I really didn't see the need for the fourth one.

I have this yarn in 3 different colors, so I'll probably be making another Salina at some point. There are also a couple of other patterns in the same book that I might want to make.

Because the airport security people in Europe aren't quite as understanding of knitters as they are here in the US, I also took along a crochet project. I thought, if I have a very much not-sharp, large size crochet hook (5 mm or larger) with me, I just can't see them taking it away! I got this book called Amazing Crochet Lace by Doris Chan, and it's got some really nice shawl patterns in there that are designed after traditional crochet doilies. One of my favorites is the shawl on the cover, which is the one I started.

The yarn is Berroco Seduce, an interesting blend of linen, rayon and silk. A lot shinier than in the picture. You can also see, where I was getting my crochet mojo from: straight from the bottle! ;) I'm usually not a Pepsi drinker, but the European Pepsi Max (diet) tasts much closer to Diet Coke that Coke Light does. It's just one of those things.

Kauni and her friends

Have you heard of Kauni? If surf the knitting circles, I'm sure you have. Kauni is a Danish yarn with beautiful colors and wonderful color work patterns. Actually Kauni is the name of the designer, who is originally from Estonia. So the name actually means "beautiful". How appropriate! :) The Kauni yarns aren't really easy to find on this side of the pond, and I ordered mine from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions. Great prices and a very good color selection.

After I got my yarn, I had to start right away! But I didn't want to go with the popular Kauni cardigan pattern, because it has a very boxy shape and that just doesn't do for me. I immediately gain 50 pounds when I wear boxy sweaters... So I decided to go with Veronik's Colette pattern from IK winter 07. It's got nice shaping, and is a nicely constructed sweater, but I wasn't crazy about the cats, so I searched for another stitch pattern to use. There is a nice website full of free colorwork patterns here.

As much as I love knitting this, it is very slow, and requires a lot of concentration. I have been knitting on this exclusively for a couple of weeks, and I'm almost up to the arm holes now.

But I felt like I needed a break from all that concentration, and wanted something that was mindless stockinette that I could knit while reading or watching TV. So I started Salina, the sweater on the cover of Vintage Knits. I've been wanting to make this sweater for the longest time, and I'm really enjoying the pattern.

I've got this same yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed) in three different colors, so there might even be more than one Salina in my future.

New FOs in New Orleans

Another work trip and another chance to get hours of undisturbed knitting time, if you don't mind security checks and boardings of planes, and a few times when I actually had to work. I went on a trip to New Orleans (not one of my favorite cities, FYI), and instead of taking a new project with me, I actually took 6 UFO's in hopes of finishing at least on or two. I took so many, because I couldn't decide which ones I'd want to work on, plus I wanted to be able to just pick up what I was in the mood for.

The first thing that got done, was a We Call Them Pirates hat, in the works since over a year ago:

The yarn I used was the same as last time, Rowan Wool Cotton. It is super soft, holds up well, and is the perfect yarn for a hat. You need just one ball of each color for this hat. I made a couple of modifications (shocking, isn't it): I left out part of the colorwork in the bottom to make the hat slightly shorter, and I sloped the decreases a little slower, because I'm not a fan of the squarish top in the original pattern.

The second thing I finished was a pair of socks for Mr S, in the works since maybe a month ago:

I even managed to make them match! I usually don't even try, so this was one of the few times I actually made matching socks.

The yarn is one of the OPAL sock yarns, another bright colorway, perfectly suitable for kids. The socks are size 4yr.

I also worked a little on the Eyelet Cardigan that I started about a year ago:

This yarn is Bluemoon Fiberarts Cotton. I still need to make one more sleeve, piece it together, and add a collar and button bands. Maybe I'll get it done by the time the weather is warm enough to wear it.

I also made a little bit of progress on my Seawool socks:

These I'm continuing to work on today, so I should have them done by Sunday night.

I was quite proud of myself for being so productive, and also for not taking a brand new project along. :) And like I usually do where ever I travel, I found me a yarn store and bought some yarn as a souvenir. Now, I know Louisiana is probably not the knitting hub of the world, and my expectations for the yarn store weren't great, but even so, I was just a tiny bit disappointed. The store was large, and had a lot of different yarns, but the color selection for all of them was extremely poor. The store was also messy and felt dirty, which never gets me excited about shopping. And I was after some pretty basic stuff (for example, more yarn for Pirates hats), but couldn't find anything I was looking for. I did find something, though:

It's Chrystal Palace Maizy, a yarn made out of 82 % corn fiber. It's really quite soft, and I think it's meant to be mainly a sock yarn. I might still use it for something else, such as a hat. The gauge is pretty small, in the picture I used a 2.25 mm needle.

Herring bones

Herringbone mittens, that is! I had these old rose and dark chocolate Opal sock yarns that I knew I wanted to use for some nice colorwork mittens and maybe also a pair of socks. I went back and forth between different patterns, but I really liked the Herringbone mittens by the great Elliphantom, and these two colors would be perfect for that pattern, I thought.

The pattern is written for a heavier yarn, so I had to adjust for that. I added a stitch to each of the "bones", which in the original pattern are 4+4 stitches, for a total of 48 stitches plus two for the sides, so that equals 50. I went with 5+5, for a total of 60+2=62 around the palm. I also like two color ribbing better in colorwork, so I decided to use that, instead of a single color ribbing. And I wanted the thumb to match the rest of the mitten, so I change from straight vertical lines to herringbones on the thumb, too. You can see that in the thumb gusset, but it will of course be more obvious, when I actually finish the mittens.

Here you can also see the three needle bind-off in the tip, which worked perfectly and is much simpler than grafting. I'm not a big fan of pom-poms, so those will be left out, as well as the crocheted cord... I think it's probably starting to sound like I'm not even knitting the same pattern, as many changes that I've made, but Elli still did all the hard work writing the pattern, and what I'm doing are minor details. I always end up changing every pattern I use, some more than others, but that doesn't mean I didn't like the pattern. If I didn't like the pattern, I wouldn't be using it! So I guess what I'm trying to say is that despite all the changes, I still really like that pattern and would recommend it!

I also got some shots of the finished baby sweater, now with a button:

The button is polymer clay, sliced out of a cane I made already a while ago. So handy having all those canes made up! ;) I can just take a slice and bake it, and voila, I have a unique custom button or earrings or whatever!

I used a little crocheted chain for the button loop:

Cleaning up the bead stash

This weekend my husband asked me. if I could clean up my bead stash. He might have meant, whether I could move it somewhere else, or just get rid of it alltogehter, but I took it as "Honey, could you make some more jewelry?" ;) So I did. I mean, when would I not do what my darling hubby asks for?

I had a ton of polymer clay beads that I'd made a while ago, and a lot of already planned projects. I like to combine the beads with other materials, like glass, wood and semiprecious stone beads. This necklace only has a polymer clay focal bead, the rest of the beads are wood, ceramic and carnelian.

I also made earrings to match:


Here you can see the making of the Squiggly Necklace, with polymer clay squiggles altered with silver beads:

This bracelet is retro color polymer clay beads with some miscellaneous stone beads and some buno cord on a memory wire:



This isn't really craft related, but I just wanted to show you my tastiest accomplishment this weekend, a multigrain bread baked in a cloche baker that makes the absolute best crispy but not hard crust:



The only wool related activity this weekend was a felted space alien that we made with the kids:



I made absolutely no progress on the entrelac sweater -maybe I'm just a little too optimistic about the weather getting warmer. I better get on it and finish the thing, because if it really warms up, I'll never get it done...

Have a great week, and thanks for all the comments on the finished sweater a couple of weeks back! I know I'm really repeating myself, but I'll say it again: I'd love to reply to the comments, but Blogspot doesn't allow me to see the e-mail addresses. I don't know if it's a setting that I should change, or if that's just how it is with blogspot.