Autobahn, here I come!

I've spent the morning preparing my knits for the road trip holidays - miles and miles on end on the Autobahn, narrow mountain roads, and the autostrada. 

The photo shows the two projects that simply can't fail as holiday knitting. I've finished the "hard" parts, i.e. neck edging, sleeves, feather-and-fan pattern (I've even sewn up the neck edging and sleeves and woven in ends), and yet to go is endless rows of plain stockinette (with a few increases and decreases here to keep me awake, but easy to memorise) - in total I have a little over 1 km of yarn to be knit into stockinette before these two projects are finished.

And when they are done? They'll be wonderful summer garments - I've tried both of them on and they are definitely winners! I'm confident they'll get quite a lot of wear. Right now the Danish weather is perfect (25-30 celsius!!) for wearing them, but I hope the summer returns when I return. 

What are they then?

The (beautifully) blue one on the left is Buttercup (in this case I think Cornflower would be more appropriate, though...) by Heidi Kirrmaier. 

It's knitted in the most exquisite linen yarn I've ever tried - it's Kalinka by Karin Öberg (and I can't believe I camped a few miles from her knitting café hosting house/shop three years ago without knowing anything about it...). I guess the Swedes are skilled when it comes to linen. Alas, this gorgeous cornflower deep blue colour is not longer produced (booo...), but is still available in other nice colours - and I do think I'll need more of it at some point... Locally, I can get it in Sommerfuglen in Copenhagen, but the way the Swedish currency looks at the moment, I think I'll import some from Sweden instead! 

This yarn was a random purchase I made in Kunstladen at Fanø two years ago at the knitters' festival. I loved the colour and originally intended it for Marianne Isager's Karpen (March's garment in Japanese Inspired Knits), but then I didn't want to knit that anyway. And now I'm happy I didn't. The yarn is perfect for this simple yet very pretty tunic - just my style. 

The black one on the right is Coral by Amimono. It's knitted in Isager's Viscolin. The yarn is alright, but nowhere near the Kalinka linen. 

... And I never thought I should be fond of knitting with anything but wool. Well, I guess I was wrong :)

Right now...

A nice little meme that I've taken the liberty to translate into English, having seen it here and here in Danish.

Outside my window there is... grass. Grass and lovely sunshine. Summer has hit Denmark and will stay for at least a week! 

I'm thinking about... if there's something crucial we've forgotten to think about for our holidays; starting on Friday. 

I'm grateful for... my life. 

In the kitchen there's... a mess! As in: a huuuge mess. I was home alone last night cooking myself an exquisite all-homemade burger. And I tend to leave a huge mess in the kitchen when combining cooking and being home alone. 

I'm dressed in... black. What can I say, it's my favourite colour. 

I'm doing... a lot of knitting. Trying to prepare and select the right knits for the road trip holiday and the WIP WrestleMania in July. I'm almost there. 

I have to... go to the library within the next hour (before it closes) to pick up a guidebook on Alsace. I also need to eliminate some of those laundry mountains...

I'm reading... well, the newspaper. I ought to read some scientific papers, too, but my mind is said on holidays, and I'll stick to experiments (no reading) this last week before said holiday. I'm not reading any fiction at the moment - in fact, I'm really bad at reading fiction while studying...

I'm hoping... that the floods won't spread to the Western part of Central Europe. In fact, I'm hoping they'll go away so people can have their houses, etc. back (and our holidays won't involve floods...).

I'm listening to... the noises from the fridge, the clock, and my typing. 

Around the house/flat is... even more mess!

One of my favourite things is... hmm, in a month it may be our new car... right now, well, my 16-year old teddy? And a lot of other items with sentimental value.  

During the weekend I must... get a lot of stuff sorted for the holidays. And definitely go for a run! And eat some nice food like we usually do at weekends. 

A photo I'd like to share... this one from two weeks ago when Peter and I had a lovely day in Copenhagen shopping some nice stuff, wandering around in the sun, having a wonderful lunch at a restaurant owned by two brothers our age with just the right spirit - right next to an antiques flea market. Never have I seen that many clams on one plate... 

Amimono Endeavours II

I just wanted to give you an update on this part... 

Helga's book launch a couple of weeks ago made the list even longer - and changed it a bit. Here's what I'm now planning to knit - at some point within the next years, that is... (sorry for the titles of the patterns in the new book being in Danish, but that's what they are):

Coral (on the needles)

Granite (on the needles) 

1900'erne: Cardigan med klokkekant

1960'erne: Sweater i tofarvet patent

1970'erne: Barnetrøje i hulkrus 

1980'erne Bluse i hulmønster

Olive

Daffodil 

(I couldn't be bothered linking this time...)

I've already picked out 4 colours of Tvinni that I want to order - 200-250 g of each, for 4 different projects. Now I just need to go and find 1300 DKK somewhere... or maybe I should just learn to settle for less (yes, I definitely should! I've got more plans than knitting time after all...) :) Next thing must be to go out and look at the colours IRL to see which one(s) I want to start with. Decisions decisions. 

Firstly, though, I've signed up for WIP WrestleMania (running all of July) over on Ravelry. I've got some 15-16 WIPs that need handling.... 

Decipede!

A couple of weeks ago I finished my second Decipede, which I made for little Valdemar, who was very happy with it :)

It's knitted from the pattern I made some time ago - you can find it here (Etsy) and here (Ravelry). 

I sure like the little decipede a lot :)

Sockyarn-O-Meter Progress III

It's all very secretive, but I finished 3 pairs of socks. That gives me an extra 282 g = 28.2 % on the Sockyarn-O-Meter :D

WIP Personal Record

I think I may have set a personal record in number of WIPs. I'm now officially at 16 WIPs! (You can see for yourself in the sidebar: the Ravelry-linked progress bars. However, there isn't much to see as I don't waste precious knitting time shooting photos...)

It's a mix of designing socks, suddenly a lot of spare time, and wanting to use up the odds and ends in my stash. 

I'm moving forward at a steady pace, finishing them one by one, but I can't promise there won't be more... BUT I'm not allowed to buy more needles to fit in more projects ;)

Baktus scarf

Inspired by Britt, I dug out the softest and most luxurious yarn in my stash - a single skein and an odd ball I've been wanting to use in the quest to get rid of old bits and bobs - and cast on for the Baktus Scarf. It is one skein of Posh Yarn Eva 4 ply (55% silk, 45% cashmere) in colourway Flamingo (pink-orange) and the leftover Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk from my Rosa, colourway Guava (deep pink). 

Pattern: Baktus Scarf

Needles: 3.75 mm Addi Lace

Yarn: Posh Yarn Eva 4-ply (Flamingo; 1 skein) and Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk (Guava; 0.6 skein).

It is sooooo soft and thus nice to wear at the neck - and very pretty, I think.