A small one, though. 44 g of Arwetta ekstra fin merino in a grey-green colour used for this baby vest/shirt from Lene Holme Samsøe's book Sødt & Blødt which I got at the library. I knit size ½ year on 3.0mm needles. I added a button opening on the shoulder to make it go over the baby's head easier.
I photographed my stash and weighed it: 9122 g! But doesn't it look nice? As I claimed in one of my previous posts, this year I have an improved stash quality with yarn for several already planned projects; I guess it shows from the photo.Last year I went by the rule that I could only buy 40% of what I knit up, but I could get gifts and use free days apart from this. This lead to a minor stash reduction (~800g) and a stash quality improvement which I am quite pleased with.
This year I’ll do something different, though. Part of my stash improvement was to shop for specific projects, so that I now have yarn for several planned upcoming projects. Consequently, my Stashalong 2008 will be project-based: I’ll be knitting a number of projects from my stash:
I think I’ll go with 12 projects in 12 months. Not that I have to finish a project every month, but I think it is an appropriate number. I am allowed to change the projects on the above list. I think I’ll revise the list in June or July to see if I should add more projects. Any project that I knit from my stash will count in my Stashalong 2008 adventure.
EDIT 30/03/2008: I've posted an updated list here.
My rules for 2008:
These rules are quite simple, and I think I like them.
I’ve already put all my stash on Ravelry (I’m “BirgitteStrikker”), and I’ll keep doing that – it’s such an easy way too have an overview instead of having to dig out all the stash from all the baskets in which it resides.
Happy knitting to all of you!
-- The design and pattern for this scarf is the sole property of Birgitte Zeuner (c) 2007 --
Finally, the pair of Gentleman's Fancy Socks (from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks) for my father, in black Admiral sock yarn.
I rather like my Christmas presents - I hope the recipients are just as happy :) Among other adorable presents, I myself got something knitting related:
Two books covering my major interests: Knitting and food chemistry:
And a yarn winder! Yipee :)
During the holidays I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. She is incredibly witty and humourous - highly recommendable reading!
I'm looking forward to the postman bringing me the rest of her books from Amazon.com!
My new mobile phone required this mobile phone cozy from 8 g of the so soft Malabrigo :)
... as she left for work on a construction site...
When getting home from work in the lovely winter sunshine, she wept her feet clean after a long day at the dirty construction site... 
... and got stuck in the letter box while collecting the mail. Oh no!
The clever elephant managed to get out, and could finally relax in her flat, feeling ready for the upcoming Christmas time. How cosy!
Unfortunately, she had to do some cleaning - a lot of dust had gathered in her favourite vase; Eliza has a thing for Finnish design, especially the Aalto vase:
Finally, she could sit down and relax - wathcing her favourite detective, Inspector Morse, on TV.
It's been a lovely day for the brave little raspberry-coloured elephant Eliza ;)
I'm very pleased with it!
The pattern is in Berroco's Norah Gaughan vol. 1, but I haven't got the pattern (since I have only found it for sale in the US), so I figured it out from photos and comments on Ravelry. I made it longer so that the ends reach each other. You can read the details here as I already gave the details during WIP week. It used up 116 g of my stash - I'm especially pleased to get rid of some cotton yarn :)
Most importantly, I finished ELIZA!
Knitted from Ysolda's marvellous and very clever Elijah pattern - you can read about it here, as I also put details for Eliza during WIP week. Isn't she cute?! I'll post more on Eliza's adventures later today. 24 g of Arwetta Extra Fine Merino used for Eliza.
Today I did something I've never done before: I threw away this hideous skein of stash:
Sorry for the poor photos - I shot them very late last night where it was obviously incredibly dark!
I'm knitting on needle size 3.5mm in Posh Yarn's Sophia 2ply, i.e. 100% cashmere lace weight. Mmmmmm. The colour is called Majesty, and is a purple-blue-mix. So, the yarn is amazingly soft, and I like the pattern a lot as well. Not too lacey since most of the scarf is going to be long stretches of the panels you see developing in the bottom of the second photo (or, maybe just click the pattern link above to see what I mean... ;)).
I'm looking forward to see the outcome: It will of course be incredibly soft, but how will the cashmere behave when worn? Let's see about that.
Just in order to show you all my WIPs this week, I hereby present a bonus: The Undulating Rib socks:
That's all for the WIP week - I hope you have enjoyed it. As you can see, I have plenty of things going, so I guess my next challenge will be to finish some of all these projects.
The Kaiju belt from Berroco's Norah Gaughan vol. 1. (Unfortunately) I haven't got the recipe book since it is apparently not for sale in Europe. However, this knit was rather easy to figure out after taking a look at the photos and reading the comments on Ravelry.
Today - after having been to a school in the neighbourhood to give my vote for the parliament election - I now present the Tuesday WIP: The Colette Pullover from IK (Interweave Knits) Winter '07 , i.e. the recent edition. Here's a link for Ravelry if you're in.That'll be my Amimono Oak: a long vest with loads of cables, flower pattern, bubble pattern, etc. - lots of structure knitting which is said to be highly fashionable this winter.
I bought it as a kit when I went to the knitter's festival on Fanø in September. It is knitted from 2 strands of the new Isager Alpaca Wool (50% alpaca/50% each) [which is as nice and soft as pure alpaca but very strong and not so heavy and floppy as cheap alpaca sometimes is - another quality wool from Isager (I know, they are expensive, but sometimes you have to pay for quality)] and 1 strand of Spinni. The colour is a little hard to describe - I think the photo shows it well: a slightly pale blue-green-petrol. I'm knitting on needle size 5 mm - the pattern calls for 5.5 mm and since I do knit rather tight my vest gets a little smaller than the small-medium I'm knitting - that suits me well and I like the fabric I get on size 5 mm.
I like the design a lot! Well, I usually do when it comes from Amimono - I adore Helga's work because she manages to mix complicated knits with a design that suits young people like myself. Usually you can choose between very simple knits designed for young people which bore me because they do not challenge my knitting skills - or complicated knits which are designed for older people who do not quite want the slimfitting shape that I do. I know that some English/American knitting designers make such designs as well, but it's not quite as good, if you ask me - they do not have quite the same eye for making knitted details, the quality of the yarn, and fashion work together.
People usually complain about mistakes in the Isager patterns. Well, there were some, but I found them rather easy to correct as the pattern is easy to grasp once you get started. I think I have learned all the (4) different patterns by heart now. You have to pay attention when you knit to avoid mistakes since there are patterns all over the place, but the amount of attention you have to pay varies. If you want a knit that does not quite qualify as a TV knit but instead keeps you entertained, I'll recommend this one. Furthermore, I think the output of my efforts will be recommendable as well :)
I hope to see other WIP weeks around - otherwise, stay tuned until tomorrow where I'll post another one of my WIPs.
Luckily, Jeanette is more alert than I am when it comes to news these days: She spotted my scarf here and I then found it here too! I guess will be the first time that one of my knits appears in Berlingske Tidende ;)
Made from 5 skeins (506 g) of worsted weight Malabrigo it is incredibly soft. I think the fit is nice, and I particularly like that the sweater is a little different from ordinary sweaters because of the integrated sleeve and collar. It's very nice to wear too - I'll call this knit successful :)
Made from 76 g of Arwetta extra fine merino, which is NOT a sock yarn - I know that now... :) - but it is so nice and soft. However, I really like this pattern, and I'm about to make another pair in the ordinary Arwetta which is in fact a sock yarn - in a lovely purple colour.
I added another skein of Admiral sock yarn in this lovely autumnal purple-red-brown-dark colourway (my photo resembles the real look of the skein more than the one in the link). Mmmmm.
Calculations for the stashalong:
Stash used: 506 g + 36 g + 76 g = 618 g
Yarn bought: 100 g
A nice result, if you ask me :)
On the needles at the moment are Amimonos Oak - it is going to be absolutely beautiful and soft, I tell you. People usually complain about mistakes in the Isager patterns - I've already found some, but I can't be bothered; I found it rather easy to figure out what she meant, and corrected the mistakes I've found so far if anyone should be interested. The structured pattern is a good knit - I've learned how to do some nice structures by now - and it makes it a more interesting knit than the many many many stockinette stitches I've been doing lately. Furthermore, structured knits are major fashion items this winter - how fortunate :)
I have the Undulating Rib socks from Interweave's Favourite socks on the needles as well - along with a Christmas gift.
The leftover Malabrigo skein from the Cowl Pullover will soon be turned into the Foliage hat.
Today I finished the Radikale Venstre scarf and the pattern for it. About time, since the election campaign was kickstarted last Wednesday. The scarf shows the new colours of the Radikale Venstre political party - nice colours, if you ask me. Modeling the scarf is my dear boyfriend, who also happens to be the younger brother of the leader of the Radikale Venstre, Margrethe.
That's right - I bough new yarn. Not that I needed it, but sometimes it's too hard to resist - for example when I managed to buy this deep pinkish-red silk-cashmere laceweight yarn at Posh Yarn. If you could only feel how lovely it is, you would understand! It's 55% silk and 45% cashmere - and its even nicer than the 100% cashmere I have previously bought at Posh Yarn, probably due to the smoothness of the silk. I can't wait to wear it. Uhmmmmm!
It's immensely cute, isn't it?! I'll make another one and bring it with me on Wednesday...
If you want to see what this scarf can really do, look here and here and here and here. The thing about this scarf is, that all the bands (which are red on one side and pink on the other (alternating) in my version are meant for slipping the other end of the scarf through, just like the baby scarves - this one is just oversize. I adore it!
