FO: Heart Flower Shawl

Finally! The photos of my new favourite - the Heart Flower Shawl - are here!

I started this project back in January inspired by Christel Seyfarth's design and technique, but with the desire to make my own (truly) unique shawl and not least use my own yarn since I have so much of this supersoft/shetland/highland wool (I acquired quite a lot of that back in January - and before/since). Along the line followed some improvements to the border construction compared to the original shawls - very cleverly suggested by my mum and then tested by me.

I used the heart/flower pattern from these mittens that I found on Ravelry and combined it with the diagonal lines of Christel's Kornblomst Shawl although with just a single stitch in the lines as I prefer that look. It was my mum's idea to put the hearts on the border, too.

The colours for the heart flower pattern are a palette of reds, pinks, and oranges (yes, I do have a lot of those!) while the background comprises various blues with a bit of yellow, purple, and grey. For the border I used a very dark grey (graphite) for the background - I found pure black too 'hard'. I used 29 different colours in total! All the same type of wool from 3 different mills (marketed under 5 different names). I've become quite adept at spit splicing (with water, though)!

So, what's so special about the border construction? Well, it's knit all in one and in the round - perfect for colourwork! It does require quite a few circular needles of the same size to manage these 1000+ stitches, but luckily I have quite a lot in 3.5 mm and used five of them here (2 long ones, 3 shorter ones). During my summer vacation I made small samples to see what sort of increases were required at each corner to make it work and came up with the following: For the point at the bottom of the triangle, I increased one stitch on either side of the center stitch on each round. For the points at the sides (top of the shawl) I increased one stitch on each round on the side of the center stitch that forms the top border and two stitches on each round on the side towards the side border. I hope this makes sense? After turning the hem with a purl row I did similar decreases on the back. I of course made sure to place the heart pattern on the border so that it fits nicely around the in-/decrease lines (not possible where 2 stitches are increased on the same side of the center stitch, though). The border is bound off normally and sewn to the back making sure to match it stitch by stitch with the picked up stitches (I didn't pick up stitches along the top - there I just kept the live stitches). I also decreased the stitch number across the top border a bit to avoid the convex upper border that I've seen on some shawls with this construction. You can see what it ends up looking like here:

I am of the opinion that large shawls need tassels; tassels just make them that much more fashionable. I attached the tassels with an i-cord using Britt's tutorial - it looks great.

Pattern: My own, but many other shawls of this kind exist. You can read all my many notes on my Ravelry page. 

Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsuld, Júnik Supersoft, Holst Garn Supersoft, Isager Highland Wool, and BC Garn Shetlandsuld. All the same type of yarn. 330 g in total. My Ravelry page states which colourways I used in case you're interested.

Needles: 3.5 mm.

I haven't actually measured the shawl, but you can get an indication of the size from the first photo (I'm 5' 6" / 168 cm).

It was a pleasure to knit - colourwork isn't all that bad once you get the hang of it!

Conclusion: What's not to love?!

Ahhh...

I just landed in our sofa after an intensive 6-day work week where I've barely had time for anything but eat and sleep (and attending the PhD course which took up all of my time...). I have 127 unread posts in my blog reader (I wonder what would happen if I actually worked at this intensive level every week...!), so I guess I have plenty to do with my 1-day weekend. At the moment my knitting projects mainly consist of sewing sleeves in and side seams together, so I guess I'll have some more FOs to show soon. About that - I promised photos of my Heart Flower Shawl almost two weeks ago. Actually, I had the photos taken that same day, but then birthday weekend and work happened and I didn't have time or opportunity to put a post together. Maybe this weekend I will!
Off to brew a cup of tea and read all your many blog posts...

Psst...

Just wanted to let you know that the Heart Flower Shawl is done! And that it's wonderful! All the time spent on colourwork, spit splicing, steeking, and not least the 1000+ sts border was totally, utterly worth it. Can't wait to show you once the combination of light, photographer, model, and camera can be obtained.

One more thing, which happens to me so rarely that I just had to share it: At the moment I have no desire whatsoever to start new projects! Yes, you read that correctly. I'm so busy finishing up the WIPs that I can't wait to see finished that the thought of starting all those new projects at the top of my queue just doesn't appeal to me. Don't worry, though, it'll only last a few weeks!

An FO for the home

Finally the last post in this FO series with a project for the home. Not the prettiest project I've ever made, but very useful. 

Pattern: Stor heklet hengekurv af Bekki Bjarnoll (Rav link).

Yarn: Hoooked Zpagetti, aqua, 654 g (70% of a large cone).

Needles Hook: Size 10 mm. Next time I'd go for 12 mm for this yarn.

The story: We've been missing a clever solution for apron storage in the kitchen. Seeing this crocheted hanging basket popping up on several blogs and on Ravelry made me think. It took me an evening to make and it fulfills its purpose very well, but I don't think I'll ever be the Zpagetti yarn's biggest fan even if I do see why it's trendy at the moment (but why is there no 'h' after the 'g' in Zpagetti? Is it meant to be pronounced zpa-jetti?)

Mods: A few - see my Ravelry project page.

FOs for me (eventually)

Welcome to the third post in this sudden plethora of FOs. You have to believe me that these are FOs accumulated over more than a month - I just haven't gotten round to the photography part - and it seems that I'm the sort of knitter who finishes up a lot at once and then nothing for quite some time.
This third post includes knits for me - two very simple ones. No modelled shots since that would really be mockery of these otherwise nice FOs given my current body shape...

Pattern: My own doing inspired by Kim Hargreaves' Smoulder (Rav link).
Size: S
Yarn: Kid Silk Aura, colourway 758 Steel, 6 skeins - a bargain from Kemps - of which I used every single yarn (win!).
Needles: 4.5 mm and 8.0 mm (That's how you make this texture: one row with the smaller needle - one row with the larger needle. I felt quite ingenious when I came up with the idea of using my interchangeable KnitPros with the smaller needle at one end and the larger needle at the other, but then I guess I'm not the first to come up with this).
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

Pattern: My own - inspired by a much used silk top from Sonia Rykiel for H&M I'm the happy owner of.
Size: S
Yarn: Kalinka by Karin Öberg, 100% linen, 90 g. This wonderful, blue colour is sadly discontinued. I originally bought 3 skeins, then used two for by Buttercup and wanted to put that last skein to good use. It's the best linen yarn I've ever knitted with and highly recommendable. Here are some yarn links for you.
Needles: 5.0 mm.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

FOs for two little girls

I know two little girls whose mum appreciates handknits. Luckily for me, I've become the handknit provider. This time the order said two little vest for each and the chosen yarns were grey, purple, and bordeaux. She liked the Clara vest I've previously knit for the oldest girl, so this time we agreed on three of those and a thicker striped vest for outdoor wear. I was quite happy to get to knit 3 Claras in a row since it's such a nice pattern, gives a great result - and it's not like I'll get to knit any of those for my own little one: I'm not sure he'll appreciate a girly lace pattern quite as much!

Pattern: Clara by Karin Vestergaard Mathiesen
Sizes: Approx. 1 year and approx. 3 years. I played a bit with needle size and yarn weight to get these larger sizes.
Yarns: Different kinds of my workhorse highland wool - J C Rennie and Knoll of various origins - and Isager's Alpaca 2.
Needles: 4.5 mm and 5.0 mm.
More details on my Ravelry project page.

Pattern: My own, improvised pattern with garter stitch edging and two buttons on the shoulder - pretty much the same as I use for these vests.
Sizes: Approx. 3-4 years.
Yarns: Different kinds of my workhorse highland wool - J C Rennie and Knoll of various origins - and Isager's Alpaca 2.
Needles: 7.0 mm.
More details on my Ravelry project page.

FOs for the baby

Like most bloggers I've been struggling with the fact that proper FO photos can only be made during weekends. Last weekend I finally had the opportunity to do so - even if it meant bringing all the FOs with me all the way across the country since that was where  I was going. Anyway, a lot of FOs have accumulated so be prepared for a whole series over the next few days. Let's start with the ones for the much anticipated baby. With the level of activity he's at now, it may turn out to be hard to get a modelled shot in the future, but then that's a good thing, isn't it?

Pattern: Intarsia Squares: my own, improvised work - but I know that Kaffe Fassett has something similar in one of his books from the 90s(?).
Size: Approx. 1 year
Yarn: Grønhøj Garn Artic - 8 different colours - 168 g in total.
Needles: 4.0 mm; 3.5 mm for the ribbing and 2.5 mm for casting on.
The story: My mum and I participated in a - very well taught - workshop on knitting with multiple colours at the knitters’ festival on Fanø in September. We were supposed to bring yarn in at least 4 different colours suitable for needles size 4.0 mm, and since none of us have that in our stash (unbelievable, but nonetheless true) my mum went to Grønhøj to buy eight different colours of this superwash yarn - not a favourite but so smooth and even that it was perfect for this course. Of course we had a lot of leftovers and I thought I might as well go ahead and knit it up into some clothes for the little one since it’s perfect for babywear, too. While I was at it I thought I'd use some of the techniques we went through in the workshop. Enter intarsia squares sweater in 8 different colours!
This was also my first time using tubular cast-on and bind-off. Such a brilliant technique! I always thought it was very hard to learn, but really it's piece of cake, it looks great and is very stretchy. Win!
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here. 

Pattern: Gustav by Nanna Gudmand-Høyer (Rav link). I changed it to a sort of mistake rib instead of the 2x2 ribbing; slightly more interesting this way, but probably also slower to knit.
Size: 80-92 cl.
Yarn: Filcolana New Zealand Lammeuld + a bit of red Isager Tvinni
Needles: 3.0 mm
The story: I needed a compact and long-lasting project to bring on the trip to London with my mum in October. This was also the first knit in the use-all-this-stash-yarn project.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

Pattern: No. Four - Barnevognskæde (pram decoration) from Amimono Home Collection 2011. Again a collection of beautiful projects from Amimono - and this one is probably the more fun one to make. As always, I've turned up the colours considerably compared to the original. My baby is going to be a colourful one (just in case you couldn't tell from this post...).
The project is really more pom pom making (fun!) and finishing than knitting, but it was a lot of fun and I'm very pleased with the result.
More details + mods: On my Ravelry project page.

Pattern: Gift Wrap Romper by Carina Spencer. I've previously made a cotton version of this pattern, but this one is much more colourful and fun. And woolen.
Size: 6 months (but I think it's really 3 months with my gauge; at least I intend to use it from 1-2 months on).
Yarn: The rest of the Grønhøj Garn Artic from the Intarsia Squares sweater above - and by the rest I mean the rest. Only a few yards left. I think this mix of colours makes it pretty much unisex - added bonus for people like me who doesn't like the idea of baby knits which can only be used once.
Needles: 4.5 mm.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

A request

 

Photo courtesy of Marimekko

Sorry, no knitting related content this time, just a request for help...  Do you happen to know a sewing pattern that will give a tunic/dress which is similar in shape to this one?

Thank you

- for all the ideas you responded with to my last post. I've got a number of plans and ideas now! And as a few of you pointed out I need to crack out as much knitting time as possible before the little one becomes external. First I do however need to concentrate on finishing that manuscript revision response before the weekend rather than wasting time round the internet... I'll be back with a some FO posts at the end of this weekend (hopefully!).

What to make?

I've been sorting through my stash and I found all these odd balls of not-at-all-itchy yarn. I plan to use it all up and I'd like to use it for various baby gear for the little one. Britt suggested legwarmers which are useful when carrying him in the sling. I also plan to make hats and booties and I've made a vest as well. I would however appreciate any ideas you may have on what to make - and also specific suggestions for the items I've already mentioned. Thanks!

FO: Warriston

A couple of weeks ago I finished this wonderful sweater: Warriston by Kate Davies. She designed it as a sweater for outdoor wear and while it will work well for indoor wear during the winter, too, I decided to put it to the test and brought it as my only outerwear for the knitters' festival on Fanø last weekend of September. Success.

As with all of Kate's patterns that I've knitted so far, the construction and the details are well-designed. I like how the pockets and the wide, standing collar add something special to the design, and the i-cord edging details add finish.

Pattern: Warriston by Kate Davies.
Size: Size 1 for upper body and sleeves; size 2 for lower body. This A-line construction means that I can easily fit into it now - as you can see - but also that I'll have an A-line sweater once I get my 'normal' size back, which I think will look nice.
Yarn: One strand of New Lanark DK in Pebble (approx. 330 g) and one strand of Blackhill Højlandsuld in Rullesten (approx. 140 g).  These yarns possess the qualities of wool required for a water repellent outdoor sweater. However, after washing they bloom nicely and produce a soft sweater which is not itchy at all (unlike my Owls sweater in Lett-Lopi). Brilliant!
Mods: The mix of sizes mentioned above. I also have fewer rows in the pocket lining - see my Ravelry page for details.

This is a highly recommendable sweater! It was both fast and pleasing to knit. Although one and a half months passed from start to finish, not a lot of that time was spent on the actual knitting. Rather, some time did pass waiting for the knitter to be reunited with the rest of the yarn at home since this was a knit I brought on holiday and road trips, and I didn't always bring enough yarn for my fast progress. Wearing the sweater is just as pleasing as the knitting process.

FO: Striped Cotton Baby Sweaters

Earlier this year I bought a load of cotton yarns at Kemps for almost no money. With the knowledge of the wee one arriving in January, it was time to knit it up. I bought only one skein of most of the colours, so I trawled through Ravelry to find a patterns which would match the yarn weights and would work with stripes. I found two: Liselotte's Latte Baby Sweater and Carina Spencer's Gift Wrap Romper & Sweater. The former worked well for the Patons Eco Cotton and the latter for Patons Linen Touch. I knit two garments from each pattern and managed to use up exactly all of 9 skeins of yarn!

Pattern: Latte Baby Sweater by Liselotte Weller

Sizes: I modified the pattern to get two different sizes - you can read more on the two sweaters' Ravelry pages: size 0-3 months and size ~6 months.

Yarn: Patons Eco Cotton. For the larger one I used a light blue (Clear) for the edging and Khaki and Primrose (more cream than primrose) for the stripes. For the smaller one I used Ruby and Clear for the stripes - I started knitting this sweater on election night, so the colour choices were appropriate - and used the leftovers from the first sweater for the edging. I ran out of yarn at the end so the neck opening was wider than I wanted. I fixed it with a ribbed collar in some Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-ply. Looks fine to me.

Mods: Many. Read more on the Ravelry project pages (linked above).

I really like these two sweaters. See more photos on their Ravelry pages (linked above).

Pattern: Gift Wrap Romper & Sweater by Carina Spencer.
Sizes: The romper is size 3 months, the sweater size 9 months. Looks to me like they run a bit small, but that's fine.
Yarn: Patons Linen Touch for the stripes (colours Primrose and Lilac for the romper, Aqua and Coral for the sweater) and Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton DK (colourway Logwood) for the edging. I used one skein of each (i.e. one skein in total for the edging on both sweaters) - and maybe a few yards extra of the yellow one.
Mods: I think I added a bit to the length on the body of the romper due to my row gauge being different, but other than that I didn't make any.
Links to the Ravelry pages: The romper | The sweater.
I like the final results. I'd like to make the romper in a woolen, long-sleeved version, but let's see if I get round to it.

FO: Squares

A longer blog silence than I expected, especially since this little blanket has actually been done since late August. I guess life happened.

Anyway, here it is in all its cheerful colourfulness!

This project has been on the needles since March 2009. It was intended to take this long since this is where all the scraps left over from numerous projects ended up, no matter how small they were (even if less than 1 m). I like to clean up my stash like this and had fun arranging the colours and knitting just-one-more-square.

Now it's finished. It has 128 squares knit with more than 70 different yarns! It's Ravelry page is here.

I've blocked it to approx. 80 x 80 cm. Not very large, you may add. No, definitely not large enough for the bed or even just for me. So who is it for? Well, some of the more cunning among you dear readers have been hinting at it for some time now, and now I'm happy to announce that 4 months from now - late January - I'll have my own little model to put into all those baby clothes I've knit in the past! Except the pink ones, that is :)

He's hiding behind my scarf in this photo, taken in Stockholm two weeks ago.

My Warriston sweater is also done - and it's a dream, I tell you - but I'm waiting for my camera (oh, and my dear husband) to return from Indonesia before I can show it to you.

FO: Karise shawl

Earlier this week I finished my Karise shawl, which I started during the summer holidays. It was a joy to knit and I love how the modularity made it possible to use as much of this beautiful, black and purple skein of Wollmeise as possible.

With 160 g (610 yds) of yarn I managed to make a shawl which blocked to be 150 cm wide and 78 cm deep. It's a very appropriate size - easy to wear. The yarn also blocked to a quite smooth fabric with a nice drape.

I knit the St st section the same size as given in the pattern, but then made 6 repeats of Chart A and 5 repeats of Chart B (3 of each used in the pattern). I have only 4 g of yarn left, so that's pretty much perfect. You can follow how much yarn I used for each section on my Ravelry project page.

The most interesting part I learnt from knitting this shawl, though, was the clever bind-off method used. Brilliant for lace shawl edgings! All in all, I can only recommend you knit this beautiful shawl.

Pattern: Karise (Rav link) by Karina Westermann (aka kariebookish).
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% merino superwash; colourway We're different - Sündig & verrucht. Wonderful colours!
Needles: 3.75 mm (because this was the largest I had in lace needles).
Mods: None. 6 repeats of Chart A, 5 repeats of Chart B.
My Ravelry project page: here.

Oh, and thanks to the new camera and not least DH's skills with it, we managed to capture the actual colours of this yarn!

Holiday startitis - final follow-up

My three weeks of holidays are rapidly nearing an end - I had a wonderful, relaxing time on the North Sea Coast, where the weather has generally been good - and I thought I'd just follow up on my progress report from last week.

I finished the back of Smoulder and cast on for the front. I expect to get at least halfway on the front on the trip back home today.

I finished both sleeves, the hem and both pockets of Warriston within a few days earlier this week. Now it's awaiting the reunion with the rest of the yarn at home before I can proceed.

I'm approx. two thirds through the ball of yarn I intend to use as much of as possible for my Karise shawl. The colours are deeper than the photo suggests...

What I'm probably most proud of is the fact that I've managed to transform Kingscot from a long-time hibernating project into a WIP! I finished the sleeves more than a year ago, but was a bit weary about the gauge, how to eliminate some of the A-form and how many stitches to include in the ribbing, so it has been hibernating since. Now I'm almost at the armhole on the first front, but most importantly, I know how to proceed from here.

FO: Waffled Baby Vests

I wanted to try out the classic waffle stitch pattern on the baby singlet model I've knit previously. I started with the petrol green one at the bottom and suddenly I was on a roll... I am very fond of projects that eliminate odd balls from my stash, so now I have three of these little waffled baby vests.

You can read more details on my Ravelry project page here.

FO: Vitamin D

Two weeks of summer holidays = one finished Vitamin D

This is my new cardigan - a purple wonder that is easy to wear and has sleeves which are just the right length.

Sorry about the unintended folds...

Pattern: Vitamin D by Heidi Kirrmaier, size S.

Yarn: One strand of Blackhill Højlandsuld, colourway Lilla (a truly wonderful colour!) and one strand of Posh Yarn Mimi, colourway The Clock Struck Midnight - a wonderful colour as well. 208 g and 87 g, respectively.

Needles: 3.5 mm. 

Mods: I added another 2 repeats of yo increases at the bottom - otherwise it would've been too short. Probably something to do with my row gauge, although I didn't check. 

Link to my Rav project page: here.

Holiday startitis - follow-up

Thanks for the encouragement and concerns regarding my holiday startitis. I thought I'd just follow up on my progress.

The first week of my holidays, I actually worked mostly on a WIP - the Heart Flower Shawl - and cast on for Vitamin D on the side, as I also needed some knitting that required less attention, e.g. for the last 20 kms of the final stages of the Tour de France. I eventually ran out of yarn for the colourwork shawl; I couldn't bring all my >30 colours of highland wool with me on holiday, so when the pre-wound mixed balls ran out, I had to stop. I'm close to the point where I 'only' need to knit the edging, though.

I then carried on with Vitamin D, which was great for road trip knitting (quite a lot of that in the second week of holidays) and cast on for Karise to have an alternative knit when endless St st became too much. Two weeks after cast-on, Vitamin D is now blocked and ready for a photo shoot. Not bad, eh?

Finishing Vitamin D means casting on for another one of the holiday projects: Warriston. I've finished the first sleeve this afternoon - I most often start with the sleeves since I see it as an extra, large swatch for double-checking the tension on a larger, more correct scale - while reading the accompanying first issue of Textisles; a highly interesting read.

I cast on for Smoulder and Fayer right before we went on holiday, but haven't picked them up yet. No plans for casting on for Lida or Wisdom right away.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with myself and my discipline for focusing on a few projects at the time, though I have to say that all these are highly recommendable knits, which is probably the reason for my maintained attention.

FO: Pebbles

Not quite another Amimono knit, since it's a Rasmilla design, but it was originally inspired by Amimono's Granite so I already knew the stitch pattern and construction idea. It's Pebbles - a lovely little cardigan for small children and it comes in a wide range of sizes from 6-9 months to 6 years.

Aren't these buttons lovely? Unfortunately, I don't know anything about their origin, except that I got them from my mum's button stash...

Pattern: Pebbles by Sanne Bjerregaard / Rasmilla (Rav link), size 2 years (though mine turned out more of a size 12-18 months, methinks). Now I just need to find a child that age to put into it. Until then, it'll live in my now quite large baby knitwear stash.
Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsgarn, colourway Æggesnaps, yarn held double, approx. 185 g.
Needles: 4.5 mm and 4.0 mm for the edging.
Mods: I lengthened the body with 2-3 cm before starting the yoke. I had to decrease quite a lot more in the neck edging to get the right shape and not the largest neck opening in the world, but it turned out nicely after blocking it into shape.
Comments: The fabric that this stitch pattern creates is wonderful when knitted on these relatively large needles. The design is wonderful - all the details make it a more interesting cardigan than many other children's cardigans I know of. It looks like something bought in a very expensive store ;)
Link to my Ravelry project page: here.

Holiday startitis

Is it okay to start up 7 new projects just because I now have 3 weeks of vacation which I plan to spend... well, knitting?

I was thinking of:

Vitamin D cardigan
Smoulder sweater
Warriston sweater
Karise shawl
Lida shawl
Fayer sweater/dress
Wisdom cardigan

Should I mention that I already have 13-14 WIPs?

My Amimono obsession

Crocus by Amimono: versatile, pretty, and soooft - read more on my Ravelry page

In the comments for the post on my last sweater - Clover - Ulla rightfully asked if I haven't knit my way through all the Amimono designs soon. Well, almost but not quite. Having been asked this, I of course had to count. The stats look like this:

12 finished Amimono projects - in reverse chronological order: the new Crocus, Clover, Vanilla, Granite, Camomille, Daffodil, Coral II, Pine, Coral I, Oak, and Cherry. I may also have made a Lavender copycat once, but it wasn't really a success (don't use 100% alpaca...). These days Vanilla and Camomille are my absolute favourites. Granite, Clover, and Pine are also really nice sweaters.

3 Amimono projects on the needles: Lemon, Cinnamon (converted to a dress), and cardigan from 1940s.

4 frogged Amimono projects: Sweater from 1960s, Sweater from 1980s, Amber, and Honey.

Numerous Amimono projects I'd like to knit in the future: Poppy (1970s child's sweater), Rose, 1900s cardigan, Waterlily, another Vanilla, another Camomille, Jade - and probably many of the new patterns as well!

Ravelry lists 44 Helga Isager patterns (and many are missing), so I clearly haven't knit them all, but still, I am clearly obsessed! I for my part am just happy to have found my favourite knitting designer.

What to do with 6 skeins of grey superwash wool bought on sale?

First, I want to say thanks for all the nice comments on my two new sweaters!

So, what to do with 6 - or actually 4 and 2 - skeins of versatile grey superwash wool bought on sale? Well, I'd suggest this:

Pattern: Pebble (Rav link) by Nikol Lohr - this is actually a fairly old pattern, but it may become a new favourite!

Yarn: Schachenmayer Nomotta Juvel, col. 00005, 75 g.

Needles: 4.5 mm.

Ravelry project page: here.

Pattern: Kerrera for kids (Rav link) by Gudrun Johnston.

Yarn: Viking of Norway Superwash, col. 113, 185 g.

Needles: 5.0 mm and 5.5 mm. I wish I'd knit the hems on 5.0 mm, too, because the front edges (knit on 5.0 mm) look so much nicer!

Ravelry project page: here.

Somehow grey wool and red buttons are just such a nice match! 

These two projects left me with only a bit of each quality. I used it for making a pair of mittens for a new born (a great pattern from Pickles) and a stripy hat for a 3(?)-year old. 

 

FO: Happy Summer Clover

Here's the second knit that I started in May and finished this past Saturday: a more summery knit this time, which I very early named Happy Summer Clover because the colour combo made me think of summer. Even if it's made of wool (and alpaca and cashmere, but they classify as wool too...). It's already gotten a lot of nice comments over on Ravelry (thanks for those!) and now it's time to present it on the blog.

A lot the beauty - and the more interesting part - of this sweater lies in the hems and neck edging. The stitch pattern for the edging is really simple (knit sts only! some of them are slipped, though), but changing colours between the light main colour and the gradually changing contrast colours creates a great effect.

Pattern: Clover (for children) (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono enlarged to my size. This pattern was originally created as an adult sweater, but the children's version is knitted on smaller needles at a finer tension and I liked that. I used the Granite pattern as a guideline (or rather, what I remembered off the top of my head from knitting Granite) since the construction is the same.
Yarn: Main colour: one strand of Isager Alpaca 2, offwhite, and one strand of light grey Cashmere 28/2 (wool/cashmere 90/10, 1400m/100g) from garnudsalg.dk. Contrast colours: Blackhill Højlandsuld from garnudsalg.dk in Asters, Slikkepind, Rosenknop, and Honning and Holst Garn Supersoft in Gladioli. Finished weight is 240 g.
Needles: 4.0 mm for the body, 3.0 mm for the edging.
Link to my Ravelry project page: here.

FO: Gerda - or The Long Cosy Red Winter Cardigan

I see myself as a sweater knitter, but I must admit there haven't been many of those around this year. But now, dear readers, they're finally back! Mid May I started two new sweaters (no need to finish those WIPs, right?) and both of them ended up being done on Saturday. Here's the first one: my brilliant new red cardigan!

What's not to like? :) 

I think it's going to get a lot of wear once winter arrives. I chose a sturdy wool combination so I expect it'll keep its shape and be able to stand long-time wear without pilling.

Pattern: Gerda (Rav link) from Mere Feminin Strik by Lene Holme Samsøe (so far available in Danish only).

Yarn: One strand of Cushendale Woolen Mills DK, colourway Wine, bought at The Yarn Room, and one strand of Spinni Tweed (Isager Wool 1) in a red colour whose number I don't recall and it probably won't be relevant either since it was a leftover batch I bought directly at the spinning mill years ago under their own label. The yarns were in my stash, the colours just happened to match and give the right tension. Win!

Needles: 5.5 mm for ribbing, 6.0 mm for the rest.

Mods: I added 7 cm to the length before starting waist decreases. In the armholes I knit the edge st on the RS and purled it on the WS to make sewing in the sleeves easier. Otherwise I knit the edge st on all rows. That's it.

Link to my Ravelry project page: here.

Probably my timing is not the best with such a wintery knit finished in July, but when the weather on the day I finishied it looked like this...

... it may not be so bad after all!

I promise there'll be sweaters in my next post...

At the moment, I'm busy seaming up two sweaters - the Happy Summer Clover and Gerda from Mere Feminin Strik - so there'll finally be sweaters here very soon!

In the meantime just this: three small baby hats and a pair of baby socks. The main purpose was to use up a few odd balls in my never-ending task of streamlining the stash...

Raveled here.

Pssst...

Have you seen this dress (Rav link, too)? Intriguing! 

As ready as one can be

Tomorrow, dear husband and I are participating in Copenhagen Marathon - 42.195 km through the streets of beautiful Copenhagen. It'll be the first for me, the second for him.

Friday was a public holiday and we're spending this long weekend eating a lot of carbs and preparing mentally. In fact, I think tomorrow will be a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to feeling the atmosphere and enjoying the cheering from spectators and all sorts of entertainment on the route. Of course, it will be tough towards the end, but I feel well-prepared, having trained since November. Let's see what happens after those first 30 km...

Not knitting related, you say? Well, imagine how much knitting I get done both before and after while resting my legs :)

A new summer knit

A few days ago, I frogged an old winter knit because I didn't think my brioche stitch was neat enough and because it came out slightly too small.

Instead, I've started a refreshingly cheerful summer knit - still woolen, though.

Off-white was never my favourite colour (mainly because my complexion is almost off-white during winter...), but when worked together with a fine strand of light grey yarn it becomes a pale grey which I like quite a bit more. I think it goes really well with the colours I chose for the edging.

The pattern is an enlarged version of Helga Isager's Clover for children (website | Ravelry). Yes, the original version was indeed the enlarged version, but I like this approach better for two reasons:
1) The needles are smaller and hence the fabric finer - I like that
2) I have the pattern for the children's version, but not for the original adult version

I started last night and I am speeding along at a pace that impresses even me...!

Update - New Shop Links

Thanks to Ann, you can now actually find the links to my patterns which I recently reported to be for sale on Ravelry in the sidebar...! I learn something new about html all the time... Apparently you don't necessarily see the same sidebar when viewing a single post as when viewing the entire blog. Simple enough - I just never thought about it.

New Shop

All my patterns are now available directly through Ravelry which means that:

1) You will have the pattern right away and don't have to wait for me to send you the pdf.
2) You can store the pdf in your Ravelry library.

Even if you're not a member of Ravelry, you can still purchase the patterns - just click the 'buy now' buttons in the sidebar!

On knitting and running

Can you find me?

Today, I finished the third installment of the test runs, the half marathon, leading up to Copenhagen Marathon in what for me is a splendid time: 1:54:00. Also having completed the 30 km training a few weeks ago I feel completely ready for my first marathon on May 22nd.

Though not extremely fast, I've become quite a runner over the past year. So much that it influences my mood. I've even joined a running club. It was therefore with great interest I read an article in the new Twist Collective about what knitting and running have in common: 
"But look closer and you’ll see that both running and knitting fall into the back-to-basics mentality that is gaining  a foothold in our increasingly techno-driven world."

Extremely interesting reading for me as these two disciplines are by far my two most important interest. A lot of interesting points are raised in the article. It was also great to see how knitters even bring their knitting along! I don't think I'll ever do that, though. For me, running is about finishing as fast as possible, and although I'm a fast knitter, I'm not sure I'll be a fast knitting runner.