A few more new projects

I thought I'd told you about all my new sweater projects last week, but a few more have been added to the list.

I finally had an excuse to get the Jade pattern (Rav link) from Amimono on my hands (buying Isager yarn for a birthday present) and here is my version a bit more than halfway up the back (I knit all this yesterday - thanks, pre-birth maternity leave!).

For some time, I've been wanting to knit a large sweater in this very orangy-red chunky merino from Garnudsalg.dk. I started the sleeve of a rev St st sweater just before Christmas, but it was no real success and I frogged it. Incidentally, I encountered Gudrun Johnston's new sweater pattern Cara (Rav link) on her blog this morning and it was just what I've been looking for - especially since this yarn is a perfect substitute for the (much more expensive) Quince & Co. Osprey. I know I'll be making one modification, though: St st sleeves. At a tension of 14 sts to 4" this is a speedy project - I finished two thirds of the ribbing in one hour watching two episodes of my favourite TV programme just now.

You can follow my progress and notes on all these projects on my Ravelry page.

FO: The Hunter's Sweater

Until now, all I ever knit DH are a few hats and scarves. A couple of years ago he started asking whether I'd knit him a sweater. Of course I'd be happy to (I'm not the superstitious kind), but I set up the requirement that he should decide what kind of design and colour he wanted. He's quite indecisive so that postponed the project for quite some time. Then, having taken up hunting, came the desire for a real hunter's sweater and the colour choice was easy: hunter's green. I searched for yarns in the appropriate colour and we ended up agreeing on Holst Garn Supersoft in the colour Mallard (quite an appropriate name for the purpose, eh?). The next thing was to decide on the design (he chose crew neck and set-in sleeves) and the texture.

The best thing is that the colour is an exact match with the oilskin vest, which was purchased after the yarn!

I made four different swatches and he chose the one with the following stitch pattern:
Row 1 (RS): *k1, p1* to the end of the row.
Row 2 (WS): k all sts
Nice and simple, and it can be knit in the dark, too (perfect for nighttime road trips across the country!) because you can feel with your fingers what stitch you're at. I used tubular cast on and bind off for a great finish (you should try this if you haven't already!).

The sweater was done early December in good time for the last hunt of the year, and I'm told it received many compliments from the fellow hunters!

Pattern: My own, based on DHs measurements (approx. mens' size M). 

Yarn: Holst Garn Supersoft, colourway Mallard, 500g (I almost had to unravel one of the swatches to make it!), yarn held double.

Needles: 4.0 mm (3.25 mm for the ribbing). 

Ravelry project page: Here. 

And you know what? I bought an extra 250 g to make a matching sweater size 1 year! :)

FO: Purple & Yellow Hat

This hat started out with a desire to knit the A Million Stripes Loop (Rav link) in the purple and yellow Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift I've had lying around for some time waiting for the perfect project - combined with some charcoal grey. I'm quite a fan of the purple and yellow combination - especially in combination with black or dark grey, too. I then came across the East Falls Hat on the Kelbourne Woolens blog, and as I've been too cold around my head on many walks lately I realized that maybe I should knit this hat seeing as I hopefully have many a walk with the pram ahead of me. I generally don't knit hats because I don't like the way I look in them (especially at the back of my head which is why you don't get a photo of that!), so I don't have very many to choose from and therefore wanted a new one. I don't have the pattern (I'm not buying the entire magazine for a single, simple hat pattern), so I just used the East Falls Hat as inspiration and made up my own, simple version.

Pattern: My own improvisation, inspired by the East Falls Hat.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, colourways 1300 Aubretia (purple) and 1160 Scotch Broom (yellow). I added a bit of Posh Yarn Mimi to the brim for softness and extra thickness.
Needles: 3.0 mm
Size: Mine, which is approx. 57 cm circumference. 140 sts in the stripes.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

Next project on the needles must be the A Million Stripes Loop then!

Unqueueing

I just cleaned up my Ravelry queue. From 17 pages to 12. I do this from time to time, more or less rigorously, and it always feels great. Ahh. It's also nice to rediscover all those projects I forgot about - and to sometimes think 'what was I thinking?'.

How do you use your Ravelry queue (if you have one)?
Like me, for all projects that you may potentially knit at some point in your life and therefore want to save?
For projects you are actually going to knit within the near future?
Or?

I use tags to be able to search for specific kinds of knits - e.g. if I want to knit a cardigan, I can look at queued cardigan/sweater projects only - and I use the top of the first page to list projects I actually want to knit soon.

FO: Brick Baby Pants

The first FO of the year is a pair of woolen pants size baby:

I've agreed with DH and the little one kicking about inside that boys can easily wear brick-coloured pants. They are more orange and less pink than they appear in the photos. I recall red pants being fashionable for men this past year.

They are soft, warm, pretty, and squishy - and they were a pleasure to knit.

Pattern: Bukser med seler (Rav link) from Blød begyndelse (Myk Start) by May B. Langhelle with several modifications, e.g. stockinette stitch rather than garter stitch, only a single ribbing layer rather than double, and decreased stitch count due to different gauge.
Size: Approx. 3 months.
Yarn: The Yarn Yard Clan, colourway 1218 + Isager Spinni (Wool 1), colourway 28s.
Needles: 4.0 mm and 3.25 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.

Swatching...

Very soon I'll have very little time to knit - but up until then I'll have plenty. This combined with the fact that I have no projects on the needles that I want to finish (those few WIPs still lingering in my knitting basket have been put into hibernation) makes this the perfect time for starting a lot of new, larger projects.

My reasoning is that what really takes time and attention in a project is the planning, the swatching, and setting up the project. Once you have a few inches on the needles it's often plain sailing from there. Thus, if I have several projects at this stage - and at various difficulty level - I'll always be able to find one that I want to knit a few rows on whenever the opportunity is there. I have therefore been doing some serious planning and swatching over the last few days and am now in the starting-up-projects phase.

Firstly, I listed all the sweater-sized projects at the top of my queue in a spreadsheet featuring the intended gauge, required amount of yarn and yarn weight, etc. along with a list of the yarns in my stash I wanted to use up next featuring their yardage and amount. 2011 brought an addition to the stash of (ahem) 6 kg of yarn (almost 9 kg out, but 15(!) kg in), which means that I now have plenty of lovely yarn to knit from and that knitting from stash is really a pleasure while also being a necessity. I am a follower of the Isager school of pairing several yarns to get the intended gauge and texture, so with all the possible combinations, the list of yarns was rather long.

(Somewhere in here was acquisition of two new Kim Hargreaves books - Shadows (my favourite!) and Scarlet - and two patterns from the new Wool People vol. 2 - knitting from stash wasn't meant to be costless, right?).

Then I started matching those two lists paying attention to key points such as drape and texture needed for each project. This was quite an interesting task! After that it was time to start swatching to see if my yarn choices would actually work. In the end I came up with 6 new projects! Here they are:

Craft (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Scarlet in Rowan Kid Silk Haze (colourway 650 Killer Red) and Isager Alpaca 2 (colourway 025). I'm 3 inches on to the body by now.

Baron (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Shadows in Cascade 220 Heather (colourway Summer Sky) and Blackhill Højlandsgarn (colourway Andeæg). After taking this photo I realised I'd swatched the wrong stitch pattern (should be moss st, not seed st). Also approx. 3 inches on to this one.

Fuse (Rav link) by Veronik Avery from Wool People vol. 2 in two strands of Holst Garn Supersoft (colourway Heather). 6 inches of the first sleeve is done.

Lawrence (Rav link) by Melissa La Barre from Wool People vol. 2 in two strands of a single ply wool from Bindestuen in Saltum which I bought at the knitters' festival on Fanø this September (I only bought one skein of yarn, but then it was a 340 g one!) in the most wonderful purplish blue colour (which unfortunately bleeds a bit). I'm casting on as soon as I finish this post.

Hanley (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Shadows in one strand of a Gotland wool I bought at a farmers' market the year before last and have been wanting to try out for a long time - and one strand of Posh Yarn Mimi (colourway The Clock Struck Midnight - wonderful purple colours!). Still only a swatch.

A variation of this sweater from Pickles (I want mine long and raglan) in black angora from Garnudsalg.dk and a viscose/merino/cashmere blend from the same place. Still only a swatch.

I've also recently started Fargo (also from stash) and I want to start Jade, too, once I can decide on the colours, so I think I'm more than covered in terms of WIPs that can be picked up for a few minutes and then put aside - and I'm very pleased with it all!

Christmas Projects

As promised, here are the 3 projects that I worked on over Christmas:

Pattern: Big Snowy Owl (Rav link)
Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsgarn (colours Andeæg, Æggesnaps, and Åbent Hav), 3 strands together
Needles: 4.5 mm.
Mods: Smaller needles -> smaller owl. I attached the eyes and knit the nose before stuffing it so I could wash it and let the yarn bloom before stuffing.
Ravelry project page: here.
Comments: It's soft, squishy, and cute! It's going to live in the bed with the little one to take up some of the space while he's still very small compared to the bed. I think these could make great gifts as well.

Pattern: None. Inspired by the Sailor Sweater (Rav link) from Sort Lakrids and made to deplete the stash of 3 different leftovers from recent projects.
Size: Approx. 1-2 years.
Needles: 4.0 mm for edging, 4.5 mm for the rest.
Yarn: Red Cushendale Woolen Mills DK (leftovers from the Cabled Winter Dress, Gerda, and Cyklon), grey New Lanark DK (leftovers from Warriston and Cyklon), and blue ÅLJ-lookalike (leftovers from the Cabled Spiral Sweater and Kingscot). Quite a lot of projects in there!
Ravelry project page: here.

Pattern: None.
Yarn: Leftovers of ÅLJ and Cushendale Woolen Mills DK from the sailor sweater above.
Needles: 4 mm (3 mm for ribbing).
Size: Newborn-3 months. No thumbs and no strands inside (hence the 1x1 pattern) that small fingers can get caught in.
Ravelry project page: here.
Comments: Cute! A joy to knit.

FO: Cyklon

Happy New Year!

I finished quite a few projects over Christmas that I haven't got round to blogging before now, so there's some catching up to do. I also still need to show you the hunter's sweater, but I seem to keep forgetting to set up a photo shoot. The projects I worked on over Christmas will appear in my next post - first an FO finished on December 24th.

Pattern: Cyklon (Rav link) by Alison Brookbanks published in Brooklyn Tweed's Wool People vol. 1 (btw, vol. 2 has just been published).
Yarn: Cushendale Woolen Mills DK in Wine and New Lanark DK in Pebble - both leftovers from other projects matched up here to remove them from the stash.
Needles: 4.5 mm
Mods: I picked up stitches for the lower hem rather than sewing it on, and did not do a herringbone pattern on the hem but a slip stitch pattern instead. I did not add any ribbon on the inside of the armholes.
Ravelry project page: here.

The deal with this top is all in the construction, which is quite intricate as you can tell from the photo below.

The drape arises from wearing the top, but unfortunately I'm not able to take any modeled shots (well, I can put it on, but I'm not sure a photo would really show how the top will look eventually...). 

What I made - part II

First of all, thanks for the wonderful feedback on my Heart Flower Shawl! 

Just before Christmas I finally used up the last few yards of the stash meant for knitting small projects for the little one. Here's what I made:

Two bodysuits (Rav link) in silk/wool following a pattern from Askeladen.

Furthermore, a neckwarmer (Rav link) as suggested by Marie - probably a bit too large right now, but let's see...

...and also in a larger size a balaclava-style hat (Rav link) which is great for daycare where hats with ties are not allowed as suggested by Ulla...

... and a set of gloves (Rav link), which can also stand in for socks if necessary, as suggested by Lena and Britt. These are to be used right away.

I'm quite pleased with managing to get this much out of that 'free' yarn (free as in it was lingering in the stash with no other purpose). I have a few more project for the wee one on the needles, but I've also started focusing a bit on larger projects (for me). I also have some sewing to do...

What I made - part I

Back in October I asked you what to make for the little one from all those odd balls of soft yarn I'd dug out of my stash. All your ideas are much appreciated and I've made some plans based on them. They were however so many that I realize I can't put them all into practice, but I'll save them for later even if my knitting time becomes quite restricted. I haven't knit my way through all the yarn yet, but here's the first set of FOs: a pair of extra long socks as suggested by Irene and Nina along with a pair of legwarmers as suggested by Britt. Part II is on its way - stay tuned! :)

Notes on my Ravelry project page.

FO: Kingscot

Another project from my pre-baby to-do list has been finished - this time the Kingscot cardigan:

The pattern was published in Twist Collective Winter 2008(!) and I bought it not long after being the Norah Gaughan fan that I am. In fact, I cast on for the first sleeve in August 2009. The pattern has been a favourite all along and so has the yarn (it's the same as I used for my all time favourite sweater, the Cabled Spiral Pullover (Rav link) - which happens to be a Norah Gaughan design, too!). So why did it take me two years and four months to finish this?!

Well, you can read the details on my Ravelry page, but the fact is that I started by knitting one sleeve, then spent ages (aka approx. 6 months) worrying that it was too small and the fabric was too dense even if the tension was spot on. After a good wash it turned out everything was fine so I went on to knit the second sleeve. I reckon this was finished in the late spring of 2010. I have documentation that in September 2010 (more than a year after casting on) there were still only two (washed and blocked) sleeves.

I then went on for a year(!) thinking about how to tackle the construction of the body. I knew that I wanted to do the following moderations: (1) no cable pattern on the back - in fact, a plain St st back would do nicely but that meant I had to CO a different number of stitches than in the pattern because the tension was different, (2) I wanted less A-line shaping - but should I then do increases on the front as some Ravelers had done or should I just make it straight and leave out decreases on the back? In the end I ended up with a combination: Increases on the front and no shaping on the back, and (3) I wanted buttons all the way down the front (the easy one). All these considerations made me turn to other projects instead. As we would say in my field of research, the activation energy for picking up this project was simply too large compared to all my other projects! 8-)

In August this year I finally picked up the needles again, this time determined to finish it. As Siga suggested in the comments for one of my recent posts, it must be nesting. From there everything went along smoothly: I started with the fronts, doing a few increases by the side seam to make it straight rather than (too) A-line and enjoyed the intricate cable pattern. Having done that, I could use these pieces to calculate the width of the back and thus the number of sts required. In September, both fronts and back were done, attached to each other, and I'd knit the neckline. I then went on for a few months procrastinating about the button bands before finally casting on for these two weeks ago (the arrival of the baby is approaching!).

After the final blocking, I picked out 4 different sets of button candidates and made DH choose the ones he preferred without telling him which ones were my favourites. Fortunately, he chose the same! So here it is with pink buttons, bringing out the slight purple tones of the blue yarn so nicely. As you can tell from the creases on the sleeves, I've already worn the cardigan - to work (which is where the photos were taken to exploit the minimal amounts of daylight even if the photos don't show), two days in a row to be exact. I think it's going to be a wardrobe staple making the 28 months long process completely worth it :)

Pattern: Kingscot (Rav link) by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: The same as ÅLJ (Rav link), but produced under the mill's own label. The colour corresponds to (the sadly discontinued) colour 53 of Tvinni and Spinni in the Isager collection.
Needles: 3.0 mm, 3.25 mm, and 3.5 mm.
Mods: Several. See my Ravelry page for more details.

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.