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.

Baby Sweaters

Here's my second post in the series of knitted baby garment adventures - the first one on baby vests was here.

No. 1: Sloe Cardigan

Pattern: Generic, made up as I went along. This was a commissioned knit so I made a swatch and made sure to match the measurements I got. Raglan. Moss stitch borders. The shoes are loosely based on this pattern (Rav link). Sized to fit a 6 months old baby - and for her to grow in.
Yarn: Holst Garn Supersoft in Sloe.
Needles: 3.25 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.
Comments: A basic, thin cardigan. Seems very useful.


No. 2: Malachite Alfred

Pattern: Alfred's Raglan by Britta Wilfert (Rav link). Not sure about the size (made my own), but I think approx. 1 year.
Yarn: Regia Hand-dye Effect in Malachite (Rav link). A bit different from other sock yarns. Comes in some interesting colour combinations.
Needles: 4.5 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.
Comments: I saw this sweater on Anne's blog, liked it a lot and wanted to try it out. I think this is a good, basic pattern for many sweaters - also for larger children. The reverse of the ribbing pattern is also quite interesting (see photos on my Ravelry page). I like the effect that comes from using two strands of this long-colour-repeats yarn together.


No. 3: Red V-Neck Cardigan

Pattern: I originally started knitting the Baby Sophisticate cardigan, didn't like the size and the (IMO) too many sts on the front, frogged it and restarted making it all up as I went along (in a larger size). Size is approx. 6-12 months, I think.
Yarn: The project was intiated with the sole purpose of eliminating the small quantities of these two yarns in my stash: Rowan Pure Wool DK in Kiss (Rav link) and Naturfiber Dansk Merino Kamgarn in colour 4013 (Rav link). Mission completed. After making the hat, you may be able to see a bit of on the left, that is. The hat pattern is (again) the same used for the CPAP hats for Cuba (here), just larger due to the thicker yarn.
Needles: 6.0 mm (5.5 mm for the moss stitch borders).
Ravelry project page: Here.

Comments: Not much to report. With the fear of repeating myself, I'd say it looks like a useful cardigan for a wee one.

Quite a nice stash of baby garments I've built up, right? Not a bad thing when the late twenties appear to be "baby age" for everybody I know.

Baby Vests

It's very likely that it's the combination of the need for instant gratification projects, the income of single 100g skeins of highland wool, the opportunity to get rid of some odd ball leftovers, and some commissioned knitting that has caused me to delve into the baby vest knitting field lately. Anyway, it has lead to quite a lot of baby vest knitting (and baby sweater - post is upcoming) lately.

No. 1: Raspberries & Blueberries

Pattern: My own, a favourite, similar to this one.

Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsgarn in Nattehimmel (2 strands together) and Isager Highland Wool in Cranberry with Blackhill Højlandsgarn in Dahlia.

Needles: 4.5 mm.

Ravelry page: Here.

Comments: Not the best of photos, and it still needed buttons on the shoulder when the photo was taken. This was a last-minute commissioned knit (asked for on Monday, finished on Friday at a party...), but by sheer coincidence it lead me to discover a great new colour combination (hard to see from the photo though): Nattehimmel vs. Cranberry/Dahlia.

No. 2: Poppy

Pattern: Babys uldne undertrøje from Familie Journal (in Danish only), smallest size. Ravelry pattern page.

Yarn: Holst Garn Supersoft in Poppy, 30 g.

Needles: 3.5 mm.

Ravelry page: Here.

Mods: The original pattern as a smaller neck opening and a slit. I made it more like a singlet, and like it much more that way. I also made it longer than the original pattern suggests. Slipped the first st on the rows around the neckline and the armholes.

Comments: This is a new favourite (as you can see below). VERY fast to knit, uses very little yarn, and seems to work well for a baby.

No. 3: Blue Baby

Pattern: Lille livstykke by Isager (in Danish). Ravelry pattern page. The hat pattern is generic, almost the same as the one recently used for the CPAP hats for Cuba.

Yarn: The leftovers from my Larch cardigan. 

Needles: 4.0 mm.

Ravelry page: Here.

Mods: None that I remember.

Comments: Also a very useful pattern, though not quite as fast as the one above for some reason (maybe it's the lack of alternating ribbing that makes you want to knit 'just one more'...). The hat was to use up the last bits of this yarn.

No 4: Sea Singlet

Pattern: Babys uldne undertrøje from Familie Journal (in Danish only), second smallest size. Ravelry pattern page.

Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsgarn in Oprørt Hav, 38 g.

Needles: 3.5 mm.

Ravelry page: Here.

Mods: See above.

Comments: See above. It obviously works equally well for boys and girls, depending on the colour.

FO: Vanilla

What's not to love?

This is my most recent FO: Vanilla from the Amimono Knit Collection 2010.

Although I like the subtlety of the original Isager Highland Wool colours (Thistle or Chiffon are my favourites) I chose the vibrant Gladioli colour from Holst Yarn - who carry the same beautiful colours as the Highland Wool, just in a slightly thinner (unwashed) version, btw.

Sorry for the poor modeled photos - despite daylight saving time it was almost dark when we got round to the photos. I think you can get an idea of the fit, though. 

I decided not to continue the (beloved) horizontal stitches all the way up the body, but to keep it more like on the sleeves. I like it that way. And I like the versions where the horizontal stitches go all the way up, too. I could use both versions.
Again, Helga Isager is brilliant - repeat: brilliant - at details. In this case the subtle horizontal stitch pattern and the buttonband pipings.

I also decided to add an extra 5 cm to the length. Again, I did see a short version today on Ravelry and thought this might not have been necessary, but I like it both ways.

Info:

Pattern: Vanilla by Amimono (link / Rav link), size S. 

Yarn: Holst Garn 100% Supersoft, Gladioli (link), 196 g (!). 

Needles: 3.0 mm.

Mods: Added 5 cm to the body length + larger spaces between buttonholes to account for this. Did not continue horizontal sts all the way up the body. 

Buttons are from 123knit.com

Link to my Ravelry page: here.

Twelve hats for Cuba

Twelve little hats for Cuba.

I used every last bit of these 3 skeins of cotton yarn I bought for the project. I don't usually stash cotton yarn, so unfortunately I couldn't use this project as a stashbuster.

The deadline is April 1st, so you still have time to knit a few. It's a lot of fun actually :)

Ravelry link.

Oh, the silence...

I didn't mean to stay silent for two months. But doesn't every blogger say so once in a while?

There's a reason for me coming back to blogging just now. Yesterday I sustained a serious injury to my right thumb (don't ask - you don't want to know the macabre details) which means I almost cannot knit. Well, I can, but only something where tension isn't vital and only for short periods of time since my right hand becomes quite tense when I can't apply pressure with my thumb. Good thing I've just started reading this 900-page book... (Btw, how do people watch TV without knitting without becoming insanely restless?!)

Anyway. Two new knits from my hands. Both have been finished for at least a month. 

The one on top is a cropped silk/wool cardigan that I was obsessively knitting on for a few weeks, having come up with the idea that I needed a new cropped cardigan/shrug to wear for a wedding on February 19. I made it in time. This is all you get to see of it for now - I'm still contemplating publishing a pattern for it; of for something similar. 

The blue thing underneath it is my Larch cardigan (remember?). Cast on December 23, finished blocking  January 25, photographed February 26, blogged March 17. Oh well.

What I first fell in love with was the two button loops and the button placement on the original mustard yellow beauty. As it turned out, a single button and a more central button placement worked better on my version. Well, there you go. I still love the button loop, though.

It's finished but to improve it just a tiny bit I think I need to take the time to crochet a tighter (fake) BO in the shoulders and the back of the neck. I'll do that as soon as I'm actually able to crochet again.

You can see more details, pattern link, etc. on my Ravelry page.

Upcoming is my Vanilla cardigan. It's a winner. I was expecting to show it to you this weekend - it's blocked (for the 2nd time - blocked prior to sewing in the sleeves, too) and all it needs is six buttons, which are just lying there ready, waiting for me to be able to use my thumb again...


*Oh, the silence... When your head is always full of your favourite artist's lyrics, there'll always be an appropriate one at hand.

FO: Acorns

Here it is, my first FO of the new year, the Acorns cardigan. The colour would have made it perfect for Christmas, but there you go.

I'm not sure the colour is right in these far from perfect photos. We're saving for a new camera and word is that it won't be long before we'll be the happy owners of that wonderful camera. Can't wait!

Back to the cardigan! I fell in love with the pattern as soon as the Fall 2010 issue of Twist Collective came out in August and started it right away. In fact, I started it 3 times: 1) In the more New Lanark DK which turned out too 'natural' to show off the pattern well; 2) in the current yarn combination (Rowan Pure Wool DK and Holst Garn Supersoft) but thinking I knew how to do increases myself and didn't need to pay attention to the more than 3 different ways of doing increases used in the pattern; and finally 3) the final version, where I actually learned some very clever new ways of doing increases!

The fit is not spot on - the yoke is a bit too high (measurement from underarm to neck edging too long) when combined with this very wide neckline - but the acorns pattern still makes me smile. I'm sure it'll be great for throwing on during cold spring/summer days and nights, even if it'll never be my favourite sweater. The Cabled Spiral Pullover [Rav link] still holds that title. Btw, it's been almost 3 years since I finished that sweater and despite getting loads of wear, it still looks as new. Talk about durable yarn.

Pattern: Acorns [Rav link] by Carol Sunday published in Twist Collective Fall 2010.
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool DK, colourway Kiss, and one strand of Holst Garn Supersoft, colourway Poppy.
Needles: 5 mm Addi Bamboo.
Mods: None. If I were to knit it again I'd make a less wide neckline (maybe by adding an extra row of acorns like on this beautiful version), shorter yoke, and place the buttonholes myself and not as stated in the pattern (following the guidelines the buttonholes should be evenly spaced even when fewer sts/row are picked up along the acorn pattern than along the rev St st, but it doesn't quite work out... it's alright, though).
Link to my Ravelry project page: here.

Next up: I'm speeding through my Larch cardigan - I think it may be done in less than a month(!).

Stash status

I've only setup two goals for 2011 as far as knitting goes:

1. Have fun and be happy with what I knit
2. Use up more stash than I get in

For the #2 I thus need to know how much stash I have now at the beginning of the year in order to compare once December 31st 2011 arrives. I spent some time with the kitchen scales tonight, finding out exactly that. So, here it is:

12232 g of yarn!

of which ~1.7 kg is already knitted up in the lingering WIPs - this needs to be counted as well as it still qualifies as unknit yarn, seeing as the WIPs are indeed WIPs and not FOs. This means that I have a bit more than 10 kg lovely yarn in my stash! If I recall correctly, that's approx. 2-3 kg more than I had in 2008, my blog's childhood, which was the last time I kept track of stash going in and out as part of Stashalong.

Summing up, my goal is as follows: To have less than 12232 g of yarn on December 31st 2011! 


It's not a yarn diet as such, seeing as yarn purchases are allowed as long as they are balanced out by actual knitting. That's a good thing since I have some more yarn coming from garnudsalg.dk any day now... Oh, and I already added 100 g to the stash today: Rasmilla's Luksusgarn. Mmmm. I'll keep a tally in the sidebar - let's call it Stashdown 2011!


And now off to dream about all those lovely knits that my wonderful stash can be turned into... :)

FO accomplishments of 2010

With New Year's Eve only a few hours away, a tally of the finished knits of 2010 seems appropriate:

7 sweaters
1 silken wedding shrug
5 pairs of socks
5 shawls/scarves
2 cowls
2 necklaces
6 bracelets
6 pairs of fingerless mittens
21 baby gear items
and
18 Christmas pigs

A quick calculation will give you 73 finished items, but as I counted especially baby gear and Christmas pigs as projects with more than one knitted item in them, I've finished a total of 35 projects in 2010. That's 14 less than last year, but I guess that's to be expected from this being my first year with an actual job. I'm still a happy knitter :)

At the moment I have 9 WIPs: 6 cardigans, 1 pullover, 1 vest, and the never-ending stash-busting blanket. That's a good starting point for 2011, methinks. Sweaters are my thing!

Quarterly report - 4th quarter

Very soon it'll be time for making new New Year's resolutions (or refraining from exactly that), so here's one final look at the 10 resolutions I made for 2010. 


1. Knit down (some of) my stash
I did knit up a lot of odds and ends this quarter, but not being able to resist some quite good and new offers on the Danish market [garnudsalg.dk and byslavi.dk], I think it's safe to say that there's no negative stash balance this quarter, even without counting!

2. Be less spendy and save money for more important things.
Wedding, Christmas, new interesting yarn stores popping up... I don't know. However, the next big thing to save for is the...

3. Improve my Italian.
I've been too busy at work this quarter, but now we've booked part of our belated honeymoon trip to Northern Italy (surprise!), which means there's still hope for this one!

4. Keep flossing.
Yes.

5. Less Facebook, more reading.
I think I've been fairly successful here. I've recently started to keep a list of my reads - I've read 10 books in 2010*; I'm sure many of you would think of it as ridiculously few, but to me it's quite alright. I've also become a fan of the newspaper we've kept throughout 2010, WeekendAvisen. I still get my daily news online only. 

6. Learn how to do tubular cast on and use it.
No, but I've finally found a project, I'd like to learn and use it for: Tora's Attitude.

7. Keep running regularly.
Oh yes. I've been good and managed to run 3 times a week the past many months. I've recently started training for my first marathon, Copenhagen Marathon on the 22nd of May. Here's hoping for no injuries, as that seems to be the only thing that can stop me right now.

8. Keep doing Pilates regularly.
I didn't do any at all over the summer, but recently I've started focusing on the core strength again since it goes well with running and should improve my running technique. There's still hope.

9. Knit 12 sweaters.
No. Granite was my #7 this year. I have 6 sweater WIPs on the needles, though, so I'm happy enough with my result.

10. Knit 10 shawls.
No! I finished my new favourite shawl, Camomille, this quarter, but that only brings me to a total of, uhm, 4 shawls/scarves when not counting one that was finished but not started in 2010. 


Summing up: I was very ambituous back in January - I like being so, even if I know I may not get there in time - but being my own judge I'd say that I failed at 6, 8, 9, and 10 only. With such overly ambitious goals (and results I'm fine with at 9 and 10) I think that's quite alright. 


I'll be back with new resolutions for 2011 in the new year. Maybe. Until then - have a wonderful New Year's Eve!


Finally, the FOs of this 4th quarter. The knits are dominated by the frantic knitting in the four weeks that passed between being invited to go to a Christmas fair in November with all my knits and actually going to the fair: lots of small project for babies as well as accessories such as mittens and bracelets. You can still find some of them for sale here and here, btw. Among the knits of the 4th quarter are however also my new favourite scarf, Camomille, and the long anticipated Granite. 

*In case any of you are interested, these are the 10 books I read (links in English when available - I read only two of them, Solar and The Chinese Shawl, in English, though):

Jens Smærup Sørensen: Mærkedage [da]

Ian McEwan: Solar [eng]

Leif Davidsen: Dostojevskijs sidste rejse; Den ukendte hustru; På udkig efter Hemingway; Min broders vogter [eng] 

Andrew Taylor: Bleeding Heart Square [eng]

Patricia Wentworth: The Chinese Shawl [eng]

Peter Høeg: Elefantpassernes børn [da]

Jostein Gaarder: The Castle in the Pyrenees [eng] 

Mærkedage, Elefantpassernes børn, Dostojevskijs sidste rejse, and Bleeding Heart Square were my favourites. I was slightly disappointed by McEwan this time.