FOs: Even more knits for the little one!

Will this ever end? I think not. I'm knitting a lot of small projects at the moment for three reasons: 1) the wee one needs more woolen clothes, 2) with limited knitting time, I need these instant gratification projects, and 3) I (once again) have a desire to streamline the stash. I do have lots of me-sized knits in my queue that I want to work on, though.

Let's get down to business: Three now FOs this time.

The Monster! The sole purpose of this one: use up the left over Hooked Zpagetti yarn. Incidentally, I like the result, too. A few details can be found on the Ravelry project page.

Another pair of woolen pants since the first ones are quite a success. This time in reverse St st since I think the fabric is nicer against the skin this way. More details on yarn choice, etc. on the Ravelry project page.

Finally, another pixie hat. One size up compared to the one from my previous post, so this one is for next winter. This time I knit two pieces of extra length front and back before joining to knit in the round. I'm very pleased with my modifications. More details on this can be found on my Ravelry project page.

FOs: More knits for the little one

I'm slowly knitting my way through all the small garments on the list of knitwear that would be nice to have for the upcoming daycare start-up. Thus, two more knits off the needles for the sweetest 10-months old boy I know :)

First, a hat based on my favourite balaclava style hat pattern, Collared Pixie by Trude/Tante T (Rav link). I love hats with the pixie look, and the balaclava style is common here because strings, shoelaces, etc. are banned in public daycare. After I started it I realised that it would be nice with some extra length at the front and at the back, so I added that afterwards. Of course it shows where I picked up stitches, so on the larger one I'm knitting now I've knit those two pieces first and then joined them on the needles instead before continuing the hat as usual. The yarn is Cascade 220; perfect for hats if you ask me: nice and soft, but too soft for garments that must be able to stand some wear and tear such as sweaters. I first added extra ribbing along the face since some of these hats often come out too loose, but that was much too tight (think omg, they killed Kenny!). I ripped it, and it turns out the hat fits perfectly without it. The hat has already been used several times. More information on my Ravelry project page.
 

Secondly, a pretty little sweater that suits him very well! I love the colour and the style is very cute and stylish. The pattern is from All You Knit is Love by Susie Haumann (Rav link). He needed a thin sweater (most baby sweaters are too heavy for indoor wear) and I got inspired by one of the knitting moms to knit this one. It's perfect. It fits him very well, and he's been wearing it the last few days. More details on my Ravelry project page.

I'm off to work one one more hat and a pair of woolen trousers! :)

FOs: Two nameless designs

I've recently started working again after nine months of maternity leave. With this joyful time coming to an end, I looked deep in to my knitting baskets and Ravelry pages for knits I'd like to get sorted before time was 'up'. I found two projects that I originally intended to make more versions of in order to make patterns for them. However, now that I've taken up work again and thus have (or rather, I don't have) a PhD dissertation to hand in come October next year, it's unlikely that I'll find the time to publish these patterns. Therefore, I've deemed both projects finished and ready for a blog presentation.

A sweater size 1 year perfect for this winter. The wee one's father and I agreed that there isn't too much pink on this one for him to use it :)
See more details on my Ravelry project page.

A vest size 6 months; thus, this is actually an old photo from before he started using it. I put it away last week because he has grown out of it.
See more details on my Ravelry project page.

I really like the idea of both designs, I just don't have the will to put in the time and effort it takes to make them into patterns. Luckily, that doesn't make them lesser garments! :)

FO: Sarah Lund's New Sweater

About a month ago, the first episode of the third season of the famous Danish TV series The Killing (in Danish, Forbrydelsen) aired at 8 pm on Sunday night. To knitters, a new season of The Killing equals a new sweater - and not just any sweater, but a sweater from Faroese designers Gudrun&Gudrun to be (illegally?) copied by numerous yarn companies with more or less success.

Photo from Forbrydelsen III

The current season actually features at least three sweaters (plus the original white and brown one), but the first one to be shown, was this one.

 Photo from Forbrydelsen III

In fact, it was shown in two different versions in the first episode, and I liked the one with the straight edges better, even if that is not the one chosen to be the 'original Sarah Lund sweater' of season 3 (and the one she wears the most).

Fuelled by a Ravelry discussion about the sweater and the novelty value, I set out to make my own sweater right away. As my regular readers will be aware, I'm a fan of bright colours rather than the muted ones of the original sweater. Combined with a desire to knit from stash, mine ended op being red:

I finished it two weeks after the airing of the first episode (on the night after episode 3). Knowing I was going to pass by Copenhagen Court House (where Sarah Lund is photographed in the photo above since the building plays quite an important role in episode 2) the following day, I stayed awake to wait for the washing machine to finish so I could block it overnight. Here I am -

Sorry, I just had to... :)

I knit it from the bottom up with set-in sleeves and some adjustments compared to the original version, the major ones being 1) using the main colour around the neckline for a more finished look, and 2) raising the back neck for an 'ordinary' neckline despite the chevron pattern. Other than that, I stuck to the original design with stripes in a fluffy mohair and the main colour in 'normal wool' (although I did add some non-fluffy mohair to mine because it fit in so nicely).

Sarah Lund is known to be immensely fond of her sweaters, and now I understand why; mine is incredibly soft and easy to wear. Win! 

You can see a detail of the shoulder and back neck construction here. It may seem complicated, but it really wasn't - I just made the shaping as I went along, trying to reach the shape of an ordinary sweater with set-in sleeves despite knitting the chevron pattern.

If you can read Danish, you can find many more details on my Ravelry project page.

FO: Grey Pebble

I recently finished a brown Pebble vest for the little one, but it turned out that Cascade 220 was a much too soft yarn for the purpose. For almost three months now he's been exploring the world by pushing himself forward with his front on the floor, and it takes some tough clothes to take that kind of wear. Already after one day, the brown Pebble vest is pilling all over, so I'm saving that for later. He's starting to stand up and take a few supported steps now, so hopefully it won't be too long before he can wear it again. In the mean time, this new grey version (very similar to the beloved one which is now too small), is doing the job instead. Together with Lark it's doing a great job at keeping him warm. I do think a third one would be nice to have around, though, so - back to the needles!

Pattern: Pebble (Rav link) by Nikol Lohr (I made it larger by casting on 90 sts) - a free pattern available in English, Danish, and French.
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool, colourway Rullesten, 56 g.
Needles: 4.5 mm.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Brown Pebble

That's it for the shawl knitting for now. I've just realized that the baby winter wardrobe is lacking a few knitted items, and since my maternity leave is coming to an end very soon, it's time to do something about it! I've made a list and now I intend to make my way through it. Here's the first FO: Pebble.

Before the wee one was born, I made one in grey with red buttons (perfect match!), and it's been used a lot. It's starting to be a bit short now, so here's a new, larger one!

Pattern: Pebble (Rav link) by Nikol Lohr (I made it larger by casting on 90 sts) - a free pattern available in English, Danish, and French.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Chocolate Heather, 74 g.
Needles: 4.5 mm.
My Ravelry project page is here.

Another KAL shawl - FO: Flukra

A week ago when I presented my Parrot shawl, I also told you about my second shawl for the shawl KAL hosted in the Ravelry group for Lindse's podcast: Flukra.

Here it is, merely 9 days after cast-on! That's two shawls in one months. Wow! The KAL spirit amazes me.

It's a Shetland lace shawl featuring lace pattern knit on both sides - that was a first one for me, but not at all frightening, though. I made a few modifications, the major ones being the garter stitch edging (not my idea) and the tassels (my idea).

Pattern: Flukra by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk, colourway Hindbær (Raspberry), 86 g.
Needles: 4.0 mm.
Mods: Garter stitch edging, yarn-over bind-off at the top of the centre triangle, and tassels (read more on my Ravelry project page). 
Comments: The centre triangle seems a bit too large compared to the lace pattern (as if more stitches should have been picked up), but after blocking it's not too obvious, and I like my new red shawl a lot!
My Ravelry project page is here.

What a KAL can do - FO: Parrot

First of all, thank you for all the nice words you've put on my recent FOs! I appreciate every single one of them :)

I've never really been much of knitting podcast listener; my job is not of the sort where you can listen to podcast while working and my commute is quite short, so I've prioritised audio books to get just a bit of literature into my very scientific world. Earlier this year, Karen - Danish blogger of the blog lindse.dk - started a video podcast (in Danish), which I like a lot, though. With that came a Ravelry group, and now she's hosting a shawl knit-a-long running in September and October. I wanted to take part to get some inspiration and not least some good company, and decided that the Parrot shawl from Helga Isager's recent Bird Collection should be my project.

Yes, that is my 20th finished Amimono knit. It's an anniversary!

Initially, I didn't think too well of Parrot when I first saw it in the pattern book - I didn't like the colours of the sample - but then projects started to appear on Ravelry, and my affection for it grew.

It turns out that a KAL was just what I needed to get my knitting speed up. I'm practically on a roll! Within 20 days, I finished knitting this huge shawl! And now I'm almost halfway through the second one (Flukra by Gudrun Johnston). I can hardly believe it myself.

Pattern: Parrot shawl (Rav link) by Helga Isager.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in 3 different colours (Aubretia, Lupine, and Scotch Broom), Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk in 8 different colours (Æggesnaps, Kommen, Syrlig, Lilla, Grå Skifer, Rullesten, Asters, and Honning), and Holst Garn Supersoft in Graphite (the 'main colour', i.e. the cast-on edge and the tassels). 170 g in total (of which 10 g are for the tassels).
Mods: CO 942 sts to get the shawl slightly larger than in the pattern (CO 726 sts), i.e. six feather and fan pattern repeats more on each side. I used knit stitches only in the feather and fan pattern (didn't think all that purling made too much of a difference, so I didn't do it).
Comments: By advice from others I put stitch markers every 36 sts (39 sts at the edges because there are 3 edge stitches) to avoid counting too much while casting on all those stitches and keeping track of them all in the feather and fan pattern. Also, I spit spliced the yarn when changing colour to avoid weaving in a million ends!
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Winter trousers

The last FO of this FO Week - and the first photo of the pair of wee legs that inhabits our flat. Most of the time they look like this...

...but I did manage to get a few photos in focus. I think these trousers will be great for winter. Nice, soft, and warm. A bit on the long side when comparing to width, so I'm doing another pair (for later this winter) in the larger size, but keeping the length of these.

The original pattern sports a simple 2x2 ribbing around the waistline, but as I don't believe that would have kept the trousers on for more than a few minutes at best, I've doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.

Pattern: Bukser i glatstrik (in Danish) by Susie Haumann in All You Knit is Love, size 6-12 months.
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock in colourway Persia, 72 g.
Mods: Knit the legs in the round (apart from the ribbing). Doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Swallow

Although my expression in this photo may make you think otherwise, this is my new favourite cardigan! If you think about it, it couldn't possibly go wrong: it's my favourite colour and it's designed by my favourite designer. Ms Isager just keeps hitting it out of the ball park. In my opinion.

This is - hold on - my 19th finished Amimono knit (and I've cast on for another five, which were never completed). The 20th project - the Parrot shawl - is on the needles.

If I'm to knit it again - and I think I am in the originally intended two-colour version (different colours, though) - I'll skip the last buttonhole and start the neckline decrease earlier. I like my cardigans with a slightly deeper V (like Vanilla, my other favourite), but even so this is my new favourite. I've worn it several times already, and I am wearing it right now, too. 

Pattern: Swallow Cardigan (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, published in the recent Bird Collection, size M.
Yarn: One strand of J. C. Rennie & Co.'s Supersoft 2/11.3 Nm, colourway Flamboyant (as far as I can see, this colourway is discontinued, but since it's my absolute favourite colour, I'd very much like to know if this isn't the case!) and one strand of a thin wool/cashmere mix from Garnudsalg.dk aptly named Raspberry.
Mods: None.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Shellseeker

The next item in my FO parade is a sweater designed by Heidi Kirrmaier called Shellseeker. I immediately liked the idea of the sweater - stripes and a front pocket - and I enjoyed choosing colours slightly out of my comfort zone (greenish yellow) for the stripes. I think the match between the two colours is great, even if I do say so myself.

The sweater is nice, but I do wish I'd listened to that little voice in my head questioning whether it was such a good idea to follow the pattern directions when they told me to put zero stitches aside for the underarm. The little voice was right; the underarm fit could have been better, as you can tell from the photo. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll wear it anyway, even if it'll never be my favourite sweater.

Pattern: Shellseeker by Heidi Kirrmaier, size S.
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk, main colour: Dahlia, contrast colour: one strand of Syrlig and one strand of Kommen. 350 g in total.
Mods: I've done garter stitch edging rather than ribbing and added a garter stitch edging round the neckline as well rather that the rolled 'raw' edging.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: A Million Stripes Loop

If you've been touring Blogland recently, you'll most likely have encountered A Million Stripes Loop. I know I've seen some gorgeous versions myself here and here. I actually started mine back in January (when the pattern was still free?) and originally intended it to be the same size as the others, i.e. long enough to wrap around twice. Incidentally, I later changed my mind and it ended up being a single loop.

That doesn't make the pattern any less clever though; I like how you easily make the stripes jogless and the fact that it's grafted together at the end to make it an actual circle. While knitting, I told people 'a scarf with no ends' when they inquired what I was knitting. As has been said by others, it's brilliant for stash busting.

I like it a lot. It's wide and dense enough to stand up properly like a collar. Pretty and useful. 

Pattern: A Million Stripes Loop (Rav link) by Brenda Burrell.
Yarn: Mostly Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift (yellow and two purples) and some Holst Supersoft (graphite) mixed with a thin wool/cashmere strand.
Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Lemon feat. Robin

Over the weekend, I finally got some photos of the pile of FOs that have been waiting for weeks to be shown off here. There are five of them, so maybe this will turn out to be FO Week with a new one presented each day. Sorry about the blogging being this irregular. 

Let's start with the oldest one among them: Lemon, from Helga Isager's former Amimono collection, which after much debate with myself finally ended up with long sleeves like its cousin Robin from her recent collection. I started it one and a half years ago, but made the first side too wide, and then started debating whether to go with short or 3/4 length sleeves.

This year's Ravellenics (i.e. knitting as much as you possibly can during the Olympics to finish a project) was my opportunity to get this project done: I needed to frog one side (too wide) with a short sleeve and then finish two sides with 3/4 sleeves. And the waist band. Quite a lot of stitches seeing as this is a fine knit on 3.0 mm needles.

I didn't manage to complete it in time. When Betty the cauldron was put out on August 12th, I still had half a sleeve and a waistband left to do, but one week later I was finally done with the knitting. By August 27th, it was washed and blocked and all. And here it is. 

Another great Amimono knit! Not to be worn with the same tops underneath as in these photos, though :)

Pattern: Lemon (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, using the instructions for Robin (Rav link) for the 3/4 length sleeves (I did horizontal stitches on the cuffs, though, as this is the feature of Lemon).
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool, colourway Lilla, from Garnudsalg.dk. A vibrant purple colour - one of my favourites. I recognise that using the original, single-ply yarn gives a lighter fabric and better drape, but there you go.
Needles: 3.0 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.

Finishitis

I've been on a roll lately, finishing up a lot of projects, so look forward to an FO parade coming up soon. Let's celebrate that with a crocheted garland improvised to use up this cotton/linen yarn in girly colour (i.e. not suitable for clothing for the wee one...). More details here.

A lovely day out

During my maternity leave, I've started up a new knitting group with some lovely mums I've come to know during our pregnancies. They are all beginners - 5 in total - and I started out by teaching them how to knit this vest I designed using knit stitches only. We meet approx. once a week (with the babies) and have lunch together - and try to knit a bit, too, when the wee ones allow it.

They all learnt how to knit very quickly and a few weeks ago it was time for new supplies and new projects. I emailed Sanne of Rasmilla.dk to ask if there was room for all of us in her lovely little shop (I've never been there previously, but I've heard so much about it) during regular opening hours, and she then offered to open it just for us on a Tuesday. She pulled out tea, coffee, and lemonade and I brought a cake. We stayed for, uhm, four and a half hours and had a wonderful time! Not your average yarn store :) Of course, nobody left empty-handed. My loot is shown above: 4 skeins of Rasmilla's Yndlingsgarn in my favourite colours at the moment (grey and coral) and a small embroidery kit from Karen Marie Dehn.

FO: Raven

During our summer vacation I finished my third knit from Helga Isager's most recent Amimono collection, the Bird Collection, namely the Raven dress (the first one was my Nightingale vest and the second one was the Lark baby vest). 

It's a lot of boring stockinette, but then that's how you get a fashionable garment IMHO. This is indeed a fashionable knit - it's easy to wear, the fit is great, and it's very much in line with all those knitted dresses I saw in the must recent issue of Costume (Danish fashion magazine).

Despite the amounts of stockinette it was a pleasure to knit (and a lot faster than I thought!) and great for driving on holiday 4-5 hours away from home... :)

Pattern: Raven by Helga Isager/Amimono (Rav link)
Yarn: One strand of an anonymous yarn I bought at the sheep producers' Christmas fair in Copenhagen a few years ago (I think it's of the Gotland variety) in a deep purple colour mixed with one thin strand of Posh Yarn Mimi (alpaca/silk) in the beautiful colourway The Clock Struck Midnight I managed to score 3 skeins of quite a while ago.
Needle size: 4 mm - and 3.5 mm for edges.
Size: M for length, S for width
Mods: I used short rows and kitchener stitch grafting the side seams rather than casting off stitches and sewing it together (or 3-needle bind-off as used for Robin). 
Ravelry project page: Here.

FOs: A heap of baby knits

A few odds and ends became two hats, both two new favourites of mine: an ear flap hat with this cute little tip on top and a pixie hat.

Then a new little citizen arrived a few weeks ago. I haven't met her yet, but I've knit this one for her and put it in the mail. I'm looking forward to meeting her IRL. A few details here.

And, finally, my second finished project from the new Amimono Bird Collection: the little boy's vest Lark. A great model. Fun to knit. I'm making significant progress on Raven, so I think that'll be my next FO from that book and in general.

Sorry I couldn't be bothered to put details on the blog this time. You'll have to follow the links to Ravelry.

FO: Black angora dress

A simple, black angora sweater dress. This was going to be my Euro 2012 knit, but I already finished it after the group play, but there you go. A very quick knit on 7.0 mm needles. Plain stockinette with 1x1 ribbed edges and a purl ridge to separate ribbing and body. Tubular cast-on and bind-off. It does shed some fibres, but that's what you get from knitting angora at a loose gauge. I've mixed it with a merino/viscose/cashmere blend. More details on my Ravelry page.

FO: Cloudy Sunday - and a dress!

I am still knitting and reading a lot of blogs - I've even added some sewing blogs after I've taken up sewing over the past year - but that doesn't mean I'm blogging a lot myself, apparently. This short-sleeved cowl sweater has been finished since April 29th, but only yesterday did I manage to get a modeled photo of it. It's Cloudy Sunday by Hilary Smith Callis and you can read all about it on my Ravelry project page.

I could start showing you what I'm sewing, but most of it are clothes for the little one, and since DH is opposed to having photos of him on the internet before he can give his consent (and that may be a few years!), it's going to be pretty boring, unmodeled shots. That and I seem to be far from good at documenting my crafting at the moment, seeing as it took me almost two months to get this sweater on the blog. I will however show you the dress I made yesterday, since I'm so proud of it :)

It's made from a beautiful, thick blue-green silk (I'm no good at fabric names, but it's the sort that's woven from a blue thread and a green thread making a blue-green slightly stiff fabric) that DH brought home from Dubai on Friday and lined with a thin, stripy cotton voile that I had in my fabric stash (with matching thread, yay!). I made the pattern myself based on a Marimekko dress (the stripes were very helpful in reconstructing the nicely fitting bust dart - something I rarely encounter in dresses) during the second half of the Poland-Czech Republic football match on Saturday night. The little one decided that it was time to wake up at 5 AM Sunday morning, and by noon the dress was done - complete with name tag and all!
And, yes, I'm wearing jeans underneath, and, no, that is not the intention. 

FO: Nightingale Vest

I've finished my first project from the recent and very well received Bird Collection from Amimono: the Nightingale Vest. Regular readers will know that Helga Isager (the woman behind Amimono) is my all-time favourite designer, and I promise that this won't be the last project you'll see from this collection here. The Swallow cardigan, the Lark boys' vest, and the Raven dress are also in the needles.

 

What's not to love? As always with Amimono, it's all in the detail. The designs and their construction are ingenious, and the fuss about flaws and deficiencies in her early work that still seems to cling to her name are completely unwarranted. This goes for the other recent collections as well. 

Pattern: Nightingale Vest (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono.
Yarn: One strand of Isager Alpaca 1, colour 47 (antracit - discontinued) and one strand of Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk in the colourway Nattehimmel.
Needles: 3.5 mm.
Mods: I think I spent one more row of bells to finish the decreases for the armholes than intended, but it doesn't make much of a difference.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Fuse Cardigan

This is my most recent FO, the Fuse cardigan. It seems that working almost monogamously on projects is the way to get things done. Who would have known?

I was originally drawn to this project because of the collar that is created when the fronts are buttoned at the back of the neck. 

Despite getting gauge and knitting the size with the suggested 3-4 inches of positive ease, my cardigan is somewhat smaller and shorter than anticipated having seen the one shown in the pattern. I don't think much more can be gained from an even more rigorous blocking, but let's see. I may try to lengthen it a bit in a second blocking. Anyway, small cardigans seem more useful to me than large, bulky ones.

Pattern: Fuse Cardigan (Rav link) by Veronik Avery published in BrooklynTweed's Wool People vol. 2
Yarn: Two strands of Holst Garn Supersoft, colourway Heather
Needles: 4.5 mm (had to go down from 5.5 mm to 4.5 mm to get gauge. Strange).
Mods: None.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.