Two new knitting books

Here are the two most recent additions to my collection of knitting books: two booklets by Danish knitwear designers, namely 'Blue Notes' by Susie Haumann and 'Vendestrik i lange baner' by Hanne Meedom & Sofie Meedom.

Apart from the two booklets with knitwear for babies and children that I showed you among my favourites, Susie Haumann has also published two booklets with knitwear for adult - Grey Days (sweaters) and Around (scarves) - and this is now her third booklet. Her design does not hit my style spot one, but there is always one or two designs that I like; this time so much that I felt the need to own the booklet. Among the many blue sweaters, my favourites are Baby Blue and Sky Blue. I may knit both of them, albeit in different colours.

'Vendestrik i lange baner' is quite different from 'Blue Notes'. It's much more colourful and inspirational - part of the idea with the book is to inspire the reader to combine patterns and colours in new ways. The book focuses on short rows (in Danish, vendestrik) and how this technique can be used (in a number of ways) for scarves, ties, belts, pillowcases, and blankets. I'm keen on knitting myself a blanket or two using this technique. Furthermore, while I think I know short rows quite well, I did still learn a few tricks from this book, so if you have the opportunity do take a look and be inspired.

FO: Pickles Bat Top

Another not-so-recently finished project designed by Pickles is the Bat Top (Flaggermustopp). I apologize for the appalling photography.

When it was done, it was quite short (something went wrong with the row gauge in my yarn substitution - usually I'm good at swatching, but apparently not this time), so I picked up stitched around the lower hem and added more of an actual hem there. It works fine. Not the most practical garment to wear - poncho-like sweaters never really are - but it's nice and comfy to wear.

More details on my Ravelry project page.

Two little baby vests

From one of my favourite knitting books mentioned yesterday - probably the favourite among the books with pattern for children, All You Knit is Love - I knit this little vest for a friend of mine who just gave birth to a cute little boy. Like all other patterns I've tried from that booklet, this pattern is just brilliant. You can find more details on this pretty little vest on my Ravelry project page.

Earlier this year I tried out another vest pattern, which I found on Ravelry. It's called Rigmor and is designed by Mumu Knits. This little vest is atypical in its racerback construction and interesting to knit. I'm a wee bit worried that the neck opening is not large enough (I do prefer buttons for the little ones), but I may knit it again for a larger child.

See more details on my Ravelry project page.

Å for et kjoleliv / Day job dress

You may have noticed my recent obsession with the Pickles designs. One of the designs that threw me over the edge and convinced me that they were definitely worth following was the Day Job Dress (Å, for et Kjoleliv). 

I knit mine in a combination of Blackhill Silk Mohair (a very red one) and a dark pink Nikolaj Garn wool. The mix is light and airy.

The construction is ingenious. The narrow waist section is made just by going down several needle sizes. Hence, a light and airy fabric for is required for the main part; otherwise, the difference in size will not be large enough just by adjusting the needle size. After the waist section, the sleeves are made simply by some quite heavy increasing. The shoulders are joined with kitchener stitch. Very clever construction indeed.

You can find more information on my Ravelry project page. Maybe you'll notice that this was actually finished on New Year's Eve (sorry it took me so long to get photos). In fact, it was part of a bet - my husband didn't believe I could finish it before New Year's; he really should know me better by now!

Oh, and there is no crease on the dress - it had just been lying in a pile in my wardrobe for a few weeks before the photos were taken. 

My favourite knitting books

Continuing from the view of my entire collection of knitting books from yesterday, here are my current favourites. The big pile on the left (top) are all the Amimono collections and books. I think I have all of them, but I may be wrong. I do however not have all the old, single patterns, but then fashion changes so I don't mind. I think I've said enough already on why I love Helga's designs so much, so I'm sure it's know surprise to see these among my favourite books. Among them, my favourites are Finstickat (now available in Norwegian and Danish, too, as Finstrikket) because it contains so many of her best designs (including those from The Bird Collection, which I also like a lot) and the most recent collection, The Map Collection.

Other favourites for adult-sized knitwear include Kim Hargreaves and Pickles. In many ways, these two are contrasts. Kim Hargreaves is known for (too?) precise patterns, whereas I'd say Pickles is the the opposite (and perhaps consequently my favourite). I haven't knit very many of Kim Hargreaves' designs, but I like to be inspired by her books and I particularly love that many of the garments are simple and fit into a non-knitted wardrobe. Pickles also make designs in line with current trends, and I guess this is the common denominator for all my pattern favourites.

On the right side are my children's favourites. Recently, there has been quite a few high quality Danish booklet publications with knits for babies and children. High quality patterns and lovely, useful knits. I mentioned these four as well as the classic/must-have Strikk til Nøstebarn yesterday. The latter does not have the same high design standard as the booklets, but instead you can find a pattern for everything. It contains versatile, generic patterns for children of all sizes. A recent addition is the much-hyped Den Store Guttestrikkeboka. I truly adore this for all the inspiration it gives me on how to dress my little one and how to use knitwear in his wardrobe. I'd buy it just for that. Even so, I've been reluctant to start up any of the projects - I thinks it's a mixture of some patterns being too odd and others too simple. I am sure that I'll knit from some of the patterns in there eventually - most likely the shorts and the baby romper first.

These were my favourites. If there are any books you eyed in the post from yesterday and would like to know more about, just let me know!

My knitting books

Here's my shelf of knitting books and magazines. As you can see, I'm really struggling to make them fit into one shelf by now. I do however aim to do so, so I may need to go through them to see if there are any I can do without. Maybe a de-stash is coming up...

The books are to some extent sorted by how much I use them and how long time I've had them. Those on the right (and on the top) are those I use the most at the moment - and vice versa. Being on the left does not necessarily mean that this book has never been used, but rather that it hasn't been used for a while.

If you take a closer look you can see that I have many different kinds of knitting books (this section is link heavy; please note that in some places I put different links on adjacent words, so what may look like one link can in fact be many):

• Every Amimono/Helga Isager booklet or book published (more on my favourite knitting books tomorrow!).
• The handbook-type with techniques and sweater construction.
• The classics (at least four of them) by Elizabeth Zimmermann.
• A number of Kim Hargreaves' publications.
• Some modern classics from established Danish knitting designers Lene Holme Samsøe and Marianne Isager.
• Ysolda Teague's infamous Little Red in the City, which I never actually used.
• The Twinkle books by Wenlan Chia from back when that was top of the pops
• The knitting book that started my adventure into blogging, Ravelry, and international knitting patterns: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan which my mum brought home from the States. I have knit quite a few projects from this back in the days (2007-2009-ish). 
• Some mainly inspirational books with interesting textures and constructions. 
• A pile of magazines, mostly Interweave Knits and Vogue/Designer Knitting which I used to subscribe to before they became to boring and/or special. 
• The Interweave Scarf Style, Lace Style, and Folk Style which were also quite popular some years ago. 
• Booklets from Danish childrenswear knitting designers Lene Holme Samsøe and Susie Haumann.
• Another children's classic: Strikk til nøstebarn. 
• The hits of today: Pickles' most recent book, Den Store Guttestrikkeboka, and the most recent Amimono collection (on top, i.e. much in use). 

What does you knitting book shelf/shelves look like?

FO: Shetland Cowl

My first finished knit from Helga Isager's The Map Collection was however not the Kashmir cardigan, but the Shetland cowl. Another design perfectly in line with what's fashionable right now.

Scarves (infinity or not) are generally quite boring to knit, but the triangle pattern kept me interested most of the way to the approx. 1.5 metres.

The pattern is designed for two strands (a silk mohair and an alpaca/wool blend), but I used three strands instead since I had a lot of red laceweight leftovers (red being my favourite colour this is no surprise). I used a red Blackhill Silk Mohair and Malabrigo Lace in my favourite red colour Ravelry Red throughout and then used up some odds and ends as the third strand. You can see more details on my Ravelry project page.

The colours of Kashmir

Since colour choice is a major part of knitting the Kashmir cardigan, I thought I'd dedicate a post to tell you about the colours I chose.

Kashmir is knit with three strands of yarn throughout:

Colour A: A wool yarn; the same colour throughout the project. In my case, this was Blackhill Højlandsuld in the colourway Bly (i.e. Lead). Link.
Colour B: A silk mohair yarn; the same colour throughout the project. I chose Blackhill Silk Mohair in the medium grey Mellemgrå. Link.
Colour C: Six (or more) different colours of a wool yarn. In the pattern a single ply yarn is used, but I used a 2-ply yarn. 

In my case, colours A and B are pretty similar. This is fairly common choice and gives a more calm look, but I'm sure it would work with two more different colours, too.

The colours chosen as Colour C are the ones that make the stripes. A mixture of dark and light colours obviously give a more stripy effect. I chose the following colours, making sure they would all go well with the dark grey main colour:

• Blackhill Højlandsuld, colourway Nattehimmel (this was my main contrasting colour, i.e. the one I used for the sleeves and the edging; had I made pockets, I would have used this for the pockets, too) - a deep navy with blue and red tones (so pretty!). Link.
• Blackhill Højlandsuld, colourway Blå Blomst - a clear, medium blue. Link.
• Blackhill Højlandsuld, colourway Syrlig - a burnt yellow colour (curry, maybe). Link.
• Jünik, colourway Desire - a bright, bluish purple. Link.
• Holst Garn, colourway Graphite - charcoal. Link.
• Holst Garn, colourway Hyacinth - a pale, blueish lavender. Link.

You can see them all here:
Top row (from left): Blå Blomst, Nattehimmel, Desire.
Middle row (from left): Bly (Colour A), Mellemgrå Silk Mohair (Colour B).
Bottom row (from left): Syrlig, Graphite, Hyacinth.

FO: Kashmir

Back in November, I went to a workshop with Helga Isager soon before she was to release her latest pattern collection, The Map Collection. At the event, we had the possibility of trying on each design - an opportunity which would be nice to have for every knit! :)

Immediately, the Manchuria jacket became my favourite. It's on my needles but won't be finished this month. However, the design that hit the Danish (and Norwegian) knitting blogger trend spot on was Kashmir. According to Helga (and the measurements of the design, which has surprised many), more of a coat than a cardigan. If you read Danish knitting blogs, you'll have seen this model numerous times already.

For me, this only underlines the reason why I love Helga's designs so much. More than any other knitting pattern designers I can think of, she embraces what is top of the fashion while still being fairly timeless, and makes garments that will fit into any contemporary wardrobe without looking 'home knit' in the not-so-good sense of the word. Don't get me wrong here - I obviously love hand knits, but I don't mind if my handknits look like something I bought in an exclusive shop :). This coatigan features narrow sleeves and a voluminous body which is absolutely in line with what I see everywhere at the moment.

I, of course, was also going to knit Kashmir. I followed the pattern for size S/M. Others have made i-cord edges, but having seen Helga's suggested edges that are knit on, folded and then sewn to the wrong side on the original version, I knew I wanted to make these because they hold this rather heavy knit together so well. As suggested by Helga in the pattern, I also added this kind of edging to the neckline. I haven't regretted this for a moment.

Although quite a large project, Kashmir is so much fun to knit. The fun starts already when picking out the colours (more on that tomorrow). Then there is the randomness (which is never really random) in choosing which contrast colour to use next, whether to make a wedge or a stripe, and how wide they should be. Not being quite monogamous (this knit was fairly hard to transport!), it took me less than a month to finish this.

If you are wondering what to do about those wedges when the body is separated for front and back at the sleeves, I've given my version of it on my Ravelry project page (in Danish only).

It was finished on February 2nd and I've worn it a lot since then. It's nice to snuggle up in at night and wear around the house in the morning, but it's equally nice to wear for work. I also think it will work incredibly well as outerwear when it gets just a wee bit warmer here.

I'll write more about the yarn and the colours tomorrow. In the meantime, you can find more details on Ravelry. Please also browse through all the other incredible versions in the project pages. If you're on Instagram, check it out there as well since not all Instagrammers are on Ravelry.

The fifth Lark / My favourite vest pattern

Here it is, the finished Lark vest. It didn't take long to finish from the state it was in when the Ravellenics ended (except that it took me a few weeks to sew on the buttons...).

This is by far my favourite vest pattern for boys. So classy and good looking. No wonder this is my fifth Lark Vest. And no surprise to any of you that I am so fond of a Helga Isager pattern.

The main yarn I used is a single ply, so when knit in the round I expected it to twist a bit. You can see from the photo that it does, but nothing too serious. Read more details on my Rav project page.

Very close to the finish line

As the final weekend of the Olympics was approaching, I realized that I might have a hard time finishing the last vest as it was quite a small-needle project compared to the other ones. I knit and knit and knit that Sunday, but when time was up my pile of Ravellenic projects looked like this (sans the colourblock hat): 

Close, but no cigar. I was still lacking approx. 30 minutes of knitting and some finishing on the last vest (more of which tomorrow). Anyway, I think it was quite an accomplishment to finish this in 17 days. And not least liberating to get all these oddballs turned into actual garments!

Bella Bella

Just a quick one today. The next projects in my Ravellenics challenge were these two vests from the Bella pattern by Lene Holme Samsøe. This jewel-coloured yarn has been lingering in my stash for ages. I originally bought it for a children's sweater I never got around to make and I've been having a hard time figuring out what to make. When I realized that I could combine it with another oddball - a skein of thin, pink alpaca - the idea of baby vests was born (one more is lingering in the FO pile - more on that later this month). The strange stripe on the body of the small one was due to a knot in the yarn... See more details on my Ravelry project page.

Easy Peasy Sweater

Recently, I've become rather fond of the pattern from Norwegian designers/yarn brand/yarn shop Pickles. They make simple patterns both for adults and children. I've already knit a few of their patterns in my size (more to come about that, but the Mellow Sweater and the Fall Coat were the first and they are both brilliant designs and fashionable garments. I particularly like designer who aim at designing garments which will fit into a fashionable wardrobe, and Pickles completely fulfill this.

Some of their designs for children are a bit more crude, or - they have varied a bit over time, but there are some really nice ones among the more recent designs, especially for girls. This is one of the unisex patterns (in fact, there is a girls' version and a boys' version and I knit the girls' version for my boy...), the Easy Peasy Sweater (Rav link). The pattern is nice and simple and the result is classic.

On top of the yarn I had chosen for this sweater at the beginning of the Ravellenics, I had to dig out some more odds and ends from my stash in order to have enough for the sweater. Hence the stripes. More details on my Ravelry project page.

Smurfeplutt-lue

To finish off the hat parade, here is the last hat I knit as part of the Ravellenics: a Smurfeplutt-lue! The pattern is in Norwegian and can be found here (Rav link here). I really love earflap hats for the little ones - simply because they cover the ears but not the eyes! Again, it's the wool & nettles yarn - perfect for hats because it is so soft. See more details on my Rav page.

Colourblock or stripes?

I had less than 50 m of three different colours of yarn of similar weight (two of them are Cascade 220). At first I thought to make a stripy hat, but since I wanted to use up every single yard of each colour (and needed to in order to have enough yarn for a hat), stripes would be complicated by the fact that I had different amounts of each yarn. Indeed, I started on I stripy hat and knit almost half of it before deciding that the result would be too odd to be pretty. Just before falling asleep that night after frogging the first version, I came up with the idea of making a colourblock hat instead. And here it is - perfect! Now I just need to remember that for next time I have three different colours in non-matching amounts...

There is no pattern for this one - it's just a brown 2x2 ribbing, then round and round and round until the five crown decreases, changing from blue to grey when I ran out of blue. And then a brown pom pom on the top.

You can find my Rav project page here.

My favourite baby hat pattern

For my Ravellenic knitting challenge, I started out with a winner: my favourite baby hat!

I've knit baby hats from this pattern seven times already and it's an absolute favourite. Pleasing to knit and immensely cute as practical when in use. Therefore, I just had to knit another two for the Ravellenics. At the moment, as good as everybody I know are producing babies, so it's good to have some gifts lying around!

They are both in very soft yarns - as they should be for baby heads. The blue and red one is a mix of two leftovers: Pickles Cash Yak (it just sounds soft, doesn't it?) and Malabrigo Lace. The other one is in an organic yarn from the Danish brand Onion made from wool and nettles(!) - wonderfully soft and shiny.

Should you be interested in knitting one - or ten - yourself, the pattern is from Susie Haumann's All You Knit is Love (as far as I know only available in Danish, though).

More details on my Rav project pages here and here.

Ravellenics 2014

I love the Olympics. Possibly the Winter Olympics even more than the Summer Olympics. This time it was accompanied by a lot of debate regarding human rights - or rather the lack of these - in Russia, but even that cannot take away my fascination of the athletes and their performances. I followed all the cross-country skiing and the biathlon closely, and watched a bit of snowboard on the side. By now, it's a tradition that the Olympics are accompanied by the (now) so-called Ravellenics on Ravelry, i.e. an event where knitters challenge themselves in one or more knitting projects, starting at the opening ceremony of the actual Olympics and finishing when the flame is put out (this time Feb 7-23). I've taken part several times and this time was no exception.

Rather than challenging myself with one big project, I went trough my stash to pick out oddballs, leftover yarn from other projects, etc. that I wanted used up. I try to do this fairly often - going through my stash to pick out yarn that I only have small quantities of - because it brings my pleasure to tidy up my stash like this. This time, I ended up with this:

I then went on to plan which projects. Starting from the top, going around clockwise, I aimed to make: A baby hat (red and blue yarn), one or two (baby) hats (navy yarn), another hat for the little one (brown, blue, and grey yarn), a baby vest and a hat - or two baby vests (red/pink/orange yarn), a sweater for the little one (dark grey yarn), a vest and a baby hat (medium grey yarn).

Oh, well.

Over the next week I'll show you the garments I ended up turning all this yarn into...!

Blogging every day of March

I've been awfully quiet on the blog this year. Not quite as quiet on Instagram (@birgittezeuner). I have been knitting though, and some FO posts are more than overdue. Therefore, I've decided to try and blog every day of March!

Stay tuned!

New Year Status

In 2013...:

• I finished 39 projects, but of these only 8 were adult sized garments. It's been the year of instant gratification baby knits, I guess. 
• I knit up 5480 g of yarn and destashed 2100 g.
• I purchased and was gifted 4740 g of yarn. This leaves me with a stash reduction of 2840 g! Yay!
• I handed in my PhD thesis! It's been a nice and quiet Christmas this year.

In 2014...:

• I will knit more adult sized garments. If only because the list of recently published designs I want to knit is now incredibly long. That and the fact that I'll have more knitting time due to one of the points listed above :)
• I will be better at commenting on other blogs and hope that more of my readers will comment on mine - that is if anyone is still reading after I've neglected the blog a bit over the last few months due to some thesis writing. At least for me it takes some of the fun out of blogging when only 1-2 people comment on each post. I know that reading blogs on tablets or smartphones complicates commenting, but I hope we'll see a solution to that soon or I'm afraid that more and more bloggers will lose the will to blog...

Talking about that list of projects I want to knit in 2014, here are some of them:

• Helga Isager's Manchuria jacket (I already started the first, but I think there may be more)
• Helga Isager's Kashmir cardigan (which is currently being knit by every other Danish knitter, but I understand why)
• Helga Isager's Himalaya sweater
• Some more projects from Pickles, possibly Kimono-oh, Sassy secretary skirt, I-do cardi, Garland Sweater poncho, a variation of the Sweet Honey sweater, Top tee, Crop Dot top, or a Mellow dress. 
• A Brooklyn Tweed sweater, probably Oshima or Bray. 
• For the little one, I want to knit a Vincent sweater and some vests for next winter.

I have a few finished, unblogged projects (both from Pickles) lying around. I hope I'll get a photo opportunity soon, so you can see them.

FO: Nissehue

Just a brief photo of this little nisse that moved in on Monday morning:

You can read more facts about this (if I am to say so myself) quite successful nissehue on my Ravelry project page.

FO: September Cardigan Enlarged

Is anybody still reading?

If you are, you can now enjoy some poor-quality photos of a project that has actually been finished since the beginning of September. Then I waited the better part of two months for the perfect buttons to arrive from Hong Kong. And then another month for a photo opportunity. I've now given up hope of the latter, so here are some photos I've managed to snap during daily life - I guess this counts as proof that the cardigan is actually being worn a lot!

When I first saw Line's September Cardigan, I immediately liked the design. I got my mum to knit one for the wee one - pictured here on the left:

What happened next? Somebody wanted an identical one for himself! Having appropriate yarn in stash that would fit 6.0 mm needles I quickly agreed to knitting him one. 

Oh, and here are those buttons I waited for:

The yarn is quite drapey and heavy, so I've had to do some crocheted reinforcements with a less elastic yarn in the back neck and along the front edges. I think they work well. Husband is very pleased with his cardigan and uses it a lot. 

Pattern: My own based on the design for the September Cardigan by Rare Rusk Designs.

Yarn: One strand of a super kid mohair/baby alpaca/merino blend from Garnudsalg.dk and one strand of a single-bly wool yarn from Klippans Yllefabrik. Approx. 840 g in total.  

Link to my Ravelry project page: Here. 

FO: Ronaes Shawl

I'm sorry about the slightly weird ill-lit photos I post here at the moment - it's that time of year and the weekends are just too short to catch some good daylight.

Here's my new scarf in my favourite purple; it's Ronaes by Karina Westermann aka Karie Bookish - the first pattern from her recent Doggerland collection. If you've read about the collection (and you should), you'll understand why which was such an appropriate knit to bring on a recent weekend trip across the North Sea.

The shawl features a classic construction: Short rows shape the garter stitch centre, and the edging is knit on sideways afterwards. Brilliant! The resulting scarf/shawl is easy to wear as you can see from the photos.

Pattern: Ronaes by Karina Westermann
Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsuld from Garnudsalg.dk, Lilla, 68 g.
Needles: 4.5 mm
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Pickles Høstjakke

Finally! For the first time since March this year, I'm able to present a finished knit sized for an adult! It's been baby knit after baby knit for what feels like ages. Dear husband managed to snap some action photos this afternoon while I was blowing soap bubbles with the little one.

Mid-September, Pickles blogged about their new design, the Fall Coat, or in Norwegian: Høstjakke. It didn't take long to convince myself that I needed to cast-on for this one very soon.

Surprisingly, considering the sheer size of my stash, I couldn't find a suitable yarn for it in my stash, the main problem being that I only had kidmohair (in the required quantity) in black and I (even more surprisingly) did not want a black version. I went ahead and ordered some yarn to go with what I did find suitable in my stash at Garnudsalg, and with a speedy delivery I cast on on September 21. 

I ended up with a luxuriously smooth mix of three yarns from Garnudsalg: Blackhill Silk Mohair, Blackhill Wool/Silk, and Blackhill Highland Wool. It's brilliant. You can almost see from the photo below how nice it is :)

What you can also see from this photo is that I altered the pattern to include i-cord bind-off (which the coat already has on the back) on the sleeves as well, and I am extremely happy with the result.

When I first discovered Pickles, I thought most of their designs were a bit crude and lacked details and finish. Over time, I've changed my mind, thinking that it's actually easy to add the details and finish yourself (at least when you've been knitting for so long that you have a feeling of what little details might do the trick), and what Pickles does so well is to make simple patterns for garments that are fashionable right now. I definitely have my eyes on the I-do-cardi and the Crop Dot Sweater.

Pattern: Høstjakke/Fall Coat by Pickles, size XS with one more yoke increase and a few stitches cast on under the sleeves.
Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsuld (Rullesten), Blackhill Uld/Silke (Rullesten), Blackhill Silk Mohair (Kit), approx. 900 m each. 404 g in total.
Needles: 6.0 mm making it a fast knit.
Read more on my Ravelry project page: Here.

Testing the Blogger app: A heap of baby winter knits

I've just downloaded the Blogger app hoping that it'll help me getting some more blogging done. At the moment I'm mainly knitting instant gratification baby winter knits and I only manage to photograph them with my phone - and this is where the app comes in handy; honestly, photo editing, uploading, etc. take up half of the time I spend on blogging.

Anyway, here's my parade of recently finished knits. It features my two absolute favourites among baby vests along with what might be two new favourites when it  comes to hats and gloves. 

Pattern: Lark by Helga Isager, size 6 months. 

Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsuld from Garnudsalg, Kiwi, and Blackhill Alpaca, grøn/petrol melange. Approx. 150 m of each, 46 g in total for each vest. 

Pattern: Pebble by Nikol Lohr

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, Straw. I just managed to get three vests out of 200 g. 

Pattern: Raindrop Hat by Dani Sunshine

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, Chocolate Heather, 46 g for the smaller one and 64 g for the larger one. 

Pattern: Rillestrikka Vottar from Strikk til Nøstebarn. 

Yarn: Holst Supersoft, Sloe, 32 g. Intentionally felted a bit to get nice and soft gloves. 

You can find more details on all the projects on my Ravelry projects page. 

So what do I think of the app? Really easy to use, pretty, and it provides fast photo handling. I can live with the fact that I need to edit the photo size in the post on the computer afterwards. Of course we will all have to live with a poorer photo quality when I use Instagram photos, but I guess I can't have it all.

Summer knits: Two stripy cardigans

I've been silent here for quite a while (less than four months left before I should hand in my PhD thesis, happy (busy) family life, etc.), but I do manage to knit quite a bit every know and then.

My summer knitting has mainly been these two stripy cardigans for the little one. The grey one turned out to be an appropriate size 2-3 years, while the blue and brown one ended up being - ahem - size 6 years. Let's hope he still doesn't mind wearing hand knits when he's that age.

Pattern: Rilletrøje by Lene Holme Samsøe published in Babystrik på pinde 3, size 2 years lengthened quite a bit.
Yarn: Medium grey Isager Alpaca 2, light grey Blackhill Højlandsuld (Rullesten), and acid yellow Blackhill Højlandsuld (Gollum). 130 g in total.
Find more details on my Ravelry project page.

Pattern: Trøje med striber by Susie Haumann published in Knit for your kid. I knit on 3.5 mm needles (3.0 mm recommended) and got a size 6 years by using the stitch count for size 4 years, so I followed the pattern for size 6 years for the length.
Yarn: Blackhill Højlandsuld colourways Åbent Hav and Muldvarp. 132 g in total.
Find more details on my Ravelry project page.

Recent baby knits

I'm working a lot at the moment, so it seems that smaller projects are my thing. I've been neglecting the blog lately, so some of these recently finished knits have actually been up on Ravelry for a while, but here they are.

Bella Baby by Lene Holme Samsøe in Holst Garn colourway Sweet Pea. Ravelry link.  

Stripy pants with a flashy edging, modified from Susie Haumann's pattern in All You Knit is Love (my favourite pattern for baby pants), in Rasmilla's Yndlingsgarn (wool/cotton) in charcoal and black and a bit of Blackhill Highland Wool colourway Gollum. Ravelry link. 

A variation on Maria Carlander's variation on her Little Scallops hat pattern in a wool yarn from Klippans Yllefabrik. Ravelry link. 

A stripy vest loosely based on Bestefartrøye from Strikk til nøstebarn in Isager Alpaca 2 and 3 different purple shades of Supersoft (Jünik/Holst Garn). Ravelry link.

I excuse the messy mix of Instagram, Yarma, and good old-fashioned photos, but these days the busy me prefers uploading directly from the phone to Ravelry.

A brief update from me this time (please follow the Ravelry links for more details!). I assure you that I'm keeping up with the blog reading, though, even if I don't get round to blogging so much myself.