Anyway here is the recent hat I finished in sockclub yarn from Middle Earth Yarns:
Friday, December 7, 2007
Its amazing - I have an FO!
Anyway here is the recent hat I finished in sockclub yarn from Middle Earth Yarns:
Friday, November 9, 2007
3 excuses not to knit
If I brought my knitting? That was a stupid question. Ofcourse I did.
I brought several of my newer sock-club yarns as well as some alpaca for a babyhat. I also brought the boyfriend socks that I am knitting my DP from OPAL.
How far did I get?
I knit around half a sock in 4 weeks!!! How is it possible??
Well I like to blame my lack of progress on three factors (bad excuses if you like..) :
1: Mosquitoes
There are tons of them in Thailand. And they really seem to love me. And I react SO badly to them. I swell up and get all red and itchy. In the evenings when the kids were sleeping I would try to sit on our porch and knit, and they would attack me in large numbers despite repellents etc. I was so distracted that every time I pulled out my knitting I would end up poking my bites with the needles instead.. smart girl I am..
2. Bad lighting
The light on our porch was bad. And I am knitting with black yarn. Cables. Maybe not the hardest pattern to follow ever, but difficult enough to turn a shortrow heel in the dark.. I ended up doing that one in our smelly, moist bungalow bathroom.. Anyway it gets frustrating to knit cables in the dark..
3. Exhaustion
Often when the kids finally went to sleep in the evening I would be so tired I just passed out on the bed clothes, contact lenses and all..
So not much knitting done at all..
Also - I really find knitting cables annoying and unrelaxing. Definately not my favourite type of knitting.. I think my next project will be something rib... Easy and relaxing without totally boring me to death..
Monday, October 1, 2007
Babyjacket complete frustration
First there was the gauge trick.
I was done. Almost completely done - only needed the buttonholerow, the neckrow and sewing on the buttons. And that would be it. I held up my work to admire my doing. 5 months of work. 5 MONTHS! For a babyjacket! Ok - I hadnt been working on it every day exactly - but ever so often I had pulled it from the back and knit a couple of centimeters. And now it was DONE - almost. But as I stopped to admire the final piece I realised that I had knit the entire right front on a way larger gauge than the other front. Truth was brutal and harsh and impossible to miss. I had to frog one six'th of my jacket and reknit it at a tighter gauge.
I ate that one - and the next day the frogging began.
And I knit it again.
Until it was done. Again. And then was the sleeve-trick.
Almost done but the finishing. I went on to seam the underarms. And weave in all the ends. And knit the neckline. And I held up my work to FINALLY admire the finished babyjacket. Knit in sockyarn on 2,5 mm needles. 5 months or work - and then some.
And I see it.
The sleeves.
OH NO - the sleeves. How could this happen? I have been SO CAREFUL. I have payed such attention to detail - and now this.
The sleeves are not equal in length. Not at all equal...
The right sleeve is about 5 cms longer than the left. That means one sleeve is about 15-20% longer than the other sleeve. And that is visible. Very visible..
I just wanna sit down and cry and never ever see the bloody thing before my eyes again.. I am so FED UP with this thing. I want it over and done with. But I cannot possibly put it down like this. One thing is certain. I am NOT frogging the whole darn thing to the sleeve. No way. That would mean frogging the neck - after picking out the bound off edge. Picking out the bound off right front edge, the buttonrowpart, the 18 cms of front and the 18 cms of sleeve. That would set me back about 2 months or more. No way!
Now I am toying with other ideas.
Could I cut off the longer sleeve somehow? And then pick up stitches around it?
Or frog the neckline and then snip the thread somewhere just where the sleeve ends, frog the sleeve and reknit it? - Am guessing that would take me another 1-2 weeks or so. Guess I could live with that if it cant be any different .. sigh..
If ever I get back to loving knitting after this thing - then I deem knitting to be more than just another shortlived obsession of mine..
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Mit in progress
.. slowly so though..
Here it is - my Anemoi in progress! I knit a bit further than shown here. Just transferred the thumb stitches to waste yarn. I am slowly getting better at getting the tension right - though where it was probably too loose before it is almost too tight now.. difficult balance.
I still do it with yarn in both hands. I see it could probably speed up the process if I was less stubborn and transferred both strands of yarn to my left hand, but I really do enjoy alternating between the left hand pick and the right hand wrap.. And since it is also about the process I think I will stick with the double handed way of doing it for now..
Sunday, September 9, 2007
(S)Mitten
So did I finish any UFOs? Nope - that was optimistic to even imagine.. I added a WIP to the list, and abandoned most other knitting to do corrugated ribbing on 5 needles. Probably the hardest knit stuff I have done to date, but I got through 17 rounds of it and have moved on to the mitten itself, working from the chart. It requires all my attention and concentration to knit each and every round, but it is looking good so far. My only real concern being whether I chose some boring colors? I loved them at the LYS but working with them now I miss some red or purple inthere..
Friday, August 24, 2007
Knitting childrens socks
The first pair are done. Not sure what I think.. The yarn is Adorn sockyarn from Three Irish Girls in the colorway Quinn. I do think these colors are really cheerful and I like how the yarn stripes up.
I have also started a second pair of childrens socks. Babysocks size 1 year or so. These I think are turning out really pretty. The yarn is awesome and I absolutely adore the colorway.
This yarn is sockyarn from Middle Earth Yarns 75% wool and 25% polyamide. The colorway is Heather Fields. I am really excited about this yarn - the colors are fresh, cheerful and elegant. Lovely yarn. I joined the Middle Earth Sock club (she may still have an open slot) and am starting to look forward to the first package.. (never mind its not till the end of September..)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Knitting thoughts
I have been trying to put in extra knitting time in the past week and it feels great. I seem to be thinking about knitting all the time. ALL THE TIME! Knitting and YARN, yarn, yarn.. (did I mention that I signed up for the Zen String sock club? And the Middle Earth Yarns sock club? - It will be a wonderful wooly autumn..)
I cant put words to the frustration that my projects are coming along so slowly. I dream big, and many dreams about wonderful projects, babythrows, lace shawls etc and it has taken me two days to finish up a childrens sock size 2 years.. (and that is just the first sock). But I am inspired at least. Dreaming about knitting is quite a good inspiration to actually get it done when awake. Wouldnt it be practical if I could knit in my sleep though?
I had to make a long drive today, and found myself constantly attracted to the second babysock on the DPNs right in the passenger seat beside me and cursed many times that driving and knitting dont go well together when you are the only one in the car (apart from a 6 month old baby that is..)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Stranded experiment 2
Just to prove that I DO knit stuff then the stranded vest is coming along. It is quite fun to knit but I admit to not having swatched (well consider this my swatch) so it will probably be too small for my son. But it will be worth the experience. Better screw up this small project. The yarn was really cheap too. It is some Smart superwash I had in my stash. I bought it in my LYS at a huge discount because the labels had gone missing..
Friday, August 10, 2007
Stranded experiment
Ehh remember I promised myself that I would not cast on new projects for a while - till I finished some of the ones I am already working on?
Well - forget I ever said that..
My fingers have been ITCHING to cast on new stuff. I have been obsessing over new techniques such as lace and stranded colorwork. And now I couldnt hold it any longer. I cast on a "Branching Out" from Knitty and I started a stranded colorwork experiment that will hopefully turn into a vest for my youngest. I basically cast on in black superwash Smart (from Sandness yarn) and started working the Norwegian Mitten pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermanns book "Knitters Almanac". I worked only a few rows so far that you can see here. I am not completely content. I like how it works to knit it twohanded - it is fast and easy now that I finally master English knitting as well as the usual Continental/Skandinavian method. I have kept tension loose on the back to keep the fabric stretchy, but the stitches seem a bit wonky. Not sure what the problem is, so if you have a advice on how to get the whole thing looking more even I would love to hear from you..
How about all the other stuff I am working on? -
Dont even ask...
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Babyjacket "almost" done! And rave about Ravelry..
I am a Raveller! I finally got my Ravelry invitation ( http://www.ravelry.com) and absolutely love the place! So much inspiration.. I took nerdish pics of nearly all my yarn and most of my FOs and stuff on the needles. And I have done a bit of knitting recently too.
It is really hard to find time to knit with three little kids in the house - and often when I finally grab my needles in the evening I am so beat that I fall asleep or make numerous mistakes and have to frog the next day.
That doesnt stop me from having a trizillion things on my "to-knit"-list though..
I really really want to clear out some of my WIPs, so I decided to finish at least 1 - hopefully 2 before casting on the next project. I have been working on the Drops Babyjacket again recently and now only have the right sleeve and right front left till I'm done. Looking good innit!?!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A bit of a knitting crisis
And now I just cant seem to get started knitting any of it for some simple reasons. First I have SO many UFOs that I am halfway done with. I have knit 1 of the boyfriend socks and I feel I should at least have the second of those done before starting yet another pair of socks. Or some of the other UFOs - and I just dont feel the least bit inspired to knit any of them. Grr - all the time I spend being frustrated about not finishing anything would be much better spent knitting so I can get some of them overwith and move on to the next project!
Give me a virtual butt-kick will ya!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Yummie...
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Boyfriend sock OTN
Yep - here is a pic of the progress (or lack of such) on my boyfriend socks..
I have bought A LOT of yarn recently and it is all arriving to me these days :D
It can be viewed on my flikr..
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Pattern for the Cabled Newborn-socks
Needle 2: p3, k4, p4, k4, p3
Needle 3: knit
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Cast on boyfriend socks
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Here - cabled babysocks
Here they are:
The yarn is Dale Babyull (100% superwash merino) and the pattern is out of my head. I didnt write it down though - will see if I get around to it before I ship them. It is pretty simple though - just some ribbing with an occasional twist, and then cables..
They should be going out in the mail tomorrow at the latest.. I hope they arent too small. I tried them on my 4 month old and they are way too small for him, but he is quite the big guy so.. hoping they will fit..
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Obsessing over socks - but no time to knit..
The stashgame is over. I didnt do all that well, but at least I ended up with positive points unlike last time..
I ordered lots and lots of sockyarn, so will be knitting quite a few socks in the months to come - that is the plan anyway. Other projects are on hold for now.
I am currently knitting some cabled babysocks for a friends baby (sssshh dont tell her -hope she is not reading) I better get them done and shipped asap as they are pretty small and wont fit for long.. No pics - in case the above mentioned person is lurking.. I only need to do the foot and bindoff of the second sock and they are done..
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
My socks are DONE!
I am now the proud owner of a pair of homeknit - by me - socks.
The project for my dad - well forget it. He appearently hates knit stuff - cant stand to touch it. Also the yarn never arrived - wonder where it is? I am guessing some postal worker hoped it was sexy underwear hehe.. He must have gotten mighty disappointed. I hope it will arrive
though, as DP would LOVE a pair of homeknit socks so..
Anyway here they are
For the heel then I used the method described in the recent Interweave Knits - where you dont wrap the stitch but use a yarn over method. The first sock had some pretty big holes but this second one is better looking. I made sure to tighten the yarn more and payed more attention to detail. When I knit the first sock I was pretty sure I would not use this method again - now I am not so sure anymore. I think the second heel turned out pretty ok. Only with a tiny hole..
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
My first adult sock (not socks yet)
The pattern is from the new Interweave Knits and they are knit toe-up. I am not too happy about the heel. I think it is filled with holes - dont see how any professional knitter can be satisfied with that (the method was recommended in IK). I will be using the same method for the second sock, but next pair I will be back to either using a wrap-and-turn method or the traditional turn-heel-and-pick-up-stitches method..
Anyway here it is - the yarn is OPAL "herbstmelodie"
My next project wont be to make that second sock. BAAAD I know.. But my dad turns 60 in 10 days time so I am hoping I have time to finish a pair of socks for him.. but it will be a race against time so...
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Socks for DD too
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Its all about socks
Not impressive - I know, but DS gets a pair of socks, I get some sock-practice - plus I get points in the stashgame for a finished FO and a skein of yarn down. The yarn was cheap by the way. I think it is Smart from Sandness. I found it in a LYS in a basket - no tags on it or anything so they sold for around 6 kroner/1$ a skein. I still have one of those skeins left, but dyed it pink to make a pair of socks for DD too. Will try out a boomerang-heel when I get that far..
Friday, May 25, 2007
Superquick Babysocks
They were indeed fast. Will probably make more of these to kill off more Colinette Skye scraps. This is Colinette Skye colorway Popsicle:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Inbetween FO's - Calculations-low
Ok - I timed how long it took me to knit 1 cm on the fingering weight yarn babyjacket that I am working on. It took me 20 minutes. Then I started calculating. I already knit 18 cms of it - meaning so far it has taken me around 6 hours at the very least - not counting the time it took me to knit the first 10 cm sample - then realise my gauge was off - then frogging the lot and starting over. Then casting on the sleeve - then realising I cast on the wrong number of sts and frogging again and casting on again. - But well - all that is behind me. The scary path is the one in front of me.
I still have roughly 90 cms left to knit (it is knit from front to sleeve - then over the back - the other sleeve and then to the other front) - meaning I have around 30 hours of knitting still left to do on that jacket. - And that is concentrated knitting - that is not halfhearted knitting while watching telly or chit-chatting or whatever..
So if I knit one hour a day - just on that project - it will take me a month to finish. If I knit - concentrated knitting - 3 hours a day on that project - then it will still take me 10 days - to finish..
Oh and for the curious - then I also calculated that each centimeter consists of around 500 stitches. That means I already knit around 9000 stitches. I still have around 45000 stitches left to knit - and the entire jacket will consist of approximately 54000 stitches..
Can I get dizzy now?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Alpaca babyrib (the 2nd) is done!
Now I finally have something real to show. I finished the ribbed alpaca babytop. It took me around a week altogether. Here it is - two different pics. Mostly because my son is so darned cute that he deserves an extra pic - but also because the first pic shows the color best, while the second shows the entire top without cutting off the buttom:
And then - well I cant give you the pattern or even a link to it as it is copyrightprotected and not available in English. (well hardly even available online.. sigh..) - but I can give you a detailed pic of the sleeve detail - as well as mention that it is knit flat from the top down until after the sleeve stitches are bound off, then the front and back are knit separate until after the raglan increases - then the rest is knit in the round.
Oh - and the yarn - gotta talk about the yarn. It is Drops Alpaca in color 7323 (it looks blue in that last pic but the first picture shows the color better - it is actually a blend of light and darker dusty green fibres. Lovely wool - available in some really sweet colors. They also have a huge number of patterns available for this wool on their website www.garnstudio.com - free even :D
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
New "unvention" - a balloon fingerprotector
Well actually it is just the tip of a "long" balloon that I cut off - but it works :) Hehe - I wonder if the stash game awards bonuspoints for silly ideas.. Now that I cant seem to knit fast enough to keep up with everyone else..
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The stashgame has started - and some thoughts about patterns..
I am working mainly on two projects right now - a ribbed alpaca babytop and a babyjacket in OPAL. I think a couple of pics are appropriate. Here is my alpaca babytop - using the Baby i Rib pattern from Designclub.dk -a very weird name as they dont even have a website- their patterns are practically impossible to come by. They are only sold by a few shops - and even fewer webshops. And only in a paper version - and only if you buy yarn at the same time - and only in Danish.. Sigh - some people just dont want to make money. No wonder some people feel tempted to violate the copyright law and ask a friend for a copy. Not saying it is a good thing to do - only saying it is very tempting when it takes so much effort and so much money to get hold of the original pattern.. -
Oh - sorry about that.. I was going to show the top I am working on.. here it is:
The second thing I am working on at the moment is a babyjacket from a Drops pattern available (free) here: Drops Babyjacket
Here it is:
As you see I have only knit a few centimeters yet - so still a looong way to go - especially considering it is knit on needles 2,5 mm. - Dont know why but recently I find that I really like working on these small needles. I hate the extra time it takes, but I love the feel of the small needles and the non-bulky look and feel.. Also for babythings it seems more appropriate to use the thinner yarn. Enough - the baby is asleep so I better grab some needles..
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Entering stash game - and AN FO!!!
Anyway - here they are - the finished and homedyed Wondershorties. They are quite big on my baby but he will grow to fit..
My sons - the youngest wearing his new Wondershorties/capris
And then there is the stash game. I entered a game where I am supposed to use up as much as possible from my yarn stash within the next 6 weeks - starting tomorrow. So come and cheer - I really need to finish up some of those UFOs..
Monday, April 30, 2007
Dyed yarn for shorties
To start a completely different project then I dyed some yarn to make Sejer some shorties today. I dont know the first thing about dyeing yarn so it was all pretty random, but I think I like how it came out..
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
YAY - I finally started my SKB!
It is even possible to see that I dyed the yarn to give it a slightly variegated look. It is brown BFL - aran weight. The pattern calls for silk at gauge 5 sts to the inch. Turned out when I started knitting (yes - I did swatch to match gauge, but appearently my swatch was tighter than my actual knitting..) that I knit at 4 sts to the inch.. hrmf..
So - I had to do a whole lot of calculations, but it turns out that if I knit the size small instead of the size large I had planned, then I should meet the same measurements. So I started knitting and it seems to be going fine. I dyed the yarn using salmon jacquards acid dye to get the variegated effect, and I am pretty happy with the result so far.
I tried it on last night see:
Now dont ask me what happened to the Tomten.
It is on the shelf for now. It bugs me big time - especially since I ran out of the organic yarn and appearently dont even have enough of the Sandness yarn either, so for now it is on hold. Such a shame as my daughter really could use a spring sweater..
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Stuck again
The shawl is just waiting for me to knit on it - easy peasy, but I would rather finish other stuff as I am in no rush with that one.
I cast on a pullover for my newborn, but once again I did something wrong with the sizing :( I think I made the raglan-increase-part too long, so now it is way too big. I will also be out of yarn for that one so I will have to add some Alpaca-merino as I cant get anymore of the particular handdyed BFL that I used for the yoke :(. I may frog..
I have cast on a swatch for the Simple Knitted Bodice that I am planning. I cant match the smaller gauge so will need to do some serious decreasing around the waist. Have cast on a swatch for the chevron lace so I can do the calculations for waist-decreases right.
Boring boring. I wish I had some FO's to show, but that may take a while yet..
Monday, March 19, 2007
Pics of stuff in progress
Anyway - here are my two current projects. A Tomten jacket that was supposed to keep my youngest one warm this spring - but oh my - it is twice his size.. I guess it will be a fall jacket instead then.. I tried to adjust the sizing while still making it a bit too big so it would fit longer.. Well I guess it will be a LOT too big. The yarn is organic wool from Oehlenshläger. It still has pieces of hay stuck in it and it smells wonderfully sheep-ish.. if there even is such a word.. It is the same wool I used for DPs scarf (scroll down to see). It seems to be a very durable wool - would be great for an outdoor sweater of sorts.. (maybe a future projec??.) Anyway I love this wool :D I have combined it with stripes of "Fritidsgarn" from Sandnes in a variegated green and earth-brown colorway. Unfortunately none of the colors show very well here..
My other project in progress is a shawl with sleeves (or without - havent decided yet) by Jytte Slente from the book "Designstrik". It is a very very simple project so I tend to bring it on carrides and such because it is just plain knitting and knitting.. Hardly any consulting patterns and such. Very simple. The wool is HP Multi Mohair in the Burnt Orange colorway. It is a 9 % wool, 13 % polyamide and 78 % mohair yarn. Very fluffy and soft :)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Ribbed longies and stuff in progress..
I have finished one project since Sejer was born - a pair of ribbed longies.
Here he is wearing them - again they are knit in BFL from Natural Dye Studio - a favourite yarn! The top is the "Ugly Alpaca-rib" - it may be ugly but he has been wearing it ever since he was born so it was worth the bother! It is wonderfully soft and it keeps him nice and warm :D I am really happy with it - it wont be my last thing made from 100% alpaca!
Other projects I am currently working on is a shawl with sleeves made from lovely soft mohair. I was out of yarn, but finally found some leftover stock in a webshop - so I bought a bunch and should have enough to finish it. There is still LOTS of knitting left in that one though so wont be done anytime soon..
I also got myself a couple of Elizabeth Zimmermann books and am working on a Tomten jacket in lovely thick organic wool! It will be a really durable and warm jacket once done. Still need to do the upper front and sleeves though. Pics to come.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Some of the knit stuff actually fits!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Sejer Arild is here
I will try if I can get some pics online of him wearing his newest knit stuff :) One of them being the ugly alpaca rib..
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Finished the alpaca babyrib!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Curly Purly Soaker done
Monday, January 22, 2007
Stuck knitting and dyed some yarn
I recieved some dyes the other day. One of them a turquise that I tried out on a single skein of BFL yesterday. The idea was to make it a bit variegated - with darker and lighter areas - but it didnt work out too well. Here is the result. I still love the color though. I will use some of it for a soaker for my unborn baby boy.. I am about 1/3 done with that.. Pics to come..
Sunday, January 14, 2007
DD's cardigan finally finished
The yarn is Colinette Skye - colorway Earth. The pattern is a simple raglan with an added lace-pattern on the back and sleeves. The cuffs and button-column are pearl-stitches and the neck is lined with a thin crochet edge.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Some recent FO's
First - I knit my son a Balaclava in december using this pattern: http://sockit-to-me.blogspot.com/2005/11/childs-winter-helmet-pattern.html
I also knit him a sweater in bluefaced leicester. I finished the last detail - the icord snake - just before christmas.
And an organic wool scarf that I knit for DH for christmas: