Sewing machine competition

Symaskineriet is giving away a brand new sewing machine!

Exactly what I need for mending the kids' trouser knees. My fancy quilting machine (also a Janome) doesn't have the free arm needed for that. This little one would be Perfect!

Jellyfish

Isn't this the cutest thing?!

A jellyfish for your gear shift thingy. Don't know how practical it is but it is sooo cute :-) I found it here. The text is in Swedish but it just says to start at the top and crochet so the jellyfish fits the top of the stick. Increase a lot on the last few rounds to get the curly edge.

This and that

I received my project bag swap bag, yay! It has an interesting construction with a long handle to carry crosswise (which I definitely prefer, it keeps the hands free) a hidden pocket on the back and a very retro moose embroidery on the front :-) Thank you so much Petra!

Soooo, what am I working on? Let's see... I finished the body on Dad's sweater and started on a sleeve.

Nevermind that his birthday was last week, he'll get it when it's done. Did I mention that I'm no good with deadline knitting?

And I started Mothed from the new Knitty in a lovely blue Felted Tweed. No pics yet but it doesn't look like much yet anyway. I'm planning to modify the pattern a little. There are no extra stitches at the underarm so I will add that, I think it will stretch otherwise. I may also add some waist shaping or maybe just some extra space for the hips :-o We'll see. The great thing about top-down sweaters is that you can try them on and adjust as needed.

I went to a twined knitting class with Elisabeth last Tuesday so I'm working on a pair of twined wristwarmers. I'm almost done with the first one.

This one is from the class handout. The other one will be same, same, but different. Same colours, same pattern placement but different patterns. It is a slow technique, at least for a beginner :-) but I enjoy it. I want to make mittens and a hat, it should be nice and windproof.
There isn't much litterature on twined knitting but one of the classics, Tvåändsstickat by Dandanell & Danielsson, has just been reprinted so I ordered that, it should arrive this week. I also got a booklet at the class, Tvåändsstickat - grunderna (the basics) by Berit Westman.

I finally finished the pink socks I started a year ago!

Pretty and only slightly too long in the foot (but I don't think DH would want them). I will start the heel a little earlier the next time I use the Fleegle heel.

This pretty yarn at Tant Thea practically forced me to knit a hat and matching mittens. I love the colours and the striping!

The hat is Symetrie by Woolly Wormhead and the mitts are One Koigu Mitts, a free pattern I found on Ravelry. They are extra interesting because all the thumb increases are on the palm side so the stripes are uninterupted on the back of the hand. The yarn is a Regia sock yarn, Design Line Jazz Colours, and two balls were enough for both hat and mittens.

Shawls!

Heart of Wales:

This one is for my sister, for Christmas or her January birthday, we'll see. Loved knitting this, I have to make one for myself too.

Maia:

Icelandic Feather and Fan:

Absolutely huge, a monster, 290 cm (114”) across and 110 cm (43”) down the spine, but so light and warm and cosy, if slightly scratchy. Made from Icelandic unspun yarn, Plötulopi. I want to make a sweater out of that!

Simple City:

Yes I am addicted to Zauberball! This little shawl/scarf is made from one ball, alternating two rows from one end and two rows from the other end. Yum, I love it! It took absolutely forever to bind off the ruffle though.

12 WIPs, but two of those are just waiting to be blocked (a shawl and a scarf) and 19 Hibernating. I have moved some projects between the categories and started some new ones.

StickaMera Competition

Stickamera and Garntjänst has a competition, go and check it out!

Garntjänst är välkänt i de flesta hem där man finner kreativa och handarbetsintresserade människor. Här hittar du massor av garn och mönster till allt från klassiskt snygga kläder till trendiga och moderna plagg. Med en historia som sträcker sig 140 år tillbaka i tiden samlar vi nu allt handarbete under ett tak på www.garntjanst.se.





”Jag är med och tävlar om valfri produkt hos Garntjänst, hos Stickamera, var med du också!”

Camera cosy

I got a new camera for my birthday in May but it came without a cover. So I made one. My little camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10, Swedish link) is rather fat and I didn't find a pattern that fitted it well, so I made up my own. I really recommend the camera by the way. It has a fast 25-300 mm zoom lens, image stabilizer, the pictures have correct colours mostly, 12 megapixels, great autofocus, and more. It also has a built in GPS so the pictures contain info on where they are taken, fun when you are on vacation!

Anyway, here is the pattern for the camera cosy, enjoy! Please excuse the crappy iPhone pics though...

Materials

• sock yarn leftovers, I would recommend a squishy yarn that doesn't shed too much. I used 10 grams (about 45 m/50 yd) of Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Sugar Maple
• needles for working in the round, I used a 2.25 mm circ for Magic Loop
• crochet hook for provisional CO

Gauge
about 14 sts/5 cm (2")

Instructions
My numbers are in brackets, have your camera handy to make a custom fit. Remember that the cosy should be snug with some negative ease.

Provisional CO (crochet around the needle with waste yarn, google it!) for the width of the camera (18 sts), work stockinette for the thickness of the camera (2,5 cm/1") slipping first st on every row. End with a RS row. This makes a rectangle the same size as the short side without the wrist strap.

Pick up 1 stitch in each slipped stitch on the short sides (2x5 sts) and unzip the provisional CO (16 sts for some reason, I was expecting 17) and start working in the round (44 sts) If you want 2x2 rib at the top the number of stitches has to be divisible by 4, fudge as necessary. Knit until the cosy is about 2 cm/1" shorter than camera (8 cm/3" from the picked up side stitches) and then work 2x2 rib until cosy reaches the top of the camera (try it on).

On the next round make a nice little hole for the wrist strap: Work 2x2 rib until 1 k before a purl valley that suits the position of the wrist strap. ssk (one knit and one purl stitch together), double yo, k2tog (one purl and one knit stitch together). On the next round k1, p1 into the double yo. On the round after that p2 to continue the 2x2 rib. Work rib until cosy is 1-2 cm/0.5-1" longer than camera when on. BO loosely.

Copyright Malin Nilsson 2010. This is my original pattern. Be nice, don't copy it and say it's yours,  don't sell it, and don't sell items made from it.

Project bag swap

I have signed up for the StickaMera project bag swap.

I like to sew and I always need more project bags (I'm not sure but it may have something to do with my 15 WIPs and 13 Hibernating bears), but usually I don't take the time to sew. This will be an excellent way of actually sewing and getting a new bag. I plan to be sneaky and make some extra bags for myself while I'm at it :-) I asked for something that would fit a shawl or sweater project, and I can't wait to find out who I'm sewing for and plotting what to make.

Progress

I have been following my plan rather well this week :-) I finished my bus socks (and dug out a sock from hibernation to replace them)

Crazy Zauberball in Flussbett, toe up with short row heel over 60% of the stitches worked with the other end of the ball to keep the instep looking nice. I may give them to Dad, haven't decided yet. I have almost half the ball left so I think I'll make socks for E with that. After I finish my formerly hibernating bus socks.

I finished the Heart of Wales shawl and blocked it and Maia too. And I worked some on Dad's sweater. Yay for me! No shawl pics yet as HoW is still drying.

I also started a new shawl... which I said I shouldn't. I blame the Noro. Tant Thea had some pretty Kureyon Sock in a colourway almost without green but lots of pretty blues and purples and reds and pinks that I just had to have (S250). And I have been thinking about entrelac lately. And Noro is great for entrelac, according to Ravelry. So here is my new entrelac shawl project:

Pretty! Even though entrelac looks like crap until you've worked a number of tiers. I'm using this project to learn to knit backwards too. It's great to just keep the right side facing you all the time, and no flipping the knitting back and forth. I'm not fast but I'm getting there, and it's got to be faster that flipping the knitting every 12 stitches! I used this Knitty tutorial for the backwards knitting (Continental version) and this entrelac tutorial with some mods (Ravelry link, but if you're not already on Ravelry you should be!)

So status now is 15 In Progress and 13 Hibernating.

I've also been out running twice this week! I'm so out of shape but I've promised myself to excersize (sp?) twice a week from now on. Running and going to Friskis&Svettis classes when they start up for autumn in a couple of weeks.

The best laid plans...

I have 16 WIPs on Ravelry (all but 6 are shawls...) And 14 Hibernating. I have also promised my three (thankfully small) children a sweater each, I already bought yarn for them. I think it's time for a Plan.

- Assess my pile of hibernating objects and rip out the projects I will never finish.
- Finish projects that are almost done.
- Don't start any new shawls until a few of the old ones are done.
- Finish Dad's sweater before his birthday (5 October)
- Start kid sweaters when Dad's sweater is done.
- New bus projects (e. g. plain socks) are allowed when the old ones are completed.

I will start tonight by working on Heart of Wales. I have only 8 rows to go before bind off, it should be done in a couple of nights. After that I have to make Dad's sweater a priority. If I work on it a little every day it will be done in no time (famous last words, eh?) Maia, and hopefully Heart of Wales, will be blocked this coming weekend.

If I can keep away from the second installment of the Outlander series which arrived in my mailbox today...

Easing back into the real world

Vacation is over. me and DH started work this week (ugh!) and the kids start daycare next week and school two weeks after that (daughter starts first grade, and eldest son third). My awesome dad is taking care of them this week. Really, I don't know what we would do without him. I thank him every day, and I'm knitting him a sweater :-) I actually bought the yarn for it last year but I had a hard time deciding on a pattern so I didn't start until this July. Two things got me started: Dad asked about it, and I bought a great book, Knits Men Want. A very nice, and fun, book with men's patterns for sweaters scarves, hats, and socks. Clean and simple designs, and all the patterns are written for multiple gauges, love that! I'm doing the henley with a little stitch pattern I found on Knitty. It's turning out very well.

The picture was taken just before setting stitches aside for the sleeves and starting the body. I'm 5-6 cm (2") down the body now. Dad suggested that it would make a good birthday present for him, so I have two months. Totally doable, if I can resist all the shawls that are tempting me at the moment... This has definitely been the year of the shawl. So far I have finished eight shawls, one is waiting for blocking, and another four shawls plus a lace scarf are being worked on. And I constantly add to my Must Knit Now list. Ravelry's recently added patterns listing is Dangerous!

I played a bit with the blog layout, please tell me if something is wonky!

Oh, and there's a competition at Gina's blog, you can win a KnitPro needle kit!

Stora Symässan

I went to Malmö yesterday all by myself, to the Stora Symässan craft fair. Fabrics and yarns and beads and some crap too. I mean, cleaning equipment and terry cloth turbans at a craft fair? It's not a very large fair but it's the only one nearby. I had a great day strolling around looking at stuff without kids even though there weren't that many yarn vendors there, and some of them just had acrylic horror yarn. I managed to buy some yarn anyway. Not very much because there wasn't much fun or unusual yarn around really. I do regret that I didn't get the Araucania Ranco I saw for the Girasole that I want to make, but that's no big deal. I did get a ball of Zauberball because I can't resist Zauberball and the price was good, an Opal cotton blend sock yarn to try for warmer weather socks, an Opal Hundterwasser beacuse I liked the colours, and a handpainted Opal yarn for the Brandywine shawl. I also got a skein of Visjögarn to complement the ones I already have.

I also got buttons for a baby sweater I really ought to finish today as the baby is due any day now, two Tunisian crochet patterns, beads for my Evenstar shawl, and some odds and ends. And two quilt templates for some reason...

I thought it would be easy to find beads because I read that there were going to be many bead vendors at the fair, but they had mostly larger beads for jewellry making. Only one had the size 8/0 seed beads I was looking for. But she had them in little baggies for 5 SEK each! So I got six baggies each of two colours for 60 SEK :-)

The thing I was really looking forward to was the workshops I had booked. Three heels and three thumbs with Ann-Mari Nilsson, the author of Sticka mössor, vantar, sockor! (Knit hats, mittens, socks!) which I like very much. Both workshops were great fun and the samples were so cute!



The samples were made with half the adult number of stitches. Ann-Mari has an interesting way of doing afterthought heels. She knits the sock from the top and knits in waste yarn on half the round. Then she knits the heel. So the waste yarn is for the foot, not the heel that's the more usual approach. She said that she has always done it like this to be able to try the sock on for foot length.

Startitis

I've been itching to write a blogpost for ages but, as always, something else gets the attention. Kntting, family, knitting, work, and knitting mostly. I have loads of ongoing projects and I seem to cast on more every week without finishing as many. Heard that before...? However, this is my hobby and I refuse to have a bad conscience for knitting whatever I want!

The LYS situation here in Helsingborg has been rather sad but it improved tremendously last Saturday when Tant Thea opened. This is a modern yarn store, with lots of variety and hardly any acrylic :-) Drops yarns yes, but also Schoppel-Wolle, Colinette, Noro, Fyberspates, Aade Lõng, and more. The store is full of yarn but there is room enough to really see it. Classes and knitting groups are on the horizon. Fun, fun!

I must confess that I have already bought three different Aade Lõng yarns, some Zauberball, Colinette Jitterbug and a beautiful skein of Fyberspates Nef Lace

Burnt Orange, alpaca, silk and cashmere, how could I resist!? I think it will become Bitterroot.

To my defence I have definite plans for most of it (in fact I have already cast on a sock and a shawl, see below) and I really want this store to stay in business! I also haven't bought much yarn for a long time. Except nine balls of bulky yarn for a cosy shawl (see below too) from one of the other yarn stores in town that have 30% off everything because the owner is retiring and closing down. I won't miss that store though. Not inspiring at all, neither the yarn nor the owner. Nice but not very helpful. The helpful person in that store is now working at Tant Thea instead :-)

Here's my new Colinette Jitterbug sock:

and my Revontuli shawl in Aade Lõng Artistic:

There has been much shawl knitting here lately, I'm on a shawl kick :-) Also I joined the Ravelry group 10 shawls in 2010, so I have 10 shawls to knit this year. That won't be a problem, the group requirements are very low. Only two shawls have to use more than 500 meters of yarn, the rest have to use more than 250 meters. So I have finished three already. Here's Clothilde:

And number 4, 5, 6, and 7 are OTN... Told you about the startitis! One is a mystery KAL (Evenstar), with a clue every two weeks (#2 is due tonight in fact),


one is miles of plain garter stitch at this point,


one is a big bulky lace shawl,


and one is the Revontuli I *had* to cast on when I got the yarn. They complement each other nicely I think. Do check my Ravelry page for more info and pics! I'm much better at updating there than here...

Knit on, and prosper!