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!