Happy 2009

Aaaaahhhh. Yaaaawn.
I have been off work since the weekend before Christmas and it feels So Good. I'm reasonably rested (because I have a one-year-old that wakes a bit earlier than I would like) and have done mostly nothing for two weeks. Heaven.

Reality is creeping closer though, I'm starting work on Wednesday, and M starts working in two weeks time. Then it's back to dropping children off at daycare and school before work and picking them up after work. M and me are both going to work 90% of full time so that will help a bit. And my parents will pick up the kids some days too.

I have been knitting a lot since my last post, I hardly know where to start... Let's play catch-up, shall we! For details see my Ravelry project page.

My Domino Sunset shawl has five rows of squares now, and the last row is under way.


Then there will be triangles to straighten the top, and some sort of edging I have to swatch. I need to get another ball of yarn too. It is an enjoyable knit, and it is easy to feel the progress as I finish each square.

I got a little crazy and very rapidly knit three pairs of felted clogs for the kids from that Fiber Trends pattern over Christmas. Here they are before felting.


Fun pattern, I will make a pair for myself too (I have ordered yarn) The felting was no fun though. First some manual abuse, then three or four trips through the quick 30 minute cycle of my front loader then some more manual abuse in the sink. I think they are ok now but they are drying very slowly. I have absorbent paper in them but it still takes time.

I finally got enough tired of the ziploc baggie with Harmony needle parts in it so I made a nice case instead.


Everything fits nicely with room to grow. I like that the fabric coordinates with the needles too :-) It's two batik fat quarters from the fabric stash.

Let's see... yes, socks! M asked for more socks. He wanted something red and chose Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Sugar Maple, red and orange and yellow. I picked out some suitable patterns for that yarn and he finally chose Dolomite, by Knitspot. It looks great so far!

I modfied the pattern to work from the toe up. Easy peasy, just turn the chart upside down! I think I will do some sort of mini gusset and short row heel. I used that kind of heel on my Loopy socks, see:

It could have been longer but I didn't want to disrupt the nice stripes.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Loopy Ewe colour. Great fun to knit!

Mid-November M and I went to northern Sweden and Norway with the company we both work with. I made myself new mittens before we went.

I made up the pattern, will post soon. They are knit top down from sock yarn held double. Nice and warm though not warm enough for -15 °C.

On the way North I made a hat from some of my handspun.

It turned out really well. I started it the night before we left and knit on the way to the airport, on the plane and finished it on the first short bus trip up north. It shocked some of my workmates that it was so quick to make :-)

The other travel projects were the Loopy socks above and my first Moebius scarf.

Fun to make and the perfect travelling project.

I don't think I have showed off my finished February Lady Sweater. Here it is:


Colour is most accurate in the first picture I think. I am very happy with it. The Malabrigo is so soft and the simple lace pattern becomes the slightly fuzzy yarn. I also made a matching hat!


Here are some pics of the blocked Adamas:


Adamas blocked out to be very large, but it has a nice drape and the Dream In Color Baby yarn is very nice.

This shawl/scarf is also very nice.

Unfortunately it is not mine anymore...


It was Moms birthday present and I really want one of my own. When I can justify buying the yarn for it. This was made from two balls of Noro Silk Garden Sock and I would like it larger... It is an absolutely gorgeous yarn for shawls but not very suitable for socks I think.

Socks... I made new socks for the big kids. Here are the ones for E:

... and the ones for H:

Oh, and I have started a simple shawl in Noro Kureyon sock.


I have one ball, we'll see how large the shawl gets, maybe it's just a scarf. I tried to make Ziggy's, working from both ends of the ball but the colours turned the same whatever I did so shawl it is!

Now I'm going to knit a bit before A wakes up! M's Cobble stone is still OTN, and I want to finish it (or at least up to the armpits) before I start a sweater (or three) for myself!

Sock bags

I've made sock bags for my Sockret Pal and me. I've seen bags like these around the net and if you can sew just a little it's not hard. My bags where first inspired by Trek and Beth and I was going to do the top like they did, because that's what I normally do. But when I had cut out all my pieces I found an excellent tutorial by Jessica with a very interesting and perfectly reversible drawstring top. So I used that one instead.

You need: Two fabrics, one for the outside and one for the lining. Cut two 12" (30 cm) squares of each. 1 yard (1 meter) cord/ribbon and one stopper.
Finished size: Bottom is 5,5" (14 cm) square, bag is 7,5" (19 cm) high.

Cut away a 3" (7,5 cm) square from the two bottom corners on all four pieces of fabric. Now put the two outside parts right sides together and sew the two side seams and the bottom seam. Do the same thing with the lining. I use a seam allowance of 1/4", because I'm a quilter, but anything goes, just be consistent. Maybe it's better to use a little wider seam allowance. Now the pieces should look like this:

Now press everything flat. Then, either press the seams open or press them to one side. If you press them to one side, check that the bottom seam and the side seam are pressed in different directions so that the seam allowances can be butted together when sewing the corner seams.

Pin and sew the corner seams. Press the seams flat and then press them open or to one side. Now both the outside and the lining should look something like this:

If you want to make a bag in another size just remember that the size of the cut-away corners are 1/4 of the width of the fabric piece for a square bottom.

I followed Jessica's tutorial for the top, so check that out. I made the first seam 1,25" from the top and the second one 0,75" from the top. Next time I will probably make the channel even smaller.

Here are my finished bags:



I found Zimmermania a while ago and have been checking it out since then. I have a couple of EZ's books and now I have finally started making something from them: a baby surprise jacket. Right now it looks rather weird:


but I think it's supposed to be folded like this:


and then it looks ok I think. I'm using yarn from an old project I ripped, I hope it's not too scratchy for the poor baby. Maybe I should wash it with hair balsam or something.

No knitting

No knitting today :-( Yesterday at work (I sit at the computer all day) I suddenly developed an intense pain in my right hand. It was allright last night, gone this morning, but returned as soon as I startd working. I'm afraid I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome or something. I actually quit a bit earlier than planned today and searched town for wrist supports. I didn't find anything fantastic, but I'm picking up the best one tomorrow. In the meantime: no knitting, and minimal computer time.

But I got a box from Amazon today: Barbara Walkers knitting treasuries, so my evening is OK anyway :-)

I finished H's Ladybug socks yesterday. They are definitely fraternal :-)

The size is for a 2 and a half year old (tomorrow!). There is definitely enough yarn left in the ball for a pair of socks for me too. I think I'll try to make them a bit more identical though.

I was good and organised my circular needles the other day. I used to keep all my knitting needles in a plastic bag, but no more! I got some small ziploc bags and put each size needle in its own bag with the size and lengths written on it. And a while ago I made a roll for the dpn:s, so now I'm very organised :-)



The roll is very easy to make. The outside is a fat quarter folded in two, sew around the edges (leave a hole) and turn. Topstitch around all edges. The pockets is one half of a fat quarter (more or less) also folded in two, sewn, and turned. Then sew the pocket to the outside and sew straight seams for the pockets, smaller at one end, larger at the other. Attach a ribbon at one end. Finished!