New blog

I have started a new blog: Hillevi Handmade. Please check it out! For a new start maybe, and for publishing my patterns. I have designed patterns for the classes I teach and I'm putting them up for sale on Ravelry. One pattern is already up, Klara, the classic sock (in Swedish only at this time) more are on their way.

Blogging again

I am missing the blog, so here goes!

On the needles
I have no intentions of reeling off everything I have knit since my last post in February... As usual I have about a million WIPs on Ravelry (see sidebar!) but I'm just working on a few at the time.

First out is my Casual Cardigan in Zauberball Stärke 6, the colour is called Pause in Blau. It is a light sportweight and I'm using a 3.5 mm needle for the main parts and 3 mm for the garter stitch edgings.



I originally started this cardigan about a year ago, trying to do a one piece top-down set-in sleeve but it didn't work out too well. I miscalculated the ease and it ended up much tighter than I wanted it. So I ripped it all out and started over as a simple top-down raglan with plenty of ease, following the recipe in the back of Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. Lots of nice patterns and great instructions in this book, highly recommended! She has a new book out now, Custom Knits 2, and I'm tempted...
I am striping two rows from one ball and two rows from another to break up the colours a bit. This time I love the result! A light-weight simple no fuss wool cardi to wear with jeans. The body is all done, and I'm halfway down the first sleeve.

I have started a pullover for my eldest son using the same instructions. He wanted random stripes in blue and green, so that's what he's getting. The yarn is Kampes 3-ply, a worsted weight, bought at Kampes factory shop last summer. 4 mm needle.



I got yarn for the other kids at the same time, so I will knit sweaters for them too after this one is done. I have two similar colours for my youngest son, I figured he would probably want something like his brother's, and a red for my daughter. She will want something girly I expect, I'm thinking lace vertical lace stripes.

I'm also working on a Catkin shawl. The pattern caught my eye immediately when it came out on Ravelry but I resisted for the longest time. Until I saw Wendy on Knit 1 Heart Too knit it. Then I just had to buy the pattern and cast on! I'm using some very old stash yarn, doubled up Jaggerspun Zephyr in steel grey and denim blue. 50-50 wool silk, it's absolutely gorgeous!



The patterns says not to use drapey yarns, so I'm trying to knit it firmly on 3.5 mm needles, because I couldn't find my 3.25 mm. Love it so far. I'm a few rows into chart 1, second try. My first try at the chart didn't work at all, My knits and purl were very off, no chevrons anywhere... No I checked and double checked the first two rows and after that you can start to see the pattern and the slipped stitches so it's much easier.

Finally I have a very long-term project, I started a Beekeeper's quilt. Except I'm not stuffing my hexagons. I am so glad I found this pattern, it is an excellent project for all my sock yarn leftovers, of which I have many!



I did start a leftover pi-shawl some years ago, but I'm not really liking it, this blanket is much better and more useful. I may rip out the shawl to use the yarn for this blanket instead. I want to make a lap blanket for my knitting corner couch, to drape over it for some colour and to snuggle up in when it's chilly. I have about 15 hexies right now, I have no idea how many hundred I'll need for a blanket. Long term!

Off the needles
I joined the Knitspot Fall in Full Color Club that runs from August to January, and I finished the first project yesterday, it just needs blocking. The August project, Long Shadows, is a lace scarf or stole in a beautiful and soft merino/silk/cashmere yarn, Nona from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. I have knit the scarf version, it just needs blocking.



The scarf is knit in two halves and grafted in the middle. That was... interesting. I have never grafted lace before, and there where also garter stitch lace edges and purl stitches to get to look nice. I think it came out well, we'll see after blocking.

I just love Anne Hanson's patterns and she always chooses amazing yarns, I just couldn't resist to join her first club even though it was rather expensive, especially with the double yarn option... The September yarn and pattern arrived last week. I'm not 100% thrilled with either so I'm not casting on right now. The yarn base is another lovely merino/cashmere/silk blend but I'm not crazy about the greenish yellow colourway. The pattern is nice but I have a load of other shawl on the needles already.

Soon to be on the needles
As I mentioned I'm going to knit sweaters for the other kids. I have also Great Plans for sweaters for me! I have been hoarding sweater yarns for a while now... First out after my Casual Cardi is done is Baby Cables and Big One Too. I have some very nice Amy Butler Belle Organic DK in a red/purple for it. After that I want to knit up some Malabrigo Twist I got this summer, maybe Acer? And when I saw the cover sweater on Interweave Knits Weekend 2011 I simply had to have it! The Spoked Cardigan is knit sideways in Noro Kureyon, and I love it. My LYS has Noro, I have to go check colours.

And of course, now that autumn is here I feel the urge to knit hats and mittens and cowls and ...

Various and sundry
Tomorrow is Uppstickaren, a knitting and yarn event here in Helsingborg. Very exciting and fun that something like that is happening here in my town. My LYS Tant Thea is one of the minds behind it. Now, what knits should I wear...?

Finished?

Yesterday I finished my Hermione socks. Happy as a clam I bound off and fastened the ends on both socks and held them up to admire them. Hang on, isn't the second one awfully short...? Yes... for some unfathomable reason I had started the ribbing on the second sock a full inch before I did on the first one. Ack! I know that I checked my notes to see how long I made the first one (6") but for some reason the number 5 got stuck in my head. So today I ripped out the BO and 2 inches of ribbing and began to lengthen the leg.

On a happier note I managed to block my Calais shawl today, so that's one WIP down.

I have 15 WIPs now, and 19 Hibernating (but I'm going to frog a couple of those for sure). I'm trying very hard to finish more projects than I start but somedays it is really hard.

I remembered to photograph the shawl and wristwarmers that I had forgotten. Here they are:

Scrunched up entrelac shawl

 

Entrelac shawl nice and tidy

Neat upper edge

Twined wristwarmers

Is this still on...?

Hello? Anyone there? Oh well...

I'm happy to report that I am finishing things! I had a period before my winter vacation when I felt like I never finished anything and started project after project after project. I only knit on two projects during my five vacation weeks and got used to that (who knew, dedicated knitting on a single project will see it finished rather quickly) Now I feel really disciplined (most days) and try to work on just a few projects to actually finish them. So far it's been going well. I've finished two pairs of wristwarmers and two shawls since coming home mid-January. OK, so one shawl just needed blocking and one set of wristwarmers just had a million ends to weave in plus a severe need of blocking to make them the same size :-o

Entrelac wristwarmers

Cheques shawl/scarf

(I just realised that I have forgotten to take finished pictures of the two other projects, bad me!)

I have also been knitting along on Dad's sweater, which I'm rather bored with now. It's a top down raglan, the body is all done and I'm almost done with the first sleeve. So not too much left there, I just need to get going and Do It. I probably won't be finished with it when he comes back from his (much longer than ours) vacation in two weeks time though.

Speaking of sweaters, I have decided that I personally need more pullovers and cardigans. Consequently I have cast on four new shawls (shut up! one is a class sample and it's already finished except for blocking, so there) My Mothed is coming along fine though. I have just started the bottom edging. I decided that I don't want a rolled edge at the bottom so I'm doing the neck edge there too as I love the look of the neck. Then it's on to the sleeves!

Mothed

While I didn't find a single open yarnstore in Australia I still managed to come home with yarn for at least three sweaters. I cheated and ordered from Bendigo Woollen Mills... I have bought yarn from them before, and knit two sweaters from it. Now I got their Classic 8-ply in a dark grey for a cabled pullover I think, possible of Alice Starmore persuasion (have you seen her Aran book?! I love it!), the Classic 5-ply in a deep red and in a silver grey. The red will probably become a Leaving cardigan, I have no definite plans for the silver grey. Of course I still plan to knit something hysterical and stranded with my Rainbow Kauni yarn. So I have all the resources I need for knitting sweaters!

Red yarn

I love to knit while listening to podcasts or watching videos. My favorite podcasts right now are Electric Sheep and The Knitmore Girls. I listen to others but these are the best I think. I also watch a couple of vidoe podcasts that I really recommend: Round The Twist and The Knitgrllls. All can be found on iTunes. I happened to buy myself an iPad for Christmas while we where away (better prices in Australia that at home) so when the kids are in bed at night and DH watch boring TV shows I curl up in my studio and watch knitting stuff on my iPad and knit away. Or I watch my favorite episodes of Firefly! The iPad is really neat, I put my pattern pdf's there so I don't have to print them and I use GoodReader to mark where I am in the pattern and on charts and stuff. Really great! There are also a couple of knitting magazines available for download on Zinio and the iPad works really well for reading them.

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!

Update of sorts

The last eight months or so has been stressful. First my mother's cancer got worse very very fast. She died late March, 61 years (not) old. My sister got home from Australia just hours before Mum slid into unconsiousness and she passed away two days later. Then there were grief and funeral planning and funeral and all the administration needed. Plus all the usual work and kids and activities.

Then we stumbled upon a new house. A very nice new house, larger that our old one, with rooms for everyone (including a third floor studio space for me!) and a rather smaller garden. We had originally planned to extend our old house with an extra bedroom and office but after much agonising we decided to move instead. So the summer was filled with putting our old house on the market (which includes a lot of cleaning and removing of clutter and stuff), showing it to prospective buyers and finally selling it. Hiring a contractor to finish the two rooms plus storage that wasn't finished in teh new house. And planning for the move. The actual move took place mid-September, about five weeks ago. We finalised the sale of the old house two weeks ago. It feels So Good to be done with it! Now we can concentrate our efforts on the new house.

My father has been a tremendous help through all this. I think it has been a help for him to have things to do, he's mostly retired, and suddenly a widower with too much free time. Picking up the kids at daycare and school and activities when DH and I didn't have time. Fixing and mending stuff in the old house. Transporting loads of crap to recycling. Housing a room full of boxes that we suddenly didn't have room for. Being handyman in the new house, fixing this and that, installing things and building things. He's still at it, because of course we are not done. I don't know what we'll do when he takes of for almost three months in Australia on 1 December! He won't get much of a vacation though, my sister has a long list of what she'd like him to help with down there...

Stress has taken its toll though. I have been ill twice this autumn already, and I'm never ill usually. Now I've had tonsillitis requiring anitbiotics a few weeks ago, and now DH and E and me have all been down with some sort of flu. I'm at home today too with a sore throat and general tiredness. Bleh. The younger kids have been ok though.

There has been knitting through it all! My sanity saver, really. Mostly smaller things, socks, fingerless mittens, a few simple shawls. I have finished my Must-Have cardigan and I love it. It was a bit on the tight side when done, but it has grown slightly with wearing and I'm so happy with it. The only negative thing with it is that I have a tendency to be cold at the upper chest, so a v-neck isn't the best option for me. But I can always put on a backwards shawl! I haven't had time for much picture taking either, so I have no nice pics of anything lately. Must make DH work a bit for his socks (that I also finished :-)

Right now I'm working on Through The Loop's Socktober mystery sock. The last clue (the toe) is due on Thursday, I may be on track then. right now the foot is done on sock number one and the gusset decreases are just started on sock number two. It has been a very enjoyable mystery pattern, varied and nice looking too.
There is also a Baby Surprise Jacket for SIL who is expecting her first baby in March. I'm using one strand of Drops Fabel sock yarn in green, blue, orange, yellow and one strand of Drops Alpaca in a light green. That will be gender neutral enough I think. I will probably make matching Djevellue if I have enough yarn, I think I do.
I had to start the learning sock from Cat Bordhi's new book Personal Footprints. I must say that I'm a bit dubiuos about this method, It looks very complicated to me, and a new learning sock is needed for each gauge. Hmm. I absolutely love her previous sock book though so I'm giving it a try.
There are also a few simple bus projects, a sock and a sock yarn hat.

I have missed blogging, sometimes I write posts in my head but there has been simply no time. I have very few knitting friends (and I have managed to be ill for the last two kntting groups as well) so blogging is a way to "talk" about knitting. I try to keep my projects up to date on Ravelry though, so take a look there if you like.

Because blog posts are more fun with pictures, here are our tiny bare garden with our newly planted fruit trees (apple in the front, pear at back left, cherry at back right):

And my (very messy and only halfway unpacked) studio:

Domino Sunset Shawl

I've finally managed to write up the pattern for my domino knit shawl. Enjoy! I'm very fond of my shawl, it's big and cosy to wrap up in on a chilly evening. (ED: I forgot to credit Sabine for the idea. I saw her shawl on Ravelry and was inspired to make my own version. She also gave some hints on how to get started. Thanks Sabine!)
Please contact me if you find any errors or oddities! Or if you need help. I've done my best to write this up as clearly as I can, but you never know.


The shawl is started at the tip and worked row by row from right to left. You can make it with any size squares. Just cast on an odd number of stitches. Swatch and play with different sized squares to see what suits your yarn. Do you want solid squares or striped? Big or small?

The nice thing about working from the tip is that you can check the size as you go and stop when the shawl is just the right size. I blocked my shawl very lightly so it hardly grew at all. If you don't like my special neck, just fill in the space with another triangle.

Try to weave in the ends as you go, either when knitting one of the first rows of a new square or with a needle after knitting a few squares.

Yarn: Kauni Effekt EU (yellow-orange-red) or another yarn with loooong colour shifts. I used 1570 m (1720 yards), you'll need more if you want a wider and/or rufflier edge than mine.
Needles: 3 mm (or size to get a fabric you like) circular needle
Gauge: 24 stitches/10 cm (4”) The sides of my squares are about 18 cm (7”) long.
Size: about 188 cm (74”) across the top edge and 94 cm (37”) down the back, including the 5 cm (2”) wide ruffle.

Square 1 (tip)
KCO 81 sts.
Row 1: Knit until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Row 2: Sl 1 kwise, k 38 (until 1 stitch from middle stitch), sl 1 kwise, k2tog, psso, k38, p1.
Row 3 (and all odd rows): Sl 1 kwise, k until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Row 4 (and all even rows): Sl 1 kwise, k until 1 stitch from middle stitch, sl 1 kwise, k2tog, psso,k until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Work until you are about to start a right side row and you have only three stitches on the needle: sl 1 kwise, k2tog, psso. Pull the stitch a little larger, cut yarn and pass the end through the stitch. Do not pull tight. This is the ”waiting stitch”, you will use it later.

Square 2 (right edge)
Right edge square: KCO 40 sts, PU 41 sts from the left edge of square 1, leave the waiting stitch from square 1 alone. 81 sts.
Row 1: Sl 1 kwise, knit until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Proceed from row 2 on square 1.


Square 3 (left edge)
PU the waiting stitch from square 1, plus 40 along the right edge of square 1, KCO 40 stitches. 81 sts. Row 1: Knit until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Proceed from row 2 on square 1.

Square 4 (right edge)
As square 2

Square 5 (inside)
PU the waiting stitch from square 2, plus 39 stitches along the left edge of square 2, 1 stitch in the middle of the V between squares 2 and 3 and 40 sts along the right edge of square 3, leave the waiting stitch from square 3 alone. 81 sts.
Row 1: Sl 1 kwise, knit until 1 stitch remains, p1.
Proceed from row 2 on square 1.


Square 6 (left edge)
As square 3


Keep working like this, adding rows of squares until you have 6 rows of squares or the shawl is the size you want it to be.


Top edge Triangles
Knit the triangles just like the squares but add a decrease at the beginning of every row by working an ssk instead of the sl 1. When 4 sts remain: ssk, k2tog, slip first st over the second, cut the yarn and pull out the end.
Leave out the middle triangle for slimmer fit around the neck.


Top border
PU stitches all along the top edge, one stitch in each ssk, from the right side. The exact amount is not important, I didn't count mine, but don't pick up too many, the finished edge should be nice and flat.
Round 1: Sl 1 kwise, knit to end, p 1.
Round 2: Sl 1 kwise, kfb, k to neck edge, kfb, kfb, k to neck center, sl 1 kwise, k2tog, psso, k to neck edge, kfb, kfb, k to end, p1.
Repeat round 1 and 2 for a total of 3 garter ridges. BO loosely. Do not break yarn but go directly to the side border (2 ends less to weave in!)


Side borders
PU stitches along both side edges, including the top border, one stitch for each CO stitch, from the right side. Use a very long circ if available. I used two shorter circs, one for each side. The exact amount of stitches is not important, I didn't count mine (I didn't want to know)
Row 1: Sl 1 kwise, knit to end, p1.
Row 2: Sl 1 kwise, *kfb, k1* to end, p1. I did an extra kfb at the center stitch, but it doesn't really matter. This makes a moderately ruffly edge. If you want a very ruffly edge kfb in ever stitch instead, but you will need lots more yarn.
Row 3: Sl 1 kwise, knit to end, p 1.
Row 4: Sl 1 kwise, kfb, knit to center, kfb, kfb, knit to end, p1.
Repeat row 3 and 4 until it looks right. I did 11 ridges (because I didn't have more yarn) but I think 20 ridges (half the width of a square) would look nice. BO loosely.


Finishing
Weave in all ends and block lightly. I gave my shawl a bath, squeezed out the water and smoothed it out on towels to dry with just a few pins at the top edge.


Abbreviations
KCO: Knitted cast-on. Use it! It makes a good edge for picking up stitches.
sl 1 kwise: Slip 1 stitch knitwise
sl 1 kwise, k2tog, psso: Slip 1 stitch knitwise, knit 2 stitches together, pass the slipped stitch over the new stitch. 2 stitches decreased.


Copyright Malin Nilsson 2009. You may not sell this pattern or any products made from it.