26 days later...

The days just blew by, and here I am all busy and springstruck (is that a word...? It is supposed to express the feeling of being equally happy for spring finally arriving AND tired to the bone so that actually enjoying spring is quite a challenge). The photo was taken lying in the hammock last summer and is just a pause-photo awaiting blogposts to come... soon!

Come shine on my Regal Pelargonim x Domesticum!

Today is a rather gray, cold and windy day - but the latest few days have been warm and sunny with promise of spring. I savour the light both indoors and out - but I will keep my Regal from the deceitful elements for a few more weeks.

Pretty spring hues in front of my precious "1971"-drawing by artist and very dear friend Anne Tove Mygland

Still growing

Just a quick update on the latest ripple; it is still growing! My scraps lasted a lot longer than expected so this project will end as a decent sized blanket. Above: update shot with part of matching dog behind chair. Below: update shot with posing matching dog...

Smell the roses AGAIN - or faith and perseverance

Triumph of the roses! I was happy to have caught "on camera" what I assumed was the last day of beauty and glory of my birthday bouquet as posted here. Now I can see that I need to have stronger faith, and trust that I am not the only perseverent specimen around here ;o) This photo was taken yesterday, 16 days after I recieved the roses. OK, they are not longer as perky and well defined in shape, but yet so delicate, beautiful and graceful in their maturity. I value all stages of a flowers life; from dry seed to sprout to bud to blossom to the decay stages.  My sense of easthethic adds of course an important and rewarding dimension to hov I percieve and interpret this process.

May I develop an equally humble, respectful, embracing and valuating attitude towards my own life process and phases - the physical, emotional and spiritual - as I claim to have towards the true blooming specimen!

Springtime Comfort Collection

NEKCWARMER FREE PATTERN
MATCY MATCHY HAT FREE PATTERN
ARMWARMERS FREE PATTERN


PS - You can make free photo collages here

Still a chill - O springtime where art thou?

First of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear sister! Maybe you are not surfing the blogworld today to read this, but still...

Then: The armwarmers are excellent for keeping my wrists and lower arms warm and as bad/good luck would have it that is exactely what I need these days. Bad luck referring to my hope and expectations for the arrival of springtime and rising temperatures, with no need for sturdy accessories like these. Good luck referring to a real chance to show off and use my latest creations as soon as I got them off the needles. My Matchy Matchy hat, neckwarmer and armwarmers are not out of season after all - it is just the season it self being out of season... Scroll down for armwarmer pattern if you need some compensation for the lack of warm weather too ;o)

ARMWARMERS

Yarn: Sulka, Du store alpakka (CA 45 g Petrol S209 and ca45 g Seagreen S236)

Needles: 8 mm 60 cm circulars and 5 mm 40 or 60 cm circulars

The armwarmers are knit back and forth on circulars - you can of course use dpns in stead.The pattern allows you to easily change it to preferred size - just keep knitting the stripe pattern until you got the desired length (which of course requires more yarn than stated here).

Cast on 78 st on 8 mm needles. Change to 5 mm needles and knit 7 rows of 2 x 2 rib.

Change to 8 mm needles as you also change colour. * Knit 1 row, purl one row, then change colour again, knit 1 row, purl 1 row*. Repeat this stripe pattern 10 times (ending with the first rib colour).
Change colour, knit ONE row and change to 5 mm needles.

Knit 4 rows of 2 x 2 rib
Cast off very loosely using 8 mm needles. Weave in loose ends and then join edges together by Invisible Weaving, also called Mattress stitch, Backstitch, Overcast stitch like this:

Then, of course, make another identical armwarmer and enjoy the soft, arm- and heartwarming feling :o)

I DID rotate these photoes before uploading them, but Blogger keep jinxing them so I can´t be bothered to try again. The reason I am posting the above and below photo (and the one further down) is to illustrate how neat and almost invisible the seam appears - I love it! Above: Armwarmer knitware without seam. Below: Armwarmer knitware with (almost) invisible seam

...as you can see below, this is as good as it gets when it comes to seaming up bulky, striped knitware. To the leftt: Armwarmer without seam. To the right: Armwarmer with (almost) invisible seam

Smell the roses!

...mmm...the strong, but delicate structure of this rose...the strong, but delicate colours of this rose...the not so strong but very delicate smell of this rose! The last rose standing! (From the impressive bouquet I recieved on my birthday last week)