tirsdag, juli 29, 2008

Finally Surprised

First of all: thank you for all the nice comments lately! In early July I ordered a second hand Elizabeth Zimmerman book from Amazon - and a week later I could happily flicker through my very own copy of "Knitting workshop". The read was amusing - I actually ended up reading the book from cover to cover before casting on the Baby Surprise Jacket a few days later. This was a quick and fascinating knit that turned into a cute little jacket to fit a new born. The yarn is Fabel knit on 3 mm needles. The Heart Hat from the same book will soon be on the needles :o)

fredag, juli 25, 2008

Sweet Sweater

So here it is; The Sweet Sweater! The plan was to follow Louise Hardings pattern called Hannah, but her pattern ended just as an inspiration. The gauge would not match and seeming the sleeves nicely would be a challenge because of my far from flexible yarn. I wanted to keep the ribbing and the pretty scooped neckline BUT make a cropped raglan. It was quite nervwrecking to finish the neckline to see if my own design idea would really work - and i think it did :o) Quite happy with this one - and I brought it AND the final scraps of yarn with me on holiday. The sweater to wear, the scraps to make a baby ripple. Stay tuned ;o)

onsdag, juli 23, 2008

Noro number

I guess most of you have forgotten this slow project long ago... it started as a successful long distance yarn shopping performed by a football tourist in London. Then my first attempt at actually making something from the colourful Noro Silk Garden led to this half done bag. I decided I would make another raglan cardie for my self, and started experimenting with different yarns to combine with the Noro. At some point I finally decided on a mix of alpaca and Carisma (100% superwash wool) after flattering encouragement from Supernøtt. The pattern was altered a bit - the upper arms felt a bit tight in the brown one, and this green yarn is less flexible - but I ended up having trouble with the proportions when I did the raglan decrease. It is a bit bulky on the under arm/shoulder-part, but I can live with that. The (happy) end.

onsdag, juli 16, 2008

Guten Tag

I feel so honoured when I recieve an award - this time from Supernøtt. Thank you! :o) I finally decided on five of my numerous favourites to recieve it from me. These could easily have been five hundred. Blogland is my land! And it makes me happy :o) iHanna href="http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/">Anna Maria Horner Den gode feen Yarnstorm Hello my name is Heather

onsdag, juli 09, 2008

Cotton Candy Confusions & Confessions

This project has been providing equal parts og pleasure and pain so far... . The original idea was to make a sweater for my self, based on the "Hannah"-design by Louisa Harding (as shown above). I liked the shape, the neckline and the pretty "fake plait" ribbing, and the plan was simple: follow the pattern (except knitting in the round instead of back and forth) but make bold stripes instead of the Fair Isle. This way I could get use of my odd balls of cotton and viscose in a simple and almost mindless way. I thought I swatced and ended up with a perfect gauge according to the pattern and then knitted happily away. The yarns at hand made nice surfaces and interesting colour changes. I even spent some of my precious Debbie Bliss Pure Silk for the top of the waist ribbing. This was the pleasure part... Then, after trying the sweater on when I was almost ready for making the arm holes, I thougt the body looked a bit on the baggy side, but convinced myself it would fit properly as soon as I got it seamed up at the shoulders. I knitted on with a growing feeling of doubt. Half pleasure, half pain. Late one night I finished the neckband and finally tried the sweater on again. PAIN!!! Compare the original "Hannah" with my baggy, striped version, and you will know exactely what I mean. And it is a true mystery, as the gauge is still the same as the pattern asks for. Only one solution: Frog the *#§*¤ thing! More Pain!!! But I kept the ribbing, though... it is very flexible and snug because of the plait-construction. So here I go again: narrower stripes this time, and making the sweater a raglan (the seams of joined sleeves would not look neat done in this "hard" yarn lacking flexibility and bounce. I could see it after trying 5 or 6 different ways of seaming the shoulders. Also Pain!!!). I will keep the pretty neckline, though - mixing it with raglan sleeves will be an interesting challenge. Conclusion: this is not longer a Louisa Harding pattern. It is a totally modified pattern and so far it is yet again providing pleasure as I knit up to the joining of sleeves and almost finished the first cuff.

torsdag, juli 03, 2008

Girls Tank Top

This is a stashbuster! I have quite a lot of heavy cotton i n my stash but not a big love for it. But a tank top for a girl who is growing fast should be OK, as it doesn´t matter if the garments sags a bit. I still have at least 200 g left of the pink yarn - if I get bored through the summer I guess I can start mass producing of wash cloths... :o)