Friends Forever!

Spring is my favourite time of year - and cutting branches of unknown species, taking them in and waiting for them to bud and bloom is a joy! This time the result was a great surprise - wonderful little boquets of tiny acid yellowgreen flowers

I guess I will go on and on about me turning 40 on April 3rd all through 2009... because I continuously find good reasons and perfect excuses to celebrate a bit more ;o) Last Friday the festivity was in teh form of a great Girls Night Out at a coffee shop/tapas place. I had encouraged my friends to bring knitting/chrochet projects, and a few did - but I was the only one actually knitting that night. And, despite the wine, I didn´t have to rip a single stitch the next day! Not bad... I have recieved so many wonderful gifts from friends and family, and on my way home that night I had my bicycle basket packed with a big bunch of pink tulips (shown here), a red and black Pashmnina shawl, 4 delicious big bags of tea, a very pretty silver necklace with a silver lace heart containing pearls (I am wearing it in the photos of my last entry), an inspiring re-design book (shown below) and a very welcome gift voucher for my favourite LYS. Last, but absolutely not least; I was wearing my new, beautiful ring (also shown below). Thank you sooooo much every single one of you - for the great birthday gifts, of course, but just as much for the gift of your friendship

XXX

Green Sleeves aka Green Gracious

Here she is, at last - my Green Sleeves! I want to acknowledge Glampyre of Glampyre Knits for the original Back to Scool U-neck vest-pattern, which was my inspiration for this cardigan. Thank you - your Fitted Knits are great :o) My choice of yarn was a fingering weight alpaca, so I had to convert all the stitch numbers. I also chose a raglan decrease instead of joined sleeves, and my neckline is quite narrow compare to the original. I think my altered design has a hint of 1940 or something to it and I love the result! I go green! ;o) ...and thanks to Superman for the photos and for a wonderful weekend ;o)

Easter Resymé

The photos in this resymé were all taken this morning - indoors. The returning daylight is bliss - even though it is far from enough to get sharp shots without a camera stand. But the colours came out pretty true, so I´ll live with the blur :-))

This is how far I got on the second Zebra Jaywalker... I just could not figure out how to get started on the zig zag, even though I had a freshly printed copy of the pattern right in front of me. Sooner or later I WILL finish it though - the first one fits snuggly and nice but will look twice as good being part of a couple ;o) Of course I had taken precautions when packing for my Easter break - so I cast on and knitted a few inches on the baby blue retro cardie. During Easter I did a decent milage of cross country and spent an even more decent amount of time sitting in the snow whith the sun baking above -knitting away! Yesterday, on the last day of the Easter break, I finally pulled myself together and ripped the green cardie down to the joining of sleeves/body. The flappy necline/bust portion ruined an otherwise great design, so I had no choice, really. I successfully picked the stitches back up and will hopefully finish it before Friday as I plan to wear it Friday night. I also plan to have a few photos taken - I think the green one will deserve a bit of web-fame when it is done :o)

Nothing new, but something blue ;o)

There is a slow progress on my latest cardigan; the baby blue one. And the green one is still stand by. I am in lack of energy during the afternoons, despite the fact that the days are getting longer and lighter. Getting settled in my new job has dominated days and sometimes nights, but I am getting there. Going away for a few days during Easter might help me getting my knitting spirit back.

Naughty Knitter

The title of todays post is referring to the "promise" I made in my last post: I would rip and redo the green cardie before posting anything else. Well. I misbehaved! I finished this Noro Coucharon vest instead. Actually, I double-misbehaved, as I did not make this thingy into a long sleeved jacket as planned. To make a nice sleeve joint I would have to make the body smaller, or narrower. As it is now, the shoulders/arm holes hangs a few inches down my upper arm. At the knitting café last week, we decided I should have a go for a short sleeved jacket, using the last few yards of the Noro yarn to knit up stitches and add a couple of inches around the arm holes, forming little sleeves. This is the result - but I am not sure this garment will survive for long... the yarn is far too precious to end as a little used garment. I said "little used" on purpose, as I do plan to use it a bit to see if I like wearing it enough to justify NOT ripping it

Soooo fuzzzzy

Here we go again... the Noro Kocharon has been teamed up with Miski (100 % baby lama!) + some DK alpaca and will soon be adding to my growingly significant collection of cardigans! More details and photos later. To make the chronology right I will really have to get a grip and do the rip (irresistible rhyme there) of the Good Greens from last month, finish it (again) and post FO-photos of that one before I complete this one ;o)

Hat # 10 2008

This was the last hat of 2008, brought all the way to Australia for my darling to receive on xmas day. Not that he needed a wool hat to keep warm! (And yes, he also got a few bush hats as well - appropriate for the season!). The yarn is some vintage Rowan classic tweed. I think. Can´t remember what the tag said. It required 2,5 mm needles to give a good gauge. Every wash - or heavy snow fall - makes it softer and softer, so this has been a favourite since we got back home in January. Simple stripes are pimped up by the classic cabled rib.

PS - I am wearing my green cardigan today - and it is unfortunately failing the test because of some less than perfect construction on my part. So I guess there will be some rippin´ tonight! Stay tuned and have a great weekend :o)

Good Greens!

The georgious green alpaca (Inca) is turning into a nice cardigan - and it knits up quicker than I would have thought, with a slightly irregular stitch pattern and all. Needles 3 mm makes a very nice gauge - dense enough for not to wear anything under it and loose enough to give a very soft and light fabric. I will be back with a FO soon!

Hot stuff!

Some of the Nanuk alpaca from last post has come to use as birthday presents for R. I hope she will enjoy wearing these toasty little garments! The neck warmer can be worn in different ways using the buttons to create the shape of the collar. All the pieces are trimmed with a simple crochet border (Inca alpaca).

New beginnings!

January was such a good yarn month! I stumbled across a sale at a LYS, and I added looooouds of soft, yummy yarn to my stash! And as usual during winter; blurry photos due to lack of light. True colours before sharpness ;o) Like this very pale and very beautiful baby blue Inca alpaca... ...a single ball of petrol Nanuk alpaca, shown here with its perfect match... ...vibrant green Inca alpaca, turning unto a yet another raglan cardie. Stay tuned for progress reports! Hot pink Nanuk alpaca... ...different pink and grey shades of Inca and Nanuk alpaca... ...purple Nanuk alpaca and lilac Inca alpaca. The whole lot; 1,1 kg Inca Akpaca and 800 g of Nanuk alpaca. No idle hands during February!!!

The Serpent

First of all: thank you for all the nice comments on the Big Grey! It was fun to design, fairly quick to knit and it is a dream to wear, so I am very pleased :o)

There were leftovers from the Big Gey, and I had this desire for another nice ruffled scarf (inspired from a very beautiful one that Supernøtt gave me a couple of years ago). So I cast on a large number of stitches and increased and increased and increased and finally cast off all thousands and thousands of stitches using some black wool - and it turned out my scarf was more than two meter long... meaning it will end up as a strangeling tangle. So I sewed it together "back to back" and it ended up as a wearable and TOASTY ruffled serpent!

May I present: The Big Grey!

Here it is, my beloved Big Grey! It was finished during the first week of December and I practically moved into it as soon as the last end was woven in. So no it has more or less adapted to my body shape, as you can see in the pictures :o) The window backlight also describes the very light and airy quality of the garment - ah, it is wonderful! Pattern: my own, with simple and more complicated plaits/cables Yarn: 450 g Mohair Lux Needles: 5 mm circulars

Scarf for Princess

A few hours on the train & a new scarf for Princess is ready to wear! The yarn was bought in Rome

Happy New Year! At last...

I´ve been busy doing nothing for weeks ;0) We had a superb holiday down under! Thank you so much, M-family, for having us and for making our stay truly wonderful and unforgettable :0) The little vest is the first FO of 2009, and it was made for MM just before we left. The pattern was kind of created along the way, inspired by the traditional Norwegian patterns. I hope it will still fit when fall reaches you, M! The yarn is vintage Peer Gynt (100 % wool); leftovers from Mr. EMs knitting escapade during the 80s.