Ishbel the 4th

So here she is, my 4th Ishbel scarf/shawl - but without the pretty swallowtail edging. I didn´t manage to calculate exactely where to start the lace pattern to make sure the yarn would last for named edging, but I am quite happy with the result anyway. The yarn is Dreamline Soul from Du store alpakka;  featherlight tubeknit yarn. The colour is called 210 variegated aubergine and is made from 68 % baby alpaca and 32 % nylon. I originally bought this precious yarn with just a vague plan for knitting a hat, hoping it would be enough for a neckwarmer or something as well. My first project using this yarn was a baby blanket I knit last summer, and it turned out so very soft and delicate that I just had to make something for myself as well :o)

As usual my main focus for a hat is that it should keep my ears warm, and I often end up with a double hem.This time was no exception. I folded the very long hem and fastened it by knitting through one stitch picked up from the hemline and one original stitch on mu needles, before increasing for the looser part of the hat. 

The hem is tight fitting and the hat is quite small - but it would be easy to adjust the hat to a bigger size by casting on more stitches for the 2 x 2 rib (making sure it divides by 4) and then increasing extra stitces for the hat section (making sure it divides by 8). I knitted my hat in the round, starting with circulars and changing to dpns as the decrease demanded it.

Snug hat, size small:

Cast on 100 st on 2,5 mm needles

Knit 2 x 2 rib for 15 cm

Fold and knit hemline together with existing stitces on needle as describedabove and knit in the cast on end as you go - or leave hem to be sewn in when the hat is finished.

Increase to 152 st by *knit 2, increase 1*, repeating from * to *

Continue knitting this pattern until the hat is the same height as your head when you tryit on:

1. round: *knit 4, purl 4*, repeat from * to *

2. round: knitt all stitches

Decrease like this:

1. round: *knit 1, knit 2tog, knit 1, purl 4*, repeat from * to *
2. round: knit all

3. round: *knit 3, purl 1 purl 2tog, purl one*, repeat from * to *

4. round: knit all

Repeat these rounds until a 1 x 1 rib is established (76 st)

Then knit one round of only knit 2tog (38 st)

Next round: knit all

Next round: knit 2tog (19 st)

Pull the thread double through the remaining stitches and fasten thread securely on reverse side and you are good to go!

Wearable stuff! Never mind the quirky expression and random background - I guess both are familiar to most bloggers trying to pose and shoot at the same time ;o)

New beginnings - springtime, I salute you!

Well, of course spring isn´t really here; it´s just me longing and yearning for it. Actually, if spring was here right now it would be a bad sign of nature going nuts - usually the first true signs - like blooming Coltfoots peeping through the melting snow - will appear some time during March. Sometimes during April. Today it´s snowing and the landscape around me is soft and white, and still I get this wonderful feeling of springtime coming closer. It is something about the quality of the light, and of course the increasing length of the day. Today sunset will be at 16:50. On January 1st the sun set at 15:13. So, there!

These are odd balls and scraps from my stash; all fingering weight alpaca, but different brands. I have been waiting to start this project for a while and now I can finally feel my good, old knitting mojo again, so here I go!

This will be a cardigan for myself, based on this Drops pattern.

I´ll go for the long sleeved version, and as usual I have already altered the pattern a bit by elongating the 2 x 2 rib hems on the body as well as the sleeves. Because of my unproprtional amount of different colours, I will start the multi coloured pattern right after the rib rather than bying new balls of yarn to make the quite large portion of "louse" pattern.

I think my random colours will make a vivid and fun cardie, perfect to wear facing the spring days to come :o)

All dressed up and nowhere to go...?

This is a skirt I made during Christmas break - just in time for a 3 days New Years celebration arranged by some dear friends. The celebration involved cross country skiing (for some) and frisk walks in the beautiful snow-clad mountain landscape (for me), but also a cozy and relaxed New Years eve - and tons of good food and good fun! Even though we stayed in a traditional lodge in the mountains I thought a bit of glittery gold was apropriate for the last night of 2012.

The pattern is based on my favourite long skirt - I arranged the original skirt as flat as I could on a table and outlined one of the spirally panels on a sheet of pattern paper as best as I could. The fabric was a bargain at a 50 % closing down discount. The skirt is very wearable, and styled with a cool or casual top and a leather jacket it can be worn for work as well.

...while I am at it...

My following posts will be old news to me, but real news to the blog. Like this baby blanket that was finished some time during the summer of 2012. It measures 90 x 90 cm and the yarn is Baby merino from Drops. I used a 4 mm crochet hook, and the blanked turned out soft but sturdy. I hope the little recipient enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it :o) The joining method for the granny squares is described here



It has been a cold winter

...and it´s not over yet! Another hat and neckwarmer was finished some time during November as far as I can recall. The Norwegian winter can be quite cold, at least for some weeks at the time. These brown goodies came to use as the temperature reached - 28 before Christmas...

Again my own very simple pattern made up as I went. I used:

5 balls of Puno alpaca from Rauma (a bit more than 2 balls for the hat because of the very long rib)

Needles: 7 mm circulars

Hat knitted back and forth:

Cast on 56 st and knit a 12 cm 2 x 2 rib

From the reverseside; knit one row

Knit another row while increasing to 108 stitches

Knit another row

Knit blackberry stitches (click for tutorial) for 12 cm

Decrease: place a stitch marker every 15 st.

1st row: *knit 13 st, knit 2 tog*

2nd row: knit all st

Repeat 1st and 2nd row until 7 st left on needle. Pull the yarn through the remaining sts and saw the hats edges together using a blunt needle.



Neckwarmer knitted back and forth:

Cast om 132 st and knit blackberry stitches (klick for tutorial) for as long as the yarn allows. Make sure you save a few yards for the binding off. Bind off.

First FOs 2013

Who would have thought it should be more than a year between my previous post and this one? I most certainly did not intend to make a blogbreak at all, when posting the patterned paper eyecandy post on january 27th 2012... The latest few weeks I have been discussing with myself: Am I ready to start bloggingg on a more regular and frequent basis again? I guess this post is my tentative answer :o

The first FOs of 2013 was this calorimetry and neckwarmer - and eventually wristwarmers. The yarn is Mirasol handpainted, a 100 % alpaca quality from du store alpakka.

I found a pretty and colour-matching button in my stash - praise to the generations of thrifty women! Free Calorimetry pattern here

My own pattern for the necwarmer is very simple:

2 balls of Mirasol
Cast on 112 st on 3,5 mm circular needle
Knit a 2 x 2 rib for about 4 cm
Knit double moss stitch the next 25 cm
Knit a 2 x 2 rib for about 4 cm
Bind off. Voila!

My own pattern for the wristwarmers is equally simple and would be easily adapted for a bigger amount of yarn (= longer armwarmers). I just divided my remaining yarn into two balls and made the wristwarmers as long as the yarn allowed. As you can see, I left a button hole when seaming up the wristwarmers. Again, I found a couple of matching vintage buttons in my stash and fastened them securely on the inside of the wristwarmers, allowing just enough space for the thumb.

Eyecandy - more pretty patterned paper

These sheets of paper make me so happy! The cool, fun, pretty, elegant, colourful pattered paper at Papirgalleriet needs no further comments.

Pretty patterned paper

I have no idea why, but it has been impossible to upload photos around here. I´ve been trying for more than a week, and it still did not work. VERY annoying. My not-so-frequent posting is bad enough - rare posting with no photos is useless. So this is such a happy day - Blogger is back in photo-business! Here we go with some pretty paper goodies from Papirgalleriet in Oslo. If the photo uploading still works, there will be more patterns soon :o)

Tower of power

I want POWER!!! Well, what I mean is that I really need energy to empower myself to make the most and the best out of this (still) new and fresh year. So why not indulge in these colourful vitamine bombs+ This is truly my tower of power :oD

A good and fine start

This is the start of my Rowan Fine Tweed project. It will be a sweater for me, based on a pattern ("Halla") by Marie Wallin
-only, I will totally change it ;0) It was the colours of the original sweater that caught my attention, so I just wanted to buy the patternbook and the yarn and get started. When it turned out the store did not have the sufficient amount of 4 of the 5 colours in stock I was actually not annoyed. It was more of an excuse to start some serious wool squeezing and creative colour juggling. I think I emptied all the Fine Tweed shelves six times before I finally - all sweaty and rosecheeked - managed to settle for the 16 x 25 g that came back home with me. My main alterations to the actual construction will be to knit in the round, and to make a ragland instead of inserted sleeves.

As for the photo; it is taken by using the toy camera effect which turned out to reproduce the colours of the wool quite accurately.

Goodbye 2011, welcome 2012!

Finally a quick report from the land of big dreams, free wishes and high hopes! It has been more than a week since New Year and everyday life is really kicking in over here. That´s OK though - it will just take some adjusting of the habits and schedules that were established with no resistance during the holidays... I have only just started experimenting with my new camera - so far the results first and foremost illustrates my lack of consentration and stamina. I am too eager to get photos for the blog to be fumbling with the camera, reading the very detailed (and probably excellent) manual etc... So here we go - the final remnants of Christmas literally wiped out leaving me ready to dive into the new year with all its possibilities and adventures waiting :o)

2011 cavalcade

JANUARY was the colourful start of 2011 - these are the sleeves of a cardie for Princess that was finished in March

FEBRUARY was freezing and this Arwetta Classic hat Arwetta Classic Hat was often worn


MARCH came with signs of spring and the story of The Magic dress the story of The Magic Dress


APRIL brought the longed for light back and provided enough guts to finish The Domino Baby Blanket


MAY made my fingers itch to get started on some new crochet project and I was unflinching when passing the local yarn shops. Digging deep in my stash and scraps I came up with this Fancy Granny which is by the way still not finished...


JUNE was a good month for self exposing as I participated in an art exhibition with my jewellery

JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER came and went with no blogging energy, but a few glimpses from this period can bee seen here


NOVEMBER was the turning point for the nearly dead FiberFeber blog


DECEMBER was a wonderful month with plenty of memorable moments and blog posts. What will 2012 bring? I wish the best for all of you and also for me: Peace of mind, good health, courage, love and friendship.