Quite winter

Soooo.... I never really returned after being knocked to the ground by sickness. But so much happened. I've handed in my thesis and after working on it forever that's a pretty huge thing. Then I packed my bags, got on a plane (and another and another and...) and flew to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Mr Bigfoot, and I've been here for a week now doing absolutely nothing - not even knitting.

Tomorrow we are heading for New York for New Years and I've been promised yarn shops and endless afternoons drinking tea and hot chocolate while knitting.  I'll manage...

I did knit on the planes, though - a simple, garter scarf in black sock yarn. It was almost 3 meters long when I fell asleep in Detroit. I'll bring it tomorrow on the bus and hopefully soon have more to keep me warm in New York's winter wonder land.

Knocked out

I'm knocked out and in bed with the flu. Christmas calender post will return when I'm able to get out of bed again. Soon, hopefully...

Unfinished business

As promised today will start my week of WIPs. I am a bit ashamed of how many things I've got going right now, but I blame it on the thesis and living in a suitcase. My dear friend, who worries to much about things, has made a deal with herself - you can only have one real big worry at any time. You have to chose and leave the rest behind, otherwise it will weigh you down. So, I won't worry about all these projects - I'll be happy when they are done and I have an almost new wardrobe.

I like knitting socks, but I like some socks more than others. Right now I have three pairs on the needles.

The purples are my SKA November Mystery - the pattern is Twisted Mockery by Lisa Stichweh. This is another pair of mystery socks that I really like and will definitely finish, but they had to give way for Christmas knitting. I hope to bring them on the plane going to the states later this month.

The middle sock is a lonely single of a pair of Kai-Meis by Cookie A. They are for my worrying friend and I had hoped to finish them for Christmas, but that's just not going to happen. I love the pattern as much as any Cookie A pattern, but I hate the yarn. It too bad I have chosen crap yarn every time I make this pattern. I have another pair for my friend and these will become a Spring surprise for her instead.

The grey sock was meant to be a pair of Chains for my Grandad. They are also not going to be ready for Christmas - I liked the look of the leg, but the heel/foot part is just not right. I have knitted on after this photo was taken, ripped, knit again and now I'm unsure if these will end up being frogged all together.

I do actually have another pair on the needles. But these have been in a bag on the bottom of my huge knitting basket for way over a year now, so I had completely forgotten about them.

 

The Snicket Socks by Sabine Riefler were in my queue way before I was knitting socks with patterns. And the yarn was bought with the pattern in mind. But my own pair of Snickets are sadly still not finished. I don't know what happened, I just kept making mistakes all the time and fighting my way through. And then I lost interest in knitting them, but not enough to frog completely, 'cause I still really want a pair for me. This will have to become a goal for 2011 to be sure I can wear Snickets someday.

Socktober mysteries

October is Socktober month even if I didn't do much sock wise this year. I did finish a few Christmas presents, though, and then I participated in Kirsten Kapur's Mystery Sock KAL just like last year.

I had an idea of these becoming a Christmas present for a girl who would love just this green and since the socks were knit top down, I gave it a few weeks before deciding which size I would make. I didn't care much for the pattern after having completed the first two clues and was close to ripping, but at the same time I really wanted a pair at least as a present.

When I had reached the point of decision about size and when to start the toe, I tried them on and found that I really liked the socks. Really really liked them. Though they were already a bit big for me I hastily knit the toe and the same night I had a new pair of socks. They almost felt like a present since I only used an hour knitting them for myself - the rest of the time was present knitting time, so it doesn't count.

Luck would that after a trip to the washer, they shrunk a bit and now they are perfect for me. Yay, for small feet. And don't feel sorry for the intended recipient either - I have already made her something else for Christmas.

This completes my week of FOs for myself - tomorrow I'll start a week of WIPs and then we're all set for them presents.

Pretty stockings

A Friday afternoon I accidently found myself inside one of my favourite yarn shops on the way to the train and a long weekend at my parents place. I swear I didn't even know they had a great sale on. At least, I swear I only bought 4 skeins of sock yarn - I couldn't help it, it's some of my favourite sock yarn and it was such a good offer.

I wanted something pretty and dressy, but yet wearable, so I found my Nancy Bush books and began drooling. (That's something which seems to happen more or less every time I find these books - I really want to make every pair she has made.) I especially like my Knitting Vintage Socks and chose the pattern for the Evening Stockings for a Young Lady.

The first stocking was easily completed during the weekend, the second was left in a bag for a while because I had made mistake at the heel and couldn't be bothered to unpick it. I brought it with me for a day sailing and not having anything else to knit on made me finish it in record time. The finished pair are soft and pretty and just what I wanted.

By the way - a way to really start drooling over the stockings from Knitting Vintage Patterns is to have a look at mustaavillaa's Ravelry page. She's knitting a pair of every pattern in the book and they are all gorgeous. She has a sense of colour and photography which I find stunning.

Eco friendly shopping

I have made a lot of shopper bags in my crafting years. I have knit some, crocheted some, sewn some, recycled other things into some, embellished many and I just like the idea of not buying more plastic the I absolutely have to. And what crafter doesn't love the idea of making their own?

My shopper bags do have a tendency to disappear, though. Many because I give them away to my dear ones when they compliment them. And more because they move into permanent use for something in my home. Most of these end up holding some crafty project and today's finished bag has suffered the same destiny.

The yellow/white (See, yellow again) knitted shopper went to the farmers market with me a few times, but then I started a crocheted blanket and my market shopper was just perfect to hold the yarn. And that has been its fate ever since, at least until the blanket is done - which will be no time soon, but more on that in WIP Week next week.

Having lost my farmers market bag I had to start a new one and since my stash is extreme it was no problem grabbing some yarn and getting started. I opted for a bigger bag, this time with a red, crocheted oval as the bottom (the yellow bag has a round yellow crocheted bottom too). I envisioned red bottom, grey bag and red top and straps.

Then I ran out of grey yarn, found out the colour was discontinued and that threw my new market bag into the bottom of my basket of projects. Getting it out for this post I still really want a bag, so I'll have to rethink my approach. Perhaps this bag is destined to be scrappy and full of colours in stead? I think 2011 is the year for this.

Seeing that my startitis was getting the best of me I spend an afternoon sewing up some project bags for the increasing amount of WIPs.

These make it easy for me to grab a project when I'm running out the door and are made exactly big enough to hold a magazine or pattern book, yarn, needles and the WIP. The only other thing I then need is to remember is my knitting purse with all my essentials, but since I go nowhere without it that's not really a problem.

More greenery

It just occurred to me that my week of FOs is more or less all yellow and green. And there is more to come. Today it's in the form of my green Romney Kerchief.

As so many others in am almost in awe over Jared Flood's blog. Whenever he makes something I want to make it too. And his photography... Well, his pictures are just as good as chocolate, and that's like the greatest praise you can have from me ever.

When I saw the Romney Kerchief I knew I had to make myself one. I had three skeins of a Sports weight silk/lambswool blend in brown, red and green. They were bought on sale in January and all meant for scarfs so I just needed to choose. Now I can see that I really could have chosen nothing but the green.

The kerchief was a quick little thing - Ravelry tells me it only took me 4 days to complete it, and I only used ¾ skein since it was getting to big to be a kerchief. 

The yarn is very airy and pretty (the colour is most accurate in the second photo) and rustic. In the beginning I wasn't convinced this was going to be a winner. I loved the look, but felt it was just to rough next to my skin. Once again a few months of laying on a shelf where I would see it everyday made the difference - it has become one of my absolute favourites and this last week with show and frost it is the first thing it put on in the morning and the last thing to get of when I jump into bed at night. Now I'm wondering if I should find the brown yarn and make a bigger shawl with green stripes from my leftovers.

When finding photos for todays post I fell over this one too.

This is a crocheted pendant I made back in April too. It's crocheted over a bottle top. Totally an other favourite.

Christmas tree

While on blogging hideout I have knit a lot - and I've had serious case of startitis this past half..... Well, whole year. I one of my very bad face phases I didn't only start new things and left them neglected around my flat, I kept finding just the right yarn online for a dream project and I just had to get it, or my world would collapse... My Pine is a result of one of these phases. I kept thinking of the pattern and how perfect it would be, a wonderful knitting friend of mine made her own pine and made my urge grow and then I (almost) fell over a sale at Holst Garn and the right colour was right there daring me to find my credit card and get some. I blame the Thesis. I was weak. It was raining. I was cold. I couldn't find anything to wear. Well, not anything green, that is... At least not that green...

I already had the pattern booklet by Helga Isager, with every intention of knitting each and every project in it - as for all my Amimono booklets, and when the postman knocked at my door early Saturday morning I was ready. I was home alone for the whole weekend, I had been for my run and shopping really early, I had gone back to my PJ's and had three movies ready. This was comfort knitting all the way through - even though it is some long rows.

The pattern is Pine and I made the smallest size. The result is still quite big, but I love it. All summer and autumn it has been my favourite go-to sweater. And the colour is perfect for what I had in mind. All in all this is one of my few startitis projects which actually became something fast - it never went into hiding.

And just to show you that I do wear my hand knits I have included this last photo. With Mr Bigfoot being in the States for half a year I don't have a photographer at hand. The photo above is taken by my younger brother at a service station in Germany this summer going on holiday. We went to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic hiking and I think this was the only long sleeved item ever to make it's way out of my backpack. I slept in it in the car the night we got lost outside Wrocław and spent the night at a construction site. I had it in my bag with me every night going out for dinner. It was my pillow in the tent in Krkonošský národní park when it was freezing. 

I am definitely making another. Next time I'll downsize it a bit, though, to get a more flattering cardigan. But first I have 2 Amimono WIPs to finish. And then there are all the others my startitis haven made me start yet. But Pine Version II will come too.

More yellow

Today's finished garment is a Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier. This was one of those projects I had been wanting to make, yet didn't have in my immediate queue. Then I found a lot of discontinued alpaca on sale at my local farmers market, went home, made tea and cast on the same afternoon.
6 days later I had myself a Buttercup.

The yarn was just really not a good match for the pattern and somehow it didn't dawn on me until I was almost ready to bind off. It ended up being a really wonderful fabric, but just to dense for this. So I ended up with a more of a tee than a tunic, and more of a winter garment than the summer top I had originally planned. Well, I didn't plan and that's where I went wrong.

I still really really like the pattern and though I haven't used my Buttercup a lot, it is growing on me too. It is perfect in the winter weather with a long sleeved tee under. It's soft as a lamb. And I quite like the colour. So even though I was a bit dissapointed by it all after finishing, the only this I dislike now is the bottom edge that rolls not matter how much I block it.

All in all this is a winner - it has grown on me and hopefully I'll soon find time to make another. I envision one in some of all my Supersoft wool from Holst with longer sleeves and another with quite some positive ease like a tunic in linnen or hemp.

The folds down the front is just from laying tucked in in the closet. I couldn't be bothered to do anything about it when the sun finally peeked out and I had a chance to snap a few photos a few days ago.

1st day of Christmas

I can't believe I've been gone for almost half a year. Well, actually I can because I have thought multiple post for the blog almost through, but the I never really got to the 'writing-it-down' part.

Life has been full of things and blogging had to be one of the things I put on hold. My plan was that the day I handed in my Master Thesis I would blog again - as a tiny little treat to myself. And I'm really close now, but I'm going to start blogging a bit early and blog a bit every day with projects I have been working on. This will be my own little Christmas calender and then I'll start 2011 with a clean slate. The first week will be of finished projects, the next week full of my WIPs (oh, so many of them...) and then it's all about Christmas presents. I'll try to keep it short and link to my Rav account - all details will be there.

Todays project is my Striped Spring Cardigan. Last year my Dad worked a bit on Island and brought me home some yarn. Well, nearly 2 kg of wool actually. The first 270 g went into this cardigan.

It's made up with a few notes on measurements from the bottom up, and it's only striped because I didn't really have enough yarn in a single colour. Since I got the yarn from my dad I wanted to make something that reminds me even more of him and that I would wear when I'm spending time with him. So a garden cardigan was born. The sleeves are quite narrow so it's good to wear helping out around the garden, where I'm usually either cold or get my clothes stuck in thorns and branches.

With winter and snow hitting Denmark I have found out the sweater is also perfect now. The narrow sleeves makes it perfect under my not-thick-enough jacket, and the Striped Spring Cardigan and I have trot all the paths in the area with my parents dog in sun, rain, fog, storm and huge piles of snow these past months.

One of my favourite things about it is the buttons. They are from either my Grandmother or aunt and I love the bright red colour - much brighter than the photos show.

All details are on my Rav page. That's it for today - back tomorrow with an alpaca tee.