Knitting Keeps Us Sane

The knitted Cargo

2008-11-12T13:56:00.002Z

This picture is not stellar, but it shows him :-) His head is too short, but I was really just fooling around. He is knitted all in one piece, starting with the hind legs and working from there with short rows etc.

How he and I found each other?

Well, I did not even find him. My mother did!
She was browsing the internet for a carpet for the living room floor, now that I have a nephew and a niece that are running around like crazy, and falling at times. She happened upon an online marketplace where lots of newspaper ads etc. are uploaded by the newspapers. The carpet that she found was not what she wanted - but then she saw a picture of a horse. It looked kind and big, so she clicked, remembered that I had said I wanted a horse bigger than 16.1 hh, saw he was 17.3 hh and located near home, so she sent me a link.
Two weeks later, after waiting a week for the vet to check him, he was up here with me. He reminds me of Basse in so many ways. If he had not worked out, I would have quit riding and horses alltogether, because I dont want to ride others peoples horses anymore, my heart is too soft and I get much to involved. I'm planning on keeping Cargo until his time is up.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

The wheels of time

2008-11-11T21:17:00.003Z

After losing Basse I was at a loss. I didnt know where to go or what to do, and kind of sunk into a lethargic state.

I wanted to ride and feel like I felt with her, but how could I, without her?

Yet, five weeks, exactly, after Basse left me, Cargo B, a 12 yo Holsteiner gelding, 17.3 hh (180 cm) stood in her old stall.

But it was not until today, two months after her death, that he and I agreed we'd be each others best buddies. I am hoping for many good years with him, and that he can take up the empty space in my heart.

HA! And you thought I'd stopped knitting!!
When I get a picture, I MUST show.. I spun yarn for, and knitted, Cargo!! ;-) We were having a creativity contest this weekend, and I just had to knit him. I myself think I was being quite ingenious, and invented a new technique (As usual when I get involved in something), now I want to knit Basse, and lots of others horses, to keep my Breyer horses company. And a big Cargo.

Have a nice day

/Lene

To the bitter end

2008-10-09T19:29:00.002+01:00

Some things are like playing. Life is one big game, and nothing can go wrong. It was summer, it was warm, you were perfect, and we were so alive, both of us.

I adored you, and we were in the magazine, we walked wide and far, you blossomed again.

I think you could run like the wind, but you could not outrun age. I got to know that you were far older than I thought.

You were beautifull, to the very end. Fate would have me chosing the possibly most beautifull September day that I have ever seen, we both sensed it when I came out at 6 am, and the last sounds you heard at 8 am were my voice and the birds in the bright blue sky with the shiny white clouds, with fall in the air, but not yet. I like to think I let you go in time.

I loved you, I still love you, and I will always love you.
Thankyou for being in my life, Basse.

Mighty Spring-y

2008-05-02T17:04:00.002+01:00

This is my horse again. I have nothing interesting knitting-wise to say, because all I do these days is to care for my horse, clean my home and study for exams.
We took this picture (and over 100 others) for a big horse magazine (Magasinet Hest) here in Denmark, because I was interwieved there regarding horse insurances and why my old gal isnt insured. They also wanted a picture of the two of us, and this was my choice.

She's put on a lot of weight, maybe 100 pounds since I bought her March 1. All it needed was a trip to the dentist and lots of roughage. Yesterday I rode her to a big pasture full of grass together with another senior mare, they both love it and I can still ride her every day, except that she's a little farther away now. Well, a little biking never killed anyone. (I'm also not as fat as I look in the picture - I am wearing a sweater from when I was way fat, it makes me look big but is also comfortable to run around in)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

My interests shifted

2008-03-01T10:27:00.002Z

The sack is me, and the horse is "Basse", Holsteiner mare from ca. 1990. I've ridden since 2004 but always been interested in horses, but never had the chance to ride. I have rented Basse three days a week for half a year, and when the owner said he wanted to sell her to get a younger and fitter horse I placed a bid. Needless to say, per today I own my first own horse.
I still knit a bit, but not much at all. I have knitted knee-high socks, half a brown cabled cardigan, crocheted some hot pads and half a blankie.

But mostly I read, ride and play with my horse and, of course, do my duty as an organ-player.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

A Very Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T18:06:00.000Z

In midst of taking midwinter rides, getting chills down my back at playing better and bigger organs and wishing everyone I know a very merry christmas, I heartily wish all of you, and everyone you know, a Very Merry Christmas.

It is not about the Christmas Tree, the Presents, the Coca Cola Santa - it is about being merry because Christ was born to take away all our sins, and because all our doings are nothing in the face of God - we can rest happily, knowing that whatever nonsense we do, it is all forgiven and forgotten by God.
That is the reason we have Christmas (Christ - Mass), and I hope all people will remember it for even a short while.

/Lene

Socks, and make things fit!

2007-11-30T10:41:00.001Z

Whoa!

I did get something finished, thats a new one for me. Because it is kind of hard to finish something when you spend most of your time on horseback or studying music. Not listening to music - that is the time when I knit the most - but most of the time I am making music. I play the piano, the organ, a bit accordion, I write music and practice choir leading.

So there's enough to do, with two horses on top of it (I've even swallowed my fear and have started to gallop - its like getting wings!)

Some time ago my SIL - wait, I have two now, and I cant even use their first letter because its the same: Re... Re.. or their first name of their last name: Sch.. Sch... Plus the fact that my younger brothers girlfriend is older than my older brothers... *laugh* It is confusing.

But, it was my nephews mother who gave me a ball of Opal sock yarn, slightly blushing, and asked if I thought they could magically transform them into socks? Well, I did, and so they sat around for some time until I took the ball with me in the bus and then to the summer cottage - they were done by the end of the weekend (Last weekend). They are nice, but uh - I tried them on my other SIL and they fit perfectly. Damn. First, she tried to tell me they were for her, but I couldnt give them to her no matter how much I would have liked to, because the yarn was not mine. So, rip toe and reknit. They are nice, and good socks. Plain stockinette socks that will wear for years, not grow, and keep my SIL's feet warm. Eventually they will get holes, and depending on where they are they will get darned, or ripped and reknit, or thrown out. That's all I am asking for for the stuff I make: That it will fulfill its purpose until it is worn out after a long and well-done service.

I like them, they are pretty socks. They will do well in time to come.

OOoooh, and here is "Make things fit".
I want to sew a jacket for my mom like the turquoise I made for myself. She bought the fabric herself, and today, with the sun and wind and pretty weather, I started laying out the pieces. I need to lenghten the arm, that is why there is such a large vacant spot in the middle of the fabric. Turns out I could have done with 1½ m. instead of 2, but who knew? (The yellow measuring tape is at 1½ m. I love it - it has inches on one side, centimetres on the other, and is 120" long!)

Pretty deep red fabric with a colour-changing embroidery on it - mostly random curves, but also leaves, and flowers. Machine-made.

That's it, folks. December is knocking on my door, and I just want it to snow, prettily, and with a tall blue sky, frost and a beautifull december sun. Then I'll get out the old horse (19 :-) and ride, ride and ride.

/Lene

Spinning and Knitting Weekend

2007-11-13T09:59:00.000Z

Last weekend I was off at a - gasp - retreat! It dawned on me that, even though we had called it a "Festival", it was in fact a retreat. So now I can stop being jealous at all the Americans who go to big retreats and pay a months worth of household money for it, come home with glorious yarns and know a lot of big and famous people.

We were far out in the woods in a little scout cabin - and not some fancy lake lodge.
We were 12 - and not 120.
I met Kathe Lewis (And my mom) - and not MissWroteABook
We ate bread, drank milk (And coffee) and had an italian buffet one night - and didnt drink beer nor eat fancy food.
We had a fire in the furnace that made us and the whole cabin smell like smoke - and didnt wear our best clothes, appearing at out best at all times.
We went to bed at 12-3 and got out at 7-10 - and everybody just laughed.
We slept in 12-bed-rooms (but not all in one) and kicked each other in our sleep - and didnt sleep in fancy single beds with sheets that were changed every evening.

But! It was WONDERFULL, really.

We spun, knitted, talked, and learned a lot about how to mix colours with different tools, and just had a nice time socializing. We had two contests, as well as a drawing, and plenty of prizes. Oue group, Spindefarvegruppen, is disbanding sadly, and since it was/is a group you have to pay for to be in, we had a lot of surplus money, having cancelled some activites in fall.
They had bought a wonderfull Kromski travelling wheel (!!). We also got some prizes from Europawools in the UK, and two boxes of wool dyeing starter sets, a big one and a small one.

The big one was first prize for our "Longest Thread" contest.
We had 7 entrants, and the winner was not at all confident she would win!! I think she was very surprised at winning, eben though her yarn ran 4300 m / 100 g, and number two's was around 1900 m / 100 g. That's some of a difference!

We also had a fiber-guessing-contest, where I fared quite well too - not that it mattered, because we had a prize for everybody in that contest! I won 500 g dark brown merino, 24 micron count. A shared 2.nd place - I was proud.

Then came the big thing we had all waited for, anxiously, because the wheel stood by the kitchen door ever since we came, in its green bag. I had written around 40 tickets with the name of each of the people in the group, also those that were absent. Our groups leader took out one ticket and I unfolded it... and a huuuuge smile grew across my face! (No, I didnt win it.) The winner was "Marianne V", a young woman who can not work, has three little children and whose husband recently left her. She could not even afford a wheel, and had spent all her savings for a wheel (120 USD) on the retreat. I thought she would faint when I read her name aloud! Of course, everybody had hoped to win the wheel, but it was so good that this woman won it, because she, if not needed it, then would but it to the best use.
There was another prize left, the "Little starter set for dyeing", and it was commonly agreed upon that it should go to someone present at the retreat. So one name was drawn, but the person was not present. Another name was drawn, but I never got to say it out loud. I only managed to squeak: "But it's me!!". I must have looked like a tomato, but I was so happy because I dont own any dyeing utensils, and now I do, and can dye my own yarn and stuff!

Other than that, one of the women who owns a online yarn shop had a tiny sale - some shetland jumperweight that was too expensive for me, some silk/wool tweed in strong colours and some "Gotland" yarn - and to skeins of BFL yarn for just 4$ /100 g. I held onto those as if my life depended on it, and also 7 skeins of a brown/black colour Gotland yarn. Gooorgeous. That stood me, all in all, in 35$ for two pounds yarn. That was really ok, for Denmark.

Now I am home, tired, and glad.
Sorry I cannot show pictures, but my camera... same old story, you know?

Have a really nice day

/Lene

PS: My guinea pig had piglings (Planned) friday, three living and one dead. They're goooorgeous!

Mission: Impossible

2007-11-07T06:32:00.000Z

This is crazy. It seems I cannot be trusted around tools of any trade! I prick myself with knitting needles, have crazy incidents with little sewing needles that lodge themselves in my foot so that the doctor must cut them out, but today I did something I dont believe anybody has done before me.

I got a cut on the top of my biggest toe (Thumb toe). With... my quilting ruler.

Beat that!

(Maybe I shouldnt work on the floor, naked, late, and then hurry to get up, throwing my legs all around me...)

But still. A cut on my toe, made with a ruler. (It has pretty sharp sides.. yeah.. uhm). That has got to be on the top of "Dumb, but darned funny crafting acidents where nobody got badly hurt"

Have a nice day- I am knitting a teeny bit, but my progress - my FO - is not to be shown publicly before dec. 6th where it will be given away as a present.

/Lene

On the Fana Kofte

2007-10-26T08:54:00.000+01:00

I have knitted most of it now - yay! After breaking #2 ebony needle, I bit the bullet and knit the rest on a regular grey coated needle. It worked reasonably well, probably because I did not have to knit a complicated pattern and had some weight hanging off the needles already.

The bad thing is, that it seems to be too small for me.

The god thing is that every single female in the household has claimed it for herself (That's 5 claims, including mine, on this one *laughs*)

The good thing is that I have cut all the seams and seamed the shoulders (with the open st.).

The bad thing is that I cannot figure out to pick up stitches evenly spaced around the front and the neck.

Another good thing is that I still can try to block the living daylights out of it to make it fit me. It is not that is doesent fit, but I didnt imagine a skin-tight fit!! (My gauge was off, so I am alone to blame).

Other News

I have ½ a horse as I've mentioned before, I think.... She is lame right now :-(, but I was offered to ride another horse whose "Daddy" can only come once or twice a week. I tried her yesterday (I thought it was a one-off, but YAY... He didnt!), and even though she was funny to ride, she is a good horse and could teach me a lot, I even had the guts to gallop on her and didnt even get scared when she didnt stop when I asked her. (Ok - I panicked a few seconds and just wanted to flop forward and hold onto her mane, screaming "I AM FALLING OFFFFF", but in the end I sat back, started breathing again and gave her a proper stopping signal.) (Riding her into a wall is a proper stopping signal, right?).
I will go riding her again today when I deliver the daily apple to my Big Red one (Now I've got a Big Red and a Big Black :), oh man, how lucky can one girl be?

Have a really nice day

/Lene

More non-knit

2007-10-01T09:44:00.000+01:00

I am actaully knitting a bit, but it is ugly and the colours are hideous. It was a lovely skein of pink/brown/white variegated, and many of you will know where this is headed - Yes, I wanted to knit a raglan for my Niece that is not yet born, and Yes, it came out pink/brown/white camouflage.

So. My non-knit is (again) quilting - it is hard to resist a craft that is so pretty, can be easy, and that makes really usefull things. I wanted a cover for my bed at my parents house (Yes, I am 24 and still have my own bed at my parents house.), because it so often is dirty and icky when I go there and want to sleep in it - the dog jumps on it, my SIL uses the room (She is living with my Brother on 8 m2 - I have 12 m2 I'm never using). So, she and I bought 4 metres of blue cotton and 2 "Quilt Packs" with 7 colour sorted fabrics in blue and yellow, ½ Fat Quarters. I used 4½ pieces from each of the bundles and the same amount from the blue cotton, made 45 squares from each group, and grouped them as you can see - the easiest way. It is bordered with the blue cotton. There are 6 different prints - Two swirls, roses, random lines, marbles and a spotty fabric. The swirls, Roses, Random lines and Marble is in both colours, since they were from the same line.

I rather like it, but I didnt finish quilting it when I was at my parents last weekend, because

I had cut it and sewn it within 20 hours.
I had a church mass in the morning and it was late.
The back was totally crinckled, and I found myself not caring (!), a warning sign that I was tired and ready to do anything just to be finished.
I really like it, and dont want to mess it up, seeing as how the piecing it, not flawless, but very very good.

The colours washed out. It is a strong, medium blue in reality, and the prints are also darker. I need more natural light, but it is overcastr and rainy.

You can sort of see how I started quiliting it in "blocks" of 3*3 (It is 15*9 blocks, not quite 5" large - 12 cm). I did not photograph the back, it is horrendous and proof that the pins I stuck in (You can see their reflections) did not do their work well enough. Plus the fact that it is horribly hard to quilt a big quilt on a small machine without puckering.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Nephew Socks

2007-09-25T10:43:00.000+01:00

My nephew is growing, so it was time to warm up the knitting needles in anticipation of the coming winter. They turned out quite narrow, sadly, and a little long. I hope he will get a little wear out of them anyways. Maybe his little sister can wear them one day :)

Size 23-24, on top of Daddys socks that he will get for his 26th birthday.

Nephew socks.

Regia Ringel Colour, "Atlantik".

Have a nice day

/Lene

I have a confession....

2007-09-06T11:19:00.000+01:00

I have no idea how to reply to people who comment in my blog, here! That annoys me, because I really want to reply to you, tell a bit more about the project etc.

Until I find some way to do that, I just want you to know - I appreciate all comments, even if you do not get a reply back, I have read them and added them to the website (I have set the comments on moderation because there is a person out there who seems to care a lot about me and constantly post(ed)s comments on here that were not fit for your wieving.

Oohh, and another confession: I have bought yarn, from KnitPicks! All excited, wee wee happy dance... I am doing a joint order with my mother, a friend and whoever has also joined in since I last asked.
I will get 5 balls Palette in Blue Note Heather to make the Rose Leaf Tunic from A Gathering of Lace, and 10 balls in assorted colours to make the Rainbow Shawl from the same book. Both are things I have wanted to do, and since my knitting has effectively stopped because of lack of needles, yarn, pattern... I will do something new.

/Lene

Sorry abou the delay

2007-09-02T09:50:00.001+01:00

Sorry about the delay. Somehow, weather turned bad, and then study kicked in and everything rotated around my studies, and not handicraft. I have not knitted for weeks.

This is the whole shawl. It was hard to photograph. It is also huge, 260 cm across the wings and 140 down the back. I have seen shawls half that size!

Semi-close-up. You can sort of see the variegation in the handspun in this picture. It is gorgous, in my opinon, and looks really good in the clover leaf pattern (I believe it is also called Rose leaf?)

Clover Pattern. The transition between my mothers yarn and mine happens in this picture - I can see it because my mothers yarn is a tad thinner, but I am pretty sure noone but me, who has had it in my hands and stared at it for hours and hours can see it.

Leaf pattern. Again, the variegation. I am amazed at this shawl because it turned out so well, even though I almost despised it at several points in its creation.

Bonus picture!

Ditlev, my first and oldest piggie, and probably the cutest I have ever met.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Jacket

2007-08-26T11:07:00.000+01:00

Modeled picture of the Jacket/Cardigan:

It was hard to get an acceptable shot of it, this picture is the only one where the colour is right, and that I like.

/Lene

Must... knit...

2007-08-25T14:55:00.000+01:00

Why is it that the most important news are always delivered in the most casual tones?

We were discussing how many we were, and if we'd fit around the kitchen table when my brother said - we're xx - but in a year we will be one more. (Insert heart and joy smilies here).

I am so happy for them, and hope the little baby will be a girl (They have ordered a boy), so that I can go wild in pink yarns and little frilly things instead of more traditional and blue stuff - been there, done that!

Come April, they will enlarge the family again - maybe my little brother will "Join in the fun", too? His girlfriend is one of my best friends, and certainly a nice person - so a few kids...

I will welcome all nieces and nephews with OPEN ARMS :D

(Excuse me, I must go find pink yarn...)

/Lene

Smelling the stable

2007-08-13T19:31:00.000+01:00

This was my shawl this morning - I recieve more yarn yesterday (Thankyou mom) and had knitted two repeats already this morning after washing the yarn late evening.

This is my shawl now - unblocked, but FINISHED. I felt it like a holy moment when I had it finished - finally. It has been long coming.

I am almost teary happy to have it off my list / chest. Now I may block it, and tomorrow, if it is dry (and I do not lodge one of the pins in my foot) I will take pictures outside in good light - weather permitting.
Good thing I am finished. School starts tomorrow (YAY) and if I had had to sit until 12 to finish I would have done it - oops. Bad girl.

It is dang HUGE. I just measured it to be 240 cm across the top and 140 down the back as it is blocking. HUGE I tell you. The "Finished measurements" promised me around 200 cm over the top and 100 down the back. Deceit" *grins*.

I Am So Happy

Serisouly, I am so ridiculously happy about this project that I was very tired of and just wanted finished, because then it would be GONE - but now I cuddled up on it, petted it and almost cried when I saw it all stretched out on the floor, in its glory. It makes me all teary-eyed to think that the ugly duckling finally has turned into a swan and that all the work was not wasted, even though it seemed unlikely that it would ever become anything pretty.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

My new cardigan

2007-08-12T20:30:00.000+01:00

Here it is. The result many hours of sewing, thinking, ripping and more thinking.

(Relatively true colour)

It has princess seams and a stand-up collar, and is made out of a stretchy, embroidred denim. The sleeves were originally 3/4 sleeves with a wide slit, and the buttons were set differently, but I decided for myself where I wanted buttons and how I wanted the sleeves - and the body lenght. The sleeve openings are less than ideal, but I will live with them. They could be way worse. The neck is also not perfect, the collar is way too small, it wont even go around my neck. I wear it flipped over backwards, making kind of a V neck. (I forgot to do it in the picture below).
The chest part is a little too small, and the lower part is a little too wide - ah well.
Weird though, because this is the smallest size of a pattern only in "Large" sizes - designed for ample women (It was included in a Burda my mother had, and I fell in love with the design).

(Murky Mirror Shot)

Despite all the shortcomings I see in it, two persons have tried it on today, and both requested one for themselves. Maybe!
The next one for me may be in a linen fabric as recommended - and I will either change the collar or just make the neckhole bigger so that it can lie around the neck as it was probably intended. Plus I want to try to make a bigger boob area and slimmer sleeves at the wrists, and eventually cut a little bit of the width around the butt.

Have a really nice day.

/Lene

Craft-injuries

2007-08-11T08:21:00.000+01:00

My little accident yesterday made me think about accidents while crafting / because of crafting.

Especially the comment about the needle in the arm.. Whoa! I do believe that the doctor couldnt find anything - the needles are small, and the flesh does not leave traces of being punctured, but closes up around the needle very quickly.

I once read a thread on Craftster about craft related injuries. It was hilarious, but also very disturbing - are we really so stupid? The answer is: Yes!

I have:

Sewn myself in the finger
Cut myself silly, 5-6 times, while trying to do Linoleum Carving
Cut my finger with the rotary cutter
and with a hobby knife while cutting paper
Punctured my skin with a knitting needle
Glued myself to a craft project
Pinned myself to my sweater, back when I was using my sweater to hold sewing pins
Gotten a burn mark from pulling a coarse yarn quickly over my wrist
Cut the flesh between thumb and index finger while plying with scissors
And, of course, my Super Stupid Needle Stunt of yesterday
Stuck countless needles and pins into my fingers, under my nails and other tender places

Phew! I think those are the most common injuries - good thing. Just imagine if we were all, say, doing Moto-cross driving, we would be filling up ER's and doctors offices all over the world. Of all the "Stupidities" up there, only one required a doctor :)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

PS: I didnt know you read my blog, Nurhanne! I taught myself to knit lace from your website, copying down the line-by-line instructions for little doilies and knitting them with a free, ugly, ginormous ball of Gotland Singleply... Those were the times... ;)

NOT quilting the blankie!

2007-08-10T12:24:00.000+01:00

*Insert evil face here*

I hereby wow NOT to quilt the Wolf Blankie - not under ANY circumstances. It hates me!

You know, when you get really frustrated, sometimes you can happen to say "Bite me"?

It BIT me >:-(

I had been drawing a horse on it, and had a spool of yarn with a needle firmly lodged in it with me, in case I wanted to start sewing. I didnt, because the horse didnt show up. So, I took the spool, blankie etc. away with me and fixed to start vacuuming the whole flat. WHAM - and it hurt in my foot. I found my needle, but it was only half! It was missing a whole chunk of the pointy end and a little of the eye, but I think I found the eye part. My foot HURT.

So I did something I very rarely do, after trying to find the piece of needle I suspected in my foot: I called the doctor *gasp*. He looked at my foot and asked if I was sure there was something in it? Oh yes, quite sure, the road to his office was long enough for me to feel it every mini-second. So he started to inject a local anaestethic, and prodded and searched in my foot to find the "tiny piece of needle". Tiny, my a$$ - when it came out it was over ½ inch - almost 2cm!

The best part was that he thought I was a sissy and constantly talked about pain and hurt and how I should go home and elevate my foot and put ice on it - I said yes yes, walked out of his office with the band-aid and all, but then it started to come off, so I took my sandals off, the band-aid off and walked home, barefoot, over grass and summer-warm pavement. That is the way I prefer life, simple and not so fussy.

I am bathing my foot right now, because he had to make a 1" (2½ cm) cut to find the little bugger, and will put on a good band-aid when I lie down in the couch to knit a little. That's the best part. Relaxing because "Oh, ow, my poor foot, poor me, I must be pampered / pamper me".

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Just a little

2007-08-07T20:05:00.000+01:00

It is summer, after all, and my brain is everywhere. I seem to have strayed from the narrow path of knitting and splashed all over the place - it's not just handiwork anymore!

I bought a (new) bike - so now I have two, but oh, what two! One regular one that was incapable of living out my wishes with me, so I bought the "Black Stallion" (Black, slender, and mean) for bike travelling - also in rough places. It is fully suspended, but otherwise built like a travelling bike. It works well in (less rough) terrain, as well on expanded bike trips.
I am sewing up a storm, in my own opinion. Until now, I have three butterfly pillows, three cow-pillows (Patchwork body, head and legs, later assembled), and a pig, a cat and a sheep in the same fashion. Pig, Sheep and one Cow are in our summer cottage, replacing the old icky pillows that were there when we bought the place, a Cow and the Cat will reside in my aunts quilt shop as store models, and one Cow went home with me!
I have also almost sewn a cardigan for me - with princess seams and all, and maybe I will sew another one in another fabric, I like this! Just that I might want to shorten it overall and put the taken-away lenght where my waist is... I am tall.
"Large Triangle with Clover Pattern" from Victorian Lace Today is stalled, I ran out of yarn. Mother is spinning more. Thankyou mom *blushes*
My patchwork runner is still disassembled. I dislike it right now. It made me sad ;-)
As is the large blanket I am sewing. It is, however, now spread out on the floor, ready to have horses painted on it so I can hand-quilt them on. The rest may be machine-quilted straight lines. I am so anxious about "breaking" it - I love it so!

Well, that was it - have a nice summer day.

PS: Oh! My house got painted! And my roof repaired - it only just broke (storm damage) in December! And, my windows will be painted from the outside, too - or even *gasp* replaced! Maybe I can open them, then ;)

Wordy Update

2007-07-30T14:46:00.000+01:00

Do, do and do!

My mother and I are knitting along on Mystery Stole 3, and while I am finished with clue 4, Ute is at row 300 - but she is making other fabulous things, too. Like handquilting a runner we are both making. Well, she is quilting and I am ripping - I had quilted mine halfway but then it got wet and somehow the background colour leaked up into the runner!! I was simply devastated, and had to rip all of my quilting out, seperate the three layers and take some pieces of the runner out. Now I must put them back in, since it did not wash out. How unlucky can you be?

Today we have been at a quilt shop - or not, well, because we found the adress in a book from 1999 and called her - she let us come and look, and then told us she did not have a shop anymore, but was teaching weekend - and week - workshops. She did have a lot of fabrics, nevertheless, and we bought fabrics for pillows for the summer cottage, and they will be a sheep, a piggy and a cow. My SIL bought for two wonderfull baby bags with rabbits on them, and I went wild in the Fat Quarter Roll bin, one for 1.80$! They normally retail for double, and there were the most wonderfull old ones among them, too.
Ute is also knitting a beautifull top and spinning along, and I am knitting on an old UFO, namly a handspun shawl from Victorian Lace Today. Everything will come to a close one day, but right now, we are just .. working.

/Lene

Not smart enough

2007-07-12T10:38:00.000+01:00

I generally think of myself as a smart person, who can figure out things on her own rather well, and do a good well many things on the fly.

Leftovers from various things.

I needed a little bag for "small stuff" now that I am going on a bike ride - water-proofness it not a consideration since I own Ortlieb Backrollers - absolutely waterproof. However, how will this one hold my stuff? (Well, it holds it), but it will fall out, right? Oomph. Seems I wasnt clever enough, even though I figured out on my own how to make a rectangular bottom, a really pretty handle and all such. At least I could have added two handles so I could make a knot, right?

Ah well. Maybe next time! For now, i am just a tiny bit proud of myself - even if I wasnt smart *enough*, at least I was *smart* ;-)

DQS II

2007-07-11T14:41:00.001+01:00

Here are two quilts!

I am so happy - because I recieved my wonderfull quilt, fullfilling all my wishes, and because I finished mine before the time frame, and will send it off today.

Mine is the narrow, white one, and the colourfull large one is from Texas, from Alice. It is so funny, she lives in a town with a post number only 4 digits different from Channelwiev, where I have spent some time years ago.

I have even made a label as per instructions, and I think it turned out well. I wanted to embroider it, but just wasnt up to the task. It was incredibly hard to get a picture of the label, I think I made 15 pictures and this one was the best.

So, all in all, I am extremely satisfied, and have learned new stuff: Nobody's Perfect - I thought my quilt was lousy, but the one I recieved was just as wonky, so apparently, it is just my perfectionist tendencies that are mucking up. Plus, I learned that stitch used for attatching bindings and used it for the label. I have sewed the binding on with a whip-stitch, very small and close stitches *laugh*

Have a really nice day

/Lene

PS: After I posted this, I went to the post office with my package to send it off - and lo and behold, what do I find as I hurry back home in the rain, over a prohibited green area? A 20-crown-coin! Cool, a 50% rebate on shipping! I debated whether it would be best spent on a fat-quater or... Well, until my horse ate it. (I have a porcelain horse with a hole in the back for savings).

MS3

2007-07-08T15:58:00.000+01:00

Here are two Mystery Stoles. The blue/denim heathered one is mine, and the white one is Ute's. They are pretty, and the pattern is easy to knit, and speedy. We are very excited to see what will come next!

/Ute and Lene

Havtaske or not?

2007-07-04T08:42:00.001+01:00

Oy!

Apparently, the designer already used the name "Havtaske" for the bag - I thought it was only known as "Kaffetaske" (Coffee-bag).

However! I will not be defied. My bag will have a very unique name, that clearly reflects all its beauty and versatillity.

"Bob"

Have a really nice day.

/Lene

Ocean bag (Havtaske)

2007-06-29T11:52:00.001+01:00

Here is the Ocean Bag:

It was a very quick knit. It was from Bendix Garn homepage, and will be entered in her contest for "Knitting beyond the Edge". I've always wanted that book!

Oh, seems I shouldnt have hurried as much as I did, the finish date has been moved a month into the future. I guess it is only fair if she wants more entries :-)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Circular - mostly for Lilly

2007-06-28T08:11:00.002+01:00

Lilly, you did not leave an E-mail adress as far as my sleepy eyes can gather - so this is a blog post solely for you :-)

I am knitting the Fanakofte on Susanne's Ebony Circulars (US Link), because I love these so much - and they are perfectly compatible with this yarn and my knitting style. I tried to use INOX grey coated circulars, but they gripped the yarn in an uncomfortable way, while the ADDI's I tried just made a mess out of it. This yarn is a very wooly one, one that has not been altered since wooden and bone needles were all the rage.

It was a very kind offer of you, but I have a whole box overflowing with circulars from size 00 to 35 :-)

I will probably see how the Pony Rosewood Needles will work for me - this Internet Shop is by now also a Brick-and-mortar-store in the next City over from my parents. Wonderfull. (It is by ther way where the Yarnharlot got her Kauni - I've been buying my Kauni and Evilla there for years)

But again, thanks a lot for being so kind with your offer :-)

/Lene

Pitter - pattering around.

2007-06-27T08:49:00.001+01:00

These past days, it seems I am just pitter-pattering around. At least I got the camera out now to show what I am doing, which is, after all, the main point of this blog.

Here is a Pinwheel Square out of some of the fabrics I used for the Wolf Blankie. I had just found the leftovers again (They were gone... I had put them on a storage box and placed another one on top of it, oops), and there were 7 triangles that were nor used in the blanket. seven? What can one do with seven triangles? Cut an 8th and make a pinwheel square, for example. In my mind, it is bordered with other scrappy fabrics and made into a pillow case to match the blankie / quilt. It was real quick, didnt take 10 minutes.

This is fun. I called the picture "OceanBag". Havtaske. That's a fish species that tastes quite well, mmmh, and it had me laughing at that brain fart for quite a while. Made out of one of these self-striping yarns (Kauni? Evilla? Dont remember) that I have a few of in stash. It will be felted, and is just a good inbetween project, seeing as how I broke the circular in the Fanakofte *sigh*.

Here I am being all sneaky, can you see? It is the Doll Quilt. Sneaky and thrifty. It is all scrap fabrics, and the binding will be bicoloured. Oh, and speaking of thrifty: The batting is a fleece blanket I am slowly cutting up into small pieces for all kinds of stuff. Who cares? The quilting shows, and it is not like it will have to warm somebody, right? I have also made a whole blankie (quilt) with just fleece as backing - and my SIL thinks that this is such a great idea that she is making one for her son, too!

Mmmhh, yarn! Handdyed in gorgeous greens. Really gorgeous. Can one make a cardigan of sorts with 1400 yards of Sport/DK weight? In a size 12-14? A short-sleeved lacy cardi? (nothing cropped...)
Oh, and I guess that means that your yarn and your books have also arrived mom - sorry for not telling you, but I have not hidden them, and the books are GREAT, you will love them!

The "It pains me to look at you" - Project: Fanakofte.
You are standing still at 45 cm, and I am so sorry for that! I wish I could knit on, but I will offer this excuse: My grandmother is clumsy. She broke your circular :'-( Seriously, this was going so swimmingly, and now my mothers circular is broken. I will pay a new one, of course, but in the meantime I must wait. They are hard to come by.

That's it! (No it isnt. There are things marinating - but I dont talk of them. They'll come out, some time or other, to rip or flourish in the light of my attention and their beauty).

Have a nice day

/Lene

I'll just delete...

2007-06-25T09:25:00.001+01:00

... Everything that happened from 7.10 PM yesterday, ok?

... I broke my mothers Ebony needle that I am knitting Fanakofte with. Currently at 12 repeats of 13-14.

... My sisters most beloved Guinea Pig died. Catastrophy!

... My riding club will be closed down, probably :'-( Just because people cannot manage to be nice to one another. I am thinking about *doing* something, but maybe not.

...And it even was my birthday!

Oh, and the Doll Quilt is finished but for the binding, which I will put on today! (and the label). That's nice, and I will send it off July 12, to my Pal, who should have it just a few days later, seeing as how we're on the same continent.

Happy Birthday

2007-06-24T06:23:00.000+01:00

To me...

Today I turn 24 :-)

I've always found June 24 to be a good day to have birthday on - it is halfway between Christmas and Christmas, it is most always sunny and beautifull, and I have often had summer holidays already. In fact, I celebrated my 18'th Birthday partly on a ferry to Norway, and partly in a Park in Norway with a bunch of Kids I was scout leader for. That was also the last time I had birthday on a Sunday, too.

So, Happy Birthday! To me :)

Creative Chaos

2007-06-20T13:23:00.000+01:00

Oohh.
Today I have for you, one horrible picture of why I am not updating this blog regularely. I have too many ideas and cannot get them out of my head! I dream of them in the night, I see them when I am awake, but when I touch my fabrics they go.. "poof".

I am a member of the "Doll Quilt Swap II", and I am trying to make something beautifull for a person that likes traditional quilts, primary colours etc.

My mother let me loose in her fabric stash, which contains several nice things, but most of what is in there I have already been through in the past years. Right now I have a white background with red flowers on it (when/if I dare to try sewing them on), and another idea - two hourglass squares (Fabulous green fabric with scenes from india and plain white). Maybe I'll make another two with the white and a most beautifull red with white flowers, and make somethig log-cabin-somthing around them...

Well, here is the picture! It looks less crowded than it really is, because I am standing on my bed :)

The Fanakofte is 34 cm / 13", and I am aiming for 64 cm / 24 " ;) (How funny that those are also the key numbers for the DQSII)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Round and round it goes...

2007-06-09T21:57:00.000+01:00

Where it stops, only Lene knows!

Precisely at 60 cm, to start the neck opening that is knitted back and forth over the whole body (Sleeve holes will be CUT open).

I am finally over the "Three white, three red, repeat until sick and tired, then alternate until you want to throw the knitting away" stage, and am now allowed to make the nice red-and-white alternating rounds with the occasional round of lice. (That is an official term for the little flecks of the contrast colour, really!)

While doing that, I am very busy. With flies. More accurately, trying to chase the flies away that MATE on MY leg. Buzzing away, making little flies... :-S

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Not Knitting

2007-06-02T13:58:00.001+01:00

This, is *not knitting*

It is another case of "I wonder what happens...". In this case, I guess it is a pillow case top. I want to add more, but no matter what I drew on that linen with my pink chalk, I did not like it. No french knots in the middle, no lines in the petals, nothing. Maybe I will just wash it (Because I embroidered with unmercerized cotton on unwashed linen, doh) and find a pillow so that I can sew the cover to fit. It's not ugly, really, its just - not much. Hm.

Here is more not knitting. Well, that is not true anymore, because I have added two rows with the fabulous ebony circ my mother borrowed me - yay! This project really really does not lend itself to metal circulars. You can see it on top of the sleeves and begun body. I finished the second sleeve within two days! I just had to sit down with it for a little time. Maybe I can get zooming on the body now, too? I want this sweater so bad.

/Lene

Knit & Sew: What Is Amiss?

2007-05-24T13:37:00.000+01:00

This time, I let my imagination go wild and crazy. It is unlike anything I have done before, I havent even seen stuff like it. Not saying that nobody has done it before, but this is so unique for me that I am utterlay astounded.

I knitted a "piece" out of worsted, handspun wool (singles), one day when I was having a "down" day. I mounted it on natural colour Linen fabric, and backed it with a piece of a torn fleece blanket. The knitted thing is sewn onto the linen and fleece by hand - once around the outline, and outlining some of the largest holes/eyelets (multiple eyelets in many cases) too. It was machine quilted (Rather badly, boo) on my new Husquarna. The thing I like the most is the edging. I sort of unvented the mitered corners, but they do look good. The edging also gave me a feeling for how to attach such a thing, what it depends on and how to make it look good on the backside. All very valuable things to know for the big blankie.

The corners are unruly, but I like them that way.

The only thing I dont like is that it is so.... brown. Even the fleece on the back is brown. I used "what I had", meaning that the edging is a piece of the backing for my large blankie etc. - but it is so brown. I want some colour in there. I have thought of trying to hand-embroider "FLY" in the lower left corner, how would that look?

Have a really nice day'

/Lene

Shoot the metal circular...

2007-05-23T21:12:00.000+01:00

..and give me a decent, wooden one! I have approximately 6 3.5mm metal circs (And didnt buy one of them, heh :-D ), but none of them work for knitting worsted at such a tight gauge. Ebony, I say, EBONY!! Why can't I knit the whole Fanakofte on my Ebony 3.5 mm's? I doubt it will ever get finished if I have to push and pull and bother with metal circs for the next 45000 stitches!

Ebony, oh why are you so expensive... O, Please appear magically next to me... *sigh*

/Lene

One Husquarna, Two Husquarnas, Three...

2007-05-20T07:24:00.000+01:00

....Husquarna everywhere! Husqvarna Viking Emerald. Bought on sale here in Denmark, both my SIL and I could not resist. My mother owns a Husqvarna Viking she got 10-11 years ago, and it has always been a good workhorse. My own asthmatic machine just wont do for the patchwork and clothing sewing I have done some of in the past time.

The one in the front is my SIL's, and the one in the back is MINE! We started out sewing some adorable burp clothes, but as soon as I learn how to freehand quilt with my machine I will be off, quilting my Wolf Blankie.

Have a really nice day - now with a post brought to you from all of us to all of you :-)

/Lene, Renana & Ute

Creative for Two!

2007-05-17T18:31:00.000+01:00

Here is the Fana Sleeve, take two. Also known as the second sleeve - it grows lightning fast, which it is not supposed to because I only have yarn enough for this sleeve until Sunday, when I return to my own home.

My mother was also very creative, and has spun this beautifull silk yarn for a summer top. She dyed it herself, and in real life it is a washed-out lavendar colour.

Jean: The beautifull sweater is in "Best of Lopi", which is a hard-back book that can be found on Amazon, among other places. There are also some other gorgeous designs.

Have a really nice day

Ute and Lene

Inaugural Post

2007-05-15T14:00:00.000+01:00

Dear reader of our blog.

I want to present myself, my Name is Ute and I am Lenes mother. As every other mother I am very proud of my daughter. She is a very good knitter, spinner and now patchworker. Lene learned to knit and sew, when she only was a little girl, but she never wanted to do it more
than for five minutes or so. She had to be a grown up woman before knitting became her favourite hobby. It is very nice for me, to have a daughter I can share my hobbies with. We have a lot of fun og many nice hours together knitting, spinning and sewing patchwork.

Lene had the idea that we share this blog. Tankyou for that , Lene. My english is not very good, but Lene promised to read my text and correct it. My motherlanguage is danish and german, because we belong to the danish minority in Germany. People say, that the language you dream on, that is your Mother langugage. If that is true, I have two danish and german.

My newest project is this nice little sweater for my grandchild. I knitted it in a norwegian wool called Peer gynt. It is a Lopi design and I love it very much. My daughter in law too loves this design, so the little boy had to get it now, where he is going to be a big boy - running around and try to say "farmor" (grandma).

PS: My mother is quite busy right now, so I agreed to put this up here. I know she has many other pretty things to show you, but that will have to wait until she can and want to do it herself :-) (Or I get my hands on the original pictures, since the ones she sent me were shrunk into oblivion - ah well)

Wash or Not?

2007-05-13T07:22:00.000+01:00

Does one wash a finished quilt top? I do not remember doing it with my baby quilt, but it puckers ;-)

Some of the fabrics may be prewashed, some are definitely not.

Just thinking about this to tide me over until I can do some other fun stuff - What batting will I use, what backing (I *want* the Pink Polkadot fabric, yeah! *grins*), binding - a bias tape or my wolf fabric? How should I quilt it? That is probably the hardest part. I have seen some lovely machine quilted pieces with pretty shapes all over, but I also somehow want to *whisper* hand quilt it, to honour the handsewn squares that make up the "Meat" of the blankie. The quilt my mother made me is mostly hand quilted - it is made up of squares and rectangles where each side is 5 cm or multiples thereof,and mostly black-and-white, with musicians, piano keys, notes etc. :-) She quilted notes, C-keys and some other things onto it - it is gorgeous, of course.

So, Handquilting and machine quilting maybe? I could quit little flutterbies all over it.. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just let my mind flow and imagine, and when the time comes when I will quilt it, I may have *The* idea. Suddenly, the top will speak to me and tell me what it wants to be. (Says she who spent fourhours on the floor arranging squares for a Hourglass Baby Blankie).

The blue fabric is a heavy cotton with little white flowers. I cut up a lot of fat quarters in pink and blue colours (Actually, the pink ones were for a blankie for my sister that got postponed for so long that it disappeared). I had tried out many different arrangements, but none seemed to work until I put the blue squares in one end and the pink in the other, putting all identical squares tip-to-tip (Instead of trying to arrange them so that none would touch). I had at least two, and in one case 8 identical squares because of the piecing method used.

Have a nice day

/Lene

I'm so tired.

2007-05-12T16:12:00.000+01:00

Got up very early and went to the Equestrian Games my riding club is arranging this weekend. It was quite good. I'm so tired because I was constantly herding people, horses (catching some too), running from one place to another. Sadly, I wasnt riding, and wont tomorrow either, but it is great fun to see all the great horses all the same.

Here is the finished Patchwork top. The picture is weird. I am too tired to redo it. Isnt it lovely? The pink corners are really nice and bring the blanket from "Tone in Tone with grey background" to "Hey That's a nice blankie!".

Here is also a finished Fana Sleeve. I have cast on for the second now, and may finish the starry cuff band tonight. It is lovely, but heavy - I bet I could take a walk in the snow with in (If we get any snow) without feeling cold. Provided I am wearing other, appropriate clothing, like pants and boots.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Many Many stitches

2007-05-11T21:40:00.000+01:00

My mother rescued me today.

She brought me 1/4 yard of fabric so that I would have enough for sashing (<-- Ha! I learned a new word!) between the two sides of the quilt, freeing up the wide fabric to make a border on top and bottom. There will also be corners in the new fabric - a totally unfitting, yet strangely cool hot pink with light pink polka dots *giggles*.

She did not do my Fana-kofte any good though, because I got on a roll and sewed the whole top together. I cannot decide if I think it is too narrow? It is 55"*82" without the binding. (That is 140 cm * 205 cm) I have a wonderfull quilt that is about 54"*70", and if anything I would wish for it to be wider. But the narrow sashing (in the wonderfully, hideous and gleefull pink-polkadot fabric) looks so good.

I also had a visit by my paternal grandparents, which turned out nicely (They admired my furniture, my quilt, my kitchen and my orderly finances), but kept me from Fana, too. When they left, I got cracking and sewed the whole top even though I only thought I would sew half of it - and by the time I wanted to cast on another sleeve, I left to do some voluntary work. That's it, my day was gone (in a good way), and I may have a nice warm quilt for next winter. If I decide on how it shall be quilted and get it done, that is.

Have a really nice day.

/Lene

PS: Yes, YAY indeed! Just a leeetle different from the picture :-)

Yay or Nay?

2007-05-10T18:25:00.000+01:00

For once, this is not about knitting, but if you squint and look through the door to my bedroom, you can kind of see the fana sleeve... heh.

This is a quilt I am making. It will be my first adult size quilt - well, first and first, I did most of the piecing for a quilt my cousin Nehle got a few years ago, because we were on a strict deadline, my grandmother broke her arm, my aunt and mother both were crazily busy - so I was the only one left. I have also sewn a baby quilt for my nephew, and while it is gorgeous it is not ideal because it was only backed with fleece.

My best friend gave me three handsewn pieced blocks with another one on cardboard and ready to go. They were sewn by his late wife around 1989, probably for his daughter, but never got finished. When he moved, he gave them to me because he knew I probably would make something out of them. They are delightfully 80'ish - pink in the gruefully way.
They had an awkward measurement. 50*50 cm. I t made sense, though, when I examined the rest of the fabric that was stashed away with it, because there were strips whose measurements indicated that the finished size would be something along the lines of 115*170 cm - perfect for a petite teen girl. There also was enough fabric to make two more squares.

I sewed the other square together, and let it sit for a while while I was thinking. There was not enough fabric of two kinds to complete two more blocks. But, when I was in Taiwan a while after, I found a bunch of Fat Quarters in delightfully 80'ish pinks! To machine sew the two squares, I tried to take measurements on the paper pieces. They turned out miniscule! It must have had something to do with the extra fabric around the edges of the cardboard. I bordered the blocks with a fantabulous wolf fabric. That was when I tried to find a way to make the squares larger without making them look goofy. My mother and I counted and discussed and drew for a while until we agreed on the 33,33 degree turned angle the squares are in now. We made a few mistakes with the triangles, and will have to cut two more since two were turned the wrong way (You can see how I laid the with the wrong side up).

The red strips are original ones (The fabric also appears in the squares) that I was about to put away, but suddenly thought... Why not see how much there is? If it can work with my idea in some way? (I have enough of the narrow to go between all blocks).

So, what do you think.

Yay or Nay?

Have a nice day

/Lene

Fana Sleeve

2007-05-09T10:36:00.000+01:00

Here it is!

Courtesy of my mother, who yesterday asked me "When do we get to see a picture of your "Fanakofte"? Shouldnt you be finished now, thick needles and all?

Irony, Irony (I hope). It is knit on US 4 needles, with Dale Heilo and Knitpicks undyed Wool of the Andes. I am changing the pattern a bit, because the original sleeves probably would have been huge. I dont like huge sleeves. Long is OK, but wide, nah.

This sleeve has used up a bit more than one ball of the red until now, and I have (had) 11 of the red balls. If my grandmothers formula of 3:5 applies here too, I should be just fine with oneandahalf ball for each sleeve and five (or more, since there is no armhole shaping) for the body.

I am a little sad that I could not knit the whole sleeve with my Ebony Holz and Stein DPN's, because they made the knitting such a joyfull experience - having good tools pays off!
Already looking forward to start the next sleeve or the body soon, when I have finished the star motif on top of the sleeve, because that means I can knit while reading again :)

Have a nice day

Lene

Say Welcome!

2007-05-07T15:12:00.000+01:00

The blog title has changed, as you might have noticed, because I have invited my mother to join me here. She has wanted to start blogging but not been entirely sure, so we thought it would be a nice thing if she could test it before comitting to it.

My mother is a skilled knitter, accomplished mother of four and can cook really good :-)

I hope that she will post here within the next few days to show off a few of her wonderfull works - among others, a duck sweater for the most charming Nephew that I have.

/Lene

Right On!

2007-05-06T14:11:00.000+01:00

My sleeve / swatch had 24½ stitches to 4" before washing and pinning, but 22 stitches to 4" after washing. That is spot on gauge! Very exiting. The Fanakofte will be my test run before I start the big and complicated Peer Gynt Anniversary Sweater, which has a star all-over motif, and a nisse riding on a moose-like animal right smack in the middle of the star pattern. Oh my, it looks like the colourwork is winning over the lace - but not for long, my WIP's do want to be finished. I am just multitasking.

Have a nice day

Lene

Fana-swatch

2007-05-06T07:51:00.000+01:00

"Cast on 151 / 163 / 175 / 187 / 197 / 209 / 245 / 257 /267 / 279 stitches with 2,5 mm needle, and knit stockinette back and forth for 4 cm...."

Swatch swatch, I am supposed to have 22 stitches to 4" (10 cm) over stockinette on 3,5 mm needles (The 2,5 are for the hems only). With worsted weight? Hm. I have knitted this Dale Heilo on 4,5 mm's with 20 st / 4". My mother even has used a 5mm with it.

I am yet undecided which size I will choose - but it will not be the largest :-) Either the M or the L - this pattern ranges from 2 yars to XL, where the XL is 134 in the bust. My actual bust is somewhere around 107 cm, so 123 or 129 cm at the bust should be good. This is a buttoned cardigan, after all. (But I really dont want a whole foot of ease! I am SO over knitting sacks!)

Have a nice day

/Lene

Stairway to Heaven

2007-05-05T11:03:00.000+01:00

These are the "Stairway to Heaven" socks - only one in the picture, because I did not have a photographer and was unable to get both feet to look good at once.

They are knit in Lornas Laces "Purple Club" - the first skeins of this yarn that I have ever touched, and they are so wonderfull. Thankyou Emily for helping me get it. It took over a year to knit these because I got caught up in lace shawls. The pattern is of my own making, and breaks up the colours nicely - better in real life than in my washed-out picture. I chose to call it Stairway to Heaven because the first sock was knit on planes and in airports. (And because I love the movie, the ending is really something that can make me cry).

Tomorrow I can start my Fanakofte! Yay!

Wicked Pictures

2007-05-01T12:40:00.000+01:00

My new favourite spring/fall sweater! It is simply gorgeous, feels good, fits really good, and is perfect for when you are not entirely comfortable with just a tee, but dont want a long-sleeved tee - and for many occasions in between.

Stats:

Yarn: Dale heilo, on sale, in a rich, yellowish brown.

Pattern: Reverse-engineered "Wicked" from Zephyrstyle, with many many alterations, for example CO 10 st. under the sleeves to avoid excessive pucking under the sleeves.

Time: Five days, from April 25 til April 30.

Amount used: 6 balls and roughly another ½ ball. That means i used maybe 650 yards?

Comments: Fits, is warm, has a nice colour and cost me 5$ to make! It does not get much better than that. Plus, it makes me feel like a woman and not like a tent, a thing that is a good thing. (I have felt like a tent for years when I weighed well over 60 pounds more than now)

I will leave you with a bonus picture:

Into the Sky!

/Lene

PS: Thank you, stalking weirdo. You make me feel special, spending time and noticing when I post, making me laugh and help me grow self confidence. It is just like having a good friend, except, you obviosly are not :-)

Wicked Fast.

2007-04-30T21:53:00.000+01:00

My intention: Knit a ball a day. 110 Yards of worsted weight on US 7's. Took me 5 days and 6½ balls. Somehow, knitting fever caught me today, and I finished it. Now I have to find something else to knit on! Maybe one of my other WIP's, like Rosy Fingered Dawn, or the shawl from Victorian Lace Today, or my patchwork sweater, or wait, I know what I will knit (finish) now: A pair of socks that recently surfaced again - and had been with me to taiwan, even. A yarn ago. (I meant, a year ago... Did not notice it before I posted the entry, whoops). Oops. Well, I need to knit a gusset, foot and a toe, that should be doable, right? (Apart from the fact that I dont want to finish knitting with the wonderfull Lornas Laces, my first and only LL *sniff*)

Have a nice day - picture when I have a photographer! (Which might happen today if I play my cards right)

/Lene

Even more Wicked!

2007-04-29T12:21:00.000+01:00

This is Wicked on, in front of our chaos-garden, that has finally been taken all OUT and grass has been sown. It really was neccesary. I like the fit of Wicked! It sits tightly around the waist and will soon flare out to fit my hips. Pocket? Uhm, I dont know. Maybe? Short sleeves and a cabled ribbing.

Have a nice day

/Lene

Wicked!

2007-04-27T11:44:00.000+01:00

I started using all that Heilo for something usefull after just gazing all happily at it for a while (It lies on my living room floor like a sea of happy colours).

Wicked

It is not really a Wicked (Link in a previous post), but a sort-of. I wanted a look kind of like on the model, and not like the finished ones I have seen in, uhm, ample sizes (US 14 for me). It ended up a bit too tight, and I dont know about the body, it might be a bit too fitting while the arms may end up too loose (I could not buy the pattern. Spent too much money on yarn this month). I am at the point where I will put it on two circs and see where I want to put the waist shaping - or if my breasts can get into it, at all :-P If not, I might.. uhm.. Probably rip. Or finish and wait until I loose some more weight.

The weater is lovely here in Denmark, and the Guinea Pigs and I have been sitting outside for three hours today - I live very near two little streams with grass and everything around them, so I pack the piggies, a book, my knitting, and a box that I can turn around and put them into. They graze, sleep and poop, while I knit and sleep. Fair enough :-)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

PS: Yes Hanne, you are one of the three :-) I am glad you liked the danish poetry - it was written as an ode to an Aarhusian spring!

Writing

2007-04-25T19:07:00.000+01:00

I dont think that any (Well, three maybe) of those who are reading this blog know that I have written poetry - and do sometimes - and even have earned money (whoa) with it.

En Tone

Gennem luften danser stille en tone,
blid fuglesang.
Sender bud om solens mildt-varme stråler,
ømt kærhedstegn.
Al vor jord vrimler over af fugle, i vor himmel og på paradisvis.
givet til os af skaberens godhed, så til evig tid vi på ham tror.

Over haven ligger nænsomt et sollag,
blomstrende trær.
Fylder sind og alle buske med lyde,
sød jubelsang.
Dagen skrider og aftenen lider, stille rolig i vor sjæls helligdom.
Gir forvisning om skaberens nærhed i hver bi, hver blomst hver busk og træ.

Aftnen nærmer sig med listende poter,
gylden og varm.
Trækker over sø og enge et dække,
sover i ro.
Se da kommer fra Gud evig varme, rige gaver med et løfte om fred.
Vi skal alle i modenheds fylde, nyde livet i hans kærlighedsbo.

So sorry for posting it in danish - it is a psalm written on an absolutely beautifull melody that is both slow and resembles humming, a peacefull and restfull melody. I just felt the need to post something beautifull on the blog :-)

Want some poetry in another language?

Ich bin so froh
Denn mein Po
Passt genau auf unsrem Klo!

What, that wasnt good enough?

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Well!

Thanks to Robert Frost, there has now also been content for all the english-speakers out there, too.

/Lene

Who is knitting socks and a fabulous new sweater...

Something to do

2007-04-20T07:40:00.000+01:00

Have you ever seen this before? It looks so lovely, and maybe I really should knit something with short sleeves? That would be a first, I think... (I would want the short-sleeve version for sure). I just dont know if I should buy the pattern or reverse-engineer it...
It would look lovely in the Heilo, as it is 100m/50 g, and this calls for worsted weight. Using only 6 balls in my size, it should be quite quick, too! (If I stick to it).

Well, I will be off soon because I am a bit weird... I decided to ride my bike home. Rather that, than having to deal with a two-hour home ride of which one hour is waiting time - and have to ask my 80-years-old grandmother pick me up at the station. (You would know why is would be considered weird if you knew that there are 50+ km home, I am decidedly unsporty and my bikeis so, too... And now you know.) Nah... If I ever get a nice bit of money for free, I will buy myself a scooter. (But first I want a super trekking bike.. hah, and I will get it for fall! I have a budget!)

Have a nice day

Lene

Rosy

2007-04-19T21:00:00.000+01:00

Blackberry Ridge will send me another skein of "Purple Mist" - free of charge. It is very generous of them in my opinion, and they rejected my offer to pay for it - or at least the shipping.

Seems I must find a bunch of circs then... :-)

The Purple Mist section is in the middle of the shawl - no, not in the middle, but halfway between the point where I am and the point where I started the shawl. I will enter a circular needle in the last row I knitted with the previous colour, and one in the first row of the next colour, and take out the entire Purple Mist section. Luckily, it is not large - actually the smallest single section (I think). Phew. After I have knitted the section again, I will (try to) graft it onto the remaning shawl - the outer edge. It feels so good to have a solution.. SO good.

I have knitted two objects that I really needed, but I did not get to take a picture. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe you'll all laugh at me, but... I knitted myself two (then my ball was gone) orange washclothes. Seeing as I had to wash myself with dishrags should the unlikely even turn up that I needed to wash myself in places where the shower would not do... Well... Might just as well use up some cotton. (I am a simple girl, you might have guessed *laugh*). Maybe I should make a facecloth next time. I wonder what distinguishes a Face Cloth from an ordinary Wash Cloth? Oh, I know how I will make it different... I'll try to knit a face on it!

Have a really nice day

Lene

We Meet...

2007-04-18T13:59:00.000+01:00

I met my paternal uncle today which is weird for a couple of reasons, and because our family is quite divided. At least he is divided from our family. Hadnt seen him a few years. Hopefully I will happen upon his daughter, my cousin, one day. I'd love to see her and how she is doing. After all, I only have three cousins - two girls and a boy, so the family is not that large.

I also figured out a way to work on Rosy Fingered Dawn (sigh). I will take out the damaged section and reknit it with a new skein of yarn, then graft it to the border portion. Lots of work, but less than a) scrapping everything, or b) rip all the sections out I have knit after the damaged section and reknit everything.

have a nice day

Lene

Kill them UFO's.

2007-04-16T17:16:00.000+01:00

Sigh!

My oldest UFO, Rosy Fingered Dawn shawl from Blackberry Ridge was coming along so smooth, and I was getting ready to add the border. Was. There. Are. Holes. In. It.

Not just the lace holes I have put in there, but real holes where the yarn is broken. Kaput. This yarn is weak, frail, and weird - not the best quality I have ever touched! - but I did not think it would just... break. I have stretched it out some a few times to see the patterns, but... It has lived in a closed plastic bag since summer 2005. I cannot continue knitting on it, and have contacted Blackberry Ridge to see what can be done about it, because really? It makes me cry that this long-lived UFO that was to bloom and hang on my wall (Yes, I took down my Rainbow Pi to make room for this) is now broken, possibly beyond repair :-( I so do not want to run the risk of ripping back and reknitting with the yarn I have left from that section just to reknit the whole shebang and discover more holes. No no.

This was the sad post of the day, or How To Have Less WIP's. Because Rosy is now not a WIP anymore (or even an UFO), I have two WIP's. Amazing. Only 2... *sigh*

/Lene

When I finally blog...

2007-04-15T14:56:00.000+01:00

I blog a LOT!

Patchwork-knitting Sweater

My mother has made one of these, and I really really liked it :-) First, you knit two strips in a diamond pattern that go from your butt to your belly, and then they are connected by knitting narrows panels of garter st. between them. My mother modified the original pattern, which is for a vest, into a long-sleeved sweater. I think I might make a vest after all, but much longer than the pattern states, and also changing some other things.

It is knit holding two strands throughout (Huh, sensing a trend here?). One strand is Evilla Blue 2, in the 8/2 thickness, and another is Lisa Souza handdyed Merino Laceweight in "Sapphire".

Lucking out

Yeah well - what other could I call this? There was this yarn shop owned by an elderly lady. Who had owned it for... Hmm... Longer than anyone can remember, at least. Now she wanted to retire. But, noone could possibly buy her yarn shop with all the yarn she had there, and in storage! Well, so she just... Made a great giant sale before closing. I did not see it until almost everything was sold, but on the other hand - I got some GRRREAT deals on the last things. Like the Dale of Norway booklets? The whole shebang for 15$, and I think there are 20 booklets in there with 15 designs in each of the most beautifull traditional designs - including almost all the olympic sweaters :)
I bought yarn for the sweater that is on the cover of the booklet I laid on top of the binder, namely the dark blue, light blue and three balls of the orange.

My mother bought.. Uhh... 5 binders too? And several booklets from Lopi etc... For almost free. It even got better when we were there the day before they closed down. We got tons of patterns, and when she asked if we were interested in more, I responded that only the Heilo... But I werent going to pay what she was asking for the leftovers. "I'll make you a good price". Oooook...

I got 38 balls in aumtuney colours for... 36 USD. I have NEVER bought yarn this cheap before! Heilo is a worsted weight non-superwash wool yarn, but wow... Less than 1 USD each? I paid 2,5 USD for the 19 balls I bought just a few days previously.... (It is normally priced at around 5 USD)

My mother also bought a good cache of this yarn, and is already knitting a sweater for my nephew out of it - and has 25 balls for a colourwork sweater for my little brother (Who is two metres tall).

She did not get the hyper deal that I got in the last end though - but for Denmark, those prices were avesome. (Even the 5 USD are not expensive - yarn is ridiculously expensive in Denmark).

Have a really nice day

Lene

Turbo-FO.

2007-04-15T09:31:00.000+01:00

Good morning all!

Oppps, It has been some time since I last wrote here - not for lack of things, but a little spring-depression has been making the rounds here, so I was not quite up to it. Natch, does not matter, because nothing really depends on wether I blog or not - it is just an added bonus in a nice life.

Empire-waisted, skirt-style sweater!

I love this!
It was knitted within six days, including two sick days and two days where I was not able to knit. Pattern is out of Rebecca, Winter 2005, which my friend had brought with her to our summer cottage for Easter. She knitted a nice wrap sweater while we were there.

Of course, I modified this to have raglan sleeves because I KNEW it would pull itself out of shape (The original had the bodice in 1x1 rib and set-in sleeves... ouch). However, I dont like the neck... Some sort of lacing up must be put there, that is for sure.

I do not have a picture of the whole thing modeled, because the angle I can take pictures of myself in is so weird - I look seven months pregnant :-/

Stats:

Yarn: One strand of vintage Phildar "Gaïka", which consists of a strand mohair, nylon, wool and a polyester strand that goes around and sometimes wraps violently around the yarn, creating shiny, hard spots. One strand of blue sock yarn - I used three different colours to use up yarns I would not knit socks out of.

Pattern: Rebecca, Winter 2005. The pattern was not bad, and had some clever details. But, 1x1 ribbing and set-in sleeves? AND a V-neck? Who was asking for droopy sleeves and a giant neck? (My adaptation is not that much better... But I tried). I love love love the empire style. Must knit more in a thinner and more flattering yarn.

Time used: Pretty exactly one week, though I did not knit every day due to unseen circumstances.

Needles: Plastic 8 mm's. This sweater is heeeavy....

Overall thoughts: I like it. I must find a way to lace up the V-neck and pull in the neck (Which shouldnt be hard because I somehow created a row of holes when I crocheted the stitches off the needle - didnt want to just cast off). Empire waists are sooo goood...
The sweater is four yards around (two metres) around the bottom, and loose everywhere except for in the middle of the arms, but it was a fun knit and an excellent way to use up half (sigh) of the weird Phildar Gaïka I bought years ago in E-bay.

Have a really nice day

Lene

Back from Mallorca

2007-03-31T13:40:00.000+01:00

Surely, Mallorca is quite unknown to most of you who read my blog?

It is a spanish isle, in the mediterradian sea, one out of 5 islands in the Balears. It is not big, maybe 60*90 km.

It was so nice! Even though there are turists everywhere (And we even were there outside the season).

My mother and I took pictures of each other :-) Just to prove that we were indeed there ... No need, I photographed my mother a lot: See next picture *grins*

My mothers butt. Yep! She did not even find out that I took the picture. There you are mom... Your butt and part of a castle the romans built almost 2000 years ago, now a church and a santuary.

We ate food. Good food! This was in Sineau, a place famed for its wednesdays market. We were there thursdag and were totally charmed by the athmosfere, the friendly people, the fresh olives (Oh, they were good! First time ever I willingly have eaten olives). With tip and all, 1½l. water and two servings of a delicious bread with local produce, we paid 7€. Yep. It was so good.

I have a thing with monuments and all things ancient. This is a little old road, not even paved, that led to the norternmost point of Mallorca. We drove 12 km round and round, up and down to get there - on a road built in 1996. Who built this road? Romans? (There has been a lighthouse at the tip since the romans, so why not?). Had my mother not been disabled, we would have walked the entire distance of it to "See what there was to see". As it was, I only spent 15 minutes because I did not want to keep my mother waiting too long. But oh, how I would have loved to see what there was to see.... It was long long, and my legs ichted and aced after walking there. At least I have photographs of it.

There were sheep - quite hard to get by because they were scared of humans. Hm :-/ I managed to photograph these by sneaking into a fruit yard and photograph through a fence :-) So cute. They are more long-legged than any sheep I know, and quite slender. It also seems as though they shed their wool, like faroese sheep, instead of being sheared.

Fernweh

2007-03-12T11:22:00.000Z

Languages? They just cannot be compared. That is why five different persons can translate the same text in 5 different ways. It is also why there is no word like the above in English.

Fernweh is german and means "Longing/hurting for the far(away)". Sometimes, I must confess of suffering from Fernweh - it has brought me to Taiwan recently, and to some 15 other countries. Very early wednesday I will fly to Mallorca - the German's biggest holiday area, an island in Spain. My parents booked this some time ago for themselves - something for them, a week alone, something they VERY rarely do. My grandfather came down very very sick Friday a week ago, and is still on intensive care, so my father decided he would not go. Originally, my mother agreed, but yesterday evening a change ocurred and she asked me if I would go with her if they could make a namechange. They could. While I am VERY sad that my father cannot go and enjoy this week with my mother, I am also completely enthralled and very enthusiastic about going. I even bought my first ever pair of capri shorts - they cover my knees, and, in my opinion, look... good! So all is well, and if you need me in the next week... Look at the pool B-) <-- smiley with sunglasses

Have a really nice week

Lene

Leftover-sweater.

2007-03-10T11:18:00.000Z

Ever seen a Lopi? I have knitted two of these - one fairly traditional in cream, moss green and rust (My own colour scheme - rather pretty), and a blue one with pink norwegian stars across the chest, as well as bands of green leaves on a light green background around neck, chest, wrists and belly.

Then I had lots and lots left over! There have been felted bags, warm hats, doll sweaters etc.

But now most of the leftovers have been incorporated into this fabulous raglan - from - the - top - down. With short rows in the neck, ribbed sides, and always striped in 3 rows and 5 rows, striped randomly. As I ran out of some colours, they were doubled with others (This yarn is Plötulopi, thin strands of unspun wool that needs to be doubled for durabillity).

I like this sweater, it is just the right size, flatters, fits, is warm and very cheery :-)

So, if you have lofts of leftovers - striped sweaters are usually the way to go, even if you only have little left, because babies also like striped sweaters - or scarves, dolls etc.

Have a really nice day

Lene

Curious

2007-03-08T12:13:00.000Z

Ok, how come I have 16,44% visits from Edmonton? It shows up as a really big, fat dot on my Google Analytics page, and since I have a love affair with Canada I would really like to find out who sits in Edmonton and watches my Blog.

Also a Hi! to the reader in Santiago, Chile - I am considering going there next spring and visit my travelling friend, whom I visited in Taiwan last spring.

Not to forget the reader in Cranberra (I think), Australia. AND, all the others in US, Denmark, and northern Germany - and a single reader in Airlie, Scotland(?).

Google analytics is really a fun tool, and I love to see all the places my readers come from - It is "The World Come Home".

Have a really nice day

Lene

New Knitty is live.

2007-03-08T07:01:00.000Z

Oh, I became all excited when the new Knitty was live!
I have known Knitty almost since I started knitting, and I think the first issue I saw was Summer 2003, when I was asked to translate the "Broadripple" pattern for a danish knit bud.

Knitty has changed since then, and I cannot say that I think it has become better.

BMP : Stranded socks with an irregular pattern - Geeky, Nerdy, sure, but they will stretch weirdly and fit weirdly, too. Ok, honestly? It might be too "hip" for me ;-)

Carolyn: We've seen it before: Striped Cardigan. Ok... Good for a beginner, boring for everyone else.

Tahoe: Cardigan. Ok, there is not a pattern just like it on Knitty yet, but there is one in S n' B, for example.

Ribena: Super cute tank top! I love the ribbing detail, but the removable armies? Eh, not so.

Torque: Good idea, but it does not mix with my ideas of functionality. Unshaped sleeves and an unshaped body, no I dont think so. Worth a modification, though - I still have a bunch of fat blue yarn :-)

Isabella: Cute. Bad pictures, though. Looks like it bunches up underneath the models breasts.

Ester: Unflattering, and, for me, totally unusable shape. Nice yarn, though ;-)

Morestripes: Ew. Ew. Ugh. Ewewewew. MUCH too big on the model, terribly unflattering, and you can just see how she struggles to keep it on her body.

Monica: Me Likey! Very pretty, and so cute on a little girl.

Briar Rose: This sweater has potential, but the original sweater is really nothing I would knit for any little girl in my life. Badly executed, boxy top and much too short! But, it IS in danger of being re-designed to fit ME. I love the picot hems and the cute ribbing in the bottom.

Hey Mickey!: Skirts? Why skirts? They droop, catch on things and generally look, uh, homemade in the bad way.

Vestee: I like this pattern for having so many options, and for being so well thought-through. It is really a cute pattern - a bit unfinished for my taste, but I could add hems, ribbing, substitute stitch patterns etc. if I were so inclined, right? One of the good patterns in this issue. A real workhorse.

Palette: A solid (hehe) pattern, good for bringing awareness to this topic for new spinners. A plus for this issue, but nothing I'd ever use - I have my own favourites.

Dashing: Not all that bad. I made a pair of ribbed handwarmers suitable for organ playing last christmas for my teacher, but had I seen this pattern, I might have considered using it. That's a big big praise for a, ehm, HANDWARMERS pattern.

Paper Bag: Nice idea! Looks very stylish. (But the model looks like she dressed up in her mothers clothes)

Bauble: Surely some people would want to make it - I am not one of those. Boring.

Queen of Cups: Socks, socks, socks. I am bored to tears by all those sock patterns - because, really, when I need handknitted socks I'll do a long ribbed leg, stockinette foot... And that's it. Tried the other thing, and it never fits. Done with it. How many sock patterns does Mankind need? Same goes for Quill Lace Socks and Clessidra.

Have a really nice day

Lene

Rosy Fingered Dawn

2007-03-07T16:18:00.000Z

There was a knitalong for Rosy Fingered Dawn back in 2005 - inspired by the original Secret Stole - along (Which I was first to finish, weee). I got my kit from Blackberry Ridge (Dangerous website!), and promptly started to knit. And knit. Soon, it became Very Boring, somewhere in the middle of the second colour (!). Nonetheless, I have plugged on in spurts and starts - a little here, a little there, a lot last christmas, and nothing at all in 2006.

Now, however, it has been pulled back out (For who knows how long?) and I have spent yesterday and today knitting three spacer rounds between the 4th and 5th colour - it was a nightmare. I had heard that some have run out of that colour, but also some that have haft leftovers enough for the others. I knit tightly, and did not think I would have a problem. There was 1", or 2,5 cm left over! I could barely make the last stitches, and had to resort to knotting the new yarn on. Now, the body of the shawl is finished - the 5th colour is only a narrow band of 13 rows. That seemed like very very much to me when I abandoned it, but meanwhile i have finished shawls with rounds so long, that they took one hour apiece to complete. Nothing can scare me now ;-)

It IS a beautifull shawl, and as with many other projects, it has taken some time to realise that, even though I have made it, it is not crappy by default :-)
A little "fun" fact: The kit is not even mine. Not from what I know, at least! I ordered it together with a woman from Luxembourg, who then sent it to me.... And never responded to my queries of what I should transfer, and how. Never. It is not the priciest kit ever, at 46$, but somehow, I would really have liked to pay it. I dont think the lady desperately needs my money (Because then she would have taken care of getting it, right?), but it would feel better to have a clean conscience.

The handspun shawl has also grown immensely - I am at 63 (?) rows now, but have concentrated on organ playing, and knitting the Rosy Fingered Dawn. That makes 3 shawls in Progress - Christening Shawl, by Gladys Amedro, Rosy Fingered Dawn, and the Triangular Shawl. Certainly keeps me busy!

Have a really nice day
Lene

Better, but not good.

2007-03-02T15:18:00.000Z

A few weeks ago, I knit a "Cameron" cap - a warm, wooly hat with shortrowed earflaps. Supposedly for me...

The first had twice as many rows in the earflaps than the pattern said, and was so large that it enveloped my head totally, plus my neck and only let my nose peek out. So, I tried again. This time around, it was so small that it would barely fit over my head, and makes me look like a pinhead.

Well, not to be defeated, I took out the bottom part of the hat - by inserting a circular into the row after the short-row earflaps, snipped a stitch and unravelled the rown, ending up with the drown of the hat on my circular. I knitted down a bit, knitted the short-rows earflaps top-down in my own fashion, and knitted a hem.

And now? Still too big. Plus the fact that this style makes me look like a pin-head, no matter how big the hat! Omph, That Does Not Make Me Happy.

Plus side? I can give these away as christmas gifts, I hope! The little blue one might be good for my nephew :-)

I still love this pattern for being easy, fun, adaptible etc., but it is just not suited for my head. I will not rule out that I could knit more hats like these, though, if the right recipients surface, because they can be knit in one evening.

But, now I am off with my chock-packed backpack, as there is LøveBrøl tomorrow, where a friend of mine and I will participate. A scout event for the not-faint-of-heart, and oh how I look forward to it :-)

Triangular Shawl with Clover Pattern

2007-02-21T10:32:00.000Z

Yep, that is the name of my current (favoured) WIP.

It is knit in Handspun yarn - a handspun with a long story behind it actually, because first it wanted to be single-ply, but my inadequate spinning skills were not up to the task - all three skeins were differently twisted, so I added a lot more twist and plied the three skeins to make two large skeins and one little one.

The shawl is made from the bottom up, and in stockinette stitch. The beginning pulls out teeth, and I did not do it as written - I omitted a lace row, but it does not look the worse for it, in my humble opinion.
I have a little over 7 oz of this yarn, but it is not enough for the whole shawl. What you can see in my picture are 50 rows out of roughly 310 (CO 624 stitches, and decrease 4 every 2nd row = roughly 312 rows), and roughly 520 stitches, decreased from 624 stitches initially CO. 28500 stitches so far, 67600 to go yet. I have 106 grams, or a bit more than half left. That means I can probably knit another 30000 stitches, leaving me with 37600 to go when I run out.
However, these calculations are a bit faulted, since the bottom pattern increases 4 st. in each pattern (going from 42 to 34 as the decreases set in) over 4 rows, and I did not want to do those calculations because, really... I dont want to seem as anal-retentive as I really am ;-)
BUT... Since this was a "humbug" wool, it was carded together from Moorit and White wool, and I knit where I can get both White and Moorit Shetland in very small quantities. My mother has two pounds of each, and I can buy a little off her as the need arises. I dont, however, think that I will produce a Humbug myself - I could buy some in the second March Weekend if I were so inclined - but I will decide upon either Moorit or White and spin enough to finish the shawl.

If 3½ ounces will bring me around 30000 stitches far, 4 ounces should bring me all the way to the end, right? Especially because the topmost patterns (Lace Holes and Clover Lace) have a steady stitch count as opposed to the leafy lace pattern in the bottom section.
When I run out, I will calculate again and see if I was correct. Remember, this is handspun yarn and it might vary in thickness, taking away some yardage along the way.

Have a really nice day

Lene

Call in the Knitters!

2007-02-14T09:23:00.000Z

In my scout troop, rather my rover group, we have an ambition to have a soccer team of little uns before 2009 - and we're well off already, with a 14 month old and one to come september - if we were aiming for an indoor team of 7, that is :-)

Nevertheless, this new arrival should - and will - be honoured. I am currently thinking very hard about what I should knit as the Mother-to-be and I are not extremely close. Maybe a pair of bootees and a Garfield (our mascot) stuffie?

Have a nice day

/Lene

Darn mistakes.

2007-01-29T12:36:00.000Z

I JUST DONT FEEL like ripping again. I hate ripping. It should be damned and replaced with magical mistake-fixing elves. Yeah.

/Lene

Hats

2007-01-28T11:46:00.000Z

As can be seen in the previous post - the picture with the iced tree - it is cold here.
So, why not knit a hat?
Hats are a good thing - they can be knitted out of one ball of yarn, or some scraps. They are quick projects and you can go completely nuts with colours, yarns and shapes.

Camerons Cap. The link was in another blog, and I fell completely in love with the pattern.

First try:

Mistake! The short-rowed earflaps are twice as long as intended.

This hat envelopes my whole head, covers my neck, overlaps generously underneath my chin and only lets my nose peek out.

Little blue hat

It fits more like an aviator cap - well, it is too small for me. Maybe for nephew next winter?

Little blue hat from the side

I like this pattern. It looks cute, is quick and yet not boring.

Comparision

The hats are quite differently sized - 104 st. for one, and 84 st. for the other. Double short rows in one, right number in the other. Little i-cord detail on one, and contrast colour detail on the other one.

None of these are quite right. However, I think I can make the big one work by taking out the lower portion and reknitting the earflaps from the top down. Maybe I will just try a third one with 94 stitches. If I dont alter the large one, however, I can throw it out :-/

The pattern is a good one, though, if you bother to read it. It is not for a beginner or faint of heart, as it assumes a great deal. No problem for an intermediate knitter though. Plus that the hats are adorable and very special.

Lots of work

Crumpled mass of handspun yarn

It does not really look like anything, but this beast is over 6 hours of my life, not counting the spinning of the yarn - I CO 624 stitches with the backwards loop CO, and spent a whopping 3,5 hours knitting the first row. I had gotten as far as
row 5, but have to frog back row 5 and 4 because I made two irreperable mistakes in the set-up row. I hate set-up rows. However easy the lace pattern may be, making mistakes is so easy.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Triggerhappy

2007-01-26T21:03:00.000Z

Autumn

Organ
Snow outside my window
Mountain, Taiwan
Rose
Stream

Have a really nice day.

/Lene

Bunching on the bed.

2007-01-23T11:33:00.000Z

Anyone guess what this is?
Well, spinning fibre is a quite good guess, but it is much more than that. It is two pounds (a kilo) of natural grey angora! It lies in a standard single bed, and is really an enormous amount.

One of my mothers spinning aquintances asked if anyone wanted some Angora, and well - I have always wanted some. Even though I know that I would need a face mask etc. to spin and wear it! I tried to order a pound though her, but it failed and so my mother and I decided to order two pounds on our own to share. Since I live in Denmark where the lady with the bunnies also lives, it came to my door. SO soft. I could roll around in it and it would stick to me everywhere, making me look like a snowman. I know exactly what I want to do with a little bit of it already today, and that is to start on the thrummed mittens I have procrastinated for a long time, thrummed with ANGORA. How much softer can it be?

Lace

I knitted an entire shawl yesterday, as a matter of fact. Now, that may sound impressing, but it really is not, since it is barely 8 inches wide and 5 inches tall including the edge. It was a swatch that got a little out of hand, when I wanted to see how my handspun Humbug yarn would behave with a US4, 3,5mm in lace. It does quite well, as I am pleased to report, so I proceed to cast on 624 stitches for a Three-cornered shawl (pg. 138) in the Victorian Lace Today book. I hemmed and hawed for a long time if I should make it smaller, start from the neck down or make it square. I dont want it smaller because I am not small, it would look lovely square but I do not have the stamina for it, and from the neck down would surely tire me long before I was finished.
I do not have enough yarn for the shawl, but I can buy some differently coloured shetland roving from my mother, so I will be all set for a very long-sighted project. It looks very enjoyable though, and the lace patterns are anything but difficult.

Have a really nice day here from snowy Denmark

/Lene

"Victorian Knitting Today"

2007-01-21T21:28:00.000Z

For those who have read my old blog will now that I am somewhat of an avid, if lazy, lace knitter. With that in mind it surely wont surprise that the book "Victorian Lace Today" has found its way to my hands. Granted, I could not afford it, but my mother is so smitten with the lace bug too, that she ordered it from Amazon.de :-)

I must say, it is amazing!

First off, it contains a lot of little historical bits and pieces. There are wonderfull, wonderfull pictures of historical and other sites from Victorian England, for example King's College Chapel in Cambridge.

The patterns are very appaling, simple and yet very intriguing. Some are knitted up in mohair yarns making them light and fluffy - some are knit up in handspun, or sock yarn, cashmere yarn etc. The colours are bold, the shapes are unusual for today, and the constructions are ingenious. I especially like the large section on simple scarves with wide borders. I learned more about borders by reading this section twice than reading my HK book several times. It is described in such a visual and down-to-earth way, with colour coded charts and all, that modifying edgings, adding insertions etc. seems very easy. The Author really understands her metiér!

Most probably know the book "A Gathering of Lace", which is also a lovely book on lace. The difference between those two is that while A Gathering of Lace has many small-gauged, elaborate, well-thought out, innovatice etc. garments and shawls this book only has vintage/retro clothing style, like the "fichu", a pretty little lace collar, and shawls deciphered from old knitting books that require less skill than A Gathering of Lace, yet have a strong link backwards because of that exact reason.

For a beginner, I would recommend Victorian Lace Today instead of A Gathering of Lace, simply because the Victorian shawls and scarves are easy, yet very effective, and the techniques section is by far better in the Victorian Lace Today book.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

(Who jumps right into Bed. Weekend was hard on little Author of Blog)

Link to the scarf pattern

2007-01-19T10:06:00.000Z

Marianne, I tried to post a comment on your blog with the link to the scarf pattern, but I could not work out how to do it.

I found the scarf here: Avig Maskan".

What I did was to cast on 10 lesser stitches. It worked fine with a bit of in - and de - creasing. The charts are a bit weird, but if you have knitted lace before, you should be able to work your way around the mistakes in the chart.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Håndspundet Hundeuldshalstørklæde

2007-01-18T21:37:00.000Z

Dette er resultatet af at jeg gik i gang med at lave noget hundeuldsblanding til varme sokker. Varme sokker fik jeg ikke ud af det, fordi jeg i skyndingen fik puttet lammeuld og ikke marskfår med i blandingen! Nå, men spindes skulle det jo, så jeg spandt det ret tyndt - lige som det faldt. Sjovt nok fik jeg ret regelmæssige lyserøde striber.
Nå, men så havde jeg jo et halvstort garnnøgle der duftede ret harskt og var rimeligt stift, men lidt mindre efter vask.

Så fandt jeg en opskrift på en svensk side og blev enig med mig selv om at jeg kunne da starte og se hvor langt jeg kom. Det var så et sidestykke og næsten hele midterstykket. Hvad gør man så, jo man blander og spinder mere, som desværre blev lidt tykkere. Ikke desto mindre passede det helt godt, og selvom jeg gerne ville have været færdig i 2006 blev jeg færdig 15 min. over midnat.

Et meget lækkert sjal, en lidt dårlig opskrift (Som jeg ikke vil linke til pga. kvaliteten), dejligt garn og et dejligt slutprodukt. Jeg kan dreje det en gang om halsen, slå en knude, og det når mig stadig til navlen (Jeg er 183 cm høj). Det holder mig varmt i den værste storm, hvilket jo er ret aktuelt lige nu.

/Lene

Good news

2007-01-18T21:01:00.000Z

Much better than the long, broken hair! It became so thin when it was long, so I decided to do something about it and get a haircut. This is so much better, that I have (almost) shelved the plans of a 10mm haircut. If/When I go out on my future planned epic bike ride, I will do it to avoid having to brush it... (And wash it quite so often).

Have a really nice day - and yes, crafting happened today, but it was boring and not pictreworthy. And ripped.

/Lene

Almost two years

2007-01-17T16:42:00.000Z

That is for how long this project has been "in the works".
It was a Shetland top, 200 gms, varigated. First it was supposed to be a single, and I spun it all up. Then I added more twist to one skein (a large one). Then I decided that one skein was far too twisty (not the large one), and plied the little one upon itself. The last few days I have added twist to, and plied, the other two large skeins. The large ones are identical by pure happenstance. 400 yards on each and 200 in the small one. Not "incredible yardage", but enough for a hap shawl.. Yeah.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Danish Joke

2007-01-17T15:04:00.000Z

Da jeg var på musikskolen i går ville min lærer kopiere nogen noder han havde skrevet ned til os, men kom tilbage med et stort grin på ansigtet og tomme hænder:

Kirkemusikskolens Kopimaskine Mangler Toner!!

/Lene

(A play on words taken from the real world yesterday, untranslateable)

You can't be too old for toys.

2007-01-16T08:11:00.000Z

Especially not those, who appeal to the sense of logic and, by the way, are really good at doubling as squishy toys.
My Aunt, eg. my mothers older sister, has a Quilt Shop (The homepage is terrible, does not work with FireFox, and she knows it because I tell her every time we meet). Update!! One of my friends FIXED it for her!! Well. In this shop, she has lots of fabric, lots of books, and a few funny things. One of those things is an "Impossiblius" (Umulius, in danish). It is a handsewn conundrum. No matter how long you sit and fold the little squares back and forth, they will always reveal a whole side of one of the 6 colours used for the toy. You can fold... fold... fold... fold... It will always show a new face. I have sewn three of these now (A big achievement for a non-quilter). One for my nephew in pale blues and a vivid red, one for my best friend in happy and vivid colours (Both with the 2" block size). Then, I made one with the fabric leftovers in the 1 1/5" block size. There is also a 4" block size, but that one is quite huge.

I love this toy!

I am also trying to learn how the Blogger Photo Upload works. It threw all my pictures around and made it hard to see the way the Impossiblius changes. If you look closely and have a mind that is able to think logical, you should see how I can fold it in the middle, fold it over the middle, straighten it out and smoosh it together again. If you notice my crappy stitching, just close your eyes - I was watching Tv while doing it. The others are prettier.

Should anyone be interested in also making themselves an "Umulius", it can be ordered by sening an E-mail to Kerstin from their web-page. The instructions are in German, but the pictures are very clear and looking up single words on the net should make it vrey easy to understand. She will also ship from Denmark to keep postage down for danes and other scandinaves. (This little toy started a regular craze in our family, and every female member is now making one / has made one / will make one :-)

Patchwork is fun, as long as it works out as it is meant to do. I am working on piecing the squares for my wolf fabric quilt, and just cannot get triangles and corners to work out. On the other hand, I have sewn most of a gigantic quilt top for my niece - in collaboration with my grandma, aunt and mother. It was perfect: We started late, designing it from scratch. My grandma fell and broke her arm, my aunt came down sick and my mother was as busy as never before. I faithfully paper pieced little houses and trees (And discarded more than one). I sewed tiiny little octagonal stars, and two gigantic octagonal stars. I sewed endlessly long borders on... and was free :-) The others did the applique and quilting, weee heee. I honestly would have thoght them out of their minds if they had asked me to quilt it, too.

Have a really nice day.

/Lene

...and she fell in.

2007-01-15T15:34:00.000Z

The oberservant among you might have noticed that I have not joined the "Knit From Your Stash"-craze. Mainly because it wouldnt last long until I would have to resort to "oddball" projects.

I did, however, add to my (once mighty) stash :-)

"Firenze" yarn

I am planning a striped cotton longsleeved tee out of this, hopefully. There should be plenty of yarn - I have a pound - and the offwhite paired with the dusty blue should not scream "fake sailor shirt" :-O

This yarn is very funny, because is consists of three relatively thick plies of cotton that were plied with a thin sparkly thread, overplied and then plied very loosely with each other. I fear that it might pill, but the tiny swatch I made looks good - and is SOFT. Normally I would have scoffed at this yarn, but I wanted something for the summer that I would actually wear, something pretty and substantial, and besides, this yarn cost only 17,40$ all in all :-)

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Charity Knitting

2007-01-15T09:27:00.000Z

First, there is a long overdue project (Related to Firefly's Gracious Parcels Project), where I knitted three squares and left another on the needles. They are knitted on the bias to be sure that they are approx. 7". They are not, but I will block them later today if I can keep up this scaring effectiveness. If I cannot make them grow to 7" all, seeing how they are a bit different, I will knit another, bigger square for Firefly and make a pillow cover out of these squares. The yarn is a 90% wool / 10% plastic yarn that was handdyed with walnut, and the needles are my very first sock needles, now converted to short straights by glueing a bead on one end.

I love this colour

A bonus picture:

What the storm did to my house. Luckily, it is not raining through.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Snooze

2007-01-14T10:26:00.000Z

How much did I knit this weekend?

Not one single stitch.

We were at our local campsite, Tydal, an old farm that was bought by the scouts in the 60's and rebuilt to be a camp site with huts, meeting facilities, and lots of space for tents. It is also really good for all kinds of scout activities. There is a little river right along the edge of the campgrounds, forests etc.

We had so much fun in our rover group, called "Garfield". Of course, we watched Garfield (2, because we watched 1 last time), played with the baby (My nephew), organized some activities for the little scouts (scared the cr*p out of them), ate pizza until we almost puked and discussed how much more it would have to rain before we would have to swim home, seeing how the little river had swallowed an area almost 10 times as wide as it is normally.

Oh! I also found something to try with the yarn I wanted to use for the Aranmor sweater. It is the beautifull red cabled sweater in the Winter IK. Something tells me that I should try to make bust shaping, well maybe, I must see.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Why I Love Blogger

2007-01-11T11:49:00.000Z

It lets me moderate my comments.

(A tool I only use to filter out my own personal spammer/stalker *laughs*)

/Lene

I'm brown...

2007-01-11T10:54:00.000Z

I am still carding along on the brown wool, but there is a quite long way to go. I cannot load those fine cards with a whole lot, so I must make lots of little rolls. I take my sweet time with it. I have no idea of how much wool there is, but if there is enough (and my mother lets me use the yarn), I think I will make a Pi Shawl with it, starting with the lightest end.

This is how it looks while I am working with it. Somehow all the little piles of wool look the same colour, but it is certainly not that way in real life.

It looks glorious in my minds eye, a large, round shawl knit out of a yarn that ever so subtely changes into a mid-dark brown colour, a marled yarn where the middle section is almost one colour (it will be a long section I think), the middle will be light (Intentionally, as the rows in the middle are the shortest and will make the most out of my precious few light rolls). It will be self-edging, so no knitted-on edging. I am pretty good at estimating how much yarn I have left and hope to use up every single yard of yarn, making everything out of my precious few dark rolls, too. Maybe I should find a sheep with a darker brown and make some mixed rolls to create a really dark finished edge - the only natural brown fleece I have is coarse and very dark. Bummer. I must see what I can do with the little fleece I have. But now I cannot get the image of a beautifull round shawl out of my head.

To illustrate what a Pi Shawl is:

Blocking

The beautifull and much envied shawl

It hangs on my wall today and brightens up my living room. It is my most favourite and most loved shawl I think, even though I have knitted not a few ones.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Post Overflow

2007-01-10T22:31:00.000Z

I know this is hilarious.

In the year 2007 I resolve to:
Start wearing panties again.

Get your resolution here.

But it is also hilarious that I am on my 3rd post for today, Ooops!

But there is so much... and this new blog is so much fun.

There are now 16 little rolls of wool (my mother made 5 that came with the wool) on some finnish, incredibly fine-teethed carders a local woman gave us. That said, the rolls are not big. I estimate that I will end up past 50 (eeek) once I have sorted all the wool into 6 bunches of varying colours (six shades between almost white and coffe with a stint of milk). I swear that this sheep must have had polka dots! I would have loved to see that sheep, but since it lives (lived?) in Aus. that isnt going to happen.

I also added twist to a humongous skein of one-ply yarn, and will ply it with another ply of the same yarn when I have added twist to it. I had 200 grams of it and wanted it to be a single, but somehow it became tighter and tighter twisted for each skein, so I sighed deeply and changed plans. (Didnt come easily).

Tomorrow I wont get as much done (or post as much), as I'll go riding in the morning (weee) and in the evening, the guinea pigs and I will take the bus (ewww) home. Normally it would not bother me that much, but I must pack all stuff for scout camp, for organ pratice, and piano, PLUS hay and wood chips for the guinea pigs, their sleeping bag (They are not going to scout camp with me, though ;). All that must somehow fit into my backpack. Having two bags and the pigs in their carry on case is not going to happen.

Have a really nice.. Night!

/Lene

Aranmor is in quarantine.....

2007-01-10T18:48:00.000Z

...and I am carding brown merino wool.

Lovely variegated - my mother got some untreated natural brown variegated australian merino some years ago, and never really got around to spin it. Then the grease got hard. She cooked it, and the locks were still clumps. So now I am teasing them, carding them... and will see what to do next. Spin, probably. I am having way too much fun seperating the induvidual colours, and am thinking that I might do a long thread that progressively gets darker (if I am organized enough) and ply it with the "just variegated" single my mother has already spun out of it - if it is long enough. If not, I might have to spin some "just as it is" of the fleece and ply with my very organized single.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

As time goes by...

2007-01-10T09:24:00.000Z

You learn to appreciate your handknits more and more. At least it is that way for me.

Marianne

This pullover was not a favourite for some time because it always needed a cami underneath, but since I found a few right-coloured ones, it is hard to pry this sweater off my body. It is dressy, classic, unique, and the yarn has gotland-sheep character, meaning that it has a little halo (almost like mohair) and does really well when knitted loosely. It IS knitted loosely (My mother told me I was cheating, lol). It has a clean cut, clean lines and good colour. Nice hems and covers my neck.

So, who should be surprised that I want ANOTHER one? Not exactly like this one, though, as this colour of the particular yarn is not nearly as gotland-sheepy as the green/grey (I suspect the white and grey to be natural colours).

More Evilla Yarn, in a colourway best described as "Summer, Sun and beach"

I found a very simple pattern that should bring out the best of the colour changes and the soft, yet rustic yarn.

From Vermont Fiber Arts

I am not going to buy the pattern, but will try to adapt it for a raglan-in-the-round. Yes, I am so predictable.

Aranmor

I *think* That my second swatch has 17,5 or 18 stitches / 10 inches. If I knit the smallest size (117 cm around) I will probably end up somewhere between the middle (126 cm) and the large (134 cm). I would wastly prefer to end up somewhere between the small and middle, though. I am not so into oversized sweaters (I have plenty), and would prefer one that hangs with just a tiny bit of drape - which it wont if I go further down in needle size. I was not aiming for an armour :-)

First sleeve has been started - and frogged! 51 stitches as per smallest size, 4mm/US6 needles instead of 7 - and yet it had 10 inches /24 cm circumference :-0!! I dont want a sleeve where everyone can peek up and see my bare arms. 8 inches / 20 cm would be OK. Here I go then... Frog and re-cast on... Later.

Have a really nice day

/Lene

Eh... what?

2007-01-09T21:18:00.000Z

I measured both squares.

One has 23 stitches, the other 25. They both tell me that they have 17 stitches /4inches?? And 25 rows/10 inches? Yet I can see, by simple comparing, that the square with the 5mm needle and 25 stitches is 4 stitches wider than the one with the 4,5 needle? What is happening? Can't i count?

They dont even look similar - one looks and feels much more dense than the other.I have no idea what happened.

I will let them rest for today and see what happens tomorrow. Maybe the gauge faeries will change gauge on one of the squares?

Have a really nice day

Swatch swatch

2007-01-09T09:23:00.000Z

Yesss, I am going to make me another sweater! After the sad disaster with the Green-white snowflake sweater ( I still cringe when I think of it, it was so pretty, and then I destroyed it. ), I did not think I would have the mojo to make another sweater for a long time. But oh, how I do!

I made a swatch out of Jaeger Shetland Aran (20% Alpaca, 80% Virgin Wool - where did the Shetland go?), that I got on Ebay.uk for 45$ /pack including shipping to Denmark :) It is a pretty sky blue, and I have a picture somewhere....

Just moss stitch on US8's, but I love this stitch so much, it might almost be considered an obsession. (I even knit my nephews sleeves out of it even though it was about to drive me batty). It looks really good, and if I knit the middle size (126 cm at underarm! wow), I should be able to eke it out of my 10 balls with 186 yards (supposedly), as opposed to the Bainin wool Starmore specifies and that is long unavailible, and that runs 150 yards to the same weight. She is using 11/12 balls, but I also want to modify the neck (It has a ridiculously large neckhole, that just looks mightily silly.

Edit: I knitted another square when the first square on 5mm/8's had a gauge of 16 st/10 cm instead of 19 st/10 cm. The square knitted on 4.5mm/7's hit the gauge exactly - prewashing! Time will show how it behaves when I have washed it. I have heard tales about weird gauge issues with AS (How funny, that's just how Aspergers is written in short: AS) pattern. I might knit it with the loose gauge, or not, because I will, as I am wont to do, knit in it round as long as I can. Edit End

I am sorry, but no picture: I forgot the cam at home! Argh!!

Have a really nice day

/Lene

PS: I have not stopped knitting lace. I just felt the need for a new sweater to comfort me after the previous desaster.

Welcome to my new home

2007-01-07T10:21:00.000Z

Welcome everybody from my old blog, http://www.keepknitting.blogger.de .
It is not as though I were tired of it, but it was very inconvenient - the comments were tedious as they required an (german) registration, and there was a very nasty spammer that the software, no matter how I tweaked it, could not ban.

I am also looking forward to a more easily customized template, and a sidebat where I can finally link my most favourite blogs for everyone to see. There are some incredible, but overlooked blogs out there. Crazy as it might sound, one of those has even prompted me to make a budget and really get a grip on my own life - sheesh, the words say it all, right? MY OWN .... It is nobody elses, so why should they care? Why should anyone but myself (And those I make care because of the way I act and live) care? Uh Oh.. Rant.. *laughs*

Have a really nice day

/Lene