D'oh!!!

*Guro smacks palm to forehead!

I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I'm working on the Trellis cardigan. And the name of my blog, that means right and wrong. Well, I just had a "wrong" moment. Apparently when I read seed stitch, I assume that means reverse stockinette. Only I don't do it all the time.

So my first stab at Trellis will have curling reverse stockinette button bands. If it's too horrible I might try to fix it with crochet. I don't know how to crochet...

I guess I would have noticed before I got half way through the second front of the cardigan if I had the pattern printed out in colour. I need to get a colour printer!

Honey, do my feet look big in these???

How 'bout now?


What do you mean wonky legs?


My legs are as straight as they can be! But seriously, I don't think I have ever worn a pair of socks that make my feet look as big as these. When I look down on my feet when wearing these, all I can think is "Bigfoot". Actually, it's more like "Longfoot". The stripes are doing a very good job at an optical illution. The pictures don't do them justice.

Anyway, I've used up my second ball of souvenir yarn I bought in Austria last fall. I've knit these socks toe-up in what's starting to become my default toe up pattern. I've even unvented my way of short row heel myself I think. The sock is "plain vanilla" stockinette stitch, topped with about 2" of twisted rib. I think I have a small crush on twisted rib now... And I'm very happy I managed to squeeze in another pair of socks to Socktopia this month.

The first pair is here

Awwww... Sweet, huh? They're for a little baby boy due to arrive here in this world in August.

Now, it's time for my daily trip around the garden to kill iberia snails. It's an ongoing battle to get rid of this species of slug that does not belong in this country. My new socks are very nice to wear inside my wellies.

Oh, and all hail the inveniton of self-timers on cameras!

It's a boy!

My cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last week. He's getting this little cardigan from me. In size 6-9 months.



I bought the white yarn first. I originally wanted to make a wrap cardigan. But after starting that pattern three times and finding it both odd and ending up loosing count of my increases all times, I gave that up. (It was this one and it's just as well I screwed it up. I would not have been able to crochet around the edges in the end anyway.)

So I picked this pattern instead, and went out and bought the green yarn. I love how the colours I picked look together, it reminds me of grazing sheep (se previous post), woodland anemone and lego (for some reason). The colours were nice and gender neutral, and that was important for this project.

I only made two minor modifications to the pattern. I decided to wrap one stitch before turning, instead of pulling the yarn tight. And I made the buttonholes bigger by doing a double yo in stead of a single and knit+purl these yo's on the next row. I think these are my best buttonholes so far!

And the yarn of course is not what the patterns call for. It is Silke-Tweed instead of Alpaca. I'm regularly debating with myself (yes this might sound weird) about wether alpaca is really suitable for babies or not. On one hand it is sooooo soft and cuddly. And come in so many beautiful colours. On the other hand it felts in an instant if you're not careful when washing, and who wants to give a newborn mom the task of handwashing (if one is not 100% sure she'll enjoy it because she is a Knitter). Also, alpaca sheds a bit and is hairier than wool. These hairs get stuck in the babies wet hands and dribble. I always try to wipe these things off, but baby drool is so sticky it's hard to get the alpaca hairs out of their hands and mouth.
Superwash alpaca with fewer stray hairs, now that would be something!



I bought the buttons after the gender of the baby had been revealed (by birth). Had it been a girl I would have gone for pink buttons. But I'm glad I could go for these green ones. I think they are very pretty. IRL they are a perfect colour mathch to the green yarn, but the light makes them seem bluer in the photo. Oh, and I did sew them on before giving the the cardigan away. I even sewed an extra botton on to the card, along with washing instructions.

Oh and one last thing... Just a few rows into this pattern I knew it was going to be a struggle for me to finish. Even though I loved to knit whith this yarn and I loved the fabric I ended up with and the colours, I just could not get over how terribly boring this was to knit. I've had to kick myself in the butt several times to get this done in time, if at all. When I was knitting the back I had to check once that my measuring tape was not growing along with my knitting. It's just rows and rows and rows of garter stitch. It's not a very portable project, I ended up with tangeled yarn even when only knitting at home. Portability can sometimes cure the boredom.

Sheepies

I'm back from one of my cousins confirmation. It's been so nice spending time with my family! Great company and lots and lots (and lots and lots) of good food!



My moms cousin, the farmer, took Marie and my cousin to look at his sheep and lambs. Bot the lambs and their moms were a bit weary of strangers, so the rest of us were told to stay on the other side of the fence. I think this was the highlight of Maries weekend. This, and feeding the cows. One of them tried to "eat her hand". I'm sorry I did not get a picture of that. Her expression was priceless!





My highlight this weekend, as far as animals go, was to see about 20 muskox grazeing about 15 metres away from us when we passed them by train. It's very rare to see them, and they only stay down in the valley during spring. I think I find them even cuter than sheep. But much more intimidating too. These things are big!

(you can click the pictures to go to flickr and take a closer look at the cute little lamb tails)

Hurra for 17.mai!

Regular posting is interrupted by the wearing of national costumes.



Hopefully everything will be back to normal newt week.

(I have a 5 hour train ride to look forward to tomorrow. I think I will be able to squeeze in some knitting during my trip.)

(Thanks to DD, Marie, for taking two lovely pictures without my knowing)

Monica

You think the straps look a bit long? This is why:

"Hey mom, this is almost like a kangaroo-pocket!"
-No, it's not...

We'll be working on "How to wear Monica" after it's been shrunk a bit in the dryer.

Pattern: Monica from Knitty
Yarn: Sachnmayr Nomotta - Bamboo. 6 skeins
Modifications: Knit in the round.
Verdict: Easy, fast and wearable for at least two summers. Yay!

That Monica...

Monica is washed and is undergoing some kind of blocking. I must say; she does take her time getting dry! Seems like bamboo sucks up a lot of water and does not want to get rid of it. Once she is dry and the weather permits an outside photoshoot in summerwear, I will show you what Monica looks like and how much Marie loves her new little summer tank.

While I'm waiting for the opportunity to show you Monica I'm knitting on the baby stuff in my WIP basket. One of my cousins is now four days past her due date, and the cardigan I'm knitting for her baby is missing a sleeve and the right front. I have not been paying enough attention to that cardigan. It's just a small piece of knitting, and should have been done a long time ago. But it's also what seems like an endless garter stitch project and I think thats just killing my will to finish it. So I've been paying attention to Trellis instead. And that is so much more fun to knit. No garter stitch at all. The sleeves are done and I started the back last night.

Message to self:

FINISH THIS! (and if recipient turns out to be a little girl, make these to match)

And then there are the projects I want to knit, but am a bit hesitant to start:

• Cute, naval top in Brilla, but how on earth does it stay up?
• Grace, but I'm afraid it will be too itchy in the summer heat (thoug I do intend it to be something to keep the evening chill away) and how on earth will it stand up to constant washing and not so much blocking.
• Green tea raglan from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits, is already swatched but then I read somewhere that the fit is not great. The arms are too tight and the body a bit short (I know how to fix that). I'm also trying to do some math and thinking on this pattern to convert it to knitting in the round with added fake seams. And the seed stitch is going to bore me silly!
• Summertime tunic(pdf) from the present issue of IK... Am I oddly drawn to boring projects?
• Then this months socktopia socks. Stripey socks for me would be neat, but a quick glance in my WIP basket and my leftover sock yarn box tells me this month is going to be stripey baby socks month. Hopefully lots of them.

Where did spring go?

Monica is done, but the weather has turned cold and windy, so I have no good FO pictures to show yet. She needs a wash and block too. I have not had a chance to do that yet, since Marie has been wearing her a lot.

We went for a nice hike in the woods today. But it was much colder outside than we thought it wold be. The warm spring sun was nowhere to be seen.

Marie had to wear handknit wool socks


Petter got the chance to wear his brand new Shedir for the first time.


He looks a bit thoughtful (unhappy/cold) in the first photo, but he really does like his new hat!

See:

Smiling Petter!

Shedir was a fun knit. My first big cabling project and my very first time knitting (fondling) Rowan Calmer.

The pattern is very well written and easy to follow. And I did follow it to a tee. I managed to knit most of the cables without a cabling needle. And I thought it was going to finish it with just one ball of Calmer. No luck on that, unfortunately. I had to get a second ball for the last 10 rows of the hat. So now I have a nearly complete ball of Calmer in the stash, I think I only used 15 metres of it.

With my ability in knitting cables new, and my will to do more of them strong, I cast on for the first of two Trellises last night.

Another fast project

At least I hope it is another fast project. It sure seems like it. I started knitting Monica for Marie yesterday around lunchtime, and I'm already well into the third ball of yarn. A day of knitting outside in the sunshine was marvelous. I even managed to get some colour on my body.

I showed Marie the pictures in the Monica pattern. She was very pleased with what she saw.



I showed her this picture first and showed her the yarn at the same time. I'm using green and pink Bamboo (from Sachenmayr Nomotta), it's 70% bamboo/30% cotton. Very yummy to work with and the fabric is gorgeous. Marie got to decide which colour to go where. She was very proud that she gets to "take part" in the project.

When I thought I was done showing her what I was going to knit for her and got up from my chair to go out and start the knitting she quickly grabbed my hand so I would not leave, scrolled down on the screen and said "But mom, what I really want is this!"

This:


Then there was the long and sad story about why her mom does not sew much, nor does her grandmother. But she's very welcome to ask her dad... (insert evil grin)
Does rage against sewing machines run in the bloodline?

Hopefully there will be FO pictures of Monica the coming weekend.