Liberated

One WIP off the needles, but backwards not forward.

From a tangled mess of back and sleeves of a bolero sweater:



To a nice and tidy(ish) balls of yarn:



Yarn, five 4mm dpns, a circ, stitc markers and row counter LIBERATED!

Ahhhhh.....

Whoops - there's another deadline...

Time just flies sometimes. And now my cousin has started her maternity leave, the baby is due in about 2 weeks. And I have not started to knit anything for the the little fellow soon to arrive.

One of my favourite things I've knit for a little spring baby boy is denim drawstring pants. They are so fast to knit, the result is great and they're awsome looking on a little baby.



I've dug up a few balls of Rowan Denim from the stash. Maybe they'll get done in a week, then I have another week to knit a cutesy little vest to go with it? Ponder, ponder...

The easter projects have gone so so. One legging has grown considerably, the shawl has not been touched, and I've almost finished one sock - knee high :)
It's good to be home again!

Pessimistic - optimistic

Packed for good weather...



Packed for bad weather



-A KnitPicks sock blank, self-dyed and wound. Numerous patterns for toe-up socks...
-100 grams of Opal Rainforrest Zebra yarn, already on track to become leggings for M.
-a just started Flower Basket shawl in brown alpaca, for those rare occations when cabin life (small space, many people, poor lighting) will give me enough calm and consentration for that kind of project


Ah, well. Fingers crossed for more of the former than the latter.

Resting in a drawer for a year

The "Easterwalkers".

Knit for easter 2006, I still love them and look forward to putting them in my easter luggage every year.

Happy easter! I'll be back over the holidays.

Done, wrapped and in the mail!

7,5 balls of Rauma 2-tråds Gammelserie in gray, and some leftovers in red and pinks makes a practical, whimsical and very cozy blanket for a little girl to enjoy for many years to come I hope. It's a christening gift for a little girl, made in a week (there was some pressure to get it done in time and a sore wrist in the end).



I'm so happy with how it all came togheter in the end. The felting turned the slightly twine like yarn into the softest, squishiest thing. It's also now very much washable, I don't think it will felt much more on a normal wool cycle. And it's larger than a baby blanket, so it can be used for many years to come.

Pre- and post-felting images:


Pre: covers an "average sized" man


Post: covers a 6 year old girl

About a month ago I was crocheting red flowers just for the heck of it. I had no intention to use them for anything. Then P "ordered me" to make a blanket for his best friends baby. I started playing around with a hook and left over yarn from my Oleana hat (Ravelry link). I frogged a scarf in progress to get more yarn (it was never going to get finished anyway, bought 5 more balls of gray, rummaged through the stash for some girly coloured oddballs to spice it all up colourwise. And hey presto: blanket!


Ravelry project page

Chicken. In a hurry...

What do you do when you realise Friday evening that you somehow did not manage to read all the words on a an invitation for a birthday party, and one of the words you've missed out on is carneval ("dress up party").

Crochet to the rescue!


(and an old Picachu costume too)

I'm happy. She's happy (and cute)! The Saturday was saved! (though my wrists hurt a bit Friday night...) There was even a cute little crochet bag in the birthday present.



Since last tuesday I've managed to complete said bag and "chicken", and a whole, huge baby blanket! Just the finishing touches to go. More on that soon...

A bit of rock'n'roll for the weekend

While I concentrate on finishing my pattern writing and other knitterly stuff. Here's som good old fashioned music for the weekend:



So, while you listen to We did it all, I'll try to do it all, and then blog about it!

Honourable mention

I've received an award from Laughingmuse.



I'm very flattered and honoured! It came out of nowhere, on a day I really needed a little pick me up... It's always good to know ones creativity is appreciated.

8 of my favourite creative blogs are
knottygnome
danim
Ann - med pinner
Thorvalda
Hespetre - the other Guro
Bea
The keyboard biologist
Kverulantinnen

The rules are as follows for the nominees:
1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 8 other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

I always enjoy it when I stumble upon other peoples awards on their blogs. It gives me a chance to peek into what they enjoy to read and look at. It's a good chance to see some new things and maybe befriend a few new blogs.

Other than this award; what else is new?

I feel like everything I work on is progressing very slowly these days. I am also finding myself casting on a number of new things, or just plain working on stuff with no purpose. I realised on sunday I've crocheted 20-ish flowers with no plan for them. They are scattered around the sofa and inbetween my wips in a not-good way.

The flower facination started with this



A very cute toddler hat found in my newest knitting book; 101 luxury one skein wonders. A great little book with a lot of promising patterns. The problem with this hat (not considering the funny looking thingy on the top) is that I don't know any little girls who can wear it at the moment... Ah, well!

To make knitterly things progress even more slowly I'm trying to justle up not one, but two different knitting patterns. Procrastinating A LOT! I'm also napping regularly in the afternoons in stead of knitting (or doing house work).

A last note: I WENT TO COPENHAGEN AND DID NOT VISIT A YARN STORE! I did not know that could ever happen to a knitter.

Trying to capture spring in yarn

Today is a nice and sunny day, a great change from the last couple of weeks of snow, fog, slush and gray. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. I long for spring so much. Flowers and grass turning green. The sound of melting snow, the drip-drip-drip from the iceicles hanging from our roof. Not having to watch my every step leaving the house in the mornings, in fear of slipping and falling on the ice in our drive way. I planted a Helleborus last winter, and now I have this vision of a beautiful flower under all the snow in my garden. What if it's done blooming once all this snow is gone. Poor flower!

To keep my mind off all the dreary grayness outside I spun up my roving of Electric Iris Avenue by Dyedinthewool last weekend. It's very springy indeed. And I think my spinning skills have improved too.





This cheerful handspun has made me want to spin more, and I've started spinning up some roving in different shades of reds, browns and pink. A real energy boost! Great fun, and looking very promising so far.
I've also croceted a hat, and knit up and started to write down the pattern for a baby bonnet. Silence on the blog does not mean the needles aren't clicking and the wheel is not clacking...

I keep falling behind

Pictures from last Monday





I've worked on and completed a small number of things since then. Seems like I manage to spend a good deal of time crafting, but not nearly as much photographing or playing online. I've moved my "craft corner" to a different part of the living room, I've tidied everything up a bit and gotten rid of a lot of stuff. A whole bag of scrap yarn and ugh-yarn was donated to M's school. I've frogged three projects I think I would probably never finish and I've now got all my wips in a "sort of" system. I've also spun quite a bit! Things are going on! Now I just have to get a grip on this showing it all off and telling you all about it-thing. It used to be easy, now it's for some reason very hard.

Anyway... The stashbusting blanket is gorgeous and soft and just how I hoped it would turn out. A tad bit boring to work on in the end, but still a very enjoyable project. I gently felted it in the end. Now that's magic. It's so soft and squishy now :)

End of todays story. Hoping to be back with more soon