My first Triinu shawl

I finally wove in the two ends on the shawl. It’s finished.

From Knitted

Pattern: Till minne by Triinu Andreassen.

Yarn: 1 skein of Grignasco merinosilk in pale pink, approximately 30 grams left.

Needles: 2.5 mm addi lace circular 120cm.

Size: 140cm across the top and 104cm top to bottom.

Notes: It was knitted on for several years, and unfortunately I knit at different tension on different parts. It was blocked with wires and therefore the many points around the edge are a bit too narrow and pointy.

From Knitted

Verdict: The pattern is well written although it did take me a few rounds before I got the hang of how the edge rows were divided. I like the shawl despite the mistakes. But I have no idea when I will ever use it, maybe except at my wedding.

From Knitted

From Knitted

From Knitted

Broderie is finished

I decided to go with the buttons I had bought, and finally finished the cardigan earlier this week.

From Knitted

It is difficult to capture the real colour; it is less blue and more green.

 

Pattern: Broderie by Connie Chang Chinchio

Yarn: Drops Muskat colour 74 petrol around 9 or 10 balls

Needles: 3.5 mm circular, both addi lace and a bamboo due to airport security reasons

Hook: 3.5 mm

Notions: 2  withe mother of pearl buttons

Modifications: I did knitted set-in sleeves because I didn’t know how much yarn I had. It would most definitely been easier to knit bottom up sleeves as per instruction, but it was nice practice.

Notes: Gorgeous design with a clear and easy to follow pattern. My bamboo needles are slightly green from the yarn. I was worried that the edges would curl too much, but they turned out quite nicely. Maybe because I did a sewn bind off?

First FO of 2009

It’s been difficult to muster the energy to knit on any of my multiple WIPs. However our floor has been very cold and I had a skein of Fabel sock yarn in my stash. Hence this years first finished object is a pair of socks, albeit very short socks.

Pattern: Super Simple Short Sock by Meghann Holcomb

Yarn: Garnstudio Fabel, 1 skein

Needles: 2.0mm Knit picks harmony wood options

Notes: A nice pattern. The socks fits quite nicely. Although I did not check row gauge so the first sock is a tad on the short side, lengthwise that is. As with the jaywalker sock I knitted, I’m not to keen on the grafted toe on top-down-socks. Albeit I have only knit toe-ups once and that was in a heavy-weight yarn. But the next sock I’ll knit will be a toe-up with a sock-weight yarn.

Two new hats to warm my ears

A while back I finally decided to do something about my hat/cap situation. The one hat I’ve been using when it’s cold has stretched and falls off when it’s a little windy. This is a city with plenty of wind, hence I needed a new hat. I wanted to make a hat that was tight at the brim but loose over the rest of the head, with cables. Well after I show the first cap it is obvious why I had to make a second.

Cabled cap

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Drops alaska

Needles: 4.5 and 5.5 mm Knit Picks harmony wood options

Verdict: It was what I had planned but it is actually nice to have an option in size of your head wear. This fits comfortably under the hood of my jacket whi ch is great when its raining.

Twisted slouchy beret

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Garnstudio alaska 3.1 skein

Needles: 4.5 and 5.5 mm needles

Verdict: This is more like what I had imagined before starting. There are a slight change I would like to try if I make another one. But I like it. I was very doubtful before I finished it though.

Excerpts are optional hand-crafted summaries of your content.

Finished the jaywalker sock

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina (Formerly on Magknits. Ravelry link)

Yarn: Järbo 2-ply hand dyed by me with food colouring.

Needles: 2.5 mm double pointed metal needles.

Notes: The sock fits perfectly. I think i like toe up socks better, not that I have much experience with either. Maybe I’ll make the second sock someday.

I’ve been home from work all week so the lovely boyfriend brought me some chocolate to cheer me up. Not any old chocolate mind you. It’s of course dark chocolate, 72% cacao, but it’s made entirely out of criollo beans. I’ve never tried that before. It’s gonna be interesting to see if I can feel any difference, and hopefully I like it. Fancy wrapping.

FO: the adapted two-tone shrug

I finished the two-tone shrug earlier this week, and it’s already been used. It’s quite warm even though it is small.

The adapted two-tone shrug

Patterns: Two-tone ribbed shrug by Stefanie Japel and Drops 86-36

Yarn: Drops alpaca dark gray and black, about 3 gray and 2 black

Needles: 4 and 6 mm knit picks option harmony wood needles

The gauge was spot on for the two-toned, so it’s made almost to specification. Length was added to the sleeves and the ribbing was made with two strands held together on the larger needles, as specified for the Drops pattern.

Wearing this garment, I’ve realised my skin is rather sensitive. The alpaca is slightly itchy. However, I can still wear it next to my skin, but the sensation of it and the itching never completely leaves my mind while wearing it. It’s a shame, because it’s a very lovely yarn.

Meet Shelly the tortoise

Shelly is a GossypiumTestudinoidea or cotton tortoise. She now lives with my brother and his wife and is lovingly cared for by my 6 months old niece.

Pattern: Sheldon from Knitty winter 2006

Yarn: 2 skeins Garnstudio muskat

Needles: 3.5mm rosewood dpn

Notes: Not the best yarn and needle combo; Shelly is a little bit too see-through. It was a bit difficult to get the right size opening when attaching the i-cord edging. It seemed too small so I made it larger than in the pattern but it turned out a little too large. There was not enough of the light purple yarn so one of her legs are mostly dark purple. I’ll probably make this again for someone else.

FO for a cold neck

I brought my Foaming sea project with me on our vacation. There’s been a few trials but none very successful. But, on the last trial I had made a rectangle in garter stitch and I just tried it around my neck and it sorta’ worked. So I twisted one end and did a three needle bind off. This is what the result looks like.

Foaming Sea cowl

Pattern: Improvised

Yarn: My own handspun Foaming sea merino-silk from Fleece artist.

Needles: 12 mm

Details: Provisional cast on. Garter stitch rectangle. Twist one end 180 degrees. Cast off using the tree needle bind off.

Productive vacation

We’re back home after our vacation. It’s been very relaxing and due to some not so great weather the first week I’ve had quite a lot of time for knitting (and spinning). This is the view from where I’ve been sitting and knitting. Great isn’t it.

There are a few things I will post about but I really can’t wait so I’ll start with the best one. I got the idea for this when I remembered I’ve seen a pattern named Muir when planning our trip to San Francisco. I started the project before going with a vain idea I’d finish it before we went there…Uh that didn’t happen but we did go to see the redwoods in Muir woods national park and now I’ve finished the shawl.

Triangular Muir

Pattern: The leaf pattern is Muir from Knitty. I made a trianlge and composed a border.

Yarn: Lucca fino multicolor

Needles: 5mm Harmony woods options

Size: About 180cm wide at the top

Comments: It was too big to fit on the hopscotch puzzle so I had to block it doubled. Not the ultimate solution. So  I will most likely buy another set of the puzzle in the future. I’m very happy with the border. It took several swatches and some trials with Excel (with the aid of Marnie’s tutorials) to finally get it right.

Fibre club spinning

The fibre for June are all spun up. It’s from Spinspiration. I’ve signed up for 3 months and the theme will be feelings. The feeling for June is happy.

Fibre: 100g Corriedale

Colourway: Happy

Supplier: Spinspiration

Spindle: 1.1 oz Kundert

Type: 1-ply

Length: 305m

Spinning style: semi-worsted

Verdict: It’s spun with a little too much twist. It kinks up in quite a few place because I couldn’t get weigh it down properly during drying. But I did some test knitting and I think it will work anyway.

.