Happy New Year

The girls are sick so this is what I'm doing on New Years - bloging. I decided not to make a list of what I want to do. I will leave it open. Only thing is I want to finish my WIPs, especially the French Village. I also want to start a big project. I want to make more ornaments too. I'm getting hooked on those.

Another year coming around the corner

I've been working on my stitching projects finally. I've been doing things for other people lately and missed doing things for myself. I've been working on my UFO project, French Village (25% done) and the band sampler (working on the 3rd band) this week. I wish I could show you the upgraded pictures but they are trapped on my camera for now.

I think ÁS woke up. She had a stomac flue yesterday. Poor thing. I have to blog about next year some other time.

Post Xmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Kamilla is discovering Christmas for the first time and just loved opening packages, and she didn't really care who the belonged to as long as they where opened. I was reading the tags and handing out the presents and she would sometimes go behind me and grab a gift. We were me, Clint and the girls and my mother. Here in Iceland Christmas starts on 6 PM on Christmas Eve. We ate light-smoked lamb and it was delicious. And after dinner we opened our presents. Normally we clean up after dinner first and eat desert but since the girls are so young we wanted to open the presents before they fell asleep.

Now I have uploaded some pictures. This is the birthday present for my friend, who turned 30 in December. It is a Lizzie Kate design worked on the recommended fabric, Cafe Mocha linen.



Here is the only Christmas present I made by hand. It is a scarf I made for my Grandmother Laufey. It is crochet in Merino (Jaeger yarn) and has Biggy Print yarn (Rowen) woven in, also merino. I've never wanted to do a scarf before. This one is different because it is crochet not knitted and maybe I'm just getting more mature.



Now I want to clear out as many WIP's as possible. I got the silk thread I needed for the TW piece and did the little bit that was left. Now I have to add the beads and I have them ready. In the new year I want to concentrate more on big patterns and delicate patterns. I got some patterns from Golden Kite. I've been lurking on their webpage for over a year and now they had an offer I couldn't refuse. I spent twice the amount of money I had planned but got four patterns instead, 1,2,3,4. The first two I bought and the next two I got for free. I don't plan to do them all. At least not in the nearest future. I joined an internet group for people who like to do big projects and it is very inspirational.

Christmas around the corner

In the 10 days or so Ása Sóley has started waking up in the evenings. I had the luxury of having a little baby that went to sleep at 20 PM but then all of a sudden she decided just to take a nap early in the evenings and stay awake most or all af the evening. This has reduced my knitting time considerably. I did manage to finish the birthday present in time but barely and I ended up framing it myself. I haven't uploaded the picture of it on my computer yet. It'll come.

Now Christmas knitting. I will be able to finish a scarve that I'm making for my grandmother Laufey. It is a very simple and elegant scarf. It's the first scarf I've made since my scarf fiasco in school. Actually it is not knitted but chrochet in a net and a nice yarn is woven in the net. Here is the pattern (in Icelandic but you can see the picture). The Canto yarn is not sold any more, not in Hagkaup at least. I went to another store who is a speciality knitting store, Storkurinn (the stork). They carry Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Jaeger, Noro and such. So I got Biggy Print to weave in the net of Jaeger yarn. Both Merino. I am going to have to make one for myself!

I also have couple of mittens on the needles. I finally learned to make mittens ;) and now I think it's so easy.

Couple of finishes over the weekend

I finished couple of WIPs over the weekend. I don't know if it's called a WIP (Work In Process) if you actually finished making the thing but have the finishing left (frágangur).

I blocked the doily (dúlla) I made way back:



and gave it to my grandmother, who turned 88 years old yesterday. She is in a hospital and it looks nice in her room with decorations sitting on top. It gives the room a little more personal touch (don't get me wrong, she has a nice private room to begin with).

I enjoyed making this doily. Every row was different, so a lot of variation which I enjoy. Then after the blocking the piece transformes itself into a very beautiful (IMHO) doily. It's been a while since I finished it, maybe 3-4 months but I didn't want to block because I didn't know how to store it. It wouldn't be safe from the hands of the 2 year old if it was out and how do you store a thing like that in closets or boxes?

I also finished a hat:



Funny how I look like an old women on the photo. This is my comment on it on the pbase site:

"This is a lopi hat I knitted once with leftover yarn for my uncle (I had made him a sweater). I never got around to giving it to him. Well, yes once but then he was off to a warmer climate so the hat remained with me. As it was too large for me I ended up washing it and it felted. If it sortof in a charleston fasion as it curls up on the ends. I sewed in these little flowers to give it a little more fancy look and I really like the way it turnes out. I, however don't particulary like the way I look like I was 100 years old on the picture nor that the hat stings somewhat, unless it is really cold."

My craft time has somewhat been cut back as little miss Ása Sóley has decided to be a party queen and stay up late. Gone are the tranquil evenings starting at 8 PM. She is actually very quite and plays and has fun so I get some time for knitting and stitching, I'm thankful for that. I'm hoping that this is just a phase!

Stitching blogger's question of the week

I finally signed up for the sbq. So every Wednesday a new question is posted an a bunch of stitching bloggers answere it.

Today's "Stitching Blogger's Question" was suggested by Zohrah (http://xstitch.free.fr/zohrah13/) and is:

Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2005/12/stitching-for-charity/

I have not done it and actually never been aware of such a thing with the except in a magazine. There has not been orginized charity stitching here in Iceland that I know of. I don't know if I would participate. I really depends on my schedule. I don't think I would be organizing one in the nearest future but I can see myself organizing one later on for a cause that would hit home with me.

Knitty is out!

Can you believe what they have - blue jeans for babies! I've been wanting to try the Rowan Denim yarn. I even found a cute denim dress pattern (skokkur). But this beats everything.

After blogging yesterday the christmas-gift-making spirit came over me. Finally. Usually it is a lot sooner. I have it all planned out. Well maybe not all but if all else fails I'll always have the 1 hour scarf!

No title

Right now I'm working on 4 WIPs. One is a knitted item and is the hat I showed you a picture of in last blog (which Linda correctly guessed). It is an on-line pattern (in Icelandic) in Regia sock yarn, 6 ply (as it is the only one sold in Iceland that I know of - at least in Hagkaup) in passion colorway. I'm making this hat for Kamilla, although I don't know why. This child has more hats than she can use! I might give it to someone. I'm using up left-over yarn from when I made my first (and only sofar) socks.

For cross stitching I have 3 projects current. One is a present and you will get pictures in about 2 weeks. One is my band sampler - it's such a joy to stitch. Both the silk yarn and the variety of stitches make it very interesting. I just wish I had more stitching time. Finally, I've picked up the Crescent Moon by Mirabilia and started the bead work. I'm making this pattern for Kamilla and I also want to make one for Ása Sóley. I've been looking at the other Little Stitches patterns and have started to lean towards this one. Although it is called newborn joy I doubt that it will be in the working for a while.

HD blog

I made a project that I didn't share here on the blog since it was a gift. It was a frog bib! Who would appreciate that kind of design for there baby??? We were babysitting (or frogsitting) two frogs for friends of mine and they just had a baby. An adorable baby girl Áslaug Edda. Here's the bib:



I also made these Lopi mittens awhile ago and I believe I mentioned them here. They are the once I only had 10 cm (4") left of the yarn when I finished. Here they are:



I've been working on my Just Nan band sampler from Hanging by a Thread. Their photo is terrible but here is the first band:



Finally, I started a new project - can you guess what it is?

Rooster ???

I made a cross stitch kit with a rooster! I never thought I would do that because I don't like rooster designs. Some people are crazy about them!



I did however enjoy the process, it was fun to stitch, but I have no clue what to do with it! The reason I did it in the first place was because when I moved I had packed my craft stuff except for a small project. I got a late birthday present from one of the women in my birthday gift exchange and I was desperate enough to do it!

A new trix

I just learned a new trix in x-stitching. Sometimes one cross starts in the same hole where the previous one ended. This happens e.g. when you stitch upwards (instead of downwards) and the rows are aligned. What you can do is to loop the thread around another thread at the back of the piece and then you can go back through the same hole again!

Why didn't anyone tell me about this? It's so simple. And if there is something I've learned in Engineering it is that beauty is in the simplicity ;) Fegurðin er í einfaldleikanum.

Too busy for crafts? Nah, not me.

I'm hacking away at my dissertation. This weekend I'm sending a revised copy to my instructor. Then I'm taking a little break and will be unpacking (at last) and stealing some time for stitching and knitting.

I'm focusing on smaller projects right now. I'm doing a smal design I got for my birthday and it is almost done, perhaps hour, hour and a half left. But in the meantime I knit up a pair of mittens, about time! I finally found a pattern for Lopi mittens and it had the most clever thum formation. You knit the stitches meant for the thum on an extra yarn (best to use a different color), then you put the stitches back on the left needle and knit them as they nothing happened. Then, when you're done knitting to the top you take out that extra yarn and pick up the stitches! It's brilliant.

You know what else is brilliant? I knit the mittens with the leftover yarn from my red sweater (yes I save leftover yarn :o ... ). It was very exciting to knit with it because I wasn't sure I had enough. Turned out there was just 10 cm (4") left of the yarn when I finished the second mitten, just enough to weave in!

Out of order

I've been away for awhile. Away from the internet that is. I moved and it's taking some time to get the internet hooked up again.

Birthday gifts

I got a lot of gifts this time around. Some from my friends and relatives but most from my stitching friends at Allt í kross. We have a Birthday game, where 15 of us send each other gifts for our birthdays. I go a lot of stitching related gifts, including 3 Mill Hill kits. Those kits are so much fun, they have different beads and decorations and some of them are made with perforated paper, which I love. I've made one kit already - the Angel. Funny enough, all the three other kits I got were angel kits :o One, two, three. little kits ;)

For part of the money I got from my grandmother Laufey I bought Þríhyrnur og langsjöl. Then I will buy herb colored single ply icelandic yarn in Ullarselið, next time I'm in the neighbourhood (they are about 1 hour drive from here). The yarn is on the front page - isn't it beautiful? Can you believe these colors?

30 years!

I'm thirty! My birthday was October 14th. It's wierd but I'm getting used to it. I mean it's not like I'm old?

Since it's been so long since my last blog I'll have to show you a picture.



This is Ása Sóley in her crochet Lopi jacket - pattern from Crochetme.com. I do have to put on the buttons though, so it's not all the way finished yet.

Then I have the whitework ornament:


Can you believe it? I ran out of floss just before I finished :( I wonder if you even see the missing part, that's how small it is. So if any of you reader have leftover white silk floss from Madeira, can you please, please send me some. Or I could just buy another one :o

Dilemma

I have a little dilemma. I wanted a quick, easy project and chose this pattern from the online magazine Crochetme.com. I'm making it with Lopi, which has the same gauge as the recommended yarn. The problem is that it is designed with crochet hook K with is 6.5 mm and that yields to 10 hdc (hálfstuðlar) per 4" (10 cm). It is not possible to get 6.5 mm crochet hooks in Iceland (please correct me if I'm wrong) and a 6 mm hook gave 12 hdc and a 7 mm hook gave 8 hdc. I continued with the 7 mm hook although the sweater will be too large for Ása Sóley, maybe it will fit Kamilla instead. My other alternative was to frog (rekja upp) and start with the smaller size with 7 mm. That might give results close to the original bigger size I intended to do.

So I guess I solved my dilemma of whether to frog or not already!

I really like the color of the Lopi I chose. It really is a quick project. Perhaps I'll make two! I really like the texture that the hdc stitch creates. I normally don't like the texture of crochet cloths, especially children cloths, but I really like this one. Picture soon. I will be getting a new computer soon, which should help solve my photo sharing problem :o

WIP album

Holy cow! I haven't blogged for 10 days! But I have also not done a lot of knitting/stitching/crocheting in the last days. Not even on the weekend. I go to bed early and wake up early.

I added an album on the pbase.com photo service of WIP projects. My means of downsizing the photos are limited so I just put them on there full size for the moment. Not only that (I will have to put smaller images later) but these aren't even current pictures. I've done more work on each of these projects!

I also added photos of my huge, big, soft washcloth and Ása Sóley's hat. The hat is unblocked on this photo. It looks much better block - IMHO.

Lazy or just tired?

I opt for the second reason. I've been tired lately. Kids been sick and waking up early (6 AM). So I've been going to sleep at 9 - 10 PM.

I found that I need a neck warmer (strokkur). I walk around with Ása Sóley in a Maya Wrap. It means that my neck is bare since I can't zip up my jacket. I went to a knitting store close to my house (Storkurinn) and asked for something super soft. That's exactly what I got. Alpaca Silk. It's the softest yarn I've ever touched. Ok, ok, so I'm used to the all-so-scratchy Icelandic Lopi but this yarn is very very soft. It is made out of baby alpaca wool and silk (hence the name). I can't wait to get it around my neck. I didn't get needles because I thought I had some. I did, just in the wrong length. I need to get shorter needles for knitting in the round. My Weekend Knitting book has a pattern of a neck warmer so I can get the dimensions from that, and I already swatched (prjónaði prufu) since there was nothing else I could do at this point. And as always I was right on the target! The color is a beautiful navy blue (shade nr. 3) and I plan to knit stockinette stitch in the round (slétt prjón).

P.s. Linda had a beautiful baby girl. Congratulations again (and again) and I hope you can enjoy your babymoon :)

Going backwards

Guess what! I made a mistake on my doily. I had to go back several rows :( It wasn't until then that the count mattered. It meant one whole days work I had to redo!

This is not the only project that is goin backwards. My UFO project is also going backwards. The first UFO Tuesday I worked on it a lot and got much done. Next Tuesday I did little bit. Made a mistake, had to go back to correct it but then my friend dropped by (a little Icelandic characteristic - people just drop by unannounced!) and I didn't work on it more that evening. Next Tuesday I passed out sleeping at 9 PM so nothing got done then. Hopefully this Tuesday will be better.

Finally I want to send birth vibes to Linda so she doesn't have to have her little tenant evicted! She was due Sept. 30. Go Linda go. Go baby go.

UPDATE: Linda was due August 30th and don't pay attention to the first comment - looks like spam to me.

I did it!

I did it! I crochet (hekla) last night. I made the first 10 rounds of this doily. I had a light yellow thread (apparently it's not called a yarn but rather a thread - heklugarn) from when I meant to do filet chrochet (man ekki hvað heitir á íslensku). I tried but my tension was off. I also had a steel crochet needle. I actually had few of them which I got from my mom, who got them from her mom! The one I am using is 1.6 mm in diameter.

The pattern I chose is a pattern I bookmarked earlier in the day. I also bookmarked this doily - simple doily. It wasn't until I was quitting for the night that I realized that I could have made much smaller doily and be done much sooner!!! But actually I also liked the pattern I started because the beginning looks like a knitted doily and I think that's kinda cool :Þ

I really love doing this because each round is different from the previous round. I hate repetitions. When I was learning to read we had to read for our moms and the moms had to write their name and how often the child read the text on a paper. I never read the text more than once because I thought it was useless. So this disslike of repetition started early. So lace, whether it is knitted or crochet, hits home with me. Each round is different from the one before.

I took a photo but since my computer situation is not 100% yet I will have to show it later. I am really sorry because I love showing of my craft. Don't think for a second I am only doing this for myself!

Follow that blog

When it comes to interest in crafts I'm very impressionable (is that how you say it?). I follow the people around me regarding which craft I do and my taste can even be changed by the people around me. When my online craft life started (July 2003, when I joined my first online craft group (Handavinnugleði). I was inspired by the fine women of that group to be a cross stitcher. I had done a little bit of stitching before but under their influence I got all of the DMC colors on ebay. It so happens that the yarn in USA is only 1/5 the price it is here. Now the doller is weaker so it is even cheaper now.

I got the yarn in April 2004, when we took Kamilla to see her family in California.
From that point I only did cross stitch until November 2004, when I knit some christmas presents. After that I started to read knitting blogs and only knitted for a while. Then, somehow I started cross stitching again.

When I read cross stitch blogs and hang out with my cross stitch crazy friends (which now have move to the group Allt í kross) I am crazy about XS (cross stitch). This is the situation lately. I haven't read knitting blogs in a while. Today, however, I've been reading crochet blogs and at the moment I am dying to pick up a crochet needle. I have a granny square blanket UFO that I could do and I have long since wanted to knit or crochet a doily (dúlla).

Regarding changes in my taste then the first time I saw Mirabilia or Lavender and Lace pictures I didn't really care for them. Now I love Mirabilia and I like LandL as well (when other people do them). At first I also didn't care much for Lizzie Kate designs but got influenced by people at my online group and now I love them :) Not all of them. I still don't like designs with the alphabet in them or a lot of writing.

My computer is still messed up. It's just getting worse :( The worst part is that I have specialized programs there that I use for my dissertation. Also I am having problems with photo uploading - management.

I haven't been active in the evenings lately. Kids been sick, which means little sleep for me so I'm in bed early. This weekend I managed to do a lot in the french village and am about 20% done. That's about 3300 stitches! This picture is very fun to stitch. I can't really explain why but it has to do with the lack of details since the design is work from a watercolor painting. It is also impressionistic and I really like the impressionist style. I have seen some Monet adaptations that I would love to stitch someday. This one from the Golden Kite is tempting (but big 220 x 280 stitches) and I've seen a (much smaller) adaptaion of this painting in Cross Stitch Collection.

Last night, while watching a movie, I knitted a minature sweater. Well I didn't complete it but finished most of it. It is from the book Weekend knitting, same as the flower shaped washcloth I did last week. Actually the washcloth was the first design in the book and the minature sweaters the second. It seems that I am makeing the partterns in order!!! In the book it is presented as a unusual egg cozie but I intend on having it hang from my car's rearview mirror. I'm making it in Kambgarn with 3.5 mm needle.

Sorry about not bloging

Things been busy around here. Clint's been working a lot and I've been alone with the girls more or less. Then Ása Sóley got a cold and had troubles sleeping at nights which didn't help either. Hardly any stitching or knitting has been done. One exception, I had a get-together last Wednesday. Lot of women comming over to stitch. I can't do two things at once (stitch and talk/listen) so I started a simple knitting piece. Turnes out I couldn't even do that. I don't understand how the other women can stitch and talk at the same time. They are incredible.

Well, the knitting piece was a flower shaped washcloth from Weekend knitting (book) out of 100% cotton chenille. Very soft and very big (10.5 inches wide). It's a piece you could do in one evening but it took me about 3 days, knitting at every moment I got!

I can't show you a picture of it. One of the reason I have been off the internet is because my computer was in the shop. When I got it back it was all messed up. One of the things was that the USB ports didn't work. So no photo downloading :( I took it back and hopefully they can fix it (again).

Weekend over

I didn't finish as many projects this weekend as I had planned. Mainly because I hardly did anything yesterday.

But I did finish two more projects on Saturday. I framed my Lizzie Kate picture - Bless our home. (sorry about the bad quality, I'm on a temporary computer)



And I finished a hat I made for Ása Sóley. I never posted a picture of it here (or mentioned it) because I knit it when she was newly born and I wasn't using the internet so much. Then I put it away, not really hurried to finish it since it was for 3-6 month and it was middle of summer. It fit well now, a little too well if you ask me. Ása Sóley is so big, she is 2 standard deviations (staðalfrávik) bigger than her sistar was . I'm glad I finished it now so she'll get some use out of it. I even put little wooden pearls on it and I've never made this kind of cording before. The hat hasn't been pressed yet.



I made a list of my WIPs and UFOs here on the right. It is to motivate me to finish them. Underneath that list is another one of FO that need to be worked on. I planned to make the hardanger ornament but instead I watched SNL 25 anniversary with my husband. Everything is ready for it though. I even found my sewing kit yesterday so now there is no stopping me in that department. I also planned on making the pillow from the RR I participated in. But the fabric I planned to use was dirty!!! We've been using it to cover a sofa. Actually I had two big fabric covers and both of them had been used. Now it is all cleaned. And the Teddy bear (Galdrabangsi), I had it all ready to frame once but there was a stain in the fabric. I finally decided to wash the piece in the washing machine. I put stain remover on it and washed it in a protective bag. The stain is gone and the piece is ok! Sorry for no links I have to take care of Ása Sóley now.

The Weekend of Big Finishes

I've decided that this weekend is going to be the weekend of finishes. I plan to finish as much as I can of my stitched and knitted objects today and tomorrow. My main problem in crafts is that I love the process but don't care to much about the end (and sometimes even the end-product). Last night I realised why that is. I simply don't know how to finish, how to do the final touches. The patterns and instructions don't say how it's done so I don't know how to do it. I need help. And help I am going to get. Guðbjörg, one of my stitching friends from Allt í kross is having a stitching weekend at her house this weekend. Open house from noon until midnight (or beyond) Saturday and Sunday.

I started already. Here is a picture of the Mill Hill angel kit, all stitched up and framed.



I did cheat a little bit and started the Beginner Whitework Ornament, stitched with white silk on colonial blue 28 ct. Lugana.



At first sight the silk didn't look so much different from the cotton threads I normally use (standard DMC). But as soon as I started working with it I noticed the difference. It is softer, fluffier and shinier. It definitely feels more luxurious and natural to stitch and it is more random, if you will. Has more life in it, more character. At any rate, it is a welcome change from the good old cotton ;)

The BCS picture

Click the picture for a bigger version.

Excited

I'm so excited! I finished the hardanger piece. It was so fun to stitch. I'll be doing some more of these, that's for sure. I'll take a picture tomorrow in daylight.

I'm excited about something else as well. Yesterday I wrote about my newfound passion for band samplers. Today I recieved a newsletter from Just Nan. At the bottom was a link that said Exlusives. Intrigued, I followed the link and at the bottom of that page I found Regency Roses, a limited Edition band sampler. And it is gorgeous. I ordered it and I can't wait to get it. It comes in a kit, so chart, fabric and threads included. The threads are silks, both perle, solid colors and overdyed.

I cleaned up in my WIP list on the right. I took out the percentage bars. Since I use Firefox, I can't see the percentage on the bar so I see no use keeping them.

UFO stitching

Yesterday I picked up a color I had lost for my French Village picture (DMC 747) and the needlecraft store (Nálin) also had silk threads. I've been wanting to try silk for a little while. I am going to use it for TW's Beginners Whitework ornament. I've been getting a new obsession in stitching - Band samplers. Band samplers are samplers that consist of bands (suprisingly), where the bands have different stitch types. I have one pattern of a band sampler, A little love sampler from M-designs. The band samplers often have different kind of threads as well, silks or metallics for instance. So I wanted to try silk on a whitework piece.

I am getting sidetracked a little. This post was supposed to be about the UFO Tuesday we had last night at my club. I got couple of hours of stitching time last night and worked on my piece. If you click on the picture you get a close-up. The design can be found here.



I am done with about half of a quarter - so 1/8th of the picture. Actually I have done more work than that because I started it over. The design was made with Anchor thread but I am using DMC and I wasn't happy about the color conversions.

2 in 1 - day

Yesterday I stitch a little bit of the BCS kit in the morning and took a picture:



I had finished of the 4-sided stitch around the blackwork star I worked on last night.

Then in the evening I couldn't resist taking this piece to the next level - CUTTING.



So yesterday was 2 (pictures) in 1 day - lol, I'm so funny, he he. :)

Tonight is a UFO night at my online stitching club (Allt í kross). If I get a change to stitch tonight I will work on the French Village (see the right hand side bar). I also have couple of knitting UFO's available.

Hurray for Mill Hill

On Friday I wrote a message to Mill Hill explaining that there were about 6 green beads missing and today they were in the mail. This is good service, especially since Mill Hill is in USA and I am in Iceland. Of course it would have been best if I had enought to begin with but I wasn't expecting the beads so soon.

Not much stitching being done these days. My oldest is turning 2 years old on Sunday and plans have begun for her birthday party. I made marengs (I think that's what it's called in English - suger and egg whites) last night and today I saw this reciepe on Linda's blog. I'll think I will have to do that one as well, it sounds delicious.

BCS picture

Here you see the progress of the BCS picture as of this morning. What remains now is a blackwork star in the center and four-sided stitch around it before I move on to the cutting. After the cutting some beads are put in. I look the most forward to the cutting. That is the main deal with this pattern.

Last night I was looking at the french knot on Victoria Sampler's stitch animation and it seems as I was doing colonial knot rather than french knot! I don't think there is a lot of difference and I'll just keep it as it is.

BCS news

My Beyond Cross Stitch kit is comming along despite french knots. I couldn't do them last night but thought about them a little when I went to sleep. Then today I thought I would give them another try before I moved on and what do you know!!! I managed to do them!!! Hurray for the subconcience (? spelling)!!! Right now I'm doing white on white backstitching. You can't complain about the lack of details on this piece:)

More pictures

Finally having some spare time processing pictures and blogging :)

Here is a picture of the semi-finished Mirabilia's Crescent Dreams picture. The cross stitch and the back stitch is done. Now I am going to park this piece before I put in the beads and the charms.



Another picture of my Hardanger SAL. It is a design by Thea Dueck, my new favorite designer. It's a part of a learning series. It's nr. 2 in level 5.



I'm following the directions (which are very good) all the way. First the metallic border then the kloster stitch (the white satin stitches) but before the cutting begings the other parts of the picture are stitched. Now I am up against some french knots, not my favorite. I learned how to do them but now I just seem to have forgotten how!!! I'll have to have another lesson, I guess.

Pictures at last

This is a picture of the Mill Hill angel, missing 6 green beads and a star. I have the star but I don't have the six green beads. But I e-mailed Mill Hill and they are going to send them to me. The star is golden (wooden) and is supposed to go between her hands (not sure if you see her hands in the picture) on top of the blue and golden beads. The problem is that I like the beads more than I like the star! So I'm thinking about skipping it altogether.

Hardanger

I'm so excited. I started my hardanger kit last night. It starts with a border cross stitched with a gold thread. I've never used metallic threads before and I've always heard it was pain in the arse. But I liked it! Maybe because it's a new experience, I don't know. I liked that is was just a single strand. Most cross stitch is done with at least two strands and they tend to lay over each other instead of side by side.

This morning I woke up with Kamilla while the rest of the family kept on sleeping. Kamilla watched a cartoon while I enjoyed the morning in peace. Of course I kept on with the kit. I started on the closter blocks and finished the inner circle. So far so good.

Progress, at last!

I got free time last night! It's a miracle! I used the time wisely - I finished the cross stitches on the Crescent Dreams picture. There was only about one evenings worth of stitching left (about 3 hours). I even started the backstitch, which isn't much.

Ása Sóley slept from 9 PM all through the night yesterday until 6 AM (with a snack at 10). She was a little under the weather just like her sister Kamilla, who had a sore throat, and has been sleeping a lot today.

So now there is nothing stopping me from doing the Hardanger SAL with Rósa.

Back from the country

I've been at a summer house my father and his wife own. It's been great, we really enjoyed the stay there, especially Kamilla.

It's in Reykholtsdalur (Reykholt's Valley), Reykholt is the place where Snorri Sturluson lived, but he is credited for some of the Saga's. The land belongs to Sturlu-Reykir (the estate), where geothermal energy was first used for domestic heating in Iceland.

I didn't get a lot of stitching or knitting done there because Ása Sóley was restless and didn't sleep a lot in the day time and at it was worst in the evenings. Until the last day, then all of a sudden she fell asleep at around 9 PM and slept until 1 AM. I used the time to stitch. First we Clint were watching a movie and then I watched Desparate Housewives (the movie was already at least half way done) and Ása Sóley was still sleeping !!! I was getting worried that she was alright. I stitched on - through an episode of Sopranos and she was still sleeping! I managed to finish my Mill Hill kit (except for the green beads that are missing and a charm). I already took a picture but I'm having some troubles with the photo processing program so I'll show it to you later.

Little by little

Not much knitting or stitching here. It depends on Ása Sóley really. Some evenings she just eats and sleeps and I can work on my projects but other evenings she is awake and gassy and needs my full attention.

This situation hasn't stopped me from ordering stuff from the internet. The 'excuse' (not that I need excuses) is the birthday game at my x-stitching club, Allt í kross. The women participating in this game send each other birthday presents. They don't have to be cross stitch items but most are. So I ordered few things from Sewandso and Ebay. Of course I ordered stuff for me too. I decided to get this gadget. It's a seat frame. I put it underneath my leg as I stitch and can stitch 'handsfree' (meaning that I don't need to hold the frame with my hands). This purchase has inspired me to stitch on my Crescent dreams. I don't have much actual stitches to do and then there is the beading. However, I usually don't have much time to stitch it so it will take a little time still. It is a project that takes some time to start. I have to put the fabric in the hoop and get my supplies out. The fabric can't stay in the hoop because it will leave marks on it and the supplies have to be put away everytime so they won't get in the hands of a certain 2 year old that hangs around here :o

The Mill Hill kit is much smaller and easier to pick up. It doesn't require hoop since it is done in paper and I can pick it up just for few beads at a time (the actual cross stitching is done). I did run into a problem with it. It is short 4 beads in one color. I want to finish the other colors first to see if there is a shortage of another color and then send Mill Hill an email. Another woman in my club had the same problem with a Mill Hill kit her daughter was making.

Then there is the knitting. I've been in stitching mood lately but the baby's overalls have begun to haunt me. I want to finish them before she grow out of them! So I picked it up last night. We went to my mom's house and Ása Sóley slept most of hte time there (she'd been away most of the day!). I found, however, that I didn't bring the pattern. I picked up the stitches and knitted a few rounds anyways. When I came home I realized I'd made a mistake. The finishing was supposed to be in stockinette stitch (slétt prjón) but I made k1 p1 (stroff)!!! At least I've begun. I thought I needed different needles for this but realized finally that I can use the dpn (sokkaprjónar) I have.

I have another knitting project, a hat for Ása Sóley. It knit up nice and quickly but the finishing is getting to me. Not that it is hard :o

For believers

So did you believe? Below is a pre-view of the angel, all of the x-stitching done and 'only' beading left.

But this isn't the big news - I got a package yesterday evening. That's the big news. I never get packaged (except for the results of occational internet shopping). So far Kamilla's been getting all the packages.

So what was in the package - see for yourselves: (You can click on the picture for bigger picture.)

Homemade socks from Cassie, who believes (quite rightly) that the mom should be reciever of gifts after childbirth. I can't thank of a better gift to give a new mom because I need good socks so my feet wouln't get cold, which could result in engourgement (I think it is called - stálmi in Icelandic). These are the first handknit socks I have been given and I love them. I can't believe someone made the time and effort to make these. They have a very small gauge (probably 2 mm needles?) and the pattern is beautiful. I've seen Cassie's feather and fan socks on her blog (e.g. here) and loved them. I have always planned to ask her where I can get the pattern (so I'm doing it now - Where can I find the pattern?).

One more thing, did I mention how much I appreciate these socks already? :) And they fit like a glove (well, actually like a sock!).

Do you believe in angels?

The picture is asking you to believe that an angel will appear below. I was going to fix the picture but the program kept teasing me, shutting down or freezing.

I wove in all the ends of the overalls but when I was going to do the finishing (around the edges) I couldn't find the pattern book anywhere :( I ended up going to the LYS (local yarn store = Storkurinn) and they photocopied the page I needed and gave me an advice (the pattern didn't make complete sense). But when I came home, very excited to start I discovered I needed a 2 mm needle and I only have 2 mm dpn (sokkaprjóna) and not bigger round needles needed to go around the edges :( Since I don't just run out to the store these days I still have to wait.

Don't worry I'm never idle. I've been working on the angel and started a hat for Ása Sóley knitted with Kambgarn. Finally I found something I could use Kambgarn for :) I stocked up on materials for it before Ása Sóley was born. Thankfully. It's a quick and easy project but as soon as it comes to finishing I loose interest but I promise to finish soon :o

News of the baby

The baby's name is Ása Sóley (Á is pronounced like ow in how, Sóley is prononced like the french word soleil). More news on my two girl's on Kamilla's blog (http://sonja.richter.org/kamillublogg).

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting or stitching. I'm doing the finishing work on the overalls right now - baby steps ;)

It's a girl!

I had a little girl on Thursday (June 2nd). The birth was amazing. It was a homebirth, took 4 hours and I ended up having her in water. We haven't named her yet, but we are working on it. She was 3700 gr and 51 cm. Kamilla doesn't seem to mind her and helps out sometimes but mostly she's just herself.

Blogging at the library

I'm at the city library, using my wireless for the first time. It's exciting. There are several hot spots in the down-town area were I can go on-line - I can just picture myself taking the little baby for a walk and browse the internet at a cafe while it sleeps (see it really is a romantic gift, lol).

I put my pictures online. Here is one of the baby's overalls:





I used pins to hold it in shape, an idea I 'stole' from Cassie. This is since May 23rd, now almost a week later I am practially finish knitting the back piece and 'only' the finishing left (knitting around the edges). Finishing is not really my thing. I hope I'll be motivated enough to work on it, the trick is not to start anything new!

I have also been working on my MillHill kit.

This is how the border looks without beads:





and with the beads:





and just for fun, a close-up on one of the stars:





I just love my camera :) I couldn't take this picture yesterday night because I had to use flash and the lens got in the way so the flash couldn't shine on the beads. It focuses for distances as small as 1 cm - how cool is that!

Gifts, stfig, figts

I've been waiting all week to blog because I was going to put some pictures online first and show them here. I haven't been online much and not at all with my own computer. Clint was so sweet though to give me a wireless card so I can connect at the library (or anywhere else for that matter). Isn't that sweet? It's my 'mom' present he says, because I'm going to have a baby. How romantic! Men do think different than women and for them it is probably very possible that a computer component can be a romantic present! Who knows? I am greatful, especially because he got it at a good deal!

I got a present for myself actually. I ordered the new Stina Nordenstam CD, The World Is Saved. I couldn't help ordering a knitting book, I've been wanting to have more (any) knitting books. It is hard to decide on a book online - what if you don't like the patterns!!! So it is a lottery really. Well, I got lucky. I love this book - Weekend knitting. It has a lot of good patterns, made out of nice yarns and they seem to be quite quick or fun to make. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it but the more I read it the more I love it. I can't wait to make my first project - the trouble is choosing and finishing other stuff first.

Too late!

The Knitty sping suprise is up. A little too late in my humble opinion. Why, because I wish I had had this pattern on my to-do list earlier. Much better than some baby knitting stuff :o

The pattern is a tank-top which allows for nursing. Pure genius, especially since I'll be doing a lot of nursing (I hope) this summer and I also hope for good weather :o

Finally shawl!

What is this?




Isn't it obvious? It's a cat-proof shawl blocking device! See:





And voila: Blocked shawl

When it rains it pours

It's been a good day today. It's my day off. I plan one day off every week to charge my batteries. The weather's been great. I put up the hamock :) I knitted and cross-stitch and I went to a great exhibition of Dieter Roth's works in Listasafn Íslands (Iceland's Art Museum) with my friend.

Here is a progress photo of the baby's overalls:





Here is how it looked May 10th:





And here a month earlier, April 10th:

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I got a Mill Hill Holiday kit at a sale. I'd been curious to try these kits. They have cross stitch and beads. This one is too old to be presented at their website so I can't link to it. It came with aida fabric but I would rather make it on perforated paper and I actually had some in my stash.





Here is a picture of my progress sofar and the packing.

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On Friday my cousin celebrated his 7 yo. birthday. I sent him felted slippers but turned out they were too small :( they were big enough for his 4 yo. sister. The slippers I made for her fit Kamilla. Usually I've had the problem of the slippers not felting enough! Now they felted too much.

You can find a picture of them on my pbase.com account.

Recap

I spend most of my time at the library these days. There are a lot of people since there are exams at the University (it's a University library). One day I sat next to a woman in a wool sweater with this nice pattern. I liked the pattern so much I tried to sketch it but it looked like I was staring at her so I secretly took a photo of her sweater with my phone instead. The image is not very clear but I can still make out the pattern, or most of it!





Since I'm spending so much time on the library there is not a lot of time left for knitting and stitching. Actually the time is so sparse that I seem to have forgot to put the updated picture of my knitting on the computer! Hm... I planned to show it. Well I've done quite a bit since I took this picture so maybe it is time for a new one anyways.

CD update

Just a little update on Crescent dreams. I couldn't resist adding the backstitch to the face. And since I was doing that, also to the hat and hands. This project really is a quick one, much quicker than it seems. I only work on it few hours a week, 5 at most.

Father Winter Ornament

It's done! I finished it, got the beads yesterday and finished it today. I would have finished yesterday but I was getting too tired. So tired I started to drop the box of beads. It's not the most fun thing in the world to pick up tiny beads with a 115 cm waist (3'8'').



Tiny as the beads were, they were a little big for the piece. Thing is I used 32 ct. evenweave instead of 28 ct. I didn't realize it would cause problems with the beads, but I think it's not too bad. I used the 32 ct. because of the color, I don't have that many evenweaves and I wanted to use light-brown so the white work would show better. The color is actually called 'bone' and I used it also in Bless our Home, so at one time I was stitching two pieces in the same piece of material. I finished the other one lot faster though (don't ask if it is on the walls yet but I just found a frame for it!).

p.s. you can see the design better if you click on the photo!

It's about time

I worked on my Father Winter ornament tonight. I only had about 1 hour of work left! Why hadn't I done it sooner? Good question, one reason is that I was doing white work and the last few things were in different colors (so I had to find them), another reason was that the last thing was a lazy daisy stitch and I've neven done that before and the last reason is that I suffer from 'can't finish-syndrome'. I tend to lay projects aside as I am close to finishing. Well, I'm not done completely. I still have to put beads in, but I don't have any beads so I can't do it right now.



This design was the August 2004 monthly SAL at my cross stitching club. Yes, August 2004, that's when I began this little project! I was even the one to pick it because I was the first to complete July's SAL. So what's SAL. SAL stands for Stitch-A-Long and the monthly SAL is a little design that is for free on the internet, which anyone can make. The one that is quickest to make it get's to choose next months SAL.

Nordiske strikkeblogge

Skal jeg skrive på dansk nu jeg har været set in på Nordiske strikkebogge list :)

No, I don't think so, I'm out of practice. Can hardly write in Danish anymore. Haven't had to for about 12 years now so I'm a 'little' rusted ;)

But anyways, I was kindly added to the Nordic knitting blog list so please check it out :)

This will surely help me post regularly.

The secret project

The secret project was secret because I intended it to be a birthday present. It got finished in time, despite a little battle with the sewing machine but as I finished it, I tried it on Kamilla and it fit her perfectly. I just couldn't give it away. Plus if it fit her so snuggly, it was probably too small for the intended birthday boy. I'm sorry :(






The secret project is a jacket I knit from Bulky-lopi. I used 7 mm needles (they recommend 8-9) so the fabric would be tight and I put a zipper in (thank's Sigrún G. for the zipper :). Everything went smoothly up until the zipper part. I used the raglan (laskerma) pattern Sigrún taught me (see my raglan lopi sweater) but adjusted it to 1 year old size. I used Kamilla and a wool sweater she owns as a guide. So no wonder it fit her so well :o I did make it bigger than Kamilla, especially the body of the jacket but the sleeves were tighter. I didn't have her as a guinea pig (mental note to self: Kamilla doesn't like to be a guinea pig) when I did the sleeves and they should have been bigger but are good on her.

Then we come to the zipper thing. I don't have much experiance with sewing machines and I guess bulky lopi does not make an good beginner's project! I stretched it out too much when I zig-zaged the edges after I cut the jacket open. So the front (where the zipper came in) was about 7 cm bigger than the body! On one side was worse and I ended up cutting of the sewn edge (and therefore making the jacket even smaller). But I fixed it at the end. The sewing stuff was much more difficult than the knitting!

Long time no blog ...

... and long time no knitting/stitching. I was going to report on my secret project last weekend. I hope I can this weekend! Thing is, as I was uploading the pictures of it my internet connection broke down. There are still some minor problems so I can't do it right now. :(

Not much to report. I haven't touched anything beside my dissertation since last weekend. I've been working until the library closes virtually every evening (unless I'm too tired to work). I'm on the clock, only few precious weeks until the baby comes. I wouldn't mind going a week or two over the due date, just to get few days of calm and peace.

First day of summer.

Don't worry. I didn't get handcraft-overload in the summerhouse on the weekend. The lack of blogging is due to little internet time and little craft time. I've been working in the evenings (mornings/evenings you name it) so little is there to report.

Today is a national holiday in Iceland. Why? Because today is the first day of summer (Sumardagurinn fyrsti). Am I sitting at home knitting or stitching? No! I'm working. I would have been working last night too but friends called me up to go to a café. Since they called couple of hours before they could come I decided to use the time wisely and knit. I finished the knitting on my secret project (which will be revealed on the weekend, promise) and now 'all' there is left is the finishing touches.

p.s. Do I have to point out the irony of Iceland celebrating the first day of summer in April? Here is the weather right now. It is actually not so bad 50°F (10°C) and not raining, nor stormy ;)

Post-Weekend

The weekend was just great. Couldn't have been better (well, it could have been longer!). We stayed up until morning stitching or knitting. I actually was a chicken and went to bed early (around 2 AM). I feel so rejuvenated (endurnærð), no pain for once (incredible) and I got a lot done.



See how much I got done on Cresent Dreams while I was there (here is a before picture).

I also did a lot of work on my secret knitting project - until I ran out of yarn :(

Thanks a lot to the 8 great women I spent the weekend with (Jóna, Guðbjörg, Ásta, Linda, Rósa, Björg, Steina og Sissú). There are some pictures online, please let me know if you need a password.

Pre-weekend

This weekend will be great. I am going to a summer house with bunch of crazy cross stitch ladies. A lot of stitching and knitting will be accompliced, I can promise you that. Just wait for after-weekend pictures.

Right now I am focusing on Cresent Dreams in cross stitch but most of my craft time is devoted to knitting. I don't have a lot of craft time since I am working like crazy, evenings and everything. Knitting wise, I am doing the baby outfit and a secret project. The secret project is secret since it might be a gift. However, it should be a quick project so you'll know about it no later than a week from now.

Time for pix

I think it is time for some pictures.

First, Cresent Dreams. I've only been working on it a little bit lately. I've mostly been knitting lately.





So here is a knitting picture. This is one and a half sleeve of baby's suit from a Dale pattern (with Dale baby ull yarn). I intended it to be white and yellow at first but then changed my mind and turned the yellow in for dark blue. I remembered how nice Kamilla would look in dark blue. But when I see this unfolding it looks very boyish. Hopefully it will be a boy (if not then a tomboy - strákastelpa).
I'm done with one sleeve (leg) and started on the other one. Then they will be connected and knitted upwards.





Finally the shawl I've been working on. It 'only' needs to be stretched. Only I say. I have parquet (parket) except for a rug in the living room. I was going to stretch it on the rug but then I realized there was no way of doing it without Kamilla getting into one or more of the apprx. 200 pins required for the job. So mom to the rescue. I can stretch it at her place.

Knitty is up!

The new issue of the internet knitting magazine - Knitty - is out! It's a spring/summer issue so much of the designs are hardly practical here in Iceland (with very mild summers, and yes that is an understatement). But who says practicality has anything to do with knitting???

I'm looking through it. I found this scarf - it looks like it could cure my scarf phobia. When I was about 14 I had to knit a scarf at school. We only learned to knit (and not to purl) and the garter stitch scarf did not channel my creativity but instead burried the little interest I had in the art of knitting. I was so indifferent about this scarf that when a woman working at the school (gangavörður) saw it (as I was turning it in) she sent me home and told me to fix it. I can't imagine what the teacher would have said (probably nothing and flunked me!). I took it home to my mom and asked her to fix it so I could turn it in, and she did (thank's mom). I didn't start to knit again until about 8-10 years later and still today ( I will be 30 this year) I shrug when I see a scarf pattern. Well, until I saw the Branching out scarf in Knitty that is.

Progress

I got a change to work on the shawl again yesterday. I discovered that it is not possible to work on it while watching TV ;) I finished the knitting part of the shawl (the whole row (back and forth)). There was a small error that I had to correct so that held me back a little bit. I had to be able to concentrate to go back, find it and go forward again.

I didn't understand the direction for the crochet finish but I figured it out. It helped that my shawl is displayed when it is being stretched so I could see the details very well. I was at the library today and found the shawl (Litla hyrna Huldu) in a magazine from Heimilisiðnaðarfélagið (Hugur og hönd). It is slightly different there, knitted from the top down and in garter stitch (garðprjón).

I quit working at my work today. Then the plan is to finish my dissertation and have a baby (hopefully in that order). I've been working on other projects last couple of months but due to my sick leave I was not able to finish them 100%. So I will be working a little longer but from home rather than the office. It should not take long as I am anxious to work on my thesis.

This week has been hectic, day and evening. Long hours and a lot of stress. No knitting but a little cross stitch has help me keep my sanity. I figured the craft I do in the evening calms my mind and helps me unwind. It is not enough all by itself. I also need exercise to combat the stress but have not been getting enough exercise lately (since Kamilla was born actually).

I am participating in a small secret stitch-a-long (leynisal) in my xstitch club. It works such that the participants get only a part of the pattern every week. This one is actually small enough so we get two parts per week. It is perfect for me now. Something to grab but no too time consuming. I have no idea how it will look like but now that we have 7 parts out of 10 already I have a good picture of how the end product will be.

I quit working at my work today. Then the plan is to finish my dissertation and have a baby (hopefully in that order). I've been working on other projects last couple of months but due to my sick leave I was not able to finish them 100%. So I will be working a little longer but from home rather than the office. It should not take long as I am anxious to work on my thesis.

This week has been hectic, day and evening. Long hours and a lot of stress. No knitting but a little cross stitch has help me keep my sanity. I figured the craft I do in the evening calms my mind and helps me unwind. It is not enough all by itself. I also need exercise to combat the stress but have not been getting enough exercise lately (since Kamilla was born actually).

Post-Easter

Now Easter is ower and I am feeling much better. Back to work and everything. I've been working on the shawl lately and am almost finished. Only 2 more rows (to and fro) left and then the cast-off. This is how it's been for the last few days actually. It's been harder to make time to knit after I finished LOTR on CD!

The shawl has been a real pleasure to work on. I discovered that I really like lace knitting. It breaks up the monotony of normal knitting and I have never liked routines! I love working with a diagram (probably something to do with being an engineer) and to have the variation from one row to the next. The main part of the shawl is mostly stockinette (slétt prjón) knitted back and forth which meant I really got to exercise my purling (brugnar lykkjur). Normally I knit in the round so I only purl ribbings (stroff). My purling has gotten a lot faster (not better, was good enough before!). Even with the stockinette knitting there was a goal to aim at because at certain intervals was a yarn-over row (gatasnar skv. bókinni). That really inspired my to knit on. The book (Þríhyrnur og langsjöl) is very clear and everything is explained very well. All except for the cast-off. It is a crochet cast-off and I will have to get some help on that one when the time comes.

No picture but once it is blocked a picture will surely be published.

Update: The way I learned to purl is different from what I've seen in books and on TV (could never figure out what the women were doing with their hand back and front while knitting!). I saw a reference to this method as Norwegian purling (the link takes you to a .pdf file). I always thought there was just one way to knit but when I started to read about knitting more I discovered that there are several ways to knit!

Long time, no blog

Sorry for no posting lately. I had a little accident last week and have had limited ability to write on the computer. The accident wasn't serious at all but I did hurt my hip and am having problems with certain things, such as sitting up and carrying things. It has kept me from holding Kamilla and working on the computer. Now I've figured out a way to use a computer. I can sit in a reclining stair with a foot-rest and a pillow in my back. I've tryed this position out with knitting all weekend :o

Before the accident I had finished my Lizzie Kate. I also started the cresent dreams - Mirabilia picture. However, I found that the cross stitching was to hard on me (the position I sat in) and turned to knitting.



I knitted another pair of slippers, child size this time and a slightly different pattern. I'm not going to post a picture of them yet since I intend for them to be a present.

On Saturday I went out to buy yarn. I bought Dale garn for a baby outfit, not the one I talked about earlier but a sleeveless body suit from a Dale catalogue (nr. 152) (samfella). But then I went to the Handknitting store (Handprjónasambandið) and got some lace weight Icelandic yarn (eingirni). I've been wanting to knit a shawl in eingirni for a long time. I got a book from the library with old Icelandic lace shawls (Þríhyrnur og langsjöl) and chose one that was small and the main body not too difficult. The edges are lacy and more difficult (read: more fun to knit ;). I didn't want to go over my head and choose too difficult project but I wanted to do some more complicated knitting none the less. The shawl is on page 42 and is called Litla hyrna Huldu (Hulda's little shawl).

The shawl was more tempting and I've been knitting that. I got 3 shades of red but the main body of the shawl is white. I've been having fun knitting it so far.

Kriss og kross

Er ekki enn byrjuð á ungbarnafötunum, kannski eins gott því Sigrún frænka fann blað með ungbarnafötum sem eru bæði mjög falleg og fyrir minni börn. Mig langaði nefnilega að prjóna á nýfædd en uppskriftin sem ég var búin að finna hjá Hafrúnu var bara frá 6 mán (og ég er nú ekki þekkt fyrir að eignast nein tröllabörn !!! ha ha ha). Annars þarf ég að skoða blaðið hennar Sigrúnar betur. Ég var búin að sjá það áður en þarf að athuga flækjustigið. Nenni ekki að prjóna of flókið og tímafrekt mynstur. Það er líka á frönsku en það er nú hægt að redda því. Þó ég hafi búið í Frakklandi er ekki þar með sagt að ég sé klár á prjóna-frönsku. Þessi listi ætti að redda því.

Still not started on the baby outfit, might change the pattern since my aunt found a magazine she had with baby outfits. It is French so we'll see how well I can understand the pattern. I do speak French (lived in France for a year) but I don't know the knitting jargon :o This list should help though!

Choices, choices

Hvað finnst ykkur lesendum góðum um að ég bloggi á ensku hér. Ég hef verið að prófa mig áfram með hvort tveggja (þið getið áfram kommentað á íslensku - öll komment vel þegin).

I have to make a lot of choices now. That is not a favorite thing for me to do. You see, I am a Libra. Libras have to weigh every option, back and forth.

Do I write in English, Icelandic or both? (Comments welcomed). That is one of the choices. The other is what to make the baby outfit out of.

The pattern calls for Mandarin Petit but gives SISU as substitute. MP is 100% Egyptian cotton and SISU is 80% wool (20% nylon). I like to work with natural fibers, especially wool. I've used SISU quite some in the past and it is very nice to work with (made socks and blankets). I could also use Lanett (100% wool) and today I though of Kambgarn (100% Icelandic wool). All these have apprx. the same gauge (prjónfestu). All this yarn (except for Kambgarn) is imported by Tinna and they have some (limited) info.

Lanett is my least favorite, I've used it for the Helmet-hat and it unplied too much (the plies came to easily untangled - þræðirnir fóru of auðveldlega í sundur)

I've been wanting to try Kambgarn for some time but didn't think of a project yet. Maybe this could be it?

MP is cotton and I think the sweater and the pants would look good in cotton, perhaps better than in wool?

SISU is the recommended substitute - but not the only - why not become a little adventurous? Plus, it is only 80% wool and these garments don't need a lot of extra support from the nylon (not like socks and the blankets (vagnteppi).

So what should I do? I would appreciate comments to help me decide. I have already come up with one solution, to use cotton for the sweater/pants and wool for the hat/booties! Wool is much more practical for those items anyhow. But will the outfit still look like one outfit (not from two different outfits)?

As you can see I am making this far more difficult than I have to!

Slippers

Finally pictures of Clint's (DH) slippers. He wears them all the time :)

Fyrst before:

Then after:

Now all that is really missing is a picture of the colors! They come out well together. Black on the bottom, then navy blue and white on the top. They seem a little loose on the top but they fit very well. They were washed twice because in the first wash one of the heel was accidentally inverted causing the heel to stick out afterwards since it hardly felted at all!