Finishing mode

Ever since I finished the shawl I've been in a finishing mode. It's mostly finishing the pillow cushion I mentioned. It has taken longer than I thought and it is a lot of trial and error since I'm really just making it up as I go. It's closed to finished, but I need a bigger pillow for the cover. I had bought a pillow in the same size as the front, but the back adds to it's size, which I hadn't realized.

I was knitting Saarties booties, but I lost my stitch markers and I can't do the pattern without them. It was weird how they just disappeared. I looked for some at Walmart today but they have too much crap yarn to carry stitch markers it seems.

I did get some of Walmart's crappy yarn however. I needed it for Clint's afghan. It's Homespun (Lion Brand). I had run out of yarn. I only got two skeins to begin with and I'm just buying it as I go along. It's garter stitch afghan, so it's nice and easy knitting for taking around.

What else do I got? (looking around). A start of the baby jacket from the first knit-a-long we had (we being Garnaflækja). I kept having problems with it, kept having to rip back and eventually I was at a point where I had no idea what I did wrong or how to fix it. I did rip back again but haven't been in the mood to continue. I think one of the problem is the yarn. It's Rowan All Season Cotton. I'm recycling it. It used to be Ása's sweater but I was way out of gauge. I tried to make a hat but a children's hat turned out too big for me! That yarn is just nothing but problem!

Oh yeah. I did finish something today. A very orange dishcloth I started in May. I know I started it early in May since it was part of the monthly dishcloth kal.

This post seems to be part of my WIP clean up. Categorizing what I'm working on. I hope you'll bare with me for this one. It will be funny tomorrow.

Work post

I'm at work at the moment. Work on a Sunday! Yes, things are piling up and I can't get any work done on the weekdays because I'm too busy working! I'm working on not one but two proposals and at the same time there are two research projects starting in the lab. So I'm busy in the lab in the day time. Funny how everything is happening at once.



I took a little break and looked up prjonablogg (knitting blog) on google and found some Icelandic knitting blogs I wasn't aware of before and I stumbled opon my own blog from September 2004. If you scroll down you see that sock in the picture above. This is the first sock from the first pair of socks I ever knit. In September 2004. Since then I've knit 4 pairs. Out of these 5 pairs, 3 are for my kids and 2 for me. I guess I'm not a big sock knitter. Three of these pairs where made with circulars and what's stopping me now is that I need better 2.5 mm circulars. The ones I have right now are old (probably 20 - 30 years old), nicked from my mom's pile of needles and the yarn always snags on the join between the cable and the needle. What's stopping me from getting better circulars? I don't know.

Me segir kindin (Bah says the sheep)

Have you seen Yarn Harlot's post from yesterday? I haven't noticed any back-talking amongs knitting bloggers, have you? I have to admit I don't frequent a lot of knitting blogs these days. Mostly just those in my side bar to the right. I do think I've heard something about this before, but never noticed it.

The pillow is growing slowly. Especially today since my girls got a hold of the project and got the threads so tangled up that I'm still unraveling it. It must have taken them forever to do this to begin with. I wonder what their father was doing in the mean time? Probably having a quiet and peaceful time. ;)

Correction and moving on

I was wrong in the last post. The temperature is not in the 80's it's in the 90's (around 35C) and it's too hot to even hold the shawl, let a lone wear it!



Right now I'm working on the pillow above which I started last winter. Currently I'm working on the back. And it's taking much longer than I thought it would. Maybe since I'm using a new technique (well new to me anyways), Tunisian Crochet.

Wearable Garment

Here is one of me modeling in it - with pajama pants on :)



After this I folded it with gift tissue paper and put it in the closet. After all the temperature is in the 80's (30+°C) and not much use for wool shawl at the moment.

p.s. Those leather masks behind me where made by my Aunt Signý :)

Large Rectangle Shawle with Diamond Center

I finished my rectangle shawl. I learned how to knit edging around corners and I got better every corner. By the last one I really got the hang of it - and then it was over. The end of the edging even lined perfectly up with the cast-on edge. I can´t believe it. I'd been nervous about it the entire time I was knitting the edge.

The center pattern was very easey to remember and pleasant to knit. The edge pattern was more complicated and it took two tries and 10 repeats before I had it memorized. First I got about 4 repeats up before I had to rip it all back and start over.

This morning I crafted the edge ends and put away the whole 4 ends that were left. Although this project took 5 skeins of Kambgarn (on 4.5 mm needles for the center and 4 mm for the edging), since it was wool I spliced the new skein to the old when I ran out. As a result I only had two ends for the center part and two ends for the edging to weave in.

Before I could block it I had to wash it. I used too much shampoo, see:



Then I blocked it on our bed and it went fine, despite Kamilla helping me (he he). I had enough pins, which I'm thankful for.



Kamilla thinks the shawl is for laying on and can't wait to try it out.

There is a close up:

My poor neglegted blog

I have some making up to do regarding this blog.

Last Thursday I went to the knitting club at the only knitting store in the area - The Spinning Turtle in Nelsonville, OH. I almost forgot though and only remembered at the last moment. I rushed up there and caught the last half an hour or so. The ladies there where a lot of fun (well of course they were, they are knitters after all) and today I went again. Again I could only stay for half an hour, because Clint and the kids where there in Nelsonville checking out some houses.

This time I brought some knitting stuff for 'Show and tell'. I brought Clint's boyfriend sweater. The one I knit him and sent to CA. It's a traditional Icelandic Lopi sweater and the second sweater I ever made.

I also brought the EZ February Baby Jacket - this one here:



I also brought the rest of the plate of unspun yarn I used to make it to show them. Marty (the owner) told me this kind of yarn was called a pensil roving and she had the idea that you could use it for easy (or easier) spinning.

I uploaded some more photos like this one of the Tychus hat we knit as a KAL at Garnaflækja:



I also uploaded a photo of one of the strips (nr. 2 out of 3) of my blanket I'm making.



If you click on the photo and go back to the flickr site you can tell by the notes on the photo where I went wrong. What I did was to knit one row too much before changing colors at one point. It shouldn´t be too hard to fix, just a little snip and some crafting.

Dear Diary

Not much knitting done yesterday too, even if I was dying to continue with the stole. You can blame the proposal I'm working on due Thursday. Yesterday it all came together though so I expect to be able to knit more tonight.

Thanks Cassie for the explanation on blanket vs. afghan.

The memory card is found (probably a week ago) and still no photos. Shame on me. I guess I can pick the no daylight excuse, but I wouldn't. There was daylight on Sunday, plus the evenings are getting increasingly brighter.

Dear Diary

I didn't knit at all yesterday. To compensate, I brought some knitting to work. Not that I can actually knit at work, but I left my keys at work yesterday so I had to wait for someone to come to work so I could come in. I managed couple of rows on my afghan/blanket.

Can someone explain to me what is the difference between a afghan and a blanket?

Back in the saddle

I didn't knit Thursday, Friday nor Saturday. Finally Sunday I got a little knitting time and boy was it good. I didn't realize I was so dependent on knitting :o I was preparing 'Asa's birthday party on Saturday, she just turned 2. When I got back to it I picked up the Victorian shawl. I am knitting the edges and going around the corners, which isn't terribly complicated but still not obvious. I was a little off turning the first corner and fixed it on the short side (or so I thought) but it didn't match. When I picked it up again I desided just to stop thinking about it and knit on. Turns out I wasn't off at all. It fitted perfectly. Now I'm happily knitting down the other long end of the shawl.

As you've noticed I've only been talking about knitting lately, not stitching. I was very active stitching for the first 3 months of the year but then April came around and I dropped it altogether. I've been trying for a little while to get back into it. I even had a plan to stitch at least one length of thread per day. That didn't last long - one evening perhaps. My problem was that my orginization was out of whack. In the beginning I had my threads in a zip lock bag and that didn't work so well, especially with the larger projects since the colors kept adding on as the project continued (it's a year long SAL). I bought rings to put the thread on but they didn't work. One had a broken lock they weren't big enought for all the thread. So finally I got another box for the thread. I have 5 big ones that I use to store the thread and 1 small one for WIPs but it's being used for a UFO. So yesterday I brought that box out and put the thread for these two working projects in it. After I had knit for a while I picked up one of the project and made some improvement on that. You know what? Of course I had to knock the thing over when I stood up and I had thread all over the floor :( What can you do.

The 'stash' may seem small to some people (no names he he) but I usually just buy what I need for my current project and it stresses me to have yarn for other projects that I'm not even contemplating making. So I don't want to have it grow. It is comfortable being able to grab yarn and start knitting, and not having to go out and buy it first. I probably will end up with a stash of simple wool that can be used for smaller projects (mittens, hats etc) but I like to use what I have. I guess I'm also kind of a thrifty person. I don't like owning books either. It's probably the same mechanism behind that as the yarn. I only keep books that are really special to me for some reason. Most books I rent at the library or give away when I'm done reading them.

Stash or not?

I keep thinking I don't really have a stash. I hardly ever buy yarn, but have gotten big amounts of yarn from Iceland from time to time. One time about year ago when I returned to the US from Iceland and then a bunch the other day when my stepmom came for a visit. So while putting the baby to sleep (she's not really a baby anymore, she turned 2 yesterday) I thought I take a stock of what I have. Turns out I have more then I thought. Here is a list of projects I have yarn for - only 'virgin' wool. This excludes WIPs, leftover yarn and odd skeins of yarn.

• 1x baby sweater (like the 5 hour baby sweater)
  
• 2x shawls (from eingirni, Icelandic 1 ply wool)
  
• 1x mittens for Clint
  
• 1x slippers for Clint
  
• 2 pair socks
  
• 1x crochet sweater for me
  
• 1x tank top/skirt for Ása (baby cotton)
  
• 16+ washcloths, facecloths, bibs etc. (things that take less than a skein of kitchen cotton
  
• 3x denim bibs
  
• 1x pedal bib
  

The list is a lot longer than I had assumed. But still not too long. I could do this in a half a year, providing I'm spending at least 2 hours a day knitting. It'll be interesting to see at the end of the year how many projects are left on the list.

Follow up from last night's post

I was hurrying to post last night to get all this stuff out I wanted to say without taking up too much knitting time. So what was I knitting that was so urgent. Well, it's not so urgent but I was just starting the edge on my Victorian Lace Today stole. I've never made an edge like that before and it was a new experience for me. It was exciting to see it 'grow' on the side of the stole. It was also challeging because it took be about 10 repeats to remember it compared to the center pattern, which only took me 1-2 repeats to get it down. I like it better than I thought I would (the edge pattern that is). I was contemplating changing it but I decided just to do it first, which proved to be complicated enough. After about 5 repeats I was starting to learn part of the pattern and got overconfident and ended making a mistake and having to rip and it was hard to find my place again. There is a small flaw in the edge, which I can identify very easily but I'm counting on others to overlook it.

I buried up the sewing machine I tested. It's Janome Jem Platinum 720.

The connection with Persia was repeated in the Folk Mittens book as well. So I felt confident that it was plausible. I think it's mostly the 8 corner star that is the connection.

Lots of misc. knitting news

There is a lot I want to share, but at the same time I really just want to knit. So I'll be brief.

Starting with a book I got at the Ohio University library. It's called Scandinavian Knitting Designs by Pauline Chatterton and was published in 1977. It talkes about the origin of knitting in Scandinavia (I didn't know it came from Persia through Finland) and consists mostly of two color stitching patterns. There are some patterns mostly sweaters, blankets and pillows. Yes, pillows. They are actually really nice and make good use out of the stitching patterns. What cracks me up about this book is that every single pattern specifies acrylic yarn. Acrylic! No Scandinavian with any sense of dignity would use acrylic, especially not for clothes and blankets. The knitting culture there is a total opposite from the knitting culture in America. Here people use acrylic specifically for babies and children, but in Scandinavia you would never dress your child knowingly in acrylic. If someone in Iceland gave my children cloths made out of acrylic I would be offended. Seriously, it's that big of a deal. Of course in Iceland cloths will have to keep you warm in cold, wet and windy weather. But I would much rather perfer cotton to acrylic if I lived in a warmer climate, like in the southern part of the USA.

Ok, I was going to be brief. It's not working. I have days of suppressed blogging.

Yesterday there was Final Friday in Nelsonville. That means galleries and businesses in downtown Nelsonville are open until 10 PM and have demonstrations and stuff. This includes both the knitting store and the quilting store. I went there after the kids were sleeping and went straight to the knitting store. There I looked over the yarns. They have a nice selection, especially for a small southeastern Ohio town. I especially like the lack of novelty yarns :) I met a nice lady there, who was there with her husband and two boys. We got a long very well and it seem like I have a new knitting friend :) I also learned that there is a group that meets on Thursday evenings at the knitting store. I have to check that out next week.

I also went to the quilting store. There is a lady who works part-time at the Corrosion Center and shares an office with me. She also works part-time at the quilting store so I went to meet her. I almost shouldn't have, he he. I haven't been in a quilting (or fabric) store in a while and now I want a sewing machine. I sold mine before moving to the US so I need a new one. The owner showed me a machine, which is so cool. Instead of using a foot pedal, you just push a button and that starts the machine. It's like cruise control but for a sewing machine. You can adjust the speed how ever you like. It also finished the thread for you (ties a knot) that's also something I hadn't seen before. So now I want to sew again. I've always wanted to sew more than I have been doing so it wasn't hard to be tempted.

Finally I have to tell you that today I took the girls to the library and actually got a library card this time. You need to have both a picture ID and a proof of residancy and I haven't manage to have both with me before when I've visited the library. The kids played and had fun and I found two nice knitting books (they had more nice books but I only grabbed these two) Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush and Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm sorry for lack of links, but I really want to get back to my knitting rather than to find links. I especially like the folk mitten book because I've been wanting to knit mittens and it does have some great patterns that I want to try.

For those of you waiting for photos, I have to disappoint you. We've lost the memory card for our camera. It's not american (Ricoh) so I'm not expecting to find this type of a card here. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows.

Travel knitting

I did get a lot of knitting done on the way to Norfolk. I finished a part of the afghan/blanket I talked about in the last entry. I will knit it part of it in stripes and one stripe is like a giant scarf. The main color is red (Clint insisted on red) and the second color is a golden color, not a solid and not a variegated but consists of golden, black, white and even some red strands. This yarn is not spun, but consists of many acrylic fibers loosly held together. This means that the yarn comes loose as soon as you cut it.

During the symposium, I knit a skein and a half for the French Market Bag the first day. I was going to start the next stripe for the blanket the next day but I forgot to pack the knitting needle (I always knit with circular needle (and dpns) even if I'm knitting a flat piece). I got a little knitting done on the way home but we decided to take a different route, Route 50, which goes from north of Virgina, through West Virginia, Maryland, West Virgina, Ohio and all the way to our house! It seemed simple enough, but took a lot longer than we anticipated, plus I couldn't knit because the road was too winding and going up and down mountains (the Appalachians). In return we got beautiful landscape and pretty towns to admire so it wasn't too bad. We didn't get home until midnight, this alternative route took about 3 hours more.

Knitting plans

On Monday we are going on a road trip (we being me, my husband and 2 daughters). We are driving to Norfolk, VA. So why are we doing this on a Monday? I am going to be a surrogate speaker for my director at an ASTM symposium. So Clint and the girls will have fun at the beach while I'm stuck in a conference room for two days. No, it'll be fun, some of the biggest names in Corrosion will be there, so it's a great opportunity for me.

Since we are driving there I'm hoping to get some knitting done on the way. Hoping, because I tend to be carsick, but on an highway it shouldn't be too difficult, unless it's sunny. So we'll see.

I have one repeat left on the center panel of my 'Victorian Lace Today' shawl. Of course I ran out of yarn with one and a half repeat left (out of 36). This knitting has been smooth, right until I hit the 30 repeat mark, then I kept making mistakes and having to rip back and fix them. This is so much fun to knit and I just started my fourth skein (out of 5). So I should have enough for the edging. What's preventing me from finishing the last repeat is that I have to practice for the presentation I'm giving on Tuesday.

I'm becoming more and more American. I'm actually considering knitting out of an acrylic yarn! The yarn in question is Homespun from Lion Brand. The thing about this yarn is that it comes in beautiful colorways, is super-soft and bulky weight. So it's the perfect candidate for a blanket!

I had a great idea for a design. Last night I was drawing and calculating all night and didn't get any knitting done. I finally came up with the perfect design. It looks simple but it was difficult to get the right sizes. Now all I have to do is to swatch to see my gauge so I can figure out how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit. The blanket is made up of panels and I'm not going to knit it in a 'logical' order. Let's just say that it is a Mason-Dixon inspired blanket.

Hopefully I'll have everything sorted out before our road trip. If I run into problems I always have my faithful French Market bag. It's at the stage where you just knit around and around, so it's a good traveling piece.

Not your granny's crochet!

Check out Patricia Waller's artwork.

I just can't pick a favorite. Crochet pig's head meal or crochet bicycle accident, how about crochet crocodile accident?

Hmm....

Berroco

I haven't paid much attention to Berroco before but I just learned that Nora Gaughan, yes that Nora Gaughan, it the new design director there. Why didn't I know about this before? I immidiately signed up for their KnitBits. There are some great patterns there. Go take a look.

I want this:

Except for sock needles (dpn) and not straight. I can't think of a better useage for cables, can you?

Samprjon2 dagur5

Sama og i gaer nema...

Thegar komid er ad sidustu umferd (litur 1 yfir allar lykkjurnar) tha er bara prjonad eina ferd og fella svo af. Sauma saman uppfitid og affellinguna og thid erud komnar med hufu. Thessa her: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTtychus.html

Samprjon2 dagur4

Sama og i gaer.

Samprjón2 dagur3

Sama og í gær.

Samprjon2 dagur2

Haldid afram thar sem fra var horfid

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 20 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna fram og tilbaka yfir allar lykkjunar

Samprjon2 Dagur1

Þegar skipt er um lit er ágætt að vefja gamla litnum framyfir þann nýja og leyfa þeim að ferðast þannig upp stykkið.

Notið tvo þræði af lit nr. 1 og fitjið upp 38 lykkjur á prjóna nr. 5,5 (eda tha staerd sem passar best m.v. thad garn sem thid voldud).

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka


Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 20 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 22 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 24 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 26 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 28 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 30 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 32 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna 34 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 2, prjóna 36 lykkjur, snúa við og prjóna til baka

Með lit nr. 1, prjóna fram og tilbaka yfir allar lykkjunar (38 lykkjur)

Yummie wool

I had two SAL (stitch-a-long) going, but for all of April I didn't even touch them. We had visitors and then I was sick. The visitors also brought yummie wool and it's pretty hard to resist knitting with it. I made the EZ baby sweater with part of it and now I started a rectangle shawl (langsjal) from Victorian Lace Today with steel grey kambgarn (Icelandic sport weight wool). Soft and beautiful. It's a dream to knit with. The center pattern (diamond pattern) ONLY has 36 repeats (of 10 lines). Although 36 sounds like a low number, now that I've knit 1/4 of it (and how many repeats are that? he he) I realize it really IS a large rectangle. The name of the pattern is 'Large Rectangle with diamond center pattern' (p.20) go figure.

It knits up like a dream though and is intoxicating. Having 36 repeats helps too, because it sets up more landmarks on the way. First passing 1/9th the way was nice (4 repeats), then 1/6th (6 repeats) and now 1/4th (9 repeats). Next landmark is 12 repeats (1/3rd).

I'm myself again

All last week I felt as if I as in a daze or a fog. I had no energy what so ever. It was a struggle standing on my feet in the morning and to do my job. I've never experienced so much loss of energy before in my life. I was a lot better last Monday but on Tuesday morning I realized I wasn't getting any better and went to see a doctor. So now I'm on antibiotics and they took their time working.

This weekend I spent mostly in horizontal position. I can't just be in bed doing nothing, so I was relieved to find out I could prop me up in the sofa and knit! I made Knitty's Calorimetry on the Saturday. I knit it from the giant hat I made the other day (about a month ago) with Patons SWS soy-wool yarn.



I took the progress photo because it was fun to knit from a hat, rather then the usual skein or ball of yarn. My last project was actually knit from a plate of yarn (the unspun) so I guess I have a theme going!

On Sunday I finished the Mid April Dishcloth KAL.




I love this pattern because it's lacy or what it's called when you do yarnovers and decreases on both sides of the fabric. This is a first for me and a good practice for further lace work, perhaps on of these. I took the photo without any sunlight whatsoever so I wonder if you can see the traveling stitches zigzagging up the dishcloth? It's beautiful. I'm glad I went ahead and did this one. The May KAL will start tomorrow and I'm in the mood for more dishcloths, thankfully since I still have lots of this stuff.

I got a nice surprise at work today. My co-worker got some of her friend's knitting needles and gave me some duplicates. These are vintage needles, unused and all. All of them are sock needles (dpn) and 4 in a pack from Susan Bates.



The consist of one size 0 (2 mm), one size 1 (2.25 mm), two size 4 (3.5 mm), two size 5 (3.75 mm) and one size 9 (5.5 mm) needles.

A Quick Blog

Here is the sweater unwashed and without buttons. I washed it already but discovered that I have no white towels, only blue, so 1) I have to buy white towels so I can take picture of knitted garments and 2) you'll have to wait until it's dry and the buttons have been sewn on for a photo of the finished sweater. It wouldn't look much different though (excluding the buttons).

I wanted to wash it with a conditioner to make the sweater as soft as possible, but discovered I didn't have a clue how to do that. I failed to ask my Icelandic online knitting group (like I planned) so I had to just wing it. I'm not all that good handwashing wool to begin with. There is no 'dear mamma' here in Athens. I have a confession to make. I've always asked my mom to wash my wool until now. I guess I'll have to learn to stand on my own two feet, knitting wise.

At first I tried to apply the conditioner as you would on hair, but it wouldn't spread so I ended up squeezing it lightly and using way more than I ever would use on my own hair. It doesn't seem to have felted at all. I had to rinse it twice because the color bled a little bit. Then I put it on a towel, folded it up in a circle to get as much moister out as possible. Right now it's drying on my bed.

I'll have to write more later. I'm too tired and I'll have to go to bed.

The nicest baby sweater

I'm loving my current project so much I almost feel like I'm having an affair. Ok. That's maybe a bit of a overstatement. This is the EZ (Elizabeth Zimmermann) baby sweater from the February chapter of Knitter's Almanac. It was also published in Vogue Knitting and I have the pattern in a collection: Vogue Knitting: American Collection.

When I moved I actually tore out EZ's chapter in the Collection and threw the rest away. They were 90's patterns, and not at all something that will work today. Every single one of EZ's patterns in the book do work today, even if the Tomten jacket is a bit 70's.

You should be able to see some of other peoples EZ baby sweaters on flickr. It's knit from top-down, with garter stitch edges. When you are done knitting (I have 1,5 rows left on the bottom) all you have to do is to sew up the arms (which are quite small.

The lace pattern is very nice. It's called a gull stitch. I like it so much I added a repeat both for the arms and the body. My excuse was that baby's grow so fast so you have to make things a little bigger, but the real reason was that I just couldn't stop knitting ;)

This making cloths a little bigger makes me want to tell you a story. In my mother's side of the family we are 11 grandchildren and I'm the only girl. Not only were there 10 boys, but 9 of them where BIG boys. When Kamilla was born (first child to be born in 12 years in my family and first girl since I was born 28 year earlier) everybody gave her cloths big enough so she wouldn't grow out of them in couple of months. The problem was that she was a petite baby (in Icelandic terms, quite average in American terms) and most of the cloths she got at birth didn't fit her until she was a year old. This continued and she always got clothes that she couldn't wear for a year (for her birthday or Christmas). This wouldn't be too bad if Icelandic stores had good customer service, but no. I rarely was able to exchange for a smaller size, so normally I just kept it and often I forgot about the clothes until they were too small for her :( She still wears a rainsuit she got when she was 6 months old (at the time she was to young to play out in the rain anyways) and she's just now big enought to wear a sweater knitted for her when she was a newborn (supposed to be 9 month size but got a little bigger). She's also to skinny to wear cloths that are too big so that doesn't help.

End of story. Sorry about that. Back to knitting.+

The EZ sweater is intended for a friend of mine, what just had a baby last month. The yarn is very coarse (Icelandic wool and all) and I will wash it with a conditioner to make it smooth. I can't wait to see how it will turn out.

I'll keep you posted.

I bet you think I haven't been knitting

Well you're wrong :) He he

I've been making the Monthly Dishcloth KAL patterns and only missed the April one.



I made mittens for Ása Sóley



I started them at the end of February, just before we moved from Concord, CA to Athens, OH. I used leftover yarn, the brown was a little thinner than the green so I used it doubled. The left mitten looks bigger - it isn't. I had kept them one inside of the other and it stretched the left one out a little.

I only finished them couple of weeks ago. Ása Sóley wasn't terribly interested in using them (until she saw how interested Kamilla (big sister) was in them) and I was focusing on other projects. We had a cold spell and they came in handy.

They are knit with two circular (3.5 mm) using a pattern from Lopi 25.
__________________________________________________________________________________

So what do you think I do with all the leftovers from the dishcloths?

Well, mitered squares of course.



I made all of these before we moved from Concord. So that's in February. Only one more and I have a towel for the kitchen.

Last week I finally soaked my dishcloths in water and vinegar to set the color. This yarn has very bright colors, but it bleeds like crazy. So I can finally use them.

Plötulopi

I'm still knitting the plötulopi. I only knit it in one strand, but usually it's knit in 2-3 strands held together. This yarn is very much alive. It's unspun, so there is nothing holding it back. It has surprised me that it hasn't been breaking as much as I thought it would. Those sturdy Icelandic fibers are really doing a good job holding the thread together. I want to take a picture of the WIP and the lopi. I'm not up to much these days. I have an earache and at first it lead to my teeth and I thought I had a bad tooth. The pain was throbbing. Now it's mostly in the ear itself, which is a relieve. I can't bend down or lay on my right side, but this is so much more manageable. I don't use pain killers that often and when I do I only do one at a time but on Thursday I took 2 ibuprofen every 2 hours, that's how much it hurt.

BTW If you were wondering, the Secret KAL was this: Quickie Baby Sweater.

Most people made it through, while other had a slight mishap. I'm one of those. There is a section of increases that I could not get right. Once I fixed one row it was time for another row of increases and I messed up again. I've ripped back about 4 times and probably have to do it once more at least. But it is a quick knit so it´s not hard to rip back and knit again.

I started a French Market Bag a way back, thinking it would be a perfect travelling project. It is, but couple of days before our trip I lost it! I lost the project. All I remember was that I put it in a good place. How typical.

Our trip was a roadtrip to Lake Erie, where we spent couple of nights at a cabin. We drove through Amish country (I managed to find some antique quilts). We visited Put-in-Bay, on an Island in the Lake and on the way back we went through Cleveland and Akron. We live in South-East Ohio, so it´s a quite a big distance away. My dad and stepmom are visiting us and it was a great opportunity for them to see the country side and the state of Ohio (and for us too). Two days was really too short time to visit that area, but since the tourist season hasn't started yet and things are pretty much closed (including Cedar Point) it worked out fine.

So before I left I had to find a project to take with me on the trip. I needed something where I didn't need a computer (most patterns I work from are in the computer and I don´t have a printer) so none of the projects I was currently working on fit. I ended up starting the EZ baby sweater with the plötulopi that my stepmom brought me. It is in the most beautiful light green color. Plötulopi is unspun wool and it breaks quite easily but it's as easy to put it back together (wet the ends and roll them together). The fiber is fragile but the knitted fabric is very sturdy and strong. I don´t think I can rip it back though if I needed but I can unknit it, go back few stitches without problems.

Now work - later yarn shops in Columbus.

Samprjon dagur5

Næsta umf. Endurtaka 8 umf.

Næsta umf. Endurtaka 9 umf.




Næstu 4 umferðir slétt (slétt á réttu og brugðið á röngu)




Næsta umf. Prjóna 3 l.sl. *Taka 2 lykkjur saman, bregða garni yfir prjóninn, endurtaka frá* enda á að bregða garni yfir og prjóna 4 l.sl.

Næstu 3 umferðir slétt (slétt á réttu og brugðið á röngu)

Fellið af og notið endan á garninu til að falda stroffið (picot)

Samprjón1 dagur4

Endurtaka síðustu þrjár línur (frá því í gær) fyrir 22 l. hinum megin á stykkinu.

Byrjið að prjóna hægra megin af stykkinu og prjóna þvert yfir [83 l.]
Prjónið slétt (skiptast á sléttri röð og brugni) í 12 umf. með fyrstu og síðustu þrjár lykkjur í garðaprjóni.

Samprjón1 dagur3

Næsta umf. Prjóna 18 l.sl., auka út í næstu lykkju og setja merki, auka út í næstu lykku, prjóna 14 l. sl., auka út, setja merki, auka út í næstu lykkju, prjóna 31 l., auka út, setja merki, auka út, prjóna 14 l., auka út, setja merki, auka út, prjóna 18 l. [111 l.]


Næsta umf. Eins og umf. 5.
Næsta umf. er prjónuð með útaukningu fyrir og eftir hvert merki. [119 l.]
Næsta umf. eins og umf. 5
Næsta umf. er prjónuð með útaukningu fyrir og eftir hvert merki. [127 l.]
Næsta umf. eins og umf. 5

Næsta umf. Prjóna 22 l. og setja þær á sér prjón (lykkjuhaldara!), prjóna 22 l., setja restina af lykkjunum á lykkjuhaldara (hvað heitir þetta?) eða sérprjón.

Næst: Prjóna slétt fram og tilbaka 16 sinnum (skiptast á slétt röð og brugðin). [22 l.]
Næsta umferð: Prjóna 2 lykkjur saman, *1 l.br., 1 l.sl., 1 l.br., tvær l. saman, endurtaka frá* [17 l.]
Næst: Prjóna stroff (1 l.sl., 1 l.br.) í 5 umf. Fellið af.

Samprjón1 dagur2

Næsta umf. prjóna 4 l. sl., *prjóna tvisvar í næstu lykkju, 3 l.sl, endurtaka frá* enda í útaukningu og 4 l.sl. [75]
Næsta umf: Eins og umf. 5
Næsta umf: eins og umf. 8 [41 l.]
Næsta umf. eins og umf. 9 [75 l.]

Næsta umf. Prjóna 4 l., *prjóna tvisvar í næstu lykkju, 4 l.sl. endurtaka frá*, enda í útaukningu, 5 l.sl. [89 l.]
Næsta umf: Eins og umf. 5
Næsta umf: eins og umf. 8 [48 l.]
Næsta umf. eins og umf. 9 [89 l.]

Næsta umf. Prjóna 5 l., *prjóna tvisvar í næstu lykkju, 5 l.sl. endurtaka frá*, enda í útaukningu, 5 l.sl. [103 l.]
Næsta umf: Eins og umf. 5
Næsta umf: eins og umf. 8 [55 l.]
Næsta umf. eins og umf. 9 [103 l.]

Samprjón1 dagur1

Let me know if you want this in English.

Hérna er fyrsti skammtur í Samprjóni. Spyrjið endilega ef það er eitthvað óljóst í textanum. Ekki giska í grúbbuna hvað þetta er heldur senda mér póst prívat rajnos hjá gmail.com. Sú fyrsta sem getur uppá hvað við erum að prjóna fer þau verðlaun að vera fyrst og hún fær að velja næsta samprjóna. Miðum við að hafa ca. 1 í mánuði. Ég get útbúið munstrið sjálf eða verðlaunahafinn sjálfur, annaðhvort. Í þetta sinn þarf ekki að finna sjálft mynstrið á netinu - en aukabónus ef það er gert.


Athugið að halda opinu í útaukningum. þ.e. ekki prjóna í snúna lykkju. Mynstrið kemur betur út ef það er opið.


l. = lykkja

x l. sl. = prjóna x lykkjur slétt



Fitja upp 34 l.


Prjóna tvær umferðir slétt (þ.e. einu sinni fram og einu sinni til baka).

3. umf.: Prjóna 3 l. sl., *taka tvær lykkjur saman brugðið, bregða garni yfir prjón, endurtaka frá * enda á að taka tvær lykkjur saman brugðið og prjóna 3 l. sl. [33 l.]

Prjóna eina umf.

5. umf.: Prjóna 3 l. sl., prjóna brugðið þar til 3 l. eru eftir og prjóna þær slétt.

Næsta umf.: Prjóna 3 l.sl., *prjóna tvisvar í næstu lykkju (framan og aftan í hana), prjóna 1. l.sl., endurtaka frá* enda á útaukningu og prjóna 3 l.sl. [47 l.]

Næsta umf. er eins og 5. umf.

Næsta umf.(8.umf.): Prjóna 3 l.sl. *prjóna 2 l. saman, endurtaka frá * enda á 4 l.sl. [27 l.]

Næsta umf(9.umf.): Prjóna 3 l.sl. *prjóna 1 l.sl., taka upp band á milli lykkja og prjóna í það, endurtaka frá * enda í 4 l.sl. [47 l]


Næsta umf : Prjóna 3 l. *prjóna tvisvar í næstu lykkju, 2 l.sl., endurtaka frá* enda í útaukningu og 4 l.sl. [61 l.]

Næsta umf: Eins og umf. 5

Næsta umf: eins og umf. 8 [34 l.]

Næsta umf. eins og umf. 9 [61 l.]


Næsti skammtur kemur svo á morgun.


Góða skemmtun.

Hatdisaster Easter - just because it rhymes, sort of

It was way too big. It was even too big for my husband. This is how it looks:



And here is how big it is:



So it's either felting or back to the drawing board. When I was knitting it I was trying it on and I did pass the point of thinking 'It'll probably fit very snuggly now' and kept on knitting. I also had 104 sts. on 5.5 mm needles. Which sounded kind off big.

The hat experiment

I found another blue portion of the yarn. Can you see it? After I stopped increasing, I had 104 stitches and the rows changed color every row. So I had an idea that the yarn would look good in pearl stitch. Which it does. But now the hat is too wide so I have to rip out the beautiful pearl part and add a tighter border, probably a k1p1 ribbing.

Samprjon changes

The pattern I had picked out for the first Samprjon was Sheldon from Knitty. I'd heard that it was a fast knit, but as I was reviewing the pattern I realized that the shell would be hard to knit without seeing the photo of the finished project.

I had a back-up project I was going to use as the second project. This is the one I'll be posting on Friday. It requires 100 gr of worsted weight yarn. It is a yarn that typically uses 4.5-5 mm needles, but in this project we use 6 mm needles, either straight or circular. So it is going to be a fast knit, estimating about 4-5 hours.

I'm sorry about the changes and forgetting to post it here. I did post the changes in Garnaflaekja, my online Icelandic knitting club.

I hope you will pick up your pointy sticks and knit with us starting Friday. Those of you living in Iceland will have Easter vacation so there is no excuse not to participate :)

Apology

Regarding last post, I wasn't upset about no one commenting as I was upset about Stephanie's comment on her blog. Who doesn't like to have comments? So my apologies for my faithful readers. I do mostly blog for myself, so I'm thankful anyone reads this at all!

Here is a photo of the start of the hat.



Can you see the peculiarity? There is a blue stripe in the beginning of the hat but the skein doesn't show any blue at all! This is very curious and I'm anxiously knitting and wondering if there will be another blue stripe. But this does explain why the colorway is called Natural Navy! The yarn is Patons SWS, which has 30% soy content. This is the first time I've knitted with soy yarn and now I know why it's sometimes called soy silk. It has the most beautiful sheen (shine?) and it's soft too.

That book you see in the upper left corner is Victorian Lace Today and I love it, love, love love. It's beautiful and has a lot of history. The patterns are very varied and there are not just three cornered shawls, which usually dominate shawl knitting.

Linda asked to see a picture of all the County Houses. Since I (or rather Ása) woke up early this morning I snapped a picture, not in daylight but it turned out pretty good regardless.



I love how different they are, but yet so similar. You can click the picture to see it larger.

French Market Bag

No one even guessed what my new project is :( Stephanie at And she knits too can't understand why anyone would blog and not get comments. I guess you can't make people comment. It's not like I don't want comments!

The project was the start of the French Market Bag. What would we do without Knitty? I think it is fun how it starts at the center of the bottom and is worked up from there. While I was knitting it I saw it would make a neat hat. My problem with hats is to know how many stitches to cast on and how far to go before you start decreasing. By knitting them top-down you eliminate these problems all together. Why didn't I think of this before. My head exploded with hat ideas, different weight yarns, different patterns, different increases. Before I knew I had cast on a hat and I can't wait how it turns out.

April's first post

On Friday there was Final Friday in Nelsonville, just north of us. It was great. The weather was great and the galleries where great. The people were nice and there was a knitting store! Yeah. Now I know where there is a knitting store around here. Apparently the only one in SE Ohio. AND they also have stitching supplies - double yeah. They carry a lot of Plymouth, which I'm not very familiar with but it seems to be nice. They also had Manos de Uruguay and Dale Babyull (yes!) and this and that. A lady was demonstrating chair weaving. Very nice. The fibre comes from a special plant growing in Malaysia.

I finished the March segment on Maryse's SAL:



I finished it yesterday, on the last day of the month. Just in time.

I was also tired of only stitching (this and the SecretSAL take up all of my craft time), so I started this:




Any ideas what it is supposed to be? I started this few times before but never got the hang of it. Now I used a stitch marker and that did the trick. Funny how a simple little thing like that can make so much difference. It's also quite a popular free online pattern.

Samprjón

In my internet knitting group, Garnaflækja, we've been having couple of games within the group. One time we knit washrags for each other and another time we knit mittens.

I'm starting a new game which is called Samprjón. Samprjón is an Icelandic translation of the phrase knit-a-long (KAL).

I will select a free, online pattern and post parts of it everyday. Participants knit the rows I post every day and try to guess which pattern it is (but no spoilers, if you know what pattern it is send me an email to rajnos @ gmail . com (without spaces).

The game starts Friday the 6th and I will post the first lines then. This game is in Icelandic (whether or not the pattern is in English or other language), but if you want to participate and prefer a pattern in English let me know (use the above mentioned email or leave a comment).

The first pattern is knit with a soft cotton/synthetic blend with gauge about 25sts/1'', although the gauge isn't crucial. The pattern is knit on size 3 (US) needles (sock needles) and is knit rather tightly (keep that in mind while selecting yarn). You can use other materials, even wool, but try to use a soft and durable yarn.

There are two colors. The main color is light green and the secondary color is dark green. You can use other colors, or even two different colors (e.g. yellow and green). You need one skein of each but will only use about half a skein of the secondary color. You can also knit this pattern with a thicker yarn, just make sure to use one size smaller needle than the yarn calls for and you'll probably need more yarn (at least two skeins of the main color).

Get your yarn and needles ready. You have two weeks until the game starts.

So close ...

This was written last night (20th), but the Internet wasn't working so I couldn't post it.

As you might remember from my second to last post about a month ago that my Lopapeysa cardigan was finished, the knitting portion anyways. I couldn't finish it all the way because I didn't have an access to a "good" enough sewing machine (one that could handle the bulkiness of the sweater).

Fast forward to last week. Lady at work is a new knitter and her friend that taught her knitting lives in Florida so she asks me if I could help her with her knitting (she saw me looking at knitting blogs and was delighted to find out I knit). Then couple of days later I thought that maybe she could help me with the sewing part of the cardigan. Lo and behold, today she brought a traveling Janome machine to work for me to borrow.

So tonight I managed to sew up the front where the two purl stitches were and cut down the middle (steeking I guess). I'm not to confident with sewing so I wanted to find out more (and boy did I, check out this fantastic tutorial). Plus, I needed thread that matched my cardigan better (better than the arbitrary one I used for the steeking which is burgundy colored - vínrauður).

I was going through the tutorial and checking out the zipper vis-a-vis the cardigan when I noticed THE THING. The thing is that the zipper is too small! A little small would be ok, but it is at least 2" too small! How could that happen? I measured the cardigan again and again to make sure it was indeed 22".

I bet that by the time I finish it, it'll be too warm to wear it. I did place an order at Joann's for the larger size (24") zipper, and couple of other things while I was at it, e.g. Wonder Tape to facilitate the putting-the-zipper-in process (a tip from the tutorial).

February's over and done with

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month! Sorry about that. Now I have so much to say, I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm just going to start with the here and now.

I'm basically only knitting monthly dishcloths at the moment. I couldn't resist buying 4 more skeins of Peaches and Creme cotton at Walmart. They were only $1.48 and in nice colors. Which brought my stash of kitchen cotton up to 20 skeins, but I'm down to 18 now. I haven't taken pictures of the last two ones.

I'm stitching more now than knitting, thanks to my two SALs. I'm up to date with the SecretSAL from Allt í kross. But I'll not be posting pictures of that. I'm also stitching Maryse's 'Maisons de Campagne' and just finished February.



As I finished this picture, I also finished listening to 'Age of Innocence'. What an ending. I recommend it. It's very interesting because it describes the lives of 19th century New York aristocracy.

A sure sign of us moving

I'm finishing up a few things. One reason is because we're moving, but not less pressing is the fact that couple of my friends are having babies with the due date in sight. So I have to hurry up and send couple of stuff to them. Then there is Clint's relative, who is due at the end of May.

I'm pretty sure at least one of the recipients or possibly two read this blog. At least they'll be surprised of what they get and not all of it is necessarily in this post anyways.

Clint's relative is actually his cousin's girlfriend (their older kid is in Paula's (my MIL-tengdó) daycare), and she is certain to have a girl (the other two are undecided, may fall either way). So I'm giving the kimono to her. I can't really see a boy in a kimono, which is a shame. Why can't boys wear something cute?



The other things I've finished are couple of bibs. The pedal bib only needed a little blocking but the denim bib needed a button and an appliqué.



You can read more about them on flickr - which makes this an short and uninteresting blog :o

My Lopapeysa is all ready to be sewn up. I bought the zipper yesterday, jacket zipper even. I mean, it's a jacket rather than a cardigan anyways. It's bulky (by that I mean knit out of bulky yarn) so it needs a serious zipper, right?

I was going to tackle this tonight, but came up against a small problem. My MIL's (tengdó) sewing machine is a Singer, who is over 50 years old. (Oh boy, I hope I don't get any hate mail from Baby Boomer singers!). It's not so likely that it can handle the thick fabric of the sweater/jacket.

I'm going to go to JoAnn's tomorrow and see if they will do it for me. I could pretend I was in the market for a sewing machine. Well, technically I am. I will buy a sewing machine, but not until after I've moved. Perhaps not until we've finally settled down (the Ohio University job is a temporary job).



Since you'll have to wait a little longer to see the finished piece I give you this preview. Well, I also wanted to show you (my faithful readers) how the colors come out. I still think each one of the colors are beautiful and both the complementary colors go well with the base color - but the yellow is too bright and completely drowns the green. It looks better in daylight. I suspect that part of my problem is that I've only worked on it (especially the color part) at night, with artificial light.

p.s. we're leaving next Tuesday (27th).

Toasty Toes

One thing I don't have to worry about is cold feet. I finished my Monkey socks.



Here is another view of the pattern.



Better make the best of the good weather we are having and take an outside shot of them in the sun.

The pattern is easily memorized and hard to forget - which came in handy since it took so long to finish them.

The yarn Hjertegarn sock yarn, needles 2,5 mm circular.

This is what I wrote on flickr about them: "It was designed for variegated yarn, but I was looking for a pattern with texture for this yarn. When I saw this pattern I thought it was perfect for the yarn and I started right away. I only finished it now though (about 2 months later?)."

February Dishcloth

February Dishcloth
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

I finally took a picture yesterday. Today the mid-month KAL starts. I finished todays lines and it looks like an interesting pattern. It's a lace pattern. I'm doing the 1st of the month cloths in solid colors (because they have purl-patterns) and the mid-month cloths in variegated (because they have texture). I have about 17 skeins (plus leftover yarn) of kitchen cotton and the majority is variegated. I also have a cone of white yarn and I might knit another one (of the mid-February cloth) in white if the pattern doesn't show up well with the variegated.

The February cloth (in the photo) only had one stitch of garter stitch on the edges and that is not enough. Not for me anyways. Maybe it'll be different after it's washed?

It's about time!

So I finally finished this ornament. I made it the summer that Ása was born (2005), but then I didn't have the right needles to sew it shut. Once I got the needles, I was busy with other things, and never finished it. All I had left was to close it up and sew the cord around it. I'm not to experienced in this kind of thing so that held me back a little.

It's the level 5-2 piece from Victoria Samler Beyond Cross Stitch series.

It's my first (and only) hardanger piece and I stitched it with Rósa Bjarna (we each did our own but pretty much at the same time). It was enjoy to stitch it and a lot of fun to try hardanger.

Here is the post with Rósa's piece, if you want to see it in more details.

Update on the zipped Lopapeysa

So, I went ahead and knit it with the yellow. The good thing is that I love the yellow color. It's a very beautiful color and it fits well with the dark-brown. The bad thing is that it's way to bright compared to the green, and much brighter than the pictures on the internet indicated (manufacturer and store). So the two colors are in two different tones and the yellow stands out too much. Oh, well. I do really like the dark-brown, moss-green, yellow combo.

I'm knitting the collar and is almost done. I have to finish the sweater before we move (in 2 weeks), both because I need a sewing machine and because I need to wear it in Ohio. I

Mid-January Dishcloth

Mid-January Dishcloth
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

Made from 'Sugar'n'cream' as Mid January Dishcloth in the Monthly Dishcloth KAL.

The cables are really clever. The dishcloth would have looked like a swatch if it had been made with the traditional purl stitches around the cables. The garter detail makes this design really special. Some people mind that it doesn't have straight edges but I don't care. I mean, it's a dishcloth!

Janvier

Janvier
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

I finished it last weekend. On Sunday, when I should have been going to the Library Knitting group. This was the last meeting for me since I'm moving and I'd been looking forward to go. But then I just forgot! I can't believe it. They only meet once a month :( I didn't even get to say goodbye.

I am stitching the piece on 28 ct. cotton khaki colored evenweave with DMC colors. The SAL can be found on Maryse's blog.

Stitching blogger's questions

I made a new blog with SBQ post exclusively. These are interesting questions and it's nice to see what other stitcher do and especially how they do things differently than you. You can tap into the stitching community.

To be or not to be Yellow, that's the question!

I finished the January SAL from Maryse. I finished it on Sunday. That's the 4th, a little late, but I think I did pretty good considering I didn't start it until around the 20th!

The photo is stuck in my camera, among other photos.

I'm making a good progress on the lopapeysa (Lopi-sweater). I've joined the sleeves with the body and am about to start the pattern. Only problem is that I don't like one of the color. It's a yellow color and I thought it would be lighter. Now I'd rather want a white one. The store had a pretty strict return policy and I decided it wasn't worth it for one skein. It would have cost me more than to buy a new one. Besides, this yarn (Lamb's pride bulky) is good for felting (so it's nice to have it). But. And it's a big but. No-one sells this yarn around here! There are no yarn stores in Concord only stores like Jo-ann and Beverly's, Micheal's in next city over. They sell yarn, sure. But they basically only sell acrylic yarn or acrylic yarn mixes. This has been changing, as Lion Brand (and others) is going more into wool and exotic fibers. Now Patons even has a soy silk yarn!

I looked at some yarn store that are the closest, but none seem to carry Lamb's pride (I didn't call, just checked their website).

I'm thinking about trying the yellow color. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe I can just call order that one skein? I know a store in Oakland that sells it.

The Year of A-Longs

There seems to be a theme to this year (2007). Stitch-a-longs and knit-a-longs or 'A-longs'.

I started doing the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, beginning í Jan. They have KALs, starting the 1. and the 16. of the month. Right now we're on the second day of the Feb. KAL, my third one.

I'm also doing the 'Petite Maison de Campagne' (eng. 'Little Country House') SAL over at Grille de Maryse. I'm still doing the January bit. I thought I was going to have it finished before Feb. rolled around but I haven't been as productive stitcher as I hoped for.

My stitching group, Allt í kross, is having a Secret SAL. I prepared for it weeks ago (about 2 weeks) and the first part comes today. Not that I will be doing any stitching tonight. It's our anniversary. Five years and counting.

Ohio, here we come

Ohio, prepare, the Anderson-Richter* family is coming.

All the more reason to get going on my wool sweater and socks. Plus, Kamilla could need a wool sweater. Instead, the wool sweater is going backwards. I had just about finished the first sleeve, when I ripped it all out. It was too tight. It's supposed to be snug, but it was too much. It was quite wide around the wrist though. I did the smaller size sleeve and it seems I have to start the sleeve like the smaller size (due to small wrists) but then increase a little more frequently for the rest of my arm.

But I haven't really been working on the sweater. I've been making mitered squares (a la Mason-Dixon). I finally found something to do with my leftover cotton from making washrags/dishcloths. I'm will then join them to make a kitchen towel.

Why are we going to Ohio? I got a post-doc position at University of Ohio. We'll be living in a small University town of Athens, OH. And we're leaving in about 2 weeks :o




*In Iceland, women don't change their last name when they get married, simply because Icelanders normally don't have last names. I have one, but that's just because my father's, father's father (or something like that) was German.

FO overload

I got some photos loaded up:



This is the first dishcloth from the Monthly Dishcloth group (which reminds me, the Mid January KAL started today).



This is the crocheted ornament I got in my Christmas 'card' from Garnstudio. It's quick to make and I'm happy I made an ornament at all. See previous post. The thread is a white nylon (or some kind of plastic) with glitter. Very festive ;)



This is a front part of a pillow I'm making. It's made up of crochet solid granny squares. I like these (the solid) better than the regular version. This is inspired by Mustaa Villaa's pot holders and the granny square blanket-wannabe I made (see next picture). It's made out of leftover cotton yarn (Mandarin Classic) and cotton/polyester blended yarn from Europris. I recommend the blended cotton for a pillow since it's softer, but the regular cotton (mercerized) is fine as well.

I was going to use fabric for the back but am leaning towards knitted back.



Here are the girls modeling with the granny square blanket. I made the granny squares, but gave up on the blanket and ended up using the rest of the yarn (I only bought half the yarn required) for the Log Cabin blanket (see next photo) plus other yarn. My stepmom sewed the squares together with the ingenious method of machine sewing (zigzaging) them together. It's looks really good and you can't even tell it's machine sewed. She then sent us the blanket for Christmas.



I finished 8 rounds of the Log Cabin. I still have yarn for at least one more round, but I decided to weave in the remaining ends and use as is for a while and give the project a little rest. Kamilla loves the blanket and thinks it's for her. In reality it's for me but don't tell her ;)

Winter knitting

It's getting to be a more like winter here. Freezing temperatures and whatnot. I wish I'd already finished couple of things that are on my needles.

• Monkey - Knit with green Hjertegarn sock yarn (Danish), which I bought in Álafoss, factory outlet for Icelandic wool. I'm not knitting it with variegated like it's designed for, but it seems to be fine nonetheless. I wanted a textured sock with this yarn and this pattern sure is textured.
  
  I'm knitting them with two circular needles (what else) and the project has been in my purse. Problem is I don't go anywhere and if I do I have 1-2 toddlers with me so I have my hands full anyways. So I have upgraded this project to an around-the-house project.
  
  
• Rennd lopapeysa. This was all the rave couple of years ago. I had no interest in it until I moved here. I knitted the torso already and have started one of the sleeve. It's knit with Lamb's pride bulky, very soft (15% mohair). I just wished it was finished already.
  
  

Then I have a cross stitch project I've been working every day (basically) and a crochet project, that is finished (the crochet part). But the finishing is not done yet. I'll show you the crochet one as soon as I get the photos uploaded from my camera.

Monthly Dishcloth

I completely forgot one project in yesterday's post. I'm knitting the January dishcloth from the Monthly Dishcloth group. I get 10 lines of the pattern a day until it's completed. It's so much fun. The January dishcloth was a star (this is not mine). This will help me use up my kitchen cotton inventory from last summer :) I love it. The group is also very active. Too active if anything. I'm having problems keeping up ;)

There is a KAL (knit-a-long) the first and the 16th of each month. Nice.

Happy New Year

Hi again. I was a little sick. Nothing serious, thank God. But it still required a trip to the emergency room on Jan 2nd. I had an inner ear virus infections and had severe vertigo. The virus is gone and so is the dizziness. All I had to do is wait it out (took about 2-3 days) and to take motion sickness tablets. The worst part was not being able to knit/crochet/stitch (I'm doing a mix of all of the methods these days). No, that's not true. The worst part was hanging on to consciousness during the dizzy spells.

I'm working on different projects right now. The cross stitching picture is still going strong. I'm probably past the 50% point on the crosses, but the backstitch is going to be a drag. I've been working on my Lopapeysa, the modern design but out of Lamb's Pride, which resembles Sandnes Alfa (for the Scandinavian readers). I'm still working on the body. It's a good mindless knitting while I'm watching TV and I've actually been watching a lot of TV lately. Actually I've been watching Comcast On Demand - which is a cable service, where I can get variety of shows and movies. And that's just what I've been doing. I watched the first season of Six Feet Under, which a friend of mine liked. I can see why.

Then I watched Dexter. It's the best TV series I've seen in a long time. Even better than Arrested Development. The actor that plays David on Six Feet Under plays Dexter as well. He's so great. It was hard going back to Six Feet Under (the first 6 shows of Season 2 came On Demand). His role in Dexter is just so much better. The other one (David) was good. Don't get me wrong. But Dexter is so complicated and has so many, different sides to him. For those not in USA, Dexter is a serial killer who kills only killers that the law cannot get to. Serial killer by night, forensic analyst and a loving boyfriend by day. You sympathize with him and you root for him and then you have to explain to yourself how you can sympathize with a serial killer.

This is not a TV blog (although I have to add that yesterday I watched 'Casablanca' for the first time. It's great. But I bet you already knew that.

Ok, ok. Back to crafts. I've also been working on the Log-Cabin Blanket. I've done 8 rounds on it so far. It's going slowly at this point, but it is nice to have in my lap on cold winter nights. Well, it's not that cold. But the blanket is nice and warm anyways. I've been thinking about a border and now I'm leaning towards no border at all.

I've been doing some crocheting. I can't wait to show it on the blog, but I have no pictures of it so far. It deserves a big post on it's own anyways.

Finally I have a sock projects for when I'm on the go. Since I'm never on the go these days, or chasing after toddlers when I do go anywhere, the project is going slowly. I might just have to take it out of the purse ;) But not until I finish some of those other projects I have at the moment.

Julehilse

I got a Christmas greeting (julehilse) from Garnstudio. In the greeting was a pattern for crochet Christmas ornament. I had glittered white crochet thread, which came in handy. That same night (same day as I got the greeting), Ása Sóley wouldn't go to sleep, which is very unusual for her. I took her back outside and did this ornament in about 45 min and then took her back inside to sleep. I think it would only take me 30 min if I did it again, since it is in Danish, so I had to figure out the names of the stitches, and that included treble, which I've never done before. So I actually made a Christmas ornament. I'm very proud of myself.

I tried to finish another ornament. It's a stitched ornament. I did the stitching long time ago. Then I was almost done finishing it up but I needed small pointed needles so I put it aside. I didn't even take it back out after I got the right needles. I almost finished it this Christmas, but I had trouble putting the cord around the edges. Maybe next Christmas then?

Post Christmas Stress Disorder

No, not really. I had the most relaxing Christmas ever. Chistmas in Iceland are just so much more big of a deal. More formal and more serious. Which is not a bad thing. It was nice, nontheless, to experience relaxing and laid back Christmas.

So what do you do on Christmas, when you've finished all your Christmas knitting? Why of course you start a Christmas stitching project. About time I did some stitching. This should be ready for next Christmas. I can't be more timely - 365 days for finishing IT.




IT is a Christmas Stocking kit from Bucilla, which I got in a birthday game in my cross stitching group last year (note - not this year). So I've had it for a while and I thought it was a good time to start on it. It's nice to get back in the stitching gear. I've been doing a little bit of stitching, maybe a month or so ago, although I didn't share it on the blog. I like this design because it only covers the cuff of the stocking, and not the entire stocking. So there is actually a possibility that I'll finish it eventually. It is also a simple design and I'm not used to stitch designs that have so large areas of the same color. I does make it fast though. I'm making a big progress already since I'm sticking to the large areas. I'm not getting bored either, since I cleverly listen to a audiotape while I'm stitching. I'm also remembering how exciting it is to see the design unravel on the canvas/cloth.

I still can't upload photos from my camera and the photo above is the only one I found online of this design. I hope you can see it at all.

Þorláksmessa

The title of refers to the name of this day in Icelandic. No skate for me today. Wouldn't mind it though.

I finished the Christmas knitting today and wrapped it save for couple of pairs of wristwarmers I wanted to press first. The iron is missing though so I don't know if I will be able to press it at all. So now I can knit whatever I want.

I finished a ballband dishcloth from Mason Dixon. This one has been lingering in my knitting bag (or one of my knitting bags) for over 2 months (since October). I'm glad to have it finished. I even sew in the ends. So what's next, the log-cabin or my sweater, hmm...

Christmas blog

Christmas is right around the corner. Wednesday I had another job interview, a repeating interview, where I had to prepare a 30 min presentation. So I didn't really spend a lot of time thinking about Christmas until now.

I'm making Xmas presents. They should be ready in time, if I work on them ;)

Rebecca had this nice little (or not so little) meme. I just couldn't resist.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? One Christmas, me, Clint and couple of friends came together and made real alcaholic egg nog. It was nice and tasty. I don't think I've ever had non-alcaholic egg nog so I can't really tell if I like that or not. I've never associated Christmas and hot chocolate - perhaps jólaglögg (juleglögg?). Jólaglögg is pretty tasty - I think I'd pick jólaglögg over egg nog.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? I don't know how this Santa character operates.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like blue personally. But it depends. White are festive and tasteful. Red are good too. I think I like one color better than mixing of colors.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No
5. When do you put your decorations up? Hopefully around Dec. 1st. This year we don't have any decorations though. Left them in Iceland.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Rjúpa (Ptarmigan) og skata (skate) but I don't like hamborgarahryggur (smoked pork back), unless it's lightly smoked lamb's back.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Meeting my cousins on Christmas day at a Christmas party at our Grandmother/Grandfather's house and playing with each others christmas presents.
8 . When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was suspicious and then I notice my mom put candy in my shoe and not the julelad (see here: http://www.icelandweatherreport.com)
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We've always opened all of our presents on Christmas Eve. That's just how we do things in Iceland. First Service, then Christmas dinner, then dishwashing and then presents.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Just regular christmas decorations.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? White Christmas is nice.
12. Can you ice skate? Yeah.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No
14. What's your favorite thing(s) about the holidays? In Icelandi it was all the lights.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Möndlugrautur - is there another one?
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? University really screwed Christmas for me since I had exams until Dec. 21st. I'm not back on track yet.
17. What tops your tree? See nr. 5.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving, especially if I can give a handmade gift.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Gloria, that latin one.
20. What is your favorite holiday book? There are holiday books?
21. Candy canes yuck or yum? They make for nice decoration and those little ones are nice for eating.
21. What's number one on your Christmas list this year? World peace, yarn (not necessarily in this order). No, just kidding. I'll be glad to get anything at all this year.

I'm going to try to post this through Google Docs. I didn't succeed doing that for my diary blog, hopefully it'll work here.

I'm even going to try to attach some photos. My camera still wouldn't connect to the computer. I fear the connection is broken.



Here above you can see another pedal bib from One Skein (the book). This time I knit it using Rowan Handknit Cotton. I like the colour and I like the heaviness of the cotton for the bib. I made the previous pedal bib from a acrylic blended cotton. It was soft but not sturdy enough. My little niece got it and her mom likes it. It'll be fine for drools.

Ása Sóley is trying to grab the bib through the grid. I just managed to take the photo before she confiscated the bib ;)



Here you can see one of the Mason-Dixon washcloths all wrapped up and ready to be gifted. I gave this to a nice lady that found and returned my wallet few months back. I don't think I ever shared this photo.

Now, let's see if I can publish this on my blog.

Christmas knitting

I couldn't resist knitting for Christmas. I'm in the process of knitting 2 pairs of Fetching for my sisters-in-law. It's a fun little pattern. It's a quick knit but at the same time it's interesting. I even learnet a new technique - cable cast-on, which gives the mittens a nice edge and at the top there is a picot bind-off, another first for me, also a nice finishing. All I have left is the thumb for the last one. Weave in ends for two of them and block.

I am going to make 3 more pairs of wristwarmers/gauntlets/fingerless mitts / whatever you call'em for our Nieces and nephew. I'm waiting for the yarn and it should come on Monday (Rowan Felted Tweed). It's a pattern I thought of myself, and I'm very excited about it. It's quite clever, if I do say so myself. I'm going to try to submit it to an online magazine so I don't want to talk about it too much. I made a prototype of them in kitchen cotton. Even in cotton the mittens are quite warm. I will, however, have to change the pattern when I make them in the Rowan yarn, since it has a smaller gauge. That shouldn't be too hard.

Strings

Strings
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

I felt like sewing in the ends of my Log Cabin blanket and ended up with this mountain of strings. In the background is my podcas running, probably Cast-on (cast-on.com).

I started an Icelandic zipped up sweater in Lamb's pride bulky. I love the yarn. It's so soft and it knits up in the same gauge as Lopi (for me at least). I just don't feel like knitting it. I just wanted to continue with the blanket tonight.

Ása's Socks in Use

Ása's Socks in Use
Originally uploaded by rajnos.

Off the needles and on the foot!

Not much knitting done this weekend. We had a rental car and made the most out of it, so I wasn't home (and no I can't knit in a car, I get carsick).

I had a job interview on Friday. It went well. Friday night I met with some Icelandic women, so it was a long day. I left at a 6 AM and wasn't home until 12 PM. Saturday we went for a drive after the kids woke up from their nap (gave me time to finish the socks) and on Sunday we went to meet my husband's great grandmother. She's 96 and a very nice lady. She lives in her own home and is very agile for her age. She even played the organ for us.

Nice weekend, despide the little knitting that took place, he he.