The Last knit

What not to knit to!

If you need to get some knitting done, like due to a dead-line. Do not, I repeat, NOT watch Arrested Development. I got the first season on DVD and it is just not possible to knit and watch that show at the same time. It's jus too funny and too addictive.

For the last couple of nights, I've sat in front of the computer and watched these shows, holding my knitting. Just holding it. Yesterday I figured I could work on these garter stitch scarf I'm doing for my 4 yo. niece (her birthday is comming up). It's knit with novelty yarn and is impossible to fix once you make a mistake. Of course I made a mistake and then screwed it up even more when I tried to fix it and eventually gave up and started over. That was almost a skein worth of knitting my friends, and I already started over once because I felt it was to wide.

So - be aware.

Put your title here.

I have to correct myself. In the last post I said that I had already started washcloth nr. 8. The fact is that I had already started nr. 9 and finished nr. 8. I just forgot about it. I finished nr. 9 yesterday but have to weave in the ends for those two before I take pictures.

I am also far gone with my slippers or sandals. If you put sole underneath you can use them as sandals. I think that's pretty neat. But I think I have to go with slippers for now. I'm done with one and have just a tiny little bit of knitting left on the other one. The make-up of the slipper is a little pain. Just because it is a lot different than I'm used to. Let me just say that the cross pattern on the top is not solely a decorative option.

Recently I got great news. One of my dearest and oldest friends is having a baby. I can't wait to knit for her baby all the little baby things I've wanted to knit but not had a reason. My youngest is already 1 1/4 and too big for these little baby things. I wish I had all these ideas and patterns handy when I was pregnant with her but I don't even think I was really knitting at that point. I think I was mainly cross stitching then. I already started the Mason-Dixon Kimono. The only thing that stops me is that I lost my tape measurer. I can't believe I haven't lost it few times before. My kids were playing with it and then I took it away from them so I wouldn't loose it. Now I can't figure out where I put it. I guess I should have let them play with it after all :o

Aren't you glad to see me again?

Finally I make time to blog. I uploaded pictures onto my Pbase.com account ages ago but I haven't got around to post them before. In my defence, my brothers are visiting and we are going all over the place and hanging out in the evenings so my knitting time has been limited. I can inform you, however, that I started a new project. It should be a fast knit and these slippers look luxurious to me. I couldn't get the yarn it calls for (elann.com had it but only in 2 color that didn't compliment each other) so I got another yarn from knitpicks.com. It's supposed to be made with 100% silk, which I think would be heavenly on your feet. This yarn I got is part silk, part alpaca and part merino and it's buttery soft. But maybe pure silk would be sturdier. I want to make them in the right yarn as well. I think the pattern concept is brilliant (with the i-cords determining fit) and we'll see how well I like the pattern afterwards. I'm pretty sure this is my first Knitty project! It's about time, eh! I started it on the recommended needles (4.5 mm) and it looked kind of small and I realized that the gauge was way off. So I tried 5 mm and it was still too small so now I'm using 5.5 mm and they are giving me 17 sts to 10 cm instead of 16 but I'm going to stick with them (plus I have kind of small feet). I swatch as I go along. You start with the sole from toe to heel and I started and then used the beginning of the actual knitting as my swatch.

So, where are those photos I took way back - I hope I have them all :) They can be found in my album as well.



The first is of the 7th washcloth (I don't think I haven't started nr. 8). The second is of a bib I made some time ago. I found this daisy patch that was perfect for the bib and matches the button. Then there is a collective picture of three more MD bibs.

The winds are shifting

or something like that.

I actually stitch today! I started on the border of Woodland Grace, while the girls were sleeping today and while watching Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason for the first time as well. So I didn't get as much done as I could have but nonetheless, this is a big step. I haven't stitch since on the Grace (or anything) since April. Since the beginning of the year I have only worked on the Grace and the French Village.

I've been feeling the stitching comming over me lately. I've been reading stitching blogs with a renewed interest and looking at Mirabilia and Teresa Wentzler pieces with envy. I don't own any Mirabilia designs, except for Crescent Dreams (very fitting because the street I live on it called Crescent Drive), but I have couple of TW's designs, Celestial Dragon and Egyptian Sampler.

The other day, while I was shopping at JoAnn's, I even saw a small design that I WANTED to buy. I didn't buy it but it was the first time in a long time I even wanted to by a stitching kit.

Perhaps, this time, I can actually do both stitching an knitting at the same time? That would be nice, since I have quite a lot of stitching projects to finish but I don't want to give up knitting.

Same ol' same ol' or what?

I've been going to bed early a lot lately so knitting has been scarce.

I did start to make swatches for my eingirni sweater. I plan to make a raglan sweater from 1 ply Icelandic wool. My step-mother and step-sister have made them before. I think I'll do it on 4mm needles and the yarn is steel gray. Very cool.

My Icelandic online knitting group adopted a feature from my stitching group, an UFO day. UFO stands for unfinished object and on an UFO day you take up an project that has been laying on the sidelines and work on it. It gives you motivation to finish projects that have been left behind, sitting at the bottom of the knitting basket.

Today is one of those days (every Thursday is) and I finished couple of bibs and a wash-cloth. This things had been sitting in my knitting canvas bag for couple of weeks now and I finally made time to finish them. I would have taken a picture but couldn't find my camera.

So stay tuned for pictures ;)

Contemplating

My knitting has slowed down a little this week because I've been contemplating (hugleiða, áforma). I've been contemplating on two projects or projects to be. One is the slippers I promised Clint long time ago. While I was on my shopping spree in Europris, I bought bulky wool that looked perfect for felting.

This week I was about to start the slippers when I notice that the wool I bought was a little thicker than the wool it was intended for.

So what to do?

I backed out of the project for the time being and let my brain munch on the problem.

Couple of days later I come down with the solution. I knit the slippers with the intended needles (7mm) instead of what the pattern calles for (5.5 mm) but go down two sizes.

Did someone say swatching?

No way! These are mere slippers we're talking about. If they don't fit Clint, they'll fit someone else, I'm sure.

The other problem comes with photos! It is my varigation on the Log Cabin knitted blanked.



The photo to the left shows the first half of the Tunisian Crochet row, made with afghan hooks (extra long with a stopper on the other end) and a selection of afghan hooks I own (thanks mom).

The photo to the right shows a completed Tunisian Crochet row.

It looks georgeous. At least I think so. So what's the problem?

It curles up a lot so it is not so easy to work with. I think I'll rather do a log cabin with garter stitch (garðarprjón). Furthermore, I have no idea about how to orginize the colors for the blanket. It's made out of leftover yarn from a discontinued granny square blanket and other leftover yarn plus some gray yarn (light to dark gray). The other yarn is reds, blues, greens and yellows (I guess little bit of everything.

I don't know how to organize it. One solution is to have every other row colors and every other gray?

I still like the idea of a tunisian crochet blanket. But maybe rather something like this: MoeZ afghans. Especially baby blankets with cute motives.

What to do? What to do?

I'm a libra. What that means is that I have greatest difficulty making up my mind. I have no idea what I am going to do with these washrags. I am gearing towards giving them as gifts, well most of them.

One thing I really love about them is to mix and match different colors. Especially the bold colors. I could never do that with a garment. I also have quite a few options to choose from. I counted the skeins I had in either Peaches'n creme and Sugar'n Cream, and I have more than 30! My mom bought me most of them when she was here and then I bought some more when Michaels was having a $1/skein sale.

I made yet another one. I present you with Number six:

I'm on fire!

While Ása Sóley slept this morning I knitted a felted bowl from 'One Skein'. That's two designs I've knit from that book and there are more that I wouldn't mind knitting.



My daughter (who is 3*365-4 days old) saw the bowl in it's pre-felted shape and immediately identified it as a hat for her little sister. She was more than willing to model it.

I haven't felted them yet because I am going to knit Clint another slippers and felt it in the same load (I'm soooo frugal). His old ones were worn through. Now we have carpet so it should be easier on the slippers.

The book includes instructions for felting in a top-loading washing machine. I would just have thrown it in with a normal load like I normally do but I'm thinking about trying this. Especially since I don't know top-loading machines at all.

But first, one more ball band dishcloth.

Dilemma

I am in no doubt that blogging has enriched my knitting, both by giving me access to what other knitters are doing and being inspired by them and also by inspiring me to actually finish knitted items so I can post it on my blog and not fall too far behind on my posts.

However, while I'm blogging I'm not knitting! That's a problem. I usually only knit in the evenings and that's also usually when I blog as well. Sometimes it takes me days to actually get around to blogging because I'm too skimpy on my knitting time. Sorry guys.

I made a subalbum in my 2006 knitting album for things knitted from Mason-Dixon knitting. In that album you will find e.g. this:

I like the multicolored dishrag but I will not make any more. You can see the reason why in the photo to the left. In the photo to the right you see the dishrag that inpired the multicolored one. Only problem was that the yellow color didn't match the yellow from the varigated yarn and of course the seemingly endless amount of ends to be crafted.



There are some other dishrags:




And some close-ups of the dishrags:




Can you tell yet that I'm fascinated by them? They are very fun to knit. Easy but entertaining. The last detail is my last attempt at trying to catch how loud those two colors acutally are in real life. That rag was inspired by the two colors that dominated every florist window in Iceland during my stay there in June.

I've also made some bibs but haven't finished the details yet. They got their picture taken despite their uncompletness (funny word I just made up).



The last one is the petal bib from 'One Skein' like I mentioned in my last post. It is made from 50% cotton and 50% polyester and is super-soft. I think it will be most useful as drooling bib (slefsmekkur) and not food bib.

Rags for various purposes

So do you want to know what I've been doing lately.



Couple of more washrags/facecloths.

I've also made some bibs (smekkir). I made couple from Mason Dixon and one from One Skein.

The bib from Mason Dixon is super easy and the bib from One Skein is super difficult. Super difficult but a lot of fun and a quick knit. And I think I can even make two from 1 50 g skein.

Cotton, cotton and cotton. The Mason-Dixon post

I guess I've been on a holiday. My mom's been visiting. I've been knitting but not a lot. I finished a cotton dress that is a gift so no photos yet and wouldn't be for a while I'm afraid.

I've been knitting dishrags from Mason Dixon, using Peaches and cream cotton. One is from the book and the other from the website.



I've also been knitting the bib (smekkur) from Mason Dixon, using Hjertegarn denim yarn. I love the yarn. It is dk weight (svipað og kambgarn) and so soft. It does color though and my needles are blue!

I have started an afghan, Mason-Dixon inspired (log cabin) but with a twist. I'm not ready to post anything about it right now but it's going to be soon.

Instead I present you with a picture of my stash. I actually didn't have any until I was in Iceland in June. I came back with a suitcase full of it. Mostly Icelandic wool but also Norwegian wool and some cotton. I also brought my leftover yarn, including yarn from a blanket I gave up on (couldn't deal with all the granny squares). All this yarn is going to be in my Log Cabin blanket.

Back to the USA

Well, I'm back. I'm over the jet-lag, which is much harder to do when you have a 3yo and a 1yo which are not concerned if they wake up at 5 AM. My mom came with us and has been visiting so not much knitting.

She did get me couple of knitting books. One of which was the Mason-Dixon knitting book. I love the design of the book and it's an inspiration. I was really happy when I found out you could get the yarn they use (Peaches n cream) in Walmart and I just found out where Walmart is around here. I was happy to see that it cost only $1.49/skein but a slightly less happy to find out that the dishcloth pattern I was making from the book was also on the ball-band. I guess I found out why the pattern was called ball-band dishcloth. Notice I said slightly because I was having so much fun making the dishcloth that it didn't really bother me. And they are right, the yarn is really made for this pattern. It fit the pattern like a glove.

More more more

Right after posting that last post I went out on errants. Somehow I ended up in Europris (I wonder how), which is a Norwegian store and they have yarn. I was hoping to get a few skeins of worsted weight yarn for my blanket I'm planning but what greated me was a HUGE selection of yarn in every weight possible (and when yarn and Norwegian are in context the yarn is wool of course) and even some cotton. No skein was over 200 kr. ($2.60) so naturally I walked out with a grocery bag full of yarn. (a quick note: the grocery bags in Iceland are far bigger and stronger than their fragile counterparts in the US).

The irony of bringing all those grocery bags full of wool to sunny California in July is not lost on me.

Finally Yarn! Finally stash!

I'm swamped. I thought that after the defence I'd be less stress but in fact I'm more stressed. I have to get rid of stuff, pack stuff and pack and somewhere in there are two young children. Think god for mothers. Without my mom I would have lost my sanity way back.

Yesterday I did get away from this and go yarn shopping with my stepmom, who is a knitter. We started out going to Álafoss factory shop, where they have anything you need and it's cheap. A skein of eingirni (Icelandic laceweight wool) costs $2.25 (170 kr) and I got a sweater's worth of a beautiful steel grey color (5 skeins) and some red natural colors (yes, we have redhead sheeps here too) - mórautt.

I discovered that they have cheap sockyarn and lot's of it. I got some green. They also have demin cotton yarn. Both these are danish yarn. Even if this is a factory outlet it also sells variety of yarn. I had wanted to knit a denim skokkur (sleeveless dress for kids) for Kamilla for a long time and this stuff was at least half the price of Rowan's denim.

I got some léttlopi (lopi light) in beautiful red colors for French Market Bag from Knitty. My MIL (tengdó) goes to farmer's markets a lot and I want to make it for her. I wanted to make it while I was here but I kept starting it over and over again. I was using a wrong color it turned out. This red one is much better, before I used black for the bottom.

I ended up buying about $70 worth of yarn. But that is a lot of yarn. One Icelandic shopping bag (which is much bigger and sturdier than the US equivalent) and two 4 mm needles as I didn't have one in 80 cm length (since 4 inches are 10 cm then 80 cm is 32 inches).

Later we went to Ullarselið. I had wanted to go there for a while since I went there last summer. I just love their herb colored eingirni. Now they have expanded the selection and have the yarn clearly marked from which plant it is (you don't have to check each hank). They have 50 gr. hanks and 10-15 gr. hanks. I got 4 of the later ones, which is perfect for a shawl with white being the main color. The colors varied from yellow to green. These colors are just so beautiful. As you would expect green and browns dominate the color palette. But there is a lot of variation just from one type of plant. What supprised me most was the onion and the black currant (? krækiber) colors.

This place also has some really cool buttons, made from animal bones and horns as well as stones and shells. I could have gone all out there but I didn't have a project in mind so I just looked.

So now I have stash, at last. Until now I've only bought yarn for one project at a time but the awailability of wool is so little in California (wonder why?) that I have to stack up.

In Iceland you can buy yarn at the grocery store (well, only in small villages where there is just one shop that sells everything). But in the US you can only buy yarn in yarn shops and craft stores. Why doesn't Target sell yarn, especially cotton and superwash yarn??????

Not much knitting being done at the moment. If I'm not preparing for the defence, I am visiting people. Up to 2 visits per day.

The defence is on Tuesday and after that - yarn shopping. (and perhaps a little packing)

The knitting type

There were come discussions in my knitting group (Garnaflækja) about following the patterns. It was clear that knitters come in all shapes and sizes.

1) Some of us don't follow a pattern at all but only knit from inspiration and what they've learnt from others.

2) Other knitters use patterns (more than one at a time) as guidelines to put together the exact garment they are looking for.

3) Others (and this applies to me most of the time) follow the pattern more or less but have to make certain changes (e.g. simplify or change the colors).

4) And then whe have the knitters that follow the pattern all the way.

There are pros and cons to every sort of knitting style. The style I choose helps me get an outlet for some creativity. I don't think I can actually follow a pattern without changing something. Sometimes I don't follow a pattern but make it up as I go. That applies to the Bulky Lopi jacket I made for Kamilla and the neck warmer I made for me.

So which type do you follow?

Quiet on the homefront

I'm not blogging much. It's not because I haven't been knitting, but on the contrary because I've been knitting. I'm knitting a gift so I haven't been terribly motivated to write about it here. It's a pattern that I've wanted to do for ages. It's supposed to be done in Rowan's cotton glacé but I'm doing it in Mandarin Classic. One of the thing I missed the most from Iceland is good quality cheap yarn. I just don't get it why I can't go to Joann's or other craft stores in California (I don't know how it is elsewhere in the US) and get decent yarn! How come I can't get normal superwash wool? I don't always fancy knitting with expensive yarn. Especially when knitting for someone else than me and when I'm broke. The craft stores in CA have a lot of yarn, a lot. But it is just crappy Acrylic or acrylic blends. I don't fancy yarn that's only 20% wool.

I wan't to save the expensive yarn for special occations. Here in Iceland I would predominately knit with Sandnes products. Sandnes is a Norwegian company and I think it distributes to the Nordic countries. These yarns are e.g. SISU for fingerweight wool/nylon blend (comparable to sock yarn) and Mandarin Petit for fingerweight egyptian cotton (both knit with 2.5 mm needles). Then we have Smart for 100% superwash wool and Mandarin Classic egyptian cotton for sportweight yarn (3.5 mm needles). The last one is the one I'm knitting with at the moment. Other wool yarn they have is Alfa, Fritidsgarn, Lanett and Peer Gynt (for their traditional Norwegian sweaters). Then there are some novelty yarn or yarn that's derived from their basic yarns (like adding glitter to various yarn types). These yarns all cost $3 - $4 per 50 gr. skeins.

Back to my project. I chose colors when I was at the store (a department store, Hagkaup) and as soon as I started I thought of a better color combination and now there are at least 3 other colors combinations I would rather be knitting it in. Not that the one I'm making is bad. I just think the other ones are better. It's really fustrating and I'm trying to make me content with the colors I'm working with. Has anyone else had this problem?

Back home

We are safe and sound back in Iceland inspite of flying on 06.06.06! Back to the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow. I'm not kidding about the midnight sun. It is really confusing for a certain little 1 year old (my little baby is one!), who thinks, when she wakes up late at night, that it's a new day. Well it isn't.

My friend Kristín was visiting me and came back with us. On our trip to Berkeley I made her go into Article Pract (since we were driving past it on our way to Berkeley). What a great store! It was beautiful, well arranged and had it all! Just name it, it was there (or so it seemed). It was so great that even Kristín, a non-knitter, bought yarn. That's amazing. The yarn she bought was habu, in silk and stainless steel! It was just too cool to pass up. I bought a skein of baby alpaca. I was really overwhelmed and since I didn't have a project in mind it is amazing I bought anything at all (I'm a one project at a time kind of girl).

There are two things I need to get when I'm here. Lace weight Icelandic yarn (eingirni) colored with herbs and Lopi light (léttlopi) for a zipped up sweater. These zipped up, tight-fit sweaters were very popular last year but then I had no interest in them. When we came to California it was freezing (literally) and suddenly I desired nothing more than that new lopapeysa (Lopi sweater).

Bath mittens

I started a project last night and finished it tonight. I love these quick knits. The project is a cotton bath mitten from a $1.59 skein of Sugar'n Cream in ivory. I got it at Joann's this weekend. Unfortunately I can't show you a picture of it since my camera is on a strike and demands better working conditions. Apparently I have to give her a spa treatment (cleaning) but I better leave that to the professional.

I think I can make another one from the skein it is a 4 oz. / 113 gr. skein and the pattern is on the label. How convenient is that!

I want to make this pattern in linen for some reason. To bad I don't have any. This is a great pattern for gifts. Just pack it with some Lush products and you're set.