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.