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.