What now?

I have a finished vest (since Monday) but I only found the iron today so I will block it tonight. Today I had a good luck with my camera. (you can see more photos if you are my flickr friend). Hopefully tomorrow will be a bright day and I will take some pictures of my knitting. Take it out in the snow if I have to. I can only use my camera without flash. The snow really helps with the light ;)

I've been working on the Sunrise Circle Jacket (here are some photos), namely the back. I promised myself that I wouldn't start anything new until I finished the back. This is the first piece I make that is knit in pieces and then sewn up. I like the methods that don't require much sewing, but this jacket was too tempting (plus I didn't realize it was knit in pieces until I started it ;) ). Actually in this case it makes sense to do it this way because the fronts are knit in a semi-circle out of the arms. I started the jacket as soon as I finished the big cardigan for my husband in November, but then put it down to make way for some winter/Christmas knitting. I hadn't gotten very far but picked it up again on Wednesday (my work was closed due to weather so I stayed home) and since then I've managed to almost finish the back. I'm knitting it with a plötulopi (unspun Icelandic wool) held double on 4.5 mm needles. Usually you use 5.5 mm needle for double plötulopi, but this makes a dense fabric (plus I get gauge), which is perfect for a jacket. The color is a beautiful yellow-orangeish heathered yarn.

There are trillion (or maybe just 3-5) projects screaming at me waiting to be started, but I made a deal with myself. I will finish the back first (of the SCJ) before I start anything else. Usually I just start whatever I feel like starting but this will give me some time to think what I want to start first since I'm having a hard time deciding. I brought a lot of yummie yarn from Iceland and am excited about using it, especially in the sub zero (Celsius) temperatures we've been having.

Bolero, just in time

Here is the bolero I talked about in my last post. It's being dressed by my daughter for her christening. Now, traditionally in Iceland, children are christened as infants. It just didn't happen with Ása and then we moved out of the country. Now that we were visiting, we took the opportunity to have our girl christened. At the same time my cousin's son was christened.

I was sick just prior to coming to Iceland and there were a few loose ends left to deal with. One was to get a shirt underneath the girls' Christmas dresses. They were sleeveless, and in middle of the winter that is not ideal. I couldn't find anything in Iceland (either a plain long sleeve white shirt or a bolero/shrug) that I liked, but my mom had an idea. She had a book from the library: Simple knits for little cherubs by Erika Knight (a big favorite of mine, in fact I had this book at home). And her idea was to knit the bolero on the front page. She would knit one and I would knit the other. We went to a store called Rúmfatalagerinn (not kidding), which have resently begun selling Sandnes yarn and got Kitten Mohair and started on our individual boleros. This was exactly one week before Christmas. We would easily have finished it on the weekend before Christmas (Christmas was on Wednesday this time around), but there was a error in the pattern and we had to frog half the thing back. So the boleros weren't finished by Christmas. Ása's christening was on the 28th and we barely made it before then. I sewed my piece up on the morning of the christening and blocked it at noon. It was barely time to give the girls a bath and get them (and us) ready.

2 month hiatus!

I knew I hadn't blogged here for a while, but 2 months! That's too much. It doesn't help that my camera is broken and it's no fun blogging without photos.

Here is a photo my dad took of my grandmother wearing the Hyrna Herborgar shawl, which I gave her for Christmas. My grandmother loved it and wore it at least twice over Christmas. It looks really good on her too.



So we went to Iceland Dec.11 and didn't come back until Jan.4. I got some knitting done, finished Christmas presents (only couple of them) incl. blocking the shawl. I made a bunch of crochet dishcloths. At first I used a crochet stitch I found at the lionbrand website, then I started making a LionBrand freebie, Bark Sedge Stitch Washcloth. Crochet fabric tends to be open (with a lot of holes in it) but these patterns are closed (no holes). Unfortunately I have no pictures of them. Neither of my baby surprise jacket! I gave it to a friend of mine who is due any day now. Hopefully she will take a picture of the baby wearing it. That's the best pictures anyways.

What else have I been making? I made felted slippers for my uncle for Christmas. I've been working on socks for my husband and daughter. The latter is done as far as I remember. I was working on them when I was in Iceland last. Maybe couple of rounds and then hide the ends.

I made sure I visited the Lopi outlet store before I left. It was really my only big purchase the whole time I was there. I came back with over 5 kg of wool (og geri aðrir betur!). Not all for me but still a hefty lot. I went to Rúmfatalagerinn and bought vacuum bags just so I could fit it all in my luggage!. It included 20 skeins of hespulopi (the bulky weight) included. A friend of mine will be making an Icelandic sweater and I bought some for a jacket for myself as well. I have already started something from the pile. The léttlopi vest everyone is wearing in Iceland. It's a free pattern from Istex.is. The pattern is in Icelandic, but if you would like to make it I could help you out with it. It's really simple. Knit a tube for the body (with a bit of shaping), cast of for underarm, knit a bit, cast on for sleeves (or sleevettes, since it's a west), knit the yoke and you're done. I'm making it with a natural black main color and I think I got natural grays for the yoke pattern (natural meaning sheep colors, undyed). Once I'm done with mine I want to modify the pattern to make for my daughters.

I'm really happy about having all this Icelandic yarn hanging around. It's such a pleasure knitting with it, not because it's supersoft (which it is not) but it is such a good yarn. I know I'm tainted for having grown up with it, but what I like about it is 1) it smells like sheep (in other words - it's real yarn!), 2) it is really easy to splice it together when you join in a new ball of yarn (no ends to hide when you're done!), 3)it's very warm but at the same time it's light and airy, 4) it doesn't pill, 5) the colors are beautiful. Maybe you that still read this blog can add to the list (one reason could be IF you live in Iceland it is readily available, local and inexpensive compared to the foreign yarn).

I almost forgot. I made one hat out of doubled plötulopi (the unspun Icelandic wool). It was a leftover yarn from about a year and half ago. I also made the above mentioned slippers out of these leftovers (about 2 cakes of yarn). The hat was made with earflaps so my daughters would have a warm hat in Iceland. I only finished one though. I want to make anther and I wonder if I have enough of the same yarn? The pattern comes from the excellent site Garnstudio.no. They have it in English as well plus my Ravelry project. Shall we say this is enough for now? I have to tell you about a certain bolero next time.

ETA: There is an English version of the vest pattern on the English version of istex.is (who would have thought!)