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.

35 projects

I counted 35 knitting/crocheting projects that I've made so far.

Felted slippers

I made couple of pairs of felted slippers for my grandmothers for christmas 2004. I never got a photo of them but they are the same as Clints, just in different colors.




What I never showed you were two children's slippers I made. I made them for my cousins Egill Örn and Laufey Lind, whose birthdays are in May and June. Egill Örn's birthday was first but it turned out his slippers (the blue ones) fitted his sister! I ended up using the red ones for Kamilla (fitted just fine). They felted a lot and more than the other pattern (the grown-up pattern) felted.

Skull mittens

Did I ever post this photo?



These are Lopi mittens I made for my brother Baldur. I sew in the skull pattern afterwards. I got the skull pattern from We Call Them Pirates.

I got it!

I just realized why I haven't published pictures of these projects. I did them when I was having problems with my computer. I couldn't upload pictures so I couldn't publish them. It wasn't until I got a new computer that I could start uploading photos again. Well I found another project. A cotton chenille washcloth from Weekend Knitting.

Another hole

I found another hole in my brain! Here is a picture of my Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk neck warmer from October 2005. I was very busy and stressed out in October last year as you can see from little blogging activity. The neck warmer is my own pattern. I can't remember how many stitches I cast on but the first rows (5) are pearl stitch followed by 5 rows stockinette. Then an eyelet pattern in every 10th stitch in every 3rd row couple of stitches earlier each time (so it is slanted).

The reason I'm finding all of these is because I am going through my knitting/crocheting for the last year or so and finally putting it in my orginizing program I have. All of a sudden I understood how it worked and actually was inspired to use it.

Cheese for a brain

You know how some cheese has holes in it? Well, so does my brain. First example, I went to Joann's on Sunday. They had a Memorial Weekend sale. I had a coupon for 40% of one item and got one item that cost $20 but it wasn't until I was home that I realized that I never used the coupon. That's $8 off! I went back today and got the discount. I had to go two times since the first time I went out I forgot the receipt. Well as I got the refund the clerk point out a 10% off the entire purchase coupon that I hadn't even noticed at all. I ended up using that for some scrapbooking stuff (they had albums 50% off, I couldn't resist). I guess I'll have to do some scrapbooking. One album I got (of 3) I plan to use for a craft journal. I've tried once before to do a craft journal but I didn't get a journal that I liked and the one that was closest to what I had in mind was too cheap and didn't last long.

Ok, now I'm getting side tracked.



Second example is the pink scarf I made for Kamilla in February. I never got around to taking a picture. I finally did the other day. The picture shows Ása Sóley modelling the scarf. It is made with some sort of funny fur called Funny Pelsgarn and SISU. I knit it with 4mm needles which proved to be a too small needle size. The scarf is a little too thick. But Kamilla likes it, theoretically since she never wears it.

Meet Rippit

I want you to meet my new friend, Rippit.



He is kind of an imaginary friend since I made him myself. He is made with Red Heart Super Saver 100% Acrylic yarn. I thought Acrylic would be good (and cheap) for something you don't wear. However, when I started making it I realized that I didn't think my daughter would cuddle this hard fiber. I got the yarn and a set of 6 plastic crochet hooks in assorted sizes for only $5.50 with tax! Right in my budget at the moment. I think I will be visiting Europris when I'm in Iceland for that cheap wool they have and remake it in wool.

I finally realized why people were so crazy about these amigurumis. Talk about instant gratification and creativity. I finished Rippit in 24 hours (except for few details). There is a basic pattern but it's all up to you what you want to make. You can learn more about Amigurumi on Crochet me (where I got the pattern). If you want to see different amigurumis out there try look it up on Flickr.

Now, I'm not 100% happy about Rippit. There are some things that I would do different the second time around. One thing would be to use a smaller hook. I already talked about the choice of yarn. But all in all I'm pretty happy about it.

A Fun Day

I had a great day last Monday. I meet up with Sigga Sif, who was visiting her brother in Berkeley. I had been looking forward to her comming here because it gave me an oppertunity to visit yarn shops. We (being us and Ása Sóley) met at MacArthur Bart station and walked 10 blocks up Telegraph Avenue (Oakland part) to Article Pract. To our surprise it was closed! Appearently it is closed on Mondays. We looked through the window and saw all that tempting looking yarn.

Hvað gera bændur þá?

There were some options. We could just go downtown Berkeley, which is always nice, sit in a café and enjoy life. But I had another idea. To go to Alameda and try to find a yarn shop there. I knew there were couple of yarn shops and a needleworkshop but I didn't know exactly where. We got there quite easily. Since we were on Telegraph, we only needed to take a bus to downtown Oakland and there we took a bus to Alameda (which is basically an Island by the bay). The bus stops had maps so we could see were to go and on the map we saw marked the City Hall of Alameda, which was approximately where I remembered a yarn shop to be (I saw it on google.cm/local). So we go there along with an Armanian American, which talked none-stop the whole time (only in America!).

The bus driver told us where to get out (the City Hall) and as we step out of the bus we see the yarn! shop across the street. What do you know, it's closed as well! So our yarn sprawl we've been looking forward to was a failure. We did have a good time talking. I got to speak Icelandic for a change and we got to talk badly about Icelander. We went to Long's drugs to get some water and to try to get more information about other yarn shops around there. That's one of the best things about Americans, it is so easy to talk to them. People are really open for discussion. The sales lady at Long's told us that Beverly's was at a mall not far from there. We had to walk down one street. Beverly's is not a place to get nice, fancy yarn but at least Sigga Sif could get some American size sock needles. It was a nice walk down there. We even stopped at Peet's (which incidentaly was across the street from a Starbucks) for coffee (the best coffee you can get here).

On the way back (in the bus) we tried to see the needleworks store. The bus drove up the street it was on but we didn't see it. It was probably closed as well.

Despite not being able to go into the stores, it was nice to see Sigga Sif, to see where the stores were and to see Alameda, which is a very nice town. I also had problems with Bart in the beginning. The ticket machine took my money but didn't give me a ticket and only part of the change. It all worked out in the end though.

Takk fyrir daginn Sigga Sif :)

Warm feet

My feet feel very warm and cosy right now. It's because I have my new socks on.



The antibiotics worked wonders and I am starting to be able to smell again :)

Back to the Woodland Grace I guess.

SBQ

Today's SBQ was suggested by Jenna (http://www.jennamagee.com/weblog/)
and is:

Lately, it seems that many stitching bloggers have experienced a loss
of their stitching mojo. Have you ever lost your stitching mojo? If
so, how did you get it back and how long did it take?

I periodically switch between stitching and knitting. Right now I'm on the knitting end of the spectrum so I guess I lost my stitching mojo for a while. But do not fear. It'll come back. It always does but I can not control it. It just happens.

Life takes over sometimes

Not much knitting being done lately. I've been sick, with a sinus cold and I went to the doctor today to get antibiotics. I probably have sinus infection. I haven't been terribly sick but there is a lot of pressure in my head, especially at night so I've been going to bed early. This has been going on since last week.

It didn't help either that I lost one of my needles. Thankfully it happened just as I had finished turning the second heel so I can continue with only 4 needles. It is slowing me down though. I got an advice from the Simply Lovely Lace knit-a-long to have the sole stitches on one needle and that helps (prior I had the instep needles (on top of the foot) on one needle and it was a bit crowdy.

Hopefully the antibiotics will work and I can do more knitting. I wouldn't mind being able to smell either!

Happy Mother's day!

Mother's day is a much bigger event in USA than it is in Iceland. In Iceland you might give your mother flowers, pay her a visit and generally be nice to her. Here the ads for jewelry, electronics and just about any commercial item are overwhelming.

I must admit I like this extra attention. My sister-in-law got me a mother's day gift and Clint is extra nice this morning, making me breakfast (which he actually does often on Sundays), bringing it to bed and tonight he is going to cook a very good dinner (I have no idea what it is). He and Kamilla got me a nice card and Kamilla decorated it. It's really nice.

I've been thinking about the boyfriend curse lately. The boyfriend curse states that if you knit your boyfriend a sweater you will break up. I suppose what happens is that the boyfriend doesn't appreciate the work and effort you put into it, which probably means that he doesn't appreciate you. I would call it the boyfriend blessing, since it helps you to see the relationship more clearly.

Thankfully, I had never heard about the boyfriend curse when I made my boyfriend (now husband) a sweater, and frankly I was very surprised to hear about it. We lived in two different countries and communicated by correspondance. I made him a sweater, an icelandic Lopi sweater. I had made one for me and then I made one for him. When I sent it out I realised I just sent a very warm sweater to someone who lived in California! But Clint, bless his soul, wore it nonetheless. He tells me that when he got it he thought 'yep, this is the woman I am going to marry'. It helped that he lived in San Francisco at the time, which is not as warm as many other parts of California (incl. Concord). He loves it when I make him something or when I make something for the girls. He's proud to have a wife that's domestic and can make things for the home. I am sure things would have turned out differentely if he didn't appreciate what I do.

SBQ at last

I haven't been answering these for a while, but now we have a new one:

When you stitch from a kit and use the supplied floss do you have
leftovers? If so, how much and what do you do with them? If not, do
you usually have just enough or do you have to dig into your stash to
finish?

I used to keep them but found that it just created a clutter so now I just throw them away and feel so much better. It's a feeling of liberation.

Never in my life!

I went to the Social Security Office to get my daughters Social Security Number. I went on Monday but they told me I could come back in 2 days to get the actual numbers. I need them immediately (well within next couple of workdays) so I went there this morning. Of course I brought my SLLS (the socks) to knit while I waited.

The security officer asks you if you have any weapons, pepper sprays, etc. and searches your bag. Now I don't mind him going through my purse or asking me, not at all. When he saw my knitting needles he paused and said he wasn't sure about these. I told him they are allowed on airplanes but he said no, I had to leave them outside!!!!!!!!!

WHAT!!!!!!!

What's wrong with him. You have to wait there for at least one or two hours. I don't get it. It's not like it's against the rules to have knitting needles. It was a decision he took right there and then.

Well. I came and went and each time he asks if you have weapons on you, even if he already asked. Next time he asked I said, yes, I have keys, I can do just as much harm with them as with knitting needles.

I ended up not waiting for my turn. Mostly because I called home and found out that Ása Sóley got sicker. It was not too late to get the numbers on Monday so I decided just to go home. ÁS had been feeling a little bad but while I was away she developped a fever.

And you know what, the mail just came and the SSC was there for the girls. It took 10 days for me to get mine but only 5 days (Mon-Fri) for them to get theirs. So it was all just a waste of time.