Life after clue one

This is part one of my Mystic Light. I really love the way the colours turned out and the pattern was really creative, hope it keeps surprising me.

Now it is time to get on with my Spring clearing project, that will hopefully allow me to see the floor of my study better in a few weeks. Right now it is a clutter of bags and baskets, half of which should actually be in the closet, which is also full... Today I'm home with a sick daughter and plan so sew on about 20 buttons on a few different items.

Finally I've posted my portrait! It is a picture taken at my wedding when I wore my Icelandic national costume. To see it, and read a bit more about me, go to knitmore.com (stickamera.se in English). I'm Interview of the month for April. I love this page, it makes sure I keep up with the knitting world, like signing up for KAL:s on time. On the Swedish version of the page is the Sockklubben KAL, where I'm a little bit behind at the moment, but the pattern for April is just what I like.

Take off

Finally the Mystic Light Shawl KAL is starting. I'm all set for the first section which was released today. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in merino.

Spring clearing

I've spent Easter digging my way through almost-finished-knittings (is there an abbreviation for that?). Often there is an edge, buttons or a seam left and it can lie about for years in that state. So far two projects are finished and approved, and I hope there will be at least three more by the end of the week.















This is the sweater in Icelandic lambs wool that I started in November. It's not that old, but has been waiting for finishing since Christmas. If you read my previous post you might recall that I promised to knit it for the grand-daughter of a friend of an acquaintance of my mothers. I haven't made any modifications, but ran out of brown yarn with half the neckline and all the seams left. It's a good thing I have a little stash of similar yarn and could find exactly the right colour in a thinner quality for the sewing. The inside of the neck became white and that doesn't show when it is worn. The only thing I don't like about the finished sweater is the bulkiness of the seams when the openings for the sleeves are cut open.

The design and yarn aren't the usual for Icelandic sweaters, but more like Faroese knitting or bulky Norwegian. The horses are popular in Icelandic designs from recent years, because these warm garments can only be worn outside, eg. by people who work with horses. This sweater will be going back to Iceland this spring on one of those horse lovers.

The next item on my list this week is a Baby Surprise Jacket designed by E. Zimmerman. The yarn is two shades of Fabel by Garnstudio. I know it isn't finished in the picture, but the whole point of this one piece design shows better in this half finished state. At the moment it only awaits the buttons I got this weekend. The baby it is intended for was born last Monday, but I only got word of it last Thursday and didn't have time to wrap it up before the holiday. Hopefully it will be in the mail tomorrow. The only problem is that all the newborns in my family weigh over 4kg, so it might be too small, but it will look good on a doll as well. I'll make something nicer for her later on, when she stays the same size longer.

Mostly shopping

Finally back in business! I went to Syfestivalen in Sollentuna almost two weeks ago, and came home with a bad back. I couldn't sit properly for a week and avoided computers. Then Blogger didn't work, then Mr P. decided to get a new screen, which didn't work too well at first...

I had planned to report from Sollentuna, but that is old news by now so I'll mostly just show off my newest yarn. I got what I had planned to buy, and not much else. Since there was a storm coming and we had a long drive home my time for shopping was a bit short, but it helped me to stick to the budget. The others in our group from Sundsvall did a bit of shopping too. Check what one of them got at Cina's.















Clockwise from top left:

• Opal sock yarn in beige. A calm colour for lace socks in Sockklubben. Attached to the ball is a wooden shawl pin from Ullomera.

• Opal bamboo in red. Shinier and softer for even more socks.

• Färgkraft handdyed wool in Sommarnatt (Summer night). Will become a shawl, maybe Icarus from Interweave knits.

• Färgkraft again in Veronagrönt (Verona green). Enough for a sweater.

• Kalinka from Karin Öberg, 100% flax in olive green for a summer top.

Then there are a few things I really liked but didn't buy this time. Huskroken had a lovely, thick 1-ply in wonderful wool, and a book coming later this spring about knitting from Gotland. Ullcentrum sold a really nice flaxen yarn with one strand of cotton mixed in. I forgot to go back to Stäket and get som Yak wool. And off course I should have gotten some dye from Färgkraft and painted a few skeins of natural wool from Naturgarn, just for fun. Apparently there where people there who sold fabrics, paints and other items, but somehow I was totally blind to that. Some kind of system overload...

I had also planned to show you what I was going to wear, but I never did. If you attended the meeting with Sticka! you might have layed your eyes on me, and this is what I wore:

















I discovered that my Christmas shawl in Sea silk yarn looked just as good with spring green as with the black top I wore during the holiday. Lucky me!