Icelandic lace

This weekend has been about finishing my lace projects. Last summer (2006) I started on a scarf/shawl in Pälsull by Östergötlands ullspinneri. It has been the kind of knitting one could always bring along, but never knit for long. The pattern is from Sigrídur Halldórsdóttir:Thríhyrnur og langsjöl. It is the central panel from Hvítt sjal and the pattern is called köngulóarprjón (spider knitting). Maybe because each diamond has eight legs?










The finished work measures 45 x125cm, so it is a small shawl or a big scarf, that is up to the wearer. Someone I know will get this for Christmas, because I never wear blue even if it is this soft. I bought a skein in red for me...













The next shawl was actually the first one I made from the same book, and I knitted Langsjal ad vestan in between, but I gave that away BC (before camera). This is Thríhyrna, the cover design. I had the right yarn, Icelandic kambgarn, but different colours, so the stripes have been changed. I got a big bag of this yarn from my aunt who had been using it for weaving, but most of it is small amounts of many, very different colours. I also used the same needles, which was a huge mistake. Since this was my first real lace project I didn't know that my knitting was too firm and the resulting shawl was blocked to 130 x 65cm instead of 150 x 75cm. Before blocking I thought it would be even smaller, so it has spent over a year in a box before I gave it the proper treatment.










Finally, here is my daughter under our apple tree. I think the size is perfect on her, but she is only about 110cm tall. Some of the snow you could see behind the blue shawl, photgraphed yesterday, has melted away, but it is still cold.

Finished Rainbow Socks

We got some snow last night, and it hasn't quite melted away even though the sun is shining today. Here is a sunny picture of the completed socks. Number one is at the bottom and number two is at the top, shown from the front. The turning points aren't quite even, but they look better when the socks get on the feet and stretch out a little.

I have been home a lot this week, because of a cold, but when I missed the weekly knitting café I had to dive into my knitting baskets. I fond a lot of UFO:s, some I had almost forgotten. One motivation to start blogging was to be able to record my finished projects, so I am not allowing myself to write about old UFO:s until they are finished. Better get back to knitting...

It's all in a days work

Today I have been a bit ill. Enough to avoid cleaning the house, but not enough to stop me from knitting.
















Since several members of my knitting club have bought the same colour of Kaffe Fasset's Regia I was so happy when I found this special and perfect pattern for it.The entire sock is knitted in short rows, except the cuff and toe. I think it really gives it more of a "landscape" feel than straight stripes. The pattern is called Rainbow Socks and can be found at Magknits , October 2007.

Tomorrow I hope I will be feeling better so I can go to Garnkorgen and spend the afternoon knitting the second sock and practise resisting the temptation to buy too much yarn. Maybe I need more needles...

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Style guide

Two years ago I made a Moebius shawl in Estonian variegated wool. When I was done I didn't have anything to wear it with. As a dedicated knitter I went out on a search for a coat to match my knitting, and found a wool coat in just the right colour. Another important criteria when buying clothes these days is no velcro. Unfortunately this is very hard when it comes to jackets and overalls for the children. Another problem is when you give knits away. Do the recipients understand these rules?

Challenge

I've been challenged, and asked to give out some personal information. Thanks Cina now I´ll probably think about your underwear every time I see you... Fun though that we started our cross stitch careers in the same way. Since I promised myself to write this blog in English and stick to knitting, I will translate the text and try to get the knitting in there whenever I can. Being a new blogger, I don't know who to challenge and I'm not too found of chain letters... so I'll stick to answering. Here we go.

1. I met my husband on the net in1999. Since we lived close to each other and turned out to have a lot in common we soon met IRL.

2. Next benefit of computers: when we moved in together and I was at home with our first child in 2001 I found his computer very useful and spent my days knitting and surfing.

3. Special talent: I'm ambidextrous. This means I can do things with both hands, like knit "backwards". Very useful.

4. I speak English, Swedish, French and Icelandic and I get by in Danish and Norwegian and I have tried out German, Latin, Russian and Faroese. If you need help with a translation, let me know.

5. For nine years I took lessons in classical piano, then I abandoned the piano and started playing folk music on the violin. After 20 years I'm thinking of trying to improve my violin technique, since I hardly have any.

6. I'm the only person I know who has lost lots of kilos by getting pregnant. About five of them have stayed off.

7. I learned to knit at five, and for the first five years I knitted the same green ball of acrylic over and over again. Then I started to learn more knitting in school and at 13 I made my first sweater. In the same acrylic, but another shade of green.

8. My knitting dream is to be a master of traditional patterns, and I'm slowly working my way through the styles of northern Europe. Next in line is the bold patterns from Delsbo in central Sweden. I have promised my mother-in-law a cardigan in silke tweed by Garnstudio. Just have to get a few other things finished first...

Icelandic lambs wool

Last weekend this project fell into my lap. An old friend of the family had promised to knit a kit for a woman who bought a sweater to match her horses, but couldn't knit it. The intended knitter couldn't knit it either, because of the foreign language pattern and recent illness. So who do you call? An Icelandic woman known to be a good knitter, my mother. She doesn't knit much these days, so she passed it on to me.

As you can see it starts out with a basic Scandinavian geometrical pattern. Further up there will be some horses and larger squares. It knits quick and easy, and it is interesting to knit Icelandic lambs wool. I have never come across a yarn like this before. It is a lot like Lópi light, but it has two strands. If I didn't know it was lambs wool I would never have guessed it, because it is almost as coarse as regular Icelandic wool, but it has a little more shine. It comes from a small company called Frú Lára.