Knits for the kids

This summer I thought about my reasons for knitting, and realized that I should think more about the result and less about the process and make things that someone would need, want and use. I'm still very much a process knitter, and I have to find the work interesting, but I have tried to be more practical. One top priority is to involve my children more. I made a pile of baby garments for them, but they were big and could hardly use them. Since then I have made very little for them, because it felt like a waste of time. Now they have shown some interest in what I'm doing and I've tried to listen to their ideas.

Some time in July my daughter asked why I didn't knit for her. She has strong opinions, so I told her to make me a drawing of what she had in mind. She came back a few minutes later with a picture of a dress with long sleeves. I immediately thought about the pattern Sand Dollar from The Children's Collection by Alice & Jade Starmore and showed it to her, and she approved. A few days later we went to the LYS to pick a yarn that was light and cool and not too expensive, and most importantly very red. We chose Blend/Tendens by Hjertegarn in cotton and acrylic. The deadline for this project is her birthday in December, so I havn't worked that much on it yet but it is small and quick to knit even if the pattern is extensive.















A couple of weeks ago I came across a Spiderman blanket made by Liisa. I had seen the pattern before, but I hadn't realized just how big and beautiful it was. When my son saw the picture he was spellbound and asked me to make one for him, so now I'm knitting as fast as I can without letting him see it. I hope to have it finished for his fourth birthday in three weeks.















Finally the best news of all. My 6-y-o daughter knits! Maybe it is because she gets hot chocolate at the knitting café and not at home, but I don't care. I gave her some cotton to start with, but it split and was hard to work with. Then we went shopping for something funnier and more suitable, and got some printed, heavy sock yarn for a scarf. Her brother wanted a ball too, for when he learned to knit. I said that might be a while but then his sister offered to make a scarf for him too. I volunteered to make his scarf, otherwise it might take a few years, and he got his favourite colour as well. I knitted half of his scarf in the car last weekend, but my daughter made slow progress and needed some more encouragement. This week I got her some domino needles that made it easier to knit with small hands

Brown and blocks

There has been so much going on in my life this past month that I havn't had the time or energy to blog, but I have been knitting! And shopping! There is so much to write about that I will save some for later, but these are some of my favourite knitting events since last time.

I'm back on track with Sockklubben, having finished the September socks. This is my favourite pattern and yarn so far, so I'm really happy about the result. When I tried them on for the first time they stayed on all evening and I even slept in them. The pattern is Oak Leaf from Knotions, the great new free pattern magazine. It is a bit tricky to get all the twists right, and I had to knit the first leg twice to get it right, but it isn't really difficult. The yarn is the wonderful Regia Silk, a lovely quality but not really my palette of colours except this one. I used 2.5 dpns and the size is the largest, but not very long.















I bought this yarn, as well as the beautiful Färgkraft skeins in the next picture, at the "new" shop in town. Cina has taken over an old shop here in Sundsvall and redecorated and renewed it in many ways (great pics here). Great job Cina and good luck! The Färgkraft line is the most noticable addition to the stock so far, and I think every knitter I know in town has bought some. I recently made a shawl in this quality, but this time I have something else in mind... The colours have poetic names, and mine are Bärnsten (Amber) and Choklad.















Finally a few words about a great new book. Despite new issues of Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, knitty.com and knotions.com I had to buy some new books. I got Folk Hats, which was mostly wierd, No Sheep For You, both educational and great patterns, but the book you can glimpse in the picture above is my number one inspiration so far this autumn. Danish Vivian Höxbro has taken here special Domino technique a few steps further in Knit to be Square. I bought it because I knew her spectacular Abstract Stole would be in it, but a few other ideas look very tempting as well. I have just cast on for a vest from her previous book Shadow Knitting, but that is another story.

This and that

After the sweater race earlier this summer I've made a few small things that only took a couple of days. First up are the Pomatomus socks, July in Sockklubben. This is probably the first yarn I actually bought for the club, one that is interesting without hiding the lace etc. that these socks always have (Opal Fantasie 1914). I didn't like the patten at first, and spent a week trying to knit them without the yarnovers, but finally got tired of ripping and reknitting and made them according to the instructions. I even got hold of 2.75 mm dpns a while ago so I could use the right size needles. They are a bit big, and I should probably have used 2.5 mm for a better fit, but who says I have to keep them. They are modelled by Mr P who had taken this modelling position on the sofa, all I had to do was put on the socks. He has inherited my cold that kept me away from this weeks knitting café, now I've missed three weeks in a row...















Last weekend I was at a birthday party for a friend in my folk music group. Since I wasn't sure if we were getting her anything from the group, I made her a couple of wrist warmers just in case. They are good to have if you play the fiddle outdoors, like we often do. The yarn is Sandnes Lanett in charcoal grey, leftovers from when I made piles of baby clothes from their lovely patterns. The pattern is Berta from the booklet Muddar from Sticka!, and had I followed the written instructions the would have looked very diffrent form the picture, I had to make several changes to get the lace edge right. I think the first one took five times as long to make as the second. ( Really nice party by the way, thanks K.!)















Finally my knitting for the Olympics. I didn't register for any KAL, because I wasn't sure how much time I would have, but I cast on just in time for the opening cermony and it looks like it will be finished on schedule. It is a shawl by Jane Sowerby, but not from her book on Victorian lace, but a variation on the Spider's web pattern for Knitter's magazine. There will be another variation free on their website, but last time I checked it wasn't published yet. In the picture you can see the half hexagon center, but the edge is what makes it special and I will be getting back to that now. Finished this part to the men's tennis double final, where Sweden got the silver.

Utmaning (challenge)

I've been asked by Maria to answer some questions, and since my policy is to stick to knitting and write in English, I will translate the questions and do my best to find a knitting angle...

Jag har blivit utmanad av Maria att svara på några frågor, och eftersom jag har bestämt mig för att hålla mig till stickning ska jag försöka vinkla det dit...

* Hur ser din att-göra-lista ut i fem punkter för idag?
1. Skriva lite på bloggen
2. Åka och titta på persienner till vardagsrummet, så jag kan sitta där mitt på dagen och sticka
3. Kontakta dagis och fritids inför höstterminsstarten
4. Göra klart min första Pomatomus, juli i Sockklubben
5. Laga en god middag till min man som börjar jobba igen efter semestern idag


* Vad gjorde du för 10 år sen?
Bodde själv i Kramfors det året och for till Island med familjen på sommaren. Köpte mönster och material till två islandströjor, en till min lillebror som inte kunde följa med och en till mig. Brorsans var ljusgrå med keltiska slingor i brunt på oket och den fick han i julklapp. Min supersnygga har jag inte börjat på än... Den största upplevelsen på resan var nog annars att se musikalen Grease på isländska med min tremänning. Vi bestämde det med hjälp av e-post, första gången jag använde det som jag kommer ihåg. Under året kandiderade jag i kommunvalet, spelade i klassisk orkester och lärde mig konversera på franska också...

* Vilka platser har du bott på?
Fränsta, Umeå, Kramfors, Sörberge och Sundsvall, alla i mitten av Sverige utom Umeå som ligger lite nordligare. Sommartid i Rinna i Östergötland tills jag var 15 år, inte så långt från Östergötlands ullspinneri, men det fanns nog inte då.

*Fem saker du skulle göra som biljonär!
1. Utbilda mig till textilkonstnär och skapa och hålla kurser
2. Skapa stipendier för andra som vill ägna sig åt sitt hantverk på heltid
3. Resa på långresor; hyra hus i Frankrike, Irland och andra platser som lockar
4. Fixa till huset lite lagom och skaffa en pålitligare bil
5. Skämma bort mina föräldrar, men inte barnen

Regler som följer med utmaningen:

- Svara på alla frågor

- Välj ut fyra personer som du vill skall svara och utmana dem i deras bloggar

- Låt personen som utmanade dig veta när du svarat på utmaningen

Jag skickar utmaningen vidare till några jag är nyfiken på: Eva, Cessi, Emma och Ulrica.

Hade tänk skriva om alla mina nya stickningar, men det får bli nästa gång.

And in English...
* What five items are on your to-do-list today?
1. Write something on my blog
2. Go and look at blinds for the living room, so I can knit there during daytime
3. Get in touch with day care for the children for the coming semester
4. Finish my first Pomatomus, July in Sockklubben
5. Prepare a nice dinner for Mr P, who started work again today after his vacation

* What did you do ten years ago?
Lived by myself in Kramfors that year, and and went to Iceland with my family in the summer. Bought patterns and yarn for two Icelandic sweaters, one for my younger brother who couldn't join us and one for me. My brother´s was light grey with a brown, Celtic pattern on the yoke and he got it for Christmas. My superb sweater hasn't been started yet... The greatest experience on the trip was probably seeing the musical Grease in Icelandic with my second cousin. We arranged it over e-mail, the first time I used it as far as I can recall. During that year I was also a candidate in a local election, played in a classical orchestra and improved my French.

* In what places have you lived?
Fränsta, Umeå, Kramfors, Sörberge and Sundsvall, all in central Sweden except Umeå which is more notherly. Summertime in Rinna in Östergötland until I was 15 y o, not far from Östergötlands ullspinneri, but don't think they had started back then.

*Five things you would do as a billionaire!
1. Educate myself in textiles and become an artist and give workshops
2. Create sholarships for others who would like to work full time in crafts
3. Go for long trips; rent houses in France, Ireland and other fascinating places
4. Do some work on the house and get a more reliable car
5. Spoil my parents, but not my children

Had planned to write about all the new things I'm knitting, but that will have to wait until next time.

Family summer

This year we have stayed close to home and had our relatives come here to visit us. This has meant more work around the house, many short excursions in the area and nights spent over long dinners rather than knitting in the sofa. This has given me more time to reflect on what I really want to knit, rather than just starting new things all the time. I really want to get back to knitting more traditional patterns, with my own modifications and modernisations. I also want to look more at what the family wants and needs and not just fall for new yarns and patterns. All the craft shops I've seen this summer have inspired me to think about what I could knit and sell. It would have to be of high quality but affordable and quick to make, and not something that is already out there. I have an idea, but I'm not sure I have the time to do it...

Another thought that I have had for some time is to start spinning. As I wrote last time I have made my first serious attempt, and here is the result.















After spinning, plying and washing my 50 g of corriedale wool left me with 27 m of bulky yarn. I need to work on making it more even and with less twist, but I think I got the general idea of it. I also ended up with a z-twist since I used the "wrong hand" compared to the directions, so I'll try it the other way next time and see how that works. My favourite part was the plying, when those unruly strands suddenly became yarn. I used a center pull ball and my hand spindle and it was so much easier than the spinning, but I should have used the larger spindle because it got so much more volume compared to the first thread.

I've also finished my "late night easy knitting" again. Even though I have other things I should work on that easy piece by the sofa gets all my attention these days. This is the lovely Cheshire Cat Stole made in Färgkraft 1-ply in the colour Sommarnatt (Summer Night). The yarn started out in a more complicated pattern, but the colours dominated and it needed something with cleaner lines. One skein was enough for a 170 x 50 cm stole. Since the yarn is heavier than the original I made it narrower by making one repeat less, and then just knitted until I ran out of yarn.















Finally a picture taken outdoors which does the colours more justice. The shawl is modelled by my mother-in-law. She got a pair of socks for her trouble, those red Seduction Socks that where too small for me.

Knitting among friends

Lately I've had many reminders of the how great it is to be able to say that we are part of a "knitting community". Saturday the 12th I got a lot of knitting energy when Cina opened her house for a night of knitting, thanks! Then last Wednesday I went to our weekly knitting café and the group had gotten a few new interesting members during the weeks I had been away. I think it is good that we can keep the group open and diverse.

On the web I have also had a few interesting experiences. I've been corresponding with Jody at Knotions magazine about her design Unwrapped that I finished last week, and now she has posted my picture on the site blog. I can ad that I wore it all day yesterday, and it was very comfortable on a hot and humid day. Also the blanket I made for my new niece last month has gotten a life of it's own on Ravelry with an amazing response. If you weren't around to see it, here is another picture of it.















Yesterday I showed about 57 pieces of knitting at a summer feast at the local museum in my home village. I tried to find as many different techniques as possible, like two-end knitting, Moebius shawls, double knitting, lace shawls and also traditional sweaters from Scandinavia and the British Isles. My father was one of the organizers and asked if I could help out with an exhibition, and it was fun to go back home and show old friends what I'm doing these days.















I shared the room with a family that has just bought ten alpacas and they had some wool and textile samples and a lot of pictures. They hope to get proper production going next summer. There was also a woman who demonstrated spinning on a handspindle, and she taught the 8-y-o-daughter of the alpaca family how to do it. Only days before I had bought a beginners kit at Spinspiration and the girl borrowed my little spindle, and her father will be making one for her a.s.a.p . When I got back home I was really inspired and I spun most of the white Corriedale wool in the picture on the little spindle last night. The bigger handspindle is my mother's and she has used that model for plying the yarn that her father spun when she was a child in Iceland. Now it is my turn to try out plying my yarn, and it is fun to be an eager beginner every now and then.

And then there were three

Third sweater finished. Well, I only made the sleeves and finishing this week, the body was knitted about five years ago, probably when I was on maternity leave, and has been in the UFO pile since.















The pattern is a traditional Danish Nattröje (night sweater) from a book on Nordic knitting by Susanne Pagoldh, with a few modifications. It is knitted in flat pieces and the sleeves are shortened for comfort. I also used the same border on both body and sleeves. The yarn is far from the thin wool of the original. It is the cotton yarn Muskat Soft by Garnstudio from an old stash of about 40 balls in various colours that I got from a closed down yarn store. The pin at the neck is a traditional Estonian model in bronze.

In my study there are now some plastic boxes with about 55 projects on their way to my little exhibition tomorrow. Back to work on that...