Lace and drinks

No, I don't recommend drinking and knitting, especially not lace. When I was preparing to write this post I discovered that all the lace shawls I'm working on have colours named after drinks. The first two are finished, and this is how yummy they looked before blocking:















Let's start with the green one. It is designed by Jane Sowerby and it is a variation on a pattern from her book Victorian Lace. This version appeared in Knitter's Magazine summer 2008. A free version will be on their website, but it isn't up yet. The original is knitted in Zazu by Twisted Sisters in a colour called Blue Curacao, but I'm more familiar with the green version of the drink so I made it in a nameless green lacewool from Fyberspates that is hereby named Green Curacao. As you can see it is very thin and transparent, but the yarn feels strong and when I wrap it around my neck it is warm enough. I like the shawl and it was fun to make, but there is one problem. I knitted it during the Olympics, from opening until the closing cermony. Then it got stuck because the ruffle meant there were 1925 (!) stitches to bind off, and with added picots there were 2053 actual stitches. Then a thread had to be sewn through all the picots for blocking... I don't think I will make more ruffles for a while.















The next drink is Sangria, which tastes very good on a warm Spanish night. Red wine with slices of oranges is also a fiery colourway so I thought it was just right for Icarus from Interweave Knits. The yarn is Suri Blue from Fleece Artist and it turned out to be more pink and less red than what it looked like on the skein, but it is still beautiful and so soft. This was all quick and easy and since this will be a Christmas present I might make one for me as well. I used larger needles, 4mm, and the shawl measures over 2m across the top, which made it almost to big for the bed I use for blocking.















Last night I cast on for my third drink. This is Rosé by Färgkraft, a soft pink dyed on a light grey yarn. When I bought it I thought it would be an Icarus, but when it came home it wanted to be Hyrna Herborgar from Thrihyrnur og langsjöl instead. I've loved this pattern since I got it in 1991, but I had a bit of a problem with the table cloth look of the pattern and it was hard to find a yarn that could counteract that. I think this will be just right, and it will look great with my coat. The skulls in the background is my table cloth in the kitchen, left from my son's Halloween/birthday party last week. I hadn't planned the picture, but it is sort of right with the pink and the lace.

Japanese knitting

What a weekend! I've been teaching Japanese knitting techniques for three days. It is the first time I've done this professionally, I've only hosted free evening seminars before and never about this subject. Now that I've worked through the material and tried it out I can't wait to get a chance to do it again. I only had four students, but they were all hard working and enthusiastic and they kept me busy. I hope they are as pleased with themselves as I am with their work.















So what is Japanese knitting? The story behind this goes back to the eighties when Mieko Yano from Japan started giving classes in her new homeland, Sweden. She spread the innovative and modern way of knitting that has been developed in Japan, were there is little tradition and much creativity on the subject. She also taught new instructors who spread the techniques all over the country. Unfortunately she died after a few years, and the eighties knitting boom came to an end soon after. Now when knitting is growing in popularity a new generation is starting to show an interest in all aspects of knitting, and Japanese knitting books are becoming available again. A few months ago I heard that Medborgarskolan was looking for a new teacher. Since I learned the basics a few years ago and was eager to learn more, I vounteered to do it.

I looked through the material I had, and went to see a former teacher who worked on this in the eighties. She had a lot of material, samples and advice and lent me some books. I picked out the sections that felt most useful and interesting to me and created my own plan and material. The first half of my course is about basic techniques, like casting on and binding off, finishing and reading charts. The second part is more about decorative patterns and new ways of knitting. In the next picture you can see some of my samples, such as double knitting, pleats, illusion patterns, mosaic patterns and short rows.















Finally I want to thank Mr P, who has been very supportive and provided me with the perfect soundtrack for the weekend. He gave me "The Knitter" by Cheri Knight, a collection of rock ballads with a great cover and a song all about knitting.

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.