2010

seems it wasn't such an unproductive year after all...



2 pullovers, 3 small shawls, 2 pairs of socks (and counting, hehe), 2 hats, 1 pair of gloves, 1 cowl... some unfinished stuff...

winter

this is how my neighborhood looked on the winter solstice day:


beautiful, right? as of today, the day is 1 minute 22 seconds longer, what gives a whole 6 hours and 10 minutes (give or take) of sunlight. ouch.
to beat (?) the gloom AND to be able to use the camera in the cold, i am making these:


they are actually knitted now, need some extensive finishing, though.

now, some finished stuff! these socks were done sometime in the late summer, and have been used since. the owner really likes them (i know, 'cause he tells me often). basic sock with ribbing, yarn from the stash. actually, it's one of the first sock yarns i purchased, when i was still living in Freiburg.




and a hat. for me.


pattern: cabled hat by Woolly Wormhead
yarn: malabrigo worstead in pagoda
needles: 4.5mm (as recommended)
it's my second version of this pattern. this time i replaced purl panels with moss stitch panels in between cables. the hat definitely needs blocking.

my current in-progress knits:

...another one...

sea silk in aurora, in the skein...

...and knitted into an abrazo-like scarf:

i finished it one month ago and it's used and loved it since then. the pattern is my own (a closeup below), 4.5mm needles, and 370+ stitches to start with.



it seems i cannot resist the urge to obtain yet another skein of the marvelous sea silk, even if i mostly shop online. i simply love this yarn, everything about it: the hand, the softness, the colours. this time in stardust, for yet another version of a crescent-shaped scarf.

first one up!

abrazo = a hug, and what a pretty one!



pattern: abrazo from twist collective summer 2010
yarn: seasilk in forest; ca. 70g (approx. 280m) (why am i always obsessed by running out of yarn, and ending up having actually a lot of leftover?)
needles: 4.5 mm

i knitted it a bit smaller - casted on 339 sts to include 23 repeats of the leaf pattern (instead of 25); recalculated decreases and added an eyelet row at the top.

i think this pattern has a truly organic feel in this colourway!



my desperate attempts in photographing abrazo on myself, to demonstrate the size: well, you can see that the shawlette is not that large, actually. it's gonna make a nice scarf for my aunt, i hope.



i think this shot is the only one that actually shows the true colour (and no, i did not care to adjust the curves in the photoshop). you can also see my new woolen skirt.


that's what its label said:

ABOUT WOOL
wool is natural. you can make everything out of wool; from a light and cool summer dress to a thick warm sweater. wool contains air which helps you keep your natural body temperature. wool has high absorption capacity, so it will keep your body dry. wool will not absorb water from the outside and withstands dirt. wool is very elastic and does not shrink/wrinkle if treated correctly. wool makes colours deeper and more beautiful than most other materials. wool is comfortable and simply a wonderful material. wool fibers are covered by small flakes like cones. when washed or treated roughly, these flakes rub against each other. this causes the wool fibres to get tangled up. wool will therefore shrink when rubbed and washed at high temperatures.

:-)

grey, alpaca, seamless... will it make a wearable cardi?

i don't know.



i like it, but... BUT:

1. alpaca is not a great idea for a seamless sweater - too drapey;
2. alpaca is not a great idea for a sweater for me - itchy, itchy...
3. alpaca is... stretchy? or my sleeves grew too much downwards in blocking. what might not be a bad thing in winter ;-).




pattern: based on a model in Drops (113-28).
yarn: Drops Alpaca, 2 strands held together;
needles: 4.5mm;

naturally, i modified the pattern to my needs. long sleeves and added body length made it suitable for autumn and winter, increasing the yarn usage. i did not keep all the bands, so i am not sure how much i actually used. about 550g, i think. it took me ages to knit it - 10 months - most of the time in the finish-when-you-have-less-exciting/urgent-knits bag.

now, off to my more recent knits!

thomasina

thomasina from Rowan The Milk Cotton Collection;
yarn: rowan milk cotton, as recommended, 8 balls, in Licorice;
needles: 3.25mm and 3.75mm, as recommended;

i knitted it in a size between S and M - the fronts are M, the back is S. the fit is allright :-).

i love, love, LOVE the final result! of course I made modifications in the original pattern: knitted the cap sleeves from top down, and picked stitches for the collar instead of sewing it to the body. it just made more sense to me. apart form that, thomasina is knit as in the design. how very unusual of me.

procrastinating...

summer is ripe, and beautiful (on sunny days). my last summer in Scandinavia.
it has been a busy time work-wise, hence so little time for vacation, sightseeing, photography, and, yes, knitting. i've done some, not nearly enough, though. it's actually never enough!
so i keep procrastinating, being overwhelmed by the things i did not have time to do enough. two weekends ago, i finished knitting of two cardigans, and last weekend, i did all the finishing/end weaving/buttons. i even managed to get a photoshoot (thanks, Sun, for showing up!). and today I am showing something else instead, new yarn acquisitions. one is actually halfway knitted already ;-).

why knitting a collar is not progressing as fast as it might

ok, so i said before that knitting the collar and the sleeves of the little cardi thomasina was not going to be that difficult. difficult it is not, as Master Yoda would say. it is fiddly. in the pattern, both collar & sleeves are knitted separately and sewn to the body. i knew i did not want to sew them, i wanted a more seamless and not so bulky attachment method. i just picked stitches for the collar, and started knitting, shaping with short rows, to sort of reverse the instructions given in the pattern. looks fine, but... i started it with the wrong side facing the right side of the sweater. it's meant to be folded inside out - that was my idea, only that sometime halfway through, i realized i might not have enough yarn. so, putting the collar on hold, i picked up stitches for one sleeve. i use the directions for an afterthought sleeve from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard (great description!) - and my mini sleeve is turning out well. however, a sleeve knited on the round with combination of dpns and a circular needle, and an unfinished collar on another ciruclar mean that... there is one too many yarn balls attached...



my Mr Bean Teddy is keeping me company while i reinvent (customize?) the pattern ;-).

noro sideways hat

a new hat for the autumn (coming soon in Scandinavia):


it's a garter stitch hat, pretty much like this one from drops, in noro sock yarn.
any resemblance to nature's water-carved rock?
it was my portable project, knitted mostly on planes and during our trips to Budapest (New Year's Eve):

...and Abisko in Laponia (two weeks ago):



i actually finished knitting it there, just in time to wear it to our day-long hike to Lapporten (images of Lapporten, the Door to Laponia, above):

summer!

quite unbelievably, finally, it has come in its warm non-scandinavian essence!
next week, we are going to experience the northern summer in its whole beauty, the midnight sun, nature, lakes, mosquitoes and all.

meanwhile, i've knitted most of my little summery cabled cardi (shown blocking; the sleeves and collar are a piece of straight - as in "non-cabled" cake):

... decided to resist the mood to cast on for something new and finish the grey aplaca sweater (no, i don't think i even blogged it before - and it took me looong to get to this point, when, as it turned out, it requires only a few rows of knitting)...

...and finish the crocheted shawl, that was started, more than two years ago... i'm almost there, and still, cannot get to my senses and crochet till it's ready.

new thing, again

thomasina, from rowan: the milkcotton collection
when i had seen this little cardi, i knew i must knit it! apparently, i am not yet tired of complex cables in purplish colours. the yarn is as recommended, even the colour as in the patten, liquorice (which is more a purplish eggplant than black liquorice, actually). i am almost done with the back, so there is hope i will wear it this summer ;-).

spring, finally!

i have some knitting going on, but no pics as for now... basically i've been finishing two projects, and i am quite close to being done.

fo and more

this is the spring we're experiencing here:

still two months for the real one :-/


monkeys from knitty; just about the last person to knit them;
Lorna's Laces in Neon (401), 215yd/50g (196m)
the socks are for my aunt :-) i hope she likes them and finds them useful. they are already shipped to Poland, together with the shawl for my mum. what Easter gifts my family will have!



...i am still playing with colors:

(i consider it a long project, with the due date in the autumn - just to avoid disappointment ;-))

wow!

THIS sock is absolutely fabulous! next in the queue!

swallowtail

swallowtail knitted in my favourite silk yarn, as before. needles 3.5mm, likewise. seems to be the receipe for the silk shawl that JUST WORKS. :-) for me, anyway.

this one is for my mother. it's smaller than i expected, but cute nonetheless. i really hope she likes it... otherwise, i might take it back ;-)




--
THIS is what i'm working on now. as a part of the olympics project on our shared polish knitting olympics blog.

glove love

pattern: rococo from the great Twist Collective;
yarn: merino 100% by katia, 102m/50g in colour no. 25; a little over 2 balls;
needles: 3mm dpn;

i really like how these have turned out! the cables show beautifully in the 12-ply yarn, the colour is great, and the warmth factor is just appropriate for the recent cold weather! not to mention that i damaged my only pair of winter gloves and had to wear the skiing gloves... not very comfortable around the city ;-)

there is a mistake in the pattern, which i have overlooked, and when i noticed that "something is not just right with the cables", i did not care all that much to correct it. you can see it on the pinky of the left glove. i think the erratum was recently emailed, actually.