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.