pattern: Aeolian shawl, shouldrette
lace: 100% silk 600m/100g, BC Garn
needles: 3.25mm
modifications: i knitted the agavae section once, which was not included in the shouldrette version; no beads; less nupps
love it! i knitted it as a present, and it was difficult to part with it! maybe, just maybe, i'll knit it again for myself. the yarn is heaven to knit )it's the same one as here. i have one more skein of it, bought with the shawl for my mother in mind.
spring came...
...and (almost) went. actually, it's good, bacause it means the summer is around the corner. i'd like to believe in that... the weather here in Sweden can be capricious, and even cold also during summer.
in the meantime, i knitted this shawl:
pattern: Shetland Triangle (Wrap Style, IK press)
yarn: Kauni lace 90% wool 10% acrylic; 300m/50g
needles: 3.25mm
i knitted it sometime in late April, and have worn it already several times - who would tell, the swedish weather so cold to wear wool in May.
i like the pattern, it was fun and quick to knit (2 weeks). on the other hand, i think the yarn was not a good choice. it's a very uneven single ply. it means that the thread becomes very very thin at places. dangerously thin. couple of times i had to pick up the stitch below the one i was knitting to strengthen the thread. i was concerned that the yarn will break... and it did...
i fixed it with the crochet, but... Kauni lace, never again. despite their tempting "effects" line of yarns with beautiful color changes. no, no, no.
Done at last! 
pattern: Cabled hooded pullover from VK Fall 2008
yarn: Eskimo 50g/50m 100% wool (Garnstudio/DROPS) in 34m - rust/blue mix (20 balls!!!)
needles: 6mm
mods: had to tweak the numbers a little, because the gauge was slightly off; otherwise i just followed the pattern (wow, THIS does not happen often)
i like the sweater very much! it was intended for winter (it can get rather cold here in Stockholm), it's ready for spring... it'll get some wear, i'm sure of that - spring can be capricious, too. it's a rather heavy sweater, 1 kg! i don't think i'll be knitting anything this bulky and heavy anytime soon... the winter is over ;-).
socks as basic as they can be: 64 sts of stockinette stitch on 2.5mm needles; flap heel; Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape Fog (#4253)
I got awarded the Kreativ Blogger by Gosia from the Organic knitter! This came as a really nice surprise, thank you! it's very motivating to know that somebody is reading (ok, mostly watching i think, because there is not so much to read here) this little blog of mine and even likes it :-). Dziękuję!
As a part of a game, I'm suppsed to nominate other blogs. And it ain't easy, man... So, here they go: kuchnia nad atlantykiem , kropki nad i, kgirlknits , ztworzonka. All of them certainly very creative, and inspiring!
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Environment... Don't ask what it can do to you, ask what you can do to help to maintain it in the proper state! And perhaps even improve it. That's actually a story of a milk box, the usual thing. Not so ordinary this time, because... it came in a totally different and unexpected colour:
All for a reason. (Truly, I couldn't find the milk in the grocery store that day... mind you, I was looking for a box in the usual white-and-green stripes, similar to these two in the picture). That white square close to the bottom... This is the light switch, actually.
But WHY? We all should switch off the light bulbs for 1 hour (not all electricity, oh no, nobody wants to deal with the thawed freezers' contents). Saturday, 28th of March, 8.30-9.30 local time. Do you think you can do that? At least try to reduce the amount of artificial light in your surroundings. We all can do that! And we should give that hour to the Earth!!!
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on top af all the news, i have one more. i have a finished knit! in the meantime, between the morning coffee and the breakfast (during about two weeks... not just one coffee and breakfast), i managed to knit this:
and it's been used already, since we have a (hopefully) last attack of winter this spring ;-)
Rollin' Beret by the one and only Woolly Wormhead
it's more a beanie-hat than a beret, and i did not block it, ´cause i like it that way.
yarn: hummingbird (artesano) 100% alpaca in the peregrino colourway
needles: 3.5mm
mods: i cast on more stitches (88) to compensate for the differences in gauge; i guess for a real slouchy beret feel, i should have started with more stitches. anyway, i like it as it is.
yup, the pullover for winter ready just for spring! i ran out of yarn, mostly because of the substitution issue - i just used what was available in the given weight/length... so, it was not enough for the hood.
the two missing skeins of Eskimo by DROPS just came here, along with a crochet hook of the appropriate size to finish off the hood/fronts edging.
last autumn i felt i needed more vests. they're versatile pieces of clothing which add warmth yet don't feel too bulky, perfect for indoors. in particular, i wanted to have one that is a simple ribbed garment with the front pieces kept together only by two buttons at the collar. i bought yarn, i bought buttons, and started to knit. then i stopped. and the more i looked at this unfinished thing, the more i was sure, it just wasn't meant to be finished. somehow the brioche stitch doesn't look as i imagined. and the vest is just sitting there in the basket, not even one knitted row since last november... and on top of that, i REALLY need these 3.5mm needles...
i still think i need more vests (for the next autumn), and i do not dismiss the idea drawn quickly on that piece of paper. just not this yarn. so, it's gonna be ripped, to celebrate the first day one can feel upcoming spring ;-).
this little guy, so well equipped for winter, is considered the tiniest sculpture/monument in Stockholm.
i realized i have many pictures of Stockholm, some of them good or interesting. i genuinely like this city, it's very picturesque and photogenic (if light allows...). i think there are many ways one can see Stockholm, depending on what you're looking for: architecture, water, nightlife, people. i'll be irregularily sharing some glimpses of how i see it in the next couple of months.
the motivational purchase of recent weeks:
yummy alpaca, destined for a beret of yet-undecided pattern, in colours mimicking dark swedish sky that we see so often at this time of year;
the laceweight wool in poppy red to spicy up the greyness a bit - for a Shetland Triangle shawl (no, i do not think i'll wear that shawl togehter with the hummingbird beret).
i need the motivation, that's for sure. 2009 is not the most productive knitwise (so far), yet there are some stitches knitted here and there:
a sock in Fog colorway of Kaffe Fassett line of Regia sockyarn.
a sleeve of Green Cable hoodie aka Cable Hoodie from VK autumn 2008, just it's not green, it's rusty.
