Another daylight knitting project

I should have learned my lesson with my wristwarmers. Some knitting projects simply are not suitable during the winter months. But the lovely yarn I bought at Christmas demanded to be made in to a pair of socks.

Tsunami socks

There are many lovely patterns in the sock knitting book Stefan gave me, and I particularily fell for the Tsunami socks. Cables, knit and purl stitch pattern, but still very simple. Well, knitting with dark, practically black, yarn does strain the eyes. However, I ended up with a cold about a week and a half ago which meant that I had to stay at home for a few days. Despite being ill I did manange to begin this project, though, and by Monday, I’d finished the first sock! I haven’t had the time and energy (or daylight!) to knit very much since though, so the second sock hasn’t progressed that much.

Vincent isn’t exactly being helpful

I picked it up again this morning and knitted on the bus on my way to work. It felt great. I like the pattern very much. It’s simple, but have enough variety to make it interesting. The instructions are very well written, clear and easy to follow. This will probably be the first of many patterns from that book I will knit.

Happy knitting!

A challenge!

I normally never join in on any KIPs anymore, those are usually the total death of creativity to me, but this is a challenge I think I can go for! Andi over at Untangling Knots has created the “A Month of Craft Photos” challenge! The idea is to challenge one self to be more creative about ones craft photos and to take a photo for every day accordning to the theme of the day. Read more about it on her blog. I think it sounds really interesting! I’m gonna give it a go, anyone else up for it?

When will I finish this?

I’ve just bought someone new boxes for all of my WIPs. This came out when I started going through my knitting bags. I wonder if I’ll ever finish it?

It’s the Lady Eleanor shawl (more like a horse blanket) from Scarf style.

Blog Award

I was very surprised and happy about that my old Secret Pal 7 (was it 7?) Katie, that I sent knitting related presents to back in… 2006? (Blimey, has it been that long?) awarded me with a Liebster blog award! Thank you so much, Katie, that was very sweet of you and you really made my day! Hugs!

Here’s some info on the Liebster blog award:

“Liebster is German for dearest, beloved or favourite. This award is bestowed on blogs with less than 200 followers but deserve more attention.
What a great way to support fellow bloggers you admire!
Here are the rules that come with this award:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
• Give your top 5 picks for the award.
• Inform your top 5 by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Post the award on your blog.”

These are the five bloggers I want to give the award to:

En liten låda full av ull
Because Emmy is a talented knitter and a good friend who send me yarn.

Fantastick
Because Ulrika is such a cool person.

Knitting Iris
Becuase Iris makes me want to take a hike in the forest.

Riot Yarn
Because Bodil always inspire me with her brilliant photos.

Little Miss Messy Hair
Because Holly celebrates her finished projects with beer – my kind of gal!

I don’t know how many followers you guys have, though, but I hope this gives you even more!

Knit On!

Faeroe Island Mittens

These mittens were finished almost a year ago but haven’t blogged about them since. I knitted them for one of my nephews, Hampus, and I didn’t want to share them until I’d had the opportunity to to take some pictures with him wearing them! Unfortunately, I don’t see my nephews very often, mainly because they are teenagers and have better things to do than hang out with their aunt. But we keep in touch on Facebook. My only New Year’s resolution this year is that I will spend more time with my nephews, I hope they’re ok with that!

Anyway, I knitted a pair of grey and red mittens for Hampus and he said they were cool, so I hope he wears them when it’s cold out. Then again, he’s a teenager, which means that he probably doesn’t. But that’s ok with me, I made them because I wanted to give him something special and I think he appreciates that.

Mittens for Hampus

Pattern: Faeroe Island Mittens from Folk Mittens
Design: Marcia Lewandowski
Yarn: Visjö from Östergötlands ullspinneri
Colourways: “Ljusgrå” – grey, “Nypon” – red
Yarn source: Anntorps väv
Needles: 2.75 mm and 3 mm dpns
Modifications: None
Started: Januari 31 2011
Finished: February 20 2011

Detail

Keeping warm

Finished mittens

Keep knitting!

The 70′s Never Looked So Good

If you haven’t already seen Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy I order you to do so immediatley! Not only is it a brilliant film with brilliant actors, it LOOKS so bloody good! I didn’t spot any particular knitwear, but it created an urge so knit something that could fit into that environment. Hm. Must find suitable pattern.

Gary Oldman in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Credit: Focus Features.

The Darkness of the Forest

This past weekend was spent at HV-skolan. It was the fourth class of “The Knitting Journey” (Stickresan) and the topic was Bohus Stickning. We had all pre-ordered kits from SOLsilke that were waiting for us when we arrived. I had decided on two wristwarmer kits (some of the others knitted hats or berets); Skogsmörkret or Forest Darkness (literal translation is The Darkness of the Forest) and Gröna Ängen or The Green Meadow.

Yarn and pattern kit for Skogsmörkret

Bohus knitting is quite complicated, even though I am quite used to knitting with two different strands and colours. Bohus knitting sometimes require three or even four strands on the same row! And – to make it even more complicated – there are both knit and purl stitches. It was a bit fiddly at the beginning, but after a while it went quite smoothly. The yarn used in the kits is a angora/merino blend and is used because it is similar to the yarn used in the original Bohus Stickning garments that were handknitted for the company in the 50′s and 60′s.

Here’s a detail of the knitting in progress

Dispite it’s rather complicated technique, it is pure enjoyment to knit these lovely and incredibly soft little wristwarmers. I’m not one for actually wearing wristwarmers, but it felt like a good Bohus beginner’s project. I’m hooked! I definitely want to knit a whole jumper, the difficlutly now lies in choosing a pattern. They’re all so beautiful! The Green Mist? The Grey Mist? The Wild Apple? Forest Darkness? I can’t decide.

Completed wristwarmer

There is one other thing that is negative about Bohus knitting. It gas to be done by daylight. Or very strong artificial light, which i neither like nor have. There are so many shades of colour, and sometimes they are quite similar adn difficult to tell them apart if you’re knitting by regular lamp light. Which means that even if I buy a kit now, I won’t begin knitting until we have more hours of daylight. I can’t wait!

Two new takes on Snow White

Classic fairy tales seems to be more popular than ever, last year we could se Amanda Seyfried in an updated version on Little Red Riding Hood and this year will see no less than two new takes on Snow White! I’m a real sucker for Grimm’s fairy tales, especially the uncensored ones with all the gruesome details. These two versions differ quite a lot from the original story, but I don’t mind that, I’m actually looking forward to both. Although, Julia Roberts as the wicked queen? I remain sceptical…

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Here’s a link to the official site.

Mirror Mirror (2012)

And here’s the official site.

Finally!

Wurst mittens are finally finished! Pictures to come.

Full moon

There was a beautiful moon yesterday when I came home.

Full moon behind trees

My camera can’t really capture the beauty of it behind the trees, but I had to try.