bleak midwinter

I have wardrobe issues

Katarina — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:28:47 +0000

I am so tired of my clothes. I can hardly find anything I like in my wardrobe. I seem to be wearing the same clothes day after day. I need a new style. I need new dresses. I need new shoes. I need new cardigans. Luckily for me, I know how to knit. That’s why I’ve decided to start a new project. I have some lovely, beautiful, red yarn (100% wool of course) that I bought in Tallinn, Estonia, last winter. It is now being transformed into a cardigan.

Red wool from Tallinn

I’m using a pattern called Yangtze Cardigan by Courtney Kelley from a book called Vintage Modern Knits. The book was a birthday present from my husband. He knows me so well! I’m calling this cardigan My Slacker Cardigan because I need a cardigan I can wear with any of the t-shirts I have in my (growing) collection of very cool t-shirts. I have a thing for cool t-shirts. And when I wear My Very Cool T-shirts I feel like a slacker (in the cool sense of the word. If there is one. Otherwise I’m just being pathetic). Hence the name My Slacker Cardigan.

I’ve made a couple of swatches.

Swatching with red yarn

As it turns out, I can’t even get gauge with 2,5 mm needles, and I don’t want to knit the whole cardigan using 2 mm needles, so I’m following the pattern for a smaller size. According to my calculations, it should turn out fine.

When it’s finished, I’ll show you some of my Very Cool T-shirts. That is, I think they’re cool. You might not agree.

Another swatch photo

It’s really difficult to take a decent photo, the colour comes out best in the first photo with the yarn.

So, all I need to do now is knit like crazy (I’ve knitted about 15 cm of the back so far) and go shopping for new clothes.

Coraline

Katarina — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:30:15 +0000

I might have mentioned it before, but Coraline really is a brilliant film. I love stop-motion animation in general, but this movie really is special. It has such wonderful and inspiring characters and scenography. I want to live in that house! With a jumping mice circus upstairs! And I also want those groovy stripey gloves and that cosy blue jumper with stars on. The best part is that one can actually knit those things! No, I don’t mean the miniture ones, I mean real sized garments. There’s a girl in California who has actually made a pattern of the striped gloves! How cool is that?! Here’s a link.

Official movie trailer

The official Coraline website provids fans with an actaul knitting pattern for that adorable starry jumper, talk about knowing one’s fan base! I must knit this. Eventually.

Coraline and the starry jumper. Photo credits: Focus Features

There are a lot of knitting patterns and projects inspired by this movie on ravelry, for instance the Coraline cardigan by Ysolda (perhaps the most well-known), but also a pair of lovely mittens with the cat, the key and one of the jumping mice. There’s also a crocheted doll that looks like one of the ghost children.

I simply love these kinds of projects! Inspiration can be found anywhere. Well, I’m off searching my yarn stash for some suitable yarn for those stripey gloves…

Oh, I just want to mention that the intro to the movie may be my favourite part, where the beldam creates the Coraline doll. Unfortunately I can’t find it on Youtube.

Colour or AMOCP#6

Katarina — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:02:59 +0000

A Month of Craft Photos, Day 6. Colour.

(No, you didn’t miss day 5, I was simply too tired to arrange any photos yesterday, so I decided to skip it.)

Soft ock yarn

Gray is not a colour, I hear you say and technically you are correct, I suppose. But to me, gray is one of the best colours.

More soft sock yarn

Blue is also a very nice colour, and it has been one of favourite colours for as long as I can remember. When I was little and many of my friends loved pink, I preferred blue.

More sock yarn!

All of these lovely skeins of yarn were gifted to me by my very sweet friend Carin! Thank you dear! Here’s a link to her blog.

I need warm socks!

Katarina — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:31:29 +0000

I really need to finish these quickly. Winter is here.

My Tsunami socks

Happy knitting!

Inspiration Outdoors or AMOCP#4

Katarina — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:56:55 +0000

A Month of Craft Photos, Day 4. Inspiration Outdoors.

A snowy and sunny day

I was incredibly busy on Saturday since we had the family and some friends over. The weather was glorious and I was a bit miffed about not having the time to go outside. I did shoot the above photo through our bedroom window, though.

I find a lot of inspiration from nature, plants and trees and birds. But most of all from the weather. Especially rain and snow. I have lots of ideas inspired by the weather, but they’re still on the drawing board. Perhaps they’ll materialise, perhaps not.

Same view, with frost

I don’t know if you can see it, but on this photo the tree and the bushes are covered with frost. It’s the same view as above, as you can see, but this photo was taked at about 0:30 in the morning on the 5th.

An Old FO or AMOCP#3

Katarina — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:51:09 +0000

For my non-knitting friends: FO = Finished Object.

And old scarf

This particular pattern was very popular a few years ago, I knitted this is 2006. It’s called “My So Called Scarf” and is designed by Allison Isaacs. There are over 5800 projects on Ravelry!

I really don’t wear it much anymore. The yarn is very nice, it’s a single ply from a spinning mill on Gotland called Ihregård. However, it’s become very fuzzy and the stitch pattern have become slightly obscured. It’s still is a nice scarf, though, perhaps I should wear it more.

This is what it looked like when it was new

Today is my birthday and I’ve received the best birthday present. Snow.

Stockholm covered in snow

Craft Tools or AMOCP#2

Katarina — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:52:42 +0000

A Month of Craft Photos, Day 2. Craft Tools.

Needle case

This lovely needle case was a birthday present from dear friend, Maria. She has made it herself. Stig Lindberg fabric.

This is where I keep many of my craft tools, but not all of them. They simply wouldn’t fit. My favourite knitting needles are, by far, my Knit Pro (Knit Picks) wooden needles. They’re smooth and light and very easy to work with. They’re also very beautiful.

I’m On My Way

Katarina — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:30:44 +0000

I think that this may be a Proclaimers day.

Ah ha, ah huh, ah ha, ah huh

Me In Action or AMOCP#1

Katarina — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:41:34 +0000

A Month of Craft Photos, Day 1. Me in Action!

Knitting in the snow

One of my fabulous collegues, Janna, assisted me today with the first photo on day 1. I started out a bit higher up on that little knoll you see behind me. In my indoor shoes. Naturally, I slipped and ended up on my behind. Twice. While Janna was helping me up (after the first butt tumble) one of the museum’s photographers happened by and was not only amused but also very nice and shot the above photo! Many thanks to Per-Åke!

I don’t know if you can see it, but this is where I slided downwards

Read more about A Month of Craft Photos HERE. There’s also a Flickr Group.

Another daylight knitting project

Katarina — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:30:28 +0000

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!