2012 - and all the rest in pictures

2012 - neck-head things

2012 - sweaters

2012 - mittens

Mittens

The facebook fairy

I put out a wish for a swifter for christmas on facebook and it seems that the Facebook fairy heard me...... (or that my mom follows me on facebook)

I got the umbrella swift below as a christmas present from my mom and dad.

I have a birthday coming up in two months so if anyone out there has started to look for a gift, this is what I´m wishing for that is knitting related ( can´t hurt to put it out there the birthday fairy might be listening)

- Ballwinder

- Dobble pointed needle set, I have some various dobble pointed needles inherited from my mom but there are often missing one needle and I lack a lot of sizes, and they are all metal and I like more to knit from wood, so a set would be perfect.

Merry Christmas - Free pattern released on Ravelry

I hope you enjoy this christmas present from me to you, the cardigan comes in 4 sizes (0-3months, 6 months, 12, months 18 months) , I knitted the 6 months size and the other sizes have been tested. I have  released the pattern on Ravelry. 

                                   

Mittens

I have a lot of Einband and Plötulopi, since I won´t be finishing a planned project.  Made mittens from the book "strik til nøstebarn".  

They ended up way to thick, I went on the istex website to check the ply, and there was no mention of it,  I assumed it would be 1ply. I therefore knitted with 4 strands of Einband, a mistake on my behalf. Realised later that on ravelry Einband is categorised as 2 ply.  The mittens are therefore a bit thick, and stiff... hope that they will soften up a bit with wear. Not sure if they will be used a lot.  On the bright side my 2 year old likes the colors very much.

I have not been knitting anything in the last 2 weeks... just sleeping and sleeping... very pregnant and hoping not to give birth on the 24th of desember, any other day soon would be fine.

Shell Cardigan - test knit

I had the pattern I made for the shell cardigan, tested on Ravelry, well technically it is still being tested.

And the first tester has finished they´re version of the sweater, and I loved that version, here is a link to the sweater that the tester knitted: (only buttons missing)

I can´t release the pattern now, because it needs some improvements before I can do that. I love making knitted things without a pattern, and I often write them down so that I can replicate what I did (often not done that and than regretted it), but I´m not sure I do have the desire to write patterns (a lot of work if to be well done, but maybe practice makes perfect?)

Leftover Blanket

I was trying to figure out how much yarn I have, and what I could do with it, before I go and buy me some more.  As in approximatly 3 weeks we will be 4 in this 2 bedroom apartment... so I frankly don´t have any room for yarn hoarding. 

I found about 6 not full skeins of Létt-Lopi and decided to start on a blanket... not my brightest idea (I blame it on the pregnancy), as I will need to buy more yarn than I had in the beginning and probably create more leftover yarn.   This is what I have so far, I bought 3 extra skeins (and the brown is the only new skein so far).  I´m not sure whether to just make a baby blanket and try to use as much of the yarn that I have or make a full blown blanket....  The knitting is going very slowly, and again I blame it on the pregnancy.. I just don´t have the energy to knit.

Lopi - mittens

I made these mittens for my brother, for his birthday.

Next time I will change the decreases at the top...

Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lychee-mittens

Yarn: Létt Lopi 

Needles: 3.5 mm

Modifications: 40 stitches cast on, 17 stitches for thumb

UFOs

I was going to share a UFO with you to force me to finish it..

This cardigan was supposed to be a christmas present, but my husband pointed out that the recipient likes pink and princesses, and that a blue cardigan with just a few stripes of pale pink might not be very well appreciated, so I lost interest as this is much bigger size than for my 2 year old and I don´t have any other girl that could use this. And as there is pale pink stripes I´m not sure a boy would like it any more...  

But it seems that it doesn´t work for me, I have already shared 2 UFOs here on the blog earlier.

Cardigan for me

and a baby cardigan

But maybe next year when I will be on maternity leave with less budget for yarn I will finish these.

more baby stuff

I finished the white devil-hat a while ago, but the red one I knitted yesterday evening. We had a get-together at work, where we knitted and crocheted and etc. 

Devil-hat:

Pattern- http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/norwegian-sweet-baby-cap---djevellue

size: newborn size, modifications found here

yarn- drops baby alpaca silk

needles- 2 mm

Red hat:

Pattern - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/1936-lettstrikka-babylue

size: 0-3months

yarn- Tynn alpakka

needles- 2.5mm

Shell Cardigan

The cardigan is ca 6 months size, but i might be able to start to use it earlier and at least until she is one years old.  I still haven´t decide how many buttons to include on the cardigan, any suggestions? Contemplating whether to have just one , three, or all the way down.

Yarn: Du store alpakka - Tynn Alpakka , colour "tomatrød"  

Pattern: did not use a pattern, calculated from my gauge and used a online size chart, to estimate the size. I knitted bottom up (my preferred method

Shell stitch: can be found in many free patterns on Ravelry, f.ex this here, I fell in love with it in a Icelandic mitten pattern book, with patterns made from old Icelandic mittens.

Snowflake pullover - pattern released

The pattern for the snowflake pullover i tested has been released, and can now be bought through Ravelry

I can recommend this pattern, it is knit top-down, simple and a fast knit (at least in such a small size with 3,5mm needles)

Link to the pattern on Ravelry:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/snowflake-123
Link to my project page on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/prjonandi/snowflake

Free patterns - Hats

Free pattern of a toddler hat

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pippa-toque

Free pattern of hat and mittens in size 3-4 years

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/where-owls-fly

Free patterns - Sophie Missgraindesel

I saw these two free patterns on ravelry and I really like them, think I must knit one of them in the future

Short sleeve Cardigan in size 3 year old

Link to the pattern on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gilet-noeud-noeud

Link to the pattern on Sophies website: http://missgraindesel.canalblog.com/archives/2011/02/20/20436906.html

Short sleeve sweater in size 4/5 years old

Link to the pattern on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/le-ptit-mousse

Link to the pattern on Sophies website: http://missgraindesel.canalblog.com/archives/2012/11/07/25518918.html

Shell stitch Cardigan

My husband was 2 weeks in Oslo working.  My idea of a good time really isn´t to being home alone 7 months pregnant with a 2 year old for 2 weeks.  But we survived remarkably well, apart from 2 year old suffering for 48 hours with vomitting, followed by 48 hours of diare.  But  I got presents when he got back (well I arranged for them, my sister in law who lives in Drammen went and bought them).   I got 3 skeins of Tynn Alpakka in tomato red, and they are now on they´re way to becomming a cardigan.

After the mittens with the shell stitch, I wanted to do something more with this lacestitch and since I never found the perfect pattern for this yarn I decided to make my own pattern up.  

I also got the book strik for nøstebarn, and will at some point get around to knitting from it. I have seen many lovely things knitted from this book, so I will without a doubt get some use out of it

Balaclava

I have bought two balaclavas for my daughter, and none of them have fit perfectly, one I can still return but the other one we had already started to use.  I gave up on the idea to find the perfect one in the stores so I decided to knit one.  And it was perfect on the first try, warm, soft and well fitting.

Pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/collared-pixie

Yarn: Dale Baby Ull , color: 0007 (dye lot 5015),  little bit less then two skeins (maybe 95g)

I knitted with double strands of the "dale baby ull". 

Size:  1 year old (80 stitches cast on) ,  fits perfectly on my 2 year old

No I´m just considering whether I should embellish it or not. 

Update: it doesn´t fit so well anymore, got looser with wear.

Pattern search

I´m expecting 3 skeins of Du store alpakka - tynd alpakka

So I have been thinking what to do with them, searching ravelry for inspiration. 

Here are some of my thoughts:

Pixie hat with collar :  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mono/collared-pixie-3
Lettstrikket babylue . http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Shun/1936-lettstrikka-babylue-2
Little sisters dress:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Gurossen/little-sisters-dress-kjole-til-lillesster
Baby undertrøje:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Medri/1902-babyunderty
Drops - hat in 2 threads alpaca   http://www.ravelry.com/projects/MaritaB/b16-13-hat-in-2-threads-alpaca
Liten lue http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingNatti/liten-lue
Bestefar´s trøje:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Camelie/1945-bestefartrye-i-2-trads-garn

There are some other patterns that I´m considering, but since nobody that had knitted with this yarn these patterns did indicate the amount of yarn used, so I´m not sure I would be brave enough to try these.

Maybe I will just make a sweater/cardigan or something that fit´s exactly for 3 skeins... or I will do hat, mittens and socks ...    This yarn is intended for the girl I´m expecting, but then I really wan´t to make a pixie hat with collar for my 2 year old, but alpaca might not be the best idea , too much stretching.

Maybe I will make another of these, just in size 6 months (for next sommer) as I really do love this old icelandic pattern where the yoke comes from, but I recently made a sweater in 6-12 months size  so maybe not the most practical thing.

Baby-scarf



Baby scarf , pattern is from Sandnes (don´t know which leaflet as it has been translated to icelandic and put in a  Icelandic knitting magazine) and supposed to be knitted in lanett. I used yarn that was supposed to be a baby-jumpsuit and I frogged as I have a kind of love-hate relationship with this yarn (drops baby alpaca silk) it is so soft and lovely, but every imperfection can be seen when knitted. Of course it get´s better after wash but I still can see some mismatches after wash.

Pattern: after some ravelry search I found out that it is this pattern:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nr-20-skjerf

http://www.sandnesgarn.no/hefter/baby/tema-21-det-foerste-aaret-904tema21  (modell 20)

Yarn: Drops baby alpaca silk

needles: 2.5 mm

My very own mittens

I was planning to ask someone to take pictures for me, with me modelling the mittens but as the light is gone very early in the day now and I have been at home with a sick 2 year old that wasn't an option for the impatient knitter.
They fit perfectly, the mittens were a bit wide, but I made them almost to short and then stretched them during wash and let them dry on the radiator and they came out perfectly. 


Pattern: "Vettlingar með skeljaprjóni" from  the book "vettlingabókin"
Yarn: Kambgarn (Istex)

Yarn in norway?? SOS

I have a endless list of questions regarding yarn in norway ;)My sister in law voluntered to buy some yarn for me, she lives in Drammen, any nice yarn stores there?  Or any nice websites that I can buy yarn that have fast shipping?   How long time does it take when ordering from Pickles? Do they have nice yarns?  Any knitting books that are must have,  it seems that I must buy strik til nøstebarn so many lovely patterns. But it is carried in one yarn store here, but always seems to be sold out. I do read norwegian and no problem with knitting patterns (another matter with writing, I just seem to write danish).
Any suggestions are welcome ;)

this post was a bit naked without a picture, so here is one of my knitting enthusiast (technically she´s holding a crochet needle, but she was knitting ;)

Mittens

I´ve made some progress on the mittens from the book "Vettlingabókin"

They are though a little wide, liking them none the less....

Snowflake

I´ve finished the test knit for tincanknits

I knitted the 0-6months size, but since my gauge was a bit off, I ended up by increasing the length of arms and boyd a bit so I ended up with 6-12 months size.  Can´t wait to use it next summer/fall, fortunately we do need wool clothes during the sommer/fall here in Iceland.

yarn: Mitu (Rauma)
pattern:  to be released, will let you know when it has been published, and my project page on Ravelry will be updated with a link to the pattern.

Traditional mittens

I bought the book "vettlingabókin" today, and I have already started on the mittens on the cover (on the left site).  The book includes patterns that are worked from old mittens in museums in Iceland (book is only in Icelandic)

The mitten pattern which I´m knitting,  was made by a women who lived in 1883-1966.  Many of the patterns in this book remind me of my great-grandmother, many look similar to the ones she knitted. I want to knit almost all of the mittens in this book.
 A few years ago it wouldn´t have bothered me either that there is no gauge mentioned in the pattern (Gauge seems not be that important to many icelandic knitters myself included ) The mittens I´m making seem to be a little wide for me, but I will finish them and then just see for future mittens how I can change the pattern... as it would then mean to decrase about 10 stitches witch is a lot don´t want to make to tight mittens.  It is not really an option for me to go to a smaller needle size... I´m already knitting on 2mm needles which are the smallest I own , I would at least need to buy smaller needels, not sure I want to do that... but that might be the choice in the end.

Sock Virgin

I decided to challenge my self and knit my first pair of socks ever.  I knitted for my 2 year old, in Icelandic wool (léttlopi) and used the following pattern (in Icelandic) :

It is a big step for me, I conquered my fear of sock-knitting, if I had only known how simple it is!

The Icelandic wool is extremely warm, but it is a bit scratchy, my daughter doesn't mind so this will bring her warmt this winter. Suddenly all socks are to small for her... no wonder maybe since she used 19-20 last winter, but this fall she's wearing 23-24.

I will surely be more adventurous in my sock-knitting future, but for now I'm pleased to master this particular pattern.

Snowflake Test knit

I´m test knitting a lovely sweater in size 0-6 months (well... I was off gauge so the width is more like 6-12 months... need to be more thorough when swatching).

I'm really loving how it is taking shape, I´m using the Mitu (50% alpaca, 50% wool) for the first time. The deadline for this is in beginning of november.

I also made another misstake, should have blocked the lace before joining in the round.  I ordered buttons on ebay for another project that I have been planning, hoping that i can use it for this since buttons are so expensive here in Iceland. But I´m really loving the red on the gray.. thinking that red buttons would be lovely.

It´s a very quick knit when making such a small size.  I think I will have to do a matching sweater for my 2 year old.

Bring her home baby blanket

Finally finished the never ending baby blanket... (ok only been 10 days since I bought the yarn.. but it felt like eternity)

Yarn: Istex Kambgarn
needles: 6mm
pattern: http://www.pickles.no/bring-it-on-baby-blanket/

Blue Nova

I´m happy with the Nova and better yet the owner of the dress loves it too.  Not possible to get many pictures though as she was busy running around.

Yarn: Kambgarn (istex)
Pattern: Nova
needles: 3,5mm and 4 mm

And the best part is that I think I have enough yarn leftover for a sweater for the christmas girl that we are expecting.

I have however already bought more yarn for the next project and casted on last night.