Don’t knit in Elk country

Here is the cardigan in Noro yarn! The car knit! I am quite satisfied with the result even though I had to knit one of the sleeves two times…. I blame this on my husband and elks. I always knit both sleeves at the same time you see and as I cast the second one on my husband told me to keep a look out for elks.

So I did….and the second sleeve got 10 stitched less than the other. Unfortunately I didn’t notice that until I was shaping the armhole 46 cm later. Big sigh!

Jeanette

Tag Tuesday

Books

The theme for this weeks Tag Tuesday was books. I have always read a lot. I was a book worm in my youth and teens and my dad used to drive my sister and me to the library because we used to borrow so many books that we had a hard time carrying them home. In times in my childhood I was quite lonely and bullied at school. The books became an escapism but in a good way. A world where I could be what I wanted and everything was possible.

I still read a lot but nowadays mostly during weekends and vacations. That is due to the fact that ones I get my hands on a really good book I can’t stop reading until it’s finished. Last time I staggered up in the morning to set out for work after just a three hour sleep I decided that this had to stop. I am too old for staying up all night reading…..

Jeanette

Home sweet home

I am back home again. I left this .....



See how they look like ants? No way, ýou would ever get me up there!



The old church yard in Åre covered in snow. This is where I would end up if I ever put on a pair of skies.



 ....and came home to this.



Spring signs in my garden



That tells you something about how long the country of Sweden is…..I had a good week in the Swedish Alps. We stayed in the village of Åre in a rented cabin and drove up by car. I put up camp in the living room and worked during the days. It’s a good way of getting a lot of work done. No phones ringing, no colleagues dropping by to chat…just you and your computer. In the evenings I had a great and relaxing time with my husband and daughter. So I got the best of both worlds.

While we drove up and back I knitted in the car. You can do a hell of a lot of knitting during a 12 hour drive so on the way up I finished my cardigan in Noro yarn. I’ll show you a photo of it later this week. Luckily for me I also brought my black cotton yarn and started on my second cardigan in the evenings. As we drove up outside our house yesterday I just finished the two front pieces and now I only have the sleeves left. Not bad for a weeks work eh?

Jeanette

The Friday Tutorial

"En textil hyllning" - recycled clothes

This week I haven’t a tutorial of my own for you. I am sitting in the Swedish alps remember. Not much stuff to do a tutorial from up here I can tell you….. if you don’t count building snow men of course. So why don`t you go visit this great and very inspirational home page instead. It has some really lovely ideas on how to recycle clothes. It`s written in Swedish but has very good drawings and photos so I think you will get the patterns and "how to" anyway. You can download the patterns right at the bottom of the homepage.  

I am definitely making this one



Photo by Hanna Hallén



Now I leave you for the weekend. Hope you have a creative one!

Jeanette

Spring inspiration # 3

When I was looking through one of my boxes with fabric ( I have several…) for the colored leather that I new I had somewhere I found this fabric that I had completely forgotten. It is the color of spring tulips.

It will be perfect for a spring skirt. Maybe together with my black cardigan with multicolored buttons? I better hurry up and get started on both....

Jeanette

Spring inspiration # 2

When I was buying the yarn and fabric I found this beautiful piece of white leather too that I couldn’t resist buying. I am thinking about making a little purse, maybe something like this?

Scandinavian Folklore. (Foto Laila Durán)

I have some lovely pieces of thick wool that I think would look great with the white leather on a purse.

Oh I want to get started right away! So many ideas and so little time.

Jeanette

Tag Tuesday

POETRY AND PROSE

This week’s theme was poetry and prose. I like poetry and read it a lot. I used to like writing poetry too but haven’t done it for many years.

The Tag is inspired by artist Austin Kleon who is the author of Steal Like An Artist and Newspaper Blackout. I love his work and he has interesting thoughts on creativity too. He makes his poetry by using a newspaper text and a permanent marker eliminating the words he doesn’t need and thereby he creates a whole new meaning to the text.

Today I had very sad news about a colleague and friend. It had me thinking that life really is very unfair sometimes. So I made a very simple and very black tag using Austin Kleons idea about the newspaper and the marker. .

The words says:

Quietly silence disappear

Life becomes survival.

Jeanette

Spring inspiration #1

The leaf is off to the exhibition. Finishing the blasted thing has really been hanging over me…..so now when I am finally rid of  it I can focus on new and fun projects.

Of course I had to get started right away.

I bought black cotton yarn to make another cardigan. Not expensive yarn at all this time. I am going to mix the cotton with a thin tread of linen to give the cardigan some structure. As you can see it’s the happy color of black so I thought I would add some buttons from my collection to give it a more spring feeling!

I also bought some fabric to make a dress. Not so colorful either but I fell in love with the polka dots. They make me happy.

So if last weeks posts were the week of knits this week just might be the week of spring projects!

Jeanette

The Friday Tutorial

Brooch for a knit-o-holic
What better way to finish my week of knits than by making something that states to the public that you are a knitter - a brooch for a knit-o-holic of course!

You need: Thin yarn and very thin knitting pins. You also need Elephant wire 1,5 mm, two pearls, a brooch needle and maybe some glue.

Start with a bit of knitting. Make it as long and wide as you like.

Cut the wire in two pieces long enough to fit you tiny little knitting.
Add the pearls to the end of the wire. You might need a drop of glue inside the pearl to make them stick.

I also made a tiny ball of yarn as to resemble an on going knitting project.

Transfer the knitting to the wire knitting pins.

Add a brooch needle to the back of the knitting and you are ready to show the world what a great knitter you are :-)

Now I leave you for the weekend. Hope you have a creative one!
Jeanette

Shibori

Books are a great source of inspiration for me when it come to knitting ideas and patterns. I am usually too cheap to go buy them I borrow them at my local library instead. On my last visit I borrowed the book “ Shibori knits, the art of exquisite felted knits by Gina Wilde.

I was intrigued by the title because I had never heard about shibori before and when I did quick browse my heart started beating…. The shibori knits looked absolutely fantastic.

When I read the foreword I knew that this must be something for me

“ Shibori is an empowering tool for knitters; it`s a method for introducing possibility and also asks that a bit of risk be taken – like an adventure where the destination is new personal expression”

Now who can resist a bit of adventure eh? Certainly not me.

The art of shibori knitting has its traditional roots from Japan. So in the same week I have discovered both Noro yarn and shibori. I just might call this the Japanese knitting week instead.

Do you want to learn more about Shibori? Here is a link to the World Shibori Network.

Now I must hurry up and finish my Noro cardigan and then I will give the shibori knits a try.

Jeanette

Noro

Until recently I lived without the knowledge that something as beautiful as Noro yarn existed. Handspun, hand dyed and with fantastic colors….I was probably the only knitter in the world that hadn’t discovered it yet…. But last week I did and now I am in Noro heaven. This is the yarn I bought. A beautiful mix of pink colors and the blend is 50% cotton, 35% silk and 15% wool.

Noro made me want to step out of my comfort zone a bit so I bought yarn to make a cardigan and not a shawl. That might not be a giant leap for mankind but it sure is for me! Since the yarn cost a fortune I really, really wanted to knit something that I felt pleased  with wearing so I borrowed a book at my local Library with Nuro patterns. Noro knitting by Jane Ellison.

This is what I am going for….Yep,  I know it is a pullover but I am going to change the pattern into a cardigan instead.

I have already started. Don`t you just lover the mix of colors?

I think this will be the perfect spring cardigan!

Jeanette

Happy Valentines Day

I forgot to wish you all a happy Valentines day this morning so I do it now instead. Playing around with some of my collected stuff....

May all your days be filled with LOVE!

Jeanette

Tag Tuesday & Tea cozy

Here is my Tag for this weeks Tag Tuesday which had Valentine as its theme. I first planned to let the little cupid knit a heart since this week my blog is dedicated to knitting but didn’t have the time. Why? Well I was busy knitting something else….. a hat!

Next Saturday my husband and I are going to the Swedish “Alps” together with our youngest daughter. My husband usually goes away for a week of skiing with both our daughters and I very happily stay at home. I don’t do that skiing stuff and have never really figured out the greatness about it. Why spend time in a scary ski lift just to end up staring down a steep, icy slope wearing a pair of slippery wooden planks? I don’t have that big a death wish…Anyway this year my eldest has to stay home to work and take care of her horse so I volunteered to tag along. I am going to work during the days, sitting in our cozy cabin and writing two big project reports and then I’ll finish the workday with some partying! I might not like skiing you see but have absolutely no problem with taking advantage of the fun stuff that comes with it….like an after ski party with a glass of red and some singing.

So I needed a warm hat and one that was ultra fast to knit at that. I was going for a kind of urban grunge chic kind of thing but I think I ended up with a tea cozy.

Do you want to knit a tea cozy of your own? No? Well you might like to buy some of the beautiful red wool yarn instead. Then you can buy it at my blog friend Marias shop

Have a great day!

Jeanette

A week of knits

I am a yarn-o-holic of great proportions. My collection is huge and varied. My mother taught me how to knit when I was six years old and I have knitted on and off since then. I had a period of almost frantic knitting in the 80: ies when it was high fashion to knit mohair cardigans and pullovers in bright ( we are talking neon here…) colors and with large knitting pins. Large knitting pins suited me very well since I am a woman with very little patience… You could start on a pullover one night and be finished the next.

The sad thing about my knitted stuff over the years is that I am very seldom satisfied with the result. That’s why I mostly knit shawls nowadays because I am almost always pleased with the outcome of those.

Right now I am in a knitting period! My head is spinning  with all kinds of ideas and things I like to try out….like shibori knitting or knitting with scraps…using all those tiny balls or just strings even of my left over yarn… I simply can’t throw any away you see, however tiny yarn there is left.

I am inspired by this fabulous book by the Finnish author Sanna Vatanen. The book was a Christmas gift from me to me!

I am so obsessed with knitting right now that I decided to dedicate this weeks posts entirely to knitting.

So welcome to a week of knits!

Jeanette

The Friday Tutorial

Tin can flower pot

I love tin cans as you may know by now! I have a big collection and use them often in my creative work. Today I was dreaming about spring flowers ( it`s snowing outside...) and that gave me a great urge to create a flower pot. From a tin can of course.... Some of my collection....

You need: A tin can (of course), a heavy duty nibbler for dismantling the tin can and a not so heavy duty flush cutter for cutting out the pattern. You also need a sanding paper.

1. Make a template. I made a crown.

2. Trace your template to the tin and cut it out. Use your sanding paper to soften the edges.



3.Paint your tin in any color you like. Depends a bit on the flowers you are going to put in it I guess. If you want to you can paint it on the inside too.



4.Decorate you tin. I used printed photos and decoupage glue. I also glued on some text. If you plan on giving it away you can personalize it to fit the receiver.


Just plant some flowers in it and voila - finished. I plan to put some spring bulbs in mine.

Now I leave you for the weekend. Hope you have a creative one!

Jeanette