You may not believe this

While I visited the Yarn & Fabric show I did not only buy a lot of yarn but I also attended a half hour workshop of Amigurumi. Now anyone who knows me would probably not believe this due to the fact that I with great stubbornness swear to the fact that I can’t crochet. I hated it in school and could never get my kettle-holders nice and square. The mere thought of reading a pattern, increase or decrease made my head spin. But what do you know? Miracles do happen!

After the half hour work shop I had made a crocheted cup cake in bright pink and I was hooked. I bought two patterns and when I got home I started on the first one – a rabbit! Now I have two feet and a paw to go and then I am finished.

Oh you may laugh thinking that a cup cake or a rabbit is no biggie. Well maybe it isn’t for you but for me its right up the same shelf as changing tires, sew a zipper or repaper your living room. It might not be rocket science but I still say - Wooohooo way to go Jeanette!

Jeanette

New additions….or addictions…

I visited a Yarn & Fabric show this weekend. They had a lot of rubbish there but also some really lovely yarn. Naturally I had to buy some….

I bought this beautiful 1-tread wool yarn from Iceland in the most amazing colors. The yarn was quite addictive. The green is for a sweater and the bright pink and red for a shawl. Don’t know what I will use the orange for yet but it will come to me in the end.

Then I found these gigantic “must have” buttons. I might have about a zillion buttons but nothing g like these. They will brighten up many a garment in my only too black wardrobe.

I also bought a ball of Noro yarn for a spider web thin Citron and….

.....a yarn made of recycled saris. Have yet to figure out what I want to use it for but that is part of the fun….

Now I need to rearrange my workroom to get it all in.

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

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

UFO

I have a really short attention span. I start on so many things with great plans of getting them finished but then something more fun comes along ….a new idea….and I just have to try that out instead.

Do you remember these?

They just lack some embroidery and then they would be finished.

Or this?

I got as far as one coat of white paint and then I grew tired of it.

Or my brown linen tunic…..so very boring now!

Or the skirt I started making using a jumble sale finding, a 70: ies pillow cover. Not nearly finished.

…and last but not least - these! I feel ashamed to tell you but I haven’t made that second sock yet. And how I bragged about wanting to knit only socks in the future... until an intriguing pattern for a cabled cowl came along.....

In the past I have tried to be very hard on myself telling me that I can’t buy any new yarn or start on anything new before I have finished what I have already started. But it never worked! I cheated, using yarn that I had already got telling myself that it was okay. Yep, I am a basketcase!

Nowadays I`ve stopped punishing myself thinking that it will probably turn out okay in the end anyway. I will bury my UFO:s in a big basket and if just enough time passes until I find them again  I will look upon them with renewed interest and probably ditch something else to continue with the UFO:s instead. Pretty smart huh?

Jeanette

Find inner peace with a sock

There is something so very peaceful about knitting socks. Well, there is now! I haven’t knitted more than one pair before and that was a very frustrating business. I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Or to be more precise I couldn’t manage knitting the heel, the rest was kids stuff. Hadn’t it been for Anna’s patience and teaching skills I had probably never knitted a single sock again.

This time sweet Anna promised me she would have a 24-7 heel knitting support and that made me feel safe enough to try it again. …. and now I am hooked.

No more shawls for me for a while just socks! Hm, I better not promise anything…..I just bought this beautiful pattern for a cowl….

Come to think of it, knitting is peaceful whatever you knit.  

Jeanette

Things I Love Tuesday

My knitting projects

I`m done!

The Christmas ham is in the oven, the Christmas cards are sent and the gifts are all bought and gift wrapped. The Christmas tree is standing in the living room ready in all its splendor and the sweet smell of hyacinths are spreading all over the house. I am done! Now Christmas can come….

Tomorrow I have a Friday Tutorial for you and then I will leave you for the Christmas holidays.

So….

From me...

....to you

A very Merry X-MAS!

Jeanette

PS The cap is one of my knitted gifts….for my husb….schhh don’t tell. Next year we won’t loose sight of him in the ski slopes J

Things I Love Tuesday

Yarn

Shrink shrank shrunk

First I threw them in the wash machine 40 degrees C for 40 minutes. They came out looking like hockey goalkeeper gloves. So back in the wash machine they went, this time in 60 degrees. After 60 minutes of restless waiting I opened the machine and out came a pair of Ronald Mc Donald gloves!!! They where felted but still too big and one mitten was a mysteriously 5 cm longer than the other. WTF? This demanded some serious action so I put one mitten on top of the other, cut of the unnecessary pieces with a scissor and sew the mitten together again on my sewing machine. Then I hand felted them in the sink for a while but the just wouldn’t shrink so I threw them in the spin dryer. After 20 minutes in the spin dryer I was down to a pair of mittens that might not have a perfect fit but at least was wearable.

The most fun part, embroidery and other embellishments will have to wait for the weekend. Then I just might start on a new pair too but knit them two sizes smaller and go for 60 degrees at once.

Take care

Jeanette