A perfect summer knit

I couldn’t wait beginning to knit with my newly purchased yarn. In case you didn’t read my last post it is Pickles angora. Cut angora. This is important if you care for the welfare of the animals, which I do.

I’ve chosen the Pickles pattern “Knæsj Cardigan” or “Mardi Cardi” in English. My version of the cardigan shall be named “The paradox cardigan” since I have chosen the less “knæsj” colour (“knæsj” means something very colourful or with strong colour) in the whole Pickles shop.

I was afraid that this jacket would take a looong time because the yarn is very thin, but knitting with needles sized 4mm makes this project go fast even if it is a grown up size. So fast that when I should have switched needle size from 3.5 mm to 4 mm after the ribbing was done, I forgot. Now I have to undo until I reach the ribbing, switch to 4 mm and continue.

Anyhow, it’s a perfect summer knit because it weights close to nothing and I can knit in the round (yes another knit in the round and cut jacket – I still have the other uncut though). It feels like feather and I cant wait to wear it!

Hope you are enjoying summer so far!

Knit and cut

The waves are coming along. Slowly but steady. It’s the first time I knit a jacket in the round. With purl stitches in the middle as a guideline for where I need to cut.

I’ll begin on the arms tonight and almost hope they take me a while because I am terrified at the thought of cutting into the knit. I need someone to hold my hand while I do this. Yes, I am serious. You have no idea how serious I am. Just go ahead laugh.

I vision two scenarios. One where I cut the jacket, everything goes wrong and I end up in tears, frustration, and lots of wasted yarn and time. The other scenario is much jollier. I come back and write a whole post about how silly I am and how ridiculous easy cutting a knit is and how everyone should be doing it. She who waits will see.

Have a nice weekend!

Spring knit

It’s time for a cheerful spring knit. This time I have chosen a wool & cotton yarn from my stash. I am still working on my stash reduction. Longing to buy new yarn in spring colours, but doing with what I have. Once more, I turn to the Danish designer Samsøe.

I love her clean and simple knitting designs.The wave jacket is a perfect left over yarn project. And also a good stash buster since the main colour recalls for 200-250g depending on the size. I’m left with less knitting time but with a few knit minutes here and a few knit minutes there it will be done.

In case you are wondering, the fall coat and I have taken a little break. Has that happened to you? That you are almost reaching the finishing line and the air goes out of you? I mean, we are talking about perhaps an hours’ worth of knitting and I would be done… Ready to indulge in warm wool. Instead, there it is in the unfinished pile. Glaring at me. I’m just going to glare back. At least for now :-)

Hope you are having a nice week so far.

I-cord challenge

I’am almost finished with the fall coat from Pickles. This is my first ego-knit ever, beside hats and scarfs. If you read last post, you know that I am binding off with i-cord. At first, I thought it was a bit tricky and time consuming. Now that I have the hang of it, I love it and I don’t understand what I was fuzzing about.

I still have some i-cord frustrations though, because I have had to do and re do the I-cord cast off two times. Both times for the same reason. The first time I casted off, it looked great on the front pieces of the coat, where I have knitted garter stitch. However, on the back piece of the coat, which is knitted in stockinet stitch, the coat-end rolled up. Therefore, I undid the i-cord and knitted two rounds in garter stitch on the back piece before I casted off with i-cord again.

This time it looks better but the back piece still rolls up a bit. Now I am undoing the i-cord cast off, for a second time. I have a vague idea or memory that I might have read about this problem on a blog…but I can’t remember which one (...I even think I made a comment and thanked for the tip).

Anyhow, now I am not sure what to do. Should I knit a few more rounds with garter stitch on the back part before I cast off with i-cord for a third time? Or perhaps there is another way of doing i-cord cast off than then one I used (I followed the instructions on this video from Drops Garnstudio)?

Whatever I do, this time it must work. I do not think I could undo the cast off a third time. Hints and help are very welcome if you think or know what may help.

Fall Coat in Spring

Ironically enough, I began knitting the fall coat from Pickles during spring. It is in fact the warmest spring in years. We have had amazing (summer) temperatures these last two weeks. 20c in April is not common around here. The nice weather has definitely influenced my knitting time, which has been reduced to a minimum. Not only because of the weather but mostly because of it.

I have spent the last days outdoors, in the garden with my family and with what must be among Oslo’s most helpful, friendly and super neighbourhoods. The children play together in the back yard and when they eventually fall asleep in their beds after a long day, the grownups rest their behinds while sipping wine and sharing good conversations. I love my neighbourhood.

Now the weather is back to normal again and I need to pick up the needles to finish the coat. I am having some struggles with the i-cord bind off. I might ventilate my frustration and ask for help in a day or two (just have to try once more on my own first).

Have a nice 1st of May!

The Small Collector Sweater

This is another left over yarn project. The collector sweater is for Andreas so he can put his small treasures found when playing outdoors in his pocket. The pocket is big enough for him to put small treasures in it and small enough for him not to fill the house with them.

It is knitted with the very last left over Gjestal yarn that I used to both this and this sweater. I have never knitted pockets on garments before (it is not part of the pattern), but I enjoy learning new things so searching around the web to learn how to knit pockets was fun.

It took me a few attempts to get the pocket the way I wanted (I wanted the rib of the pocket to be diagonal), but nothing too difficult or discouraging. Doing and redoing is part of the learning experience, right? These are the different tips and tricks I found in case you want to see them as well.

Have a nice week!

Busy Boy Vest

I do need to de-stash my yarn baskets. That is this springs mission. A big clean up. And honestly I am not doing too bad (padding myself on the shoulder). In 2008 I made The Cherry Scarf by Helga Isager with thin Alpaca from Du Store Alpakka. It was one of the first things I knitted, and the first thing I knitted for myself. It’s knitted with double threads which gives the scarf a nice density and weight to it. I’m also positively surprised with how well the scarf looks after years of use.

I had a skein and some more left of the blue colour in my basket, (the left over pink/scarlet was used to make this Bella) and decided to make a vest for Andreas since he has grown out of the others he has.

Vests are my absolutely all-time favourite garment for busy children. They are perfect for the Norwegian springs and falls, when it’s too hot to wear a sweater when your are in the sun, and too cold to not wear a sweater when in the shadow. The vest however is perfect, neither too cold nor too hot either way.

As you can see I ran out of blue when there were only a centimetre and a half left of the neck line. A few lines of grey Alpakka saved me from having to rip up the vest and begin all over. Not perfect, but it works.

Quiet days

March is going to be a busy month, and my knitting time is reduced to a minimum.

I have three projects in my basket. Two that are hibernating while the latest one is this left over yarn striped sweater. It’s the same pattern as here and here, but with a difference in how the stripes are distributed. Knitting the same pattern several times makes it easier to be spontaneous when it comes to how the colour changes should be. I like that.

I am a typical follow-the-pattern-exactly- knitter, so this is a much needed exercise. Trusting my instincts and taking a chance. That goes for other parts of my life as well, but perhaps more so when knitting because I am less experienced.

Besides knitting, the never-ending cloudy weather is beginning to affect our energy levels. I am beginning to wonder if the sun will ever appear again. I mean ever.

Have a nice week everyone!

Intimidating knits

This weekend we went to Bergen to attend the christening of my nephew C. N. Which means that I can show you photos of the last minute knitted christening gift.

I haven’t done a lot of stranded colour-work knitting before (to be honest it intimidates me), and it is noticeable. My floats – the gaps between the sections of pattern – are not loose enough to keep the work from puckering. As a result, it looks uneven. So on my next stranded knitting project I need to make the floats looser to prevent this.

All though the pattern is not intricate, it is not the easiest. On certain places, the floats strand across 15 stitches. Knitting guru’s usually recommend to not strand floats across more than seven stitches, but I think that five stitches are within my skill & comfort zone.

If you have to strand floats for more than seven stitches you should catch the floats in the centre of the span. I did this, what I didn’t know is that if you catch up your floats on the very same place on succeeding rows this can lead to banding on the front work. If you look closely, you can see some of those bands (looks like vertical stripes/gaps) in the photos.

On the more sunny side of matters (by the way, out of 47 days in 2014 we - Oslo inhabitants - have only had three days of sun) I love the colours I used. If I knit the sweater again, I think I would choose the same colours… Actually, I ought to knit it again soon to practice long and loose floats. For more details, visit my project page on Ravelry

Have a nice week!

Oh, and don’t miss the giveaway that lasts until February the 23rd!

Stripes for Cousin K

Last spring when I found out I was being an aunt again I casted on for another striped sweater. I still had some left over yarn from the Blue for Baby A, and I had some left over ideas on how to combine the colours.

I casted 176 stitches on the needles and began knitting in the round. After knitting a 2x2 rib in grey, I began knitting blue and white stripes. Each blue stripe consist of ten rows of blue , and each white stripe consists of eight rows of white.

This is the third time I have used this Drops pattern as a base for my own ideas (I have another sweater I still haven’t posted on Ravelry or here). I love the crew neck with the split, which makes it a baby friendly sweater when it comes to taking on and off. I am also a big fan of thin knitted garments as they warm, but are lightweight and does not feel bulky. Winter here is all about layers. Because the sweater is a small size it is still a pretty quick knit, even if it’s knitted on 2.5 mm needles.

Compared to “Blue for baby A”, this sweater is more “low key”, no bright yellow contrast. More subtle. Still, I couldn’t resist putting an x on one of the buttons holes.

In Novermeber, after spending time in the UFO pile for several months, I finished the last details (sewd on the buttons) in a hurry so this could be part of our Christening gift to Cousin K. Let’s just say that last minute photo shoots indoors in November does not give the best photo light. Have a nice Tuesday!

The Leather Tag

Thank you for all the positive comments and feedback on the leather tag! Several of you have asked me how I made it and with what tools. Here is a tutorial for you in case you would like to make your own initials tag hat.




You need:
1. cutting mat

2. polymer or wooden mallet (do not use a metal hammer or metal tool as this will damage your leather stamps)
3. leather
4. alphabet stamps for leather
5. hole punch (2mm)
6. stamp handle
7. rotary cutter (or tapestry knife)
8. ruler
9. sponge
10. polymer cutting board or a wooden cutting board (not shown in the photos)

Cutting the leather
Cut your piece of leather into strips and cut each strip into several tags. My initials hat tag is 85mm long and 12mm wide. I also make other sizes depending on what kind of garment I am using them on. When making tags for hats I let the brim of the hat decide how wide and long the tag should be. For slippers I make a wider tag, and so on. I use the same rotary cutter I use for fabrics, a metal ruler and a cutting mat to protect my kitchen countertop.

Surface casing
You need to moisten the leather before stamping, this is called casing. There are two basic methods of casing, surface-casing and thru-casing. Which method is best depends on the thickness and size of your leather to be stamped. If it is a heavy weight leather and a big piece, you should use the thru-casing method. If the leather is lightweight and small you can use the surface-casing method.

My leather tags are small pieces of lightweight leather so I have used the surface-casing method. Surface-casing is when you wet the leather with a sponge on the skin-side of the surface. I however, did it on both the skinned side and on the flesh side (yes, I experimented a bit). Fill a glass bowl or a plastic container with water (metal containers can cause the leather to stain). With clean hands, apply the water as evenly as you can and dry of excess water that forms on top of the leather, (I have not done that yet in the photo above).

The rule of thumb is that if the leather is to dry when stamping, you will have to use excessive force and the leather will not accept the stamp impressions (This is exactly what I experienced with my first initials hat). If the leather is too wet it will form deep initial impressions, but will not retain the impression after it has dried. Try to moisten only the leather you are going to use there and then. If not you might have to re-moisten the leather too many times (which is not good).

When the leather begins to return to its natural colour, but still feels moist to the touch; begin stamping.

Stamping the letters
Place a polymer or wooden cutting board on a firm surface like a table or kitchen countertop. Place the leather on your cutting board, which will be your work surface. Place the letter stamps on your leather. Place the stamp handle in one of the letter stamps.

Make sure you hold the handle down firmly while striking with the mallet. If you are stamping more than one letter, place the stamp handle on the other letter, place it on the leather and repeat the procedure.

Use the hole-punch to make holes in the tag. Place the hole-punch where you would like the holes and strike with the mallet (but not as hard as when you were letter stamping). Your are now ready to sew your tag onto your knitted garment.

There are several alphabet stamp fonts. I bought the bottom one in Barcelona this fall, but I think my favourite is the one in the top. There are many different fonts and sizes in leather shops, hopefully you can find one that is right for your project.

If you decide to make an initials tag after reading this tutorial, and you blog about it, I would be happy if you link back to this post, as thanks. Oh, and please let us know what you plan to use the tag on, to continue the upward-inspiration-spiral. Thank you!

To read more about casting leather, visit this article by B. J. (Kirk) Kuykendall