Endelig!

Sånn! Den vesten jeg har brukt halvannet år på er omsider ferdig, har festet trådene og alt:


Godt fornøyd med meg selv, og kommer faktisk til å lage flere av denne, men da vil jeg gjøre noen endringer i forhold til oppskriften. Tykkere garn eller mindre pinner hadde gjort seg, og jeg kunne faktisk godt ha laget den i small... og jeg vil ha den lengre neste gang, selv om jeg forlenget skulderstroppene en del på denne. Men jeg har lært masse av dette prosjektet, og gleder meg til neste vest. Etter at alle julegavene er ferdig en gang i fremtiden.

Jeg har også begynt på et nytt prosjekt, og er godt i gang:


Dette er en oppskrift fra garnstudio, og jeg er alldeles forelsket i det fantastiske garnet. Fargen er enda kraftigere i virkeligheten, og det går så fort på pinne 8 at selv jeg ikke rekker å bli utålmodig.

Skal skjerpe meg litt med oppdateringene nå, for nå har jeg faktisk overskudd til håndarbeid igjen. Har også strikket en brun evalue, og har begynt på en gul en til ei venninne - og dem blir det også fler av etterhvert. Det går jo så fort!

And Now: Project Bonanza

This is the beginning of my alpaca vest from Lene Holme Samsøe's book Feminin strikk. I am not a fast knitter (as mentioned), but I am immensely proud to have knitted all of five centimetres :) Hopefully, it will go faster by the time I'm finished with the back...



This is a half-finished hat in single crochet, made in fat cotton yarn. This is for a friend who had his birthday tomorrow - I hope he'll like it!

I have a lot of projects at the moment - I am crocheting a bag in mustard yellow cotton yarn, knitting scarves and sewing a dress. Luckily, the easter holidays are not too far ahead! I will have to study a bit over easter - exam in just over a month! Eeeeek!

Scarf in Progress

On the left is the way I transport my crocheting. Make it into a roll, and stick the needle through. Otherwise, long items, like this one, will tie itself to my headset in the bag, coil around my keys and eat my cellphone. This is a scarf I'm making for a friend's birthday today. I will add fringes in turqouise, and hopefully manage to take a picture of the finished product. The scarf is crocheted in half double crochet and a few rows of treble crochet (mainly to keep me from fainting from boredom).

This weekend, I'm suddenly going to Kristiansand to do some pre-production work for this summer's festival. It will be a four hour train ride each way, but that's the only time for knitting/crochet all weekend. I'm not sure if I dare to bring any knitting - I live in fear of the whole thing unravelling by itself while I'm not looking. Crochet is more trustworthy that way :)

I am not able to finish my jacket (mentioned below) because I have apparently done something strange while cutting the pieces for the hood: it does not fit propely. I'm not sure what to do about it, except put it in the closet and forget about it until I get a bright idea.

Instead, I will start on a dress (paying close attention to the pattern this time...), but I expect it will have to wait for about a week.

WIP

This is what I'm doing at the moment. On the left is my scarf in Noro Kureyon. I decided to knit it in ribs(knit two, purl tw0), and I imagine it says a LOT about my marvellous knitting skills that I am actually very proud to have achieved as much. To think of the knitting projects that I have decided to try makes me shiver in fright... I have decided on a vest, and traditional Selbu mittens, and a little jacket. I am not sure how this will turn out, but stay tuned :D

I have come to love the Noro yarn - just look at the amazing colours! My crappy photo does not do them justice. One skein will not do for the scarf, however. And I'm horribly broke, so the scarf will have to be a temporary UFO until payday.

On the right is one mitten, minus thumb, pre-felting. Crocheting mittens is excellent for the train ride every day, as they are comparatively small, does not require a pattern, and won't unravel in my bag if not watched carefully throughout the day (have I tried knitting on the train? yes.)

My 2do-list is getting longer by the minute, but I am at least very inspired at the moment. Everything is taken note of for a later occasion - now I'm looking forward to starting on the fantasy-along (and hopefully finish before April 1st), the Granny Ripple baby blanket, and the knitted mittens. But first: hood and hem on my woolen jacket (tonight). And fixing the hem of my silk dress.

WIP

This is what I am working on at the moment:


It's a shawl with a small fold-down collar in a lovely alpaca yarn, which I bought on sale from garn.dk, and I am really pleased with it. It's so soft!

Speaking of alpaca, I have of course bought yarn in Russia, along with a few buttons. The lady in the shop got awfully impatient with me, though, so I only got a few:
And I got some new necklaces and a little painted brooch as well :) Love them!

I have also finished a little hat, in black silk alpaca with a picot edge:


More on my trip later, with pictures!

Oh, blogger

I've had a little trouble with blogger lately (posts refuse to be published), but I feel really helpless about it. Is there really anything to do, except wait?

Anyway, it's been a while since I posted a favourite, so here goes:


This is a little vase in a lovely yellow, which I inherited from my grandparents' house. It is not very practical, as the opening is really narrow, but I adore the colour and the subtle pattern!

I am soon finished with a hat and mittens made in chunky cotton yarn for a friend - the colour combination is unusual, a bright red with a sort of brownish-purple dusty colour. It worked out better that I thought! And the chunky yarn makes it so quick to complete, too.

Blue and green

I finished the green bag last night:


I still have to felt it (tomorrow) and embellish it, but that's the fun part! I am really happy with the result so far - I even started a blue one for the february colour-along. I realised that I wouldn't be able to finish a vest in shell stitch in time for the challenge, so I went for another bag instead. I hope my mother will like it!


There will be a vest, however - just not yet. Upon reflection, I'd much rather try something else in shell stitch first. Something smaller, like a scarf perhaps.

Drunken crochet

Crochet and wine turned out to be a great success - the stripy mittens are finished, and will be felted over the weekend.

I have joined three alongs in my enthusiasm - the bag-along, the colour-along and the fantasy along. The last one hasn't started yet, but I was a month late for the colour-along and missed january. That was black and grey, but I figure I made the black mittens in january... There in spirit, at least :) February's coluor is blue, which is a bit of a challenge for me. I am not very fond of blue, but I think I will make a vest or something for my mother. I want to try the shell stitch( inspired by Bella Dia), and I think that will make a nice vest, at least if the yarn is not too chunky.

After felting the slippers, I was left with a skein of the grey-green Eskimo yarn. I thought I might as well use it to make a little bag for the bag-along, and in my naïveté didn't stop to consider that one skein would be on the skimpy side for a bag... So today, it's off to the yarn store again! The theme for the along is spring. That makes green the obvious choice, but I still don't know what I'll do with embellishment... Perhaps buttons? I hope I will be able to felt it along with the mittens in the weekend.

I just realised - then I will have matching bag and slippers! How many people can brag about that?

Multitasking

I have finished one mitten and started the next, but it is not very interesting yet. More on the mittens when they are done! In the meantime, I have started on a hat/scarf thingy. This first one is very much a prototype, but I saw something like it at Anthropologie before cristmas, and have been thinking about it ever since.

Unfortunately, the image quality is VERY poor, but you get the idea - a hat with extended ear flaps to make a scarf. I have made it in brown kitten mohair, and in double crochet as I'm lazy. I will improve the next one I make. It needs to be more pointy for one thing, and the flaps must be made to narrow gradually. It will perhaps be better in a thicker yarn as well. But trial and error is a good thing :) It actually looks better on my head. No, really.

The muffins are possibly not sweet enough for the average taste. I rather like them, as I'm not too fond of sweets. I will frost them as well, perhaps that will help. I ran out of regular flour and had to replace with oats, but that went really well I think. We'll see what the girls think. Frosting is necessary, though.

Felted Mittens Part I

So, project felted/crocheted mittens is underway. I am a bit worried that I am making them too large, but then I'll just have to felt them over again, I think. I am using a fairly thin yarn, PT2, and working them in double crochet. Not only is it faster, but I think the felt will be thinner as well. The samples in double crochet seemed all right, but I am using a smaller hook than in the samples.

Tomorrow I'm meeting a couple of friends for crafts and wine. This seems like a good idea, but I have a sneaking feeling that the wine may not be very smart... We'll find out. Drunken crochet, anyone? I plan on trying a new batch of muffins for the occation, this time with all milk and no oil, and chocolate chips. Perhaps I'll try a little cardamom or vanilla as well - or maybe both?

I came back from Trondheim on sunday, and I was exhausted. This year was more than usually tiresome for this festival, and I will not do it again next year. It has progressively gotten worse regarding management and preparations, and this year was almost hopeless. No thank you, I'd rather be at work... After that joyful experience, I came back to work in time for the launch of a big campaign, and spent hours punching code yesterday.

On the bright side, I won 500 kr off a lottery ticket (something I normally donot buy). I decided to use these money on a new headset, something I would not normally afford on the spur of a moment. I researched a bit, and bought a Sennheiser HD 465 headset. It is HUGE, compared to my old Koss PortaPro, but the sound is AMAZING. The downside is that my old speakers at home sounds like crap in comparison... So this will be expensive over time! I am not like most girls in this respect - good sound is very important to me, like shoes are for other girls. I am, sadly, hooked now. Ah well. Kitchen improvements will have to wait...

Finished Vest and New Scarf

On the left is a detail of the finished vest. I am quite happy with it, it turned out more chunky than I imagined, but still very fluffy. I am sure I will use it a lot!

I have now started on a birthday present for a friend - I will remember to take a picture before giving it away this time. I am making a red scarf all in double crochet, with a very chunky yarn called Alfa. It is amazingly soft, and the most perfect colour. I plan on making a little flower pin as well, which will be my first! I'm off to find recipes now...

This is the scarf so far: