elspeth

this turned out to be quite a nice little bolero. i think it will look better together with a nice dress, but these photos will have to do.

the elspeth bolero

pattern: elspeth from rowan 37
designer: laura long
yarn: ecobomull from marks & kattens
yarn source: marias garn
needles: 4 mm
crochet hook: 3,5 mm
modifications: none

the intended yarn for this project is really rowan calmer, but i’ve knitted with that yarn before and wanted to try something else. also, the yarn i chose is more eco-friendly, so i thought i’d give it a try. it’s ok to knit with, but i’m not crazy about it. it is soft to the touch on the ball, but i think it knits up a fairly stiff fabric. it’s also quite heavy, so it might not be a good substitute yarn for calmer in other projects. calmer is a lot more elasic than this yarn (which isn’t elastic at all), so i needed to go down from size 5 mm needles to 4 mm needles. it was fairly easy and fun to knit, but i’m not 100 % satisfied with the shape of the garment. the crocheted edge tend to flare a bit, too. i suppose i cuold have used a smaller crochet hook, but the yarn is quite thick and my crocheting skills are really at beginner level, so i went with the intended size. all in all, i’m quite happy with it anyway, but i don’t know how much i’ll use it. i have a lovely summer dress that has a bit of 50’s look to it, that this would look great together with, so the next time i want to wear that dress, i have a nice little bolero to go with it.

here are some more photos:

detail of lace pattern and sleeve

and this is the back

 

i’m crocheting!

which is quite unusual. but – it’s fun! i need to do this more often. anyway, it’s only on the edge of the elspeth bolero that has been hibernating for a while. but now good friends; it’s actually finished! i’ll upload photos tomorrow (hopefully) together with my comments on the pattern and yarn. this is a small taste of what’s to come:

crocheting on the edge

 

i’m singin’ in the rain

we’ve had such cold and rainy weather here for weeks, it feels more like autumn than summer. the urge to knit warm jumpers rather than thin and airy summer thing is overpowering. it’s a good thing that my present wip is knit up in merino wool, albeit a short sleeved little thing. it is a slow knit, however. i’ve been very good and kept myself to this knitting for weeks now and i am making progress, but not as fast as i’d like. the knowledge of the fact that i will have to re-knit the entire back is also a bit demoralizing. my fingers are itching to start a new project. but i really want to see this jumper finished, too, so i think i’ll be able to restrain myself from casting on. which would be the first time in history, probably.

back, to the left, is too big and will be re-knit

yesterday was the annual world wide knit in public day and my plan was to join up with my knitting group, sthlm knitters, for some public knitting in the centre of stockholm at mariatorget, but alas, we were again forced inside due to the cold and rain. luckily, maria – proprietor of the excellent yarn shop marias garn – gave us space and coffee at her shop. we had a wonderful day but were all sad about being forced indoors. june can be beautiful in sweden, but too often also rainy.

wwkipday in stockholm 2009

 

try again

i’m one of those knitters who has a few ufo’s.  ten of them right now. and six wip’s. i don’t think that’s a whole lot. i’ve seen people on ravelry who have a lot more than i do! but i’m not here to make excuses, what i wanted to tell you is that one previous ufo is now a nice and healthy wip! i have picked up the old short-sleeved diamond stitch sweater (ravelry link) by sarah dallas from vintage knits! i’d already finished the back, but i fear that it’s turned out too big. but i’m not messing with that part now, i finished one sleeve today and i’ve just started on the front. with smaller needles. so there’s hope for the old jumper yet!

first sleeve

the jumper itself is based on an old pattern (provided by yesterknits) that sarah dallas has adapted to modern sizes and yarns. i’m using rowan 4-ply soft. the book provides very small images of the original designs, and the one for this pattern looks like this:

original to the left, new version to the right

so, in this case sarah dallas has stayed fairly true to the original. some of the other patterns in the book differ more from the originals.

 

gosford park revisited

about two years ago, i started knitting a slipover based on a vintage pattern from 1946. i decided to call it gosford park, because it reminded me of the stylish clothes worn in the movie. it was a simple knit and purl pattern. but it just wouldn’t work out. i wasn’t happy with the structure, i was indecisive on the shape and struggled with the depth of the v-neck that i wanted to add. i think i’ve frogged it and re-knit it more than four times so far. it’s been out in the cold for quite some time. but a few weeks back i felt like picking it up again.

first attempt

i’ve now decided to knit it completely in stocking stitch, which does more justice to the yarn, a beautiful heather coloured wool yarn from morjärv ullspinneri (unfortunately now out of business!). i’m shaping it in the same way as my aston jumper so i’ll get a good fit. i’m also knitting it in the round which means that ‘ll eventually have to add steeks and cut it at the sleeve openings and neck. that’ll be exciting! perhaps it crazy to knit a wool garment when summer is approaching, but since i’m not a very fast knitter i suppose it might be ready just in time for autumn…

so far so good…

speaking of summer, i just made my first rhubarb pie for the season! it was delicious.

mmmm… pie….

 

mexican yarn and E.T.

a few weeks ago a visited mexico on a short business trip. this was just before the flu outbreak hit the media. i came back with a cold. no, it wasn’t the swine flu, just an ordinary cold. i already had a fever when i arrived in mexico city airport. anyway, due to the cold, i hadn’t really the energy to do much while i was there apart from work. but i went for a short walk to find the post office. and on my way i happened upon a yarn shop! they carried mostly acrylic yarn, but i did find a nice soft cotton yarn. i don’t know what i’ll do with it, but that’s ok, i bought it mostly as a souvenire.

cotton yarn from querétaro

and now for something completely different…

i just have to show you what stefan gave me the other day: a bed tray with E.T. on it! isn’t it wonderful?! i love it!

E.T. phone home

when i was at home from work with the cold, stefan felt sorry for me because i had no place to put my mug of tea when i was reading or watching tv in bed. so he tried to find a nice bed tray. apparently, bed trays are really ugly, and after days of searching the internet, he found this second hand, “vintage”, object. lucky me, because i just love E.T.! it’s one of my favourite movies. i even bought a red hoodie many years ago like the one eliott wears in the movie.

be good

 

i’m knitting! and baking!

well, it’s been a quiet week here in stockholm, my hometown… sorry, i’ve been listening too much to garrison keillor recently. or can there be too much of garrison keillor? anyway, apart from working, working, working it’s been very quiet here lately. i’ve missed out on several of my ballet and tap-dancing lessons and i’ve not been able to amount enough energy to meet with my fellow knitters at sthlm knitters’ tuesday night knitting at hurtigs konditori. perhaps next week.

but i have been knitting. i’ve spent several weeks knitting the odd row on the (seemingly) neverending fisherman’s jumper, hemingway, for stefan. i’m almost at the neck steeks now. the other week i needed a quick fix, so i knitted another one of those quick and easy hats from last minute knitted gifts.

new hat for stefan

i’ve since not been in the mood for poor hemingway, so he’s just waiting in the ufo basket at the moment. i’ve wanted to try one of the patterns in stephanie japel’s book fitted knits for a long time and decided to give it a go. i’ve only tried top-down knitting once before, perhaps you member this:

mini cardigan for myra

the problem with fitted knits, in my view, is that japel has chosen quite fat yarns, which i’m not very fond of knitting with or wearing. but, my quriosity to try something overcame my waryness. i didn’t want to go out and buy more yarn, since i have quite a lot as it is, so i initially had some trouble finding a suitable yarn. my choice fell on the white 3-ply wool from yllet that was once intended to be hemingway, but has since been discarded and no longer had a designated project. i almost never wear white, and i don’t like this particulary shade of white at all, so my plan is to dye the jumper once it’s finished.

cosy v-neck

i decided on the cosy v-neck jumper, because it’s easy, hopefully quick and well, it’s a v-neck. i wear a lot of v-neck jumpers, so the choice was easy. i ended up in bed all day yesterday due to a cold, so i spent it knitting and watching the last, yes, the very last!, episodes of gilmore girls and have made quite some progress. i’m not fantastically thrilled with the result so far, the change from knitting back and forth around the v-neck to the circular knitting below doesn’t look very good, and the stitches are rather wonky due to the large needles (5 mm! enormous!), but it’s wool, so i’m hoping for a magical transformation when blocking. but it’s fun! and quick! i really enjoy the top-down knitting and right now feel like i must convert all patterns to top-down knitting (i probably won’t, but isn’t it fun to be carried away by something?). i won’t follow the sleeve patterns, because they’re knitted back and forth, which is completely pointless to me, so i’ll knit those in the round too. i’ll probably have to go up one size in needles, though, because my tension is usually much tighter on dpns than on circulars.

oh, the baking! we had dinner guests on saturday (wine and cognac didn’t cure my cold, unfortunately) and i wanted to try a new recipe. it turned out quite well (duh, there’s chocolate in them, what can go wrong?) and i actually have two left over that i might eat later today when i’ve crawled out of bed (i love wireless internet). here are some photos from the baking and the finished product:

these turned out to very crumbly

chocolate…

almost finished! but they need a few hours in the fridge first

ready to eat!

well, i’ll probably sleep for a bit know, and later knit for a while if i’m up to it.

 

yuletide has come and gone

and why does it always go by so quickly? my favourite time of the year and it just rushes by. but i’ve had a good one. lost of very, very good food, wonderful company and a lot of relaxing. as it should be. not that much knitting, though. i cast on for a pair of mittens on christmas eve, but realized later that i need to change the pattern quite a lot in order to suit my choice of yarn and needles, and therefore ripped out the whole thing and put it aside. i’ll begin later. i’ve made some progress on the fisherman’s jumper for stefan, though, the steeks now measure about 8 cm. only 14 cm to go before neck decreases!

some progress on the hemingway jumper

i also received three great knitting books for christmas: poetry in stitches by solveig hisdal, folk mittens by marcia lewandowski and men’s knits by erika knight. all of them really wonderful books that i know i will use in the future. all three were a present from my dear stefan.

christmas presents!

we spent christmas north of stockholm this year, and i harboured a secret hope that this might mean some snow for christmas. and it did! not lots of it, but a little. and together with the frost, it was very beautiful. here are some photos i took on christmas day when we went for a walk.

snow on the lake

someone has left tracks in the snow

beautiful frost

frosty leaves

 

let it snow

i finished my lerwick mittens last night. at a few minutes to midnight i weaved in the last ends of the right mitten.

mittens!

pattern: lerwick x’s & o’s from knitting fair isle mittens and gloves
design: unknown
yarn: a little of this and that. all 100% 2-ply wool, some from morjärv, some from kampes and some might be hifa. i used stashed yarn throughout.
needles: 2mm for cuff, top of mittens and thumbs. 2,5mm for the fair isle patterned part
modifications: added a thumb gusset/wedge (of course), made the top of the mittens a bit more rounded than the original.

and… mittens again!

thumbs

 

more snow and another mitten

we’ve had a lot of snow these past couple of days and i think it’s wonderful! i love snow! we drink glögg, listen to my dean martin and frank sinatra christmas albums and watch christmas movies (it’s a wonderful life, die hard, the apartment and other christmas classics) and i knit, of course.

laban in the window

i’ve finished another mitten, but my photos turned out really bad. but i really wanted to show you a picture of it today, so you’ll have to forgive this one, a crappy flash photo. i’ve knit about half of the second mitten and i’m a bit worried that i’ll run out of blue yarn.

lerwick mitten

i went for a walk in humlegården, a park in the middle of stockholm, during lunch and took quite a few photos. here’s a few of them.

trees in the snow

no one is sitting there now

national library of sweden