dolly, wwkipday and yarn sale

the last couple of days have been quite nice. friday evening started out wonderfully. after a really nice pizza (with enourmous amounts of cheese) i was off to stockholms stadion together with stefan, erika and catrin to enjoy the dolly parton concert. she was great of course, although i was a little bit dissappointed with her choice of repertoire. not enought bluegrass, too much 80’s pop hits. but dolly is dolly and she was professional and funny as always. and she still has an amazing voice.

dolly dolly dolly

saturday was a bit chilly so our world wide knit in public gathering was after a while forced inside due to rain. quite a few brave knitters stayed outside at mariatorget at first, but i felt rather cold so fled to the warmth and cosy atmosphere at marias garn straight away.

wwkipday at mariatorget

when the rain poured down, some of the outdoor knitters joined us at marias garn, others took refuge at a nearby café.

anna & catrin

anna m’s cute socks

i came home with some very nice ecological cotton yarn. i plan to knit elspeth from rowan 37. i have a lovely dress that will look fabulous with a small cardigan (bolero?) like that.

ecocotton from marks & kattens

the knitting experience contunued on monday at nysta where i spent some money on a yarn sale. who can resist seven balls of lovely pink debbie bliss cashmerino dk at a very reasonable price?

pink cashmerino dk

one ball of green debbie bliss rialto wanted to come home with me too. for some lovely edging on whatever i will knit out of the pink cashemerino dk.

green rialto

well, it’s soon time for foyle’s war, so excuse me while i go cuddle some yarn in front of the telly

 

coming along

the visjö yarn from östergötlands ullspinneri is really wonderful, it’s so soft and easy to knit with. satoko mentioned in a comment that the visjö yarn does pill a little, but it’s only to be expected with this type of wool (”finull”, but i don’t know how to translate that, does anyone know?). i only have a few centimetres to go on the ribbed botton edge before i’ll begin the striped body part.

 
2×2 ribbed bottom edge

the inside is quite pretty too

 

a wooly summer

i suppose i should be knitting something in light and airy in cotton since we’ve had such warm weather here recently. but somehow i’m much more in the mood to knit wooly jumpers. tonight it’s the start of the fourth season of foyle’s war, one of my favourite tv programs, and it always inspires me to knit nice and wholesome jumpers and slipovers.

hemingway

i’ve come quite far on the hemingway jumper and i’ve started the steeks for the sleeve openings.

steek on the hemingway jumper

i’ve also cast on for the aston jumper and i’m very pleased with it so far. i hope it will fit, i’m quite tired of ripping out the things i knit.

aston jumper

 

swatching aston

i am trying not to rush my aston jumper. i know from experience that when i try to knit something of my own design, i usually end up with something that’s too big. so, i’m taking this new project one step at a time. i’ve made a swatch (in the round, of course), i’ve cut it, washed it and blocked it.

aston jumper swatch

the next step is to take some new measurements and then calculate the right amount of stiches and decide on the shaping details. i don’t want to end up like i normally do - having to rip everything out about four or five times and starting everything over. i mean, you might remember how many times i’ve cast on for the hemingway jumper, right? i don’t. five? six? i’d like to avoid that if i can.

 

music and yarn and archaeology

anything and everything can inspire creativity. i happened to visit linköping the other day and took some time to visit hemslöjden i östergötland and garnverket (they have a shop in stockholm, too). a new aquaintance from ravelry, ulrika, who lives in linköping was kind enough to giude me to these lovely nests of inspiration. i bought six hanks of yarn at hemslöjden. the yarn is visjö from östergötlands ullspinneri. it’s 100% wool, 2-ply (and i really mean that it’s plied with two strands of yarn!) and it is soft beyond belief.

visjö yarn from östergötlands ullspinneri

if i didn’t know better, i would say it feels as a mix of angora and the softest lambs wool. östergötlands ullspinneri only uses wool from swedish sheep and i would love to visit their mill sometime.

i didn’t just buy this yarn at random, i have a plan. one of my favoutite tv programmes is the british channel 4 production time team (if you don’t know it, follow the link to their official website). i studied archaeology in the middle of the 90’s and i have worked as an antiquarian at the national museum of antiquities in stockholm as well as at the national heritage board, also in stockholm. but i never got the opportunity to work as a field archaeologist. i regret this very much. i suppose that one of the reasons for my undying love for time team is that i, in a very unrealistic way, get to experience field archaeology. unrealistic because a normal excavation isn’t executed over a three day period and the resources they have for the program isn’t always available on a normal excavation. the other reason i love the show is the people that are in it. mick aston, who in general is in charge of the excavations on time team, almost always sports very colourfully striped handknitted jumpers. so, inspired by mick’s jumpers and as a hommage to time team, i will knit a striped jumper using my newly purchased yarn.

mick aston in stripey jumper no 1

mick aston in stripey jumper no 2

music has always been important to me, and i like going to concerts and gigs. a few weeks back i saw alison krauss and robert plant at hovet in stockholm. they were touring with the music from their album raising sand.

alison krauss and robert plant in stockholm

yesterday i experienced some zydeco madness with evil emil & the king kongo cobras on a joint gig with the old timey band rockridge brothers at stampen in stockholm.

evil emil & the king kongo cobras

rockridge brothers

i cannot say that either experience will result in a hand knitted garment, but i find it very inspirational to listen to people who love what they’re doing and doing what they love. it means that we can all do it if we put our minds to it and that we can find inspiration in anything and everything.

 

talented

yesterday i went to a vernissage at hv-skolan where my dear friend erika’s degree project was on display. she has made a knitting kit consisting of a mitten pattern along with hand dyed yarn from a small spinning mill on the west coast of sweden. their production is small scale and ecological. erika had made the mitten design, of course (and i think she had dyed the yarn herself, too). there were many lovely things to see, everyone is so talented. i wish i had the time and means to take more craft courses. i would love to learn how to weave and do embroidery. anyway, here are some photos from yesterday:

outiside hv-skolan

erika’s degree project

erika’s degree project

hoodie with traditional embroidery

knickers with embroidery

i went home very much inspired by everyone’s creativity. as soon as i got home i started working on the hemingway jumper again. stefan had to try it on and we decided that i should add a few centimetres to the length before starting on the sleeve steeks. i hope i’ll have the energy and inspiration to finish it soon, it has certaintly been a painstaking projects since i’ve had to rip it out so many times. but this time i think it will turn out just fine.

 

talk about loss of speed…

i wish i could say that i’ve been incredibly productive and will take this oportunity to show you all of my new fo’s. but i can’t. i’ve not finished the second log cabin sock, i’ve ripped the heather coloured slipover (which by the way now goes under the name gosford park), and i’ve stalled on the hemingway.

however, my friends’ newborn baby inspired me knit something for a baby for the first time, so i’ve begun two new projects, which essentially are same project, namely baby bonnet from last minute knitted gifts.

cute and soft baby bonnets

 

better not loose speed

after a very nice evening at sthlm knitters‘ knitting café i finished the first log cabin sock whilst watching chocolat. not a great movie, but i watch it for the stunning outfits.

just look at that lovely shirt and lovely cardigan that matches the skirt.

juliette binoche and johnny depp in chocolat

i started my day with some morning gymastics since the only available light was in the window:

first log cabin sock

meet log cabin sock no 1! i will cast on for second sock tonight, otherwise i might get caught up in another project. my opinion so far on the pattern is that i like it; it’s easy and knits up quick. however, i noticed ( a bit too late) that they’ve changed some things on the sock depicted in the book, and i understand why: it looks better than if you follow the pattern. but i am a bit miffed at the fact that this change has not been included in the pattern. but i’ll get back to the details when i’ve finished both socks. here’s another photo:

side view

 

homemade

my adventures in baking continued all through last week and most of the produce was consumed on saturday when i had some friends and my family over for my birthday. i almost forgot to take photos of all the sweet goodness before it was all eaten up.

we ate other things beside biscuits, but those photos turned out quite bad, so i see no point in publishing them here. i recieved a lot of wonderful presents (thank you everyone!), but since this a craft blog, i’ll only show you the lovely handmade ones:

meet hanoko-san and valentin! satoko has knitted the little pig called hanoko and erika has sewn the tweedy little monster called valentin. i think both will be happy in their new home!

 

monday

mondays are not my favourite day of the week, but when they end as nicely as this, how can i complain?

hemslöjden and homemade biscuits

the latest issue of one of my favourite magazines arrived today: hemslöjden. and i really felt like baking so i tried a recipe i’ve never tried before. they’re called ökensand (desert sand). the dough turned out a bit dry, but the biscuits taste wonderful! the recipe comes from the classic cookbook sju sorters kakor (swedish cakes and cookies), of course.