Only three weeks ago I was up in the middle of the night knitting like crazy in order to get the Clapotis for my mom done before Cristmas. I think I mentioned that a couple of times already, yes...;) Anyhow - I promised myself that never again in history would I be knitting with a deadline!

OK. This is the reason I don't have new years resolutions, usually. There will always be something coming up that even forces me or convinces me or is tempting me (of course the last one rarely happens...) to break them. As also happened to this promise to myself. No deadline. Hah. The thing is that I am going to a party next weekend. I have a dress:

It told me it needs a shrug to go along. A black one. Bare arms, bare necessity. So I'm having a situation here. Starting tonight I have to finish two sleeves and the body lining of the shrug - in one week. Yes, no kidding. I already did the back and the two fronts. Yes - of course I must reveal which shrug. This beauty. (The one on the cover). I'm using this yarn:

It's 20 % silk and 80 % alpaca - and should provide the warmth I need at this time of the year. Gauge-wise it seems to be ok - but I am not quite sure because every time I measure it seems to be a little bit different...Here is the back in progress:

I think I might also use some beads - black ones in the ribbing - or what do you think? No matter what I do - I need to hurry! - and I need to hope very hard that it fits!!

 Midnight shot no.1, FO no. 13, 2005, Clapotis:

(taken after hours of frantic knitting, christmas gift for my mom. (knitting towards a deadline. never again. i said. right now i'm doing it again. stay tuned, more knitting soon, tari, your guess was absolutely correct and also I'll get around to the meme one of the days..;)))

details:

yarn: 1 strand of alpakka, (shade 7238) and 1 split strand of cotton viscose, (shade 10, I believe - some sort of forest green)

needles: 5 mm addi turbo circular

pattern source: yes, this one!

On we go to more midnight shots:

Midnight shot no. 2: HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I:

Midnight shot no. 3, HAPPY NEW YEAR II:

A very happy new year to everyone who peeks into my little space on the web!

(I took the photos right after midnight in this beautiful town where I do not live but am lucky to visit often!)

 -inbetween christmas and new year - filled with good food, wine, candles and - of course - a little knitting. Here is a riddle: "Splendid thread moving again but not towards it's assumed destined form. Fall provided pattern with a slight (obvious!) greek touch." 100 points to those who guess what I frogged and what is now on my needles... There will of course be pictures in a couple of days or so...

Eloise's back grew a little:

The knitting with this blossom yarn is a bit strenous because I really must pay attention and tighten each stitch well in order to keep the right tension. The yarn is very "bumpy" and if a bump blocks the tightening, the tension gets way too lose. But when I only pay attention it turns out great, I love the fabric it makes!

A week or so before christmas I got a mail  from our local library saying that I could come and pick up a book I put in a request for two or three months ago! I had almost forgotten about the whole thing - so I was surprised and happy finally being able to hold and open this knitting treasure:

I have to return it in a couple of weeks but now I know for sure that this book is on top of my knit-book-wish-list! So many great patterns - and more than that - explanations and beautiful photos showing different techniques that could be used making own designs. I think what I love the most about MI's designs is the way she combines different stitches to create uniqe textures. Like this:

 this and this and...

It's so quiet now. The children are sleeping and extremely ready for tomorrow - 24th - christmas eve, which is the celebration day in Norway. Clapotis was sent off yesterday . and believe it or not my mom received it today! I knit until 1.30 am the other night and thought I wouldn't get it on it's way in time.... I have some really bad midnight flash photos to show. Later. Now it is quiet, it's christmas and time to say:

GOD JUL - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's hard to be a nissemann. (Nissemann= the norwegian santa. "It's hard to be a nissemann" was also the title of a very funny song in a christmas-calendar- comic- show on norwegian TV some years ago. Listen to it!). Yes, it is indeed hard to be a nissemann- especially when it comes to knitting presents. I sort of lost courage and time being sick, so I decided after all to only make this one - the green clapotis for my mom:

The name of this scarf/shawl is indeed very describing, clapotis = french for "little waves":

 It's slowly growing and with a little luck and extra effort I might even get it done in time to send it off before christmas!

All christmas-preparations have been on hold for the last week or so, we've all been sick! Finally it starts looking and smelling a little like christmas around this house. A round. House.

Ms. Fiberspace in the prosess of making gingerbread. House, a round one that is, on demand. You get what you ask for.

Yes, it's not perfect and we love it!

 And Serinakaker. I love these simple but gooood butter-vanilla-almond- christmas cookies:

 I guess it's not so hard to be a nissemann after all...yumyumyum and then let's do the "stoveldance"....

It's winter. It's cold, it's dark. Sick child, for the time being only one, fingers crossed. Sick me too. I need some knitting to warm, soften and color my day. A dive into my stash. What could be better than this:



It's soft, it's warm, it's fluffy and it's colorful. It's delicious. It's Noro Blossom. Almost one year ago I decided I wanted to knit this. I ordered the yarn from here, they seemed to have a very good deal. It turned out that they had problems getting the yarn in from their supplier. So I waited. For 9 months to be exact. I've waited 9 months for great things before - (yes - even greater than yarn!) - so no problem - there was even no sickness nor extreme tiredness!  - Anyway - the long awaited fiber arrived this fall and it has been looking at me ever since - begging me to wind it and cast on. I think I have resisted long enough now, so here we are:



I love the little contrasting bumps:



Aren't we glad there are colors in this world?!

I finally got the last fringes on. It's not easy to get good photos these days with little daylight. The bulky-alpaca green is really more intense, but this is the best I got:



details:
yarn: 1 strand of fingering weight garnstudio's alpaca, dark olive, approx. 3 1/2 skeins, 50 g each, including the fringes, and 1 strand of 1-ply bulky alpaca (discontinued) from Du store alpakka, approx. 3 skeins, 50 g each. (60 m pr. skein)
needles: 10 mm circular
pattern source: Du store alpakka

Lots of things I like in the new issue. I want these! Right away! Just need to finish 20 other projects first. As if.

 A knitter's twist to advent:

Two candles will be lit later today. I might remove the yarn first. If I can bring myself to stop looking at it.
I was very lucky to be able to go to a beautiful city this last week. Among many other events I was able to visit this shop. Two rather small but tall rooms packed with Rowan yarns from floor to ceiling!  I was in yarn heaven! And a very nice lady selling them. I should have had an extra suitcase. I restrained myself to only buy yarn for this, which I have been wanting to knit for a long time. For those not familiar with the scandinavian yarn-market I must explain that just walking into a store full of Rowan goodies is only possible a very few places in this part of the world...

And then there was this:



This was from a different shop where they had this incredibly soft wool - Visjö - yarn. The colors are so vibrant and the yarn is as soft and non-scratchy as cotton! Unbelievable! I only got me one skein so I was happy to learn from their web-site that they sell yarn on-line... I'm thinking hats, gloves or maybe cla....

I just can't take my eyes off of you......

swedish, british treasures...sigh....

I have "some" alpaca yarn in my stash... And one girl who needed a new hat. She even wanted me to knit one! Give me a knitting mom who could resist that! I have knitting needles and I have one Sarah Dallas knitting book. So here we have one alpaca beret - finished the other day:

details:
yarn: 50 g of red thin alpaca from du store alpakka and a little bit of bright green
needles: 2,5 mm circ. for ribbing, 3 mm circ. for the rest
pattern source: sarah dallas; "knitting"
She is actually wearing it every day now!:

And there is more. New knitting.
I knew last winter when I knit two clapotis-es that these were not my last ones... I didn't realize how empty my knittinglife was without a clapotis on my needles before I split some yarn (garnstudio's cotton viscose, yes I split it lengthwise to get one thin strand to knit together with - well - yes of course - yet again the alpaca..) - and was ready to start Clapotis III:

Shhh - don't tell her, this is going to be a christmas present for my mom:...



No, she doesn't read my blog!