Last year some happiness arrived in my mailbox.. I was hoping the yarn would be perfect for another lace odyssey. There is no other way to find out but to swatch!

On 2 mm needles:

I de-oiledand blocked the swatch. The yarn is not only perfect for this. It was born for this project. The heathery green ("highland glen") - the lightness - the softness - it's truly magickal! My measurements tell me that it will make a slightly smaller shawl than the one shown in agol - but that is fine with me.

I just needed to get started..

So I will let it rest for a while, dedicating my stitch-time to Rosebud..

I love this time of the year. It's the time of freshness, of growing and of expectations.

Knittingwise this air, this lightness and burst of nature whisper lace and leave my mind open to be inspired by fantastic knitters like this - and this - and this.

For a long time I have been wanting to knit a Shetland style shawl - a real one  - using the "real stuff" - the thinnest 1-ply Shetland cobweb yarn. The online place to go is of course this one. Last year I got me a copy of the Heirloom Knitting book and I find myself lost inside of it over and over. What a great place to escape to when every-day chores get too many! I am really so impressed by Sharon Miller's work, the gathering and categorizing of old lace patterns and making them available to knitters of today. 

I have had my eyes on one of the projects from her site for quite some time. It's lace knitting -meaning every other row is plain knitting as opposed to knitted lace where every single row is knitted in pattern. I'll have to make this a summertime daylight project - beacause I settled on  - black! But in good daylight it is really working quite well.

It might take a couple of summers... This is my progress so far - about 12 cm of the center panel:

I am so impressed with this yarn. It is sooo thin but yet posesses an incredible bounce and life. Knitted up it is even more bouncy and spongy - really very fascinating. I can indeed imagine that it will block ectremely well. Some day...

About the TDCLB (hah! - google put me first!..) - I did eventually reach the armpit of despair... Went perfectly fine, actually!:

Then finally, the mindless stuff inbetween lace:

What might this be?!

Today's post is totally not fiber related. No wait. Flags are made of fiber.

Yesterday was Norway's constitution day. As a child - as most children - I loved that day. Beyond all other days in the year. How could you not - the world looks completely different on this day - there are flags, flowers, music, smiling faces, gorgeous costumes and unlimited amounts of ice-cream, cakes, sodas and sweets. And of course - the most important - the parades, first and foremost the children's parade. The day is exceptional - totally different from every other day in the year.

So where is this day of joy heading?

Hopefully moving ahead as a day to celebrate freedom, peace, democracy and children. All children. And let the children carry any flag they want - with dignity and pride. Together:

In my opinion allowing only one flag in this celebration is - at it's best - ignorant. At it's worst it is excluding and nationalistic. I'm glad to live in a town that - seemingly, hopefully moves foreward.

It's the constitution we celebrate. A constitution that is based on democratic values. Let's keep it that way.

And prepare a party and then eagerly wait for the guests..

And then, the day after...

cleaning up, restitution and contemplation.

Believe it or not. I finally solved the mystery. How to finish a knitting project. One out of too many...

Ok. To start with, make sure you have a big family event coming up.

Then, decide to do all the cooking yourself...

(And remember to clean the house and get some flowers...)

While you're at it - remember your knitting. Make sure to gather anything in your living area that could be associated with knitting - that is your WIPs of course, but also your needles, your books, your magazines, your winding equipment and your stitch markers. Put it somewhere totally out of sight. Everything. In bags, boxes. Far away. In the attic.

The evening before..almost ready..

Then welcome all guests in this unfamiliar, wonderfully clean and knit-free atmosphere. Enjoy the party, and afterwards - the post-party leftover feasts. Feel exhausted and content. Then - during the next few days - slowly - slowly start to feel a growing restlessness in your fingers and faintly remember something you used to do. Before.

Then, one evening when everyone else is asleep - find yourself tip-toeing up in the attic. Let yourself be astonished by everything you gathered there many days ago. Breathe. Remember to breathe. Then - allow yourself to pick one - only one - tiny, light and very tempting knit. Bring it downstairs and put it discretely on a shelf or table. In a corner. Behind some books. Whatever. During the following days you are allowed to put in stitches on this one and only project. Continue. Continue. And there. There. Finally.

Icarus. Unblocked.

Icarus. Blocked. Spreading it's wings...

details:

pattern: icarus shawl, interweave knits summer 2006

yarn: a 2-ply silk80/cashmere20 blend that I got from here. (can't find it there anymore..) I used considerably less than the 100 g /1200 m cone - I would guess around 60 - 70 g of it.

needles: 3 mm circular

result of knitting this: I find myself totally obsessed with lace now.....

There has been only lace going on this last week.

The Teva Durham cashmere lace blouse is s-l-o-w-l-y growing...

And then there is the Icarus shawl from IK last summer - which I don't think I even blogged about before. I started it last fall - but put it aside when I discovered a minor mistake I'd made, plus I decided the gauge was too tight on 2,5 mm needles. I have been thinking about it ever since because I think it is a fantastic pattern and the yarn I have for it is heavenly. It's a 2-ply silk(80)/cashmere(20) blend, 1200 meters on a 100 g cone that I got from here. Unfortunatly it doesn't seem to be available  anymore. The fabric it makes is unbelievably light and soft.

So I ripped my beginning the other night and started over, this time on 3 mm needles:

Perfect tension. Lovely fiber. And now spring is here!!

I'm not quite sure what did it. Maybe the spring, maybe the easter. For some reason I think of fair isle knitting when I think of easter. The reason why I connect this in my mind is probably quite obvious. All of my childhood easters were spent in my mother's family cottage in the mountains and fair isle sweaters were the uniform those days. Last summer I went back to the cottage for the first time in 12 years and there it was:

My grandmother knit this fanakofte for my grandfather probably 60 or 70 years ago. For all the years I can remember it was part of the cottage inventory and the garment of choice for any brave soul struggeling outside in the morning to fetch wood or water. Along with my grandfather's old over-the-knees boots:

I was thrilled to see that they were still there - almost untouched by time and bringing back a lot of good memories of times spent together. My grandfather passed away 26 years ago, he died from cancer. My grandmother lived 11 years longer than him but unfortunately we lost her to Alzheimer's some years before she died. When I think of them however, it's the fun, the singing, the laughter, the good stories, the lovely cakes and cooking that come to my mind. And the time my grandmother by accident threw my paper-wrapped firecrackers into the wood-stove. My goodness, she screamed - we all screamed!!

In addition to this easter/old-times inspiration I also have a considerable amount (would you believe that!?) of fantastic back-to basics 2 - and 3-ply (mostly 2-ply from one of many visits to a museum wool factory close to my birth-town) 100 % wool perfect for fair isle. And a new book providing a just-small-enough fair isle project for my long-time-no-see-knitting (must have been 10 or 15 years since I did this!):

As soon as the cuff is done the rest should be easy!

And of course I am already planning a sweater...

Last but not least today: please notice the pleasant new header image - it's still the colinette shimmer 5 colorway "jay" up there - but older boy manipulated it a little for me! Thank you, S!

I wish I had the energy and the strength of a dragon. Maybe then I would be able to do six people's laundry, dishes, housework, + of course my own work and yet still be able to whip up some sweaters, some socks and maybe a bedspread or two on occasion. A bit quicker than I obviously am able to.

I am not complaining. Life has treated me so good and I am a very lucky person. And quite often also happy, I have to admit!  I just wish that the week had 8 days and that every day had 30 hours. Just a tiny addition to the present schedule in common use! Wouldn't that be great?!

While I'm waiting for that to happen I continue knitting. I find a lot of joy doing so. I find a lot of joy thinking about new projects, reading other blogs and getting inspired. Thinking about yarn makes the pairing of 100 socks a little bit more fun. Thinking about different kind of needles makes me forget how boring it is to empty the dishwasher. Aren't we positive today??!

And wearing a pair of dragon socks makes me run even faster!

That's the coolest toe I've ever knit!

details:

pattern: Here there Be Dragon Socks by The Keyboard Biologist

yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock nearly solid color "cedar", approx. 75 g. (this colorway doesn't seem to be available at "get knitted" anymore, but is still to be found on LL's own pages:

It's such a lovely golden/olivey green, slightly, beautifully variegated..)

needles: 5 dpns, 2,25 mm

modification of pattern:

omitted the short row heel and did a heel flap with garter st. edges as seen in "embossed leaves socks" ! Best heel ever!!

OK. I am getting lost in a pair of socks. House cleaning - come and save me!

Jac and Kris. Thank you both so much for constantly reminding me of the incredible Teva Durham cashmere lace blouse:

I did in fact make a little progress last summer and fall but then I put it away because I defined it as "summer-season-related"  and motivation was low during the dark months... Somehow I picture this as a summer sweater, and I am sure that our summer climate will not forbid me using sweaters this year either.. That is, when I am not gone on vacation. I mean, it might be warmer there. I sure hope so.

Anyway, this is how it looks so far..

I haven't got the faintest idea if it will fit me or not because the gauge changes everytime I measure. Plus, it might shrink or "tighten" a bit after the oil-removing laundry prosess. If I somehow end up with a sweather that - technically speaking - fits, - I still don't know at all if this shape will make me elegant or hilarious-looking... I cannot, at this stage rule out any possibilities... All I need is knit - and I shall see!

I'm doing a bit of Evergreen too...This is for sure the biggest and heaviest back I've ever made!:

And here is what I'm up to when I get too much of greyish knit:

I measured, and it's 2 meters wide. I guess I've done...20 cm now and still have at least 180 to go. But that's good - because in my head I have lined up enough stripe-combinations to cover a runway...

Here are some. And here are some more:

Finally a decent looking heel-flap - the garter edge made the picking-up of stitches so neat and even. I think I will not ever knit a heel-flap again without garter st. edges:

details:

yarn: Pink Sisu from Sandnes Garn less than 100 g.

needles: 2,5 mm bamboo dpns

pattern:Embossed leaves socks, IK Winter 2005

So, technically, according to my newyear's resolution I need one more thing finished before I get to start another project...So I decided to "finish" this blanket. The squares (ahem - the 2 1/2 of them) were fun and quick to knit - but the dawning truth about the unspeakable amount of ends that in the end would need weaving-in totally had me. The project is dead. Finished.

Then why not start something totally new! The word "crochet" crossed my mind. I hardly ever did that. A wise person would probably settle for a wash-cloth, a potholder or something else easily finish-able. And by no means a whole bedspread - more than 2 m wide. This is very much inspired by Liselotte's fantastic blanket-in-progress. What am I doing. It's fun:

So far I din't break my rules. I think. But then this just landed in my mail box. I swear I was going to wait - but somehow this happened:

Sorry! It must have been me!

Because this one was actually done in 06 - I still have 2 more things to finish before I cast on something new... I finally had to find a substitute model for these shots because the man is too hard to catch during daylight time...

It's even softer than it looks..

details:

yarn: pinnsvin 100 % cashmere 4-ply, one skein black and one skein brown

pattern: my own very advanced one: cast on 300 st. and knit back and forth, alternating colors every 2. row until there is no yarn left...

needles: 4 mm circular.

And then just one little thing - to crochet is not to knit. (My 3:1 rule only applies for knitting. He-he...)