A little knitting is still going on, but my mind is getting more and more set on this:



I have to get packed, we're leaving tomorow, going by car - and will be down there on saturday. I can't say how much I'm longing for sun and summer! That's what we're going to get there, I hope? Among other things.

So - leaving for a long trip means I also have to get my knitting right. Of course I have to bring some knitting - there's always time for a few stitches. (A few?! Birch has more than 30.000 stitches!!!)
I was planning to bring my new light-weight project - Birch which I got on the needles last friday, using the Suri Elegance:

Wonderful yarn. Really. And absolutely lovely, dangerously addictive pattern. I love both of them - the yarn and
the pattern. No doubt.
BUT.

But I had this nagging feeling all since cast-on that I kept supressing. A feeling of not-so-good-a-friendship. Between yarn and pattern. Now I see it clearly: This gorgeous yarn is not bringing out the best of an already great pattern, Birch. And Birch is not doing wonders for the Suri.
That's just how life is some times! I think most definitely that this Birch is rip-ready. I think however I will let her rest until I am back from vacation. But I am not getting over Birch - and if I can get my hands on some Kidsilk Haze before leaving - Birch will after all be a vacation project. We'll see.

I will for sure bring another light-weight project, the wrap-cardigan from Jytte Slente's "Design-strik":



The body is knitted sideways and I am now somewhere around right after the second armhole. The fabric turns out so soft and shiny - the camera didn't quite capture the sheen. Indeed very much, if not identical to the Kidsilk Haze. It seems like I will get at least two skeins leftover - and when I think about it now - I might very well make my mom a smaller version of Birch from these leftovers. When she spotted this knitting she jumped all over it because of the yarn and the color. I might very well.

The "Tie one on" is done. Also a great pattern - but the FO turned out a bit "green" - in a bit wrong way. Green is my favorite color. But this was my first hand-dyed yarn - see my posts in May - and something of an experiment. I'll keep it as a curiosity. For now, all I have to show is a close-up:

And take a look at this one!:



My oldest daughter, 10, made it at school! Isn't it just the cutest little Kitty! We had a few hours of summer today - and Kitty got all exited and wanted out - into the summer - just like the rest of us! Look at her:



I wish everyone a wonderful summer - I'll be back in 3 1/2 - 4 weeks!

My little wonder made of a little more than one skein is done! I didn't have quite enough of the Lion and Lamb leftover from Clapotis so I added a little lilac Muskat on the sleeve edgings and a little lilac Muskat and lilac alpaca ("du store alpakka") at the body edging. One arm, close up:



This is really a great pattern! The seed stitch at the sleeve edge adds such a nice effect and was ideal for blending in another yarn. I already want to make another one with long sleeves! So if summer shows up soon - I'm ready to go!:









In fact it's warmer today and not raining - hurrah!! And here is someting else that cheered me up, arriving in the mail yesterday:



I really like all of these books - especially the "Loop-d-loop" by Teva Durham, go take a look at her loop-d-loop site! I sure have some ideas now for my fall-winter knitting. But later. Did I mention I long for s u m m e r  ??!

details:

yarn: lorna's laces lion&lamb, watercolor, a bit less than 100 g (leftover from Clapotis), a little bit of muskat  and a little bit of thin alpaca from du store alpakka. The last two used for the edgings as there was not enough of the l&l
needles: 5 mm and 3,5 mm, circular
pattern source: glampyre knits
model: one skein wonder

This blog is about my recent and future projects. I will not display all those made in the past - unless they are directly connected to something I am making now. (a-hem -don't look at my early entries - thi-hi). Like my second Clapotis I made earlier this year:



The yarn I used was Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb, watercolor, and having used a little more than 3 skeins I had this leftover:



So when I came across this one several times the last few days I knew that this was what the little bundle was destined for, not yet another scarf, shawl or something winterly. So here I am, yet another project - but this is a real quickie!:



It seems I will not have quite enough of the LL to make the edgings and all, so I might use the yarn in the background for that. Take a look at these two great "one skein wonders" - a pink one, and a green one. It's almost a pity that it's such a quick knit - because knitting LL on bamboo needles - it's pure luxurious therapy!

My silk summer top is truly a slooow knit! So many stitches and I am still only on the first skein! Just like slow food I expect it to be worth waiting for! This is how far I've gotten:

I really like the way SILKE knits up:



There doesn't seem to be much reason to hurry getting it done. The weather here is very unstable and mostly cold -cold, 10 degrees C colder than it should be this time of the year. So I will stick by the fire place with my knitting....it's really nearly that bad. But vacation is ahead and in two weeks this is where we'll be! So I guess I should hurry a bit after all!

Some posts ago I declared my affection for this. It arrived in the mail the other day and it's really an amazing yarn! My feelings did only grow bigger meeting this darling in person, here she is:



It's a wonderfully soft, thin, thin lace weight yarn, 100 g and 800 meters! It's 100 % alpaca; Suri Elegance. Almost as thin as Kidsilk Haze and I hope to turn her into something really lacy like this one. It's funny - because the pattern is described as "knitting from across the pond" - (because it's based upon an old pattern from Shetland - being across the pond from the writer, I suppose) To me, too, this will indeed be a wonderful knitting from across the pond - using this little american beauty. I am still keeping her in sight touching her every now and then as I pass. Nevermind husband's rolling eyes :)

The weather is sunny and looks nice from inside the house. But it's freezing cold here! Anyhow - I want summer! - and that goes for my knitting as well. I want summer knits and summer colors. Once having finished Asrai I had to consider which one of my ongoing projects I should jump to now. But as you will see below - I chose the easiest way - to start something new! First of all, something I really want to try soon is another dyeing adventure. Using what, this time? Do I have to say more, look at this:



A lovely, fellow norwegian blogger, Nobo, wanted to give me these - and yesterday they arrived in the mail! That is so kind of you, Nobo, tusen takk! I appreciate that a lot! A little surprise is on it's way to you now!
I'm really looking foreward to trying this magical american wool-dye! Which by the way someone even uses for drinks! :)

I have been knitting a little more of  tie one on:




It's not very far from done now!

But as I hinted - I want more summer knitting after finishing Asrai. So - yesterday I got me this yarn:

Actually 4 of them. It's 100 % silk from Garnstudio, really nice, thin, summery yarn, 200 meters pr. 50 g. Yes, it's black - or rather "off-black" in a very nice way without really being charcoal. But not exactely the number 1 summer color - so I'll add a little pink:



My new summer pants! and embroidery yarn to make some finish or another when the knitwear is done. This embroidery yarn comes in ANY color so it's possible to find the exact match to whatever desired. What am I making? I had to bring out this wonderful book again:



Which looks like this on the front cover, and from which I recently knitted this:



It's knitted with Noro Kochoran, it's beyond-belief soft and warm. I love this vest (Gesta) and have used it a lot. So why not use the pattern again? I made a swatch of the SILKE to see how some different stitch combinations would look:



From the bottom it's: 2x6 rib, 2x2 rib, 1x5 rib, garter st. and then what we call "patentknit" in norwegian, I believe it's called fisherman's rib in english, someone please correct me if I'm wrong! The patent is great for scarves I think, but did not do what I wanted for this yarn. I was in no doubt, - I liked the 2x6 rib most. And that's great - because that is how Gesta is knitted! But of course with SILKE and 2.5 mm needles the gauge is entirely different. After measuring and calculating I think I got the right number of stitches, casted on and knitted a bit as shown in the pink picture above. It's a fabulous yarn to knit with - so firm and yet so delicate. I think and hope that Gesta will also do well as a sleeveless summer top!

I almost made it to my deadline - I wanted Asrai finished by the end of May. It could have happened. I had all the pieces knitted and ready for seaming early this week. Then I - again - measured the sleeves -pinned them to the body and tryed on. The sleeves were too short. No matter how I looked at it. Too short. So I had to rip both sleeves'  tops, add another 2-3 cm and shape the tops again. I seem to have aquired this fear about knitting too long sleeves, so I end up knitting them too short, did it on my last sweater, too. Anyhow, here she is done, done, done!:



I didn't do the hood, but picked up the stitches around the neckline as for the hood and knit a 2x2 rib collar, straight up:

Asrai was really a fun and easy knit - although the pattern looks a bit frightening, covering 4 pages. But it's so accurate - the instructions are very clear and detailed - and following them closely I had no problems - everything happened just the way it was supposed to! - except for the sleeves - but that was my own fault - my own fear of making them to long. The sweater is so comfortable to wear directly to the skin - being cotton/rayon. And it's actually quite warm, too - which is ok because summer has really not hit our country yet - hope it will, soon! 

Speaking of summer, my husband spotted this:

and said, laughing: What's this? The beginning of a bikini?? No it's not! It's the beginning of my daughters shawl, the one made from the yarn we dyed. She knit a few stitches herself, but I also helped her a bit. She got quite impatient trying to do the increases. So I guess this one is going to be a cooperation!

details:

yarn: Colinette Giotto, colorway Frangipani, 100g, 5 1/2 skeins, size medium
needles: 5mm, circular
pattern source: "Akashya" , Colinette
model: Asrai
modifications: left out the holes in  front and on the sleeves, substituted with purl st., also omited the hood, and made a collar straight up for about 12 cm, 2 by 2 rib

Some very majestetic animals were on the news today. They live in the wilderness -up in the mountains far away from people. The reason for being on the news is that they have invaded some areas in eastern Norway, -were people travel by car and by train.They are in danger of being hit by trains in their attempt of finding food. Evidently there is too much snow up in the mountains. And people travelling by car create dangerous situations both on the road by stopping randomly once having spotted an ox or several - and also for themselves by walking too close to the animals. THEY ARE DANGEROUS! But impressive and beautiful. Take a look.

My first thought was - I hope these animals somehow will find the way back to their habitat without too much harm done to them. My second thought - (and I have to admit that this one came into my head extremely rapidly after the first one! ) - GREAT FIBER!!!! So I started speculating - would that wool of theirs be spinable, knitable, wearable, useable?? I did not invent the wheel. I was also not the first person thinking, wondering about this. For those who read norwegian - take a look here.  I am indeed ignorant. I didn't know this: This wool is absolutely usable. It's more than that. According to this web site, it's considered THE most exclusive animal fiber on earth. 8 times as warm as sheep wool. Softer than cashmere. Doesn't felt, doesn't shrink. But - how to shave a musk ox?!! No, that is of course not done - and would - it goes without saying - be impossible without the animal being dead or heavily sedated. And these are wild animals - to steal their wool would be cruel. No - the wool are sheddings - gathered from stones and bushes where the animal has walked. So it's not cheap. According to the page linked above 2 oz of ready spinned yarn (how many grams would that be? 50 ?) cost 80 USD. So I guess the musk ox could be cosidered KING OF FIBER!

After a little more searching  I found the Qiviut -page, in english. Maybe well-known to fiber-freaks around the world- but new to me! If I am to go on a mountain trip in the musk ox area of Norway I know for sure what to look for in the bushes and on the ground! Not to mention behind my back! Help. RUN!

There is not much to tell about my knitting today, I'm afraid. Asrai's second sleeve is growing -but a bit slowly.  I'll have pictures in a couple of days, when I (hopefully) have started the seaming. I DID get to dye the third skein. It turned out much more yellow than I intended -but I guess yellow is ok! Here it is:



It will have to wait a while until it gets knitted, though. Wonder into what....

No. I was not going to start another knitting project. There are so many I need to finish first! But my very first handpainted skein had to be wound up and started on it's way to something or another. It said so. So what could I do but obey? I wonder if it's going to be happy when transformed into this?
Before I wound it up I washed it again to see how much bleeding of color I would get. There was none! The color was indeed fixated on the yarn. So here it is all wound up:



And knitted some rows:





I did not forget Asrai. First sleeve is done and the second one is growing. Whithin a couple of days it should be ready for seaming and knitting of a collar OR the hood - depending on wether I have enough yarn or not. Time will show.





I really like how the Giotto looks when knitted up:



So I think I have a little knitting to do! And I am also trying to find some time to turn a white skein of wool into an orange/pink/yellow/red skein of wool. With a little help from my new friend KONDITORFARGE, of course!