Meet Cowslip, the scarf. Ready for numerous walks into the garden, and eventually out into the big world...

details:

pattern: cowslip

yarn: noro shinano, shade #12, less than 4 skeins.

needles: 5 mm circular bamboo

modification: cast on 37 sts instead of 45 as I didn't have the 5 skeins pattern called for..

Incident while knitting this: my right elbow is not behaving...   aaarrrrggghhhh!!!

I love belated birthday gifts. They come as complete surprises - and bring happiness and joy when you least expect it! The terrible thing about this particular gift is that it comes from the only person I know with whom I share my birthday!! - and shame on me - I didn't yet send her somehting... But as the simple minded person I am - I am perfectly able to mostly focus on the fabulous things about this gift;

-its's simply heavenly, pure luxurious silk in a fantastic lilac shade - and look how wonderfully it blends in with the colors of the card and the teal-ish background! The sender knows her stuff and I am ever so grateful!!! This has to become something to wrap around my neck! T u s e n t a k k, s t r i k k e r!!

During some of the spare time I get when I am not petting my new silk, I am trying out this Trekking XLL Ombre sock yarn:

I love the way this yarn is spun - somewhat loosely which gives a slightly fuzzy touch - yet it seems very strong. This ombre line has such subtle and pleasant colorchanges, they really soothe my eyes!

My first try was the pastel which I was sure would look good as the Snicket socks. I also think I was right:

But. Simple as it looks I just couldn't find enough patience inside of me to continue with all this twisting and turning! It's a lovely pattern and I think the socks look fantastic but I can't do this now. Maybe in 10 years..

So for faster results and simpler socks - both for my knitting pleasure and the man's assumed minimalistic sock-taste, I picked up another shade...

...and this is growing fast enough for me! 

I don't speak sign language - so I really hope I'm not insulting anyone...

details:

yarn: noro shinano, shade # 12, less than 1 1/2 skeins.

pattern: urban rustic gloves

extremely fast and fun to knit - the grafting, however, takes some time! I highly recommend this very useful tutorial!!

needles: size 5 mm, circular. + the straight needles, stitch holders, tapestry needle and crochet hook - it's all described in the pattern!

I have some "left-over" yarn (ahem - I got myself 5 skeins - I thought my hands were that big...) so I need to put that yarn into a scarf, don't I?:

The pattern is Cowslip from Jane Ellison's "Naturally Noro".

Then there are the socks. And a "few" other WIPs... Hmmm. Wonder how my knitting goes when I get my hands full in a few weeks....

Do I need to say more?!:

I din't fall off the planet earth but I am really having a hard time finding some spare seconds for knitting and blogging these days... However - riding my bike to work the other day with bare hands just forced me to to clear the table and make room for this (well the room was made at home, not at work ;) ):

What could this little monster possibly resemble??

With excellent tutoring here I think I might very well be able to bring along a couple of gloves when we now most probably are entering a colder season...

The grafting actually works! It's wearable!!:

I must make another one. Now.

Three days, two squares - this could be looking good! We'll see what the next days (and weeks, and months...) bring....

Yes, yes, yes, the grey matter surrounding the yarn is indeed a FO! The cabeled bag turned out to be perfect as container for this mitered square blanket (well, at least the beginning of it!)

details:

yarn: topp t tå from Gjestal spinneri

needles: 5 mm circular

pattern: this here. (feel free to drop me a line if the language looks too peculiar...;-))

modifications: i made cabeled handles and attatced them in a slightly different spot.

The main drive to knit this in the first place was really to give it a go with this yarn. I was curious as to wether it could be usable for the lace leaf pullover or not. I made a swatch and it looked quite fine - but maybe a bit too loose and airy. I remembered I had some left-over Eskimo somewhere, I found it and made another swatch. Even though the yardage/weight is very similar in these two yarns the swatches turned out very different - by far in favour of the Eskimo.

Two pieces are working their ways toward the final grafting...

And now I have to work my way over to the couch for some serious knitting and compatible activity...

And finally, the thank you part - gee - it's good to finally have it in writing!!:

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts any strange habits you may have. What color green are you?

Let me present the lamest excuse ever for not finishing my WIPs.

I have at least 2 things lined up, knitting done. BUT I HAVE NO SEWING NEEDLE! Don't look at me. I blame it on the needle-eating monster in this house. It's lurking somewhere in the dark. I know it. Monsters scare me so instead of trying to hunt it down I went shopping. So from today on I no longer have an excuse. That is, if the monster doesn't strike again.....

And I went more shopping, at amazon last week. I thought I could use a treat. For my birthday. Tomorrow. Arriving just in time:

I am instantly and absolutely enamoured with all these books. There are several things I want to make - and some things I HAVE to make, like the cover sweater of Yarnplay. The Mason*Dixon is even a lot more than I expected - I love the projects, I love the layout, I love the whole book, I love all three of them!!

Many years ago I took a quilting-course. I had the ambition of making a BIG bedspread. Some day. But the sewing machine and me, - my neck to be more specific, turned out to be far from good friends. I just couldn't handle it. So I gave up on the whole idea - until now - finding the mitered square blanket in the Mason*Dixon book:

There will be a bedspread. Eventually.

One square pr. month: in 6 1/2 years.

One square pr. week: in 1 1/2 years.

One square pr. day (definitely not!): in 11 1/2 weeks. (Or: in my dreams!)

Isn't  it just lovely?

I am making leaves. The pink ones are embossed (the english language file in my brain is still working on that one) - and the muted plum is a lace one:

I am absolutely enjoying them and not at all stressed about the fact that my WIP-number is now well into the 2-digits. But in the name of decency - I'll try to behave from now on. I promise to stop at least before I reach the 3-digit sphere. (Wonder btw what it might look like up there.....hm)  

The pink sock (saying socks might just be too optimistic at this point...) is for my sister. Maybe I should try to let this one pass as pinky's mate:

Anatomically speaking it might be evident that we are looking at the medial side of the foot with the toes way down there. Strange? Yes, very strange. Too strange. This happens to be the back of my leg with the heel way down there. The reason I know that for sure is because I remember very well my obscure posture while shooting it right there at the big window. I hope our neighbors are not in.

From the front:

No, it fits me perfectly and I want it for myself, little sister, so you'll get your two pink ones. Eventually. Sheesh - sisters are demanding, aren't they?

So. Where was I. Yes. On Iceland.

A loooong way back I tried in a very correct and friendly way to order a book. From Iceland. I had some correspondance in english with someone there - they even put the book aside for me! To make a long long and boring story very short; - it was a dead end. They just didn't manage to send it to me.

So what is this, then? Here right outside my door?:

Very good friends of very good friends are indeed very good friends. My friend B. in Bergen has a lovely friend who had this book lying around somewhere hidden after moving - she had not missed it for six months so she let me borrow it! Hurray!!! I won't see her until around new years eve so I have plenty of time to look and drool and maybe study some icelandic... She also happened to have some real icelandic einband - 1-ply - that she plain out gave to me - I was speechless! Thank you, thank you!! I think there is at least a 2-digits number of shawls I want to make now!

The good thing about shawls however - they are great as singles! No demand for pairs!!

Here is another try at capturing the red:

I really got carried away last night and did too many cables, meaning the cable theme here in the back got totally decentered. First i thought "nah, cables in the middle, cables on the side, who cares". So I knit on, while I knew I had to rip, of course. Too stupid a mistake, and after all I only had to rip 8 cm. No big deal as knitting this heavenly yarn is not too bad. I might have mentioned that in my last post.

Getting carried away with cables also includes this little experiment:

I just had to test this incredibly reasonable superwash wool. I am having the Lace leaf pullover in mind. Maybe. The wool turns out to be incredibly wonderful, everything considered. Non felting, non piling, very soft. Of course it is not much of a test because the gauges for this here project and the Lace leaf are entirely different. But doing a little swatch for the Lace leaf made it clear the yarn is perfect for that. Nuh-nooo, not to worry! I am not casting on for yet another project. I wouldn't even consider such a thing! At least not this afternoon.

The heathered plum Karen Noe shetland wool from a couple of posts ago has aslo been put to use;

Cables are fun. Wonder if this pattern wouldn't be very easy to adapt into a sock-pattern!? Now let's see, where did I put that lovely green sock yarn......

Is it summer? Is it fall? Will there be a winter when we have to do something to keep the house warm? It's the middle of september and we have more than 20 degrees celcius. In Norway. Well at least here in the south-western part. It's wonderful, it's great - but also scary to think it might very well be the result of global heating. And it's confusing; "emmm...Summer, I would like to introduce you to Fall, and Fall, meet Summer....hey wait... you're not supposed to be present at the same time...or?"

Norweagian wood meets summerflowers:

Well, the wood turned out to be lithuanian, not norwegian after all - but it seems to be really good, dry, singing quality wood. So I feel confused. I should be enjoying this fantastic weather, but instead I find myself dreaming of dark and cold fall weather, a lit fire and maybe I tiny bit of knitting... And when winter comes I long for silent, sunny warm indian summer days like this. Here. Today.

Anyway. I had another trip to Bergen last weekend. Of course to visit my dear friend B. and to finally get my hands on something she kindly bought for me at Pinnsvin design som while ago. And with Kris being out in space for the time being, I also consider this some sort of a consolation prize to keep me from crying as I didn't get to meet her this time.

Cashmere is really comforting somtimes...

It's devinely soft and wonderfully red, but red behaves strange in front of the camera so it's hard to catch the real color. The process of knitting with this king or queen of fibers is soothing, it's therapy, it's everything you need in order to gather your thoughts and senses inbetween the daily ordeals and events. I don't care when I finally get to finish this sweater - the knitting itself is good enough for me. Hah! - of course I can't wait to throw this sweater over my head! But it is some sort of a "can't have your cake and eat it" kind of situation...

Yes, this sweater:

from the latest Vogue Knitting. I am enjoying the back:

Red is really hard to catch, it is a bit darker/not as orange in reality. This is a toss-everything-else-aside-for-a-while kind of project.

It's addictive - and above all - cashmere is not stash-yarn!

I need some gloves.

I have some great patterns, and I have some lovely yarn:

I need them - and I want them - and I sure want to knit them! Isn't  that what knitting is mostly about?!

I also finished one of the stockings. This is a very strange heel. I blame the pattern for the shape (but it fits!). The pink, however...I take the blame for that...

Naah - it's not that bad is it?