Knitting on the edge

I like to knit dangerously, this means amongst other things that I sometimes start projects without being sure if I have enough yarn to finish them.

I came very close to disaster this week when I knit the Baby Sweater on Two Needles from Knitter's Almanac. When all knitting was done and the buttons sewed on I only had a tiny, tiny bit left.

I have always wanted to make this sweater but I have found it to be a bit wide especially the sleeves. So when I took into account that I would probably not have enough yarn I fudged a bit. I omitted the second pattern repeat increase on the sleeves and body. I like the outcome and it suited the yarn Emily from Posh Yarn and needles #4.5 fine. I even found buttons in my button jar for the sweater.


I am also knitting on the Garden Party shawl and I finished with the body of the shawl and now I have to knit the edging. This shawl is a fun knit and I highly recommend it since it's constructed a lot differently than most shawls. I have been trying out some things whit the start of the border but have not decided on the final solution.

The perfect pattern

has been found for the psychedelic carpet yarn, if this is not a match made in heaven I don't know what is!

The only downside to this beauty is that I don't imagine that it is good for sunbathing since the mesh pattern would give you a very interesting tan to say the least.

For those of you that wish to buy this pattern I am sad to inform you that it is sold out since it was published in Carina a German magazine in 1986.

It might also need some adjustments since it is clearly not geared towards today's fake silicon boobs, but it will certainly showcase any naval piercing the wearer might have.

That said, I have finished the socks from last posting and I have also finished the Baby Sweater on Two Needles from Knitter's Almanac.
So now I can really get the Garden Party shawl going, but as I seam to have a very short attention span something else might take my fancy so stay tuned for the next installment of awful yarns and obscure patterns.

Finally....

I have green thumb's, courtesy of the sock yarn I am currently knitting. I wonder if this will make my two remaining plants feel better since I usually possess what can only be described as the "black fingers of death" when it comes to them.

This yarn is a commercially dyed sockyarn that is designed to stripe in alternate colors of greens, blues and yellow and they must use some heavy duty dyes since I can't get it off my hands with anything. I think I will just keep on knitting until I finish the pair since I don't want this to rub of onto my other knitting.

On the never ending stash logging into Ravelry front, I am pleased to say that I only have two more boxes to go. Along the way I have discovered some really strange yarn in my stash and this is a fine example

I have been wondering what sort of drugs the designer was on when he made it, but hey they must have been pretty good :-)
I am not kidding when I say that the colors and texture of this yarn has lead my to the conclusion that somewhere there was a huge stockpile of psychedelic 70' shag carpets and someone had the great idea to cut it into tiny strings and market it as novelty yarn.

Edited for obvious reasons:
After realizing that the yarn above could put my sanity into question since I bought it, I can only say in my defence that it was in a online sale that just said xx$ for xx amount of yarn on cones.

Knitters and Cats

Since joining Ravelry I have discovered that lots of knitters have cats, why that is I have no idea, I guess furry purring things appeal to knitters.
Since I have the lofty aspirations to become one of those old lady's that were strange outfits and live in a house full of yarn and cats when I grow up I can totally understand this.

Lots of us have our cats as avatars and I love to see them, but when it became my turn to choose an avatar the choice was simple. I had to choose between my ugly mutt and the Cat and of course the Cat is a lot more photogenic than I am, even my mom says so!

But anyway me and the Cat had a photo beauty contest and the Cat won hands down, especially since his highness usually can be found draped over some of my luxury yarns, like the Mongolian Cashmere and the Silks and Merino lace yarn etc. Somehow I don't think that a picture of me draping myself over a large amount of pure cashmere would beat that, it would probably scare off small children and we don't want that do we.

The only problem with knitting and a Cat is that all my knitting includes cat hair, there is no way around it, it just sneaks into whatever I am knitting. So for the "lucky" recipients of my finished objects please note that they are both knitted with love AND cat hair.

That said I have been spending a lot of time on Ravelry and I have been sucked into reading threads that I could not have imagined that I would be interested in, like the dreaded Copyright issue. Someone would say that this would be a very intellectual debate with lots of legal stuff and boring as hell but it is sooo much more. This is usually the treads where some heavy duty mud slinging takes place, it only takes one member to say something like "if the pattern is out of print I see no harm in copying it for a friend" and off we go, everybody and their brother on their high horses.

Personally I like to buy my patterns and I know a lot about the does and dont's of copyrights but I can also understand that not all people have this knowledge and I am not personally offended if someone is clueless about it, but that just me.

I also spend a good amount of my Ravelry time looking at other peoples projects and some days I just want to hide my needles and yarn I feel so unworthy when looking at all those amazing things knitters have made. But usually I just make a resolution to be a better knitter, someday.....

Baby Knitting

I knitted two of those sets and love the yarn, it is Mulligatawny from the Yarn Chef and since the colors of the yarn did all the talking I chose a pattern that would highlight the yarn without taking it over. The sweater pattern is the Seamless Yoked Baby Cardigan from Knitting on The Net and its a free pattern by Carole Barenys

Next up is a Girls sweater in the same yarn but different pattern and color and I have somehow been sucked into join the Garden Party KAL on the Posh Knitters board on Ravelry, this shawl has a very intresting construction and will be fun to knit. I probably will knit it at a snails pace but thats ok by me.

I have also been knitting some socks and here are the lates ones.

Horrible winter

I am sick and tired of this horrible winter, I think I was born in the wrong country since I have always hated the dark winters and I am also not too fond of the bright summer nights either. I prefer to have as sharp definition of night and day as in most other countries.
I really can't say what the Vikings where thinking when they settled in this place, but then again there were probably not so many places for them to go to since they were evading taxes and authority of all kinds.

My knitting also suffers from the weather, I am not able to knit lace and it is really hard with all the projects that I have planned and the wonderful yarn I have for them. In the meantime I have been looking for material about Herbert Niebling but have not found much, I wish I could read German so I could do this properly so perhaps I should be studying that instead of grumbling about things that I can not change.

This said I can still knit socks and I have a few knitted up this year and baby clothes, I have some knitted up but lots more planned so that should keep me busy for some time. I am also trying to finish logging my stash on Ravelry, bad pictures and all and I have still a few boxes to do. No pictures this time around, since I can't remember where I put the sock trees but I will find them eventually.

P.S.
After writing this post I felt a lot better, wallowing in self pity is not something I recommend but sometimes it feels good to grumble and then move on to better things :-) on that note take a look at this amazing beauty, I bow to Fleegle and her knitting skills withs never fail to keep me interested in the world of lace and wonderful yarn.

The package is found

Since I last wrote complaining about my lost package, they seam to have found it. At least there was someone at the door on Thursday with the package. So here is what was in the package, two wonderful skeins of laceyarn from The Wollemeise

Pósturinn "Allur pakkinn"

Ranting mode on:
Here in Iceland the Post Office, Íslandspóstur has this slogan, Pósturinn, allur pakkinn, roughly translated it means the Post Office "All the package" supposedly meaning their very good service. I would like to offer them a new one, Pósturinn "where is the package?"
What happened is this, in October I ordered two skeins of lace yarn from the Wollemeise, one for a Mystery KAL that started late October and another one just to pet :-)
In late October there was no package and I had to use another yarn, I just figured out that there must have been some delay, this often happens with packages from Germany, since they send them more often than not by ground mail.
In November I was getting pretty tired of waiting and still no package, then I got an email from Claudia the Wollemeise asking if I had not wanted the yarn after all because she had just gotten it returned to her.
I told her that I had been waiting and that the Post Office had told me it had not arrived. She gave my the tracking number and armed with that I phoned the Post Office information desk, where I was promptly told that a package with this tracking number hand arrived and since they had not gotten any invoice for the goods they had returned it to sender after the required waiting period.
When asked who was the recipient they told me a name of a person that I have never heard of and was certainly not written on the package. The conclusion was that by some glitch the package had been entered into the computer system wrongly and they were really sorry.
I wrote to Claudia and told her what had happened and she was so kind to offer to send my the package again without me paying additional postage. This was on December 4th, on December 17th I received a request for invoice and send it right away, thinking that I would get the yarn the next day. Not so, after the package was processed for delivery on the 17th of December no one has seen it and it can't be found anywhere.
Now they have given up on looking for the package and are filing it as lost and if I am lucky I will get a dollar or two in compensation.
I wish I could change to another service but oh no, this is the only one here for regular mail so I am stuck with it, their service is going so fast downhill that you have to be on your toes to actually get your package delivered, six times this past two months the delivery people have not bothered to ring the bell and actually deliver the package but have put a notice in the mail box that nobody was at home, witch was not the case.
I would suggest that the overzealous marketing gurus would try to get familiar with the workings of the system they are peddling instead of coming up with empty slogans that promise everything and deliver little.

Ranting mode off:
on the knitting front I have finished clue #4 of the Spring shawl sureprice and it is looking very pretty, the photo is lousy as usual but this gives at least the general idea.

Progress Report and RSC 2008 here I come

Regarding my January goals I am managing slowly to work towards them, since they include a lot of lace this is no speed knitting so I am fairly happy about my progress so far. I have started and finished the clues that are up on Spring Shawl sureprice, I have started the Civil War Shawl and I am also current on that one, I have knit more then the riquired sock for January and they where knit from stash.

I am also knitting on the Peacock feathers shawl but not much progress there and I have found both yarn and pattern for an Aran sweater that is going to be either for my brother or my oldest son. I am also knitting a hooded baby sweater for my grand daughter out of Smooshy from Dream in Color and I opted for the 2 year size since she is a big baby ( 10 kilos at 6 months ).

I also managed with the help of one of my best friends to buy the membership for the Rocking Sock Club 2008, she is a great enabler and since I was feeling sorry for myself and my now closed CC she put up the bulk of the money for the club, ( Note to self: Remember to knit her a lot of goody things this year )
No pictures of my knitting this week only of the cat where he demonstrates his excellent taste in yarn by taking up residence in a basket with balls of cashmere and silk yarn.

camouflage socks

My oldest son wants a new hunting sweater, he accidentally put his old one that I knit many years ago into the washer at much to high temperature and it now would fit a 10 year old. He was asking about camouflage yarn but I am not going to buy yarn for a sweater so I said that I could knit him socks in such yarn and here they are.

I have also started the Spring shawl sureprice and I am 20 rows into that one using Creme Brulee yarn in Spring grass from the Yarn Chef on Etsy.

Two red monkeys

I just finished the red monkey socks I was knitting, so more yardage towards the January knit a mile goal. Now I have to decide on what to do next...

January knit a mile challenge

In the Stash Knitdown in 2008 there is a January knit a mile challenge, actually it runs for six weeks ending on February 19th. I started the challenge with Monkey socks and then moved on to Garter Rib socks and now I am off to knit more Monkey socks. When they are done, I am casting on more of the shawls I have in my January coals and I guess I end up with more than a mile in the six weeks of the challenge mixing shawl knitting and sock knitting.

Look who came for a visit

Yesterday my son, his wife and my six month old granddaughter came for a visit, since they life in Akureyri in the north of Iceland I don't get to see them too often.


While visiting Dagjört Rós became hungry and was very happy to get some food as you can see.


On the knitting front I have now logged one Ikea box into Ravelry so that part of my January goal is down. I am also knitting a Monkey sock that will take care of my one sock of the month goal.
I have also not bought yarn since the 31 of December, that was pretty hard to resist today as Posh Yarn had their Sunday update and they had some colors and yarn that I really wanted.

A new year and a new post

Happy new year to all my friends near and far and I hope that 2008 will be a good one for all of you.
I have been busy knitting and getting my craft room under control and uploading some of my stash into Ravelry. That task is far from done but I have high hopes to finish it before spring :-)
I finished the Mystic Waters shawl today and it was a pleasure to knit, I knit it in Creme Brulee from the Yarn Chef on Etsy and it was amazing to knit with and came out even prettier than I excpected.
I am on the last clue in the Mystery Shawl #6 from Goddess Knits and it is a very simple and elegant pattern, I choose to make that in Icelandic yarn called Kambgarn and it is a fairly heavy shawl but will be warm.
When I am done with that shawl I will try to spend a little time organizing my future knitting and the KALs and Mysteries that I am participating in.
Everything that requires needles below 3.5 mm or there about is out for now because my hands can't handle any smaller except for my sock needles that I have bent into shape to suite my hands and don't hurt me at all, at least if I don't go overboard on sock knitting.
I have made a few new years resulutions regarding my knitting and stitching and hope to stick to at least some of them, so I didn't make them to hard to do :-) So here goes:

• Don't buy yarn unless I have to, to finish a project or something like that
• Don't buy any cross stitch materials the only exception being the series from SamSarah and Lizzy Kate that have monthly installments.
  
• List my stash on Ravelry and get rid of yarn that I don't want any more. To be able to do this I bought a McMorran scale to be able to estimate the yardage on yarn that has no information about yardage and such on it. This will help me shop my stash as I will know if I have enough for a project or not.
• Finish all my mystery knitting and Knit A Longs that I am participating in as far as I am able to.

For January I made a seperate list with smaller goals sort of sub goals

• Put at least a one box worth of stash on Ravelry from the Ikea storage boxes that I have, I thought that I had only 14 but I counted them and *blush* they turned out to be 18, and I won't start any project with yarn that has not been put into my stash on Ravelry.
  
• Start the Spring Shawl Surprice, I have the yarn ready to go on that one and the first clue is out.
• Start the Secret of the Stole #2 that will start later this month and I am also all set with yarn and needles for that one.
• Start the January Knit A Long on the Victorian Lace To Day group on Yahoo and its sister group on Ravelry. I am not quite sure what pattern I choose but I have yarn for all four of the patterns that we can choose from
  
• Knit a sock in January with my sock a month group on Ravelry, and also use that as the project for the Socks from Stash club KAL on Blogspot.
• Start the Dem fischer sin fru mystery KAL, I have the yarn ready and I am all set to start later this month.
  
• Start the Civil War shawl KAL
• Start the Pretty as a Peacock KAL that is starting now, I have specially dyed yarn from the Yarn Chef and it is just waiting to be started. I am also on the KAL blog for this shawl so I will post there as well.
• Find yarn and pattern for an Aran Sweater for my brother and maby start on that a little if I find anything he likes.
• Start the Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlestick that has a KAL going on Ravelry
  

Note that I only said start those things, nothing about keeping up even tho the end goal is to finish along the same time as everybody else or as close to as possible.

Hopefully when the weather gets warmer my hands will allow me to start both the Princess shawl and the Lyra by Niebling, but until then the yarn and the needles for that will have to wait.
Well I will keep you posted on how this goes as far as the goals I have set but I have as always high hopes and there is all of January left so I am optimistic.

Book meme

I was tagged both by Linda and Sonja so I think it is a sign to do this :-)

1: Hardcover or paperback, and why?

Both, for example craft books that I use a lot I prefer hardcover since they can stand a lot more abuse, but otherwise paperbacks because they are cheaper.

2: If I were to own a book shop, I would call it...

The cabinet of curiosities, where I would stock all kinds of book and have a combo of coffeeshop / knitting and stitching room

3: My favorite quote from a book (mention the title)

I can't remember the exact quote to put in here but it is from the Unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera

4: The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be...

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (they co author so I put them as one)

5:If I was going to a deserted island and could bring only one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be...

The Bible, not because I am a born again Christian or such but it has all kinds of stories and poems in it and would probably last a long time and be an inspiration as well

6: I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that...

Would clean the house so I could just sit and read or listen to audio books while I stitch or knit.

7: The smell of an old book reminds me of...

Happiness, I am always happy in bookstores and with books

8: If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title) it would be...

I am not sure

9: The most overestimated book of all times is...

hmm, can't say all books have their merits I think

10: I hate it when a book...

Ends, especially the really good ones.

I tag Hafrún and Ásdís

I did it!

Finally I did what I have been wanting to to for more than 10 years, I bought a spinning wheel. A Louet S10 at a very good price, it is used but has has been gone over and everything is tip top. I cant wait to get it and think about all the wonderful rovings and tops that are out there ready to spin *drool*

As for other thing I haven't done much as I have been sick and have been reading a lot and not doing any knitting or stitching.
My stash however has grown and I will post pictures soon of the loot.

Monkey Socks

Well one more pair of Monkey socks down. I am still on row 10 of the Madeira Lace in the Shetland Tea Shawl and as it is knitted over nearly 600 stitches it is slow going.

Not Dead just MIA

I have been a bad, bad blogger and now it is time to see the error of my ways and start again. There are reasons why I haven't felt up to blogging but I won't go into them here. I have been knitting and cross stitching however and have managed to do a lot of things that I am very satisfied with including finishing the backstitching on three UFO'S that had been waiting for some time. But what else has been happening? I will go over the most important ones in chronological order:

1. My friend Linda gave me this wonderful scissor fob, I stole the pictures from her blog because she is a much better at photographing than I am and I want to do it justice. Since I got it I haven't lost my scissors one time and for those that know my that is saying something, so thank you Linda for this amazingly beautiful thing and for being my friend.

2. I became a grandmother for the very first time, this is one of the best feelings that I have ever had and I thank my oldest son and daughter in law for the wonderful gift of making my a granny at the ripe old age of 45. Dagbjört Rós was born on June 21 and is a healthy and of course a beautiful baby girl.


3. I went to Heidelberg and had a great time and one of the highlights of my trip was to meet Holly of Proseknitic.de and spend an afternoon with her talking and knitting. I thank her for the hospitality and her generosity which has added to my stash and hope I will someday be able to repay her in kind if she ever travels my way. The picture is from her blog as my pictures were somehow lost.


4. I went to Akureyri and visited my son and his family and had a great time getting to know my granddaughter and see their new apartment and left feeling certain that they are happy and healthy and are on to a great start with their new role as parents.
I also met my daughter in laws mother and she is a very accomplished knitter and she showed my photos of some amazing stuff she has done and of course I saw the beautiful things she had made for Dagbjört Rós.


5. I went to a stitching weekend with my Icelandic cross stitching group at a summer cottage in the country and had a great time. Since I am not the most outgoing person I was somewhat reluctant to go but thanks to my friend Guðbjörg who was one step ahead of all my excuses for not going so I went. I am very lucky to have such a great friend and she has been a true friend to my this last months and I just want to say that anyone who has a friend like her is a very lucky person indeed.

5. I finished the 52 pair plunge, that is to say I knitted 52 pairs of socks in 6 months, half the alloted time for the challenge. I am very proud of this although most of the socks are very plain and not at all challenging. But it gave me something to focus on and that has been a very good thing. Here is a link to pictures of the 52 pairs.

So now I have dealt with the highlights of what has been going on as far as I can remember anyway and as for what I am doing now is that I am still knitting socks and have started the Shetland Tea Shawl from a Gathering of Lace and it is coming along nicely, pictures will follow soon.
I am also stitching on a Christmas mystery SAL in my Icelandic stitching group Allt í Kross and that is great fun. I have also listened to many great audio books and am currently listening to Curiosity Killed the Cat sitter by Blaze Clement and enjoying that very much.

I joined Ravelry a few weeks back and have a great task ahead of my putting in projects and getting some of my stash cataloged, this is a great community and I only wish that there was on like that for cross stitcher's as well.
But all "good" things come to an end and I think I have covered every thing in this blog up to now and hopefully I will be better at blogging once I started again.

Needleroll from Guðbjörg

Guðbjörg gave me this wonderful needlerool yeserday as the first day of summer present, and because she knew that I needed cheering up.
It is much more beautiful up close, but thanks Guðbjörg for brigthen my day and being such a good friend always.

52 pair plunge, socks # 12

Tigerstripes socks for my daughter Hulda Sveindís
Made out of Skacel Tramboline Stretch, that has 70% wool, 7% polyester and 23% nylon in it. Lovely yarn to knit with, probably as good as I have at least three more of those to make
.
Linda I was thinking about naming them Tigershark socks after the jocke on Beauty and the Geek the other day :-)