New inspiration

As I wrote in my last post I participated in the knitting class taught by Britt-Marie Christoffersson. Katie asked how it was, and well, it was awesome! It was great inspiration and it made me want to try and think about knitting in a slightly new way. I'd like to experiment more with knitting than I do at the moment. During the class we all tried out different stitch patterns, which Britt-Marie had used in the exhibition. Here's how my swatches turned out. I didn't pay that much attention to the color combo - I wanted to just knit as much as I could while having Britt-Marie around helping out.






















I think that these swatches have helped guiding me in the direction of more experimentation and exploration. Now that would be fun!

Swatches on Parade

Last weekend I went to an exhibition - a knitting exhibition. It was the Swedish knitter Britt-Marie Christoffersson who displayed her experiments in knitting. The main elements are what we would call swatches, all in the same size (40 x 40 cm), and it made up a beautiful coherence even though they were all very different. There were also a few knitted sweaters. With the exhibition she intends to contribute to a development of the craft, as she finds it somehow stagnated. It was so inspiring and I loved the way she used colors and shapes.

More photos on Flickr

She was also teaching a knitting class (which I participated in) during the weekend so I caught her with my camera. She was such a nice and friendly lady.

Ripping back

The Alpaca Pullover was almost done, only underarm seams and ends were left to sew. There were, however, a few things I wasn't satisfied with, namely the neck and the raglan decreases, so ripping was the one and only option.











And now: Back on track!

Bringing a Hibernating Project Into the Light

Are you the kind of knitter who has several unfinished projects lying around that you just can't seem to complete? Or - are you the kind who always makes sure to finish up what you've started - at least within a reasonable amount of time? I'd definitely say I'm the latter. Except from the fact that I have this one project which I started years ago - 4 years at least! It's almost embarrassing and not at all typical for me.





It's a pullover knitted in DUO Merino Wool from Design.club.dk that I decided to design myself. The problem is, though, that I'd make many thing different if I were to start the project now. I've learned so much about knitting the past couple of years and now I'm just not really into finishing this pullover. But it's knitted on 2,5 mm needles, 2 x 2 ribbing, sooo time consuming. Besides, as I've finished the front, almost the back, and the sleeves are nearly half-way, I just can't bring myself to frog it.





If I need to frog something it'll be the neck. I'm not satisfied with the way it is but I haven't decided how I want it to turn out either. I need to think about it and try and finish this project ASAP!

New Scarf - Old Pattern Motif

Ever since my Ogee Cardigan was in the making I've been fascinated with that specific pattern motif. I first found it in Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns (an old but very useful book) and I've used it again in this Scarf - which I happened to name Ogee Scarf.



The border is knitted in moss stitch to give some kind of frame to the continuous pattern motif and I'm quite happy with this solution.



There are interesting details in this pattern and I particularly like that you can see the individual threads twisting around each other, surrounding the oval shape.



The yarn is Tapestry from Rowan in the color Highland, my first experience with yarn containing soybean protein. It says 30% on the label and the rest is wool, so it should be warm enough. I used 6 mm needles, which I usually don't prefer. I find them too big and a bit clumsy to handle. I do make exceptions, though.



The yarn is wonderfully soft and I really like the color. It's a little variegated which shows in some subtle stripes in the scarf. Knitting with this yarn was at times anoying, though, because the yarn tends to split very easily, and it pretty quickly felts a little bit, so you don't want to rip back an awful lot if you can avoid it - I mean, don't make any errors!

Despite this minor detail about the yarn, I really love how the scarf turned out. I know that it will follow me the rest of the winter, all the way to the beginning of spring.

Shibui on a Sunday

Today was the sunniest day we've had for a long time and even though it's only early February, it reminds me of the spring, which can't be that far away.




The other day I received a fabulous and unexpected present from Karin. It was the most wonderful sock yarn one can imagine: Shibui Sock in a so, so beautiful color (it looks like caramel). Yesterday, when Karin had invited a few knitters over, she and I started a Shibui knit along. I casted on for a Cookie A. pattern, Marlene from the latest knit.1 magazine. I love it already!



I'm using my new Knit Picks dpn's - only 15 cm long - and the combination of these needles and my new Shibui yarn makes knitting such a pleasure. ... It's true!

Alpaca Pullover in Progress

Thank you all for the nice and wonderful comments on my camisole. I'm considering writing up the pattern.



I've started a new project using the really delicious Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I have three colors, two skeins of each. I hope it's enough for a pullover. Maybe I'll make the sleeves shorter. Let's see how it turns out. I made a few calculations beforehand but I'm pretty much making it up as I go.