Marlene

I finally finished the Marlene socks by Cookie A. from Knit.1 Magazine. They are knitted with Shibui sock yarn, which Karin gave me. She and I had a little Shibui knitalong. (She finished her socks over a month ago.)



I love the golden semi solid color (called Honey) even though you can't predict exactly how the color turns out. On these socks the color expression changed at the foot. I like the color on the cuff best as there is a better blend of light and dark.



It was a real pleasure to knit with this yarn using 2.5mm Knit Picks dpns. Lucky me, I have more Shibui Sock in my stash.

Digging Out My Summer Tweed

I've started knitting a cardigan using the highly popular February Lady Sweater pattern as a guide. I wanted to try knitting from the top but not doing raglan increases. Instead I'm doing a rounded yoke. Also, I'm considering to knit the body in St st rather than using the lace pattern.




The yarn is Rowan Summer Tweed (70 % silk and 30 % cotton), a birthday present from Karin. She gave it to me last year in August and now is the perfect time to use it. I'm thinking about adding some big buttons, maybe these white ones... I'm not sure.

Reckless Raglan Alpaca Project

Time to blog about the alpaca project.



This pullover was an attempt to make a rather simple knit with a few details, namely the ridges with reversed stockinette and the shape of the sleeves.




I had 6 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in my stash, 2 of each of the three colors. I never got to the point when I was 100 percent sure of how to place the colors, I just knew that I wanted broad stripes and that the stripes of the sleeve weren't going to match the ones on the body. I simply rushed into it and didn't plan where to change the colors before i knit it. Maybe I should've done that. Well, next time perhaps.



I had to rip the collar a couple of times as it didn't turn out as I wanted. Pretty much because I hadn't decided on anything specific! I first thought about making a big collar, which somehow would've matched the sleeves, but instead I ended up making it rather tight. (I can ditch the kerchief then.)



Overall I'm pleased with the result. I already use it outside in the rather cold spring chill.

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!