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August 26, 2006
Salina is done
Here she is:
I actually finished her about 2 weeks ago, but I hadn't been able to get her photographed until today. As you maybe can see, I've been wearing her already. I'm happy with the way this sweater turned out. I had to do a lot of recalculation because of my yarn choice.
I used Shetland wool yarn from Klazien's Kreatie (color SW 3/20). The finished sweater weighs 255 g, which means 3 skeins would have been more than enough (I got 5, just in case). I'm starting to accumulate a stash of Shetland yarn, yeah!
And the back. I especially like the colar on this sweater. The sleeves are a bit on the short side, even though I lenghtened them. It's a nice, light-weight warm sweater.
Norwegian
Serveral of you asked how I learned to read Norwegian. Well: more than 10 years ago, when I just had finished high school, I spent 9 months at Romerike Folkehøgskole in Jessheim, about 40 km north of Oslo. You can read more about folk high schools on the website of the Norwegian folk high school organisation and here at Wikipedia. More information in Dutch: here (very interesting site!).
Spending time in Norway, surrounded by Norwegians and taking some lessons: that is how I learned Norwegian. It has been a long time since I've been in Norway, but I listen to Norwegian podcasts every now and then, and of course I read Norwegian knitting books.
Some Norwegian knitting blogs I like:
Helenes side (both in Norwegian and English)
Norway Needles (in English)
Norway will always have a special place in my heart!
Posted by saartje at 7:30 PM | Comments (27)
August 22, 2006
Nordic knitting goodies
Serveral of my family members went on holiday to the knitting walhalla of Scandinavia. Even though none of them are knitters themselves, they were sweet enough to visit yarn shops to bring me back some Nordic knitting goodies. Check them out:
The yarn is from a yarn shop in Kuusamo, Finland, bought by T's brother and his girlfriend. It's Gjestal Nagano, 100% superwash wool (50 g = 150 m). I love the color, it looks like the sky at night. I think I will use it to make socks, or maybe gloves. Thank you so much, D and F!
The other three items are two books and a leaflet, bought in Bergen, Norway, by my brother, sister in law and cousin. They went to the Pinnsvin Design shop and got me these great things. From left to right:
A leaflet with patterns to make hats, mittens, slippers and sweaters from the Norwegian children's series Jul på Månetoppen [Christmas at Månetoppen].
A booklet with 21 designs for wristwarmers, most of them beaded. This booklet is self published by Pinnsvin Design. I'm looking forward to making more wristwarmers and this book will be an inspiration.
And last but not least: Usynlege trådar i strikkekunsten [Invisible threads in the art of knitting] by Annemor Sundbø. This book is about the place of the knitting tradition in Norwegian society. It seems to be just as interesting as Annemor Sundbø's other books about knitting (which are translated to English): Everyday Knitting-Treasures from a Ragpile and Setesdal Sweaters. I just love these books about knitting traditions and history. The one I just got is written in Nynorsk, one of the two written languages in Norway. The other one, Bokmål, is a bit easier for me to read, so this will take me a while to finish. So far, it is great. I'll share some pictures of what it looks like inside soon.
Thank you for going to the trouble of getting these books for me, D, M and G!
Posted by saartje at 10:31 PM | Comments (20)
August 12, 2006
Stash enhancement
Yesterday afternoon, my sister and I went to the Ryahuis in Zuidlaren (about 20 km south of Groningen).
The Ryahuis is a lovely yarn shop, situated in a beautiful village. My sister is lucky enough to live there, at a walking distance of about 2 minutes to this yarn shop.
It's a really great place. We spent about 2 hours there, paging through books and magazines, petting the yarns, trying to decide what to buy. My sister doesn't knit, but our mother likes to knit things she picks.
The Ryahuis sells wonderful yarns: the Rowan collection, Lana Grossa, Jamieson & Smith Shetland 2-ply jumper wool, Marianne Isager yarn, and many more. The atmosphere in this shop is very friendly, the owners are expert knitters and willing to help in any way they can. There should be more yarn shops like this!
So what did I get?
I bought yarn to make Cherie from Vintage Style. They didn't have the yarn specified in the pattern (Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK) in a color I liked. After much deliberating, we decided that I could use the Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply doubled to get the same results. I picked color 268, which is a beautiful purplish grey (but hard to represent in a picture). Using two strands together makes a much heavier fabric than I'm used to, but I like it and knitting a sweater in 4 mm needles in stead of 3 mm will go a lot faster. I can't wait to start but I will have to get me some decent circulars in the right size. A trip to Pietronella in Leeuwarden is in order!
Today, I went to the only yarn shop in Groningen, Sajet. I think it's just sad when a great city doesn't have a good yarn shop. I mean, Sajet really is a cross-stitch shop which also sells some yarn.
They do have some okay sock yarn, but the everything else they sell is either cotton or acrylic. This is not a shop you could spend two hours in and still feel like you haven't seen it all.
I did manage to buy some yarn, of course: sock yarn. The lable says: 'Specialy made in EU for Sajet Groningen NL'. I'll have to ask the owners some details about this on my next visit.
Posted by saartje at 8:41 PM | Comments (14)
