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September 23, 2006
Birthday girl
Hi everyone, I have so much to tell you! First of all, thanks for the nice comments on the Vanalinn Gloves from 'A Gathering of Lace'. I made a page for them in my finished things album, where you can find all the details of this project.
Last weekend, it was my birthday. To celebrate, my dear sister took me to the Breibrink in Annen.
Breibrink
Brink 16
9468 BP Annen
This shop is well worth a visit. They sell yarn by Katia, Phildar and Gedifra among others. I was really happy to see some yarn by the Norwegian firm Garnstudio (you know, the one with all the free patterns online, even in Dutch!)
The shop is conveniently arranged, look at the lovely colors of the yarn. You can't see all the yarn they have in this picture, there is more right next to the embroidery floss. It was difficult for me to control myself (I have enough yarn at home to last me a life time) but I managed to walk away with only 3 balls of Garnstudio Eskimo, a gift from my sister.
I plan to make felted mittens out of it. I just love the greyish-blue color. By the way, if you decide to visit the Breibrink, make sure you also go to the Ryahuis in Zuidlaren, only 5 km from Annen. They're both great shops, and they sell different things.
The rest of the weekend, my birthday went on and I was spoiled big time. Take a look at these:
Knitting books! I've already started to read 'A History of Hand Knitting', it's very interesting. I'll show you more of the other two books in the future, but I can tell you right now they're great.
I also did some knitting during the last week. I finished a pair of beaded alpaca wristwarmers.
The design is from the booklet by Pinnsvinn Design my brother brought back from Norway for me. I adapted it somewhat, and I'm very happy with the result.
Yesterday, I started the Bayerische Sock by Eunny Jang (you can find part 1 here)
So far, I like it, even though it is a bit hard on my hands. I also like the Cable Net socks in the new edition of Knitty.
Posted by saartje at 10:36 AM | Comments (26)
September 15, 2006
Let the cold weather come!
It is still *looking* like Fall, around here, but it *feels* like Summer all over again. You can't tell from these pictures, but it is actually 25 C [77 F] right now. I must have looked very interesting, sitting outside wearing gloves.
Yes, they're done. I'm very happy with the way they turned out. The camel yarn is a tiny bit scratchy, but I like that for gloves.
This is what the palm side looks like. I don't think these gloves will get a lot of daily wear, they'd be dirty after one bicycle ride to the train station (imagine closing a rusty bicycle lock wearing these snowy white gloves). I will probably save them for those Sunday winter walks (if we ever take those).
Some weeks ago, I got a comment from Marja. She went to Norway on vacation and she visited Annemor Sundbø's shop in Bygland. Of course you know Annemor is the writer of three very interesting books on traditional Norwegian knitting. How I envy Marja! Her visit sounds so lovely. There is a shop and an exhibition of knitted things Annemor saved from the ragpile. I really want to go there someday... But look what Marja brought back for me:
A beautiful card with gloves and mittens from the exhibition and a pattern for wrist warmers. Thank you so much, Marja and Annemor!
Posted by saartje at 2:45 PM | Comments (20)
September 8, 2006
Signs of Fall
It feels very fall like around here. Even though they're expecting summer-like temperatures again for some days next week, for me it's like the summer is over. And I don't mind: as long as we don't get too much rain, I think fall is a lovely season. And it's great for knitting! I start thinking about winter and feel the urge to knit gloves and mittens...
Do you remember the red baby jacket I was knitting some time ago? The intended recipient was born in the beginning of July, right at the beginning of one of the worst heat waves this country has ever seen. He really didn't need any woollen jacket at that time. Luckily, the second month of his life turned out to be a very wet and cold august.
Here he is, wearing his jacket, all nice and comfortable. Look at how smart the white cuffs of his t-shirt are looking, peeping out of the jacket's sleeves. His mother informed me he is already starting to grow out of it, which of course is a sign he's doing very well.
Posted by saartje at 2:16 PM | Comments (17)
September 3, 2006
Unravelling
Thanks all of you, for your great comments on Salina! I'm kind of glad the weather has turned very much autumnal in my part of the world, so I get to wear Salina already. Froukje asked how I put the sweater together: by hand or using a sewing machine. Well, since I knit it in the round as much a possible, the only thing I had to do was to set in the sleeves, which I did by hand.
I've been doing some tidying up in our guest room, wear most of my yarn is stashed. I came across some socks I started ages ago, but never finished. Before ripping them, I took some pictures.
I like the color of the yarn, I like the beads, but I don't like them together. Oh well, it was a nice try.
For this sock, I think I used some stitch patterns from Bäuerliches Stricken by Lisl Fanderl. I'm not sure why I didn't continue it, I think it looks quite nice. Of course, now I don't feel like finding out which stitch patterns I used, instead, I'd rather start over again.
The idea for this sock wasn't bad either, I might do something like this again. But for this one: off to the frog pond it goes.
So what am I knitting?
I started Cherie from Vintage Style.
Instead of the recommended Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK, I'm using Yorkshire Tweed 4ply doubled. I love the colour, it's shade no. 268 (called 'Enchant'), which they didn't have in the original yarn. The problem is that, while I'm getting the right stitch gauge (20 sts on 10 cm), my row gauge is way off (33 instead of 28 rows on 10 cm). I'm contemplating what to do now. I could change to a larger needle (4.5 mm instead of 4 mm), but that would change my stitch gauge, and my row gauge would still be too tight (I did make a gauge swatch). Still, that would make my yarn go further and I could just make the smallest size instead. Mmmm....
While I'm considering my options with Cherie, I decided to take a break and knit some gloves.
I finished the first one. The pattern is 'Vanalinn Gloves' by Nancy Bush (who else) from A gathering of lace. The yarn I'm using is camel yarn I got at the Opal factory store some years ago.
Here are some more Vanalinn Gloves on the net:
Lovely blue ones by Karin
In white by En till strickblogg
Bright red ones by Nanette
Posted by saartje at 2:49 PM | Comments (16)
