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June 20, 2007
Old friend
This week, I restarted knitting on a cardigan I started in January. I just noticed I didn't even put it in the side bar under 'work in progress' yet. The poor side bar has been completely neglected, but I'm afraid I won't get around to updating it any time soon. Oh well, such is life with a newborn, and I'd rather spend my spare time knitting. So I started the second sleeve of the shaped cardigan from Poetry in Stitches:
It's going pretty fast, I'm almost halfway. I also closed the shoulder seams, so I could try it on. I did, and now I have this nagging feeling it might be a little too small... I'll have to wait until I've blocked it to be sure, garter stitch can be unpredictable (or maybe that's just wishful thinking...). If the circumference really is too small, I guess I can add some garter stitch rows to the fronts. We'll see.
Five minutes after taking the above picture, some else had taken an interest in the cardigan:
That would be Panter. Cats....
Last Sunday, I went to a craft market and I got myself some lovely vintage buttons.
Some of them are made of glass. The booth I got them at has a website where you can order buttons online: http://www.grootmoedersknoopendoos.nl/.
That's it for now. Thank you all so much for your comments, they really make my day. I'm sorry I won't be able to reply to all of them, but I'll try my best!
Posted by saartje at 9:39 PM | Comments (25)
June 10, 2007
Trying to get back to blogging
Thank you such much for all the congratulations and the messages welcoming Lotte to the world! It really means a lot to both T and me, it makes us feel special thinking about all of you taking the time to leave a comment. So one more time: *thank you!*
Lotte and I are doing great. She's sleeping, drinking breast milk and producing dirty diapers as if she has been doing it for a lot longer than two weeks yet. I'm having to deal with this almost every day now:
Luckily, the weather has been good (no tumble dryer in the house), so I'm keeping on top of it so far. Speaking of the weather: it has been a bit too good for the past few days, with temparatures in the region of 28C/82F. So I hope you understand why I don't have any pictures of Lotte in handknits yet (though she has been wearing them - when I was too tired to use the camera). I did finish her something I started before she was born.
First, here is my source of inspiration:
Lovely cardigans from Fana in Norway. These are pictures from a wonderful book called Fanatrøyer. Fana is well known for its striped sweaters like this one:
Picture from Knitting in the Nordic Tradition by Vibeke Lind
but these white ones in garter stitch are traditionals as well, and I have always liked them. It was just the thought of knitting a full size cardigan in garter stitch on small needles that was.... well, not very attractive to me. This is where babies come in handy. Inspired by the white Fana cardigans, I made this:
I decided not to add the colored ribbon to this one. I like it like this, plain and simple, but with great buttons:
These were a gift to me from Yuki in Japan. Such lovely buttons they have in Japan! I think these go really well with the pure white yarn. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I can't wait for the weather to turn cooler and Lotte to grow a bit bigger to try it on her. You'll have to wait for a modelled picture till then!
One of Lotte's grandmothers recently spent some time in Sweden, and this is what she returned with:
Aren't they just adorable? Handmade by a Swedish woman named Susanne Tholin (no website that I could find). I *love* these! They're made from handmade felt. They were bought at the Handverkshuset Upperud. The website doesn't give a lot of information about what they're selling, but Lotte's grandma assured me it is absolutely worth a visit if you're into beautifully crafted things. I want to go to Sweden!
Posted by saartje at 10:34 PM | Comments (38)
June 2, 2007
FO
It only took me nine months to complete....
Posted by saartje at 5:11 PM | Comments (149)
