Yarnlove

I got so boosted from the two comments I got on my last post, so here's another one - now with pictures!

Thanks for the comments. I've emailed Hamilton Yarns back, since you told me so, so we'll see where that leads.

And I've finished a project:

(These are some lousy pics, and even though I think it's a pity knit bloggers so often apologize for lousy photos and that we should drop it and just be proud of what we accomplish, both knitwise and photowise, I'm obviously not practising what I'm preaching.)

Anyhoo. This is a "Vest" from Debbie Bliss' "Essential baby", knit in Baby Cashmerino in some pretty gray colour. Knit in size 0-3 months on 3 mm bamboo dpn's I used slightly more than two skeins. I knit it in the round instead of back and front, and it went swell.



























And then I put a cute (but slightly out of focus) button in the back:

I haven't been around much lately, and my traffic report shows I have 15 visitors a week... I'm getting what I deserve. I've been thinking about not blogging anymore and just Ravel the stuff I knit, but having a blog is kind of nice, so I guess I'll keep on blogging sporadically.

This will be a photo-free post, but I can tell you that I'm currently knitting a Windmill Bag in hot pink linen, and I have a frustrating history with Hamilton Yarns that I don't know if I should handle or just forget about it. I blogged earlier about the miscoloured yarn and that she offered me 20% off in her webshop. As I started the first sleeve on my February lady sweater I realized I didn't have enough yarn left, and emailed Cornelia Hamilton (a reply to her email about the discount) to ask for more of the same dyebath, she had it, and she sent it to me with an invoice, which was kind enough of her. But when I got it in the mail I hadn't gotten any discount. And now I don't know if I want to be such a pain in the arse as to point this out to her, or settle with telling my blog readers how disappointed I am.

I got an adorable book in the mail yesterday, Vintage Baby Knits. It seems to be brand new, and it has some really cute kid stuff in it. And some odd ones as well, as always...

And oh: would the Kai who commented on the Stenmarksmössa please send me her (I suppose) email address so we can get in touch? I can't figure out how to reach you otherwise... linn underscore lindquist at yahoo dot se

I've got so much on the needles right now, I don't know what to finish, or if, before I start the next project. It's quite frustrating, and I think it might be stress-related. I want my knitting to be relaxing, and not something I do to accomplish something when I feel lousy in other areas of life.

I've frogged the last part of my February Lady Sweater (going on April Lady Sweater), and noticed that the miscoloured part shown in my last post was actually a few meters of a different dye bath felted to the original yarn. Not very classy, Cornelia Hamilton! I did email Mrs. Hamilton asking if this is what one can expect from this yarn (Heaven's Hand), but she claimed it must be a fabrication error and offered me 20% off in her web shop, which is kind of her I guess, but I don't shop online for things I can buy/squeeze/smell at my LYS. Anyhow. I've only got a few centimetres left on the body. Again.

To brighten things up I decided to knit myself something light and spring-y to wear around my neck. I fell for the Baktus pattern, and Fi and her adorable yarn-loving three year old son Hugo helped me pick out the colours of Drops Alpaca:

I'm thinking of making Ysolda's garter stitch mitts to go with it. But then it struck me that I'm going to a ball in a month, and I might need a new shawl for that. Fi gave me a luxurious purple lace yarn a few months ago, and I might turn it into a North Roë Shawl. Very pretty shawl, and free pattern! I'm not the happiest lace knitter, but I like shawls. And balls.

After one month of knitting, and one week of thinking it's not really that bad, I've cast off the body of my February lady sweater, and 15 cm from the edge, at the end of the third skein, the yarn is much brighter than the rest of the yarn (yes of course it's the same dye lot, who do you take me for?) for four rows. I know hand-dyed means variations, but in no othe rplace on this garment is the difference in colour as distinct as here, and not for so long.

The yarn is Heaven's Hand by Cornelia Hamilton. What should I do? Frog and reknit? Contact the manufacturer? Live with it? Help me! I'm no fan of frogging, and most of all I'm no fan of knitting the same thing twice, especially not when it's not a pair of something. But I don't want to have knit something I've longed to knit and wear and then hate it. Any advice?

As many distiguished knitters of today, I currently - and appropriately - have the February lady sweater on my needles. Since January 24 I'm turning five skeins of Heaven's Hand in "Teal" into a stylish cardigan, and today I'm four pattern repeats from the hem (aiming for 30 repeats). Even though it's not a very intriguing pattern, at least not from the armpits down, I'm not bored with it (wait til I get to the second sleeve...), and it grows steadily. I don't think it will be finished by the end of February, but at least it's (almost) the only thing I've been knitting on this month.

Put your needles down, ladies, no point in trying anymore, The most beautiful mittens in the world have just been knit. By me.

These are Postwar mittens but with a "manlier" cuff, knit for the person I want to warm most in the world. They are knit in "Shetland wool" bought at Yll & Tyll in Uppsala (in the reciever's presence, but he totally bought the "this could be good to have in the future"-excuse), in navy, a blueish green and honey yellow.



Instead of a picot edge I made a simple purl fold
edge (again the manliness).












And instead of knitting only the year on the inside of one of the thumbs, I also knit the full initials of the receiver on the inside of the other one.











I love the yellow dots and how they light up the mittens, I love how much they feel like artwork rather than knitwear, and I love how much the receiver loves them.










Thanks to Fi for helping me invent the cuff pattern.

The most difficult thing about blogging so unfrequently is that I cannot remember what I've already posted about. The easy fix is to read my blog before posting, but then on the other hand I can't really expect you readers to remember what I've written if I can't even remember it myself...

Anyhow. I went to Nystas yarn sale today, and I thought I was clever going there during my lunch hour, but eleven other clever knitters had just done the same and the place was actually crowded (since we all know the average size of a yarn store). I had a vibrating moment with another woman when she had picked two of the three hanks of Ranco in a dark pink and I just realized it might be perfect for the hat for my mum I had in mind, so I grabbed the last hank and tried to pair it with a sale hank of Parisienne, but then I tried to imagine my mum in that colour and it wasn't a too pretty a sight so I went for this instead:
(Ten seconds later the other knitting lady had all three hanks in her arms. All is well that ends well.)

It's one hank of Malabrigo lace (bottom) and one hank of Colinette Parisienne (top). The story is that when my mother saw my new Simple pleasures hat when I was home for Christmas, she wanted one too, and since it's her birthday in a few weeks I obviously have to knit one for her. She wanted white, but that's too boring for me so I went for this pale gray/pastel composition instead. How very thoughtful of me.




Anyhow, this is how my own hat looks like:
I have this quest for the perfect hat, which makes me knit one or two each winter. I had already knit one (a great one) this fall, but since it despite my efforts to make it different looked a whole lot like the one I had knit for my boyfriend a few months earlier I can't wear it when I'm with him, which is quite often.

This hat is knit with Malabrigo lace, kindly given to me by Fi in our Forever Swap, and Kidsilk Haze in a shade I ordered online and thought would be more like the Malabrigo in colour than it is. The hat is super cozy but I don't like how it's not solid in colour. My quest for the perfect hat continues.

The Forever Swap (which is a name I just invented) is one of the best things ever invented by Fi and myself (and that's saying a lot). It began this summer when I was about to order some yarn from Garnkorgen, and I asked her if she wanted to order something too. She did, and after delivery she asked me, clever girl, if I wanted to be paid in money or in yarn. What a question. She paid me the amount she owed me plus some more in yarn, so I suddenly owed her. A few weeks later it was my turn, so I got her yarn worth more than I owed her, and so it continues beautifully forever. Last time I got the Malabrigo lace from her, and a hank of purple Pälsullgarn from Östergötlands ullspinneri. For your viewing pleasure:

It's wool, and it's super shiny. Perfect for a lace shawl. I also got matching glass beads, so this could be a super luxurious/glamorous shawl. When I get the time and stumble upon the perfect pattern.





I hope to get back shortly (yeah right...) with pics of the prettiest mittens ever knit. I just have to find my darning needles first.