Yarnlove

We had an absolutely lovely housewarming party on Saturday, twenty friends, food, music, wine... Everything went just swell. And when our guests started dropping off, Johanna and myself didn't really feel done partying, so we went out. For some more. Drinks. Stupid. On the way home I couldn't find my keys, so I had to call Erik and have him open the door for me. Yesterday, when I was going to tell him where we had been and what we had done, he claimed that I had already told him. I cannot remember the last time I felt so hung over. I went up at 11 for a pizza slice and some water, and then laid on the couch. I then left it nine hours later. I was too sick to even sit up straight. Why don't you ever learn from these things?

Anyway. I have knitted too. Mia: I'm using Garnstudios Alpaca along with Kidsilk Haze. Very soft and cozy. Karen: thank you so much for your insightful analysis of the shitty leaf wristwarmer. I agree with you, and would like to add the puffiness around the wrist. The ones you linked too looks great, a nice pattern previously unseen. I'll go for that as soon as I'm done with my current project (can somebody please stop me!?)... These were actually the third wristwarmers I tried knitting, and I'm getting kind of sick of all these failures. It's a good thing they're quite small, so the hours and metres of yarn lost aren't too many.

My current project, which I started yesterday evening, as soon as I could sit up, is this pretty little thing which hopefully will look great with anything; summer dresses, white shirts... I have this idea that I look great in lilac, so this one's almost the same colour as the Lelah top, but knit in two strands of Garnstudios Alpaca (my favourite yarn, probably) and one strand of Garnsudios Vivaldi, a fluffy mohair. I was thinking of making a buttonhole where the brooch is, but I forgot to do that, so I'll go for the brooch or maybe a bow, if I can find a good way to fasten the ribbon. Also, I "modified" the pattern, so I'm doing it in stockinette instead. Revolting.

I'm halfway through, and there's something seriously wrong with this pattern. The picture isn't even clear enough to show what it's supposed to look like, but I'm sure I'm not even close... To be continued.

Torrow is the first day of my new scary adult life. I'm going to Stockholm to start my practical training at Statskontoret, where I will work for no money until June, and then work for some money (I hope) during the summer.

Tonight I've done a few rows on the Lelah top. It's supposed to look like this: ------>
But who knows. At the moment it looks like this:

It does look a bit funny, but I hope it will turn out at least nice, possibly lovely. I would like to have it done for our housewarming party on Saturday, but let's be realistic... The yarn I'm using is Blue Sky Cotton, which is a very nice yarn but I'm not really sure of the outcome, since it's not as bouncy as wool. Maybe it will just slip off my chest when least expected. The colour in the WIP-picture isn't really accurate, and I think this pic is true to the pretty lilac I'm using:

Anyhow, it's not really getting late yet but time does fly and I still have to decide what to wear tomorrow. When I was there for the interview I made some observations, and they're not really that business-looking, and even though I still want to make a good impression I've once been laughed at for my preppy look during my first weeks of employment. I think I'll settle for something not in need of ironing...

We had a major power failure Saturday morning, which apparently did something really bad to the local switch because we've been offline until tonight. I'm not sure for how long we would have been offline if the cable in the apartment, disconnected in my early Saturday experiments with the router and then hastily forgotten, had been discovered and reconnected earlier, but I think the difference would have been neglectable.

I'm happy to be back and can report that my current project is the pretty Lelah top from Knitting for boozehags. Pictures and details coming shortly. I have also got the Strikke-book, and I must say it's astonishing and hence intimidating. Very advanced stuff. After an hour or two of reading/browsing, I put it in the bookshelf and will not look again until I'm past the intermediate level (or retired).

I did it! The Tärnabymössa did not at all turn out as ugly as expected. The reindeers I hated so much a couple of days ago did cave in for my steaming iron, and all other unevenness disappear when worn. Excellent. Some day I might knit something else with two colours, only not very soon. The always and ever very critical receiver of reindeers is actually quite happy about the cap.

Yesterday I started knitting some wristwarmers after a pattern from Yll & Tyll's yarnclub, but after finishing the first one today I found that it was too long and too wide, and a bit earlier I realized I had gotten the stripes a bit mixed up. I might have the energy to frog and remake, and in that case I will keep you all posted, but I can't promise anything.

One thing that has really amazed me is all the wonderful feedback I've received on the Colchique-Along. Can you believe it? If I had known it was gonna be such a success, I would definitely have done something about my hair...

And no, I couldn't resist the norwegian knitting book, so I ordered it. :-) It should be here any day now...

Inspired by the Norwegian stockings chez Fig and Plum, and considering my norwegian (a knitting grandmother from Oppdal) and laplandish (her and grandpa's cottage was in Tärnaby) heritage, I went through my pattern collection looking for something that required a bit more effort and also two colours at a time, and found something almost my age: A classical Swedish Tärnabymössa, as worn by the famous slalom skier Ingemar Stenmark (not the man in the picture) in the early 80's. I convinced my boyfriend that he wants and needs one (since I don't) and we went to my LYS and got the stuff. Now I'm this far:

As you can see I've finished the second set of reindeers and boy, do I hope I never have to knit a reindeer again in my life! I don't think it's anything personal, but this two-colour shit is too tricky! Despite my efforts not to stretch the yarn on the back it's still very tight. I hope I can squeeze it over the head of my squeeze. The colours are not as cool as the original, but I think my recipient can overlook it. I find this composition is slightly more contemporary.

I have also been drooling over the book "Norsk Strikkedesign" and the beautiful cardigan I waxed poetic about some time ago, but I must say that the object of my affection has changed since then, and since my new experience of two-colour knitting. Today it is this pretty piece I see myself in:

I love the yarn, although you can't get a closer look of it on the website, and I love the collar. I also really like her hairdo, so I'm saving so I too can wear braids around my head like an amish chick. The thing that today's title is referring to ("Running women") is that the other night, when the recipient of the reindeers and myself had been to Ikea, we also went to check out the sale at Stadium, a sports apparel store, and since the reindeer recipient is such a demanding customer he managed to get a pair of ladies' running shoes half off. It wasn't some kind of new year's resolution, but I guess I'm going to start running more, as soon as the ice melts. (In six months or so.) The title part of this was that the wall with the shoes had a "Running women" sign, and I found it remarkable not to find any running women in that corner of the store. Funny. My knitting problem in this is that my plan was that as soon as I have 400 SEK unspent, I will order this lovely book and start saving for the yarn. Now that I have spent those money in advance on a pair of running shoes, "Norsk Strikkedesign" has never been this far away. And neither has Christmas. I will try and rejoice in the new waist and great health that will come with using the shoes properly, but that is still not something you do in front of the TV, which still is my favourite spot.

I have now finished my Colchique and wear it all the time. Everything went quite smoothly, no ugly surprises when putting it all together. The sleeves are, as I suspected, slightly wide, as you can see in the picture, and the buttonpieces behave as one can expect and not as in the pattern picture.

Abstinence hit me after a day or two, so I knit a pair of Lovikka in no time. You don't want to quit cold turkey, do you? Lovikka is a place up in the north of Sweden, where some woman a hundred years ago or so knit super mittens of one-ply wool (gauge 14/10 cm). The mittens turn out thick (and quick), and after finishing you felt them slightly. I didn't, since I didn't even have the proper yarn for it, but I did make the embroidery. Below is what they are supposed to look like. Also I found a webpage with the history of the mitten (in Swedish).