A beautiful knitting bag, and a FO!

Today I'll show you the bag I'm using for my sewing-needles, holders, small needles and everything that is reasonably small and you might need when you're knitting. I know that most knitters have beutiful bags for their needles, but this is not as modern or advanced. It's just a bag I've made myself when I was in kindergarden and I found it when I was moving last year.

The bag has a different motive on the two sides, one shows a house, tree, sun and a flower and the other one shows a sun, flower and a blond girl. The girl has quite chubby arms, that should NOT be mistaken for brests!















I like to be able to see that even if I was quite good at working with my hands as a child, I'm still much better today, so maybe I'll be able to make even more progress in the future. What do you think?To convince you, I'll show an other picture of something I just finished...

...the Moebius I started... a long time ago. Sometime last autumn. Once again I've let my chair be the model for my wonders of knit.

I started to knit this since I was so fascinated about the math connection of it. I found a lovely colored yarn (from Ullcentrum) I think the color combination is called jeans or something. Atleast, I remember that the reason why I chose it was because i thought it would look very nice with jeans. And now, now I'm planning on giving it to my mum (isn't mother's day coming up soon?), who never, ever wears jeans. Though I'm sure it will look good even to black!

A picture tells more than a thousand words

This picture is supposed to tell you that my Deep-V Argyle Vest is finished! Alles klar! Tout pret! Helt färdig! I will publish a better photo later. I promise. The yellow thing you see in my hands is the beginning of the Ferragamo-bag from the Fake-a-gamo KAL.

I'm using Garnstudio's Muskat, an Egyptian mercerised cotton, on 5,0 mm (US 8) needles. The instructions recommended a similar yarn, but using US 9 needles. One triangel is 11,5 cm (4,5'') long and 8 cm (3,15'') high and according to the instructions it should be 5'' and 3''. Not bad, right? I'm very happy the way the yarn look, and this is a fun pattern to knit. I'm so ssatisfied that I will go right to Maria's yarn and buy the missing 10 or so skeins!

I have one comment on the pattern. It is recommended to twist the 'yarn overs' before knitting them purlwise to avoid holes. I would like to add that yarn-overs on the left side respectively the right side of the triangel's center should be twisted in opposite ways. It's a very small detail, but I think it looks better that way!

Has anyone an idea of where to find nice leather details?

Plastic seats are back!

Yesterday, M and I went to Alvik for a little tango dancing with Tango Norte! I love dancing with him even if he gets grumpy when he gets hungry. Wednesday nights offers an introduction for beginners, so on sunday there's an introduction at intermediate level, so maybe that will be even more fun!

I have got a test pattern from Kate at KnitLit for the Ferragamo bag. I'm a little ashamed that I haven't made any efforts of solving the pattern-riddle, so the least I can do is test-knit the pattern and give some feedback to it. I'll go to Marias garn (a yarn store that opened in Stockholm whileI was in New York) tonight and see if I can find some good yarn for the bag. Hopefully there is some yellow, beautiful yarn suitable for bags!

What do you think about my skirt on the photo? Colorful, right? And please note the charming red chair that are made of some plastic, rubbery-like material that is a 70's excuse for leather (galon in swedish).

Blocking deep-V

Yesterday I met Linster and we went to Ginos as planned to knit with other Stockholm knitters. It was very nice and I'll definitely do it again soon!

I finished all the knitting on deep-V at Ginos and went home to soak it in a bath. My first blocking and I think it went alright. I'm using a notice board in cork as blocking board. Since Eunny recommended a surface that wont soak any water, I just cut a plastic bag and put over the notice board. Before I started to pin the deep-V I took a fitted t-shirt and painted the contours of it on the plastic bag. These lines were supposed to work as a guideline for me of how much I should try and stretch the vest. On the picture you can see that I didn't manage to go all the way, but I sure got a nice curve on the vest, right? So now I'm just waiting for it to get dry. How long can that take??

It feels a little bit empty when the deep-V is almost done, but fear not! I took the brightly colored wool I bought at Habu and started to knit a cover for my laptop. I didn't do a felted swatch, but a woman at Habu had felted the yarn and said that it shrinked 10 %, so I hope that it will do that for me too. This is how happy it looks right now. I will have some pink lines too, but the main colors are orange and turquise. Love, love, love the clumsiness and harshness of this project compared to the deep-V that was very stylish.

This is how it looked when I started to prepare for the steeks. I thought it all went well, but yesterday when I was knitting the ribbing some yarn came loose from the vest, I froze, but managed to fix it thanks to my unbelievable knitting skills (and some black magic)! I thought I'd be able to do the blocking yesterday, but since I went to the gym (yes, sir! I did) for the first time in ages I didn't have that much time to knit in the afternoon.


My deep-V looks something like this now. I will go to Gino's tonight, because I have made a date with Linster (who started up the Argyle Vest-Along) so I simply have to show up! And when I get home, it will definitely be ready for the blocking.

My body is definitely not as tall and thin as the body the image suggests the vest is made for. I have never performed blocking, because it has never been needed, is it possible that it will work wonders with the width of the vest? Will the vest be big enough for me? Or will I be forced to give it to someone much thinner then myself? Maybe the renewed membership at the gym will make it possible to squeeze in to the vest??

Why...?

The little image for the WIP is not that little. I ask myself "Why?" I'm working on it though.

I present to you:

M in his sweater!
Standing on top of Empire State Building in a sweater made by me! He must feel like he's on top of the world! Please note the UN building on his left side.
This is the first sweater I started to knit. It has been... boring! Even though M is slim, it felt endless to knit it becauseof the size. I don'treally liked knitting with the yarn either, Karisma's superwashed. I like the result though, the arms are a bit large, but the sweater is actually quite fitted even though it doesn't show in the picture. Being much older and wisernow, I wonder why I picked something that ordinary to knit, but I know the answer to that question. I wanted to see M in a striped sweater!

The bag is back!

The deep-V was returned intact, in it's bag and I'm sooo relieved! I have made some progress on it as well, finished the knitting and cut the steeks!! It actually went quite well, I just want to finish the ribbings and do the blocking now!! Weeeiii!!
For some reason I can't upload any photos, but I'll give another try tomorrow.

I've also been to some thrift stores to find cheap bags with beatiful handles. So far I haven't found any, but as soon as I do, I'll start to make that fabolous Ferragamo-bag.

Has anyone missed the fabulous jacket Eunny is working on? I think it can be a nice project. She is just... amazing! I love everything she does!

Tomorrow monday, I have to face the old, cold reality I left earlier this year. I'm gona embrace it with energy! Get a membership at the gym, and on tuesday I hope I'll be brave enough to go to Gino's where Sthlm knitters knit together (I'm not really sure if I'm ready to out myself as a knitter yet) and on wedenesday I want to dance some tango! Well, stay tuned to find out if I succeed to live such an energetic life! :D

one, two, three... breathe...

OK, so I'm back, back in the blogworld and back in Sweden! Since my last posting here I have done some of tourist things in New York with M. We've been up in Empire tate Building, seen the roller skate disco in Central park etc. And today I came back to Sweden. Lovely, except that one of our 4 bags are missing! A big bag full of shoes, presents and, listen now, folks, ALL the knitting things! My yarn, my needles, my knitting books and, ofcourse, my Argyle! i honestly don't know what to do!! I know that bags have been missing before and been returned, but this doesn't feel good at all. So while I try to tell myself that the bag will come back, I just keep breathing, in... and out... in... and out...

Happy Birthday!

So, let's start of with a teaser of M's sweater. It's not a master piece, but it will surely dress a master piece soon! The man himself is probably on his flight to London now, and tomorrow afternoon he will be here with me!!

I've had a quite lousy birthday because I woke up with a fever, stayed home and slept almost all day, so I haven't even knitted! But, since my work here ends tomorrow, I'm quite happy anyway.

Here's a picture of my Argyle vest. Can you see that there's a monster at the top with red eyes and a mouth? That's for the steeks and will be cut up to make the deep V-neck. This vest is very fun to knit, I love the pattern and repeating it in my head; green white, green white, 3 green, white green, white green, 3 white...

Have you seen that Eunny has posted an introduction to lace knitting on her webpage. I wonder what she's doing for living. She seems to knit and study knitting all the time!She's so creative and productive!

Phew! I'm knitting like crazy when I'm not trying to sleep, are chasing mice or working, but I still doesn't have any pictures to show.

M's sweater is almost all done. I thought I will sew the arms to the body when I have M here to avoid puffy shoulders. So you will soon get to see the sweater, but then it will be perfectly fitted to, and on my loved M.

Before I go to sleep I will start with the steek-thing on my Argyle. The vest-along has got a lot of new members, check it out!

It has been a great day today, first a 2 hour+ lunch at The Delegates Dining Room (thank you, supervisor!) and then dinner at the Mozart Café -with my best friend's brother's old girlfriend! We met in 1998 (when they still were a couple) and it was fun to meet someone so strangely known and unknown at the same time!

Tomorrow is my birthday, so please leave a message so I don't feel so lonely!

Ferragamo Knit-Bag-along

There is a new knit-along for the Ferragamo bag, and I'm in! I can't really start with it now, no yarn, no pattern and no bag-handles so I know how big the bag should be. But I can start making some swatches and let the people on the knit-along help me figure out the pattern. :D

And, yes, the f***ing mouse problem is back! Two are dead, but yesterday I saw one again. I look terrible because I can't sleep, and soon M will come, so what is a girl to do?

Ooops, guilt trip

I've been very upset with my supervisor some days. Ugly words have escaped my mouth. I am deeply sorry for that, but remember, I never published these horrible thoughts! And I said them in a moment when I didn't think you cared for me. I hope you accept my apologize!
Oh, and yes, you may take me out for lunch on wednesday!

We're getting closer

4 days are left until my sweetheart M comes to save me from this emotional violence*! Finalement! I miss him sooo much! I haven't finished the sweater I'm making for him yet. The elastic collar is made with a 3mm circular needle, and it hurts to knit with that. When the collar is done, I only have to add the sleeves, so I will still have it ready by the time he comes!

Can you imagine, it was because I wanted to see M in this very sweter that I started to knit last summer! It has taken me half a year to finish it (!), but during that time, I've also made a couple of other things, and since I came to NY I think I've learnt a lot of new things about knitting!




*Depeche Mode: Leave in Silence

School Products and Habu

Yesterday I continued my yarn shop odyssée. First, I went to School Products. They have a lot of cheap, quality yarn (this sound like a commercial) that can be bought in larger quantities. You get a feeling of being back in school (hence the name?), everything is arranged very neatly, and it's really nice considered how much yarn they have. At the same time, a big yarn store simply can't get the nice feeling of a smaller yarn shop. Which leads me too... Habu Textiles, a very special yarn store. A picture tells more than a thousand words:

These yarns were on sale, and the other yarns were in an other room, were they had one sample of every yarn. It was very calm, peaceful and they have only yarns made of natural fibers. This store you almost have to visit!

I had to buy some yarn at Habu, some wool in bright colors that were on sale. I plan to use it for the felted cover for my laptop. I love the combination of orange and turquise.

To the right in the left picture you can see a silk-cotton blend that I bought for my up coming lace-shawl project!

Don't forget to keep updated on my progress on the amazing Deep V Argyle vest.

So many projects, so little time…

There’s one good thing being alone in a city with bad weather and where you don’t know that much people: you have time to knit as much as you want! I think I’ve been very productive, M’s sweater has seen some progress, UltraFemme is almost finished, Megan is completely finished and I’ve some smaller projects I’ve started, redone and redone, and don’t forget the Argyle vest! The problem is that I only have one week left of this solitary knitting life. And I have, of course so many projects in my head that I want to see in yarn.

I’ve already mentioned the yellow bag, but I also want to do something for my laptop, I haven’t found anything to keep it in that’s neither to big nor too expensive. I think this will be a felted laptop cover. I've also mentioned the blanket that will be used on our balcony and the matching cuchions for the chairs at the balcony (that do not exist yet). And, I'm also dreaming of a knitted bikini-top that i saw on a picture of Marilyn Monroe. Oh, I almost forgot, I want to make a lace shawl and my green-and-white striped socks! Hmmm, so how will I have time to do all this? And what will I start with?? Well, maybe I'll try to finish a couple of the things I'm working on before I start with something new? Good intensions are never bad!

Welcome to the international blog!

I have decided that my blog from now on will be written in English. I've been asking myself if it's really necessary -who wants to read my blog anyway? But then I thought; there have to be more english speaking people who find my blog interesting, then there are swedish speaking people who find my blog interesting. So, here we go!

Today I got an email from a friend of mine, she told me that she had seen some really nice scarves that were knitted, so she's gona knit one herself! I've been trying to get her to start knitting, because she's always so stressed, so I hope she will get more relaxed by doing this.

Yesterday, all I knitted on my Argyle vest was while I was doing my laundry. Instead, I spent most of the evening working on M's sweater. I've decided that it has 1st priority unitl it's finnished! I believe it will be finished during the weekend, and after that I'll continue with Argyle.

I've been looking at KnitLit and I am really interested in Kate's aspiration of finding out how to knit this Ferragamo bag:

And do you know what!? I'll follow her lead if she manages to fnid out the right pattern. I want to make it yellow! You know, first I wanted to make the Argyle yellow, but obviously I could not find the right color-yarn combination. So maybe this bag will be beautiful in yellow instead? I just have to find nice handles and that thing on top. Which means this will have to wait until I get home to Sweden. Aaaah!