My fingers are bleeding

Well, not really, but they hurt! It is so much nicer to knit than to sew through leather. Sewing through leather hurts yout fingers, even if you have something between the fingers and the needle to ease the pain. Maybe a sewing machine would help, but I don't have one.
Conclusion: I'm not finished with the Ferragamo bag yet. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow my Precioussss bag will be finished.

I'm getting there, folks!

This is the idea of how my bag will look like. Before I cut the leather I made a paper-model, but it looks quite nice even with the paper I think, maybe even more stylish? I had made one curlicue and then one of my friends called and wanted my attention.

Fortunately, the curlicues don't need much attention to knit, so when I got home again I had made all 7 of them. Perfect! ( have you noticed how I use my floor when I take pictures of the Ferragamo? It's because I think the yellow looks gorgeus against that warm, brown color.)

Anyway, the leather is cut, the two pieces are sewn together, and the handles are cut and have holes in them for the... rivets (according to all-knowing M). The friend calls for my attention again though. Her sister is playing at Nalen tonight, so It will probably be fun. I leave you with this picture and promise to show you the finished bag tomorrow and the details that are taking so long time!

Two first-ones

This is what I've been up to the last week.

Starsky! I bought the yarn that Maria at Marias garn recommended; one strand of wool and a thicker strand of alpaca. It is the first time I'm knitting cables, but so far I think it looks good.

It is important to knit thoroughly, and that's why I made a swatch for this project. This is a first timer as well. My swatch was a bit larger than it should have been, but according to my measurments I should be a size between M and L. And guess what? If the same proportion that was between my gauge and the recommended gauge remains when I start to knit the pattern, I will end up with a cardigan perfect for me! I think it looks a bit too small actually, but I'll knit some repeats of the pattern and then I'll make an assessment of the size.

I've noticed that Kate at Knitlit has posted the beta-pattern to the ferragamo bag now. She has also posted a picture of her version of the bag, and I have to admit that it looks a lot better than my bag. But still, my version, it's like... me! A bit too big, a bit too bright, too much, but still quite adorable! :)

My dad will hopefullt stop by with some tools I need to finish the bag (for the leather-work) so hopefully, we'll see the finished bag real soon!

Just to make sure...

that you get it right: the pictures are taken of the bag turned inside-out. ok?

My personal sunshine

Phew! This sewing thing is soo... energy consuming. It took me the whole day to do all the sewing for this bag. Ofcourse, I had easter dinner, played with my nephew and gossiped with my sister as well, but still.

The inside of the bag is now covered with a yellow bag. Everything is so yellow that I can't help but feeling happy when I look at it. Tomorrow i hope I will have time to get the leather for the top, and then, finally, I'll be able to use this magnificent bag! Well, my yarn ran out so I haven't made the curlicues either, but they are coming!

The piece I had knitted turned out to be too long, so I decided to fold down one of the boards. On the inside I also sewed a small pocket with a zipper.

The bag itself wont have a zipper so I figured that at least my money, lipstick and other important stuff could be secured with a zipper.

Ferragamo bag turns Easter-bag!

The leather-store wasn't open today, but I found a very nice store at Drottninggatan were I bought some yellow fabric! They have dark wooden display cases (according to the dictionary, vitrinskåp in swedish) were they kept the lace-fabrics. Very authentic.

Anyway, I bought some fabric, a zipper and sewing thread in matching, easter yellow.

So tomorrow I will delight my parents with a visit and use my mum's sewing machine! I hope everything will go alright. I actually bought something to strengthen the fabric with in the bottom, but that doesn't show in the photo. And the zipper isn't meant for the actual bag, but for a small pocket inside the bag.

Annelie at Konststycket asked about the pattern for this bag. The truth is that there is no pattern for it, yet. There is a knit along for the bag, which only has been a "try to figure out the pattern"-along so far. Kate at knit lit sent out a beta-pattern for some of us to test. I tested and then I thought it was good enough. I wanted the bag and I wanted it as soon as possible, so I just went with the beta pattern. I think the final pattern will be out soon, so anyone who wants the best, most authentic Salvatore Ferragamo bag he/she can make should just wait. If you're as sluggish as I am, try to get hold of the beta pattern, or just ask me and start knitting pronto!

Glad Påsk!

To celebrate that Eastern is here, I have finished the knitting on my Ferragamo bag. Here are the back and the front piece next to each other, so you will see that there actually are two of them.

And here is a picture of the two pieces sewn together.


So, only the non-knitting stuff left to do. I haven't bought anything for that yet, so I will continue to work on the bag as soon as I've been to town. I know the bag doesn't look very impressive but I think it could be really beautiful with some fabric inside and some leather on the outside.

Next up is a picture of my Norweigan stocking that has been growing! I feel slightly out of season knitting on these now, but I really like the yarn so I don't mind.

I can't be knitting socks all summer, so I've been thinking more and more about the Starsky-pattern. Nina at Nysta recommended using Drops Alpaca with double yarn or Paris, but I'm not thrilled of any of the suggestions. Mia had tried Alaska, but not with a very good result, so the hunt of the perfect yarn will continue as well!

What's missing in this picture?

That's right! one of the needles! Instead of grabbing the free one to knit with, I simply grabbed and puled out one that was in use. Well, well no harm done and this gave me a reason to take a picture of my ongoing sock and show it to you.

I'm knitting much tighter when I use two yarns which leads to that the ribbing on top (or in the bottom of the picture) is wider then the rest of the sock. I assume that it shouldn't be like that. Has anyone got any tip? Do I have to frog, or could I just leave it like this?

I am hard to please

The new Knitty is out, and I'm not very excited about any of the patterns. Maybe I could do the exchequered scarf, but I don't want to knit a scarf when the summer's almost here! (some wishful thinking doesn't hurt)

What I can knit, though, is some nice socks! I got my sock books last friday, and that's one of the reasons why I haven't posted anything lately! Not that I've come very far, I started on some socks that I frogged and now I'm working on the Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks. They will be a present for my dad, so I'm making them in the colors suggested in the pattern. Pictures will soon be up!

Wishes and future plans

I want three things to happen right now.

1. I want it to stop raining.
2. I want my second piece for the ferragamo bag to be finished
3. I want my sock-books ( Socks Socks Socks and Folk Socks) to come.

That's all I'm asking for right now! But I've decided that I will sit down, watch bad tv and knit the 2nd Ferragamo-side until the mail comes, and then please, please, please, my books have to come! Or at least that little paper that says that I can go and get them from the store. (I don't have a post office here, so I leave and get packages at the only nearby grocery store.)

My hands are longing for a larger project, something I can wear. I've been thinking Starsky. First i didn't like it at all, but then I saw the beautiful back and changed my mind! What I still don't like about it is the ribbed shawl collar. I did a collar like that for my first project for myself (that finished), a vest that makes me look like a square. and that has sort of got me to loath all ribbed shawl collars, very unfair! And besides, I'm a much more experienced knitter now than I was i september, so maybe I can pull this one through?

Does anyone have a good suggestion on substitute yarn for the called for KnitPick's Sierra (70% wool, 30% superfine alpaca; 110 yds/100m per 100g skein)?? Or, does anyone know if it's possible for Scandinavia to order from KnitPick?

Ferragamo is taking shape

It is yellow. For you who haven't noticed yet, the fashion color of spring 2006 (and hopefully summer too, I will want to use this for a looong time) is yellow. How practical!
It's lying on a cow-skin and I'm planning to add some leather details in the same brown color. I've been to Gamla Stans Läderhandel and seen what they can offer me, but I haven't made any decisions yet. It looks quite big, but I like big bags, it makes me feel like the Moomin mother. Which is a good feeling.

According to Amazon, my sock-books might show up tomorrow!! I can't wait!!!

First work, then rest!

I presented my master thesis yesterday, but not without any trouble. For some reason I lost my brain for a moment in the morning while I erased my ppt-presentation. How can someone do that? How could I do that? It's just plain stupid! Anyway, I managed to put something half-decent together before it was my time to speak, and I guess it went alright. Not very good, but alright. I also went to "boxersice" with my friend R in the evening, and since R is a he, it was even more exhausting than if he would have been a she! My whole back is hurting today!!

Altogether, I figuered that I deserved a day off today. I'll start my new work on monday (PhD-studies) so maybe I need to go shopping and shape up my work-wardrobe? And ofcourse, I will sit down in a chair and just knit! I've finished one piece of the Ferragamo Bag. It's yellow, yellow, yellow and quite beautiful! I've sort of tired of the pattern, and that's strange! I'm more tired of this than I get on normal stockinette stitch. Very strange. I will get a picture here later today! Yaaawn! I think I will start with the knitting now! Have a nice day!

Flash it!!

I'm not worse than anyone else. I' m ready to Flash my Stash ! Since I'm a very tidy person, it's not because of a visit of M's parents that I cleaned up the ugly traces of my yarn-abuse. (more about what that visit lead to later), it always looks tidy like this! I have my yarn in the TV-furniture and I don't want any readers to be upset of the extremely small TV that can be seen on top of the very 80's, black piece of furniture. It's true that the TV itself is small and I think that M got it when he was about 10 years old (he doesn't recall how old he was, but remembers that he used it for his Nintendo 8-bit games) and since it's still working, and we don't watch tv that often, give me ONE reason why we should buy a new one!! I guess that the black thing would have been in the garbage a long time ago if it hadn't been very suitable for the tv itself. If we ever would buy a new tv, we would certainly buy a new tv-furniture as well. Well, back to the yarn...

So, on the top shelf, I have some random left-overs that I like. Well, did I say left-overs? From left to right, there is M's hat, seats for the chairs to the balcony and left-overs (told you there were left-overs) from my laptop-case. Speaking of it, it will go round, round today, we've got laundry-time!

And on the bottom, that's where I keep my new Dale-yarn that i got yesterday and some other random yarns. The left-overs that i don't like is in a white box in the back so I don't have to see them. The light purple cone is from Habu and the brown thing to the left is left-overs from the Moebius.

My parents stopped by today today to give us some longed for- furniture for the balcony, you know the gray balcony that will be transformed to heaven! This is how it look like now.

And as I mentioned, M's parents visited us today as well. And as the custom seemed to be today, not without bringing a piece of furniture, a chair that has been "redressed" (what's the word for it??) in Josef Frank's fabulous fabric from Svenskt Tenn:

I got a package today!

A package filled with yarn! A couple of weeks ago, I ordered two books from Amazon, Socks Socks Socks and Folk Socks, but then yesterday, I remembered that I actually don't have any sock yarn! I have looked and felt at yarn from Svarta Fåret, Garnstudio and some others. But, either the yarn didn't feel quite right or they didn't have the right colors. So what did I do? I took a chance! I ordered Dale yarn from Carinas Garn och Broderi in some random colors! Carina herself was so sweet that she sent me a sheet she made herself with the colors I didn'n order! Isn't that sweet?? I've felt obsessed with socks for a while now, but all I can do now is wait for the books to get here (Amazon says I'll have to wait one more week, arrgh!) and then I'll start producing socks!