2008

I have self published my first free patterns, Curly and Stripey.
I have self published a pattern for sale (so far, I'm not rich..)
I have had two of my patterns published in The Inside Loop.

I have started blogging (don't know if anybody is reading, though).
I have done slalom skiing for the first time.
I have learnt I-cord bind off.
I have started to knit mittens, after I found the "magic loop" technique.

I have celebrated my 40th birthday ("life begins at fourty").
I have read some books, and remember one more than others: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
I have finished several projects, but the number of wip's has not decreased..

Some of my finished objects from 2008.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Finished Armenius

I finished this on Christmas Eve, and I'm quite happy with the result. It was a quick knit, because it's mostly stocking stitch, but still interesting because of the cables. I like the simplicity of it, and the way the sleeves and the hem just roll up. If I were to knit it again, I'd choose a solid coloured yarn, to make the cables show better.

I used a thinner yarn than suggested in the pattern. My tension was 21sts/10 cm, in the pattern 17sts/10 cm. I followed instuctions for size M, and got a boy sweater, size 9-10 years.

Pattern: Armenius by Kai Mistry
Yarn: Juvel by Idena
Needles: 4,0 mm

Winter solstice

Maihaugen, December 2008.

These Stella polaris hats are such a quick knit

- I'm almost addicted...

Stella polaris - nordic star hat

A couple of weeks ago I answered Frksnupp's survey about the nordic star. This survey is for her masters thesis in the Arts and Culture programme at the University of Stavanger (UiS), Norway. Her intention is to find out more on the use of the Nordic star, connected to knitting or crocheting patterns and how it is used in Ravelry. One of the questions asked if you were planning to use the nordic star in your design. And I thought, that's a good idea, and I came up with this hat:

The yarn is super bulky - Hubro from Dalegarn - so it's a very quick knit, a couple of hours only. So if you need a quick gift, here you are! I'm planning to put it up for sale, but for now you can download the charts for free
here, as a christmas gift from me!

Tension: 10,5 sts / 10 cm and 13 rows / 10 cm

Finished size: 47 cm circumference (fitting a medium size adult head)

Needles: 8 mm for ribbing, 10 mm for stranded colourwork (or needles to get right tension).

Cast on 48 sts on smaller needles. K 2, p 2 for 6 rows. With larger needles work according to chart A (three repeats) and chart B (four repeats). Draw yarn through remainig 8 sts. Weave in ends. Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

(This is a bad photo, but if you look closely, you can see a star on top of the hat too.)

Sewing club

Many Norwegian women are members of a "syklubb" (sewing club). This is mostly an excuse to get together, eat, drink, talk, and maybe knit a stitch or two. But there is rarely any sewing. Until recently: Some friends and I have started a sewing club where we actually sew. Inspired by Tulip and Tatamo and SiriSDesign we wanted to make our own dresses. The idea is to recycle old clothes, but so far we have bought our fabric at Stoff og stil , a Norwegian (and Danish, I think) online shop.




The dress pattern is also from Stoff og stil, pattern 23015, dress/T-shirt. I added the ribbon, and some width to the skirt, otherwise followed tha pattern. (The photo could have been better, but daylight is scarce nowadays... )

Knitty and not knitty

The winter issue of Knitty has been up for a couple of days, with lots of nice patterns. I'm most likely to be making Fern Glade (hat) or Poinsettia (neckwarmer). There are also some nice cardigans, but there are already too many of those in my queue...

Knitty was my door into the knitting world on the Internet, after I found the site some years ago now. I remember I worked my way through the Flora pattern, with a Norwegian - English vocabulary.

My Phantasy did not make it into Knitty. If you're on Ravelry, you can check out other designs that didn't make it: Visit the Almost Knitty group.

Thanks to these pretty girls for modelling. And thanks to Pinneguri for showing me Marnie's tutorial for using Excel to design colourwork.

Handball knitting

I started this project in the beginning of December, because I needed some stocking stitch knitting to calm my nerves during Norway's matches in the European Handball Championship. Now I have to try to finish the Happiness knot before tonight's match against Denmark.

I like the pattern, it's Armenius, from The Inside Loop's winter issue 2008, by Kai Mistry. I'm using a different yarn, Juvel by Idena, which is thinner than suggested in the pattern. My tension is 21sts/10 cm, in the pattern 17sts/10 cm. Following instuctions for size M, this should fit a ten year old boy, if my calculations are right.

Small friends

Playing around with the Amiga pentagon, I came up with these wristwarmers, It’s a quick little gift, for a friend or yourself, “Amiguita”, small friend in Spanish.


You need one Amiga pentagon, from The Inside Loop Winter Issue. You can use any type of fingering yarn. English terms and abbreviations are used in this pattern. Equivalent US terms may be found here.

Don’t cut the yarn, turn work. In each 2 ch loop you make 3 tr, 2 ch, and in each corner 3 tr, 3 ch, 3 tr, 2 ch.

Then you’ll make one or two rounds of tr, depending on the size of your wrist and your tension. After this, the pentagon should fit around your wrist, folded like this.

You make 1 tr in each tr and in each 2 ch loop. In the corners you make 1 tr 3 ch 1 tr, if you’re making two rounds. I one round is enough, you make 2 tr, 3 ch, 2 tr in the corners, so that you end up with 27 tr in each side. Cut yarn.

Start in one of the corners, 1 dc, *1 shell (1 shell = 5 tr in same st) in 2nd tr, skip 2 st, 1 dc in next st, skip 2 sts * repeat from * to * 4 more times (= five shells), 1 dc in corner loop.

Now you will join two of the pentagon sides: 1 dc in next dc. 11 ch, 1 dc in each of the first 2 sts on the opposite side. 10 ch, 1 dc in each oft the next two sts on the starting side. 9 dc, 1 dc in each oft the next two sts on the opposite side. Continue like this, reducing the number of ch by one each time. When you reach 1 ch, you continue with 1 ch, 2 dc in each side till you reach the end of the joining sides. (In theory, you should end on the left side of the joining. But if not, don’t worry, just slip stitch your way to the left side.)

You’ll now make shells around the two last pentagon sides: 1 dc in first tr of last tr round. *Skip 2 sts, 1 shell in next tr, skip 2 st, 1 dc in next st * repeat from * to * 3 times, skip 2 sts, 1 shell in corner loop, repeat from * to * 4 times (=9 shells). 1 shell in 1 ch loop of joining line, sl st in first dc. Cut yarn.

Weave in ends. Block if needed. Two small friends to warm your wrists!

My hat is on the run...

...now in Lieblink Magazine, online magazine about handcrafts, art and design:

Click on the picture to see the online page. My Autumn hat to the left. Another version here: