Vaila verde

Today I finished my green Vaila by Gudrun Johnston.


I'm so happy with the result!! My swatch gauge was 17, and I knit size 38, thinking that I would end up with a size between 38 and 40. But it turns out my actual gauge was 18, as called for in the pattern. No harm done, the sweater fits perfectly.

I used Du Store Alpakka Tynn Alpakka (100% alpaca) and Rauma Lamullgarn (100% wool), one strand of each held together. The result is a warm, but not too thick and heavy fabric. I think there are lots of mistakes in the lace part, but I don't believe anyone will notice. And if someone does, we can probably have an interesting chat about knitting..

I highly recommend the pattern! It's very well written, easy to follow.

If I should have made any new year resolutions this year, one would have been to try new knitting techniques. This pattern taught me two: Spit splicing (why haven't I leart that before??) and Old Norwegian cast on (a version of long tail cast on, that gives you a purly look). Probably noone will notice that I have used that cast on for the purl part of the ribbing either, but it's nice anyway.

Amiga pentagons

Inspired by the March bonus crochet along in the fingerless glove fanatics group on Ravelry, I made myself a new pair of Amiguitas. The other brown pair is sold - one more square meter of football ground!

I also used the Amiga pentagon to make a hat. I had som left over Fritidsgarn that I used, and the hat is slightly felted. For sale here.

It's been snowing lately, so hopefully people still want to buy hats!

Green

Green is one of my favourite colours. I like most green nuances, exept the pastel ones. This dress is made of green fabric from a second hand shop and some green, flowery fabric from my childhood, I think it was a pillow case my grandmother made me. The pattern is from Stoff og stil. I think it's a nice pattern, but I had to enlarge the arm openings quite a bit, otherwise it's a nice fit. I love to relax with my knitting, but sometimes it's nice with the instant gratification you can get from sewing.




My knitting at the moment is green too: Vaila. I'm working on the raglan part, so it will soon be finished! The photo is from the start.

Ask, and you shall get...

... an answer. Remember my post Norah Gaughan in Norway? I wondered if anybody knew a shop that would ship to Norway, at a reasonable shipping cost. And Knits Must answered: "You could get it from yarnandfiber.com. I've bought from them - they ship worldwide and their shipping charges are reasonable. " Thanks for the information! Just over a week after I ordered, I had the two booklets I wanted, together with some Cascade 220, that I'm going to turn into an Owl sweater. The yarn is the most popular yarn on Ravelry, and I can see why, it's lovely, can't wait to cast on!

Pretty pink neckwarmer

I've had this Pudorosa neckwarmer in my queue for some time. And then I found the perfect yarn: Handpainted mirasol alpaca. Beautiful colours, and soft and warm. I could have used smaller needles, to make it a little tighter around the neck, but it's pretty anyway. Maybe next time.

The pattern is from the Spanish online knitting magazine Tejemanejes. Luckily the pattern has been translated to English. I do speak Spanish, but I haven't taken the step into the Spanish knitting vocabulary yet. That might be a future challenge...

Easter gnomy for sale!

I kept picturing my scrap gnomy in warm yellow, orange and red colours, so I had to dive into my stash and give it a try. I must admit I'm quite happy with the result:

Mods: Didn’t want to knit with needles 2 mm, so I cast on 110 for the hem, and increased after the folding. Changed the first stars a little bit, to reduce three colour stranding from 4 to 2 rounds.

Yarn: Fingering yarn from stash.

Size: Child (hat circumfrence 45 cm)

The hat was made for fun, and so far doesn't have an owner. It's up for sale , to raise money for a football ground for the kids in the neighbourhood. (It's a Norwegian site, but payment can be arranged via paypal if other people are interested.)