Oops! - A rainbow

I did not plan to make this a rainbow cowl, I just picked some nice colours from my stash. Working on the other half now, want to wear it on my trip to Shetland. Pattern is BMC cowl by Kate Davies.

Last chance to join

... the pot holder swap is tomorrow!

Click here to join (for Ravelry members only).

One of the themes for the Ocotber Pot Holder is "Sommerminner" (summer memories) - as these flowers.

Finally - pattern for sale: Torch man's hat - "Fakkelmannen"

Annepålandet and Torunn test knitted the first version of the pattern. They had troubles with the short rows, due to my poor explanations. I counted and recounted, but couldn't figure it out, before suddenly, one sleepless night - eureka! I understood how I had to do it. I tried it out on this hat, but I knew beforehand it was going to work.

The first two test hats also turned out a bit too big, and I was struggling with the charts, the sizing and the decreases. I was wondering - should I just leave it there, and forget about the pattern? I mean, you don't have to publish a pattern every time you make something. It's a bit obsessive, isn't it? But then I thought of all the work I had already put into the hat. And when I discovered the Testing Pool group on Ravelry, I decided to give it a go. Earlier, I have used the Free Pattern Testers group. It was okay at the time,  but the group has so many rules to obey, that I was reluctant to use it again.

But thanks to my first Norwegian testers, and then Christine and Ursula in the Testing Pool, the Torch Man's Hat - "Fakkelmannen" is now available. You can buy it here, or through Ravelry at 4.00 USD. You can see the tester's hats here, here and here.

And don't forget the Pot Holder Swap!

Recycling with shell stitch

Mostly knitting lately, but with the Potholder Swap, I need to change into crochet mode. These are my latest crochet projects:

An old tunic, bought in Tanzania 20 years ago. I love the fabric, but the neckline did not look good. So I cut off the bad parts, folded the fabric and worked chain stitch along the edge. From the inside, I then worked sc through the chain stitches, and then shell stitch. Brilliant, don't you think?

And the same shell stitch on this lacy underskirt, here I just worked the sc row through the lacy fabric. The dress is made from a XXXL tunic bought in a  thrift store. I love the fabric, and copied one of my favourite dresses from Desigual to make this one.

Btw, there is still time to join the swap!!

Norwegian Pot Holder Swap 2012

Join us on Ravelry if you're interested. (Everybody is welcome, but the group discussions are in Norwegian, so a certain understanding of that languge is necessary.)

Here  are my blogposts from last year's swap.

FOs for hands and feet

I'm trying to finish off some UFOs and do some stash busting before I go to Shetland for the Wool Week in October. The sheepy hats were stash busting projects, these to are old UFOs finally finished (not that I don't have older UFOs, but anyway...) The mittens were started in March 2011, it says on my Ravelry project page (that never lies....).

It's the first version of my 

"All I want for Christmas"  mittens.

With colours from the original inspiration. Here's what I wrote atbout the pattern: "In my town there is a Christmas jazz concert every year. Their definition of jazz is wide, and it’s usually a varied, beautiful and joyful concert. The last song is always a cool and cheerful version of Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you”. The scene where the concert is played is an old scene that was redecorated for the Winter Olympics in 1994. The mittens are inspired by these decorations. The original colors are beautiful golden shades, but with too little contrast to show the mitten pattern, so I chose blue for a wintery pair of mittens, perfect for a Christmas gift."

Yarn: Rauma Finullgarn

Needles: 2,5 mm

Modifications: In stead of picot edging at the bottom, I did two garter stitch ridges (later decorated with chain stitches, which sort of made it look like a Latvian braid). The Latvian braids on cuff were also substituted with garter stitch. And I decorated the flower a little differently than in the pattern.

And, surprise, surprise! A pair of socks!

Knitnetty's Lovely & Thick Rose Socks,

a free pattern.

I used several colours, from my stash,

otherwise followed the pattern as best I could.

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Jogless stripes

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Have a nice weekend - with or without comments!

Lollipop legwarmers!

Getting ready for a cold winter?

Need some colourful warmth for your legs?

Enjoy stripes and cables?

And L O L L I P O P S ?

Test knitters needed!

Ravelers can click here to know more,

 or you can send me an e-mail

(see upper right sidebar).

Still counting sheep

52 sheep!
Pattern: Sheep Heid 

Yarn: Left overs, mostly Rauma Finullgarn

Speaking of sheep
- this summer I discovered a lovely podcast called Electric Sheep. It's made by Katie, a London knitter, who speaks brilliantly about sheep, imaginary and real ones, about wool and kntting, but also other interesting and more serious subjects, like beards, gin, cakes and more. Like me, she's not a sock knitter, which feels good to know. The podcast is a perfect mixture of fun, serious essays and knitting. I brought several old shows with me on holiday, and had some quiet mornings with my sheepy knitting and a coffee, listening to Electric Sheep, while the rest of the family were still asleep.

Speaking of sheep #2
- Have you seen Pinneguri's new pattern? Her Angry Sheep Cardigan ("Sinnasaujakka") has just been released. You see the lovely modell on the photo? I'm using it without asking, because that's me! I did not make the cardigan though, it's one of Pinneguri's four (?) projects. On Ravelry, there are already 19 project pages for the cardigan - probably more when you read this. I've not casted on yet, I'm trying to do some UFO-finishing and stash busting. I'm thinking I might find some  suitable yarn in Shetland during the Wool Week, so I'll be stash busting till then.

Speaking of sheep # 3
- I noticed I had several patterns and projects in my favourites, that I had tagged with sheep. Here are some:

A couple of free sock patterns, sheep may safely graze, and biscottes sheep

Kate Davies' cute tea cozy, Sheep Carousel, and her blanket, of course. I believe there are more sheepy patterns coming from her soon.

Here's a sheep chart, and here's a free pattern for a very sheepy sweater.

A free mitten pattern here, and a baby cardigan here, Sheep Yoke Baby cardigan.

There's a children's sweater  from Sandnes design, aren't these the cutest little sheep?

Ann Kingstone has a vest pattern with sheep and yarn. I believe it was free for a while, I actually think I have it, but now you can buy it on Ravelry.

Here's a scarf with some nice sheep on it, there's no pattern link, but the chart would be easy to copy if you like the sheep (for personal use only, of course). 

And then, a knitted sheep, free pattern here.

Dreaming of Provence - hat pattern

My "Dreaming of Provence" hat pattern is finally ready!

Hats in colours and patterns inspired by Provence. The pattern has three versions, a beanie, a more slouchy hat, and a beret .

Thanks a lot to my test knitters Garnhumlan, Babben and Kirsti! And thanks to SummerMelody for proofreading the English version. 






Pattern details:

Size and measurements 

Beanie: The circumference of the hat is 53 cm / 21 inches
Slouchy hat and beret: The circumference of the ribbing is 50 cm / 20 inches for both models.
The size is adult medium. The stranded fabric beeing less elastic than the ribbling, all models fit a head circumference of 54-56 cm (21-22 inches).

Materials
Yarn: You can use fingering yarn left overs in suitable colours. For each flower row, you need appr. 8 g (28 m / 31 yd) of each colour for the beret, and only 5-6 g (appr 20 m / 22 yd) for the beanie. 

The beanie features a latvian braid on the bottom edge, whereas the slouchy hat and the beret have a cabled ribbing, with a contrast coloured edge.

The flower charts can be mixed and matched as you wish. There are four flower charts, sunflower, poppies, lavender and almond flower, and similar decreasing charts.

Price  $ 5