Mystery mitten KAL starting soon!

The Mystery Mitten knitting in July was great fun, 

and it inspired me to design another Mystery Mitten pattern. 

Which will be revealed during the month of January, 

first clue on January 1st. 

Come join the "I make mittens" group on Ravelry,

 that's where all the fun is found!

You get all the information in the mystery mitten thread.

Tuin knitalong starting today

Knitalong in my Ravelry group starting today!

Here's the finished children's version 

- not so easy to get good photos on Christmas Eve...

The Tuin pattern only has adult sizes. 

For this yoke I worked to pattern repeats size 40.

All I want for Christmas

is a pair of mittens!

If you buy the pattern before Christmas Eve, you get 50% off!

Proudly presenting: Tuin sweater pattern

You might have noticed by now, that I have a sweater pattern published in the Winter Issue of Twist Collective, Tuin. Isn't that just so cool!?! I'm really proud!

Photo borrowed from Twist Collective

© Linus Ouellet

When I saw this old Slovak embroidery  (38 weeks ago, according to Pinterest ), I knew I somehow had to use this in a knitting pattern. I spent a long time thinking about it, wondering what to make, a cowl, a pillow, pattern on the bottom of a sweater... before I suddenly realized it had to be a yoked sweater. I thought it would work, although it would be a challenge to incorporate the yoke shaping into the pattern.

So I first made a small scale swatch, to see if the chart and the increases would work out:

Here it is, it did work out. (This is now on my needles going to be a child sweater.)

Then to find a yarn for the adult version. I wanted a gauge around 20 sts per 10 cm. Which can result in very heavy garments, which I did not want. So I chose to use two strands of yarn, both from Pickles: Pickles Merino Tweed, and Pickles Pure Thin Alpaca. It's super soft and warm without feeling to thick and bulky. It weighs 517 grams.  

A while before, I had read a blogpost from Áine Ryan, describing the design process for a sweater she made for last year's Twist Collective's Winter Issue, Luggala. "Aim high", she wrote, having never designed a sweater before, and decided to submit it to Twist Collective. So I thought, if she can, so can I. And the rest is history...

Well, there was a lot of thinking and calculations and knitting. And waiting. First for the answer from Twist, of course. Then for the yarn to knit the sample sweater to arrive from the US. Then for the confirmation that the finished sweater had arrived in the US. (It's a bit scary to send off a sweater across the Atlantic like that, I can tell you.) And then waiting for the publication day. All the time thinking that they would get back to me saying that the sample was not good enough, or that the pattern had so many serious flaws they could not publish it, or something else. But it didn't happen, and the reception has been a great one, I think. There is even one finished sweater already!

The first Tuin was worked without short row shaping in the back. So it can be worn both sides, as you can see. The final pattern has short row back neck shaping, with the tulip in the middle on the front. There was an error in the first published version, so on Pinneguri's sweater, the rose is in the front. I like both versions, but I just had to make a choice. 

The yarn that Twist Collective sent me, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Targhee Worsted, was amazing. The blue colour was made specifically for this project. The yarn was really nice to work with, soft and bouncy and with a great stitch definition. I used 525 grams for a sweater size 40. If you have the chance to get your hand on the yarn, I highly recommend it. If you're interested in reading about the targhee sheep, you can find some information here (wikipedia) and here (US Targhee Sheep Association). The yarn can be found in the Blue Moon online store.

Photo borrowed from Twist Collective

© Linus Ouellet

... and the winner is!

Thank you so much for all your congratulations and nice comments on my last post!

Today I have drawn five winners:

Four pattern winners: CeltChick, Miriam, Serena and Kuku have all won a pattern of their choice.

CeltChick and Miriam, please contact me with your Ravelry name or an e-mail address, so I can send you your pattern. Kuku and Miriam, I need to know what pattern you want. Serena, the Blomekrans vest pattern is on its way to you!

And, ta dah - the winner of the project bag, and a pattern, is Merete Sinding! I have sent you an e-mail, to get your address and to know what pattern you want.

Thanks again, everyone! Without readers, no blog. Thanks for visiting!

5 years anniversary! Join the giveaway!

Just over 5 years ago, I started this blog. 

November 20th 2008, I had my first two patterns published, 

in The Inside Loop. 

(This online magazine was discontinued shortly after, 

but I'm still going strong :-) )

So, to celebrate, I'm doing a giveaway!

If you comment on this post, you can win this project bag, 

with some stitch markers, a skein of hand dyed, icelandic lace yarn, 

a book mark from Shetland, and maybe some other goodies...

You also win a pattern of your choice. 

Four other winners, can also have a pattern of their choice. 

Five years, five winners.

Just make a comment saying which pattern you would like to win,

 if you're a lucky winner. 

The yarn, is the same yarn as I used in this shawl, details on Ravelry.

The give away closes on December 1st, 

and the winners will be announced on December 2nd 

(if nothing comes in the way.)

What happened to the Mystery shawl?

I was looking forward to Westknit's Mystery Shawl in September. 

I eagerly cast on the first clue, 

and enjoyed knitting the holes and the stripes. 

Then another project caught my interest. 

When I went back to the shawl, I had already seen all the clues. 

I didn't care for the shape, and I was unsure about my third colour. 

So I just picked up sts at the broad end of the long triangle, 

and worked stripes, decreasing every third stripe 

till there were jus a few stitches left. 

And here it is! I love the colours, and I love that it's so long. 

It can be doubled, and then wrapped twice around the neck.

It's soft and warm.

The yarn is Pickles Merino Tweed.

Already a favourite!

Finished fairisle!

I recently finished my fairisle sweater!

 I'm quite happy with it, if I may say so myself. 

More details on Ravelry.

There will be a pattern, eventually...

About last post: I was not able to see the whole knitting TV night 

last weekend, as I had to work. 

But it's still available to see online,

 so there is still a chance for us who couldn't see it all.

Knitting evening here, knitting night here 

(where they tried, but did not succeed in beating the 

"from sheep to sweater"  world record from Austrailia.)

Welcome Wovember

You can follow the WOVEMBER BLOG here.

And tonight is National Knitting Evening (Nasjonal strikkekveld) on Norwegian television. Read about it in Engish here and here.

Happy knitting night!

Ready for Lilyhammer, season 2

with a new Lillehammer hat . . . . .

 . . . . . we're ready for Lilyhammer season 2!

Can't wait to see why they had to keep the Chrismas decorations up until March.

If you want to knit a hat while watching, you find the pattern here.

Next year in Lerwick?

No, it's not finished, still one sleeve to go. But looking good so far, I think. 

The Shetland Wool Week is going on this week, and I'd love to be there. You can see a bit of what's happening on Jamieson & Smith's blog. And see what I was up to last year here. I hope to go back next year. 

Lillehammer hat in English

Remember the Lillehammer hat?

The pattern is now available in English!

It's a hat in stranded colourwork hat with skiers and snow motifs, inspired by Lillehammer ski races.  The garter stitch brim with ear flaps is worked flat, ear flaps formed with short rows. The rest of the hat is worked in the round.

The gauge is 22 sts in 10 cm, so it's a relatively quick knit. And it's fun to see the skiers grow - "just one more round". My hat is worked in Rauma Mitu, a wool/alpaca blend, really soft an warm. 

If you start now, the hat will be ready for winter. 

or check out the pattern page on Ravelry

Knitted on the edge

Last year I bought a knitting book with lost of different edgings, knitting on the edge, by Nicky Epstein. This lace was started then, trying out one of the edgings And finally turned into a little cowl by adding some stripes and ribbing. Gifted to a little niece. 

And how about the book?

There are lots of nice edgings, many of them are not just edgings, so it can be used as a stitch dictionnary also. The lay out and photos are beautiful, and there are some patterns too, one for each chapter, using one of the edgings in a garment. 

What I didn't think of when I bought it, but that I missed when I started knitting from it, are charts. There are no charts, and for me, who much prefer charts to written instructions, that's a drawback. I would also have liked more edgings knitted topdown, so you can easily add them to an existing garment, or use them in top down constructions. 

But exept from these two things, it's a very nice resource. 

Sock yarn tunic - a 2 year work in progress

I promised myself to finish a few projects before starting Colorcraving, Stephen West's mystery shawl. I have finished a pink shawl, a toddler's cowl, and last, but definitely not the least, this sock yarn tunic that I started in May 2011. 

The neckline and the raglan shaping is from a sweater pattern, Elphaba.

The two first flower patterns are from Pinneguri's Latvian Garden Blanket. 

The third flower pattern is form my Blomekrans Vest.

The lace at the bottom is from Kirsten Kapurs Cladonia Shawl.

Here I am, wearing the tunic and knitting the first clue of the Mystery Shawl!

Pretty in pink

Ta dah, one UFO less!

Pattern: Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston
Needles: US 6 - 4.0 mm
Yarn: Handdyed Ístex Loðband Einband / Icelandic Laceweight (gift from Knitting Iceland after they published my Toasty, Twisty, Tweedy cowl)
When: Started April 2012, finished September 2013
Modifications; When I picked this shawl up again after a year or so, I had almost finished the Bird's Eye Lace border. And I was to lazy to figure out once again how to do it, so I decided it was enough. I also was too lazy to do the original edging. which is really nice, btw, so I did a few rows of garter stitch, and then did a picot cast off.

Secret mission in Hoorn?

Recently, a friend of mine posted this Facebook update:

"During our stay in Spain, someone in Hoorn put all the light poles, trees, electrical panels and even fountains in knitted garments. I have a feeling that my sister Nina or friend Tori have been here with a secret mission."

I will not confirm or deny anything...

I'm dreaming of a white....

.....blanket.

Or rather, I was dreaming of it, and decided to make one. 

Different white wool yarn, 

different sized squares,

different patterns. 

Mostly worked during lectures at university many years ago. 

For some years now, it's been in desperate need of repair, 

which I recently got around to do: 

Ta dah! A new bedspread.

Another mystery

I have joined Westknit's September Mystery Shawl!

I have heard so much about his wonderful patterns and KALs, but I have never tried any of them. In September I will! In the meantime I'm trying to finish as many UFOs as I can....

Mystery solved!

Mystery mittens are popping up all over Ravelry 

- see the finished mittens here.

I amazed at all the different versions, different colour combinations and different takes on the embroidery. 

So much fun!

Knitters from Canada, Norway, Estonia, Sweden, France, 

USA, Belgium and  England have finished mittens.

Finally I have finished both my mittens too. 

I did another variation on the second star. 

The July Mystery Mitten Kal is over. 

If you like the mittens, you can purchase the pattern on Ravelry, 

or via the link below. 

'

There will be another mystery KAL in the

 "I make mittens" group in October, by RoseHiver, 

who has several beautiful sock patterns, 

and one gorgeous mitten pattern 

in her Ravelry store. 

Contrast and colourwork - a finished pair of mittens

I made these mittens for a mitten knitalong on Facebook. 

They were supposed to be finished in May, but other projects and life came in the way. 

But here they are: 

-Pattern: 126-5 Mittens with pattern in ” Delight” and ” Fabel”  by DROPS design 
-Yarn:: Kauni Effektgarn and som unknown gray yarn from stash 

Modifications to the pattern:

- Just made a ribbing instead of patterned cuff. 

-Changed the thumb a bit, and moved it up, 

since people commented they were a bit long (the mittens, that is). 

I think they look nice, but the pattern doesn't show perfectly due to lack of contrast.

(on the black&white photo you can really see this lack of contrast). 

Somehow I like the effect, though.

Finally a knitted FO!

I’m quite happy with how it turned out in the end, although there are several things I would change if I were to make it again: I would work it top down instead of bottom up, I would have made a longer ribbing. Also the sleeves are too wide at the top, and they were also too short (blocking helped a bit for these two problems) I would make little less waist shaping, it might look ok now, but I had to block the waist pattern quite a lot to get a good fit. I would also make the pattern symmetric around the raglan decreases (or increases, if I work it top down) on the front. 

I think I might make another one... - for a young girl, in other colours and yarn, maybe with all over yoke pattern. But not right now…

Old doilies table runner

Found this on Pinterest.

Here's my version: 

I'm so proud of my Water Melon Shawl

I finished my shawl in time, that is, within the month of June, to participate in the drawing in the KAL thread on Ravelry. I'm so happy about the result - can't stop admiring and photograping it. 

Pattern is Germinate, aka TTLmysteryshawl 2013

You can see lot's of beautful versions in the Ravelry thread. There are som many gorgeous colour combos.

My yarn was, Gjestal Silja Sock, in white, just an ordinary yarn. Then the green is a semisolid merino sock yarn, a bit lighter than what it looks in the photos, Indigo Moon Merino Superwash Fingering Weight. The red is another merino wool, tuLLiBaLL Råkk, coloured by two Norwegians, Siw , band kaos on Ravelry, selling yarn here.  Both the red and the green are beautiful and soft yarns, nice to work with. I have quite a bit left of the green, just a little bit of the red - I'm actually considering making a pair of socks (don't tell anyone...)

I can highly recommend the shawl pattern. I have made two of her shawls before, which I also loved. Her patterns are really well written. She's offering a discount form July 1st, till end of September, as part of the Summer Shawl KAL. You get to hang out on Ravelry with lot's of nice shawl knitters, who can answer any of your questions regarding shawls, and probably most other topics as well. I was tempted to knit another shawl actually, but I restrained myself, and will finish some other wips in stead. (Good girl!)