Never ending story

When I finsished this summer's football hats, I promised myself I would not make another hat till after Christmas. But I haven't been able to keep that promise. At the end of the football season (which in Norway is in October..), the ten year old's football trainers were to receive a gift. One ManU fan and another Liverpool. I knitted, the other parents paid money to the football field project and the trainers were happy.

One of the mothers told me she had been an Aston Villa fan since childhood, because she liked the sound of the team's name. And now they even have a Norwegian player, John Carew. So, a hat for Cathinka:

The pattern (in English)is available for purchase, 4 £.






















I made the Brann hat this summer, and the pattern is now updated with a child version with earflaps. You can download it here for 50 nkr (Norwegian pattern)

This is not a football hat, but the pattern is still sold for football fields. A lot of Norwegian kids play both football and ice hockey. This is the hat for the local hockey club, LIK.

Pattern in Norwegian, 50 nkr.







So, if you need a quick gift before Christmas, go ahead!

Scrap gnomies - finished hats and pattern update

These hats are sold for football fields, they will be Christmas gifts for two small sisters.

The pattern is for sale, and has been updated with a children's size. Pattern can be downloaded from the left sidebar. If you prefer the Norwegian version, please send me an e-mail.

The pattern will also be included in this book, along with nine other hat patterns. The book can be preordered on Amazon.

Inspiration

When I saw Kristin Nicholas ' new book on Twist collective 's blog, I decided I had to get that book. I ordered it straight away from the author's side. But then got an e-mail about additional payment for postage, which turned out to be 22 $, almost as much as the book itself. I thought that was a bit too much, and Kristin Nicholas was kind to refund what I had already payed.


But I still wanted the book, of course, so I looked for it in Norwegian online stores. It took a while before I found it, because they showed a different front page (I notice it's been updated now). I finally ordered it from Tanum. And the book is lovely! I really like her bold use of colour. The projects are worked at a gauge of 20 per 10 cm, which is an unusual gauge for me. When working stranded colourwork, I normally knit at a gauge of around 25-27. But the book is full of inspiration! And I might make the mittens - or something else.

If you need more inspiration, check out this dress from Kenzo!

Or what about a new tie for Christmas? These ties are fantastic, have a look!

Canarian colours!

Leaving rainy and cold November weather for a week in Gran Canaria was a good idea! It's amazing how quickly you get used to 25 degrees celcius. (But I'm still happy I live in a place with four seasons, where I get to wear my woolly knitting.)

Puerto Mogán

In the sun I finished my green Noro Scroll Lace shawl (from Ysolda's Whimsical knits 2). The picot edging did not turn out nicely, so I omitted it, and did a plain cast off. (Choosing to blame the ugly picots on the yarn, and not the Spanish red wine..)

Award

Judith has given me a blog award.

Thank you so much! I'm supposed to give it to five other blogs. (Judith did, you should have a look at my fellow award winner's blogs - blogs I did not know before, but will certainly visit again!) It's hard to choose five favourites among the blogs I follow. So consider it given to all the blogs I like to visit. "Ingen nevnt, ingen glemt" as we say in Norwegian (meaning "nobody mentioned, nobody forgotten")

Mittens at forty

For some reason, my friends keep turning forty... And I've been making mittens for them. These are for Torgun, who turns 40 today. It's a free pattern by Hanneke Sieben. You can download it from her Ravelry shop. I modified the ribbing, otherwise followed the pattern.




These were for Charlotte. Free pattern from Knitty Winter 2006, Tiffany.











And these were for Marianne. My Hippocampus mittens, pattern can be found for free in the left sidebar.









Edit: I just realised I had spelt 40 wrong - it's forty, not fourty. I also didn't know that this is the only English number whose letters are in alphabetical order! Good to know! This is what Wikipedia says:

Despite being related to the word "four" (4), 40 is spelled "forty", not "fourty". This is because etymologically (and still in accents without the horse-hoarse merger), the words have different vowels, "forty" containing a contraction in the same way that "fifty" contains a contraction of "five". The letters of the word "forty" are in alphabetical order; this is the only number that has this linguistic property in English.

Whimsical FO

Ysolda is one of my favourite designers, and I'm very happy with my Damson. It's my first lace shawl. First, I meant to make the Swallowtail Shawl (ravelink). But after just a few rows, my stitch count was already wrong - and I was planning to knit this in the car, so I changed my mind, and opted for Damson, a very cute little shawl. Not very lacy, but enough to call it my first lace shawl, I've decided. The hat is also from Ysolda, Urchin, from Knitty Fall 2007.


Blocking

Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits 2 is such a cute collection of pattens, I'd like to make all of it! Next up is another shawl, the Scroll Lace Scarf (ravelink), from the same collection. And my next cardigan is going to be Ysolda's Vine Yoke Cardigan from Twist Collective Autumn 2009.

(I'm sorry to say the model was decapitated by gravity just after the photo shooting...)