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

Knitting on the road

Gathering stripes by Veera Välimäki

Worked with left overs: Katia Austral, Pickles Baby Merino, Pickles Extra Fine Merino and Rauma Babygarn. Perfect pattern for knitting on the road!

Modifications:

Worked size 10 years for a boy that just turned 7, made the sleeves slightly shorter, otherwise followed the pattern's measurements. My boy is not a tiny 7-year old, but he's not huge either, so looks like the sizes are a bit on the small side.

I think the sleeves are a little bit tight under the arms. The pattern says you can pick up some stitches under the arm and knit them together on next round, to avoid a hole (or you can sew after finishing). Next time I would pick up some stitches and work a few rounds before decreasing these sts. 

Worked garter stitch brim in stead of folded brim for sleeves and body. I think it looks nice for this sweater,

 and I avoided any purling and seaming. 

Buttons from stash, too!

Cycle race hat!

Thanks to Gitte, Monstermønster , and Anne for comments on my blogpost about left over ideas. (And thanks to Gitte for encouraging comment yesterday). Monstermønster says she makes mittens from her scrap yarn. She sure makes other things too, have a look at her scrap yarn projects. And Anne makes socks!

And lately; I've been making hats from my scrap yarn.  I'm back from holiday with a few FOs to show you, here's the first one.

 

Pattern is the Cycle Race Beanie, by Sandra Jäger.
She makes lots of fun, small colourwork projects and charts.

The hat is for a colleague who turned 29 for the 11th time this summer.
She usually rides a bike to work, all year round. In winter she'll need a hat (if she can fit it under her helmet).

Modifications:

• Different edging, used the edging with earflaps from this pattern, and then a latvian braid.
• Changed the number charts with initials and some other numbers and stripes.
• The original hat looked a little puckery on the top. So I decreased 18 sts before the crown decreases, reducing the number of bikes on top of the hat from 8 to 7, which worked fine, I think.

Grrr.... Blogger

I sat down to start blogging some holiday knitting and discovered my navbar was gone. Without me having done anything. I can manage without, but it annoys me, and I can't figure out why it happened and how to fix it. And trying to fix it, I messed up other things and spent too much time without getting anywhere. That's what I hate about blogging. Anybody who can help? Or just cheer me up?
I went for a walk, took a photo of a pretty flower and had a cappuccino, which has improved my mood! Hope to show you some FOs soon!

Left over projects

I see that people are wondering about how to use their scrap yarn.

One pattern has become very popular this summer: Leftie by Martina Behm.

There is a new group ano Ravelry for scrap yarn ideas, Scraps of Joy.

My Octopetala scarf is another idea.

I have used scrap yarn for my two Sheep Heid hats, you need very little of each colour, and if you don't follow the colour scheme exactly, you can also use very small amounts, especially for the crown of the hat.

Sanna Vatanen has some nice ideas in her book "Stricka och Virka med restgarn". As far as I can see, the book is availble in Finnish and Swedish. On Ravelry here.

Granny squares are well known, of course. Here's another nice square that needs very small amounts of  yarn for the circles. Le vesinet by Sigrun Hugøy. I tested the pattern a couple of years ago.

 

And there's the the beekeeper's quilt, of course!

What's your favorite way to use scrap yarn?