The pattern so nice, I’ll knit it twice!

At least twice for myself and a third time as a gift for someone else.  I am referring to the No. 7 Charlotte pattern from Rowan 38 by Theresa Venning:

(Excuse the picture quality – my camera battery is hopelessly dead so I had to resort to my cell phone)

I wanted a slightly looser knit than that shown in the pattern, so I used Wendy Fusion yarn in Cinnamon (approx 1.5 skeins) which also allowed for a beautiful coloration.  I will not be making it in Juniper by Sidar next (already on the needles) and it already looks totally different from the garment above.

On another note, I have developed the habit of checking out knitting pattern books and magazines from the library and making copies of the patterns I can’t live without. It’s all perfectly legit (no file sharing, reselling or selling of FO here my friends) but I do think that the local librarian thinks I am a bit off my rocker.  I walked in there the other day to pick up some books and she took one look at me and said “hey it’s the knitter again”.  There has been a couple of books I have checked out that I have decided I could not live without, so Amazon will be pleased with that side effect of this most recent addiction.

del.icio.us Tags: Rowan,Theresa Venning,Rowan 38,knitting

I can’t believe I drank that as a kid

So now that I have made quite a few things for child #2, #1 is getting a bit impatient for me to make something for her (and rightfully so in my opinion).  I have therefore agreed with her that I would made her a sweater or cardi, but since she like all 6 yo children has the attention span of a fruit fly at times, I tried to find someway to include her in the project.  I had ordered some raw white wool that I intended to dye, but then I stumbled upon this article which outlines how to dye yarn with food color as a child friendly project.  While I am not big on the colors that can be made with food color or kool-aid, I thought the garish results would be perfect for a barbie/bratz/disney pricess obsessed little girl. 

The first thing we did was order a variety of colors from Koolaid World (yes, there exists such a thing). Once they came, we decided that Strawberry and Lemon/Lime along with darkly brewed coffee would be our dyes of choice.  Saturday, we (my sister-in-law, #1 and myself) got started:

First we soaked the wool in a tub outside.  While that was going on, #1 closely observed the coffee machine to make sure the coffee was dark enough:(is a watched coffee pot like a watched kettle?)

We then mixed up the kool aid:

And #1 learned not to taste unsweetened kool aid:

So after looking at the colors of our very black coffee and the neon green lime and toxic red strawberry kool aid against the white wool, I got a little worried.  I was a bit afraid that it would end up a little too bright, but we decided to go for it anyway and prepared all of the beverages with vinegar acid. 

The results after being microwaved, washed and dried are as follows:

I intentionally left a large color variation between skeins so that we would get a striped effect in the sweater between brighter and lighter variations of the same colors.  Two of the brighter skeins are divided up in thirds color wise while the other two are in fourths (coffee, lime, coffee, strawberry). I am pleasantly surprised with the end result - #1 is very pleased and the colors ended up being muted enough that I am sure she won’t get tired of them 5 minutes after I cast off. :-)

del.icio.us Tags: Kool aid,yarn,hand dyed,child,knitting

Booty-lishous

So the spring weather is coming and it’s perhaps more even now more important for small guys to have warm footwear since it’s too warm to pack them into head-to-toe snowsuits that cover their feet.  My little man has outgrown the lovely brown corduroy slippers I bought for him a month ago, so I have made him another set of slippers based on a Garnstudio pattern:

 (my model had just received a vaccination and is running a fever.  He therefore in provoking his right NOT to model for me but ensures any readers that he is as stoked as any baby can possibly be about my latest creation)

I did two things that deviated from the pattern:

1. I chose to work with a single string of Peruvian highland wool instead of the recommended drops alpaca.  I think this wool felts much better and you end up with a much warmer end result.

2. After knitting the first booty, I noticed that the directions they have written for the addition of short rows left noticeable holes in my work.  This went away after felting, but I would highly suggest trying the following instead of what’s written in the directions on Garnstudio.com:

• Knit out the 16 rows as described.
• Leave the 16th stitch on the left needle
• Work the 15 stitches back to the beginning of the work
• Work a complete row

These directions allow you to work the increase so that the height of the rows gradually increase over the 17th to 15th stitch as opposed to jumping the height of two rows over two stitches (leaving a hole).  Don’t know if that makes sense but it’s worth trying in the future.

del.icio.us Tags: knitting,drops designs,drops patterns,garnstudio,baby,booties,slippers,felting

D-man’s Rock Star Bum Wrap

If only we were all so cool… I have just finished felting a soaker for Dan ny and I have to say, I am quite pleased with myself.  I couldn’t find a soaker pattern that accounted for felting, but if you are going to make one and want to make it as waterproof as possible, it really should be felted.  The pattern is one I found on Ravelry called WHW Plain Wrap by Ruth Garcia.  It was fine as it is, but by using a larger needle and making it in a size large rather than the size small that I needed, I was able to accommodate for felting it.  Here is the finished project before felting:

 

Notice that the stitches, especially around the star are a bit wonky – I wasn’t really being careful since I knew that this wouldn’t show once felted.  The finished felted project is here:

All that is left now is to sew in the aplix along the waist band and to give it a lanolin treatment.  I have ordered a bottle of lanolin proofing solution from Imise that hasn’t arrived yet.  If you have normal lanolin on hand, it can be used for such a project, but when it comes to something for children and especially with items used in such a sensitive area, be careful and make sure to use pesticide free lanolin.  There has been a couple of cases lately with lanolin that had levels of pesticides that could be dangerous :-S

Anyway, can’t wait to see him rock out his new soaker out.  Never thought I would say I would like to see one of my finished projects full of… well… nasty-nasty. 

del.icio.us Tags: Felting,felted,soaker,raverly,nappy,diaper,knitting

Spring is when life's alive in everything

After completing a project that I started, had to stop and then had to restart to finish, I was in the mood for some instant gratification.  I have had the task of knitting a soaker for my son on my to-do list for quite some time.  We use cloth diapers at home and it costs 100 dkk to buy a cheap soaker.  For me to knit one, it takes about half a skein of Peruvian highland wool, which is about 10 dkk.  It’s hard to argue for putting off such a task if the savings is so large.  So after 3 hours of work, I have this:

I don’t think that’s too bad, but just before I started knitting, I had folded laundry, emptied the dishwasher, vacuumed and then fed, bathed and changed the baby – three times.  So after all this and then 3 hours of knitting, my son protested the idea of sleeping and I decided that it would be a good idea to go for a walk in order to rock him to sleep.  During our walk, I guess the fresh spring air got to me into a romantic, mushy feeling and I brought my camera with me so we could take pictures of some of the things we experienced.  I came up with the following:

5 Ways To Know Spring Has Hit Denmark

Spring flowers and bulbs begin to come up: This includes, but is not exclusive to wild pansies (as in the picture below), daffodils, hyacinths, snow drops and the flowering peach tree in the back yard

Confirmations: when you live so close to a church, you start to wonder if you are actually hearing church bells or if your ears are ringing from the constant ceremonies.

Wildlife returns to the wildlife preserve in your backyard that you didn’t know was there: Honestly, we bought this house two years ago and didn’t find out about until just recently that the land behind our house is a reserve for endangered birds – really… No wonder there is so much noise in the morning these days.

Lambs make an appearance in the paddock: sweet little lambs make their first appearance around Easter Sunday and fill the paddock between the properties around the wildlife preserve and the wildlife preserve itself.  (Side note: as a knitting, you do have one thought… yarn…)

And finally, the village is full of nasty mommies out for walks hoping the fresh spring air and sunshine will help their heavy eyes winter babies fall asleep:

Baby Yoda is done!

My not so baby yoda sweater for Danny is done and I am quite pleased with the results:

I got the extra yarn I needed to finish the sleeve and finally pulled myself together to get it done.  It turned out better than I expected and am sure that the cashmere blend I chose to use will be nice and warm during the winter.  And what’s one more piece of “hand wash only” clothing…. :-S

Now I just need to decide what to start next.

Now that the baptism is over…

So, the baptism was today and after the last guest left and the last piece of rented silver was washed, I have to say that I was quite proud with how my dress held up:

Mommy and Danny outside the Sct Jørgensbjerg Kirke

 Daniel and his new gudfar (godfather… That make me think of Marlon Brando when I say it in English.)

Now it’s time to finish off my last project – the “not so baby yoda” sweater that I didn’t get to finish before.  I am really excited to finish that project, but I think after a good day like today, I would rather watch TV, eat leftover baptism cake and drink mass quantities of coffee.

Now on Ravelry!

So this is what it’s like when worlds colide!  I can be doubly dorky now that web 2.0 and knitting join forces.  I have been on Ravelry for a few days, but with all of the preparations for the baptism, I haven’t gotten the chance to really explore like I would like.  If you don’t know what Ravelry is and you either knit or crochet, you should check it out.  There are some great forums, groups, and even a shop as well as pattern listings.  I have pulled the ultimate dork move and drug out the yarn stash and my digital camera and taken pictures of my yarn for my “stash” section of my profile:

If you want to join, you have to ask for an invite and it usually takes a day or two at this point for your request to be processed.  If you’re a yarny, this is definitly worth a look!

del.icio.us Tags: Raverly,web 2.0,knitting online

And when I am not knitting…

In Denmark, there is a law that states that every person must have a name by the time they are 6 months old.  This can be done by either walking into city hall or baptizing the baby in a church.  Since every person in my husband’s family has been baptized, married and buried in the same church we have opted for the latter option for both of our children.  My son’s baptism will be Easter Sunday (12. april 2009) and the gown that he will wear was hand made by a family friend years ago when my husband was baptized.  He turned 29 for the 5th time last October, so do the math – this gown has taken a beating.

After looking at it, I have had to work a bit on the stitching on the gown itself and sew an entirely new under-dress.  After a couple of days of work, the dress is now repaired and outfitted with a whole new under-dress hand sewn in raw silk… if only we all had it this good :-)

 Seriously, I think it was time well spent.

del.icio.us Tags: baptism,gown,knitting,sewing

Favorite Garn Shop Closing

(ew ew ew…) I have just discovered today that my favorite online yarn shop is closing due to illness after being in business for 4 years.  Lynghøjgaard Garnbutik based in Nørager, Denmark had been my secret place to go when looking for a good bargain for yarns, needles and knitting accessories with their large bargain bin and good selection.  If you would like to order from their site but don’t speak Danish, you might be able to get a good deal - it states on their homepage:

“Vi lukker butikken i løbet af sommeren, og derfor giver vi i resten af april måned min. 15% rabat på alle varer.
I maj er der - 25%, juni - 35%..... og så ser vi hvor meget der er tilbage derefter :-).”

Translation: We are closing the shop over the course of the summer and will therefore offer a minimum of 15% off during the rest of April.  In May there will be 25% off, 35% in June and so on… and then we will see how much is left after that.

All discounts will be deducted after you have ordered.  I just got a shipment from them and the changes were added in after the fact. 

Best of luck in the future Lisette!

del.icio.us Tags: Yarn,shop,out of business,sale

Forgive me father for I have sinned

And sinned well… I appear to have committed the worse since most knitters can ever commit – not buying enough yarn! 

I have pretty much the entire sweater done am only missing enough to do a small portion of the sleeve.  Luckily I was able to find the same yarn with the same lot numbers so now I only have to wait for it to be delivered to my house.  Crisis averted, lesson learned :-(

When Good Knitters Go Bad

So, I was just looking for another cardi pattern for next project for my son and found the  following free patterns on a Drop yarn’s webpage:

I know to each is own and all that jazz, but I had to ask myself, why would you do that to your kid?  I can feel desperate for a new or creative project, but theirs got to be some limit as they’re only young people – not necessarily morons.

Does this remind anyone else of The Christmas Story when Ralphy gets a pink bunny costume for Christmas??

Gundsømagle to Earth - You Out There?

Allow me to introduce myself: I am a relatively new knitter in the grand scheme of knitting bloggers, but I find it so interesting that I can stop talking about it. The idea is that I will use this forum to talk about what I am currently working on, what I want to work on and anything else knitting related that comes up. Trust me - that's a lot of stuff to cover.

I have two children: a 6 yo girl and a 3 month old boy who are usually the benefactors of my knitting efforts. Being based abroad, I am heavily dependant on the internet for patterns and other knitting resources. I have yet to learn the Danish knitting lingo so using patterns bought here isn't an option (I chose to blame the plentiful bounty of web based patterns and not on laziness...).

So what I am working on at the moment is a sweater for my son. As I said, he is only 3 months and we are now in April, so I have chosen to knit it large and hope that he can wear it in the fall. I found a great adaption to the Yoda Sweater posted by Sooz and am knitting it up with a great cashmere/merino blend I bought from Lynghøjgaard Garnbutik. I can highly recommend the pattern if you are looking for an easy and satisfyingly quick project :-) Will post a picture once I get the pieces sewn together.