so here's what i'm thinking

The plan now is to come out of hibernation.

I'd like to finish my Hexacomb Cardigan and make some more progress on the embroidery front. There are a couple of hats on my list of things to get done. There are also some projects I'd like to give a go.

I was in Canada for 3 weeks at the end of May/beginning of June. Needless to say, I came back with an assortment of goodies, including a couple balls of cotton sock yarn. In bright green too!

Another plan is to also revamp and organize the blog.

M.I.A.

I know I've been M.I.A. but I have very good reasons to be missing for so long.

1. School started.
2. I got a part time job working at Taylors and Jones.
3. Denise was here last week for a visit and Close-Up Båten.

I have been a mess as of late and frankly I need to get myself organized again so I won't end up with another D in school. I'm already behind on 2 assignments. :(

So far the only thing I've had a chance to do is pull out my hexacomb cardigan. Remember that? Yes, I have yet to finish it. Maybe I can finish it this year. We'll see.

I promise that I will blog about whatever creativity that strikes me as soon as I have the time for it.

Until then, wish me luck!

gosh darn it!

I'll finish this dress even if it kills me!!
The past month has been a bit hectic and a total mood dive bomb. I haven't wanted to do anything creative. But the obligation of getting this dress done before Natalie gets too big for it is making me knit. It's not a entirely bad thing.
I'm on the last stripe of colour. Just 23 rounds left. Then there's the colour and armhole bits.

lazy lazy lazy

I know I'm supposed to have things done during my time in Canada but it was just not happening. There were so many people to see and so many things to do.

My hexacomb cardigan is back in hibernation.

The priority at the present moment is the good stripe dress for my cousin. She will grow and I not so much.

I tried out what I had accomplished on her when I saw her in Canada. Fits quite nicely. I tried it on her over her clothes, so she should be able to wear it at least over next summer.

After having my mom take a look at it, she suggested that I didn't make it as long as suggested in the pattern. My cousin is not a particularly tall girl and it looks better not too long.

I've started school again so I've been knitting while I commute, provided that I don't pass out from waking up so early to catch the train.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish it before the end of the month but like always, there are no guarentees.

out of hibernation

I've taken the time to wind the second skein of black yarn needed for the cardigan. I will resume knitting as soon as I'm ready to take a break from the dress. I'll probably be continuing in Canada. It'll be perfect because I'll have my mom around to help me with any issues I might have with the finishing.

let there be flare!

I managed to make it past the 23 rounds of 220 stitches. Now I'm on to 23 rounds of 276 stitches. That's only the beginning of the flare! But it's all worth it. It's looking pretty good. I think I might be able to finish it by the end of the month. I know that I'll have plenty of idle time in my journey back to Canada. So I'll be knitting away like a granny expecting quintuplets for grandchildren.

practice makes perfect

Since I've got 18 rounds of just straight forward knit, I've been practising my continental knitting. At first I had a bit of a cramp in my left hand but after reviewing some instructional videos and reconfiguring what I'm doing, I seem to be doing ok. I'm obviously not knitting as quickly but I'm sure that with practice, I'll be able to knit equally fast using both hands.

164 stitches

I'm not even close to the end of the dress. I just wanted to point out that 164 stitches in a round is a lot of stitches. It may not be a lot for those of you who are more experienced with knitting but since my previous experiences only included only small items, this is a lot. I'll be making my way towards 500 stitches! That's right, the last round is a whopping 500 stitches!

At the moment I'm at the waist, soon I'll start the flare of the dress. I also found the 3rd colour for the armhole trim, placket and 1 magical stripe on the dress. It's this nice burgundy colour that compliments the other colours perfectly.

finally some time

Today was the last day at the day care. For the next couple of weeks, I plan on taking it easy. I currently have no work and no school.

The dress for Natalie is coming along quite nicely. I've just finished the first bit of contrast colour. It's a fairly fine yarn so progress is slow. I've also been careful to not knit too maniacally. Taking breaks for playing with Ull and doing other things. But I am a bit sore on my right side. I'm going to start practising yoga regularly again and hopefully that will relieve some stress.

Here are a couple progress pics for the dress.






I'm also finished the body portion of the Hexacomb Cardigan. I've started on the first sleeve but I need to wind the new skein.





All that's left from the first skein.

it can be done!

I've made much progress in my Hexacomb Cardigan. I actually think I can finish this before I go back to Canada. Although I might leave the sleeve finishing for Canada because I could use the help my mom who has knitted countless amounts of sweaters.

At the present moment, I'm finished with the body. I've started on the first sleeve.

I took this picture last night before I finished the body.


Fredrik and I are staying home today even though it's his birthday so I'm knitting away like a maniac.

I'm so excited about this cardigan. I'll finally have something nice to wear with my dresses. Not to mention it's my first cardigan.

the left side is complete!

I've completed the left side of the cardigan. I had to rip it out once because I was unsure of the decreases and slightly unhappy with how parts of it looked. But it is DONE! I'm almost finished with the right side.

Here is the left side in all it's glory.

I still have quite a bit of yarn left. I don't think I'll be able to finish the cardigan with just 1 skein but I think I can get most of it done.

Ravelry.com

I knew of this fabulous website a while back but I kind of forgot about it until I read about it in my spring issue of Interweave Knits.

So the web address is www.ravelry.com

"What is so special about this??" you might ask.

Well...

It's like a virtual notebook for your knitting and crocheting needs. I don't know about you but I live mostly on my computer and I do have a notebook that I keep information about the yarns and needles that I have but at the present moment I think that notebook is in Canada. Well that's no good to me now is it? I'm living in Sweden and it's a 10+ hour flight to Toronto to get it. Well now when I forget my notebook for knitting/crocheting, I can just log on for stuff like my list of needles and hooks.

There's also a section for "queuing" your future projects. Sometimes I see a pattern that I would like to knit/crochet as soon as I'm finished with the current one but over the time it takes me to finish the project, I've forgotten about where the pattern is from and what it looks like. Now I can keep my plans in track.

I love this site. At the present moment there's a queue to be a member of ravelry but the wait is really short. I just had to wait a couple of days for the invite.

2 year plan

Fredrik and I were in Germany this weekend. On our way back I decided to splurge and get myself a magazine. After examining all my choices, I decided on getting the spring issue of Interweave Knits. For €10,90 I didn't want to get some magazine I would read once and then put it in the recycling. Not to mention, there were some great looking patterns in the issue.

One pattern that I plan on knitting is the "A Good Stripe Dress". I would love to make one that fits me but it's a dress made for a 6 year old. I figured that if I started now, I should finish in at least 2 years from now. Just in time for Natalie who will be 6 in a couple of years. I'm pretty sure that I'll finish the dress in 2 years.

Man I Suck...

I suck at using colours. I prefer things in black and white. Black will always look nice with white.

I attempted at putting some colours together today. I decided to knit a swatch to see if the colours do work out. Well they didn't. It was so horrible that I had to stop right away and throw it out.

For those who don't believe me, here's a picture of it.

Finished Sample

I finished knitting the swatch for my Space Invaders mittens. It looks pretty good. Now I just have to figure out what kind of yarn and colours I want.

Mittens from Space!

I'm testing out a pattern of my own. The theme is Space Invaders. I knitted it with my Red Heart Super Saver and Bernat 100% acrylic yarn. The gauge is a bit bigger than the Lamb's Pride Super Wash. This is just a tester but if and when I do knit a pair of mittens out of these yarns, I'll make a smaller pattern with only 20 stitches instead of 24.

Here's a sampling of what it looks like.



I've also knitted up swatches with the acrylic yarns.

The first one is with Red Heart Super Saver.

Gauge: 4,5 st / inch (18 st / 4")
Needles: sz 9 (3,5mm)

This one is with Bernat 100% acrylic.

Gauge: 5 st/ inch (20 st / 4")
Needles: sz 9 (3,5mm)

humour makes things nicer

This guy I knew from high school recommended this video when he found out that I knit and crochet. It's done by some students that are in his film course at Humber College. I thought it was fantastic. The knitting store that's in the video is Lettuce Knit in Kensington Market. It is as beautiful as the brief glimpses.

Anyways. Enjoy!

Learning Something New

I've always knitted the traditional "throw" method. The problem with knitting with 1 method is that my right hand and arm does all the work so after a decent sized project, I've got a sore right side.

I didn't know that you can knit with your left hand until I saw Denise do it.

After knitting these mittens, I've got the itch to knit more but I'm in quite a bit of pain. So I've decided to learn how to knit with the other hand. Apparently this method is called the "continental" method.

There's a fantastic video on youtube teaching people how to knit with the continental method. Not only does the lady teach you how to knit, she also demonstrates how to purl and do ribs.

It takes a little getting used to but I'm sure with practice, it'll become easy as pie.



I would like to knit some more mittens but I think I should take a bit of a break. Maybe just swatches for the next few days.

They're done!

I finished the mittens today. I must say that they turned out quite nicely. It just needs to be washed and blocked. I tried my best not to knit like a maniac but I can't say that my hands and arms are not sore. I should probably take a break but I've got new ideas for another pair of mittens.

I'll be outfitting these mittens with a flannel lining. But that will require a sewing machine. I'll do that when I go back to Canada for a visit. I want to get a sewing machine except that it's not really THAT high up on my list of priorities. Fredrik has offered a few times but we need more important things like a new vacuum cleaner and we just got a dishwasher in the last month.

Anyways. Here's what they look like.





I made some changes to Hello Yarn's pattern. I didn't think the location of the right thumb should be so far into the mitten. There's a 3 stitch difference. So I relocated the thumb. I also didn't follow the thumb chart. I knitted it so it matches the pattern of the rest of the mitten. It's also slightly shorter because I have small thumbs.

The best thing about knitting your own mittens is that you can adjust it to fit your hands. Most mittens and gloves I've purchased always has thumbs that are too big for my own. There's usually about 1/2 inch of mitten left unfilled. It then causes problems with thumb functions because there's that flappy bit of mitten.

There are some progress shots available for viewing on my flickr.

These are the 3rd pair of mittens, I've knitted.

My first pair of mittens were made from Blue Sky Alpacas' Bulky Naturals. They made my hands itchy and were unfortunately lost in NYC when I went there with Fredrik. I do believe they fell out of my pockets in the cab. My second pair were ones I knitted for Noel. It was my gift to him for his birthday. They were in this lovely bulky blue yarn flecked with other colours.

I'm also thinking about creating my own mitten pattern. I've got some great ideas. Just need to get it down on paper.

I was thinking about knitting mittens for my friends. I want to knit more mittens but don't really have use for 10 pairs of mittens. I'm sure they'd appreciate it even if they are my prototypes.

not M.I.A.

It has been a long time since I last posted. But it's also been a long time since I last made something.

Today I decided to make a swatch. I've been wanting to give Hello Yarn's Squirrel and Oak Mittens. The Lamb's Pride Superwash is perfect. I'm using 3.5mm (US size 4) needles.

I plan on lining the mittens with some flannel because I can't wear wool and for extra warmth.

Enough time writing about it, time to start!

Needle: 3.5mm
Gauge: 6 st / inch (24 st / 4")
Yarn: Lambs Pride Super Wash