I counted my shoes...

So, do you want to know how 44 pairs of shoes look toghether? Well, like this:

I now own 44 pairs of shoes... And I think I have a few pairs in boxes in our storage closet as well, that I don't use but don't want to throw away for sentimental reasons. I might have to stop buying shoes now. I wonder what I'll choose instead?

I'm knitting away at the shawl. I think I have about 20 rows left, but I'm not sure I'll finish it in time for the wedding on Saturday. I have to block it before I use it, and I guess it takes a day to dry too, which means I will have to finish it on Thursday ( we leave early on Saturday morning).

I'll try to write again tomorrow. My sister is making embroidered fridge magnets in the shape of Tetris blocks, so I thought I would take a photo of them for you to see as well. Maybe I will make them too someday, when I have time.

/ Jenny

Transformer

I just had to show you: Do you remember the first crochet ball I made a couple of days ago? My husband found it, and immediately decided it would lok good as a beret on the crochet cat I made... So now it's not a cat any more, it's a little french guy! The fringed whiskers I gave the cat actually looks more like a moustache anyway, so this little beret just completed the transformation!

Now we (and by we I mean husband) are going to turn on the barbecue and cook up some meat!

/ Jenny

Stuffed animals

I haven't really knitted anything more since yesterday, but I got inspired by my crochet success. So I proceeded with the little ball I made yesterday, which was actually a head, and made this!

The photo is a little dark, but it's an amigurumi cat, and I actually think it's pretty neat. I didn't have any cotton or similar to stuff it with, so right now it's stuffed with more yarn (a cheap grey wool yarn I had in my stach), but I think it looks ok anyway. It wasn't at all hard to do, so I think I will have to buy more acrylic yarn to make the rest of the figures in the book.

When I took the photo of the cat, I remembered that I had actually made a stuffed toy before. When I just started knitting, I found a kit for knitting Shaun the Sheep, from Wallace and Gromit, and it turned out ok. It is a little bit floppy, but for being practically my first knitting object, I'm quite proud.

Now, I'll continue with the shawl. I only have little over a week left of my vacation, so I have to finish it before I start working again, otherwise I think I will never finish it.

/ Jenny

Work in progress

Hi again!

I managed to get some photos of my shawl in progress. I read a discussion on Ravelry about different tips and resources related to knitting and crocheting, and someone suggested using bits of cut drinking-straws as very inexpensive stitch-markers. I tried it yesterday, and I found it worked fairly well. The one drawback is that the stitches have a slight tendency to slipping over the markers, so I think I might need somewhat larger markers after all. But the pieces of straw work for now.

I also started reading my two books on crocheting today (I picked the indroduction one up from my sister's earlier today), and made my first attempt at knitting a ball-like thingy (it was actually the "how-to" description in the Crochet amigurumi-book) in a very cheap acrylic yarn I had in my stach. And it was a complete success, I couldn't be more satisfied with it! So now I'll have to find some more, similar yarn that is not minty green, to make all of the little animals in the book! And this fall there will be a swedish translation of this book, which tells you how to crochet zombies, robots, ninjas and other similar stuff! Talk about picture perfect for me! So I guess those will be my winter crochet projects.

I'll leave you with a photo of the finished potpuri bag I embroidered a while ago. I bought a tube of nice-smelling foot-cream and put in it, and gave it as a gift for my grandmother. She loved it and said she would put the bag up on the wall, so I'm pleased. I don't know that I will make any more embroidery-only projects, but now I know how to make the cross-stitches if I want to embroider something onto a knitted project. A friend of mine embroidered space invaders on a pair of dish towels, and a similar TV-game related project might suit me as well. That is the major advantage with the old-school TV-games: All the characters and stuff are very pixelated, which translates well into both embroidery and knitting. Here is the photo of the finished bag.

/ Jenny

Lazy...

Hi all!

I've not written anything for a while, I've just been too lazy. On Friday 17th, my parents came to Linköping, and on Saturday we all helped my sister and her boyfriend move. It was really exhausting, so yesterday I did mostly nothing. Me and my husband went to the post office and picked up my new knitting books, and they are great! They actually arrived at the post office last saturday, but since I had ordered them in my husband's name, and there is an ID check to collect the books, I couldn't pick them up until he came back from Borås.

I am most pleased with the Crochet Amigurumi book, it actually doesn't look that hard. So I guess I will be filling our apartment with little stuffed animals from now on, and all my friends and family will probably get one for christmas as well! The learning how to crochet book immediately migrated to my sisters new apartment (which I guess is ok, since we now live about 20 meters from each other, we're neighbours), so I guess she liked them too.

The shawl is coming along nicely. I think I have a little over 500 stitches on the needles now, and I saw yesterday that there will be 700 when it is finished. I only have 2 1/2 skeins of yarn left, however, so I think I will have to bye one or two more or I will run out. The pearls are looking great as well, and I went and bought some more on friday when my parents were in town. They are actually intended for scrap-booking and such, and I've bought them at the paper store so they are really cheap plastic I think, but they fit perfectly with the purple yarn so I don't care.

Oh, on Friday when me, my mom and my sister walked around in the center of the town, we found a new shoe store! So I immediately proceeded to buy two pairs, because they were REALLY cheap as well, and my sister bought three pairs for herself. Unfortunately, I now have blisters underneath my feet from another pair of shoes, so I have to wait for them to heal before I can use the new ones. But they were really nice, a pair of really bright red slippers with a tiny, 2 cm heel, and a pair of gorgeous green stilletoes with white dots on, that were open in the toe, with maybe 7 cm heel. I guess I have to throw out some old pairs soon, to find the space for all the new ones...

I'll see if I cant finish the shawl this week, so I'll have some photos to show you soon. Each row takes me forever now, since there are so many stitches, so I might be overly optimistic about that time frame.

/ Jenny

Progress

Hi all!

I actually don't have much to report, at least knit-wise. I'm working on the shawl, and it's going very well. I haven't had to frog much at all lately, and it's up to 400 stitches on the needle now. I've used 2 1/2 skeins of yarn, out of 8, but as it gets bigger, it also needs more and more yarn. It looks really good too, I think I will take some pictures of it in progress some day now, to show you.

I went shopping with my sister today, and actually found a pair of shoes that I've wanted for over a year now. Today they were on sale, for only 125 kr (13 Euro or so), so I got myself a new pair of shoes! As if I needed any... Shoes are one of my great shopping weaknesses, I can't seem to get enough! I haven't counted them in a while (I don't dare), but I guess I have at least 40 pairs now... Maybe I should stop soon! But I just love shoes! Especially with high heels, even though I rarely get to wear them (I can't really walk a whole day at work in 10 cm heels). But they look really great in the shoe shelf!

I think I'm going to go admire my shoes some more (and maybe count them). And try to knit some more too!

/ Jenny

Back in Linköping

Finally I have me some internet again! I arrived in Linköping around 17.30, and have spent the evening catching up on all the comics and blogs I read online. So not much knitting done today! But I've knitted almost uninterrupted the whole weekend at my parents' (especially since I've been more or less computer-less), and made some headway on the shawl. It started with three stiches, and I think there are now 349, and the finished one will be somewhere in the vicinity of 600 I think. So I'm almost halfway there! And it looks good too, I can't wait to see it blocked!

I also have the funniest cat! Hobbe is living proof that cats can discern what is moving on the TV, because he only enjoys animal programs! Especially when it involves any cat animals. Here is a picture of him watching a documentary on tigers.

Around new year, the movies Doctor Doolittle I and II were on TV here, and I was home with the flu and didn't have the energy to do anything else, so they were on in the background. Hobbe actually watched the whole things both days with me, he sat on the couch totally transfixed for 1 1/2 hours! So cute! So tonight while I have been surfing, he has watched animal planet.

Now, I'll go to bed so I can do some knitting tomorrow!

/ Jenny

New technique

Hello again!

I am still working on my shawl. The pattern I'm making is to be repeated 18 times, and I think I've done 10 or 11. And since the shawl is getting wider with every row, it takes longer and longer to finish each row. But it's still fun, although very demanding concentration-wise. I'm not very social when I knit on this project. But I learned a new technique yesterday as well (well, new to me): The Russian Join. It's a method to fuse to ends of yarn together, and it worked like a charm! I couldn't tell where the merging was after I had knitted it in, very nice for my lace pattern!

Today I went and bought some very cheap yarn at an outlet in Borås (Eko-hallen), and I'm planning on making some socks. I also bought some cheap stitch-markers, and some crocheting-needles, so I have something to practice with when I finally learn. I got a text message notification that my books I ordered have arrived at the post-office, but unfortunately I ordered them in my husband's name. And he has decided to stay with his family for another week in Borås, so I won't get at them until next Friday! Aargh!

I also went and visited my friend and her baby today, and he was really super-cute. I often tell her that she's lucky to have such cute sons (the two older are 6 1/2 and 4), so I don't have to lie when I tell her that... But they are really adorable, and it's always fun to visit them and play for a while. It's a perfect child-dosage for me, to see them for a couple of hours each time. But I think I may have to knit something for the little guy soon, probably something with heavy metal or TV-games.

Now, I'll knit for the rest of the evening. Don't you just love being off work!

/ Jenny

Just a short one

Hello!

I have now blocked the green cardigan/bolero with cabeling... It was NOT a sucess, but I've figured out why. Since it was one of my very first knitted piece of clothing, I was still figuring stuff out (I still do,..), I have done the cast-off (avmaskning, in swedish) too tight. So that end of the cardigan could not be stretched, and since the cardigan was knitted length-wise (from right to left, that is), I would have ended up with one short and one long end of the cardigan if I had stretched it as much as the other end had permitted. Needless to say, it will stay a bolero, and I actually think it is quite cute that way anyhow. I will take some pictures on it later on and post them.

Yesterday I also got a very nice text message on my phone: My best friend had just delivered her third son! She lives in the same town as my parents (Borås), so we rushed down there today, and this is where I will be the rest of the weekend. I'm staying at my parents' with Hobbe, and they have the SLOWEST internet connection, so I might not post anything for a couple of days. But I will be back next week!

Now I will go see if Hobbe has ventured out from under the bed yet (he becomes completely shy when he comes here). See you in a couple of days!

/ Jenny

New Pictures

Hello again!

I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of some of my previous work. I have also made some scarves, which was how I got into knitting in the first place, but since I've learned about the magic of blocking, I realise that these too have to go on the blocking board. So more pictures of them later on.

This is my first attempt at knitting with more than two colours. I think that the yarn running on the back side of the knit is a bit tight, because I have to pull the sweater down on my shoulders quite often, but I'm still fairly happy with it. It's knitted in 100 % superwash wool, on round needle size 3 mm and 4 mm.

The next project I finished that I'm very happy with is these over-knee socks. They are also made from the same yarn as the black sweater and VERY warm! They are knitted using dpn's size 3.5 mm. Unfortunately, I finished them just when spring came around, so I have only used them once so far. But when winter rolls araound again I expect to use them a lot.

The last finished object I have is this turquoise sweater I made this spring as well. It's also done in 100 % wool, with round needle size 8 mm, but this is a thicker yarn and worked like a dream! I finished the whole sweater in just over a week, it went so fast! And I love the colour, so hopefully I will get to wear it a lot this winter.

Finally I have the green cardigan/bolero I made, which was the first piece of clothing I attempted. It's still not completely dry on the blocking board, so I will post before and after pictures when it's done.

Also: It's not easy to get any reading done when you get this kind of help!


Now, I'll continue on my shawl.

/Jenny

Not much to report

I'm enjoying the vacation too much, I think. The apartment is in desperate need of some cleaning, and I have planned to block that old green cardigan for days now. I just can't seem to get around to it, it's so much more fun to just knit!

I have made about 25 cm on the shawl, and it's fun! I think it looks good too, especially since I've had to frog a lot. The first two times were because I made some mistakes in the pattern, and the last time was because I had placed the beads in a way i was not completely satisfied with. So I thought "You know you will be irritated about it forever if you don't change it", so I frogged it again. Thank god for lifelines! I make sure to put one in after each repeat in the pattern is completed, and I always have at least two at separate places at a time.

I also found out yesterday that the pattern is too complicated to make while watching TV. So I think I have to find something easier to knit as a "relaxation knit". I think I might make some socks, I have so much leftover yarn that just screams at me to be used. So I think at least some of it will transfrom itself into socks.

Since i haven't found any knitting to inspire me for all of spring (until now, with the shawl), I have amused myself with knitting little swatches with patterns from one of my instruction books, it's the swedish translation of The Knitter's Handbook, by Eleanor Van Zandt. So far I think I've made over 50 swatches, and today I sat outside in the sun and made some more. One day I will place them all on the floor and photograph, I think that would look kind of funny. They are made in some cheap, acrylic yarn I bought in a warehouse, and I haven't blocked any of them, but maybe I will try that as well some day. More on that later.

The Knitter's Handbook

Now I'll knit some more on my shawl, before I get too tired!

/ Jenny

Finally!

Today I've finally started the shawl! I've only made about 10 cm yet, but so far I haven't found any mistakes. And I think I have placed the beads rather nicely too (I'm improvising those, they aren't in the pattern). Since it's made of alpaca wool, its a little fuzzy, and the pattern is barely discernable before I've blocked it, but it's looking very nice! Maybe I can wear it to a wedding I'm invited to in august? We'll see if I finish it in time.

On thursday evening I finished my embroidered potpuri bag as well, and it looks very nice as well! I think I began the stitches a little high on the bag, but it's ok. I'm thinking of buying some kind of rose-smelling potpuri and maybe put it in my underwear closet? Or maybe I will give it away to someone. I haven't decided yet. I think I will wait posting any pictures of it here, until I know if it will be a gift or not.

My sister asked me the other day what blocking meant (we are both kind of knitting novices, and I wouldn't have known about it if I haden't just read about it on Ravelry), so I thought I would explain it a bil. When you knit a pattern, very often when you take your finished project off the needles, it sort of rolls together, and lace pattern can be very hard to see. If you then wet your piece and place it on a flat surface, where you can use pins to stretch and shape your piece, then you can make the patterns more visible. When the knit has dried in that position, it will retain that shape until wet again. There is a very nice description of blocking on Dulcinea's Windmill blog.

Now, I'm going to continue knitting my shawl. I love being on vacation!

/ Jenny

My first attempt at embroidering

Hello again!

I have kick-started our camera, so now I've taken a few photos. The first is of my own set of KnitPicks, and even though they look almost as the picture at KnitPicks own store, I wanted to take one of my own. I'm just that much in love with them.

Last evening I made my first attempt at embroidery. I think it went rather well, but I'm not even half-finished yet. I included the picture of the finished potpuri bag, that I'm working from.

Also, last night I tried my blocking experiment, and it was a complete success! I made the test patch for the shawl I'm about to make, and as you can see in the before-picture, it was a frumpy little thing, but I nailed it to my new blocking-board and it went very flat. The figure shows before on the left, during in the middle, and after on the right. Next time I will try to include a ruler of some kind, so you can see the difference in size. These photos are taken with my phone, so the quality is not great, but I think you get the picture (no pun intended).

A couple of years ago I knitted a cardigan with cabeling on, in the same kind of alpaca yarn that I'm going to use for the shawl. I thought that I knitted very tight, becouse the cardigan actually came out a bolero... Bu now I realise that I just need to block it! So I think I will try that tonight, and see if I can remember to take before-pictures as well, so You'll have something to laugh about.

I started on my drops shawl yeasterday as well, but I only got about 4 cm (it starts at the bottom, at the tip of the tirangle), before I had to frog it. I'd read the pattern all wrong, but since I realised what I'd done wrong, I started again. The second time I got about 5 cm done when I saw that I had made something else wrong, as well as frogotten some beads, so I frogged it again. So I think I will start again tonight, when it cools down a bit.

Since my thesis is actually done, I think I will go outside in the sunshine for a while!

/ Jenny

Oh my god oh my god oh my god

I'm just so excited, I feel like a little kid on christmas! Last week I ordered a knitting needle kit from Handlas Hantverk (a swedish retailer for KnitPicks), Harmony wooden needles from KnitPick. They just arrived. And I am amazed at how much better I like these than the regular plastic ones I've always used before! I can't exactly put my finger on why I love them so much, but they are just that more comfortable. Plus, they are very colourful, and smell like wood. I will show you the picture from KnitPicks, but as soon as Thomas comes home I will photograph my own set.

The kit contains 8 different sizes of needles, that you attach to a cable to make a round needle. The kit also contained 4 different lengths of cable, and stoppers so you can use the needles as single pointed, regular needles as well. So, I just got 32 cable needles and 8 pairs of regular needles. I can't believe how cheap they were, I only paid 570 kr (about 60 Euro), including postage!

The thesis can rot on the shelf, I will start my knitting project now!

/Jenny

Almost ready to start knitting

Hi again!

I'm officially on holiday! I slept until 9.30 this morning, and I plan on starting my knitting project today! I decided that if the new wooden needles from KnitPicks don't show up in the mail today, I will start with my old plastic ones. I can always switch when they arrive! Too bad the weather isn't as great as it has been the last week, but it's still hot as a baking oven. I'm actually not quite finished with my thesis yet, but I will be today, so that's ok.

I thought I would tell a little about myself, since I haven't had the time yet. I live in Linköping, Sweden, but was born and raised in Borås (which is sort of like the textile capital in Sweden). I moved to Linköping in 1999 to study at the university, and had my Masters in Medical Biology in 2004. I then started my PhD studies at the Department for Molecular and Immunological Pathology at the University Hospital, which is what I've been doing since then. This september I will get my licenciate degree, and hopefully I will continue to get my full PhD later on. I live with my husband Thomas, who works at the city museum, and my precious little Dveon Rex cat Hobbe (who turned three years old yesterday!) in an rented semi-attached house just off the city center. We used to have another cat as well, Gizmo, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, he passed away nine moths ago. Hobbe is doing well as a "single" cat, but eventually we plan on getting another one. We just have to get over Gizmo first.

Here are my darlings, Gizmo on the left and Hobbe to the right.

To celebrate my vacation I went into the city center yesterday and did some knitting-related shopping. I bought a new book, titled "Klassisk Stickning" (the english title is "Vintage knitwear for modern knitters"), by Lise-Lotte Lystrup. I think I want to knit about 20 projects from this book, since I LOVE vintage clothing, especially from the 50's and 60's, so I think I'm set pattern-wise for the rest of the year.

Klassisk stickning

I also bought some beads that I plan to knit into the shawl I'm going to knit. I found a YouTube instruction video that showed an ingeneous way of incorporating pearls into a knit without pre-stringing, so I plan to try this out.

Finally, I ordered three other books online as well, "Vogue Knitting: the Ultimate Knitting Book", "Börja Virka" ("Start to crochet") by Sys Fredens, and "Virka amigurumi : söta små glädjespridare" (Crochet amigurumi: Pretty little happy-makers") by Mia Bengtsson. Hopefully they will arrive fast!

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book

Börja Virka

Virka arigurumi

Now I'll finish my thesis book, so I can start knitting already!

/ Jenny