Knitting contest

I had planned to update on Wednesday this week, but things got in the way. That day, 30/9, it was a year since my darling cat Gizmo died, and although the day didn't turn out as horrible as I had imagined, it was still a kind of difficult day for me. I've thought a lot about him this week, and I really miss him a lot! He was the sweetest cat in the world, and he left a large hole in my heart. Thank God I have Hobbe still, he is the snuggliest cat I've ever met (even though he is incrediby shy to strangers - when my parent visit he sits under the bed or in the wardrobe until they've left), and I can't imagine my life without a cat! Hobbe is an asymptomatic carrier of the virus that killed Gizmo, FIP (Feline infectious peritonitis), and as long as he has it we don't want to get another cat and risk him getting the disease as well. Hopefully Hobbe will be negative for the virus soon!

Today I participated in a knitting contest with a literary theme, at Garnverket. It was so much fun! We got a handout with 4 descriptions of four different swedish books, and then had two hours to knit something related to one of the books. The books were "Men who hate women" by Stieg Larsson, "Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey through Sweden" by Selma Lagerlöf, "Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren and "The Emigrants" by Vilhelm Moberg. We chose The Nils Holgersson book by Selma Lagerlöf, which is a story made for swedish geography students, and tells the tale of a boy named Nils Holgersson who gets shrunken by the house gnome as a punishment for being naugthy to animals. He then joins a flock of geese on their travel through Sweden, from south to north, and the readers follow him through all the landscapes, thereby learning the geography of the country.

Me and Anna made a team, and we decided to knit a Sweden. Sweden is a very long and thin country, so we knitted that form, and made the two largest lakes in a blue contrast yarn. We also made some birds and a small Nils that we attached, as well as a swedish flag. It turned out pretty great, if I may say so myself! This is Anna, holding our tiny Sweden (the whole photo looks a little bit yellow, but that's because I didn't want to use the flash: with flash, everything turned so ghastly pale that Anna looked kind of like a zombie...)!

We were only three teams that participated, and I think one of the others will win, as they had a very artistic take on the same Nils Holgersson story. They had crocheted triangles, symbolizing a flock of flying geese, and on the white one (which is a tame goose that runs away with Nils, and carries him on his bach throughout the journey) they made a very tiny Nils Holgersson doll. It looked like a finished piece of art!

The third team made a version of Pippi Longstockin's clothes, which also looked very pretty. One member of this team is a grafitti knitting artist, and she actually taught her team member to knit for the first time as they competed! I was so impressed by this, and they managed to finish in time too.

The winners will be announced tomorrow, and Anna thought that she might have time to go then. Me and Thomas are finally going to the spa this weekend, as we didn't manage to get away two weeks ago, as we had originally planned. It makes no real difference if we win or not, it was just so much fun to participate!

This week I've actually managed to finish a knitting object as well! I present to you: My winter sock!

It's hard to capture the cable pattern in this hysterical yarn (Red Heart Damaris, 50 % superwash wool, 50 % acrylic), but it actually turned out pretty good. I've only finished the first, and I've knitted about 5 cm on the cuff of the second one, but as the yarn is very thick and chunky, I imagine the second sock will be finished next week. If I don't cast on for something else as well. I think the next thing I knit will be some gloves for me, I have some pink Drops Alpaca that I think will look great as mittens!

I got my knitting books this week as well! I bought the Creepy crochet book by Christen Haden, Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard, More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, and Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. I think I'll start with some socks, as I have a lot of gorgeous sock yarn, but I also have a cardigan in mind from the Custom Knits book that I'll make from my 10 skeins of Marks & Kattens Sarek 100 % wool yarn.

I also bought a fiction book when I ordered the knitting books. Seeing as both me and Thomas loves horror films and zombie literature, I really couldn't resist this: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". I haven't actually read the original, as I really don't like chick-lit, but this will be fun!

Wow, I've knitted a lot this week! On wednesday there was a knitting café with Linköping Knitters, which was so much fun! Then Anna and I decided to visit Garnverket together on thursday, as they've just switched owners (Congratulations, Maja!), and we wanted to check out the new interior design (and squeeze some yarns as well, of course). We ended up staying there for about two hours, just knitting and chattering away! It's just so much fun to hang out with Anna, even though we've just met we both feel that we get along exceptionally well. We've decided to hang out next week as well, especially since Thomas is leaving for Borås on Monday with his exhibition. He will stay in Borås for two weeks, building the exhibition at one of the museums there. So I guess I'll be a little lonely, thank God I have my knitting to keep me occupied!

I'll be back after the weekend with a report on the spa!

/ Jenny