I'm knitting like crazy

Yes, that's the main perk about beeing home all day on sick-leave! I've been knitting like crazy this week, and finished the cabled gloves! Anna was here almost all day yesterday, and it was so much fun! We ate sweet potato soup that I made, and then we knitted the rest of the day. She finished a gorgeous triangle shawl that she had knitted with two yarns together, one green and one white single ply wools. It turned out so good, and so thick and cozy. I'm betting she will use it all winter.

And as I said, late last night I finished the cabled gloves! They are blocking right now:

As you can see, I used almost every pin I own... I like them a lot, and I'm hoping they will grow a little bit while blocking. I've pinned them up quite hard, because they were a little bit tight when done. They look so advanced and complicated, but I actually didn't find them very difficult. Only time-consuming, as I did all the cabelling with a cable needle. I'm not comfortable with the method of cabelling without a cable needle, I always seem to drop stitches when I try. But the gloves look really good, and tomorrow I'll try to get some photos of them outside in daylight, so I don't have to use the flash. The flash just bounces off the yarn, and makes the cables really hard to see, but they look good to me :)

So, now I'm only working on the pink Candle Flame Shawl. That's right: I haven't started any other projects yet! I think I'll probably cast on the Moose gloves tomorrow, as these are the ones I've decided to start with. I don't think my grandfather will wear them while hunting, but he can wear them otherwise when he is outside.

My sister helped me print the pattern for the Aeolian shawl today too (our printer is out of ink), and I have a feeling I won't be able to wait to cast on for this until I've finished the pink shawl... I've been wanting to make an Aeolian since I first saw the pattern on Ravelry, and now I have the perfect yarn for it: The Chili Gredelin Madame yarn (45 % cashmere / 55 % silk). This is definitely the most luxurious yarn I've ever felt, and so beautiful! So I've decided it will turn into an Aeolian shawl, I just have to decide what size to make. I don't have yarn enough for the largest size, but I think I like the purple version best anywa. I'll also make it without any beads, maostly because I think 860 beads in one shawl seems a bit much, and also because I have beads on both my purple humongous shawl and now in my pink shawl as well. I think that's enough for now :)

Chili Gredelin Madame

I still have to decide what sweater or cardigan to cast on for! I have so many to choose from, and as I have a rather large stash I actually have yarn enough to make a lot of them. Don't worry, all of the planned sweaters and cardis will probably be made at some point! I just have to decide which to start with! I got a lot of Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep from Ulrika a while ago, and I have some plans for those skeins that I might want to make. I'm thinking of making This Jacket, from the book Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters, by Lise-Lotte Lystrup. In the book it looks gorgeous, even though I actually didn't think it looked that good on the Ravelry page. However, it is knit in four pieces (well, six actually, if you count the sleeves) and sewn together. And since I really hate to sew, I'm thinking of making something similar to this, but to knit it from the top down. I don't think that would be too difficult, but might take some experimenting to get it right.

I also have the green top-down bolero that I started a while ago and frogged recently. I still want to make it like I had planned, but it's hard to get motivated enough to start over again. I love the yarn though (Symfoni from Lövegarn, 100 % Merino), and as it is very chunky it shouldn't take long to finish.

I also have all that blue/turquoise Alpaca yarn from Drops that was supposed to turn into a cabled tunic this passed summer. The tunic turned out way too heavy for what I had planned (it was knitted with the alpaca and Drops Cotton Viscose yarn together), so I frogged it. And now I have six skeins of this yarn in my stash, that I really really love. I was thinking about making this Silken Scabard sweater out of it instead, but as I recently tried to do cables in the alpaca yarn (when I started the cabled gloves the first time I used a pink alpaca. It looked horrible) and failed terribly, I'm not sure this sweater would look good in alpaca. I think it might have a bit too much halo to make the cables look good. Although it might also depend on the needle size used, so I think I might have to experiment some with this as well.

And I also have to decide which socks to cast on for! I have so many wonderful patterns, and so many wonderful sock yarns! Although I think I'll have to start with the knee-high stockings in the KnitPicks Main Line yarn, to get them done. I also want to get that hat done, because I would really like to see what I look like in a hat like that... I haven't done any swatches for these yet, and I'm sensing that the Drops Karisma used in the pattern is a lot thinner than the Main Line yarn. But I think I can adapt the pattern to fit me anyway. It will probably just take a little thinking...

Ok, I'll continue with the Candle Flame shawl for now, and think on future pattern while I knit. I think I'm at least half-way done with it, so it souldn't take that long now that I'm only knitting on that one project. Right?

/ Jenny