Where shall I begin?

Once again, it's been long. Too long! I was planning on updating last weekend, but on Saturday two weeks ago my father called me to tell me that he had found a new car for me! I've been looking for a new car for a while, since my tiny Toyota doesn't have air condition, but haven't really decided what kind of car I wanted. I knew I wanted a small one, which didn't use too much fuel, but other than that I wasn't really sure (Thomas doesn't have his licence yet, although he's working on it, but so far he doesn't really have a say on what car I buy as long as it isn't too expensive...). Anyway, my father told me he was right then out test-driving a car for me, and it turned out to be the one car I've wanted since I first saw one: A Volvo C30! I don't know why I like this car so much, but I do. Usually, they are a bit out of our price range, but my father is kind of friends with his car dealer, so I got it pretty cheap (yes, of course I'm paying for it. My father only found it for me). So last weekend, a week ago, I went home to my parents to sign all the papers and pick up the new car. YAY!

Isn't it pretty?! It's licence plate says HAM, so I've named her Miss Piggy :) She's a dream to drive, plus she runs on ethanol so she's a lot more environmental as well. I love her! She was made in 2008, so she's a lot newer than any car I've owned so far. Well, I've only had two before her: A black Volvo 480 from 1990 that I more or less drove to pieces (it's licence number was 666, so Thomas named him Bilzebub - the swedish word for car is bil...), and the pea green Toyota Starlet from 1998, that a daughter to a friend of mine named the Pea. The black Volvo I bought from my parents, and the Toyota I bought from my grandmother, so Miss Piggy is the first car I have that no one in the family has owned before me. I'm just so thrilled!

Ok, onwards with the knitting. This is supposed to be a knitting blog, right? 

I've managed to finish the tiny bridal purse for Christine! It's currently blocking upstairs:

I was planning on using KnitPicks Palette yarn for this one, in the same Forest Heather colourway as the stole in Shadow yarn, but that turned out way too heavy. The bag would have been huge! So I used the left-overs from the stole instead, so it's also knitted in KnitPicks Shadow. It's very pretty, vith beads at the top and bottom. It's going to get an inner fabric lining as well, as it is kind of hole-y right now, and a satin ribbon drawstring to close it at the top as well. As I was home last weekend I went over to Christine to see her and the boys, and gave her the finished stole then. I think she thanked me three or four times during the hour I was there! So I think she's pleased :) I also showed her the bag (although then it was still in progress), and she liked that one too, so I'm happy. She's going to be such a beautiful bride, her dress is fabulous and her shoes too!

As I finished both the stole and the bag in time, I have knitted some on my Panama Stole as well. That one has been languishing for a while! I'm knitting it in a wool/cashmere blend yarn from Chopped Tomatoes, and it is incredibly soft! It's turning out very pretty too, and I think it will be on the larger side. Thankfully the pattern includes several sizes, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I've also cast on for another shawl, as I just couldn't keep myself from starting a Knit & Knag pattern any longer! I chose the Mystic Star shawl, and I'm making it with Chili Gredelin Madame yarn, which is one of my favourite yarns ever. It's turning out very pretty so far:

I'm almost half-way I think, I've knitted a lot on this one lately, and I couldn't be happier with it. I used Chili Gredelin yarn for my Aeolian a year ago, and it has held up fabulously! And the pattern is great as well, well written and clear, with good charts. Anna Dalvi (the designer behind Knit & Knag) is a great designer, very pretty shawls and easy patterns. There will defintely be more of those in the future (I already own most of her patterns). She has just published a book, Shaping Shawls, and I'm planning on knitting several of those as well.

Oh, and speaking of Chili Gredelin: She is closing down her shop for a while (she doesn't know for how long yet, but as she's studying and has kids at the same time, she doesn't have the time for a while I think), so she dyed up most of the yarn she had at home, and put it up in the shop a couple of weeks ago (right now there's also a sale going on!). As I LOVE her yarn I really didn't want to miss this, so I had to buy some (yes I know. So sue me!). I bought six skeins of the Madame yarn (silk and cashmere, by the way) in two different colourways:

Madame Blast (blast is the swedish word for the tops of root vegetabler, you know the leafy green tops of carrots, for instance)

Madame Champis (a swedish soda that looks like champagne)

Really, really gorgeous yarn! I haven't decided what to make from them just yet, but I'm leaning towards something from the Shaping Shawls book. I think it will stay in the stash for a while though, I want to savour it a bit before I knit with it as I don't know when and if I can get more.

I haven't really knitted anything on the Hokie socks so far either, but as I'm now not on any deadline, they will get finished in time as well. 

Ok, now you know what I've been up to these past few weeks! Next week I'm looking forward to going to the movies with my sister. She's been out of town for a couple of weeks, so we haven't had a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie yet. We've seen all of the previous ones together, so we're definitely going to this one as well. I just wish she could hurry back to Linköping so we could go already! 

I'll try to get back to you next weekend, and not be so lazy about it!

/ Jenny