Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I haven't forgotten you!


Although you might have thought so, it's been so long! I have no real excuse, other than I have been a bit busy. The weekend after I wrote last, Thomas had his big unveiling of the new exhibition at the museum where he works. He isn't the artist, but he's the one who has produced the exhibition. It's named Heart Games, and it was all art based on different video games. It is completely awesome, and if you're in the area I definitely recommend you to go check it out. The unveiling was a complete success too, with hundreds of visitors, so he was very pleased. You can see some of the artwork here, even though the text is in Swedish :)

The week after that I went to Jönköping, which is a city about 1.5 hours away from Mantorp, for a conference for one day, and then I can't remember what I even did that weekend after. I think I mostly hung out with Thomas, as he worked almost around the clock the two weeks leading up to the unveiling. It was very nice to have him home again, but by that time I was getting a bit tired of having his brother living with us... I think I mentioned that Adam came to stay with us for a short while until he found an apartment of his own in Linköping. Well, that short while turned into seven weeks, and even though he is super nice and really sweet, it was really tiring to never have the house to ourselves! I hate having to close the door when I take a shower!

Then the weekend before this one, we had a big party here. One of my friends turned 35 in September, and we haven't had a chance to get together and celebrate her, so we did that with a big crayfish party! Crayfish parties (or kräftskiva in Swedish  is something that is very common here in Sweden, as you're only allowed to fish for crayfish after the last of August, I think. We were 11 people here, and ate LOTS of crayfish, cheese pie (or quiche?) and had a lot of alcohol as well :) It was really, really nice, and three of our friends stayed over night as well. None of us were very hung over either, so it was really nice to have breakfast together. It was really a night filled with talk and laughter!





Then last Tuesday, one week ago today, Adam finally moved out! He's found a really nice, three-room apartment for rent in Linköping, and he's already found a room mate as well so it won't be too expensive. We actually went and looked at another place about two weeks ago, but that was the most depressing, disgusting place I've ever seen! Even though I was pretty keen to get Adam to move out, the first thing I said when we came out of that place was "You can't live here!". So I'm glad he found a really nice place instead.

So this weekend was spent mostly hanging out with Thomas, just being the two of us! I've been doing a lot of knitting, which was really nice, and we've played some games and watched some movies. It was really restful, and I think just what we needed.

Ok, now you know what I've been up to. Time to talk knitting! I remember asking for your advice on whether or not I should frog my hoodie I was working on. After some comments and a hard look inside myself, I decided I wasn't going to wear it as it looked, so I frogged the whole thing. I still really like the pattern, but it didn't work with that yarn. Instead I settled on the Serina Cardigan, which I've only just cast on for. 


It's worked from the top down, so I've just made about 1 cm of the neck edge so far. This one is languishing a bit while I finish some other stuff.

Right after I wrote last I spoke to my mom, and she had changed her mind and didn't want a cowl that she could wrap two times around her neck, but rather something a bit more tight. I took the opportunity to learn a new technique, and while I was home a few days a couple of weeks ago with a cold, I cast on for an entrelac cowl! I've never made entrelac before, but it wasn't difficult at all and I really enjoyed it. The whole cowl, which is made with Malabrigo Worsted yarn only took two days! It's blocking upstairs right now:


I meant to take some photos of me wearing it, but as it's still wet you'll have to settle for the blocking photos for now. My parents are coming for a visit the last weekend in October, so hopefully I'll get some photos of mom wearing it then.

I also cast on for a pair of gloves for mom, and I chose the Bobbie pattern. This is a really pretty, but easy pattern! It creates an almost woven fabric, and looks much more complicated than it is. I'm really enjoying them, and I've already made the first finger on the second glove! This is what the finished one looks like:


I can not begin to tell you how much I love Julia Mueller's designs! She makes gorgeous gloves and mittens, the techniques are always interesting, and the patterns are so well written and easy to follow. Plus, the patterns are often pretty to look at too, with lots of explanatory pictures. I own most of her patterns already, and I think I might make a new pair for me once I finish mom's. And Sarah: The i-cord details don't make them any tighter at all, they are very stretchy!

So, the cowl and the gloves are what I've been working almost exclusively on these past weeks, as my mom's birthday is this Thursday, and I want to give all of it to her next weekend when she comes here. She already knows about them, but I want her to be able to use them this winter!

Oh, and I wanted to ask you something else: Do you listen to knitting podcasts? Or any other podcasts that you would recommend? I'm right now going through the Stockinette Zombies podcast, and I love podcast novels as well. I have downloaded all of the episodes of the Nerdist but haven't gotten around to listening to them yet. I will gladly accept any recommendations!

Ok, time to do some actual knitting! I'm trying to finish the gloves fast so I can work some more on my sadly neglected Omelet Shawl!

/ Jenny

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