Two FO's to show off!

I've finally started knitting again, I think I've started to feel a little bit better so I don't get motion sickness when I knit! I've also been feeling a little bit more energized, so we've done some stuff these past couple of weekends (I'm still too tired after work during the week). On the 8th of November one of our best friends had his dissertation (which we didn't go to, as it was during our working hours), followed by a big dissertation party. It was so much fun, and we got to see some of our friends that we haven't seen for a very long time. I think we were home by midnight, so we didn't stay for all of it, but I'm just glad that I can do stuff like that at all again.

Then the following weekend I went to Västervik (a tiny town on the east coast of Sweden, about two hours' drive from Mantorp where we live), to visit my sister in her new apartment. She moved away from Linköping this summer, at the beginning of August, but I've just been feeling too crappy to go there until now. We mostly hung out and played Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii (we've been playing it forever, but it's still fun), and it was very nice. I had also gotten her a small ice cream maker for her birthday, so we made raspberry yoghurt ice cream on Sunday before I left. Yummy!

This weekend has been spent mostly cleaning the house and hanging out with Thomas, and we also watched the 50th anniversary Doctor Who episode. It was SO GOOD! I already love John Hurt, and it was so much fun to see David Tennant as the doctor again. It's a shame we have to wait until Christmas for more episodes! Of course I know that Tennant won't be there then, but he's still my favourite. We've actually started watching all the new seasons again (beginning with Christopher Eccleston), just because it's such a good show.

Ok, on with the knitting! A couple of weeks ago, about a week after I wrote last I think, I finished my Parcel sweater!

It's made with Drops Lima yarn (65 % wool/35 % alpaca), which is super warm, and I really like it. You won't get to see it modelled though, as it is already too small! I really hope I can get back to my starting weight after the baby is born, so I can wear it!

This past week I also finally finished my Hermione's Everyday socks that I made with Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon), in the colourway Rainbow Riot:

I am very pleased with them, and I wore them to work on Thursday. The yarn was really nice to work with, and as of last week I have one more skein in my stash. On Monday, I think it was, I got a skein in the Tardis colourway that I managed to snag in an update several weeks ago (it was a pre-order buy):

This yarn is so much fun, and Lisa is such a talented dyer. As we are trying to save up some money, I don't buy much yarn at all right now, but this skein had to be mine when I actually managed to catch the update. I almost used it yesterday to cast on for a new pair of socks, but I changed my mind and chose a skein of Friday Studios Monday yarn instead, that I got in the Hunger Games yarn club this spring.

I think I might have told you last time, but the Hermione's Everyday socks were actually my October pair for the Stockinette Zombies Striped socks KAL, so I was feeling a little bit behind. So yesterday I decided I wanted to start a new pair, so that I'll have time to finish all twelve pairs this year. I skeined up the Friday Studios yarn, in the colourway Girl on Fire, and started the Show-off Stranded socks. And today I'm already half-way through the foot!

They are going super fast, and I really enjoy them. If I keep this pace up, I might be able to finish them in November too!

I also decided, while I was packing for the trip to my sister, that I wanted to start another sweater or cardigan. I already had one of my Wollmeise DK skeins in the Pesto colourway wound into a ball, so I chose the Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos. So far I've only knit the bottom ribbing and a little bit of stockinette, but I'm still enjoying it. The yarn is very nice to work with, and I hope to have it finished this year. 

I got two more packages in the mail since I wrote last. The first was my last shipment in the Bling Your String bag club, and I think the fabric is cute this time too. It was a fun club, but I won't be doing any more bag clubs like that. I think I enjoy picking the bags myself more, and right now I have so many bags that I don't know what to do with all of them! 

I also got my November shipment in the 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon sock club from the Knitting Goddess. This was the second to last, so only one more month to go. The yarn is called Twin Set, and it's from the movie Enid about Enid Blyton. It's very pretty, and as usual the accompanying pattern (called Watzisname) by Rachel Coopey is very pretty. I won't be joining in next year's club, but I'll probably buy the upcoming patterns as they are released to the public.

And I think that's it! Next weekend is the first in Advent, so we'll be decorating the house with lights and some of the Christmas ornaments. Thomas' younger brother Adam is moving next weekend too, so Thomas will probably be tied up all weekend. Then the weekend after that we're going to a concert with the Swedish band Ghost, which will be so much fun (they're awesome!), on the third of Advent some of our friends are coming here for a visit, and then the weekend before Christmas we'll pack up our stuff and go home to our parents. I can't believe it's only a month left until Christmas!

/ Jenny

Well, I'm knitting a little bit again

It's been almost a month again, but at least I've picked up my needles a little bit again. I've started knitting some on my rainbow socks that I showed you last time, but I still haven't finished the first one so I have no new photos. Those were supposed to be my October stripy socks, so now I guess I'll have to try and finish two pairs in November, to get all twelve pairs done this year. We'll see, it won't be a disaster if I don't finish all of them, I'll still have at least ten pairs of new striped socks for this year!

I have also picked up the Parcel sweater, and as of today I've finished half of the second sleeve. Then it's just the neck band left, and it will be done! Maybe I can even get to wear it once or twice before my stomach gets too big.

I am enjoying the sweater a lot, and I'll probably cast on for another sweater or cardigan as soon as this one is done. Probably a cardigan, as it will be more and more difficult to try the sweaters on for size as I grow. I haven't decided what pattern I want to make yet though, we'll see.

I got some yarn in the mail last week too. First I got the October shipment in the 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon yarn club:

It's a skein of sock yarn, as usual, from the Knitting Goddess, and the colourway is called Fun Fur. I had absolutely no idea from which movie the inspiration came, but someone on Ravelry told me it's from the Gruffalo. That's a movie I haven't seen, so this one was hard for me to guess. I really like the brown colour though, so I don't really mind.

Last weekend I went to have coffee and cake with Anna, my knitting friend, and her fiancé Peter. It was such a good time, we haven't seen each other since early this summer, and we knitted and chatted for several hours. She offered to make me a crochet baby blanket! So I ordered some yarn for that this week as well, which all arrived on Thursday. I got five skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash, in the colourways Lake Chelan Heather, Marionberry, Wasabi and White:

She's going to make a granny square blanket for me (or rather for the baby), and I'll try to get the yarn to her this week. I really like the yarn, and the colours will be perfect. Neither boyish nor girly.

And finally, I have been teaching my co-worker Sanna (yes, she has the same name as my sister, it's very confusing) to knit! She has a real talent for it, she started with just a swatch to learn knitting and purling, and then moved on to a pair of cuffs with a kind of fish bone pattern to them. She finished super fast!

She is going to sew them to a pair of leather gloves, which I think will look very pretty. The yarn is a skein of Cascade 220, in a grey heather colour, and she has almost half of it left. Now she wants to move on to a cabled head band, so on Monday I'm bringing her a cable needle so I can teach her to knit cables. So much fun!

Other than that not much seems to happen here, except that my stomach is growing. I've been working for all of October, which seems to be working well for me, and even though the nausea is still there, the rest of the stomach issues are much better. I really hope the nausea will go away too, but I don't have much hope. I'll survive though. I'll try to not write a lot here about the pregnancy, since this is a knitting blog, but I suspect you'll get to see some baby knitting here soon!

/ Jenny