It's finally summer, and even though the weather has been rainy and cold, I still have time off from work! I'm taking both vacation days and maternity leave, so me and Thomas will be home together with Ella until the middle of August. This past spring has been very tough for us, which is probably why I haven't written here for so long. We have had three bouts of stomach flu, and just haven't had any energy to do anything more than the basics. So these days off from work and anything else are very well timed!
Well, even though we've mostly been working (me) and taking care of Ella (Thomas), I have managed to get a lot of knitting done. I have seven new FO's for you since the last time! I'll just go through them as they were finished.
The first thing I finished was the Star Bright cardigan for Ella. It was finished in February and it is still a bit too big. I had to re-knit the sleeves as they turned out too tight, so I just ended up omitting all of the decreases and making them straight. The cardigan is very pretty and I think it will be perfect for this fall.
It was made with Cascade 220 superwash (100 % superwash wool), in the colourway Marionberry.
Next up I finished the Porthos socks that I made for my brother-in-law William. They turned out very nice, and I used up all but a few meters of the skeins.
They are made with Regia Design Line sock yarn, in the Herb Garden colourway, and they were even striping enough that I got to count them for the Self-Striping KAL that's going on in the Stockinette Zombies Ravelry group. William really likes them too.
I then realized that I have four brothers-in-law, but I've only ever made socks for one of them. So at the beginning of April I cast on for a pair of vanilla socks for my other brother-in-law, Marcus. I used two skeins of Regia Design Line Arne & Carlos yarn that I got in February, in the colourway Winter Night.
They turned out very pretty, and Marcus was very pleased with them. I really like this yarn, the only downside is that since the stripes are so busy it is hard to make anything but vanilla socks with it. Any pattern just obscures the fake colourwork that the yarn is doing by itself.
Next up I started and finished a hat for my best friend for her 35th birthday. I was going to make her a pair of socks, but she asked if I could make a hat instead. I dug deep into the stash to find a suiting yarn, as she isn't a knitter and would probably not appreciate anything with too much colour. I found three skeins of Drops Delight yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon), in a green and brown striping colourway, and that fit her perfectly. The yarn is a bit thick-and-thin, so I wouldn't use it for socks, but it was perfect for a hat. I started to make the sockhead hat, but to liven it up a bit I made it in reverse stockinette with some knit tbl stitches running along the head. I think it turned out great!
And please excuse the very weird photo of me wearing it! It is pretty difficult to take a picture of yourself and get a good angle of the hat! Christine didn't pose for any photos as it was very warm when I gave it to her. And we were in a church at a Christening that was just about to start too :)
I've also started and finished a little sweater for Ella, the Persille sweater. I used almost a whole skein of Chili Gredelin Cassiopeia yarn (75 % merino/20 % nylon/5 % stellina), in the colourway Glitter Canary, and it is super soft! I have one more skein of this yarn in a blue colourway, and I think I'll make something else for Ella from it as it is just perfect for soft baby skin!
This sweater was a bit of a challenge for me, as the whole thing is knit in pieces and then seamed. I am really not good at seaming, but I made sure I had plenty of time to get it right, and it turned out very good! It is such a pretty little sweater, perfect for summer evenings (if the rain would just stop for a while...).
Right before I went on vacation I also finished the Krydda cardigan for me! It seems like I haven't made anything for myself for a while, so this one was a very fun FO. I really, really love it, and it fits perfectly!
It is made from Cascade 220 (100 % wool), in the colourway Liechen, and the colour is very pretty. I really like Cascade, and this cardigan will be perfect all year round I think.
Finally, yesterday I finished another little cardigan for Ella. I made her a My Aunt Doris cardigan, out of the Araucania llama yarn that I got at the sewing festival last autumn. I haven't had a chance to put it on her after blocking it, as it is still drying upstairs, but it fit her before I soaked it so I think it will be fine. The red semisolid colour is very pretty, and it was a very fun and fast knit.
I also have five projects on the needles. Both the shawls (the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star shawl and the Fiori Di Sole shawl) are still going, and I have made very little progress on them. I very rarely get to knit on anything complicated these days, as I almost always keep an eye on Ella while she crawls around and plays while I knit. She still isn't walking by herself, but she walks while holding on to stuff so I think she will start walking very soon. Anyway, I haven't gotten any new photos of the shawls, since very little has happened to them.
I'm also still working on the Firenze socks by Coopknits, and I have made a little bit of progress on them. I am four repeats into the leg, out of six total, but I think I'll probably make the sock a little longer as I prefer them that way. I have very small feet, so the yarn will be enough to make them a little bit taller.
I had hoped that the colours of the yarn would fade a bit more into each other, so far there are only increasing amounts of purple flecks in the black (it's FibroFibers Nightfall yarn). I'll leave my final judgement of the yarn until the sock is done though, as it is still predominantly black.
I've also started a pair of striping vanilla socks for me, in another skein if Regia Design Line Arne & Carlos yarn, this time in the colourway Star Night. I have just started the second sock, and I had to make them completely un-matching as the starting point of the two skeins was almost exactly different enough to be half-way through the entire stripe repeat! Good thing they're for me!
Finally, at the beginning of May I cast on for a colourwork sweater for myself. I got inspired by Megan of the Stockinette Zombies, who made an Alvi out of Wollmeise Blend yarn, so I started one for myself as well. I was very well on gauge, so even though the pattern calls for a DK, I'm using a sport weight.
The colourways are Krokodil and Ooohm. This is such a fun knit, and I've actually memorized the pattern so I can use it as social knitting. I'm just going to finish the striping socks first, and then this will be my primary knitting I think.
And that's it for knitting! The only yarn I've bought since the last time was the skeins of Arne & Carlos yarn, and I've already used up all of that. I hope to get to do some lace knitting this summer as well, to at least finish one of the shawls. And I'll probably start something new for Ella soon too, as right now I only have projects for myself on the needles!
Other than knitting, it feels like this spring has mostly been spent doing nothing at all. On the first day of vacation though, we went to Gothenburg to see Foo Fighters play! We left Ella with Thomas' mother for the evening (her first time alone with a babysitter! It went perfectly, she was happy all the evening and fell soundly asleep), and me, Thomas, my sister and her boyfriend went to the concert. The opening act was the Linköping band Ghost, which we love, and they were amazing. Then Foo Fighters came on, and after 1.5 songs Dave Grohl fell off the stage and broke his leg! It's been in a lot of international media too, so I guess you've probably heard that he came back and finished the concert with a cast on his leg. It was an amazing show, the crowd was really happy that the show went on so the energy was through the roof (although it was an outside arena...), and the band was just in shock I think. Dave Grohl was probably on a lot of painkillers as well :) All in all it was a perfect evening, and it was very nice to finally get away and do something as adults, without Ella.
Friday this past week was Midsummer's Eve, but since the weather was horrible we didn't go and see the rising of the maypole. We had two friends over for dinner, and just sat around playing board games and had a very good time. Ella is still too small to appreciate any celebrating, so she was content just hanging out with us and playing with her toys. And she got to watch some cartoons too, which she loves.
Ok, I think that's it for this time. Hopefully we'll get to save some energy during the summer, and the autumn will be a better one. Ella is starting daycare in August, and I'm decreasing my working hours to 75 % weeks instead, which should be good for all of us. I'll try to get back sooner next time, but once again I make no promises :)
/ Jenny
