Looking back on 2012

Wow, this year has gone by so fast! I wonder if it's a sign that I'm getting old, that I feel like time is going faster?!

I've done a lot of new stuff this year, but I think the biggest thing that happened is that we bought a house. We moved in March, so we've soon lived here for a whole year, and we love it! We haven't regretted that decision one second. The house is old, and we have mice in the walls, but I'm ok with that. The cats will catch them if they come into the house. I hope!

And speaking of cats: We got a new family member this summer as well. Toki is settling in very well, and after having spent Christmas at my parents' house, him and Hobbe seem to be much better friends too. They are just the cutest babies!

Knitting-wise I've managed to finish 20 projects this year, which is only one less than last year. I thought it would be a lot less, since I didn't knit very much during the move and the following unpacking period, but I think the last month's Crazy KAL when I knit down to zero helped me a lot. I'm quite happy with 20 projects, that's almost two every month. And since this year also seem to be the year of frogging (I ripped out nearly a whole cardigan when I decided that the Chili Gredelin Anastasia yarn and the Austin Hoodie pattern didn't work well together, and recently I ripped out more than half a shawl when I ran out of yarn on the Omelet shawl), I could almost say that I made 22 things :). I actually had to rip out the start on my Gray Havens sweater today as well, as it turned out way too big. I've restarted it with smaller needles and in a smaller size as well, so I'm hoping that will be enough.

I've branched out in my needle usage this year as well. Since I started this blog in 2009 I've almost exclusively used KnitPicks Harmony needles, both circular and dpn's. But this year I grew tired of the quality of the circulars, so I've tried some new brands. I have a set of interchangeable ChiaoGoo bamboo needles in the smaller sizes, and I really love those. They aren't as sharp as the KnitPicks', but the amazing cables makes up for that. I got myself two sizes of Blackthorn dpn's as well, in carbon fibre, and those are really amazing as well. I don't plan on using these exclusively though, as I still love my KnitPicks dpn's a lot. They are super sharp, and the hard wood makes them practically unbendy (except for the smallest size). But I like the Blackthorn's a lot, though they are very expensive. I had high hopes for the Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles that came out about a month ago, but it turns out that they are nickel-tipped, and as I hate working with metal I decided not to even try them.

Today I got a Christmas package in the mail as well (from myself, I spent some of my Christmas money at Garnkorgen), which contained a set of Addi Click Bamboo needles that I was really curious about. They are size 3.5 mm, and I can say without even trying them that they are pretty blunt. I think that the Addi lace needles are a lot sharper, but as I don't like metal I don't think Addi's are for me. I don't know about the sharpness of Signature needles, as I haven't seen them, but I think I might be set for now with my KnitPicks and my ChiaoGoo.

I've tried a lot of new techniques this year as well. I started the year by finishing the Ramona Mittens, which were double knit. I have used those mittens all this winter, and I love them! I think I'll probably wear them to death, and then make a new pair when they break! I made an Entrelac Cowl for my mother this Autumn as well, which was also completely new to me. I'm very happy with that result, and now that I write about it I realize that I completely forgot to take pictures of that one, and the Bobbie gloves that I also gave mom for her birthday, when I was home for Christmas! Oh well, maybe next time.

On one of the very last projects I made this year, the Companion Cube that I made for Thomas, I got to try out three new techniques! I made steeks and cut them, I did duplicate stitch, and I did matress stitching when I sewed it all together. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for that one!

Finally, the last new thing I did this year was trying my hand at podcasting. I've only made three episodes, and there won't be a new one today as I'm still in my pj's. But that has been a lot more fun than I thought, and I think I'll ask Thomas to help me with that so we can set up the new camera he got for Christmas, and possibly try to get it on iTunes as well.

Ok, I think that was my year in hindsight! It's been an eventful year, but I've had lots of fun and learned a lot of new stuff. And I got a lot of yarn!

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Ok, let's talk about the more recent events. How has your holiday been? I went home to my parents' house on Sunday, and came back yesterday. It's been a good couple of days, but there are always so many people that you want to see in such a short time! I feel like I've been driving around almost constantly. But I spent Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas Day with Thomas' brothers and father, and Boxing day with some friends. Then we drove back home yesterday, and it felt rather good to just sit on the couch and knit for the whole evening yesterday!

I think I told you that I got the Cookie A sock club from my parents this year, so I didn't get very much else from them. I got an electric blanket from my sister, which I freaking adore (why haven't I had one of these before?!), and I got a Sandman comics collection from Thomas that I'm really looking forward to reading.

I also got some money from my grandfather and some from my grandmother (they're divorced), and I've spent some already. I should never be left alone with an internet! I was bored the other night while I was waiting for my sister to call (she was out partying with her friends, and I had promised to pick her up in the night as her designated driver), so I went on a small shopping spree on Etsy. I ordered three new project bags, and some buttons for upcoming projects. None of that has arrived yet though, so I'll tell you more about it next year when it gets here.

I also got the package with the Addi needles from Garnkorgen, and they were accompanied by two skeins of Koigu KPPPM sock yarn, in colourway 860:

I have been looking at these skeins for such a long time, and now that I got some spending money I finally ordered them. They are gorgeous! I'm just really into self-striping and self-patterning sock yarns right now! That is quite good timing though, as the Stockinette Zombies are hosting a January KAL for self-striping yarns. Actually, they'll be doing one each month, as the goal is for Megan to finally use up some of her stash, and all the other participants are just joining her. I'll probably cast on for a pair of socks on New Year's day!

Oh, and speaking of KAL's! I finished my For Good hat!

It's made with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted yarn (100 % merino) in colourway Berry, and I love it! It's a little bit big on me, but I'm ok with that. I'm just waiting on the buttons I ordered to arrive, so I can sew them on! I actually have almost half a skein left, so I'm thinking about making another one in a slightly smaller size.

I've also made some progress on the Ill Met by Moonlight socks, that I'm making in the Mackintosh sock yarn:

I enjoy these quite a lot, and they are turning out pretty great. I can't say enough good things about Claire Ellen, as all of her sock designs are gorgeous. I'm planning on making a lot more of them next year!

I have barely had time to knit on anything else while at my parents', but yesterday I made a lot of progress on the Grey Havens sweater. This morning I decided to try it on, and it was HUGE! I'd only made the bottom ribbing, and it was anything but tight on me. So I ripped the whole thing out, and started over again. So I have no new photos to show you on that one. I haven't knit anything at all on the Morning Echo cardigan either.

But tonight I found the Christmas Ball that I completely forgot to unpin before we left, so I've stuffed it:

I'm pretty pleased with it, even though it isn't perfect. I just have to make a loop of that last yarn end, and hang it on the tree. I'm not sure if there will be any more for next year, as I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought, but maybe I can make a tradition of making one each year :)

Ok, I've been rambling on for ages! Tomorrow we're going into town to buy groceries for our New Year's Eve party, and Sunday will be spent cleaning and preparing the food. I'll be back next year, hopefully with a new podcast too.

Happy New Year!

/ Jenny

Lots of jambled stuff

I'll start this post by taking a moment to think about Gizmo, my dearly departed cat who died last September. Today would have been his fourth birthday, and I miss him a little bit extra today. It's funny that animals can leave such an impression on us. And I think Hobbe might sense that I'm a bit sad today, because he is extra snuggly today since I got home from work. Which I really apreciate! This is one of my favourite photos of Gizmo:

The photo is taken with my cell phone camera, so the quality isn't all that good. But he looks so cute standing at the table, I think that it's vanilla custard that he's stealing from my plate :)

As you might have noticed, I don't have as much time to update the blog now that I'm back to work again. And of course I don't have as much knitting time either. But it's ok though, it feels good to get back to the work routine, and I had a very fruitful meeting with one of my supervisors this Wednesday, so now I have stuff to keep me busy until Christmas, at least.

I'm starting to feel ok again about everything else, too. The antidepressants have finally kicked in, and the three weeks I had to rest did the trick. I'm going to have a few days of vacation between Christmas and Ney Years Eve as well, so I'll try to get plenty of rest then too. Last year I had no Christmas spirit at all, as it was only three months after Gizmo passed away. But this year I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, not to mention all the good food!

What Christmas food do you non-swedish readers eat? Here in Sweden there are several traditional dishes to eat on Christmas Eve (yes, we celebrate on the 24th): The most common is boiled and glazed ham with mustard, Janssons temptation, which is a potato gratin with tinned fish (is the english word also anjovis?), meatballs and tiny sausages. My family on my father's side comes from Denmark, and there they eat a lot of duck on Christmas. I guess duck can be hard to find on Sweden at Christmas, at least when my grandparents moved here in the 50's, so they changed their tradition to turkey instead. So in our family we have the traditional Swedish Julbord (sort of a smorgasbord, only with the Christmas dishes instead) at around 14.00, and in the evening we eat turkey together with my uncle and his family. So a LOT of food on one day! We usually roll over to the sofa afterwards and just relax.

My husband's family on his father's side is from England, so they usually have turkey on Christmas day instead. So if I play my cards right, I get turkey for two nigths in a row! This is the only time in the year that I get turkey, so the more the better :)

Ok, so maybe a littel update on the knitting front? After all, this is supposed to be a knitting blog... I finished my pink Candle Flame shawl on Tuesday night, and I love it! I blocked it overnight, and wore it the first time on Thursday, when it had dried completely. And in the photo you also get to see the finished beret as well:

Pleas excuse the colours galore, this is my sweater I wear to and from workout... There isn't much daylight to talk about today, with really grey skies as well, but my sister kindly helped me get some photos outside. Thomas' first reaction to the hat was: You look like a cooking lady at a school (I think he associated it with a hairnet...). The next time he saw me in it he said: "You look like Toad on Super Mairo"... So maybe I don't really look all that good in a beret, but it is so warm and snuggly I'll wear it anyway! I don't look that stupid, do I?

And the shawl turned out gorgeous, I really LOVE the yarn. It's Garnpalettens single-ply 100 % wool, and the woman who owns and runs Garnpaletten does all her dyeing herself. He daughter is also a member of the Linköping Knitters, so that makes this yarn extra special. And look how beautiful the pattern turned out:

It was so easy, but although it was repetitive and I learned it by heart after just two repeats, it wasn't the least bit dull. And it was great to get to take a lace knit to the knitting cafés as well, as it wasn't that demanding. I have three skeins of this yarn in a lovely green/lime colourway, that I plan to turn into the Heere Be Dragons shawl sometime.

I've also started two new projects. I don't know if I mentioned last time that I began the Moose Loves Roses mittens for my grandfather? Well, I did, and I've finished the first cuff:

They look pretty good, and even though they are a little bit wonky right now, you can imagine that they'll look great after a bit of blocking. I LOVE the yarn, KnitPicks Palette (100 % wool), and I'm sure I'll order more of it sometime after New Year. I've planned to knit the Cat Mittens for myself for a long time, and I think this yarn will be perfect for that. And when I bought the pattern for the Moose mittens (both those and the Cat mittens are designed by Jorid Linvik), I saw that she also has a pattern for Cat Socks, so I think I'll buy it too after Christmas. Don't you just love the paw print at the bottom of the sock! I'm so happy that I have ten skeins of this yarn in a lovely pinkish colour, that will turn into some kind of sweater for me!

And last night I started the Aeolian shawl, with my Chili Gredelin Madame yarn. I've only done a little bit, but it looks SOO good so far. The yarn is absolutely stunning, both the quality and the colours, and the beads work perfectly with the colours as well.

I'm not sure if I'll do all the nups that the pattern asks for, as I couldn't make them look good when I swatched, so maybe I'll just place extra beads there instead. I'll be sure to put in a lifeline before the nup section starts, then I can try it with nups first, and if they still don't look good I can just rip that section out.

Oh, and I have some great news (for me at least)! After the Linköping Knitters' bithday party I spoke to my mother about how fun I thought it was to spin. As some of my family on my mohter's side are sheep farmers, I asked her if she thought that there might be some lonely spinning wheel standing in an attic somewhere, that I could rescue (I told you this part before, didn't I?). She said that she didn't think so, but at the school where she works they have several spinning wheels that are hardly used. She then proceeded to ask the woman in charge of them if she could buy one of them for me at a dicounted price! The woman thought about it, and then suggested that I borrow a spinning wheel for an unlimited time, as long as I bring it back to the school once a year when they have an Open House for potential students! So after Christmas I get to take home my very own (borrowed) spinning wheel! Wohoo! So now I just have to buy some fibre to start learning!

My sister and I are going to Friskis&Svettis today to work out, so I better get started on adding the photos to this post, otherwise I might run out of time! I'll see you after the weekend!

/ Jenny

Some days I just feel tired of everything

This has been one of those days. I just can't find the energy to do anything, so I stay in bed as long as possible. Work is completely exhausting right now, and I'm fairly certain that my depression stems from exhaustion. I've been working way too much for the last three years, and I think I'm actually burnt out. I'm going to the councellor tomorrow (wish me luck! Those meetings tend to be somewhat draining, and I always come out looking like a tomatoe in the face from all the crying...), and I think I'm going to beg her to put me on sick-list (I don't know if this is the right word, I got it from an on-line encyclopedia). In Sweden, if you want to get payed while on sick-leave for longer than a week, you have to get a certificate from your doctor. I just feel that I would love to be able to NOT think about work all the time! As I'm still doing the PhD thing, I can't really leave my work at work when I go home, it's sort of always in the back of my head. My employment so far runs out at the end of march, and right now I'm so sick of it that I'm not sure I'll accept even if they offer me more work after that.

Anyhow, yesterday I was at a knitting café, and I met a new girl that I hadn't seen before. It turned out that she had the same education as me (It's called Medical Biology, a Master's degree), and we got to talking about education and work. Our education is a purely academical one, which is a draw-back when you're applying for jobs at routine labs. They prefer the Biomedical analysists (I don't know the english term, but this is the swedish name for the biomedical education that gives you a certified work title), and right now the routine jobs seem very appealing to me. I learned from my fellow student yesterday that Linköping university has started to offer this education, and if you've already got a degree in medical biology (as I do), you only have to do one year instead of three to get the certificate. So I'm actually thinking about going back to school next fall! I really thought I was done with all that, but I think I would really benefit from this education. The applications aren't due until april, so I have some time to think about this. It would mean giving up on any dreams of actually becoming a full PhD, but I'm getting more and more convinced that I don't want to work in research in the future anyhow. A regular 9-5 job would suit me just fine right now!

As far as the knitting goes, I'm plugging away at the lettuce coat, but I haven't gotten around to taking any photos yet. I had a request a while ago for a more recent photo of Hobbe, and I'm more than happy to apply. Here he is, the apple of my eye:

The first photo is a little more than a year old, and the second photo was taken this summer by a friend who visited for a few days, and I think Hobbe is very handsome, isn't he?

/ Jenny

Quick post

I'm actually at work right now, so this will be a rather short update. I haven't got a lot to do right now at work, as I'm sort of between lab projects right now, so I'm doing a lot of reading. It is nice in one way, but it's very hard to stay motivated. Especially since I'm struggling with the damned depression simultaneously, which sort of makes it hard to get out of bed some days. Today was just one of those days, I really had to push myself to get up and have breakfast, and I didn't even manage that until 9.30... But at least I'm at work now, and I'm going to work out with my sister his afternoon too, so I at least get to do something today.

Well, enough whining! Time to tell you about my knitting instead! As I'm at work, I have no new photos today, so I'll just brief you a little about what I've been doing the last week. I told you about the cabled gloves I'm working on, right? I had to frog them down to the cuff the other day, as I noticed that the thumb gusset was way too low. But now I've knitted 2.5 fingers on the first one again, and it actually looks pretty neat. The cables are really crazy, but that was sort of why I chose this pattern in the first place, and I think I'll get a lot of use from them. Hopefully it won't be too cold for them too soon!

The green cardigan/bolero I'm making is hibernating for a while longer. I'm still waiting for the yarn to arrive in the mail, and as there is a postal strike going on i the UK, I'm guessing this could take a while. I'm actually waiting for a lot of yarns in the mail! I've ordered the green one for the cardi from a shop in UK, and I managed to find a woman on Ravelry who was willing to sell me some white KnitPicks Main Line yarn to go with my green skeins! I'm so thrilled about this, as I've been planning to make some coloured items with this. And as KnitPicks seems to have discontinued this yarn, I'm so glad I found some elsewhere!

I also got a chance to order directly from KnitPicks for the first time last week! This company is great, but they don't ship to Europe at all so you sort of have to know someone in the US who can order for you. And a while ago one of my fellow bloggers, Nalamienea who writes the blog The Student Knitter offered to do just that, as she was going to order from them anyway. So me and Anna jumped at this offer, and ordered SO MUCH! And I heard from Nalamienea this weekend that the package had arrived at her place, so she was going to post it for us this week. I'm so excited, and I'll show you lots of pictures of the loot as soon as it gets here! For someone who's on a yarn diet, I'm buying a lot....

I've also finally started the Lettuce coat from the Custom Knits book by Wendy Bernard. I'm knitting it in my gorgeous Sarek yarn from Marks & Kattens, and I've only made the shoulders so far, but I think it will look very good! I love the yarn, it's just perfectly balanced between soft and scratchy wool, and I think I'll wear it a lot. And as I'm planning on using all 10 skeins I have in my stash, this will turn out to be a great stash-buster as well.

This Saturday I went to Anna and saw her apartment and boyfriend for the first time, which was a lot of fun. We ordered pizza and watched the movie Big Fish, and of course did a lot of knitting and talking as well. I managed to pursuade my sister to drive me there and pick me up as well, so I actually got to drink a little wine as well. It was just a super nice evening, and I love the movie. Tim Burton is my all-time favourite director, I love all his movies. I can't wait til Alice in Wonderland comes out next year!

And speaking of movies: I hope you haven't missed the fact that Where the Wild Things Are is coming out as a movie this fall as well?! This is my absolute favourite children's book (It's called Till Vildingarnas Land in Swedish), and I'm dying to see this movie! I've seen the trailer, and it looks fantastic. It's coming to Sweden in late November, so I only have to wait a month now.

Oh, and while I was at Anna's I started yet another knitting project. My mother asked me for brown, ribbed leg-warmers a while ago, and as we were going to watch the movie I figured this would be a perfect TV project. The leg warmers are just 2x2 ribbing, and I could almost make them in my sleep. I'm just worried I don't have enough yarn for them, I'm using an old yarn from my stash from Red Heart, which is 50 % superwash wool and 50 % acrylic. It's the same brand that I used for the cabled, green-blue socks I made a while ago, only this is a solid brown colour. On the other hand I'm going to visit my parents this coming weekend, as we are going to the christening of my best friend's youngest boy (me and Thomas are going to become god-parents!), and I've bought the yarn in Borås super-cheap so I guess I can buy another skein then if I have to.

And this Thursday one of my favourite online yarn stores, Chili Gredelin, had a huge sales on one of their lace yarns! This yarn had been voted on to the top 10 list in the Swedish knitting group Sticka!, and she lowered the prices for just one night to celebrate. I bought 2 skeins of a gorgeous green lace yarn, and I'm hoping it will arrive this week. I'm so excited I've been looking at lace patterns the whole weekend. I'll show you pictures when I get it, I promise. And I know I'm supposed to be on a yarn diet, but I convinced my parents that this would be a great early christmas gift for me, and my mother agreed. So it doesn't count! It's like calories: they don't count if you're cooking for someone else too (or if you eat from someone else's plate...).

I'll leave you with this super-cute photo of Hobbe as a baby, so you have something to enjoy while reading!

/ Jenny

Best. Present. Ever.

Ok, good news first: When I had my licenciate seminar a week ago, my co-supervisor from AstraZeneca, Karin, told me she had bought me an exam gift, but that it hadn't arrived in the mail yet and would come directly to me via mail. I was very glad that she had bothered to buy me something at all, so when I got a note from the post office that they had a package for me, I thought that this would be the aforementioned gift. I know that Karin does pottery as a hobby, so I thought that it might be something she had made me herself. You can imagine how surprised I was when I opened it and found a hand-made pottery yarn-bowl from KnitWitch inside! I had mentioned KnitWitch in passing to Karin a few weeks ago when we were discussing hobbies over lunch, and she had remembered and actually bought me a yarn bowl! I am just beside myself, it is SOOO gorgeous. And as I know how expensive they are with the shipping to Europe, I'm just so grateful! Have I got the best supervisor or what?!

The yarn bowl works like this: It has a little hole on one side, where you thread your yarn through. Then you have your skein or ball in the bowl and just pull the thread through the hole while you knit, and the yarn stays in the bowl and doesn't dance all over the floor (and thereby doesn't collect any dust lying around). It might seem like a little bit useless, but it is actually very good to have when you're not such a big fan of cleaning your house (as I'm sorry to admit I'm not...). Plus, it's a handmade pottery bowl, and is very beautiful to look at. I'm going to keep mine on the couch table even when I'm not using it.

Unfortunately, I also have some boring news (well, not really news...). I seem to have acquired an inflammation in my left arm, as it has been hurting like h*** for four days now. And I have absolutely no idea what I've done to cause this! The arm hurts from shoulder to palm, and painkiller pills doesn't seem to help either. I think I will have to call the doctors clinic tomorrow and find out what's wrong. The worst thing is that it's inhibiting my knitting, as I can't knit for very long without the arm hurting. On the other hand, it hurts when I don't knit either, so I might as well knit while it hurts anyway...

I'll leave you with a darling photo of Hobbe appreciating my Alpaca yarn (he was actually using it as apillow, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera...

/ Jenny

I got mail!

When I came home from work today, I had gotten two packages in the mail, from my RAK in Europe group on Ravelry (you know, the random acts of kindness, where you give away things to other people)! it was almost like a birthday to open them, and the contents was great! From Ballee in Holland I got some (what I preseume is) homemade stitch markers that were absolutely gorgeous! They are a bit small, so I guess I will have to start a new lace project soon so I can use them.

And from JudyK in England, I got some stitch markers and a bar of dark chocolate. Hobbe really loked them too...

This afternoon I'm going to my third knitting café this week! It's great to get that much knitting time, as I'm really making progress on my projects. The tunic is almost up to the bustline now:

I really like the yarn combination, as you can see the cables really stand out! However, when looking at the Drops photo of it, it looks like a very light summer tunic. This is everything but light, and will be a quite heavy and thick winter pice of clothing... I'm not sure how much I will use it, since the design seems very summer-y, but maybe it will look beautiful on. I'm thinking of making full-length sleeves, as opposed to 3/4 as described in the pattern. Maybe that will make it look more like a winter sweater?

I'm also making two pairs of socks: One with size 2 mm needles and very thin yarn, so they are taking very much time. Although as you can see in the photo, I've at least made the first heel, so now it's just the foot part left (and the second sock, of course.

And one with a very thick yarn, that flies off the needles, I just haven't knitted on them for a few days. The main reason is that I don't own any 5 mm wooden dpns, and I have come to have the feel of plastic needles. Which is actually rather funny, since I hadn't tried anything else until july this year. but now I'm totally addicted to wooden needles. When the paycheck comes in on tuesday, I will order some additional sizes of the KnitPicks Harmony Wooden needles. The immage turned out a bit blurry, but I can't be bothered to bring out hte camera once again just to take a progress-shot. Also, blogger is not my friend today, and insists on posting the image turned 90 degrees clockwise...


Now, I'll keep knitting on the tunic. I think that is what I will bring to the knitting café this afternoon.

/ Jenny

Knitting (and frogging) progress

I've finally approved the printing of my thesis book, so now I have almost nothing to do at work (except planning the seminar, of course). So I've been able to knit a lot. Unfortunately, I've also frogged a lot... I decided to add some cabels on the tunic, because after knitting the lace shawl I felt I would grow bored with that much plain knit knitting (it's knitted in the round so there aren't even any purl stitches). Stupidly I didn't check the pattern closely enough, so I placed the cables too close to the sides, where the increases for the waist would go. So after knitting at least 10 cm, I had to frog everything. Again. I think that was the third time. Or fourth. Now I've done about 5 cm, and it looks like this.

I also have avid help from Hobbe, who doesn't mind getting some yarn in the face every now and then. He has himself to blame for curling up in my lap while I knit. I'm not complaining, though, it's really supercozy. Although I have to say that it is kind of hard, because Gizmo used to lie in my lap while I knitted, and this reminds me so much of him. I just can't believe how much I miss that little cat, and it's almost been a year since he died.

On a much happier note, the socks are coming along nicely. I haven't finished the first yet, probably because I've spent so much time on the tunic, but it looks like this now. I think it is very pretty, and I can't wait for the weather to cool down so I can wear them (although I have to finish them first...).

Yesterday I inventoried all my yarn as well, and except what is on the needles, this is all my yarn:

I actually don't think it's very much, at least not compared to what many other knitters in the blog world seem to have. I have aslo decided to get rid of most of my acrylics, and since some people on my RAK (random acts of kindness) group on Ravelry whished for just acrylics, I figured I could kill two flies with one stone and send some of it to new, loving homes. I think I will just save enough to make the colour pattern swatches in the knitting book I'm using to learn techniques. If I don't save enough, I always have an excuse to buy more yarn :)

I have also decided to start a new project: A needle storage unit I found here. I think it was very smart, and the only problem is that I don't own any 100 % wool that is not superwash, so I don't have any yarn that will felt. Oh well, another reason to visit the yarn shop soon. I don't think it will be before the end of the month though, as I don't have very much money left.

As I've probably mentioned, the museum where my husband works has an exhibit on knitting during the summer. And to support this they also have various knitting activities like knitting cafés and such. This Tuesday they had a "learn to crochet" class for two hours, which I promptly joined. It was so much fun, and I finally understood what I have always done wrong. When you knit a piece and turn it, you do some extra loops, to gain the hieght of the new row. I always thought that this meant that I had to skip as many stitches when I began the new row, which made me lose stitches every row, and everything I crocheted came out as triangles instead of squares... Stupid, but now I know. So when I came home I found an easy pattern for grandma squares (are they called that in english? I don't really know), and proceeded to make one. It turned out pretty great for a first time, if I say so myself! So now I don't think there will be any problems crocheting some more amigurumi toys!

I'll keep knitting on the tunic now, I'll be back another day with progress (hopefully)!

/ Jenny

Back in Linköping

Finally I have me some internet again! I arrived in Linköping around 17.30, and have spent the evening catching up on all the comics and blogs I read online. So not much knitting done today! But I've knitted almost uninterrupted the whole weekend at my parents' (especially since I've been more or less computer-less), and made some headway on the shawl. It started with three stiches, and I think there are now 349, and the finished one will be somewhere in the vicinity of 600 I think. So I'm almost halfway there! And it looks good too, I can't wait to see it blocked!

I also have the funniest cat! Hobbe is living proof that cats can discern what is moving on the TV, because he only enjoys animal programs! Especially when it involves any cat animals. Here is a picture of him watching a documentary on tigers.

Around new year, the movies Doctor Doolittle I and II were on TV here, and I was home with the flu and didn't have the energy to do anything else, so they were on in the background. Hobbe actually watched the whole things both days with me, he sat on the couch totally transfixed for 1 1/2 hours! So cute! So tonight while I have been surfing, he has watched animal planet.

Now, I'll go to bed so I can do some knitting tomorrow!

/ Jenny

New Pictures

Hello again!

I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of some of my previous work. I have also made some scarves, which was how I got into knitting in the first place, but since I've learned about the magic of blocking, I realise that these too have to go on the blocking board. So more pictures of them later on.

This is my first attempt at knitting with more than two colours. I think that the yarn running on the back side of the knit is a bit tight, because I have to pull the sweater down on my shoulders quite often, but I'm still fairly happy with it. It's knitted in 100 % superwash wool, on round needle size 3 mm and 4 mm.

The next project I finished that I'm very happy with is these over-knee socks. They are also made from the same yarn as the black sweater and VERY warm! They are knitted using dpn's size 3.5 mm. Unfortunately, I finished them just when spring came around, so I have only used them once so far. But when winter rolls araound again I expect to use them a lot.

The last finished object I have is this turquoise sweater I made this spring as well. It's also done in 100 % wool, with round needle size 8 mm, but this is a thicker yarn and worked like a dream! I finished the whole sweater in just over a week, it went so fast! And I love the colour, so hopefully I will get to wear it a lot this winter.

Finally I have the green cardigan/bolero I made, which was the first piece of clothing I attempted. It's still not completely dry on the blocking board, so I will post before and after pictures when it's done.

Also: It's not easy to get any reading done when you get this kind of help!


Now, I'll continue on my shawl.

/Jenny

Almost ready to start knitting

Hi again!

I'm officially on holiday! I slept until 9.30 this morning, and I plan on starting my knitting project today! I decided that if the new wooden needles from KnitPicks don't show up in the mail today, I will start with my old plastic ones. I can always switch when they arrive! Too bad the weather isn't as great as it has been the last week, but it's still hot as a baking oven. I'm actually not quite finished with my thesis yet, but I will be today, so that's ok.

I thought I would tell a little about myself, since I haven't had the time yet. I live in Linköping, Sweden, but was born and raised in Borås (which is sort of like the textile capital in Sweden). I moved to Linköping in 1999 to study at the university, and had my Masters in Medical Biology in 2004. I then started my PhD studies at the Department for Molecular and Immunological Pathology at the University Hospital, which is what I've been doing since then. This september I will get my licenciate degree, and hopefully I will continue to get my full PhD later on. I live with my husband Thomas, who works at the city museum, and my precious little Dveon Rex cat Hobbe (who turned three years old yesterday!) in an rented semi-attached house just off the city center. We used to have another cat as well, Gizmo, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, he passed away nine moths ago. Hobbe is doing well as a "single" cat, but eventually we plan on getting another one. We just have to get over Gizmo first.

Here are my darlings, Gizmo on the left and Hobbe to the right.

To celebrate my vacation I went into the city center yesterday and did some knitting-related shopping. I bought a new book, titled "Klassisk Stickning" (the english title is "Vintage knitwear for modern knitters"), by Lise-Lotte Lystrup. I think I want to knit about 20 projects from this book, since I LOVE vintage clothing, especially from the 50's and 60's, so I think I'm set pattern-wise for the rest of the year.

Klassisk stickning

I also bought some beads that I plan to knit into the shawl I'm going to knit. I found a YouTube instruction video that showed an ingeneous way of incorporating pearls into a knit without pre-stringing, so I plan to try this out.

Finally, I ordered three other books online as well, "Vogue Knitting: the Ultimate Knitting Book", "Börja Virka" ("Start to crochet") by Sys Fredens, and "Virka amigurumi : söta små glädjespridare" (Crochet amigurumi: Pretty little happy-makers") by Mia Bengtsson. Hopefully they will arrive fast!

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book

Börja Virka

Virka arigurumi

Now I'll finish my thesis book, so I can start knitting already!

/ Jenny