Crafty weekend!

Yesterday my sister came here to visit, and we finally used our soap making supplies that we bought over a year ago! I ordered them from Panduro, a Swedish crafts shop, so that we could make some as Christmas gifts. For last Christmas! We just haven't gotten around to it yet, but yesterday we finally made them. We started out by melting the soap base, then added scent (we had bought apple scent) and colours (we made two batches, one green and one purple). We then poured the liquid soap into some ice trays that I bought at Ikea with this in mind, plus Sanna had a tray that makes robot shaped chocolates that we also used.

They came out looking so cute!

It was pretty fun, even though Sanna did most of the job (I did the dishes while she stirred the soap mixture), and I can definitely see myself making more soap.

I have also been knitting a lot this past week. Thomas has been away for three evenings, so I've had plenty of time to knit undisturbed after work. I've finished all the knitting on the Companion Cube, and I've duplicate stitched the first of the squares. 

I haven't cut them yet, I think I'll block them before I do that. I am very satisfied with how the pink stitches came out, I think it's looking pretty neat. I really hope that it will hold up better this time, because I'm definitely not making another one! I'm contemplating actually making reinforcement seams on a sewing machine this time too. 

I've also knitted a lot on my Serina cardigan, as I would love to finish this one before Christmas. I bought a very pretty dress last weekend, and I would love to be able to wear it with the green cardigan on Christmas Eve.

The colour is a little off in the photo, as I took it late last night with a flash. It's much more green than it looks like, and not at all yellow-ish. I haven't tried it on for a while, but I think I'm almost ready to start the ribbing at the bottom. After that it's just sleeves and the button band. I'm going to make the sleeves full length, as I have much more use for that than the 3/4 sleeves, so I think I'll do those before I start the button band. I'm thinking of adding a small shawl collar to it too, as the one on the Dark and Stormy cardigan (which is another pattern I really want to make), but I need to see how much yarn I have left. I'll let you know what I decide.

I haven't picked up the Omelet shawl or the Christmas ball decorations in quite some time. I think I'll have to rip out the Christmas ball, as I've made the increases at the bottom of it a bit too tight. It's no big deal though, it's only about an hour's work, so I think I'll have it back pretty fast. But I want to finish the cube and the Cardigan first.

And I haven't started any new socks! Megan and Amy of the Stockinette Zombies podcast, are having a KAL that's called the Crazy KAL. You're supposed to make a goal that seems crazy to you! Amy is knitting monogamously on one project at a time, as she is a very polygamous knitter otherwise, while Megan is doing the complete opposite and have cast on for lots and lots of projects simultaneously. I think I might want to join in, and my Crazy will be to finish all of my projects before I cast on for anything new. I very rarely have fewer than four projects going at once, so it will be very strange for me if I actually finish all four of them before I start something new. Hopefully I'll manage to finish all of them before the end of December, when the KAL ends.

This weekend is a very nice one for me, as I have both Monday and Tuesday off from work. I took two vacation days, and I'm just going to spend them at home, knitting lots and cleaning some too. I just felt that I needed some time to relax, and as I have several days of vacation left this year I decided to use two of them. Today though, I'm spending the day with Thomas, probably mostly hanging out on the couch, playing video games and knitting (I'll leave it up to you to guess which one of us will be doing what :)

/ Jenny

Still sick, but at least I'm getting knitting done!

Yep, my stomach is still giving me grief, but today it's slightly better. I'll be back to work on Monday. This week I've spent most of my time on the couch, knitting and listening to podcasts. Right now I'm going through all of the episodes of Stockinette Zombies, as well as We're Alive - A Story of Survival. So, lots of Zombies! Although Stockinette Zombies isn't actually about Zombies.

Anyway, I've finished the Faramir socks!

I LOVE them! The Opal Sock yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon) isn't the softest I've ever used, but it's a good enough, reasonably cheap sock yarn that really holds up through wear and tear. I used just about 70 grams of the 100 grams skein, and I kind of wish I had made another repeat on the leg part. I like my socks a little longer. Oh well, they're fine, and they are so beautiful! Claire Ellen is such a talented designer!

Yesterday my new yarn arrived, Garnkorgen has super fast shipping! I got three skeins if Cascade 220, in Charcoal Gray, Cotton Candy Pink and Light Gray:

I've already wound them and cast on again for the Companion Cube. Let's hope it goes better this time! I'm planning on making the pink details with duplicate stitch after the rest of the knitting is finished, just so I can avoid the floats behind the steek stitches. I've never done duplicate stitch before, so this will also be a new experience for me. Lot's of new things with this project! I'll show you some photos once it's gotten a little bit further, right now I've knit about four rows.

I also got two more skeins of Regia Design Line sock yarn, this time in the Herb Garden 03305 colourway:

This month, Sock Knitters Anonymous is having a Textured stitches KAL in their group, so I'm thinking of casting on the Aquaphobia socks. I just have to decide which of all the colourful yarns I want to use first. I think it might be the Herb Garden or the Spring ones I bought last week. The KAL stretches for two months, so I should be able to finish in time.

I also got one skein of Opal Sock yarn in white, to use for colourwork socks:

Today though, I'm planning on knitting some on my Serina Cardigan. I'm almost at the point where I take the sleeve stitches off, so I've gotten some headway on this one. I haven't gotten any photos of it yet though, so you'll have to wait for those too.

Yesterday when I was really bored, I started using both Plurk (as you can see in the left side column) and Pinterest. I've never been on any of those sites before, so that was fun. Please feel free to befriend me on both places! I'm jench24 on Plurk, and Jenny Clifford on Pinterest. Although I have to say I haven't pinned anything on Pinterest yet, mostly because I can't get the stupid "Pin it" button to work...

/ Jenny

I just lost my mojo...

First off, I went to Linköping yesterday to buy some more Drops Karisma, and I came home with an extra skein of sock yarn too. This time I at least chose a more sensible skein (for me), and picked a solid black one. This is Austermann Step, the same as the crazy pink one I bought a week ago.

That was the good news. Today, I've been home from work with a badly behaving stomach, and I've been knitting on the Companion Cube for most of the day. I finished it, wove in all the ends, and decided I wanted to try cutting one of the seams open before blocking it, so it could lie flat and dry faster. I did a securing seam down each side of the steek stitches, using the blanket stitch as recommended when steeking superwash wool. It looked really good!

Then I cut it. And disaster ensued!

I feel so incredibly stupid for not thinking of this, but of course you can't use three colours when steeking! Then you obviously have one long float stranding behind the steek stitches, and I cut this one as well. Which meant that the stitches attached to each side of those floats promptly unraveled. Yay. So I think I just have to throw the whole thing in the trash! And now I don't know if I have time to make a new one before Christmas. I ordered some Cascade 220 today instead (which isn't superwash!), and I think I'll just duplicate stitch the pink stitches in afterwards this time. If I find the energy to start it again. Right now I just want to cry, but I can't even complain to Thomas because it's supposed to be a surprise for him!

Ok, I'll just knit on the Faramir socks for the rest of the night now.

/ Jenny

So... More yarn arrived...

Apparently I have no limits any longer! On Thursday I got two packages in the mail, both containing yarn. The first one came from Wollmeise, and contained two skeins of Pure 100 % yarn, which is fingering weight 100 % merino wool yarn.

The colourway is Unbeschreiblich, which means indescribable, and is a lovely sort of purplish brown. The skeins are just over 150 g each, so this is really a lot of yarn. I think I'll try to make some sort of cardigan or sweater out of it eventually. It's a beautiful colour!

The package also contained a mini skein of Pure yarn, 20 g of a lovely green colourway.

I first thought it was the colourway Pfefferminz Prinz, but someone on the Wollmeise forum on Ravelry thought it might be Elfe. It's really pretty too, and with 20 g I can at least use it for one of my Christmas ornament balls.

The second package came from Garnkorgen, and contained four more skeins, of sock yarn this time. All four skeins are Regia sock yarn, the first two were from their Design Line and the colourway is called Spring.

The last two skeins are from their regular 4-ply line, and the colourway is Clown:

Both these colourways are really pretty, and lately I find I have a longing for knitting crazy patterned socks! I need to finish up my Companion Cube that I'm knitting for Thomas first though, as that is going to be a Christmas gift. I have already made about 3/4 of the pattern though, so I'm not worried. Unfortunately, both my grey shades have run out, so I need to get two more skeins. I actually went into town today to buy them, but once there I remembered that it's a holiday today (it's all hallow's eve tonight), so all the stores were closed. Bummer! Now I need to go back on Monday and fix that.

Since I couldn't knit on the cube today, and Thomas has been working on his beer brewing all day, I had to find something to amuse me, so I've been working on the Faramir socks. As I mentioned last time that I barely remembered the name of them, I felt I needed to give them some love. I finished the first sock today!

It's looking really good, although it is a bit on the small side for me. I think it might stretch a bit with wear though. You can hardly see it in this photo, but the colour is a really pale powder pink. I can't wait to finish the second one too, so I can start a new pair! I think I might have made a bit too many cabled socks in a row now, so I need to find something a bit easier.

Ok, I think that's it for tonight. As you can see, I'm trying to update a bit more often, I feel I have been neglecting the blog a bit this Autumn. Hopefully I'll be back soon with a finished Companion Cube to show you. I'll be sure to take a lot of scary photos of the steeking process too :)

/ Jenny

Yarn!

I decided on the spur of the moment a couple of days ago that I wanted to knit a Christmas gift for Thomas. I am going to make him a Knitted Companion Cube, from the video game Portal. Unfortunately I didn't have any yarn in my stash that really fitted, at least not in all three shades, so on Saturday when my parents, grandfather and godmother came for a visit, us women went on a real shopping spree, and I brought some yarn home with me. I'm knitting the companion cube in Drops Karisma, which is a 100 % superwash wool yarn in sport weight. I bought three colours:

Dark Gray

Light Gray

Pink

I have only knitted a little bit on it so far, as I have to do it a bit in secret, but it's looking pretty good so far. It will be my very first time steeking, which I'm kind of nervous about, but I have researched  on line to make sure that it is possible to do this with superwash wool  too. I'm thinking that a small project like this will be a perfect trial for this very scary method! 

Then when I have cut all of the pieces, I will have to mattress stitch them together, which will also be a first for me. Yes I know, it's a bit weird to have knitted for almost five years now and managed to avoid this, but I have never sewn anything together like that. There are plenty of good tutorials on line though, so I think I'll be fine.

It is very practical to knit for Thomas in secret, because he couldn't be less interested in what I'm working on. So far I've knitted about six rows or so, in all the correct colours, but he hasn't even glanced at it! I think he will be surprised, although I think I'll have to be more careful once the pattern starts to emerge a bit more. 

Oh, I also brought home a skein of crazy pink sock yarn, Austerman Step, which I haven't tried before.

It is the standard 75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon, and feels very soft in the skein. It will probably mature a bit in my stash a while before I decide what to knit with it, but I'm pretty sure it will become a pair of socks at some point.

Saturday turned out to be a real shopping day for both me, my mom and my sister. I bought a new pair of winter boots, some new underwear and of course all the yarn. I really didn't need any new shoes, but there you go. They are very pretty! 

You won't get to see the underwear though, this is not that kind of blog :)

Oh, and last week I also suffered from a bout of startitis, and I decided to make something really small. I cast on for some Christmas ornaments, from my 55 Christmas Balls to Knit book that I got for Christmas last year. The first one I'm making is looking a bit wonky, but I think my increases are a bit too tight so that they are scrunching up the fabric. 

I think I might rip it out and start again, which is fine as I think I might have spent two hours total in making almost an entire one! When I was in the yarn shop on Saturday I also picked up a package of mini wool skeins from Järbo, which is a package with 10 mini skeins with 10 grams in each. It is perfect for making these small types of projects! I already had a package of similar mini skeins in 100 % acrylic, and I plan to use them up too. As this will be our first Christmas in our new house we have decided to have a tree of our own, so I'm thinking I'll decorate the heck out of it!

Oh, and last week I also ordered me some more Soak wool wash from Garnkorgen, and of course some yarn had to accompany the detergent. I bought two more skeins of the Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend Fino yarn that I got a week ago in Uppsala, so now I have six skeins of this gorgeous yarn. 

I think I'll try to find a nice cardigan pattern for this. I wear cardigans A LOT, if you wonder why I seem a bit obsessed with them lately.

I also got two skeins of Regia Design Line sock yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon), in the colourway Exotic Pool, designed by Kaffe Fassett. 

I love the colours in these skeins, and I actually bought them with a specific project in mind (for once!), namely the Carousel Socks from Knitty. I think these look like so much fun, and you  know I like to try new techniques so these will be very interesting to make. I just need to finish the Faramir socks (and do you know it's been so long since I worked on those that I had too look up that name.

Ok now it's dinner time. I might be back pretty soon, as there might be another package fro Wollmeise coming my way...

/ Jenny

New needles and New yarn!

Last week I spent two days in Uppsala, a city about half-an-hour north of Stockholm, at a conference for work. It was a great conference, with lots of good seminars, nice people and good food. On the first day when me and my co-worker Sanna were taking a walk during lunch, I remembered that the very popular yarn store Yll&Tyll is located in Uppsala, so I called my husband and asked him to find out where it was. It took him about two minutes at the computer (yes I know, I have an OLD cellphone without internet), so he directed us there and I got to bring home some souvenir yarn! I bought four skeins of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend Fino yarn (70 % Merino/30 % silk, 225 m/50 g) in colourway British 2334:

It's soooo soft, and the silk makes it really shiny and pretty. I haven't decided what to make from it yet, but I'm thinking some kind of cardigan maybe. If I have enough yarn!

Today when I got home from work I had gotten a package in the mail from Grandma's Knit and Crochet that I ordered a while ago. It contained a set of the new ChiaoGoo Spin bamboo interchangeable needles, in the smaller sizes (2.75 - 5.0 mm=):

I love this set! The needle holder is really pretty, and I have several of their needles in fixed sizes already so I know I like them. The set included a needle gauge and two sets of stitch markers as well, and a cable connector to make longer cables.

I am however a little disappointed that the cables weren't the same as on the fixed needles. On those, they have a core of some kind of metal line, and those cables have absolutely no memory! They are completely perfect. The cables in the interchangeable sets are pure plastic, and remind me a lot of KnitPicks' cables (although these are clear, not purple), but one main difference is that these ones swivel independently of the needles. I'm hoping that that means that any memory they might have won't make any difference as the needles swivel when used. I'll let you know once I use them!

I also finished my Bobbie gloves this weekend, that I've made for my mom. I haven't taken any new photos though, as they are currently blocking upstairs, but they turned out really pretty. My parents are coming here for a visit next weekend, so she'll get them then, together with the entrelac cowl I made her last month too. It is really nice to be done with both the cowl and the gloves, yesterday I worked almost exclusively on my Omelet shawl instead. I've missed lace! I haven't gotten any new photos of that one yet, but it still looks like a bunch of wet noodles as it's pretty scrunched up on the needles. I think I am about a quarter done so far, so I won't finish it in October, but hopefully in November.

On the four hour train ride to and from Uppsala I worked a lot on my Serina Cardigan too, and I'm almost ready to take the sleeve stitches off. It looks very pretty with the yarn, at least so far. You'll get to see it next time, I promise!

/ Jenny

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

Win tickets to the Sewing festival!

Just a short interruption: If you go look at Tant Koftas blog, you can win two tickets to the Sewing Festival in Borås next weekend. Good luck!

/ Jenny

Ok knitters, I need your help!

I've been home from work for two days now with a really nasty cold, and my plan was that I at least would be able to knit. I've been almost too tired to do so though, and now that I've finally begun the first sleeve on my Austin Hoodie, I find myself in a conundrum. The pattern tells me to pick up stitches in the arm holes to make set-in sleeves, which is usually fine. This time however, it looks really bad! The picked up stitches look really wonky, and I think my edge stitches on the arm hole were way too loose. Tell me, doesn't this look weird?

So now I'm thinking that I might be wasting this amazing yarn on a cardigan that I won't be using due to wonky sleeves! Or do you think I can fix it afterwards, by blocking and doing some creative stitching on the inside? The yarn is 100 % alpaca from Chili Gredelin, so it is hand dyed and one of a kind. I just don't want it to go to waste! Tell me what you think I should do: Should I frog the whole thing and make something else with the yarn? Or should I keep trucking on?

This past weekend I went home to see my parents for a couple of days, which was nice and relaxing. My mother has bought a very yellow winter jacket, so she asked me if I could make her a yellow cowl to match it. My stash is sadly lacking in yellow yarn, so I had to do some yarn shopping. I settled on a skein of Malabrigo Worsted, in the colourway Cadmium:

It's 100 % Merino wool, and soft as butter, just like all other Malabrigo yarns I've felt so far. I'm going to make her a Garland Cowl, which I hope will look good. I'm also going to make her a pair of mittens, and for them to match I had to buy a skein of fingering yarn in yellow. I chose Cascade 220 Fingering, which is 100 % wool, in the colourway Goldenrod:

I think I'll pair it with some KnitPicks Palette yarn in black, and make some colourwork gloves. I'll have to ask her though if she prefers mittens or gloves!

I also got myself a skein of white sock yarn, Cascade Heritage (75 % wool/25 % nylon), in colourway Snow, that I'll use for colourwork socks eventually:

Not much to see with a skein of white yarn, but this yarn has perfect stitch definition!

Ok, now I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit, before it's actually time for bed. Please let    me know what you think I should do with the cardigan!

/ Jenny

I'm back baby!

Sometimes I love my husband just a little bit more than usual. Especially when he fixes my computer, so now I've got access to blogger again! Yay! So now you can comment again, if you want to.

Since I finished the huge Urdr shawl for my mother-in-law I've mostly knit on the Austin hoodie. It's coming along very nicely, I'm already done with all of the body and half-way through the first sleeve. Then it's just the second sleeve and the hood left, so I think this one might be finished pretty soon. I'm really looking forward to wearing it!

A while ago I got a very nice message on Ravelry from stitchdiva studio. They were asking if they could use my photo of my Silken Scabbard sweater on their pattern site! I feel very honoured, so I had to go take some new, outdoors photos (well, Thomas took the photos, I just posed).

They are now on the pattern website as well :)

/ Jenny

I'm having problems with blogger!

Right now, I can't access blogger from my computer, all I get is an "error 126" code. Apparently this has affected more people, but not enough to make the people at blogger do anything to help. I seem to be able to write from my iPad, but I can't see my reading list, and I can't see any comments. So if you want to reach me, please send me an email at jenny(.)m(.)clifford(@)gmail(.)com instead!

/Jenny


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This time, I've got an excuse!

I've been postponing this post for more than a week, but I have a reason this time. My mother-in-law turned 60 this Monday, and I decided I wanted to give her the Urdr shawl as a present. So I wanted to wait with posting it here until she got it, so as not to spoil the surprise. All of the family, that is Thomas and his five brothers, plus me and two other girlfriends, went to the family cottage on Tjörn, a small island off the west coast of Sweden, on Saturday to celebrate. We had lots of cake, ate at a lovely seafood restaurant, and played some board games and just generally hung out. I think Annika (my MIL) was very pleased, and she seemed very happy with the shawl.

I haven't got very many photos of it, so this will have to do. I really, really like it, and I could barely part with it, but I love my MIL like a second mother so I know it will be loved and used! It is made with Drops Lace yarn, which is 30 % silk and 70 % alpaca, and it turned out very soft after blocking. I have 1.3 skeins left, which is about 800 m I think, so I'll definitely make another shawl for me from it. Eventually.

I finished Urdr on Monday the 20th, and on the 23d Annika and my brother-in-law Adam came here to visit. Adam has just gotten accepted to the university in Linköping, so he's staying with us until he can find his own place, and  Annika just drove him here to help him get a bit more stuff here. So I didn't get to block the shawl until last weekend, but that was plenty of time for it to dry. Adam has put his TV up right next to ours, so now him and Thomas are playing their xboxes in tandem! It's lucky I like video games, and I get a lot of knitting time this way too :)

Once the shawl was done I made a little headway on the Faramir socks as well, and I've finally gotten around to taking a photo of them! I really like this pattern, and the yarn isn't too bad either.

It's Opal sock yarn, which is a very generic, 25 % nylon/75 % wool sock yarn that I enjoy a lot. It really softens once washed, and now it comes in a lot of solid colours too, as well as all the crazy patterned colours that has been around for a while.

I got a bit tired of trying to make these insanely complicated cables at work though, especially since the heel involves cables on the purl side as well, so I decided to start something a bit easier. I chose the Austin Hoodie, and I'm making it it Chili Gredelin Anastasia yarn (100 % alpaca), in colourway Chartreuse.

I'm also using a little bit of KnitPicks Stroll yarn in Forest Heather to make it a little bit more interesting. I think it looks really good so far, I'd say I'm almost halfway done already! It has been a lot of plain stockinette, which suits me just fine right now.

Last weekend was spent mostly on the couch though, so then I wanted something a bit more challenging to knit on. I cast on for a new shawl, as I am in a lace period right now, and I chose the Omelet shawl. I'm making it in Färgkraft Softblend, a swedish yarn that is 100 % wool, in colourway Warm Green (or Varmgrön as it is really named as it is a swedish yarn). Apparently, I'm also in a green phase right now!

I really like this one too, and I definitely like the yarn! It isn't wondrously soft, but it feels like it will become so once it is washed. I like the stitch definition, and I can't wait to wear it! Although I have mostly knit on the cardigan lately, as it is so simple.

This past March I got a really bad case of the flu, and I was home sick for almost two weeks. I broke a muscle in my ribcage coughing, which meant I walked like an old lady for about a week after too. This meant that I couldn't get any exercise, and then at the end of March we moved to the new house and everything suddenly got very busy. My fitness studio where I work out just started their Autumn schedule, so I've finally taken up the exercise again! It feels really good to start that up again, hopefully it will give me a bit more energy too.

Oh, we also got Toki neutered a week ago, and it seems to have slowed him down a little bit. Hobbe is slowly, slowly starting to accept him, which we have been a bit worried about, but now they're playing together and washing each other. Yesterday they were even napping together! Hoppe still hisses at Toki when he gets to be a bit too much, but it happens less frequently. 

Ok, now I think you know what I've been up to. Now it's time for some dinner, and then I'm going to enjyoy a bit of alone-time as both Thomas and Adam are in Linköping tonight!

/ Jenny