(Summer) Home Owners!

Yep, we went and looked at the cabin yesterday. And it is the cutest thing ever! There are some things that needs to be feixed, like a small leakage in the roof, but otherwise it is in great shape. So we have now decided to buy a summer house!

It was built in the 1800's, and has no water or electricity. The current owners have put up two solar power cells on the roof, that can power two reading lights and a small TV, but that's it. It's got a very primitive outhouse toilet, and a pretty big barn that can be used for storage for now. The barn is pretty run down, but it could be fixed up to be used as extra living space in the future. 

The kitchen and one living room in the house are pretty small, but very cozy. The flooring is all original wood, and pretty worn down, but oh so cottage-y. We need to fix up the chimney some, as it is currently leaking smoke inside the house, and we want to change the wall papers and such. But nothing seems to crave any major renovations.

Living room

Other side of Living Room

Wood Stove

So now we just need to have a talk with our bank and see if we can get a loan! We're pretty darned excited about this! Hopefully we can get ownership rather quickly, so we can start fixing it up during the summer.

In fiber-related news, I forgot to show you yesterday that me and my sister went fabric-shopping at Ikea the other day. She's starting to get a pretty sizeable fabric stash by now! Anyhow, these are the three fabrics that went home with us:

Pale flowers

Dark Flowers

Checkers

My sister is getting her teacher degree this coming week, so after that she will probably have at least some spare time. Then there will be lots of sewing done!

And as I had to cancel the knit night yesterday, I've knitted a lot on my own instead. I'm really starting to make headway on the Owls sweater! It's knitted on big needles (7 and 8 mm) in chunky yarn (Rowan cocoon), so it seems to fly off the needles!

Last night I also knitted a lot on the Guinevere gloves, and these babies are going to be soooo pretty! I love working with the yarn (KnitPicks Stroll), and the pattern is great and really easy to follow. I'm including three pictures to show you how the construction is made, it's really different from any other gloves I've seen!

First knitted part: Thumb and across the hand

Second knitted part: Pick up stitches and knit the fingers

Third knitted part: Pick up stitches and knit the cuff

I haven't touched the Kai-Mei socks in a while, but I thought I would show you how far I've gotten anyway. I'm just about to start the heel flap, and the patterning is starting once the heel is turned too.

I've worked some on the Haruni today. The weather has been pretty ok today, so me and Thomas sat outside in the garden for almost two hours, and I knitted while he watched Hobbe. Hobbe is really an indoors cat, but when it's warm outside he likes to come outside in the garden for a while. He refuses to wear a leash, so he only gets to go outside when one of us are outside and can watch him. He's the scardest cat in the world, so if something sounds a bit too loud for him, he just runs inside :) Anyway, the shawl is coming along nicely. I've finsihed 15 stems on each side of the middle, but I think I want to make 20 or so. I haven't weighed the yarn yet, so I don't know how much I have left of the first skein, but I'm planning on using at least 1.5 skeins of the yarn (KnitPicks Shadow). Maybe even two whole skeins.

Finally, I though I would tell you about a crash course in creativity I'm planning on participating in. Maegan who writes the blog Life Set to Words, is hosting a Creativity Boot Camp that starts on June 6th and ends on June 18th. There will be exercises every day to take part in, to challange your creativity. You can choose which creative media you want to work with (I think Maegan herself is a photographer), and it's completely free. And if you feel that two weeks in a row is a bit much, you can always just read the blog and do the exercises at your own pace. I think it sounds like so much fun! I really need a creative kick in the but, as I feel like I'm sort of loosing a bit of my knitting mojo now that I work so much.

If you feel like participating, just leave a comment on the Creativity Boot Camp blog, and you'll be enlisted!

/ Jenny

Lots of stuff to show you!

I've been so busy knitting the Sari Lace shawl that I haven't had much time to blog lately. But today I finished it, and I have so much to tell you! I'll start with showing you the finished shawl:

This was such a fun knit, and if I hadn't had to knit so incredibly intense on it, it would probably have been a perfect knit. It is knitted from side to side, which I've never done before, and I LOVE it! I'm definitely going to make one for myself too, although not right away. I really hope Thomas' grandmother likes it.

I've also managed to land myself a new job! I went to Mjölby (a smaller community about 25 minutes from Linköping) this past Monday for an interview about the summer job I applied for. The job was supposed to be four weeks in July and August, plus one week of training (I need to learn to draw blood from patients - gulp!), but I guess I made a very good impression because when the boss called me back yesterday she asked if I could work 12 weeks for them, starting next Tuesday (on the 11th)! I of course accepted, so now I'm going to work for six weeks, then have four weeks off, and then come back for six more weeks at the end of summer. I couldn't have asked for a better shedule, as my weeks off coincides with Thomas' weeks off as well! I'm so happy I could dance! And I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be excited about work, I haven't felt like that for way too long. So for this summer at least I'll be working at a primary care center lab in Mjölby and some at a similar site in Mantorp (which is located between Linköping and Mjölby).

This Tuesday I also had a meeting with my new work coach (who's appointed by the unemployment office to help me find a new job), and while I was there the stomach specialist doctor called me to tell me that they had a vacant spot due to a cancellation this coming Saturday. So now I'll get that time spot instead, finally! My stomach is better than it was, but it still isn't entirely well, so that is good. I'm in complete panic about this meeting though, as they want to make an endoscopy exam on me. That is, they're going to stick a tube with a camera on it into my stomach, via the throat. Yikes! This is one exam that really terrifies me, probably completely unneccessary, but it does. As Thomas will be in England on Saturday, my sister is going with me. My mother actually offered to come here and go with me, but I felt that as I turn 30 in two weeks, maybe I shouldn't bring my mother to the doctor? I'm happy my sister goes with me, and if the doctors agree to give me the sedative that I want, I think she can stay outside. I don't think it's very nice to see me trying to swallow the tube...

Anyhow, I'm glad that it's getting done finally, and hopefully they can find out what's wrong with me. I'm also glad I got the appointment on such short notice, so I don't have to worry myself sick for too many days :)

Yesterday afternoon I went and visited Anna for a few hours, and it was so much fun! She's a pre-school teacher, and she started her first job this January, about the same time as I got sick, so we haven't had much time to hang out lately. It was just super cozy to just sit with her on the couch for a few hours, knitting and chatting! We have known each other for less than a year, but she has really become a close friend of mine very fast. Our mutual friend Lovisa was also there for a little while, and although I don't know her as well as I know Anna (yet), I REALLY like her a lot. She is a bit quirky, but in a perfect way, and just the nicest and most open person you could imagine. I'm so happy that knitting brought me new friends as well as being a fun hobby!

And today the package I ordered from England a couple of days ago arrived. I can't believe how fast that shipping was! It contained two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, in colourway Aslan, so now I can knit myself a pair of socks from this yarn! 

It also contained seven bits of fabric for our upcoming shop:

All of these fabrics will become project bags of some sort. Although the top two are my sister's favourite, so she might make something for herself out of at least some of it. She sewed up a box tote yesterday (I think), and this one is perfect in size, model and overall performance. I of course forgot to take a photo of it, but I'll show it to you the next time. I'm so impressed at how much Sanna's sewing skills has improved just these past few weeks! The shop is going to be awesome! Although it might take a bit longer for it to actually come about, now that I've gotten a job.

Now I think I'm going to pick up my Haruni shawl again, it's been neglected for way too long!

/ Jenny

Knit and Crochet Blog week, day five

Today is the fifth day of the Knit and Crochet Blog Week. Today's topic is: 

"Location, Location, Location

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you like to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?"

Well, I have knitted a lot in public during 2009, when I joined Linköping Knitters. We are a group of people who meet up once or twice a week and knit at different cafés in town. I love this group, there are so many different people, and if we didn't have knitting (or crocheting) in common, I would never have met them. 

But to be honest, my favourite knitting spot is the corner of our living room sofa. I have most of my stuff set up on the long end of the couch (the swedish word for this part of the sofa, the one that is almost like a bed, is called divan. I can't seem to find a translation!), and I have my laptop on hand, as well as the TV. I have all my stash "hidden" in giant bags next to the sofa, so everything is convenient. 

It's a mess, but I clean it away if we're going to have company who cares. Most of my friends don't care, they know that I'm knitting obsessed, and I don't care what most of Thomas' friends think either :) Thomas is just happy if he can have the other half of the sofa (the half without the "divan")!

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In knitting news, I actually have some updates to show you! I'm steadily knitting away on the Sari Lace shawl for Nanna, and it is gorgeous! Maybe I shouldn't say that about my own work, but what the heck: I love it! I think I will have to make one for myself as well, I love the pattern so much. I'm getting over the huge charts too, or rather I'm getting used to them, so they are no problem any more. Which is good for when I decide to tackle the Heere be Dragone shawl, as that pattern is about 6 pages wide at the top... Anyway, here is the first half of the Sari Lace shawl: 

I now have six days to get it done, and I'm quite certain that I will make it. Now that there are only decrease rows left, it will feel like it's going a lot faster too. 

My sister has also finished two more bags! One she has decided to keep for herself, and she made it a bit bigger so that it can hold her shampoo bottles and such stuff when she travles. The shape looks a bit odd in some places, but it is actually symmetrical and very pretty. It's about 40 cm high and 30 cm wide and deep, I think. 

I love the model, and the fabric is very pretty too. As I said, Sanna is keeping this one for herself, but bags like these will soon be available for purchase, I'm guessing in the price range of about $20? We are currently looking in to different webhost for webshops, and we still haven't figured out a name. 

The second bag Sanna made is going to be for sale as soon as we get a shop up and running, and it's a simpler model: 

It's 33 x 18 cm, so quite long, but very pretty. I'm guessing these will be priced somewhere between $10-15, and the forthcoming versions will probably be a little bit wider. This one will easily hold a skein of yarn and a sock project though. 

This morning I was searching for a european retailer (because the shipping from the States are killing me) of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn (we have one in Sweden, but she doesn't have the colurway I was looking for). I got one skein of this yarn in colourway Aslan as a gift from Ulrika a while back, but it's not enough to make a whole pair of socks from, so I wanted another one. 

I found the online store Get Knitted in the UK, and boy do they have much fun stuff! Me and my sister ended up ordering lots and lots of new fabric, so we're now set for LOTS of bags! And I know you're all thinking: Wasn't Jenny on a yarn diet? Isn't she unemployed and poor? 

Well, let me tell you: It looks like I've got a summer job! Yay! I will be working four weeks at a lab at a physicians office in Mjölby (Mjölby vårdcentral, for my swedish readers), which is located about 30 km from Linköping. I'm going there on Monday for a visit to determine that I'm suitable for the job, so I haven't actually landed it 100 % yet, but I'm feeling pretty confident! I'll have to learn how to draw blood from patients though, and I'm a bit scared about that, but it will be fine. So I celebrated today by buying some yarn. And I have to say I was very restrictive, I only ordered the two skeins of Lorna's Laces I needed. Well, and the tons of fabric too, but I was restrictive on the yarn front! 

And today me and my sister are going to pick up her new sewing machine! She ordered one yesterday, and it has already arrived, so she'll get to play with it this afternoon. I'll be sure to take some photos of it and tell you more about the make and model of it when I see it. I will probably take over her old one that is somewhat defective, to use as practice. Her old one is called Tråckla, from Ikea, and I doubt that they make it anymore, so she was really due for a new one. 

Now I think I'll get dressed so we can go pick up the package! 

/ Jenny

Fabrics

I managed to start my old work-laptop yesterday (it's so old and worn that it only starts on about every fifth try, so I got to take it with me when I left work as no-one else wanted it), and as it turns out I've aparently been smart enough to back up my photo files on this computer too! I can't for the life of me figure out why, as it is almost broken, but I'm just so happy that I found almost all of the cat photos and all of the wedding photos again! YAY! I still have a couple of newer photos of Hobbe on the pink laptop, but if Thomas can't salvage them it's not the end of the world, as Hobbe is alive and we can take hundreds of new photos of him.

The main thing I'm missing are all of my bought knitting patterns, but luckily I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to patterns, so I like to have them printed out. I think I had saved about ten patterns on the laptop that I hadn't printed, and all of them except one were Ravelry downloads so I can just download them again. The last one was a cardigan pattern I bought from Webs a while ago, and I just e-mailed them and told me what had happened, together with my ordering number, and they just sent a reply with the file attached, so I haven't actually lost any patterns. I'll be very happy if Thomas manages to save the knitting folder, but it's not the end of the world if it isn't possible.

Ok, enough about the computer havoc. I'm much calmer about it now that I found the photos, so I'll just let it go and chalk it up to one of those things that happens.

This past Saturday when I was at Anna's and knitted with the girls, I had brought with me the green-and-white checkered project bag that my sister sewed for me for Christmas:

She actually made two more bags for me, one flowered and one striped, and I really love them. 

The striped one is currently housing my lace yarn, and the flowered one is holding all my lace shawls. Anyhow, the girls commented on the bag and asked if Sanna takes orders. I said I would ask her, and Sanna (which is my sister, I don't know if I've introduced her before?) was so glad about the comments that she immediately got into sewing again (the sewing machine has been sleeping for a while due to lack of time and mojo). We got to talking, and we thought that maybe she could start making some bags to sell? So today we've spent a long long time in one of the local fabric stores to see if we could find some nice fabrics. We ended up with six different outer fabrics, one white inner fabric and one stiffer lining fabric, some zippers and some other sewing-related stuff. I'll just show you the patterned fabrics:

I'm so excited about this! I want to learn to sew too, but Sanna is pretty good at it, so I think I'll leave it up to her for a while at least. I'll probably put them up for sale here once they're done, if you're interested! I don't really know what shapes or sizes she'll make yet, but I'll let you know once they're done.

After this we went to the library and picked up some books on sewing too, to see if we could find some inspiration. We took home a lot of books, so hopefully some of them will at least be good!

Now I'll continue knitting on the Sari Lace shawl. I'm almost done with chart three of ten, so I'm still fairly hopeful that I'll get it done in time! I haven't taken any photos of it yet though, so you'll have to wait until next time.

/ Jenny