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

Random stuff, I think

Once again, it's been so long! But I'm back at work in Mjölby (I've been at the lab here in Mantorp for most of the summer), so it's a bit more to do. And our weekends have been really busy lately! Anna and Peter came here two weekends ago again, and we made more jam, this time apple jam and more currant jam. And we swam in the pool, because for once we actually managed to get some sun on a weekend! We had a blast the entire day, although we didn't manage to sneak in any knitting.

Then on the day after, our friends Jonas and Lotta came to visit from Borås, with their one year old son Gustav. Thankfully he doesn't walk yet, so it wasn't too hard to keep an eye on him, but he can crawl pretty fast! Our other friends, Marcus and Elna, who used to live in Linköping but has now moved way up north, were also in town for a visit, so they came here as well, with their six months old boy Elmer, so it was a really nice evening! We barbecued some meat and had dinner in the evening sun, and then Jonas and Lotta stayed here until Tuesday so we got to spend some time with them and play board games and just hang out. Me and Thomas were at work during the days on both Monday and Tuesday, but Jonas and Lotta went to visit Thomas at his museum, and kept themselves busy.

Last weekend me and my friend Klara went to Stockholm to visit our friend Jenny, who has just moved back to Sweden after two years in Amsterdam. We went to a flea market, we visited the Sci-Fi book store in Old Town, we had coffee in the sun, Jenny made a lovely dinner for us in the evening, and then we went out for drinks afterwards. It was such a blast, we always have so much fun together, and it is so nice to have her a bit closer! Klara spent a year in England a while back to, so now we're finally in Sweden all three of us!

This weekend I'm spending mostly on the couch though, we've been so busy the past couple of weekends that I feel I really need to re-energize myself a bit. But today we're actually celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary, so maybe we'll go out for dinner tonight. We have both decided that we'll see what we feel like doing later on, so nothing decided yet. I plan on knitting a lot today though, as I feel I haven't done much in that department in a while. I have about ten rows left on my Urdr shawl, but as it's really scrunched up on a pretty short circular and looks like a bunch of wet noodles, I haven't bothered taking any new photos. You'll have to wait until it's off the needles. I hope it might be this weekend! But the rows are almost 1200 stitches, so it might take me a while still...

Oh, and I managed to buy some more yarn... I THINK this might be the last ones until Christmas though, I feel like I let myself go a bit too much this summer! But we all know how good I am at keeping these intentions...

First I managed to get my hands on the new weight yarn from Wollmeise, Wollmeise DK, in colourway Sabrina:

I think these might become some kind of cardigan, or possibly a sweater if I can find one with short enough yardage, but I'm thinking cables as I know how good Wollmeise looks with cables. We'll see. 

Next, and last, I got one more skein of Wollmeise Lace, in colourway Cassis:

This colour was almost impossible to catch with my camera! It's a really deep, wine purple, and really, really pretty. 

So, now you know what I've been up to these past couple of weeks. I hope to get back to you a little bit sooner next time, but we'll see. Next weekend Thomas' younger brother Adam is coming to stay with us for a while, as he's been accepted to the university in Linköping and doesn't have a place of his own yet. He's a very mellow person so I thing it will be really great to have him here!

/ Jenny

Slightly obsessed...

I thought I would be back with an in-progress photo of the vest, but it turns out I actually finished it this weekend. And yes, there are tiny Tardises (again: Tardi?) on this one too...

The vest is soaking right now, I don't intend to stretch it, just pat it into shape and let it dry. I'm very happy with it, and I made tons of modifications to the original pattern (Put Together). I think you could probably say that this is my very first original design! Don't ask me to write it down though, I have no idea how to adapt it into other sizes, but if anyone is interested in the colour charts I'll happily supply them for free. Although I wonder if there are any of you out there who are equally obsessed with Doctor Who as I am...

This past Sunday Anna came to visit us here in Mantorp, and we picked berries in the garden! We cleaned out one of the black currant bushes, and only took about 1/4 of the berries on the red currant bushes. Then we made jam!

We got two big jars of black currant jam, and five jars of red currant jam (they are not all in the photo, so don't get confused. I know how to count...)! I tasted both kinds yesterday, and they taste really good. It feels really awesome to be able to make these sort of things from our own garden, next year when we won't be so busy with all that's new in the house we'll focus more on the garden and plant a lot more stuff! And Anna is coming over next weekend as well, then we'll tackle the apple trees :)

Ok, time for dinner I think. And I have to take the vest out of its bath!

/ Jenny

The Impulsive Knitter...

Well, first of all I finished my Bigger on the Inside shawl:

I love it! The Tardises (Tardi?) are gorgeous, and the shawl is really warm and cozy. The past few days have been kind of super warm here, so I haven't worn it yet, but come Autumn I see this one on my shoulders a lot! It was a fun, quick knit that more or less flew off the needles in the sport weight yarn (pattern originally calls for fingering, but this was close enough), and it's HUGE! 

Anyway, as I was casting off, I started thinking about what to knit on next, other than my Urdr shawl and the Faramir socks (which I still have no photo of!). I had been thinking of starting a new cardigan, but somehow that didn't really appeal to me right then, so I went browsing through my stash. I came upon three sport weight skeins that I bought last summer, in rabbit angora and lambs wool, and I was instantly re-smitten. 

I went on Ravelry to see if I could find something to knit with about 600 m, and I found the Put Together vest. I immediately cast on (well, I started with swatching three times first), and I'm using the pattern as a starting point. It is originally meant to be in reverse stockinette, but I prefer plain stockinette so that is the first thing I'm changing. I'm also going to make some colourwork at the chest area, in my leftover blue yarn from the Tardis shawl, which I'm designing myself. It might have something to do with the Doctor as well... I know, I know, but that blue colour just screams Doctor Who!

I've been knitting a lot on this at work, as it's been pretty slow in the afternoons these past few weeks. Since a lot of the doctors at the care unit where I work have vacations right now, we get a lot fewer patients at the lab too, so less for us to do. Which means a lot of knitting time! Last week, this week, and two weeks after that I am spending at the lab here in Mantorp (yay for being able to ride my bike to work!), where I'm alone at the lab, so I've also been listening a lot to audio books and audio dramas. I just wish I could sit outside when i don't have any patients, but the patio is on the other side of the building so that's not very practical! Maybe that's just as well - after all I AM there to work...

Our tiny little Toki (yes, we've been watching way too much Metalocalypse...) is doing very well, even though Hobbe is still not overly thrilled. Toki has SO MUCH energy, and his prime play time is between four and six in the mornings. Which means that we don't get very much sleep then either, it's almost like having a little baby! But he's adorable anyway, and I hope he will settle down once he gets a little bit older. He's four months old now, and once he gets to be about six months we'll have him neutered, and that should slow him down a bit. Right now he's sleeping in my lap, which is super cozy!

Oh, and last weekend my cousin got married! Thomas couldn't make it, but I went with my sister and my parents, and it was such a lovely time! Here we are, all four of us :)

I sang at the ceremony, which was very much appreciated, I think. The woman who played piano was really terrible, she played the wrong notes several times in both my song and the song that the sister of the bride sang. But after some editing I've come up with the verse that sounded best, so if you want to, you can listen to me sing! The song is originally by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but I'm singing it with Swedish lyrics :)

If you don't like it, please don't tell me!

Finally, I also bought some more yarn. I think this might be the last skeins this year, as I've bought quite much yarn this past month, but since I actually managed to catch a Wollmeise update, I couldn't resist. Three skeins came to live with me last week:

Pure (100 % superwash merino) in colourway Fuchsia (with extra Toki picture!)

Pure (100 % superwash merino) in colourway Teddy

Ever since I saw the colourway Teddy for the first time, I've wanted it! And now I have two skeins, that will eventually become a shawl I think. I haven't decided which one yet :)

Ok, now I need to get something to eat and then go to bed! I'll try to get some more photos of socks, shawl and vest (hopefully with some colourwork going) this weekend. See you!

/Jenny

Last day of vacation

Yes, tomorrow I get back to work again, after having had three weeks off. After preparing for the big party for the first week, then having a house full of people for almost all of the second week, the last week has been spent mostly on the couch or out by the pool. I just wish we could have had more days with nicer weather! But I've gotten a lot of knitting done!

I'll start by showing off my most recent purchases though. A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a new sock book (like I needed more!): Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. 

The socks in this one are really gorgeous, and there is lots of technique talk in it as well. 

I also got myself a book that I've been looking for for a while: Think outside the Sox, edited by Elaine Rowley.

This one is just so much fun! There are so many wonky techniques in it, and many, many gorgeous patterns as well! A lot of it looks pretty difficult, but the instructions seem very clear, with lots of explanatory pictures as well. Plus, there is always YouTube!

I also caved in and bought myself even more yarn this past week! I was just itching to cast on for the Bigger on the Inside shawl, and I didn't have any fitting blue yarn in the stash. Believe it or not! But blue is one of those colours that I very rarely use, other than jeans, so I don't have very much yarn in that colour either. I was going to get myself some Cascade fingering yarn, but the colourway I wanted was out of stock, so I bought some swedish yarn instead, Kampes 2-ply wool (300 m/100g, 100 % wool, colourway Cobolt Blue). And the colour is just perfect!

It is almost perfect TARDIS blue, even though it looks a bit bright in the flash photo (rainy days here), and I'm already almost half-way through the shawl! It's sport weight and just flies off the needles. Although the picking up of 431 stitches didn't really fly by...

It's hard to see what it looks like, since my only 3 mm needle is a bit short, but it will be gorgeous. I don't know what I'll wear it with, as I don't really own much that match with this kind of bright blue, but I'll solve it somehow.

I've also been working a lot on the Urdr shawl, and that too is looking like a bowl of wet noodles as it's still on the needles. I'm not sure that this yarn (Garnstudio Drops Lace, 800 m/100 g,  70 % alpaca/30 % silk),  is working with nups, but the problem is that I don't think that they'll show up so it won't matter if they're there. I'll do them anyway and hope that the blocking will sort it out.

This past week I've been trying hard not to sleep too long in the mornings, since I need to be able to get up for work next week, and I've been listening to a lot of podcast novels on iTunes while Thomas has slept. I really love the concept of free podcast novels! I've listened to a lot of Scott Sigler before, and I really enjoy his books! Right now I'm listening to The Leviathan Chronicles, by Chrisof Laputka, which is really more of an audio drama (think of the old times radio shows, like War of the Worlds!), and it is very good. If you're into sci-fi and audio books, I really recommend this one. I think it might be available on Audible as well, but I haven't checked so I'm not sure. I know that Scott Sigler is on Audible, at least.

Oh, and I actually have some pretty important news too! We've added another person to our little family! Let me introduce you to Toki Wartooth, our brand new little Devon Rex kitten:

Isn't he gorgeous! He's 16,5 weeks old, and completely crazy and energetic. When he's not sleeping. Hobbe hasn't really decided what to make of this little hurricane yet, but they're getting friendlier and friendlier. They only hissed at each other the first day, and now they're chasing each other around the house and playing together. As they started washing each other the other day I think they'll be good friends eventually. We're just so thrilled to finally have a little kitten again! I'm just trying hard to teach him that yarn is NOT a toy in this house!

Now I need to go wind some more yarn, as my first skein of Kampes is almost used up. Let's see what Toki makes of the ball winder and swift...

/ Jenny