Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 7

Day 7: Looking Forward

Today is the last week of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and the topic is the future. What are our plans and dreams for the coming year? Where do you want your knitting to take you?

I always like to try out new thing, and I think the newest thing I've made so far this year has been all the yarn clubs. I've learned that I really like getting surprise yarn in the mail, and I appreciate all of the colours even though some of them might not be ones that I had chosen myself. I really do hope that when I look back on this year, I'll have knit some of the yarns that I've gotten in the clubs. I have started already, but I've only used yarn from one of the clubs. I want to try out more new yarn brands, that I haven't tried before!

I also hope that my knitting mojo keeps at it's current level, as I seem to churn out three projects each month right now. The past two years it has been less than two each month, and I really want to knit up more of my stash. And as I keep adding to it, that won't happen unless I increase my knitting speed!

Finally, I really want to finish 2013 as I did 2012, with nothing on my needles. It was so good for me to be in that KAL where the goal was to finish everything that you had going before you started any new projects. I think that might have caused the increase in mojo, as when I had done that I wanted to cast on ALL THE THINGS. That feeling is still there, although it has decreased a little bit, but I still want to knit all the time. So I plan on keeping up the speed, and clearing my needles before the end of the year.

Other than that I don't think that there are any particular techniques that I specifically want to try out, but I'm also not going to shy away from anything just because it looks difficult. I think that will be my knitting goal for the year!

Next time I get back to you it will be for a regular blog post, but I bet Knitting and Crochet Blog week will be back next year for its fifth anniversary!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 6

Day 6: A Tool to Covet

Today's topic is tools, and how we use them in knitting. What is the one tool that you use more than others, and why is it so awesome?

I'm not sure if it counts as a tool, but I have chosen to talk about my iPad. I bought it about two years ago, and I have used it every day since. I downloaded Goodreader on it, which is a PDF reader, and I have all of my patterns in there. The program allows you to draw lines and write notes on the documents, which means that it's very easy to keep track of where I am in the patterns. It also functions as a small computer, which means that I can look up techniques on youtube or Ravelry while I'm knitting, and I can have music or audiobooks going as well. It's pretty much the best thing I ever got. I have the oldest version, and as I bought it after the iPad 2 had come out, it wasn't too expensive. But I'm pretty certain that once it gives up I'll fork out the money for a new one, no matter how much it costs!

I can't really think of a tool I have that I regret buying though. I have a couple of needle brands that I don't really use, but I still don't regret buying them to try them out. I still plan to give them away here on the blog eventually, but I'm saving all of that stuff up for the four year anniversary that's coming up in June. Other than that, I think I use most of my stuff, although since I got the iPad I don't really use my document holder that I got from KnitPicks a couple of years ago. I used that one for all of my patterns before though, so I definitely had a use for it.

Ok, short post today. I'll be back tomorrow for the final instalment in the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 5

Day 5: Something a Bit Different

Today we're supposed to do something that's different from how we usually blog. I know I found this part a bit of a challenge in the past years, and the same is true this time. I used to think I was kind of imaginative, but I've found that five years in research has kind of diminished my creative streak. I have always wanted to be a fiction writer, but I can't even remember the last time I wrote something! I don't really count the blog for that, as this isn't fiction, and I don't really use my imagination to write here. But I find that this day's task really intimidates me!

Anyway, what I have chosen to do is this (and it has nothing to do with knitting, but that will have to be ok!). A little more than two years ago I started participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel-Writing Month). I only wrote about five pages, but I had a pretty neat idea for a zombie story, with a twist that I still don't think I've read about so far (and I have read A LOT of zombie fiction!). A couple of days ago I opened my file again, and even though I hadn't even looked through it for almost two years, I read it through and kind of decided that I wanted to keep going. This coming month, Thomas will be away a lot with his job, so I'll be alone for a lot of the time. I'm thinking that that might be a good time to start picking up writing again!

I've decided not to tell you about the plot line yet, but I figured I could try to translate a little bit of the first page for you here. Remember, I write it originally in Swedish, so if the language seems a little bit strange here it is because I've translated it for you. Here you go!


"Julia had just gotten through the front door when the phone rang. She threw her black leather jacket on a chair that was in the hallway, and put her purse on the floor. After a long day at the lab, all she wanted was to curl up on the sofa with a book and a cup of tea, but it was her best friend Sara on the phone. Julia looked at the apartment while she spoke. Her two cats came up to her to say hello, just as they usually did when she came home. Gizmo stretched and yawned while she petted him, and gave her a look with his green eyes that seemed to know everything, while Gremlin sat a little distance away beside the sofa. Julia petted both of them while listening to her friend talk.
-Hi, Sara, are you home already?
Julia knew that Sara was going to pick up her husband Alex at Arlanda airport today. Alex had spent the last couple of months in Rwanda with Doctors Without Borders.
-Yes, there was almost no traffic, so it went fast. We made it out of Stockholm before the rush hour.
-How's Alex? Was the flight ok? Has he had a good stay in Rwanda? Julia asked. She picked up the pile of mail from the hallway floor and flicked through it. Mostly bills, and some adds. 
-Sure, he's fine. I think he just didn't want to leave early, but that's life I guess. It seems like they got out just in time.
The refugee camp where Alex had worked had been struck by a particularly aggressive strain of Malaria, that had started to become epidemic among the refugees. Despite huge efforts to give the population profylactics, nothing seemed to work. Alex and his colleagues had collected lots of samples for research, to bring to Europe and the States, but the government in Rwanda had become more and more hostile. Finally the foreign doctors had decided to leave. 
-I can understand that, Julia said. Will he spend most of his time at Karolinska Hospital now?
-Some, Sara said. But it seems like the microbiology department here in town will get to do some of the research too, at least the less infectious kind. They'll probably run some antibody screenings here.
-Exciting! Julia exclaimed. Although, maybe you shouldn't say that about infectious, deadly diseases. But it isn't every day that you get the chance to work with Malaria here in Linköping. I almost wish I worked with microbiology instead of at the Pathology department."


Ok, what do you think of that set-up? As you might have guessed, there will be zombies involved too, and I figured I might as well write about a place I know so it's set in Linköping. I'll let you know how it's progressing!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 4

Day 4: Colour Review

The topic today is colour, and what our favourite colours are. First, we are to think about what colours we prefer when knitting or buying yarn. Then, once we've reflected on that, it's time to have an actual look through the stash and the past year's projects. Does your perceived opinion match reality?

I am pretty certain that my favourite colour is green, which it has pretty much always been. When I was a kid I loved pink like most little girls (plus, I grew up in the eighties, it was very much allowed to be girlish then), and I still wear pink a lot too, but green has always had a special spot in my heart. I have pretty dark hair and brown eyes, and I think someone told me when I was young that green suited me, and that kind of stuck.

Lately though, I find myself being drawn to more jewel toned yarns, and I think I have a lot of purple and teal in my stash too. Teal and turquoise are the shades that I'm really drawn to, and I think that will probably be obvious when I look through my stash.

Finally, since around Christmas, I've been buying lots and lots of self striping sock yarn in very different shades, and I don't think those will reflect my colour preferences at all! The more, crazy colours the better!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so I took a look through my stash. I had a lot of green and a lot of teal, just as I thought, but what surprised me was how much red yarn I've bought during the past year (not to mention how MUCH yarn I've bought the last year. Let's not mention that). I do not consider myself as someone who wears a lot of red, as I think it makes me look pale and blemish, but apparently I have acquired some anyway. As I had so much fun working some statistics yesterday, I decided to make yet another graph:

I didn't know what colour to choose for the multi category, so that's the off-white section. As you can see that is fairly large! I have also got quite a few brown yarns this past year, which I also didn't realize. But I like brown a lot too, so that's ok.

When looking at my projects I think I was more consistent, except for the yellow mittens and cowl I made for my mother. Yellow isn't a colour that I wear very much either, but she asked for those so I made them. The same with the blue hat, although that one I could have kept for myself too. I made a graph of this too (because I know how much you like graphs, right?).

If you don't count the large yellow and large blue wedges, I think that my purchases and my projects actually match up pretty ok. So apparently I do know what colours I use when I buy yarn! Imagine that.

I think that the fact that I have so many projects in the colours that I know I like shows that I am not a complete process knitter too, as I do care about the finished object. But I have a huge stash, so when I find a project that has a technique I want to try out I can usually find something there to knit with. 

This was so much fun, which the blog week usually is. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult one though, but I'll be back with a new topic!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 3

Day 3: Infographic

The assignment today is to display information on the blog with some sort of infographic. As I have worked a lot in research, I am very familiar with statistics and graphs, so this isn't too difficult for me. The hardest part was finding a software that would let me show hat I wanted to show! But as I have worked a lot with GraphPad Prism before, I got their 30 day trial version for now, so that's where I've made the following pictures.

I thought I would try to stay on the theme of my House (I'm in House of Monkey, where we like to challenge ourselves with our knitting), and decided I would try to show you a graph of my projects. I've divided the projects I've knit into four difficulty levels, but bear in mind that these levels are completely subjective! It is just how I have felt when I knit stuff, and that might mean that the first project I ever made was very difficult, while the cabled sweater that I made after Christmas this year wasn't very difficult at all as I am that much more experienced now.

Anyhow, here's all my projects, divided into the four categories.

That was a lot of fun to make! The difficulty levels also reflect how much I feel like I learned on each project, and when looking back in Ravelry I can really see how much I've evolved as a knitter these past few years. 

Ok, I'll see you tomorrow with a new topic!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 2

Day 2: A Mascot Project

Today's assignment is to choose one project that sort of personifies the House that we chose yesterday. If you remember, I sorted myself into the House of Monkey, since I tend to try and not shy away from new techniques when I start projects. I like learning new stuff, and my philosophy in knitting is that it can't be too difficult since it's only yarn. Right? 

When looking through my own, finished projects, I think I would have to choose the Companion Cube that I made for my husband last Christmas. In this project I had to do steeking for the very first time, and I also had to do a lot of seaming that I hadn't tried out before. Scary, but exciting! The first version I made I did with superwash yarn, which in itself was kind of a stupid choice for steeking. I also made it in three colours, which also made the steeking near impossible. Ok, I said impossible. It wasn't impossible, it just kind of unravelled when I cut the steeks... 

It was a total and complete failure, and so I had to make a second one. The second cube I made with non-superwash wool (Cascade 220), and then I also decided to add the pink with duplicate stitch instead of having three strands of yarn on the back side of the knitting. And that was also a first for me, I had never tried that technique before. It worked out like a charm, and the cube turned out amazing! My husband was very happy and surprised, and it is now sitting on top of a speaker in the living room, displayed for everyone to see.

I think I have a tendency to just dive in when it comes to these things. The more experienced I get with knitting, the less afraid of frogging I get. I'm not a complete process knitter (where the knitting in itself is the goal, and not so much the finished object), but I have become less and less of a project knitter (where the finished object is the goal, and knitting is just a means to an end). Two years ago I don't think I would have ever made the socks that I'm tending towards now, where the knitting is more or less mindless and the yarn is doing all the work for me. But I like that I'm evolving in my knitting, and I bet things will change even more in the coming years. As long as I'm not standing still, I don't mind where it will take me. I'm having fun, and that's all that matters!

When choosing a new project, it completely depends on what kind of project I'm looking for. It it's a sweater I usually start with trying to find something that will look flattering on me. I am somewhat hourglass shaped, although I am pretty short, so I usually try to find something that will take focus from my short legs. Not that I knit much for the legs, but anyway. If it is socks that I'm starting, it depends a lot on the yarn. If I have a multi-coloured yarn, I've learned to look for a project that is very easy, but still has a little variation to keep my mind occupied. If I have a solid yarn, I usually go for some sort of cables, or a pretty difficult pattern. I definitely prefer patterns that I have to look at while knitting (if it isn't supposed to be my work knitting, then I need mindless), as that keeps me busy.

The project that I'm choosing for a House Mascot is the Carousel Socks, that were published in Knitty a while ago. 

Pattern from Ravelry

I have never made socks this way before, and the technique really intrigues me. I'll make it in one of my many self-striping yarns, but I have no clue yet which one. I have some to choose from!

See you tomorrow for the next topic!

/ Jenny

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day 1

Day 1: The House Cup

The first assigned topic is to choose the House you want to be in. This year's blog week has a sort of Harry Potter theme, where we start off by being selected into different houses, depending on how we see ourselves as knitters. There are four houses available (unless you're a rebel and make up your own house!):

1) House of Bee: "Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest."

2) House of Manatee: "Manatees are gentle, calm and cuddly. relaxed and unflashy they represent the comfort and soft side of knitting and crochet."

3) House of Monkey: "Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting."

4) House of Peacock: "Peacocks take something good and make it brilliant. Buttons, embellishments and a bit of sparkle prove that perfection lies in the details - like a Peacosk's tail."

I'm having a little bit of difficulty choosing between House of Bee and House of Monkey, but I think I've finally settled on the Monkey theme. I tend to have a lot of projects going simultaneously, but I also like to learn new stuff with my knitting. I try not to shy away from new techniques, and even though I am a bit afraid of for instance seaming I try to not look at the project descriptions before I decide to start something new, so I don't avoid projects that are knitted flat and seamed. When I decided to start knitting lace a couple of years ago I didn't read a lot about it before I started, I just dove right in. And the shawl I made turned out HUGE! But it was a lot of fun, and I've never been scared of lace since. So I think I'll have to sort myself into the Monkey House :)

See you tomorrow for the next topic!

/ Jenny

Yet another HO, and possibly some more yarn...

I'll start with the best part. I finished the first of the Scylla socks today!

I've mostly knit on these at work, so I'm pretty pleased that they've gone as fast as they have. I LOVE this yarn, and I have gotten a ton of compliments on it in the coffee room at work (and I've referred all of them to Friday Studios). The fit is a little bit weird, as the foot is very tight and the leg is almost a bit slouchy, but that's ok. I'm very pleased anyway, and I've already knit most of the second toe too.

I've also gotten some more yarn in the mail this week. The first shipment came from Garnkorgen, and only came about as there was a sale and I needed some more cable needles. I bought a set of straight cable needles from KnitPicks a while ago, but I just hate them. I love that they are made of wood, but the notches in them that are supposed to keep the yarn on them just prevented me from sliding them through the stitches when I was knitting them. I really prefer the v-shaped ones, so I got another set of those instead. And as I said, there was a sale...

I got eight skeins (which is about a sweater quantity) of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4-ply (100 % superwash merino, 181 m/50 g), in the colourway Fuschia 22022. It is a very vibrant pink, and I love it! I think that Garnkorgen might be discontinuing this yarn, as it was really cheap, so I had to try it out. 

I also got my April shipment in the 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon yarn club from The Knitting Goddess, and once again I am in love!

The yarn is The Knitting Goddess 4ply Merino Nylon Sock (424 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Tooth Decay. It's from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is such a great movie, and the soft pink with tiny red speckles is just perfect! I think I need to knit with some of this club yarn soon!

Other than that I haven't knit much this week, I've just been so exhausted from work. On Monday we start having student at the lab, which we will then have for six weeks, so I think the exhaustion will probably stay. It's very nice and a lot of fun to have students at the lab, but it's also a bit tiring. At least the weather seems to be turning around! We've had sunshine for two days now, with temperatures well above freezing, and it's so nice. I have a little bit of trouble with all the pollen, but with eye drops I'm pretty ok. I don't do well with anti-histamines, as they make me very sleepy, so I'd rather sneeze a bit extra than take a pill. But it's fine, I'm not complaining as spring finally seems to have arrived!

Oh, and Monday is also the start of this year's Knitting and Crochet Blog Week! Join us for a lot of fun blogging and reading!

/ Jenny

FO and cookies!

Yup, I have another finished object! On Thursday last week I cleaned out our storage room, and that was the last day of nice weather for a while. Since then it's been raining and snowing, and the wind has been terrible. Needless to say I didn't feel like spending all of Friday cleaning out the garage as I had planned, as that would have meant being outside for most of the day. I did a little cleaning inside the house instead, and I've been knitting a whole lot. So today I finished my Glacier gloves, and as the weather is so bad I think I'll get to use them next week!

They are made with MarigoldJen BFL/Nylon sock yarn, and I only used 56 grams for them. That leaves me with 144 grams, as I have a whole other skein. I can probably wring out two pairs of socks from that! I love the yarn, and the colour is very pretty.

Yesterday I finally got around to making some of the cookies that I got the recipe for in the Cookie A sock club in February. I made a batch of gluten free Fig Newtons, and I have to admit I'm pretty proud that they turned out great. I didn't make three rolls like the recipe said, as the gluten free flour made the dough really sticky, but that didn't matter. We've been eating cookies like crazy here today!

My sister spent yesterday in Borås with my parents, and when she drove home she stopped by here to drop off a gift for me from my god parents. They have a small sheep farm, and they had saved me some fleece! I haven't gotten a photo of it yet, but it's from a dark grey sheep, and it's still pretty dirty. Once the weather turns nicer I'm going to clean it and try to get around to card and spin it. I don't know if you remember, but two Christmases ago I got a fleece from my parents too, and I STILL haven't gotten around to making anything with it. I have cleaned it, but as it is so much I am still only teasing the locks, and I haven't started carding any of it. I'll get to it eventually!

Now it's dinner time, and tonight I think I'll knit some on my stripy socks!

/ Jenny

Hunger Games yarn club spoilers!

Yep, I got my first shipment in the Hunger Games yarn club from Friday Studios today, but I think I'll start with some knitting instead. I don't want the photo of the yarn to be the one that shows up in the Blogger list for anyone who hasn't gotten the yarn yet!

I think I told you that I have Thursday, Friday and next Monday off from work, and yesterday I spent a lot of time cleaning out our storage shed. Not much fun, but very needed! Today I drove to the recycling plant with all the stuff that I cleaned out, and I had planned on cleaning out the garage today too, but it's sleeting and freezing outside. I just couldn't stand staying outside in the freezing winds, so I decided to wait for better weather. Hopefully tomorrow!

So, I've also been knitting a lot these past two days. I knit a little bit on the Glacier gloves, and I have about half of the second cuff done.

I think I'll knit on these for the rest of the day today, as I really want to finish them. They are turning out very pretty, and as the weather took a turn for the worse I think I might actually get some use out of them this winter too. I still have more than half the skein left, plus the other one that I haven't even started on yet, so I think I'll make some socks later on. That won't be for this KAL though, I have too much other stuff I want to knit first.

I've also made lots of progress on the Scylla socks, and I adore these!

I love how the pattern is making the red slipped stitches cross the white stripe on every stripe repeat, especially since it is totally by coincidence! The yarn is still amazing, and I can't wait to wear them. These will be my May socks for the Self Striping KAL, so I have plenty of time to finish them, but I'm sure it won't take me that long. I'm making an afterthought heel on these, to keep the striping continuous, as opposed to the pattern that has a heel flap design.

The project I've been working most on, however, is the Mandala II shawl.

I'm using MadelineTosh Tosh lace yarn, in the colourway Rose, and it's turning out so pretty. I know that what you're seeing in the photo looks like a bunch of wet noodles, but it will be very nice once I block it. I'm making it a little larger than called for, so I've made an extra repeat of chart 2 so far. I just started chart 3, and if I finish it before I run out of yarn I might make an extra repeat of that too (as I have two whole skeins to play with).

Ok, that was the knitting. Now to the club yarn! The yarn is Friday Studios Monday Base (the same as I'm using for the Scylla socks), so I already knew I would love that. I am completely smitten with the colour too, which is called Capitol Couture:

It is based on all the insane colours that the people of the Capitol wear, and I think Frida has captured that perfectly! It is so bright it almost seems to glow in the dark, and it will make some crazy socks! The yarn came with a bag of tea and a set of amazing mockingjay stitchmarkers:

Aren't they adorable?! I wonder if she's made them herself? I'll have to ask her on plurk. Anyway, I am very satisfied with my first shipment in the club, and I love that it's a Swedish dyer so I get the yarn early!

/ Jenny

Late night posting

First of all, I finished the Jeck socks the other night!

I am very proud of how they came out, especially as they seem almost identical in the striping. They yarn was stiff to work with, but they feel ok on my feet. I think I need to look around to try and find a nicer undyed base of yarn so I can experiment some more with dyeing! Although that will have to wait, as I currently am very out of funds. Yesterday I had my car at the shop to change the tires from winter tires to summer tires (the ones without studs), and it turned out that two of my summer tires were too worn. So I had to buy new ones. And let me tell you: Tires are expensive! But at least now I'll be safe, right?

As I finished my work knitting, I needed to start a new one, and I picked up the Friday Studios yarn that I bought a while ago, in the Toothpaste colourway. I started the Scylla socks on Sunday night, and I really, really love this yarn!

The pattern isn't perfect with striping yarn, but I'm ok with that. The yarn is one of the softest socks yarns I've knit with that doesn't have cashmere in it, and the colours are perfect! I will definitely buy more from Frida, and I'm really happy that I chose to join in her Hunger Games yarn club! That yarn will probably be here at the end of the week, or possibly at the beginning of next week, and I'm very excited!

Tomorrow I only have work in the afternoon, and then I am having Thursday, Friday and Monday off (I've taken some vacation days), which will be so awesome! I've been feeling really tired these past few days, and it will be nice with some time to rest. I'll probably spend some of the time sorting out our garden and throwing out some old stuff that's left over from the move, but I hope to get some knitting in too. I'll try to finish the Glacier gloves first, but I still haven't cast on for the second one. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

/ Jenny

Needles Blazing!

I've been knitting for most of the day, and my Glacier gloves have been flying off the needles! When I got up this morning I hadn't even gotten to the thumb increases, and now I actually have a HO (And for those of you who don't know, HO stands for Half-finished Object)!

It's knit with Marigold Jen BFL fingering yarn (75 % BFL/25 % nylon), and I love how it's turning out. It has great stitch definition and is really soft and nice. I think the second glove will go pretty fast too, now that I'm focusing on this project. Julia Mueller, the woman behind Laris Designs, is a genius pattern writer, the instructions are so clear and detailed. These are the fourth pair of her gloves and mittens that I've knit, and I adore all of them.

I've also been knitting a little bit on my Jeck socks, I've knit two full stripe repeats on the second sock, but I haven't gotten any new photos. But you've seen them before, and the second sock looks just like the first one. I kind of want to finish them, as I'm itching to cast on with my Friday Studios toothpaste self striping yarn that I got a while ago.

Yesterday I also got my April shipment in the Cookie A sock club. The patterns haven't been released yet, but I really like the yarn.

It's Dream in Color Everlasting Sock yarn (100 % superwash merino, 384 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Violet Hour. The colour is a bit off in the photo, but it really is a very soft lilac colour. I'm really looking forward to the patterns!

Now it's almost time for Doctor Who, and I think I'll continue on the Jeck socks tonight.

/ Jenny

More Club Yarn, and another HO

The other day I finished the first of my Jeck socks, and I'm very happy with it so far:

This is the yarn that I dyed myself, and I love how the stripes are coming out! I'm not really enjoying the yarn, as I think I told you, but I'll finish them and wear them proudly only because of the colours.

Today when I got home from work I had gotten the last shipment in the Mad Color Fiber Arts Mad Geek Tour yarn club (sign-ups are open for next round right now!), and once again I am blown away by the yarn! 

It is the Bling base (63 % superwash merino/20 % silk/15 % nylon/2 % sparkling aluminum coated poly fiber), and the colour is called Petrichor (which is what Idris defines as the smell of dust after rain, I actually had to look that up :). This tealy green is really me, and I love it! This will make an awesome pair of socks, although not right now.

Since it was the last shipment I also got the JessaLu bag that was included in the club, and of course I love this as well.

The fabric has all of the Doctor's companions on it, and the swirly things in the background is Galifreyan and says "Hello Sweetie"! It is awesome, and it will be exclusive to the club in the future too! Another version of the fabric will be offered, but it will have a different wording on it. I am very happy that I decided to join in for another three month round in the club, and that theme will also be Doctor Who. Heather of Mad Color has decided to only offer one theme each round, so the Battlestar Galactica theme was postponed indefinitely, at least for now.

And as I decided to not renew the Sheepy Time Knits yarn club, I found myself having funds enough for another club instead. I have been dithering back and forth about this club that Friday Studios is offering, where the theme is the Hunger Games. I think it could be a lot of fun, so I finally decided to sign up. It will run for three months too, from April until June. Frida will send the yarn out on the 5th though, so if you want to join you need to hurry!

Finally, on April 22nd, the fourth Annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week will start. I participated in the first and second, but last year I missed it since it was just after we moved to our house, and I was a bit busy. But this year I'll try to participate again, as it is a lot of fun! Our Host, Mimi over at Eskimimi Makes, gives us seven topics that we write about each day, and it is so much fun to read other bloggers taking part. I really recommend you to check it out!

/ Jenny

Happy Easter!

Since it's Easter this weekend, we get both Friday and Monday off, giving us a lovely, long weekend. I've spent most of it knitting and hanging out with Thomas, which has been very nice. Yesterday I went into Linköping to feed my sister's cat Daisy (my sister has been away for the weekend), and as the weather was very nice I put the harness on her and we sat outside in the sun together for almost an hour.

It was very nice, and I think we both enjoyed it equally. I knit a little bit in the sun too! I actually cast on for a new pair of self striping socks the other day, as I want a pair for the April KAL as well. I chose the Schoppel-Wolle Admiral Bambus Plus yarn that I dyed myself the other weekend, as I was very curious to see if I had succeeded in making it stripe. And I did!

The stripes are turning out very nice, but I have to say that the yarn isn't very nice to work with. It fulfils all the bad preconceived notions I have about bamboo yarns, in that it is very stiff to work with, not very soft, and it seems to shed a little bit too. If I ever dye yarn again I'm going to have to find a nicer base! But the socks are turning out ok. I'm knitting the Jeck pattern, just to keep me interested, and it's going very fast.

I've also worked a lot on the Glacier gloves, and I'm on the hand part of the first glove.

This is turning out so nice! I love the yarn (MarigoldJen), and the colour is just my kind of green. I'll probably not get to wear them much this season, as the snow is actually beginning to disappear (knock on wood!), but they will keep until next winter.

On Friday evening we went to our friends' house for afternoon tea and hanging out, and it was so much fun! I haven't seen Jenny since October, and we got to meet her new boyfriend as well (who was very nice). Micke and Klara bought their house just a couple of months ago, so we hadn't seen that either. It is such a nice and cosy house, and they had done a lot to the place as well. They are having a baby in about a month, and I'm thinking of knitting it a cocoon. Klara had seen a photo of one like this for sale somewhere, and really wanted one. It takes almost no yarn, since it's sized for a baby, so I think I can find some suitable left-overs in my stash.

Yesterday evening also saw the return of Doctor Who, and me, Thomas and his brother spent the night eating very good food that Thomas made, and watched the newest episode. I think I'll enjoy the new companion! Matt Smith hasn't been my favourite Doctor by far (I'm David Tennant all the way), so I think I won't be too sad when they change him out (which I guess will be at the end of this season). I'm actually kind of curious about who will be the next Doctor!

And tonight is the season premier of Game of Thrones too! Lots of TV this weekend! But that means lots of knitting time too, which is perfectly fine for me :) But first, I'm going to go outside and sit in the sun for a while. I think I'll bring my socks!

/ Jenny

Four-day weekend coming up!

And I have a FO for you! Tonight I finished my Medusa Cascade socks, and I'm very glad to get them off my needles. 

The pattern was pretty mindless, so I've made most of them at work during my breaks. And the yarn in itself is very nice, but as I've told you I found the colours dull and boring. I'm very glad that my mother-in-law seemed to really like them, so I'm going to give them to her when I see her next. I need to wash them first though, to make certain that the colours won't bleed. I don't think that will be a problem, as my Panda Feet yarn (which is also from Sheepy Time Knits) didn't shed any dye at all.

I also got my March shipment in the Knitting Goddess yarn club (The 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon club), and I really really LOVE it!

It's a really pretty purple, and the inspiration this time comes from the film Dark Shadows (where Johnny Depp plays a vampire). The pattern, Collinwood, is really pretty too, although you'll have to do without a photo as there isn't one yet on the pattern page. I might try these out some time in the future, but for now I'll finish my Gördes socks first. And then I think I want to knit a pair of Cookie A socks, or possibly a pair of Claire Ellen.

The projects that will get most love this long weekend (we get Friday and Monday off for Easter) will probably be the Glacier gloves and the Gördes socks. I've knit a bit on the Mandala II shawl this past week, but it is very scrunched up on a short needle right now so it doesn't show it. As I have a lot of the yarn (Madelinetosh Tosh Lace), I'm making it a little bit bigger, so I'm adding a second repeat of chart 2. It's looking good so far! I've really enjoyed working some lace again, so maybe this will get a bit of love too.

I also really, really want to work on my Parcel sweater, but that will probably be the project that gets the least amount of progress. I need to finish the gloves for the MarigoldJen KAL first, and I really want to wear the Gördes socks as they are really pretty!

Tomorrow me and Thomas are going to visit our friends Klara and Micke, and see their new house. They are having a baby in April, so I think Klara will be pretty big right now! And other than that we have absolutely no plans for the entire weekend, and it feels really good to just get to be home and relax. I'm hoping for some sunny weather so we can maybe get some sun on our wintry pale faces too :)

Happy Easter!

/ Jenny

More club yarn and a HO

Yesterday I finished the first of my Medusa Cascade socks, and I have to say I'm less than impressed. I love the yarn, it is a perfect sock yarn, but the colours are just not me. I don't know what it is I don't like, but I think the yarn is dark and sad, and the colours don't work with each other. Oh well, I guess that's a risk you're taking when you're in yarn clubs.

Yesterday my mother-in-law and two of my brothers-in-law came here to celebrate my other brother-in-law on his birthday, and I asked my mother-in-law if she wanted them, and it turns out she really likes the colours! So at least they will be going to a happy home now and be appreciated. If I can manage to finish the second one this week, they will fit in the March Pop Culture Madness KAL too!

And speaking of yarn clubs. I got my last shipment of the Sheepy Time Knits Time Traveler yarn club yesterday too. The yarn is Sheepy Feet (75 % superwash merino/25 % nylon, 424 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Soufflé Girl.

Once again, I really really like the yarn, but I'm less impressed by the colours. I'm not a huge red fan, so maybe that's why, but I just think this skein is a little bit boring. And since this is the second skein from that club that I'm not all that fond of, I think I'm actually going to skip the next round of the club. The colours will be available to all of the public later on anyway, and that way I can just get the colours I like (says captain obvious...).

Yesterday I also got another skein in the mail, and this one I LOVE! It's from Trailing Clouds (Thank you Stockinette Zombies for the enabling!), and the yarn is BFL/Nylon sock yarn, in the colourway Mind The Gap.

I managed to snag one of these skeins in the update last weekend, which was kind of ninja of me, and I really really love it. It has all of the colours of the London Underground lines, and it is just so cool! The shop seems to be updated at least once a week, so it shouldn't be too impossible to get one.

Next week I'm waiting on the last shipment in the Mad Color Fiber Arts Mad Geek Tour club yarn, and I think that The Knitting Goddess has sent the March shipment of the 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon sock club as well, so that should also be here shortly. Mad Color Fiber Arts will renew her club sign ups for the coming three months soon, and I still can't decide whether I want the Doctor Who theme or the Battlestar Gallactica theme. But hey, now that I won't renew the Sheepy Time Knits club, maybe I could join both? Will someone talk me out of this idea please...?

I have been working a little bit on the Gördes socks this week too, but not very much. They are really taking me forever, as there are so many cables! But I have almost finished the first chart, so I'm making progress.

The cable charts really threw me off at first, as Hunter uses symbols that I wasn't used to, but once I get going it's going pretty well. I really like them, and I love the yarn (Shibui Knits)! I think they will take a fairly long time to finish though, as I'm not really focusing on them too much. I feel like I haven't knit too much this week at all, I've just been so tired after work. But I'll get some done this weekend, and next week is a short week as we have Friday off for Easter :)

And finally, as promised, a photo of the blocked Emelie cardigan:

I really, really like it, and this was the club yarn from Sheepy Time Knits that I actually love. It is super soft, and it fits me pretty darned well!

/ Jenny