..and I'm back

As you can see, I've been busy. 10 Christmas presents down, 2 to go.
3 of them have even been wrapped. Talk about efficient, it's only November 1st.

And finally I have managed to start something for myself. A lot of things actually. The blue Fetching set in the pic above "became" mine a very cold morning this week, and they are lovely to wear. I don't know what I did before I discovered Malabrigo.

The new shawl I am working on is the Aeolian from Knitty.com, and it looks a lot harder than anything I have ever knitted before, but so far it has been pretty easy.

I also got some of the new Sandnes Mini Palett, which sort of looks like Noro Kureyon, but it's thinner, has less veg matter, and a lot less itchy. I have only seen it in 4 colours so far, and I got 3 of them. I have started a pair of socks in simple 2x2 rib in the black/grey one, can't wait to see how it comes out. I started this sock yesterday, when I spent the entire day with my grandmother. My grandfather is in the hospital again, so I kept her company, and made her dinner. We had such a lovely time, and it really made up for rather a rotten week.

Hopefully she'll love the Christmas present I made her, it's the light green Swallowtail pictured above. I just love the feel and the colour of it, it's one of the yarns I got when I went to Hereford. I really hope I can go back there, and buy the rest of the shop sometime, as I pretty much emptied half the shop last time I was there.

I've been trying to find a nice pattern for the blue cotton/cashmere yarn I got at Pinnsvin design, I'm looking for a cardigan that suits the yarn, and that is a lot trickier than I thought. Hopefully that is something I can work on after Christmas.

Anyway.. my tea is getting cold, I better go do something about that.

All I want to do is knit some lace

..I've got a feeling I'm not the only one.. Yeah I know that was bad, but Coldplay has driven me insane.. or their warm-up band, it's hard to tell the difference when you can only hear the bass, and it's seriously starting to piss me off. Even Metallica weren't this loud.

My current project is socks for a friend of mine for Christmas, and all though it's slightly interesting as I'm making my first toe-up socks ever, I just want to get back to my lace. I think it's turned into an obsession


These are my latest FO's, the black Ishbel is a Christmas present for my best friend Therese, and the yellow was given to Janet for her 50th Birthday. I hope she really liked it, it was so fun to make, and I managed to finish it in 10 days. And you really can't beat a shawl modelled by a peach tree.


I really want to make another Swallowtail for myself, but I don't really have time before Christmas, I think I've bitten off too much when it comes to my Christmas knitting, but I'll do my very best to get it all finished. I'll probably be in a crazy panic in about 3 months. And I still haven't finished the scarf for my aunt's 50th.

The bass outside has turned a bit moodier now, so I suspect this is Coldplay, and not the warm up band. I hope they finish early, I really can't listen to this for 2-3 hours without going nuts.

10 days left until I have another week off, going to England again for another 10 days. This time I'm going to knitting shops, and I'm probably going to spend way too much money. But a girl needs a good yarn stash.. at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Birthday, and 200.000 unfinished projects.

Anyone for birthday cake? There has been a lot going on lately, so I have completely neglected my blog it seems. And now my head is completely empty, so a few pictures is all I have to offer.



A birthday present, and 4 of my current projects. Starting at the bottom left Ishbel by Ysolda Teague, Kid Silk scarf from Drops/Garnstudio, Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon, and Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf by Nancy Bush (Rav links). The Springtime Bandit is for me, the Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf is for my aunt, the Ishbel is for a friend for Christmas, and the Kid Silk Scarf is another Christmas present I suspect.

I should never have counted the weeks until Christmas on my calender at work, now I feel stressed about my Christmas knitting already. Good thing is that all the yarn has already been purchased, so it looks like a very cheap Christmas. I just have to get something for all the men, somehow I don't think they want lace shawls or alpaca wrist warmers. It looks like it'll be a very Ishbel Christmas all around, which is nice, as it seems nice and quick so far, and I have to declare my love for Malabrigo Lace. The stuff is sooo soft and so lovely, I want to knit a giant bed out of it and never leave. Good thing I have 19 days off left or something, so I can get all my Christmas knitting done... and possibly sleep.

England, Baby!

Holidaaaay :D 2 glorious weeks off work.
I flew over to Gatwick on Friday, directly from work, and am now currently relaxing in a huuuge bean bag called "Fat boy".. I need one!



This is my holiday sock, hopefully there should be two done before I go home next Monday. They are Socks that Rock in Purple Rain, in sort of this pattern, without the silly top edge and the dodgy heel.

We should have been in Birmingham by now, but Simon's car is special, so the garage can't find out what clutch it needs, they are trying out the third one now I believe, so we can't go before tomorrow, and that means I miss all the bead making stuff that was planned for today :(
Hopefully we can do some stuff tomorrow too, and we also have a load of cakes to make.



One of the best things about England is the cheap stuff, fruit, clothes, anything. So of course someone went slightly overboard in Sainsbury's *cough*. Couldn't have been me..



Oh yes, and this awesome thing. Pink ice cream van. I want one :D

Laced up

Ok, this is how far I have gotten. I'm loving this pattern, it is so calming to knit, even with the about 5 mess ups I've had so far. After about 2 repeats of the main chart, I was sure it would look like dog sick, but it's starting to look really pretty again, thank God. I made a major mistake though, I started calculating how long it would take me to knit this. This is based on how much of an episode of Cast-On I had listened to at the end of the repeat. Approx time for one repeat is 40 mins. This pattern calls for 32 repeats, and the edging on both sides.. So a total estimate is about 24 hours of non stop knitting. This is a really scary concept considering how many hours of knitting I have each day. Hopefully I'll finish it before my aunts 51st. birthday, but you never know.



This is my holiday knitting project, I have decided. I'm going away to England for a week in about 3 weeks, and I have decided to knit a pair of socks to remind me of seeing all my friend, and probably getting absolutely hammered in Birmingham. My mum knitted a pair of socks with her Socks that Rock, and I might have to ask her to write down the pattern for me, as it was so cool. Ofc we don't like the same heels and toes, but the main pattern is so pretty.

I had a little google moment earlier, as I was talking to a friend about knitting socks for others, and was slightly scared when I discovered that there are an average of 34.ooo stitches in each pair of socks. No wonder I don't knit many socks.

Then I started thinking about my mother telling me that people at her work wanted to pay her to knit things for them, but that she never accepted. Considering how many hours it takes, it just isn't worth it. Knitting something as a present is fine, then you can put it down if you decide you hate it, and pick it up again if you want, but if someone has paid you to make something, you have to finish the damn thing. Imagine what I'd have to charge for the scarf I'm currently knitting. To make decent money, I'd have to charge £400 for it, at least. And noone would ever pay that much for a simple lacey scarf.

And yet when I make birthday or Christmas presents for family and friends, I feel like I have to give them something in addition, as the yarn is so cheap. Maybe I should sit down every time I knit a present and work out how much I'd have to charge for that item, and then I'd appreciate the hard work, and not feel like I need to spend more to have a decent present.

Brenda Dayne from Cast-On has been talking about fiber artist having to appreciate their own work more, and charging more for it, as people will be willing to spend a little more for something hand made. But then will people appreciate the time knitted items take? Most non knitters might not realise how much time and effort a simple scarf takes, and think it's a cheap and easy present. It's not that I need them to know exactly how much effort it is, but I don't want anyone to think that I'm just giving them something home made because it's cheaper and easier than to buy them something. And what if they don't like it? Then it is totally worthless to them. How do you know who to knit for? And what to knit?

Wristwarmer mania

As you can see, I've been busy. Everyone wants the Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers.. I have loved knitting all of them except the beige, I just really despise the colour. But it was requested, so what can you do?

I got waaay too excited today when I went to check my blog for the first time in ages, and the woman who wrote the patterns actually left me a comment :D I'm such a dork. I do so love this pattern, and now my mum wants a pair, and I still need to make one for myself.. I'll be knitting these until I'm 105.



This is my current tricky project, I've been so inspired by some of the pics of lace from this book that I had to get it. I'm making the Peacock tail and leaf scarf for my aunt for her 50th birthday. I'm already about 3 weeks late, but I showed her the yarn and the pattern and she loved it.

And of course the lace knitting has provided me with a new obsession.. lace weight yarn. I really shouldn't get more yarn, as you can see from the pic below, but it's sooo pretty, and I just want to hug it. I should really save up for my holiday... but I'm addicted to WildFireFibres yarn. Do not buy the Mermaid Lace in Delle or Silver Forest, they are miiiine.. they just don't know it yet. Unless of course you are looking for a birthday present for me ;)



My dad gave me some presents before he went on his holiday/pilgrimage to the Porsche museum in Stuttgart (?). A collapsible picnic basket (that black thing) and a torch/smoke detector/howling thing. It is very scary, I'm keeping the batteries far away from it... You never know, it might go off randomly.

Tomorrow the new secretary starts (the beige wristwarmers are for the "old" one), and I have to show her around. I'm so excited about it, this means I can do more of the fun stuff, and less of the making coffee. And I get to sit in my nice office with the desk that goes up and down. and my panda. And the scary scary plant, I'll do a little photo montage of it at some point, it's growing like mad. A few weeks ago it looked a bit like the Donald's hair, and now it looks like a glam rock wig. I think it's aiming for world domination. Fear the plant of DOOOOOOM!

Oooh pretty flower...

I've had a few days off lately, and I'm so relaxed, and I got so much done.



I also got some shopping done, this lovely gadget is one example. I've managed to make 3,5 wrist warmers, almost finished my Austevoll shawl, and I even had a look at my monkey sock before I put it back in the knitting basket. The first wrist warmers were a present for a woman I work with. I love knitting stuff for others who appreciate it, and she did.



The pattern is called Linda K's Yummy Mummy Wristwarmers, by Alexandra Brink (Ravelry).
I found this pattern through a girl I work with, she knitted a pair before Easter, and I liked them so much I had to look them up, and I have just cast on my third pair. This is getting slightly out of hand.. erm.. anyway.. The woman who made the pattern actually left a comment on my Ravelry project, and that really made my day. It was so sweet of her and I got way too excited about it.

The pattern is really easy, nice, and quick though, a lovely knit for a fast gift. I loved it so much I did about 2 extra repeats without noticing on the first pair because I really got into the cable pattern. I just love it. Hopefully I won't get bored with it, because I think I have planned to give away about 5 pairs. My sister wants them in black, that's the yarn blob on top of the new kitchen/yarn scales.

Tomorrow is Steak and Best Friend Day, she's in town for a week, so I have to treat her to a nice dinner. Haven't seen her for ages, so I'm really excited about it. Hopefully I'll manage to not go 2-3 weeks without updating here again.