Light and Up

I've published a new and free pattern on Ravelry, Light and Up. I love simple designs and I love eyelets and my new shawl is a combination of both. It's very easy to knit and requires less than one skein of fingering weight yarn. The yellow shawl is knit in a linen yarn from Ullcentrum and is a perfect summer shawl. The blue shawl is knit in gorgeous Malabrigo Sock. The size is generous thanks to the bigger needles (5 mm) and the shawl is very light and airy. I love it and think it's very wearable. And I'm happy that many fellow knitters on Ravelry also like it! I'm also happy and proud that Malabrigo Yarn linked to my pattern on their website.

Fantasy Mittens

I'm very proud of my new fingerless mittens! I used the pattern Mitt Envy (Ravelry) as the basis, but made them longer and played around with different motives and colors. I had so much fun planning and making them that I forgot to eat! I love to be in that creative flow!!
I never thought that I would enjoy knitting on tiny needles, but it's very relaxing. Also, knitting mittens is a great way to use up all those small amounts of left-over precious yarn in the stash and they are finished in a couple of hours. Instant gratification! I've been bitten by the mitten bug, for sure!

                                 

Zebra Cowl

I really like how this cowl turned out! It looks great with my black coat and is warm and cosy but light and airy at the same time.

It's very easy to make and is done in a couple of hours. You will need about 100 g of super bulky yarn in each color.

Here's what I did:

CO 21 stitches with needles 12 mm. This will give you a cowl 30 cm wide. You can easily change the width by casting on more or less stitches, but always an odd number.
Every row: k2, *yo, k2tog*, k1.
Change color every other row and always pick up the new yarn from behind the yarn you just used.
Knit for about 140 cm. BO with same color you started with. Twist the garment once and sew together. Voila!

    

The easiest fingerless mittens - ever!

I have to admit it: I have a large stash! I decided to start making something out of every small skein. I came up with these fingerless mittens. They took only a couple of hours to knit and I used just 60 meters of DK weight yarn. They are knitted in the round and NO seeming is required!

Here's how I made them:

CO 32 stitches on 5 mm needles and join in the round. Either use double pins or, as I always do, use the magic loop-method (you can find great tutorials on youtube).
Knit 3 rounds.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 3 rounds.
Purl 1 round.
Knit until piece measures 9 cm (or the length that fits you).
BO 2 stitches in the beginning of next round.
Knit back and forth (knit one row, turn the work and purl back) for 3.5 cm.
At the end of last row CO 2 stitches and start knitting in the round again.
Knit 3 cm.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 3 rounds.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 3 rounds.
BO loosely.

Make another one and you've got yourself a pair of nice and cosy mittens.

The Art of Dyeing

I spend many of my free hours knitting. I think it´s so much fun and I really enjoy the creative side of it. Which yarn goes with which pattern... Which colors looks nice together...How can I make changes to make the garment look better....

Lately I´ve been trying the art of dyeing yarn, another creative aspect of the knitting experience. I have read a lot about it and looked at other peoples beautiful (and less beautiful) results.

Since I have a rather small kitchen I don´t have room for big pans and pots, so I decided to try dyeing with Kool Aid. You can´t bye Kool Aid in Sweden so first I had to order some from a website.

It´s very easy to dye with Kool Aid. First you have to make a hank out of the yarn, then you put it in a bowl of rather hot water to soak for half an hour (I am an impatient kind of person so I only waited for 15 minutes...). Meanwhile you go creative and mix different flavors of Kool Aid in another (microwave-safe) bowl of hot water (you can also add food coloring). I used one made of glass. Then you put the soaked hank all the way into the colored water, cover the bowl with plastic film and heat it in the microwave on highest temperature for two minutes. Take out the bowl, stir (be careful not to let the water boil) and repeat the procedure until the water is completely clear. Take out the yarn, let it cool on the bench and then rinse in water the same temperature as the yarn. Hang up to dry and take some time admiring your masterpiece!! If you don´t like the result you can always repeat the procedure with some new color.

So far I have mostly dyed self-striped sock yarn (your yarn has to be from an animal for it to work).
But my first attempt was with two skeins of light-blue Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino. Here is before and after pictures and also a picture of the hat I knitted from the yarn:

My second attempt was with two skeins of Zwerger Garn Opal Hundertwasser in pink, yellow and blue (I don't really know why I bought them in first place, they were probably on sale...).
I overdyed with some different reds and the result was amazing, as is the finished shawl:

Here are some more results (original yarn to the left, over dyed to the right):

Sweet Baby Sweater

I friend of mine had a grandson, I wanted to knit something for him and came up with this little sweater. Unfortunately it took me a while to knit it, write up the pattern and testknit it, so now the boy is too big for it...

Well, well, hopefully I get som grandchildren of my own some day!

The sweater can be made in endless different ways and it's easy to make it smaller or bigger since it's knitted from the top down without any seams. The pattern is a free download here.

More mysteries

I have participated in a couple of more Mystery KAL's. Great fun!

First it was another one by Threebagsfull: Mystery KAL Shawl. I used Kauni Wool Effekt and the result is lovely. I have used the shawl a lot this cold and endless winter, it´s really warm and cosy! Here's my project page: November Mystery.

Then the turn came to She-Knits' beaded Cynthia Shawl. My project page is here: Cynthia Mystery KAL. For this beautiful shawl I used Regia Silk and I'm very happy with this result too! I love the jeans look. It's a perfect shawl for spring.

New pattern

I have released a new pattern. Nothing special, but it is fun designing things that actually can be worn. It´s a supercozy cowl you can wear in several different ways. It comes in two sizes, has a simple but effective lace pattern and is closed with three big buttons.

You can download the pattern for free here: Midwinter Cowl

The longer one you can wear both as a cowl and a scarf and you can pull it over your head on those cold winter days.

The short version is perfect to wear under a jacket or over a sweater.

Mystery Kerchief

KAL´s are fun! I have participated in another one: Criminal Minds Mystery Kerchief by Threebagsfulled. Every week you get a piece of the pattern and it´s exciting to see the project grow. The thing is, you don´t know how it will look when it´s finished.

This one started OK, but after a while I thought the shawl just looked like a sample of different stitches. I decided to frog and put it aside. Then I hadn´t much time to think about knitting since I moved to a new flat. Wow, that´s heavy work...

But after a couple of weeks I looked at the projects the other participants had made, and to my surprise the shawl was quite beautiful! So - I picked mine up and finished it yesterday. I´m really pleased with it and have signed up for another KAL!

The yarn is Marks & Kattens Fame Trend.

Mystery unveiled

The finished shawl looks like a work of art. The pattern is beautiful!

Mystery KAL

I´m attending a Mystery KAL for the first time in my knitting "career". KAL means knit along and is a group of people knitting the same pattern at the same time. Mystery KAL is when you don´t know how the finished project is going to look like, since you receive the pattern in parts, for instance one clue every week.

My first Mystery KAL is called 22 leaves by Lankakomero and is great fun. It´s going to be a shawlette. The only thing is the pattern is revealed too fast. Five clues in three days. I would have liked a little bit more excitement. Otherwise it´s great! I´m halfway through clue #5, but the picture shows clues 1-4.

More magic!

I have said it before, knitting is magic! Just look at these two pictures:

The secret is yarn made of wool and a washing machine.

Starry Shetland

Another shawl is off the needles and I think it´s the most beautiful shawl I´ve ever made!! The pattern is Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clarke and the yarn is Handmaiden Fine Yarn Sea Silk. It is made from silk and plant fiber and has a fantastic lustre and softness. The colour is called Stardust. It´s a match made in heaven!

It´s really hard to capture the true colour with my camera, hence the different shades of this gorgeous bluish grey in the pictures.

Sideway shawls

Lately, I´ve been knitting a few shawls sideways. One of them, "Forest Beauty", is knitted from tip to tip with a lacepattern to the right and stockinette stitches to the left. The shape is made by increasing the stockinette part and then, after you reached the middle, decreasing again until you only have the lace tip left.



The other one, Amalia, is made in another way. First you knit the lace border and then pick up stitches all the way and knit garter stitches in short rows, thus forming a crescent.



They both are lovely patterns, but I have realized that I like triangular shawls much more. But the shawls was fun to knit, and since I´m always looking for something new and exciting, a new shape, a new yarn, a new color, you have to acccept that it doesn´t always work out in the end.

Now on to the next project!!.