Where is your hard hat?

This place is under construction.

A lot of exciting new things are happening at the moment, which translates into changes for this space. So while there might occour some radio silence for a while, I am working full speed ahead on making this place a little more me and a couple of other things as well.

Update:
- All posts have been merged and translated to English
- A new header has been made

From wool to yarn

The softest Malabrigo Nube merino woll is turning into the loveliest yarn. It is a long and slow proces, but there is something peaceful about sitting in front of the wheel and seeing the wool being twisted into a single. When the last gram is spun of the first colour, I get to repeat the process with the next colour and then wait.
The waiting part is the most difficult part about spinning. From the last gram has been spun to the next step in the process, you, idealy, have to wait 24 hours to let it all rest. And a full day is way too long to wait patiently.
Next comes the plying, this is a much faster process. It takes me around 30 min. to ply 50 grams and then there is waiting again.
Once again, you have to sit on your hands (or better, keep them bussy with knitting needles) for a full 24 hours.
Now the niddy noddy comes out, an invention I care a lot for. Zip zap and the yarn is wound into a skein. This is when the process starts all over, while I sit and dream of what I'll knit wth this yarn once it is all done.
I'm holding off on the washing until all the skeins are done, then I get to make a swatch (swatches are growing on me) and figure out what I can knit.

A war in the stars

Do or do not. There is no try.
This is a well known quote, if you live with a Starwars enthusiast, like I do. It is that very same enthusiast, who asked for a small embroideri and when men ask for embroideries, thenyou hurry up and embroider before then can regret it.
The motive is from Pixystitches, who has all kinds of wonderful geekiness ready to be embroidered.


The frame and the text is finisghed and Yoda is slowly on the way. I definitely think I'm going to do more embroideries from Pixystitches, but if you happen to know a shop with similar motives, then do let me know in the comments.

Socks on demand

Every now and then talk centeres around people, who are knit worthy. To be worthy of knitting, you have to (in my opinion) hit a fine balance between being incredible glad and thankful for the work, which is poured into the knitted object, without being afraid to use said object.
My dad strikes that balance very well. So well indeed, that he only wears hand knitted socks and my mu never knits socks. But who doesn't want to spoil their daddy? So last year he recieved 4 hand knit socks from my hands, and this year I'm at it again.
The starting point is Madder Ribbed Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Last year a new toe was fashioned, that fit my dad better and this year the leg has to be longer. Luckily there is no deadline for the four pairs of socks, except for 'some time this year'.
These socks are the perfect commute-knitting, because they take up so little room. I know from experience, that it takes me a week to knit a pair of these, if I'm not working on anything else, but I'm in no hurry to get done. 



And please, not a word about how my own socks are falling apart. That's for another time.


The joy of reunion

With New York is off the sticks I'm eager to preogress on the wonderful dress, I've been working on since mid-October. There is just this one tiny detail: I've not knit a stitch on it since December, specificly since December 5th, which is almost 2,5 months ago. 
That day the very thing that must not happen, happened. My bamboo circular got tired of the weight and snapped all of a sudden. I'm sure it wasn't me, who broke it, it did it by itself. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In January I borrowed a metal  circular, but I postponed the reunion until I had finished New York.
It didn't take long to figure out where I was at in the pattern and I've been looking forward to the miles and miles of stockinette stitches, without all the thinking and pattern that has to be moved etc. But man, a quater of a round in, I suddenly understood why that bamboo circular didn't want to play anymore. This knitting weighs a ton. I didn't really notice it when I was knitting on it every day, but after a full round my wrists were not quite as full of joy over this reunion as my soul was.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to all the stockinette stitches and seeing the dress finished. Right now it is just a big blop, but soon it will get more shapely and then some more pictures will appear, so stay tuned.

New York

Remember the project I have been working on with great zeal for a while? The New York scarf is done. The ends are woven in, but not yet cut so there is room for them to move when it is being washed. I haven't blocked it either. My mum will get the honour so she gets it just like she wants it.


From the 100 grams of wool, I got a 2,44 metre long scarf, which I'm very pleased with. 

Tonight I'll be entertaining myself with an embroidery hoop and some war in the starts. There isn't much to show yet, but hopefully there will be soon.

Knit Crush: Helga Isager

The queue function on Ravelry is amazing and only slightly dangerous. A couple of times I've ended up with a queue so long that I wouldn't be able to knit it all even if I lived to a 105. At the moment it isn't too bad. I have 18 items on the list, of which 10 are designed by the lovely Helga Isager. In addition I already have a worn out  Vanilla cardigan and a slightly faded Coral top in my wardrobe by her.

Here are some of the Helga Isager designs I dream of knitting at the moment. The pictures are lovely, but it can be difficult to see the knits in some of them. All pictures below are borrowed with permission from Helga Isager's site: amimono.dk


Amber
Lemon
Honey
Pine
Starling
Robin
Daffodil

An inventory of babyknits

We've reached the an age where there is good reason for having an inventory of babyknits. Tiny new humans keep surfacing among our friends and family, which is wonderful.

Yesterday we had a couple's dinner with 6 friends and were about to meet a less than one month old little fella for the first time. He was gifted with a pair of mittens, that will hopefully fit him next winter as well.


The suitcase that holds the inventory of babyknits is getting awfully empty, so I'll better get around to knitting some more cute things soon.

Working on a present for mum

In the spring, my parents kindly gave me a new spinning wheel, after I had spent three years learning on a used wheel, which I got for 200 DKK and made me utter sentences like "When I get a new wheel, it has to be able to..."
The new wheel is a Kromski Sonata and it opened up a whole new world to me. The kobination of a good wheel and good fibre made spinning relaxing instead of hard work. 


When I got the wheel, I decided to say 'thank you' with 100 grams Blue Face Leicester (BFL) in royal blue. It was - slowly - spun into a find two stranded yarn. My mum then had the choice of knitting something from it herself or having me knit something for her. She picked the last and asked for a scarf. 


Thus the knitting of New York by Susie Haumann began. It is a simple pattern, I quickly got the hang of, but knitting a scarf takes time! I'm about ready to knit on some of the other projects currently on the needles, so now the scarf has to be done before the weekend, where it has an opportunity for making its way to my mum.




Starry, starry night

This post is about christmas decorations and how February is the perfect (alright, maybe January is just a smidge better) month to buy them and ahem hang them in your windows.

You see, all of December (and October and November before that...) I had my eye on, no wait, I lusted for a specific christmas decoration, from a brand called Ferm Living. These items were not all that expensive relative to other christmas decorations, but my budget for such unnecessary, although beautiful items equaled zero.

Then much to my surprise, when my man and I was walking around Illums Bolighus dreaming, there they were, the items I had been wanting so badly, but couldn't justify spending the money on. I showed the to my man (again) and he really liked them and that is when I noticed they were 75% off. So two of them came home with me and I was about to pack them away for next christmas when my man said I had to hang them up now, Basta! So I did.

Have I kept you in the dark long enough? 
Want to know what I got? 

- Wooden Stars.



Do you have any seasonal specific decorations that you keep out all year long?