More beads

Pattern: Trendy circles by Carol Dean Sharpe (Interweave store)

Beads: Size 11 seed beads

Thread: Nymo D in light pink

Technique: Odd-count 2-drop peyote stitch

Modifications: The pattern calls for cylinder beads, which I now know is the same as delica. This means the size is not the same. In the original pattern there are 6 repeats of the circles, mine only have 4.

Notes: This was the first time I tried peyote and that’s probably why the setup row looks a little bit wonky. I guess the tension was off. It was a fast and fun project. Yeah for using larger beads. I’ve bought a few bead patterns from Interweave and they are not nearly as clear and direct to follow as knitting patterns. For me as a beginner, they are quite difficult to follow. It’s a beautiful pattern though and I love the clasp.

Wedding necklace

I wore three hand made things on our wedding day, the Wedding shrug; the Till minne shawl and this necklace.

Wedding necklace:

Beads:

Swarovski bicone 4 mm in 501 Ruby and Crystal AB (I think)

size 11 Miyuki delica transparent pink mist AB

size 15 Miyuki pearl white AB

Silver details: Filigree heart toggle clasp, end cones 11 by 8 mm, Flat ring with the text Love three times on each side. All bought at Silvergrejs)

Thread: Nymo D, held double

Wire: Sterling silver 0.6 mm

 

Notes: I got inspiration for this from the Larks head knot used in the  Bliss necklace by Rebecca Cambell in Creative Jewelry volume 7. The beads are strung on Nymo D, held double, and which is tied and glued to a silver wire loop hidden in the end cones. Except for the knot around the ring, I just made things up as I strung the beads until it was long enough to hang nicely around my neck.

 

Sorry for the bad photos. But the light this time of year is terrible.

My feet aren’t swollen

I finished these socks back in February. They were my Knitting Olympics project. But at the time of finishing them my left foot was too swollen to wear the sock. So here comes the FO post they deserve.

Pattern: Skew, by Lana Holden in Knitty winter 09 (Ravelry)

Yarn: 1 skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Adonis blue

Needles: 2.5 mm

Started: 13 February 2010

Finished: 26 February 2010

Modifications: None. Well if you don’t count gauge. My feet are small.

Notes: I haven’t knit that many socks, but this is truly a completely different way of knitting a sock. Just take the plunge and follow the pattern and trust that it works even if you have no idea where you are and what you are doing. They fit really well and it was a joy to knit. However, this was the first time I tried this yarn. I’ve been wanting to try it for quite some time. It did not stand up well to my high expectations, especially not since there was a knot  in it. It’s probably still a good yarn but just not as fabulous as I thought before trying

Wedding

At the end of August me and M celebrated getting married. It was an almost perfect day, and we and our guests had a good time. Of course I had to make a little something for this special occasion. I managed to make a necklace and shrug in addition to the shawl I already had. The necklace is seen in the photo below, but I’ll do a separate post on that one.

Wedding shrug:

Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero

Lace Pattern: Based on Spring Leaves (Ravelry)

Yarn: 3 skeins Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK

Needles: 4.0 mm

Modifications: I did a picot cast on and the inner part of each leaf was in reverse stockinette.

Notes: Although I did a swatch and blocked and measured, the shrug was slightly too big and I had to keep tugging at it to pull it back onto my shoulders. The yarn is very nice and felt like just the right amount of luxury for such a special day.

New threads to my stash

When I didn’t have any  knitting mojo I learnt how to tat instead.  I found shuttles and thread at a LYS (Garn& broderi). I started with one shuttle and one ball of DMC #10, but soon went back for some more thread and another shuttle. There are plenty of instructions online and I learnt how to tat with shuttles rather quickly. This is the third thing/motif I made.

There is another way of tatting as well, with a needle. The motion of doing the double knots is quicker when needle tatting. Finally a few weeks ago I ordered some Lizbeth thread and needles from Handy hands. I also ordered Learn Needle Tatting step-by-step by Barbara Foster. Although the instructions are nice, there’s the same and more online for free.

I made this necklace from Totusmels instructable with a size 5 needle and size 10 thread.

However, I like the look of the knots better when using #7 needle with size 10 thread.

The problem with this is that it is difficult to thread #7 needle with this size thread. The needle threader got destroyed when I tried pulling the thread through. So I decided to order some size 20 thread instead since I wanted to try to add beads to my tatting. Adding beads is one thing that is supposed to be easier with needle tatting. I tried finding a store in Europe that carries Lizbeth thread with a good selection of colours I like. So I ordered some size 20 and 40 from Roseground in the UK. I also bought a picot gauge, because it’s difficult to have the picots the same size.

One long absence, many reasons

A tough year so far, with very little knitting mojo. And even less energy to blog. At the end of April I was so tired I was forced to go to the doctor. Too much stress at work had finally wreaked so much havoc with my body I could no longer function properly. Since I was on a deadline a part-time sick leave made it possible for me to get better and finish the paper in time for the Sydney conference. This meant I only worked and slept for most of May and June before we finally left the warmth of Swedish summer for the winter of Sydney.

I gave my talk and had a good time with my colleagues.  We took a stroll along the beach and saw the famous Bondi beach.

Had some delicious food. That’s kangaroo in the photo below.

And of course, did what all tourists do. Took some photos of the Opera house.

I like the library

I like the library and most of the time I have a couple of books on loan at home. It’s very convenient to get inspiration you might not have got otherwise. Most of the books I borrow are books I would most likely not buy or might never have discovered. But browsing the bookshelves at the library can be quite exiting. Sometimes you strike gold; a very popular book have just been returned or you come across something your not sure about but you take it home anyway and it turns out to  be a little treasure.

(image from Amazon)

That’s what happened a while back when I found Knitting in the old way: designs & techniques from ethnic sweaters by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson (Amazon) sitting in the knitting section bookshelf at my library.  It’s not a pattern book but it contains the history and methods of different sweater shapes,  from a basic gansey to a shaped sweater, and colour stranding styles of different regions from Sweden to Canada.  It was interesting to read more on the western versus eastern style of knitting. I’ve heard of continental versus English knitting or in other word picking vs. throwing. But if I understand correctly the way the stitches are mounted on the needles is the same for both these ways of knitting, which would both be western style. Whereas the eastern style of knitting has the stitches wrapped around the needle in the opposite direction. This came in handy when I helped my friend A who has been thought in the eastern style. She wanted to pick from the opposite direction and know I understand why and could explain it to her.

Another good thing I picked up from this book is to make a diagram of my pattern. Instead of writing instructions the instructions are charted with symbols. I used this technique for the Geodesic cardigan. Before I started knitting I read through the instructions and made a diagram. This way  I had an easy very visual way of knowing what to do and when. It’s been very helpful.

The cardigan is coming along quite nicely. After around 38 hours of knitting, the left front is finished and I’ve started on the back.

Totally uncharacteristic

Those of you who know me, or at least have seen me at some knit event, know that my preferred method of using skeins is not to wind it into balls. Well for one I don’t have a swift and ball winder if I had easy access to these equipments it might have been a different story.  But winding a ball by hand is tedious and takes away precious time I could otherwise spend on knitting.

So if you see someone sitting with their skein wrapped around their neck, contentedly knitting, it could very well be me. One might even say it is my signum.

But yesterday when I got out my second skein of Malabrigo lace for my Geodesic cardigan I noticed it had almost felted together in some places. Yes I did put it around my neck and unravelled a bit but quickly realised it was not to be. I do occasionally wind centre-pull balls so I do know how I just don’t like to do it. I did have it around my neck for most of the winding, but M helped for a while as well.

Taking a break

I left work early yesterday, was feeling a bit  under the weather. Had no energy so there were no knitting at all. Today is better at least when my head is concerned – I can knit. Well at least for short bursts of time, the fever is making my hands too clammy so they are sticking to the wool. So I’m taking a break and thought I’d share my latest project. Me and M planned it  together but I executed it. My hands are more steady.

It’s acrylic paint and deep edge canvas from Panduro. We used a digital image from Schablononline and a projector. It’s nice with some more colour on our very white kitchen walls.