Felting ends

 Hi there! Won't stay for long today, it seems I caught whatever my husband had last week so I'm heading back to bed soon. Just wanted to pop by and say something, so I thought I could share a little something I learned the other day. We went to the bookstore with the kids, and I found a basic book about crochet on sale. Brought it home of course. Learned a few things, and this one really came to use immediately. My snöstorps knitting is pretty loose, so when I had to start on the second ball of yarn, I didn't know how to fasten the ends. Then I read about felting ends together. It goes like this:

Pull the fibers apart, approximately 10 cm on both ends. On the new ball and the yarn your knitting at the moment. You might have to cut some of it away, so it doesn't get too bulky. I didn't have to, since some of the fibers fell off during the pulling...

Lay one over the other in your hand, and sprinkle hot water on it.

Start rubbing the ends between your hands, and they will felt together to one single strand. Leave until it's dry. It's worth mentioning that you can only do this with wool that will actually felt, no superwash or other materials.

Since I have virtually no patience at all, I did this right before bedtime, and when I woke up I could start knitting at once. Maybe you knew all about this, but it sure helped me! Now, I'm off to bed again. Oh, almost forgot to tell you. I've finished the snöstorp now. It's done. I only have to add a few buttons, and then I'll show you. Eh, and maybe get a little fresher too, I'm afraid I'm not very photogenic right now, and I want to show you how I plan to wear it. I'll get back to that!

Our little cruise

Here we go, today I brought my phone to the computer and uploaded all my pictures. Sorry about the other day, I was simply so tired and sour after vacuuming and tidying half the house, that I just didn't want to make the effort when I realized the cruise photos was on the phone upstairs...

This is the ship, Viking Cinderella. The association (civilförsvarsförbundet) had rented the whole thing for us, and here it is coming in for a quick stop before we could board. Which we almost didn't...

My husband's "boss" had booked us on this cruise in September already, and was told we only needed ID to board. Once in check-in, everybody else had a booking number, and my husband was nowhere to be found on the passenger list... We began thinking that we might have to book a hotel room and spend the night in Stockholm instead. But they got us a cabin eventually, and food tickets too... We even offered to stand in the kitchen, eating the leftovers from the plates if only we could get on board... ;)

We walked to the terminal from the train station, in wind and snow. My precious earwarmer was truly put to the test! My face was almost as red as my coat once we got inside! :)

So this little place of ours felt almost as good as heaven, warm and... well maybe not too cozy, but at least we were finally on board, and the cabin even had a window. For a moment, I feared that the black straps was there to keep me from falling down from the bed in rough sea, but I guess it was only to keep the bed linen in place when the bed was folded up against the wall... :)

And who cares about small cabins when you get to spend some time away from house and chores with the one you love?

A really bad picture through a window at night, I know... Can you see me? ;) But the capital looked so pretty with all the lights, I just had to try and catch it with the lens. I might add that most of the pictures are taken as a documentation for our kids when we got home, they were pretty curious about it all. Picture quality was secondary.

The night was spent with hugs from my husbands friends, listening to speeches (the association celebrated 75 years), a fancy dinner and lots of talking to interesting people. Unfortunately my husband came down with a pretty nasty fever during the night, and I was a bit dizzy and uncomfortable (I'm honestly quite scared of deep waters, and had a hard time trying to relax) so we didn't get too much sleep I'm afraid. But morning came with the view of another country, since we made a quick stop in Åland, a Finnish island not far from Stockholm. We remained there only during breakfast time, so we never made the effort to get on shore. So this breakfast view is all you will see of our destination. I guess these cruises are mainly for getting people to dance, spend money in the bar, eat expensive food and buy stuff in the tax-free shop. Which we did, candy and clothes for the kids to be specific. The destination is of less importance...

 My phone adapted to the surroundings by jumping to Finnish time, which got us confused a few times. Especially since it wouldn't jump back to Swedish by itself... So I found this clock rather cool, don't you? :)

After having a few pills, Anders felt well enough to participate in a CPR contest. He's a bit blurry, but that's only because he's fighting so hard to get this poor man back to life.

They stated that the winner would be the one who got the doll up walking... You don't need a cardiac arrest to find that hard without arms and legs, if you ask me.

There was not much of an open sea, since most of the cruise take place among all the little islands in the archipelago of Stockholm. Lot's of nice (as in expensive) houses though. 

Not the kind of weather  that makes you want to stand on sun deck to long though, a few snap shots for the kids and quickly inside again!

 We had lunch by the front window, which was quite nice. A little cold though, due to the weather. (I might add that we didn't walk back to the station in Stockholm, we took the bus this time. Expensive, yes, but worth every crown!)

Our son had ordered us to take pictures of our food, so we did. I loved the apple pickled herring, I have to say. Lovely!

And finally we sailed (or whatever you do on a big ship) through Stockholm again. Our capital is surely something else, sitting on the water as it is. I haven't been there much, but we're thinking about going back this summer.

Well, that's it! We took the train back to a freezing cold night, and in the morning the kids declared their new clothes from the tax-free their favorites. :) It was a nice trip with some time "alone" (or at least away) even though my husband was ill. Getting the opportunity to sit and talk without interruption, or walk hand in hand admiring the view, just appreciating each others company is not to be underestimated!

Quite a week

Sometimes time moves very fast, and this week really disappeared in a hurry. Maybe because it's been more busy than I'm used to.

It started off great - my husband was invited on a cruise by an association where he works extra as an instructor in CPR, helping kids to know what to do if they get lost in the woods, avoiding accidents in your own home and stuff like that. It was all for free, and I was also invited! So we took the train to the capital on Sunday, almost didn't board since we were missing on the passenger list, but finally took off for an overnight cruise to Åland. Nice dinner, very interesting people and I also got to meet some of his friends from far away parts of our country.

(This is where I meant to show you a picture from the cruise, but all the pictures are on my phone and won't bother to go get it...)

We had a very nice time, even though my husband came down with a fever... He's the one who always remains standing when the rest of the family is coming down with something, but he even had to stay at home for a few days. I think a few bugs jumped over to me too, 'cause I've been really tired, cold and a little dizzy this week. Actually I was so cold, I almost scared my love half to death one night, by accidentally touching him with a foot as cold as ice. He was asleep, but sat up in terror trying to find that creepy, cold thing in his bed... :-S Ooops! :) Poor guy!

I brought a lot of yarn, since we had to spend some time on the train (and I honestly thought I would be sitting in a corner on the boat while my husband talked to his friends about things I wasn't too interested in), but the time was spent talking, solving nonograms (those Japanese crosswords that create images) and I simply had too much fun on the boat to even think about knitting. This little piece is all I made, waiting for the train on the way home.

This is how I spent the morning after the cruise. Birdwatching. That pole has a bird feeder on it, in the shape of a red cottage. But most birds look for food on the ground. Especially two kinds, the European goldfinch and the yellowhammer. I have also tree sparrow, blue tit and great tit, nuthatch and sometimes the blackbird passes by to get some apple. Occasionally the woodpecker pays a visit, and I have a few willow tits I think... And of course the magpie takes a walk around the place, scaring the little ones away. What birds do you see around your feeders? I miss the bullfinch though, always saw a lot of them in the woods where I grew up, but I have only seen them here on the fields once.

And look here, I'm on it again. Snöstorp. Hopefully I'm on the right track this time. I have to get going a little further to see how much it stretches out, but it looks promising. Last time I tried I used 9 mm needles, and I thought I would need at least 12 mm to make a difference but I was wrong.

That 1 mm made a big difference, this piece isn't that dense as my last try. And I think I will need less yarn too, so I might have enough.

Oh, speaking of yarn, I almost forgot. Wednesday, I was invited by my aunt to a yarn inspiration night at GarnMalin, that lovely yarn shop not far from here. She had invited a few friends, and we could just walk around with the shop all to ourselves, trying out yarns and ideas, test knitting and talking. I loved every minute of it! The lady who owns the store is such a sweet thing, so kind, caring and positive. She loves to share her patterns and ideas, and she is very encouraging. Yes, we had a great night with a lot of laughter and knitting.

Well folks, I think I have done enough writing for one day here... trying to keep you updated. :) Let's hope I have some progress to show on the Snöstorp next time!

Testing ideas

 I frogged it. Yes I did. After my last post, I sat down with it and knitted one more row. Looked at it and realized that even if it would have turned out decently, it wasn't what I wanted so I ripped it all up.

Then I got my knitting books from the shelf and started looking for new, better ideas. Thought that some kind of dropped stitches was what I wanted. Began test knitting. This sea inspired wavy pattern looked nice in the book, but not so much with this yarn. And too wavy for my shawl. Rip it up and keep looking.

Didn't really think this would be great, just wanted to test it. Indian cross stitch. I love it! But I don't think it is right for this particular project. I was planning a wide, short shawl (rectangular) to attach sort of like a poncho. I don't have a good word for it. But the cross stitch might make it too shapeless, I'm afraid. Not really what I'm looking for, but a gorgeous stitch indeed!

Simple dropped stitches with garter stitch. This is more like it, but I'm not convinced.

I was planning to be finished this weekend, but I guess I have to let it rest until I'm sure about what I want. Maybe try some more stitches. It's fun, you know! I'll let you know when I find what I'm looking for. Until then, I will probably make a pile of mitts. Fingerless ones. I'm going away on a little trip with my husband, just over night, but I can use something to knit on the train.

I'm anxious about this one

I started a new project last night, surprise! I am almost half way done, but I still don't know if this will be a success or a failure. I love the pattern, tried it a long time ago but misinterpreted and ended up with a very dense scarf, remember this one Marilyn? Well, this time I am doing it right. But my yarn is twice as bulky as that in the pattern...

It sure looks pretty enough, but it will probably be terribly warm, which is a problem for me since I get belly ache when I'm too warm. I know, I am strange... :) Also, I want my two skeins to be enough, and by the look of things, the wrap will have to be stretched out a bit to go all the way around me. It's rather impossible to know if it will look good before it's finished, and I would really hate to knit it all just to realize it won't fit or that it looks stupid. But what else can I do then to keep knitting, frowning with a pounding heart. I really, really want this to turn out great, and I'm so afraid it won't.

A little knitting

Yesterday afternoon, I sat here waiting. And waiting. Watching the darkness closing in on me every minute, then finally - there he was! I ran outside with the camera, shouted "Freeze!" and snapped a few pictures. Phew, I made it! Taking decent pictures in daylight literally means you haven't got all day... :) I didn't even get him time to finish unloading the car... Hence the backpacks and the open trunk.

This is what I have been knitting lately. A tube scarf for my darling. He wanted one, and who am I to say no to those pretty eyes? You should know, he's struggling hard to look good for you here. He is a man with many talents, but looking relaxed on a picture unfortunately is not one of them. :) 

He picked the colors, but I wish we had used a different yarn. This curls up terribly, and makes the scarf look too thin. If we ignore that fact, it looks great on him. Even if our son said it looked feminine... As you almost can see, this is a scarf knitted as a tube, that is in the round, without ends. Then you just wrap it around the neck as many times as you want. Or can. More then three times is not recommended on this scarf though, if you want to be able to breathe too. It turned out it was a good thing that I made myself that ear-warmer, since I won't get to use my beanie anymore.Yes, it is (used to be?) mine. He had only gray ones, so he had to borrow it.

Speaking of my ear-warmer, another good thing with that project turning out so great is that I really want matching mitts. And as so happened, I had an unfinished project from last winter that would work, so I finished it today. It was easily done, once I had figured out how I was supposed to continue with the cable. This was my first attempt knitting cables and the first mitt was just left without any notes or clues to how I had made it.

I apparently did figure it out, and even got a little wiser doing it. Hooray! The second one was knitted in a rush (when I was supposed to clean the house, but didn't), and now I am not taking them off. My fingers get terribly cold this time of the year, even indoors.

I didn't figure out how to get them in the same picture easily, so you have to admire them one at a time! :)

My new favorite!

I'm so happy to be blogging today! First of all, since I've been very tired lately and haven't had the energy to do anything, really. Feel much better today though. Secondly, 'cause I have something pretty to show you! Oh, I hope you find it pretty too, maybe I shouldn't just assume that... ;) But I know for sure this is my new favorite!

Tadah! It's an ear-warmer, made by me for myself with love. :) I often wear my hair high up on my head, which makes it hard to wear a regular hat or beanie of any kind. So I figured out that what I needed was an ear-warmer. A big, soft, warm one. With color and a huge flower. It's really easy to make, but maybe I'll make some kind of pattern for it anyway. I haven't decided yet.

(Can you see that my eyes seem to have the same color as the door to our food cellar behind me? Didn't know they were that gray...)

When I went to the yarn shop recently, I bought two balls of this super soft, super bulky wool yarn. It's called DROPS Eskimo, and I love it! It's so soft and works up really fast. I could make several of these ear-warmers in one night, for sure. And I want to. I want to make several in different, happy colors. And I want to make mittens, and fingerless gloves in matching colors. And it goes perfectly with my coat, don't you think? I am so pleased with this! Can you tell? :) I even changed my profile picture to one of these pictures, that's how much I like it.

Bye bye for now, hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures of something else I finished the other day - a tube scarf for my husband. You know, that beige and pink thing in my basket... I just have to catch my darling in the daylight to take a decent picture of him wearing it, and hopefully I can make that happen. I will also try to write down my African Flower bag pattern in Swedish, some anonymous people asked me to. (I wish you rather had e-mailed me, to make sure you get hold of the pattern... I hope you'll be back to find it when I'm done.)

Such a rainy day

 It looks like this

today, so I think I'll grab this

and go hide under a warm blanket somewhere. Maybe light a few candles and listen to the wind. Knit slowly and try to ignore that my body is complaining about the weather. Make the best of a cold and tired day! :)

Lining...

 I've started on this big project. Well, maybe not so big really, but it feels big. I intend to line all the bags I've crocheted, and since sewing isn't what I do best, I'm a little shaken by the thought. Maybe that's why I've been postponing it...

Last summer I made this little green handbag, and to be honest it looked rather dull. It could use a flower or two, and a few months ago I decided on a rosebud fabric for the lining. The crocheted flower was a new thought too, which I decided on even before that. I had it lying around as a brooch after trying to sell it on the Harvest Feast, so it wasn't too much work involved. I just didn't happen. Told you I'm lazy... :)

 I must admit I like it way better like this. I guess I care too much about what other people think, which makes me create things that I find a bit boring myself. This is definitely more me. Not sure that it would attract more buyers if I tried to sell it, but I've come to think of the things I make as adoptable, not for sale. I want the things I make to be loved and cherished. Used. That's the greatest joy. And hopefully, someone will see this bag one day, fall in love with it and want to bring it home.

This time I hand stitched the lining. And I even managed to get the seam straight. What a lucky day! Or night actually, that's when I'm at my best. I'm in love with this fabric, I felt pure happiness stitching it to my little bag. So, so very pretty! So pretty I almost want to keep it for myself, but I certainly do not need another little bag... Wouldn't give it away to just anybody though, this bag has to be loved! :)

Almost forgot the before-picture. Not that interesting, if you ask me...

Finally!

This weekend, the snow finally decided to come and stay for a while. I'm so happy it did! I joined the husband in the garden earlier today, to feed the birds. I love to sit in the kitchen and watch the birds eat.

I finally finished the beanie I knitted for my son, I think he likes it 'cause he tried it on and I haven't seen him take it off yet, and he's not even outdoors! :)

I've been told pompoms are fashion this winter, so he was very pleased with his beanie. To avoid cold winter winds blowing through his ears, I even lined it. Can't say that the result looks perfect, but hopefully it will keep him warm. I used a fleece blanket I bought really cheap once to make parts of a Santa costume from, but then the thought Santa didn't want to participate in the school show and I could use the blanket for other things.

I even used the machine to attach the lining. It feels like cheating, but I think it would have been hard to get it right and stretchy enough by hand-sewing, so it felt like the right decision.

Yesterday, we took the kids to a science center in a nearby town. I brought yarn and needles to get started on a tube scarf while the kids played, but we actually had so much fun playing around as a family, that I never even picked it up. I got started on it last night though. And I think this scarf is the reason my wrist hurts a little today.

I haven't come that far, but I have knitted a lot! The yarn is so thin, and the scarf is so long I had to cast on 450 stitches! I decreased the number after a few rounds, but 375 stitches on 3 mm needles still take a while to knit... I don't know about you, but striped yarn always keeps me knitting. Just one more color shift... and one more... and... The colors are all wrong in this picture, by the way. It's not really that pink, and it looks like blue but in reality it's gray. My husband gave me Adobe Photoshop for Christmas, so hopefully I'll be able to find a way to correct the colors when I learn how to use it.

I haven't showed you the progress on the violet hat yet, but it looks like nothing more than a violet bowl at the moment so you're not missing out on anything. I think I'll spend some time with it tonight and let the knitting rest for a while to spare my wrist, so maybe I'll have something to show you soon. As for now, I think I'll look at some linings for my crocheted bags, while my sewing machine is still in place. See ya!

Color in my life!

 I got some ideas about new projects last night. Yes, I'm that kind of person who works best in late evenings, mornings aren't my thing at all. As you can see, I had some company while sketching a little. As much as I love her, sometimes I find her to be on top of things a little too often. Literally.

She loves to hang out on my creative area, and I guess it's partly my own fault she has to come so close, as you can see there's a bit of a mess there. Constantly. So I guess my sketch book was the only place left for her to relax on. I just thought she took it a little too far when she tried to snuggle with my hand while I was actually sketching... :)

 
However, I did manage to get a picture taken of my sketch, without any fur appearing in the corners.This is what I started making for my girl. A violet hat, ear-flaps with braids and some flower embroidery. That's the plan. I had to undo several rounds several times to get the size right, the drawback of using non-chunky yarn I guess. And maybe the drawback of always wanting to improvise instead of finding a nice pattern to follow. Nah, too easy and not half the fun! :)

There also was this problem with not having the right yarn in my boxes, and today my darling husband helped me with that. I don't have a driver's license (yet), so he has to take me everywhere I need to go. And today I really needed to go to GarnMalin, a local yarn shop that opened up not far from here in September. I know the owner a little from the shop she used to work in, but today was actually the first time I got a chance to visit her. She has the lovliest little shop, I can tell you. You really should visit her site, just to see it and all the beautiful things she makes.

I bought all the necessities, like yarn for a hat and a headband for me. The three balls above? They are actually for the husband. He wants one of those circular scarves that are so popular here right now. And I'm so happy that he wanted some color. He likes color, so I'm not surprised, but still. We talked about colors in the yarn shop, and the owner agreed with me - people prefer the grays and blacks. Most people won't even buy here gorgeous bags because of one pink rose on a gray bag...

I know that I prefer colors like these, isn't this yarn simply gorgeous? This is the first handspun I have ever had, and I can't wait to get started! As if I didn't have enough projects waiting to be finished already... :) But hey, Variatio delectat, as I learned in the Latin class - variety gives joy! If I want to have a million things going on to switch between and it doesn't stress me out, why should I not? :)

Fun pens and plans

Hi there! Trying to create a new trend here. A I'll-post-more-often trend. I felt some inspiration and enthusiasm coming over me when the new year started. Maybe I just got tired out by making a lot of things for others, and not so much for me. And I had some projects who didn't turn out as I hoped, which probably pulled me down too. Not that I don't like making things for others, it's just that I've realized something. I've realized that I'm not very Swedish. At least not when it comes to preferences of color and how many flowers you can put into a project. :)

I have spent the two last days updating my Ravelry projects. Both with new projects and the really old ones, the ones I made before I even became a ravelrer. And I realized that I have projects with a very varying color scheme. The things I make when I get to just play around are colorful, preferably red or pink. Or any bright color I have at hand.

Things I make for others are a bit less colorful and stricter, and I think I simply get a little bored, not working with colors that I love. And I guess it puts me down a bit, that people rarely want to bring home the things I've already made, but rather want me to make the same thing but in different colors. I think my Purple and pink african flower bag is a great example here, it's soooo popular on both Ravelry and Flickr. But when I put it up for sale here in Sweden, nobody wants to buy it. Too pink for most people...

Don't get me wrong here, I like to be able to make things for others. Maybe I just have to make sure to get some time to make things that I love. I don't want to be forced to work with colors I don't like, but it's not fun when nobody wants my stuff either. Guess it's just a matter of finding the right audience, and maybe that's something I should start working on this year. Sometimes I play with the thought of getting my own place on Etsy, but so far it's just a thought.

I have also thought about my page on Facebook, and what to make of it. I hoped for more feedback, addressing only those of my friends who care about my crafting. That I would be happier to post my projects when they don't "disturb" those not interested. But I was mistaken. I get almost no feedback at all now. And not very many of my friends have liked the page, so now they don't get to see what I'm doing. Last night I thought I would make up a plan, sketch on what I really want with that page, and how to get there. But I was tired and didn't want to go downstairs to get paper and some fun pens. And who can sketch on plans without fun pens (as in colorful), I ask you? Well not me! Once in university, a guy in my class could tell a certain bag wasn't mine, because of the lack of pens in all colors, that he knew would stick out of my bag... :)

Oh, did you notice another one of my plans? One I didn't need fun pens and paper for. Not even a list. (I love making lists!) I have decided to try to show more of my true self here in the blog. And for that, I need smileys! Sometimes my posts sound more serious than they are, simply because you can't hear the irony in my voice or see the smile on my face. I had chosen not to use smileys before, to keep my text... I don't know what really? Clean? Maybe I've taken too many university classes, and now I think I have to keep that "standard" in everything I write? Haha!

By the way, when I mentioned my unability to make up plans without my pens for my husband last night, he laughed and said I should have a blog for that kind of statements too. It would be fun to read, he said. So I guess that shows that I've been way too serious here, and that you all have missed out on a big part of me. The crazy and lazy part! ;) So now you have something to look forward too, you lucky people!

Well, this is becoming a novel shortly, so I think I rather stop writing. Take care, and see you all soon! And that's a promise this time!

Oops!

Hello there, long neglected blog and blog-readers! Sorry I was gone for so long... I knew that I hadn't been in here for a while, but I didn't realize I had been away that long! (I'm trying to gather my thoughts here, but it's rather hard since three kids are rumbling about making all kinds of noises, haha.) There's no particular reason for this long blog break, it just happened. We are all well. Of course December was a busy month as always, but we managed to get a lot of family time too. Lots of board games have been played together, lots of meals eaten with lit candles, lots of Christmas preparations made together...

And a lot of family gatherings. We were invited to a baby christening just before Christmas for my cousins daughter, we spent Christmas Eve at my sister's with a visit from Santa Claus of course.

We spent Christmas Day here celebrating our girl who turned seven that very day.

She also had a party for her friends, which was ever so exciting. We usually have some kind of theme on the kids' parties, and this time we pretended that we were out of power, so we had to use candles and flashlights, and cook something on the alcohol burner.

Some of the kids had actually been out of power recently, because of all the storms. But we haven't been affected at all, staying nice and warm. So that's what we've been up to over here. A very nice Christmas, I would say. And a nice New Year's Eve too, spent at home in peace and quiet, watching a movie together, eating wonderful food made by my talented husband, drove up the mountain nearby (actually more like a hill...) to watch the fire works from above at midnight. And the new year came with a relaxed feeling of happiness, and actually some inspiration. Which leads us to the crafty side of life...

I haven't been crafting much lately. I had to speed knit some things before Christmas, which made me a bit tired of it all. My sister's friend wished me to make a hat for her husband for Christmas, and it took a while to finish...

It's supposed to look like a brain... And it does, when someone's wearing it. It's just an ordinary hat, with a total of 6 m i-cord attached to it. It didn't only take time to knit, it was quite tricky to attach it too, especially since I wanted it to be the same on both sides. Haven't heard what the husband thought about his Christmas present, I think I'll have to ask some day.

I also knitted and crocheted presents for my nephews. The little ones got cakes that I'd made, and the older ones got fingerless mittens. One pair was used the next day and constantly kidnapped by the little ones, so I think it's safe to say that they were appreciated. I have actually promised to make the little ones a pair each too, so they'll stop stealing their brother's. Even the dad in the family wanted a pair.

To speed things up, I tried to knit both mitts at the same time, using the magic loop. Don't know how much time you actually save the first time you try something that's a bit tricky to get right, but... At least it felt like they were done faster. I used a patterned yarn, or what to call it. It's hopeless to try and find the place where they start the same sequence, it's just to get going and hope it doesn't turn out to weird looking. But I can tell you that I will certainly knit two things at once on the magic loop again, so much easier to get the same size that way.

Well, that's that. I was a bit fed up with needle-work there for a while, might have been since I was up until 2.30 the night before Christmas Eve crocheting the last cakes... But now I'm knitting again. I'm making a hat for the son, I'll show you when it's finished.

I hope you all had a wonderful end of December and a great start on the new year. I wish you all the best things you can imagine for this year and more, and I have a feeling I'll be around a bit more often from now on... It feels like fun again!