Q! And A?

I have some questions to ask. I hope you know the answers to them.

1) Where the heck do I buy stuff from Knit Picks besides needles?? To me it seems impossible because I don't have en American adress to offer.

2) How on earth do you change colour when crocheting a granny square or a wheel of some sort?? I can't seem to get it to look nice and sorted. I read the otherwise very detailed instruction here...
my hexagons just still don't look great, to say the least.

I have been puzzled forever and ever, so if you can, PLEEEAAASE help :D

By the way....

I got a new job! :D I'm so exited! This is the job I really really wanted - and I got it!! Wuhuuu! Aarhus University here I come!

Back from the UK

We had such a fantastic time in England last weekend. I laughed until my face hurt! Saturday was spent at the Warwick Castle dungeons - that was the best ever. We - as in Don, his girlfriend Jade, four of Don's five sisters, their boyfriends, a couple of Don's old friends plus Moe and I - were led through the dark and scary dungeons. In each of them there was a little sort of play going on - everything was very much Black Adder-ish! :) I loved every second of it, and birthday boy, Don, got the birthday he wanted, I think :)

The joker snuck up on me! :)

The day after we continued celebrating at one of Don's sister's place. Family and old neighbors came too. We knew almost everybody, which gave it a 'back in the days' feel to it. Nice!

Birthday boy having his Aston Martin cake and eating it too.

Besides celebrating Don we also had time to just go for a nice, long walk, do a bit of shopping and enjoy a lovely Thai meal at the Sabai Sabai restaurant. I had hoped to bring a lot of books back with me but neither the yarnshop nor Waterstones carried any of the knitting books I was after. I did buy a few other things, though :)

My new buddy and I :)


On our way from Leamington to Warwick - one of my favorite places.


Rowan Handknit Cotton for a throw I plan to make, a crochet hook size 2.5 mm (half price compared to those in Denmark), the Sew It Up book that will - hopefully - teach me the basics and possibly more about sewing (I know nothing so succes is inevitable), a knitting magasine, stitch markers (a tenth of the price here), 105 little skeins of embroidery yarn (£1.99 - can you believe it?!) and the dark thing at the bottom is my current project; a pair of socks for my farther-in-law.

The Olympic Games - skiing (W)

Ta-daaaa!


;)

Spiral Yoke - ribbing

I did this hem 6 (six) times! I had to do it over so many times because, first I cast on using circular needles, then too many stitches, then my gauge was off and I had to rip the whole piece (about 4"), and then too few stitches, etc. etc.

Now I'm back on track :)

I'm loving it!

A long tail tubular cast on - which is why a circular needle is no good to begin with. I love the look of it, and the fact that it's super elastic.

Royal Leamington Spa

In less than two weeks Moe and I will be going to England. Going back. I love Leamington - it feels like home to me. Don turns 30 so we'll be seeing everyone and I can't wait.

Obviously, I'll go and buy the things I: A) can't buy here in Denmark, or B) won't buy here in Denmark because they are too expensive.

I made a list:

Vogue Knitting
Knit 1
Books in general
Curry paste and spices
Sweets
Yarn
KnitPick's knitpro wires


Unfortunately, the LYS in Leamington doesn't carry KnitPicks at all. What a shame. I'll try and see if I can find the time and go to Coventry. And Warwick. Perhaps there are yarn shops I don't know about?

And no, we will not be travelling with Ryanair! Thank God! :)

Spiral Yoke Swatches

So, I was ready to swatch for the spiral yoke sweater. I was sure I would be making this whole sweater on needles size 5.0 mm. My Knitpro couldn't be found anywhere and my jumper needles had turned into a pair of one(!) - once again I found myself spending money on something I knew I had already. In theory I don't need to buy anything knitting related. But that's just a theory.

I began swatching. And then it turns out that the right needle size for this project isn't 5.0 but 4.5 mm! Who would have guessed.... ;)

Left: 5.0
Rigth: 4.5 - the one Moe and I like the best

Hooked inspiration

I met with both knitters and crocheters who inspired my to do a little crocheting myself. I'm not very good at it, but I'll keep practicing.

A few months ago I went to IKEA and bought this pillow; I knew I wanted to make some kind of pillow case in the near future. The pillow has been lying around and no pillow case was made. Until now. Or, at least I think it will turn into a pillow case :)

I made eight of these granny squares and then ran out of the orange ShibuiSock in the centre of each square. A thing lightly to happen when only scrap yarn is used. So now what? I dunno. Only time can tell.

The slowest moving project in history

Though Moe doen't knit much (as in: at all) he still understands and appreciates yarn a lot. Whenever I hand him something handknit, he will - without a doubt - lift it up, feel it and then smell it :)

About 18 months ago I thought I would knit a pullover for him. He deserves it. And I wanted it to be very 'him'. I asked about colour, shape, look, feel, etc. I went back and forth in books, magazines, friends' books and magazines, and searched the Internet from one end to the other. Still I didn't find what I was looking for. But then Jared Flood made his version of the lovely and most brilliant Spiral Yoke Sweater by Meg Swansen. Moe and I agreed that this would be the perfect thing for him too. And he was crazy about the colour. Unfortunately, Jared Flood used yarn that would be impossible to get my hands on. I had to look for an alternative - not an easy task. I searched high and low; no yarn seemed to have that vibrant semi-solid, rich, red tone I was after.

I believe it was Trine who brought my attention to Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I had some of it in my stash already, but had forgotten all about it. I didn't have enough to make Moe's pullover with it but at least now I knew what to buy. The yarn arrived and everything was good. Except, I didn't have the pattern. The pattern was published in Handknitting with Meg Swansen - a book no one had in stock. I waited for quite some time (patience is a virtue, I know) and one day it arrived at my doorstep. With both yarn and book right there in front of me, one might think that I would be ready to actually begin knitting. No such luck. Because the yarn is 100% alpaca it's very soft and I was beginning to fear that the pullover would be hanging from Moe's shoulders like a sack of potatoes. I realised that I needed an additional yarn to support the alpaca.

This quest sent me directly to Isager. A semi pleasant experience, I must say. Nice shop, nice staff, nice yarn. However, while I was there a dog puked on the floor(!), the yarn - Spinni 33s - was sold out, and I had to wait in line for a long time while people talked about the dog's sick on the floor. Later it turned out that the colour was discontinued all together, which made my waiting both in the shop and the following two weeks seem meaningless.

Uldstedet came to my rescue - thank God :)

The wool, Spinni 33s, that was so hard to get. This picture represents it's true colour.

The two yarns together - irl, they both are a bit darker.

Ready, set, swatch! :)

Don't burn your fingers

Originally I wanted to finish this very simple project before Christmas - and I did, only not the right year. And now I can't be bothered thinking about Christmas any longer.

What used to be a Christmas present is now a birthday present instead.

Birthday girl actually asked for these a while ago - so, no, I haven't gone mental.
Not completely.

On the needles

This is another I-knit-and-hope-it-turns-out-the-way-I-want-it-to-projects :) Stay tuned and watch and learn (either that it was a succes or that it can't be done (be my, anyway)).

Online Wool, a size 7mm needle and time on my hands.