Scrap yarn - solving tiny problems

Last year, when we went to Japan, my suitcase died. Sadly. For obvious reasons I had to go buy a new one. Moe never owned a proper suitcase, so he wanted one as well. As it is with most suitcases mine is black and therefore completely unrecognizable. I have tried to come home with somebody else's suitcase once before (when I opened the only thing I saw was dirty boxershorts and 'chocolates for mum' - rather dissappointing when I hoped to find my toothbrush and such!), so to prevent that from happening again, I thought a wee bit of my scrap yarn would come in handy.

When Moe saw my new 'gadget', of course he wanted one too ;) I pointed out to him that since his suitcase is bright orange it wouldn't be hard to recognize at all. But then he pointed out that that wasn't really the point :)

And as always, Moe prefers stripes!

Amanda

This cardigan - or at least this type of aran cardigan - has been on my mind for a very long time. And when I got Lene Holme Samsøe's new book 'Mere Feminin Strik' for my birthday, I found the perfect pattern I had been looking for. I've used the original yarn (ordered from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions - great shop!), same colour and everything. Maybe a bit unimaginative but I loved the cardigan Lene Holme Samsøe made so why change that. It took me a little over two weeks to finish it, and I loved the process as much as the result. 

It's not the easiest thing to take picture of your own back, but you get the idea, I'm sure :)

A Cardi for Kaede

Kaede is a Japanese girl - so tiny and so sweet. Actually, she is so tiny that the cardigan will remain too big for probably a year or two, but I'm sending it on its way soon anyway.

The pattern is based on a pattern from DROPS - you can see it here. I used Smart, 100% wool from Sandnes, which required me to recalculate the original pattern in both height and width. That process took time and stopped me from bringing the project to social events.

225 g Smart, needles 4.0 mm

Malou's Socks

An overdue birthday present for Malou.....
It was a perfect fit, and I hope they will keep her warm for a long time :)

Arwetta socks with fair isle-style reinforced heel.

Lavender Bag

I love quick knits :) And this one even smells nice! I'll probably use it as a kind of homeknit wunderbaum in my car. The Lavender Bag Pattern

Knitting away!

One lavender bag - and it's actually much more vibrantly turquoise. My camera just doesn't translate green very well.

Short-row cardi

What do you do, when your Lorna's Laces Sock yarn turn out horribly when turned into a sock? You give it to me... *ahem* OR you knit a short-row cardigan for a baby or toddler. The pattern the LLS yarn created was too much for lace socks - it sort of killed to lace pattern completely. So instead of throwing it away I thought it would be good to include a solid colour to keep the colour changes in the LLS yarn under control. And I think I've succeeded.

It's the same pattern I've used a couple of times before; there's something addictive about it. I don't know why - I mean, it's garter sts all the way from one end to the other. Maybe it's the stripes that does it.

Light mint Arwetta and purple/green/blue Lorna's Laces Sock on dpn 2.5 mm - 155 g in total.

Firs and Flakes Shawl

Ta-daaa! Finally I finished the shawl I began knitting two years ago - and I love the result. I bought the pattern and yarn during my visit to the Shetland islands. The shawl, which is almost cape-shaped, was not the easiest thing to knit (you begin with casting on 452 sts and then you get to struggle with 4 pages of knitting chart), but once I got the hang of it, I only stopped when the weather prevented me from sitting with such warm wool in my lap.

Jamieson & Smith's 2 Ply Lace Yarn (col. eggplant) and 2 Ply Jumper Yarn (col. chocolate) on needles size 4.5 mm - 410 g in total. The shawl was designed by Anna Zilboorg.

FOs

I have gone through all my yarn, all my UFOs and all my knitting needles. Everything is now sorted and I've decided to finish six of my UFOs this summer, such as:Socks for Moe: Yarn - Steinbach Wolle Supersport / Needle - size 4.0 mm