X-file

A couple of days ago I went down to Ingers - a yarnshop in the centre of Aarhus - to push my luck just a little further. You see, twice (two times, yes) this year I've bought too little of some very nice but also very expensive Rowan yarn and now I'm on the lookout for that same yarn (colour, dye lot, etc.). And since Inger - the shop owner - is the only one around here with a shop that carries Rowan yarn, well, I went down to see her.

While I was in the shop she phoned up shops around the country. After having talked to three or four shop owners, who were all unable to help me out (not only did they not have the right dye lot or colour, no, they didn't even have Rowan Cocoon or Rowan Scottish Aran Tweed DK in their shop). I must admit that I felt somewhat discouraged at that point.

Inger then phoned Sommerfuglen in Copenhagen and struck gold.... or at least the right Rowan yarn! The Scottish Tweed was from a different and (in my mind) wrong dye lot but I suppose it will have to do. Otherwise I have 10 balls of not at all useful yarn aka £65 / $130 lying in a corner that you can't spend on anything else. Anyway, one ball of the Scottish Aran Tweed was ordered (if you have two balls of Scottish Aran Tweed, col. 19, dye lot 308 lying around that you just cannot stand the look of, well.... :)
Sommerfuglen really came to my rescue: they also had Rowan Cocoon! I couldn't believe that after having phoned the entire country, there was still this one shop left that had everything I dreamed of. And - can you believe this - the Cocoon was from the right dye lot!
Yesterday the package arrived :D

Iceland by Stephanie White, Rowan

Another Rowan project on my needles. I can't help it.
I bought the yarn a while ago. I was nice to just pick it from my stash and start knitting.

But boy! This pattern is described in extreme detail - no chart, just an abundance of words and abbreviations! I'm not complaining, I'm just very fascinated :)




If I do feel the need to complain it will most certainly be about the mindless yarn purchase back in March/April. For some reason I bought 7 balls of Rowan Cocoon for this project. Seven! What was I thinking! I need 9 and now it's sold out. The shop owner has promised me to phone some of the other shops that carry Rowan yarns. I don't understand it. Okay, I know I can be that stupid (I've proved it many many times, so no puzzle there) But hello, it's bulky, warm and not something you want to knit with sweaty palms... It's been summer uptil now. How can it be sold out???

I probably won't get yarn from the right dye lot. I can live with that. I'll use the new yarn for the bottom rib; it will be just fine. But in case you sit there and think: "Hey wait, I have a couple of Rowan Cocoon balls, col. 808 Tundra, dye lot no. 2131 and I'll never ever use it for anything...." well, pop me an email, okay? ;)

In spite of everything I'm still very much in love with this sweater.

Summer Tweed Vest

I found this lovely Rowan Summer Tweed in Guildford in July. Unfortunately there were only two skeins left, so I decided not to buy it. Then we went 'home' to Leamington Spa and there in the Web of Wool they had plenty. And I must say: what a brilliant shop! Can't wait to go back. Four skeins for me and six skeins for Lise - her birthday was coming up just around the corner. I got her the deep red version because I know how much she loves reds and purples.

As soon as I got back to the B&B I began knitting.
I don't have a pattern for this one - I just see this summer vest in my mind, and I'll take it from there. It involves a lot of frogging which is perfectly okay.


The yarn is so soft: cotton and silk, the perfect summer blend :)

2x2 rib scarf

I'm back. Work has been taking up all my time, but finally things seem to get a bit more tolerable from now on. There has been knitting-less weeks which is good for nothing, since I 'recharge' while knitting. Running does the same thing for me but there hasn't been much time for that either. For the past week or so there has been time to knit and run - not so much blogging, but I'm here now, right? :)

Several weeks ago I finished this soft scarf made with bourette silk; one solid and one semi-solid green.

Auction - 'sock it to me scarf' and basic tam

I'm lucky to have a great ravelry friend who lives in California. Some weeks ago (or has it been months already?) she sent some things to me; some that I really needed, e.g. a cable needle size 7mm - impossible to come by in Denmark - and some not so needed but much more interesting and entertaining, e.g. a CD with the music she listens to at the moment, nice :) I was so delighted when I opened the package! And because I really thought that it was something special, I wanted to pay her back. But my Californian ravelry friend didn't want money or anything else for herself. Instead she suggested that I could donate something for the upcoming charity auction - great idea! I'm in - and here are a couple of the pieces I'm sending off to the US...



I hope my contributions will do well :)

Elderflower skirt

The designer behind the pattern for 'Hyld' (Elderflower) is Ruth Sørensen. I fell in love with the pattern the first time I saw it - and since I was looking for something a little bigger than a scarf but not a cardigan or anything else with two sleeves, it seemed like the perfect project to dig into. I like the fact that not only does Ruth know everything about design, knitting, weaving - she also understands that it must be fun to make! The idea behind 'Hyld' is that you can use whatever yarn you have lying around. You don't even have to make a swatch! This fact alone must make the pattern extremely appealing to a lot of knitters out there.

The skirt was fun to knit - in fact I think I might knit another one. Heaven knows I have enough yarn (enough yarn = enough yarn for this particular project.... otherwise, there's never enough, but being a real Knitter, you knew that, right?).

Knit Day

‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘π‘



Even though it wasn't a huge event like the WWKIP day, I think this very down to earth, semi-public knit day was a great success. At around 11 a.m the doorbell rang and four happy knitters joined me for a nice, relaxing day in the garden. The weather was so good. We tried to escape the sun because it actually got a bit much - the shade was perfect, however.


The lovely knitters all deserve a proper introduction. So here they are......

These two ladies are the fabulous Inge and the wonderful Nina - both ravelers knitting away! :)



And these two lovely ladies - also ravelers, of course - are the sweet Lise and the all-time enthusiastic Kirsten :) I still feel sorry for Kirsten - the baby cardi she was making, drove her half mad and she ended up frogging the entire thing. She had been knitting for hours and hours.... poor thing. Well, she is skilled and a fast knitter, and I'm sure she'll be okay soon :)




The four of them - knitting, enjoying the nice weather.

We knitted, chatted and had a bite to eat. Lise brought a homemade cake to the table (litterally) and life was good. This cannot possibly be the one and only time I'll be hosting a semi-public knit day. Let me know if I should call you the next time! ;)

Like an old shoe....

.... I'm worn-out. This past week has been anything but relaxation. I've been working my behind off, day and night. My time-tracking system tells me that I've been battling numbers and technical challenges (thanks for nothing, Microsoft!) for about 50 hours. You may sit there and think that it could be worse - and it was! On top of the 50 hour work-load I also took care of my full-time job. So that's an additional 37 hours. Since - oh when was it now - Monday morning I haven't had much sleep; around 14-15 hours in total. I've neglected Moe, friends, family, knitting, the garden, cleaning the house.... you name it. Actually, I've probably neglected you too. If that's the case - from the bottom of my heart - I'm sorry!

I don't know why I do this to myself. But! There's a bonus waiting for me out there in the not-so-far-away future ;) I'll tell you about it.... when I wake up again.

See ya.... zzzZzZZZzZzzzz......ZZzz..Zzzzzzzzz......