Loopy magic

The fall semester on university has just started, and this means that I found myself in need of a “campus knitting project”. I usually have different projects for each situation, so a campus project is something small, that can stay in my backpack until it is finished without taking up too much space, and so that I can bring it out anywhere. It also has to be something simple, so that I can knit during lunch and fika breaks and still be social, or so that I can look at the slides and knit to stay focused during a lecture.

The Icelandic sweater is to clumsy to go to campus. There’s also wool all over my lap after working on it for a while so it’s probably an allergy hazard as well. Poor thing, but i’m sure it will turn out to be really pretty at least. 

My new campus knitting is a pair of stripey pink socks that I started a really long time ago. I put them away because I realized I can not knit two things at a time with magic loop if there is also more  than one color involved. Four balls of yarn will just get too tangled. This has led me to start using my double-pointed needles again for some colorwork projects.

So, I guess we can summarize that my favorite thing about magic loop is to be able to knit two things at a time. The good thing about that is that it’s easier to know that the two things will be exactly the same without me having to write down notes for the next one, especially when you improvise a bit along the way as I often do. But when I knit one thing at a time, I really can’t say if I prefer magic loop or double pointed needles. One difference is that I use wooden double pointed needles because metal is a bit too slippery in that case, and also makes a bit of a clinking sound when all the five needles swoosh around. I also prefer to use magic loop for my before mentioned campus projects because the stitches stay on the needles more safely.

My next campus knitting project is actually decided already and it will be a simple everyday kind of hat for autumn, namely the Sockhead slouch hat, using the yarn Sauberball crazy in the color herbstwind. Herbstwind is autumn wind in german so it suited well for an autumn project.

That is all I have for today!

Stay strong, stay in school, keep knitting! // Nelly

Neverending WIPs

I’m now finishing my Eyeball shawl really fast because I realized I needed the same needles to knit the arms of my Afmaeli sweater. I want to finish the sweater on time because there’s supposed to be a competition at the end where you can show of your sweater and win… yarn for another sweater, of course! I’ve been working on the shawl while watching pharmacology videos on youtube to study for a re-exam. Quite a nice way to study I would say. First time for me knitting two-color brioche but it turned out to be really easy! It’ll also be the first time for me doing an i-cord edging so I hope that’s easy as well, but I bet it’ll be slow from what I’ve heard.

Anyway, this sadly means that you will probably not get to see pictures of the blocked and finished shawl until the Afmaeli sweater is done… I also have other stuff waiting for me to fasten yarn ends, block and photograph them. And I need to buy some buttons for the grey cardigan which I’ve also finished. I’m always so slow with photographing my projects because it requires that both me and someone who can take the picture (in most cases my lovely boyfriend) has time off to go outside specifically for having a photoshoot, and that I have one of those days where I’m looking lovely and maybe wearing some makeup, and basically all of these things rarely happens during exam periods.

Someone said that everything counts as a WIP until it has been photographed and the photograph has been posted to Ravelry… But based on these rules, like 90% of my projects that I’ve ever finished do not count! Only in like the past year have I started using Ravelry a bit more seriously and trying to remember to post and update my projects. And it actually feels very nice to be organized and all that.

Until later, take care and knit well! // Nelly

My first KAL! And my first Icelandic sweater!

Hi you sweeties! Perhaps you remember this post about me wanting to knit an icelandic sweater, also called “lopapeysa”. A while ago, a blogger that I have followed for some years, announced that she was going to host a knitalong, or KAL as it is also called, so I figured now might as well be the time to get going. The sweater is called Afmaeli and is really pretty, I don’t like the color choices in any of the examples, but the whole color gradient thing really offers a lot of freedom there.

I almost screamed out loud when I opened the package. So pretty! And they smell like a sheep but in a really  nice way. And the sweater in turning out really hairy, I guess thats what they call a “halo”… Normally I use those non-sheepy superwash or acrylic yarns so this was new and exciting. I still have to wait and see about the itchiness. Maybe I will have to give the sweater away, that would be a shame since it’s all “my” colors. 

Here are my color choices. I spent a full evening at my parent’s house just picking colors and changing my mind over and over again, since just looking at pretty colors is easily one of my favorite things. And that’s also a nice thing about online shops, I would totally not feel comfortable spending hours in my local yarn shops just picking out colors (probably while sitting in a corner, fondling all of the yarn balls and calling them my precious like a proper Gollum).

My starting point when picking out colors was that i wanted some gradient effect but not a full rainbow. I decided that i really wanted the pink one in there somewhere, and also the two teal/turqouise ones. Then i tried to find other colors that would make a good gradient between those. Really happy with my colors but I found out there are some mistakes in the pattern, so there should have been one more color but I got confused. But the thing I like about this pattern is that you can have three colors in total, or as many as you want up to just having some gradient yarn for the background instead of changing colors.

There will probably be a lot of leftover yarn from this type of sweater, from the colorful skeins which will only be used for a few rounds. This gives you the option of buying more of only the main colors to knit a similar sweater, maybe a matching one for your partner, kid, cat or dog… Imagine the cuteness factor of that! You might also want to do a matching pair of mittens or so, that doesn’t require any more yarn.

So far the thing I like the most about joining a KAL is seeing everyone elses color choices. They are all so different! One woman is doing the whole body of the sweater in pink and then having like, another pink as contrast color. That’s the kind of crazy stuff I enjoy seeing.

 

Here’s my sweater so far! Now there’s a bit of plain stockinette before anything fun happens again. I really get now why these sweaters are knit from the bottom up in some cases. I am so much more motivated now to finish with the body, and then the arms, since I will have all the fun of the yoke left. Of course the whole KAL thing will also make me finish it in time. I hope. Honestly I have started on some sweaters… some of them several times… that have become yarn again in the end or just a miserable sweater, but with those I have not followed a pattern and honestly, they’ve sometimes been very experimental in their nature. I would say, following a pattern will always increase your chances of knitting a normally shaped and wearable garment. Unless you are oddly shaped of course. But then you can always start out with a pattern and then use some lovely math to get things right.

So far, I would recommend KALs as a concept, and if you find it tedious or scary to knit a whole sweater, I would recommend joining a KAL for motivation, help and inspiration. I would also recommend knitting this type of sweater which is knit on big needles and knits up really fast, the patterns are quite easy but still have some fun bits (just beware of errors in free patterns), and the end result will be impressive and probably look more advanced than it really was. I would also say that since this type of sweater is not supposed to have a really “tailored” look, it would be forgiving if you don’t get the gauge exactly right.

That’s all for today, happy knitting! // Nelly

 

 

 

Yay for weird garments!

When it comes to style I wouldn’t say I have rules like “never match pink and red!”. Of course you can do that if you want to. I do however have some guidelines for myself and even if I don’t always care about dressing good and stylish, I always have opinions about it.  Something that I always come back to is that there has to be a balance for everything to look good. If there is lot of  texture, there should not be lots of color and so on. If I have one colorful piece of clothing, I wear it with black jeans.

For me the goal is to find those weird garments that catch peoples interest, without the reaction being; look, the circus is coming to town!

Me being all serious and Lab-Coaty even with my fancy hair.

Here’s a little story about social signals. I like to dye my hair really colorful, and that will always generate a reaction from some people. I can say it really helped me get over social anxiety in my teen years, but I grew tired of it at times. Especially “older” people did not often see me for my personality, it was either: “She’s some scary punk and I will be rude now” or: “Oh how nice, you’re one of those manga/cosplay people, my granddaughter is also into that”.

It was exhausting at times, because I had to be much nicer and more social when meeting new people, to show that I was a reasonable person. I’m sure it’s like this for every situation where you are in minority and at risk of being wrongly judged.

I’m sure the colorful hair will be back at some point soon because I can’t keep away from it, but it’s often nicer to choose for myself when I feel like getting positive attention and socializing, or when I prefer to be left alone. And for that purpose, clothes are a really good social signal since you can change them every day!

To get to the subject of weird garments, I’ve found quite a few that i actually would like to knit! Many are in the category shawl/shrug/sweater.

• Amalgam is a “mini poncho/skirt” that was recently released in Knitty. It also has an interesting construction.
• Delirium is a “multi-garment” named after and inspired by a Neil Gaiman character. I will surely knit this at some point!
• Boko-boko is strictly just a cowl, but just look at it! It’s so weird and has a very japanese look. I love that you can even knit such a textured thing in one piece.
• Kappa is a garment by Veera Välimäki, who I totally adore. I once thought I had invented the idea for this type of garment, until I found this pattern. I imagine wearing this as a scarf when you’re on a hike, and when it’s time for fika break and there’s a chilly wind coming – bam! Kappa time! And there you have this awesome tube thing keeping you cozy. The reason I haven’t knit this is that it’s listed in lace weight yarn, and I just don’t do miles of stockinette in anything thinner than sportweight. And lace weight I don’t do at all. So I guess I’ll do the math for a heavier version at some point.
• Diplodocus dinosaur scarf or really any scarf out there that looks like an animal. (Why are these things so often only available in kids’ sizes…)
• Garlic because I love to eat garlic and this thing has a really unique shape. I recommend everyone to look out for the designer Chantal Belisle in the future, she is so cool and seems to be full of good and unique ideas!
• Outer Space by Stephen West is an asymmetric, over-sized sweater. It’s the chunky weight version of Enchanted Mesa, and for some reason I think the chunky version is much cooler looking. I also like the colors of the sample sweater.
• Pearl Clutcher is a cardigan with a classic shape and quite normal color choices.
• Hoodie Shawl cardigan is a hoodie that starts of by knitting a shawl. So clever! And Shawl shrug is based on the same concept. Shusui shrug by the same designer is also cool.
• Feather weather by Beata Jezek of Hedgehog Fibres  is a sweater designed for you to be fabulous in. Just imagine it flowing behind you in the wind, making you feel like a superhero knitter wearing your cape. I will knit this some day when i have the right yarn for it, and when the city needs me.

 

That was all for today, happy weird knitting! // Nelly

Hi!

A flower that i found growing on Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden. 

I’ve had a bit of a summer break from blogging. I didn’t plan to, but I’ve been out and about on vacation and as it turns out I’ve not been in front of the computer much. There’s also been less knitting happening then I had planned, but the main reason is that I’ve been out hiking and doing other things that I love just as much as knitting, so I’m happy anyway. However, I’m back at home now and I hope to get more of those quiet moments to write and knit. I always have trouble while I’m elsewhere to sit down and do something more complicated than scrolling on facebook.

I will give an update on a few of my projects another day. I have also planned a few blog posts for the future, so fear not, I will be back soon.

Hugs and kisses, Nelly

Some shopping

I posted a while ago about my Eyeball shawl. It will be too warm to wear during summer, but I sure would love to have it finished until autumn because I think it will turn out really good. But I figured out a while ago that I would need one more skein of the white main color. I wouldn’t blame the pattern for that though because the yarn that I used for the main color is on the heavier side of fingering weight yarns compared to what is suggested in the pattern so it’s no surprise that it ran out faster. I bought 200 grams as suggested in the pattern and it would have been just enough for the main color but not for the brioche edge.

Anyway, ordering one skein felt a bit silly and I thought I was good for the summer when it comes to my stash… But then again I am a fan of shopping, so of course I had to order yarn for all of my other plans and also come up with some new, to reach the limit for free shipping ;).

The grey skeins of cashmerino aran was actually a christmas gift, I just brought them out for a photo with their new yellow friends! I haven’t used them since christmas because I wanted to use the yarn for some sort of scarf, and then two balls were not enough. The yarn is really soft and therefore not really suited for mittens or anything that has to go through a lot of wear and tear. I think they will have to rest until autumn and then I will come up with some sort of colorwork cowl pattern.

The other skeins are all Stylecraft dk, which I have seen recommended as the best cheap acrylic yarn out there, and I am willing to agree. It’s almost as cheap as those supermarket yarns  but much more soft, fluffy and without that plastic feel to it. Of course it still feels like an acrylic yarn but it’s really nice to my hands when working with it. Also it comes in a ton of different colors! The grey skeins are for the shark bag that i wrote about in my last post, the color silver grey I found to be a nice shark color.

For me since I as a student have a limited budget, I enjoy having a go-to acrylic yarn at home. Especially when it comes to buying a sweater amount of yarn, cheap wool is not an option for me because of the itching, and I don’t want to waste some really nice yarn until I trust myself with being able to knit totally flawless sweaters… An acrylic yarn sweater can look just as fabulous, and not having to worry about your nice sweater being ruined in a washing accident is of course nice. The burgundy skeins will therefore become a sweater, inspired by this project. Probably I will use another pattern, but I was inspired to knit a sweater in the exact same color.

Burgundy was actually my favorite color for a long time as a kid, I guess I was an old soul because it’s not really a “kids’ color”, is it? Nowadays I would probably list teal, pink and black as my favorite colors… But I think the reason that having a favorite color is not really a grown-up thing is that you understand that there are too many shades of one color to describe and some of them you will always consider to be awful. If I were to give a proper answer it would end up like: Whats your favorite color? -Blue, but I would say C.I. 77510 rather than 73000, you can google that if you want to know what I’m into!

I have a plan for those three skeins to the right as well, but I will actually keep that a secret until I’ve started the project so you can see for yourselves. But I can at least say that the lovely color combo is inspired by this crochet pattern which I found in my ravelry favorites, it’s cool isn’t it?

As for me I will be studying for exams, but after next week I will probably be blogging and knitting more throughout summer.

Enjoy your knitting!
//Nelly

Crochet

I’m not that into crochet, however I have done a few things in the past, lots of granny squares, dog toys and such but it’s been some time. Now however I’ve started on the Shark Bag because of course there is no better way to carry my valuable stuff to the beach this summer. I love it when these cute and silly things come in adult size as well. Grown-ups also want to have fun!

Here’s the Shark coming along nicely, crochet is so fast!

I also stumbled upon a crochet blog, not your average crochet, which seems nice with lots of nice crochet projects,  free patterns and also some knitting. I also love the name of the blog, that’s some nice attitude right there. The reason I found it was that someone linked to this Navajo 3-ply technique, sounds really fancy doesn’t it? You make a loop with three strands of yarn when you crochet, so that you can make your thin yarn thicker and still only use one ball at a time, neat! I can imagine that it would be nice to be able to switch back and forth between one and three strands, so that you could do some freestyle crochet where some sections have thicker structure.

Something that is usually crocheted are different sorts of mesh carrying bags, but this one, the weightless produce bag is actually knitted which makes it more lightweight, and compared to the ones I’ve seen before it looks more “shrinkable”. These bags are quite popular right now for those who are already trying to not buy plastic bags to use from the store, and also want to stop using those bags that you put fruit and vegetables in. I really don’t like those because they’re not sturdy enough to re-use so they often go right in the recycling bin. I know what you’re thinking, just when will some citizens get “level up” badges from the government for doing all this?? Lately what I’ve been doing is buying say, 10 potatoes, without any bag at all and I can imagine that being mildly frustrating for the cashiers in the future… Anyway, thats the point of the bag not weighing much, that you can just throw it on the scale with no panic about the price. This pattern is also available in Swedish so that’s why there’s a bit of a hype at the moment. That is one thing that I love about us Swedes, how excited we get over saving the world with knitted produce bags! I guess they would also be a nice gift since you can give them away with their content (maybe chocolate and fruit instead of 10 potatoes) and then your friend can also join in the world-saving.

Enjoy your crocheting and knitting!

Over and out, Nelly

 

Summer patterns

Hello!

I have been really excited about summer due to the nice weather we’ve been getting lately. Therefore I chose some of my Ravelry favorites and created a new bundle for spring and summer inspiration. I have collected some nice short sleeved tops and tank tops because I think that type of patterns can be difficult to find. But even a long sleeved sweater can be a summer garment according to me, if it’s airy enough and not knit in wool. People often state that sheep’s wool is no nice because it keeps you warm in winter and cool in the summer… Maybe those people are just really cold in general or something, because they are wrong. However wearing some actual clothes in summer is always a good idea to block the sun and keep cool, especially if you, like me get sunburnt easily. Even if it might be too late now to start a summer garment and have it finished for this season, it can still be nice to knit in thinner yarns just to have a more portable project and less sweaty hands!

Happy knitting!

//Nelly

Sweater weather

I have been enjoing the first couple of really warm days here in Linköping. Me and my boyfriend have been making plans for the garden and we have been caring for the baby plants.

Here is our little garden! There are some nice tulips going on right now.

The risk of snow should be over and everything that had started to sprout has also survived so far, except for the lettuce that died because it was too cold so I have planted new seeds now. The same thing happened last year… so maybe until next year I will have learned to wait… I’m planning to continue taking photos of the plants so I can follow the progress of everything.

Here are the baby Zucchinis that also got a dinosaur friend the other day.

I created a new space to grow peas, we will see how that works out.

As far as knitting goes I have some plans for nice projects but they are secret so far since I hope to publish the patterns on Ravelry, I hope you forgive me for that. Until then you will have to do with the Shapely Boyfriend cardigan that I’m currently working on.

The yarn that I’m knitting the sweater in, Novita eco cotton, is some eco-friendly recycled cotton mix that i bought last year. Its unusually soft for cotton and really nice to wear, and it was super cheap. However, I would not recommend it because there’s a lot of dust going on that comes from the yarn when knitting with it. The problem goes away after a few washes of the garment, I know that since I knit another sweater in the same yarn (but dark blue) and that sweater is fine now and there’s no pilling. It is however quite annoying to knit with a yarn that makes a mess and crawls into your nose while knitting… I would get a cat if I wanted that kind of experience.

 

One of the skeins also had like 5 knots in it, not ok! I got trust issues and had to re-roll the rest of them to not miss any knots.

I’m almost done with the body and will pick up stitches for the ribbing around the body. I have been following the pattern but doing another raglan increase, I always do M1L and M1R nowadays. They always look symmetrical and nice and don’t create holes.
What’s your favorite increase or decrease?

Here you can sort of see that there are side decreases above the hand and increases for the hip where the hand is. So it is quite a fitted cardigan.

I will also add pockets, and they will be adequately sized for an iPhone. There are black lines marking the pocket placement at the moment. If you have ever done an afterthought heel for a sock, that’s how I do pockets as well, so I will remove the black yarn and pick up new stitches.

I changed the ribbing to K1 P1 instead of K2 P2 just because it always looks better in my opinion. I am also planning on making more (and smaller) button holes and using smaller buttons. I don’t have any good buttons at home, so I will probably just bring the sweater to the sewing store when it’s finished to try and find buttons of good size and color.

I really recommend this as a first cardigan pattern. I have knitted sweaters before but without following a pattern, so my plan for this one is that it will be my first actually wearable sweater… The pattern is free, the sweater looks great (I guess I don’t really know that yet but it seems promising). It knits up super fast in aran weight yarn which is also important for beginners (because they have no patience). The top down construction allows you to make the sweater shorter or longer, and the sleeves could also be made shorter. I think it’s always a good idea to knit the sleeves after the button band, pockets, etc. because then you could make them 3/4 sleeves if you run out of yarn (and I love 3/4 sleeves).

Another thing when it comes to cardigans, many people nowadays are scared of purl rows and want to knit everything in the round and then Steek it, I think I would always do that if there was a lot of colorwork going on, but otherwise, the good thing about knitting back and forth like I’m doing with this one is that trying on the sweater as you go is so much easier! Whenever I’ve been knitting sweaters in the round I’ve had to change to a longer cable to try them on properly.

Thats all I have to say for today, hope to have more stuff to write about soon!
// Nelly

 

Icelandic dreams

Garnr has the feature that you can drag the colors around to see them next to each other! Here are some that i would like for my sweater, with the grey as the main color. I think the best contrast colors would be Lagoon Heather, orange and black. What do you guys think? Why not take a screenshot and share your color ideas in the comments!

My favorite yarn store, Garnr, have started retailing Léttlopi!

I have been planning for quite some time to make myself an Icelandic sweater. At first I thought I could not join the Icelandic sweater craze because I am soo itchy. Around the neck even baby alpaca or merino can be a bit itchy on me! But on the arms it is usually not that bad. I am thinking that I will make the size quite big, and wear it as an outer garment for spring and autumn with something underneath. The sweater will probably be too warm to wear indoors anyway. I will knit the Riddari sweater, which is knit bottom up. When it’s time for the neckline I will finish it a bit sooner to reduce the risk of an itchy neck.

Now you might be wondering, why not use a less itchy yarn with the same gauge? The thing is that the Icelandic yarn has a really special halo to it, and that fluffiness also makes the sweater extra warm. That and the roughness of the yarn gives the rustic look to the sweater. I’ve seen these sweaters knit up in merino yarns and it’s just not the same. Every time I wear the sweater I want to feel like I’m out in the wilderness to collect my horses on the Jökull, or something like that.

See you later! //Nelly