Shetland

What about Shetland? you may ask. Well, the thing is that ever since Ruth Sørensen told me about her trip to these far away islands I've wanted to go there myself. So April next year I'll pack my knitting bag and go to 'the island of knitting'. I plan to stay there for an entire week; Moe will be in Germany anyway, so no guilt there ;)
Apart from going and then go back home a week later I haven't really made any plans. I was hoping to go by ferry but it seems that's no longer possible, so a flight to Frankfurt, then Edinburgh and then Lerwick it is. I might rent a car when I get there. And where will I stay? You tell me - I hope to find a nice, small a not too expensive b&b. Let me know if you are a Shetland b&b expert :) My time will be spent knitting, searching for other knitters, buying yarn, and enjoying the fact that there's nothing else to do :) Oh, I almost forgot, I will probably go for a few runs. I'll be participating in the Hamburg Marathon on April 26, you see.

Not Easter, not Halloween....

It's about Christmas... but that's nearly all I can say ;) You know: presents, secrets, secret presents.... knitting. Let's discuss this sensitive matter on Ravelry - c u there! :)

Iceland by Stephanie White, vol. 2

It's been done for a while - I've worn it to work twice and I absolutely love it :)
It does leave quite a few fibers on the top underneath but I knew that on beforehand, so I won't complain about it. I just agree with whoever said it would do just that :) I should also mention that due to the 20% kid mohair the result is sooo soft, and the 3/4 sleeves makes it a great deal more practical than it would have been with long sleeves, since you can't roll them up; they are heavy and wide. All in all I'm very pleased :)

Here it is....

Specs!
Pattern: Iceland by Stephanie White - published in a Rowan magasine not long ago
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, col. Tundra
Skeins: 9
Needles: 7 mm - they made my hands ache after a while
Start to finish: from September to October, 2008
For: me :)

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 :)