Photo album from Edinburgh - page 4 - shopping

Grellow, with a hint of red :-)

From left to right:

Easyknits, Smoke, colour Dabloon (yellow). Plan: Filijokus  or Strrripes by Åsa Tricosa

Blacker yarns,  Tamar Lustre Blend, shade Ottery Plan: Same as above

Anna Maltz' book Penguin: a knit collection.

Eden Cottage Yarns, Malham DK, colourway Natural. Plan: Mayhem shawl by ... Åsa Tricosa too!

John Arbon Textiles, Devon Grey Wensleydale. Plan: Probably a shawl.

Wool Tribe, the EYF2016 magazine.

Ullcentrum, 2 ply, red. Plan: A hap shawl.

So that's it for Edinburgh Yarn Festival: The festival is over, but I have many hours of happy knitting and memories.

Mittenmittens

I don't know how many mittens I made in 2015, 

but these were the last pair I finished.

Pattern: Mittenmittens (Vottevotter) by Wenche Roald

Yarn: Handdyed Bluefaced Leicester by Ninapetrina, 

kindly given to me to try. 

It's really lovely and soft!

I used needles 2,5 mm, and got a size small mittens. For the gift box. 

Next pair of mittens will be another pattern from Wenche, a mystery knitting in the I make mittens group on Ravelry. An enchanting mystery! I have test knitted the pattern, so it's not a mystery to me, but truly enchanting! Come on, join the fun!

Buachaille vest and knotted steek!

When Kate Davies launched her new yarn Buachaille, I was too curious not to join the Sevenskeinsclub to get hold of the loveliness. The club also gives you several patterns for small accessories, but I wanted to fit all the colours into one garment, so I opted for a vest. An am quite happy with the result.

The yarn is soft and the colours play well together, I think. I still have some left, there might be a hat or mitts, or a cowl - we'll see. 

I tried a new steeking technique for the vest, the knotted steek, as explained by Tomofholland. The weaving in of ends took forever, but I still think it was a good choice for the yarn. I also did a latvian braid instead of a ribbing at the neck opening and the armholes. 

The Sevenskeinsclub is sold out, but the yarn will be available for sale in January. I have also seen somewhere that there will be three more colours! Wonder what they might be... I would love some golden yellow, some purple, and mayby brown. 

Shetland Wool Week was lovely because of....

... the people I went there with

Triple selfie with hats - photo taken at Sumburgh head,
borrowed from Pinneguri

Knitting in the afternoon sun,
Scalloway

...the yarn

Jamieson mill at Sandness

... the light

So, I've finally got around to blog about my trip to Shetland Wool Week earlier this month. I will make it short and sweet, with mostly photos, over the coming few days.

Goodies from Breidag #3

Yes, I came home with more goodies from Breidag, 

just haven't had time to blog yet. 

Here's some hand painted yarn 

by Loret Karman.

She has found the colours from different Dutch paintings,

and hand painted a Dutch palette of yarn. 

I had a hard time deciding which palette to choose, 

but ended up with this one. 

And the colours inspired my project 

- here's a sneak peek:

5 years anniversary! Join the giveaway!

Just over 5 years ago, I started this blog. 

November 20th 2008, I had my first two patterns published, 

in The Inside Loop. 

(This online magazine was discontinued shortly after, 

but I'm still going strong :-) )

So, to celebrate, I'm doing a giveaway!

If you comment on this post, you can win this project bag, 

with some stitch markers, a skein of hand dyed, icelandic lace yarn, 

a book mark from Shetland, and maybe some other goodies...

You also win a pattern of your choice. 

Four other winners, can also have a pattern of their choice. 

Five years, five winners.

Just make a comment saying which pattern you would like to win,

 if you're a lucky winner. 

The yarn, is the same yarn as I used in this shawl, details on Ravelry.

The give away closes on December 1st, 

and the winners will be announced on December 2nd 

(if nothing comes in the way.)

Blomekrans knitalong

 
As I told you recently, there is now a torirot design group on Ravelry. Feel free to join and to visit!

On May 15th we start a KAL for the Blomekrans vest. It's very informal, no strict rules. Some of us are going to turn it into a sweater, like one of my test knitters did, maybe even a long sleeved version. Some have already started. Here's a link to the pattern page.

I was lucky to get my hand on some Wollmeise from Knitnetty's stash earlier this spring, which I hope to turn into a colourful Blomekrans sweater. We'll see how that goes. I'll use blue for background, green for leaves (obviously) and the two others for flowers. And what's left after the body is done, will be used for stripy sleeves. What do you think? 

J&S 2ply jumper weight

Trunk show at Jamieson & Smith

First showing of Kate Davies new collection. I was too busy buying yarn to get around to photograph the garments, it was a bit crowded too. The colours are just beautiful, I want to bring them all home!

Crafty tourism

Earlier this summer, we visited Sjølingstad Uldvarefabrik. A beautiful place on a sunny summer day, where they make yarn and beautiful woollen blankets.


I came home with some yarn, of course. Wool and mohair (but not the fluffy type). I do have some plans, even a small, secret wip.




I could not resist buying a book either, "Invisible threads" by Annemor Sundbø. It's not a pattern book, although it does contain some patterns, it's more a book about knitting history, culture and symbolism in knitting. I like it. There are also charts with old motifs, which is always nice to have.

You can see some more photos on Flickr.

"Un cadeau de Paris"

- a gift from Paris!

One om my French readers, a lady from Paris, and test knitter of my Ginger Bread Mittens, Marguerite, has sent me a gift. It's a lovely recycled silk yarn from Nepal, that a friend of hers is selling, Namaste Sathi.

It's such a lovely yarn, beautiful colours. I have to think very carefully to decide what to make. Some kind of scarflette? Or a contrasting colour on a summer tee? Ideas, anyone?

Lucky mail day!

A while ago I joined Annepålandet's blog lottery. And last week I learned that I was one of the lucky winners! I've entered several blog lotteries, but this is the first time I win. And what a beautiful yarn! A wonderfully soft hand painted sock yarn, Marilyn from Chili Gredelin, in one of my favourite colours. It arrived in my mail box on Saturday.

(Annepålandet has a small crisis, btw, maybe you can help her out: She needs some yarn from Pickles: Abuelita Tjukk Merino/Worsted, colour Lavendel 2440, Dye lot 98.)


For me, there was more to come - this yummy yarn was waiting at the post office, sent all the way from the US.

Remember the Mystery mittens? Not a mystery for very long. But the shop only take payment from a Norwegian bank. So the problem still wasn't solved for my Ravelry friend who wanted to knit these mittens. I offered to buy the kit and send it to her (she does have someone to translate the pattern for her, because it's only available in Norwegian). In return I suggested she send me some yarn - which she did. Look at this yumminess - lucky me!

Icelandic goodies

My parents went to Iceland, and look what they brought back to me:









Létt-Lopi...

Kristin, my mother's friend in Reykjavik, meant I should also try Loðband Einband (Icelandic Laceweight).

I want to go to Iceland too! Maybe next year...

My aunt's stash

My aunt has been a prolific knitter. But now her fingers won't let her knit so much anymore, so she offered me a big bag of her stash. Hard to say no... My new year resolution was to reduce my stash, but resolutions are easily broken.


The yarn is mostly wool and cotton, for which there will be no problem finding projects. But there are also several skeins of a mohair/acrylic yarn, grey with red and pink spots. What to do with that?

The project is at the moment called What the .... will I do with this yarn??? I found a pattern in one of my books (Color Style: Innovative to Traditional, 17 Inspired Designs to Knit) and decided to try the Mohair Fair Isle sweater, by Mari Lynn Patrick. Interesting to see if it works out and becomes wearable, or not. Time will show.

I'm making several modifications, due to my preference of working in the round, in general for stockinette, and especially for stranded colourwork. So there will be steeking, and then I'm planning to pick up stitches and work the sleeves top down. Also partly because I'm not sure how far my skeins will reach.

Selbu mitten contest - here's my extra price!

Remember Samlaget's Selbu mitten contest?

Here's the extra price I won for my Selbu Sea Horse mitten.

Two skeins of this yummy Hifa yarn, Ask - with their colour chart. I've never used this yarn before, but it looks and feels very nice. And so many colours, 87 to be precise! And I know that the Norwegian designer Tora Frøseth uses this yarn, so it must be good.

This yarn obviously has to become mittens. Maybe one of these two, a couple of favourites from Terry Shea's book, which was also part of the price. Or maybe Knitnetty's horse mittens, "Blå blå Blakken".

I love this white and orange colour combo!

Look what I got in the mail today

Lucky me - here's my price in Pinneguri's Easter contest.

Thanks again, Pinneguri!

I love the colours of that skein of Wollmeise - I'm not sure what to make of it yet, but certainly something for myself, a shawl maybe - any suggestions?

Sock yarn mitten pattern balaclava

Because "everyone" talks about handpainted sock yarn.
Because I found some nice skeins on Etsy.
Because I did not want to make socks.
Because there are so many cute mitten patterns out there.
Because I did not want to make mittens either.
Because I had been thinking about how to make a Balaclava with stranded colourwork.
Because I'm not afraid of steeking:

sock yarn mitten pattern balaclava

Some of you might recognise Helloyarn's mitten pattern.

In use!


Another one on the needles:

Nice things seen in Gothenburg

"Kram zon" = Hugging zone


I also found a nice yarn store, Strikk.
"Strikk" means "knit" in Swedish
(and in Norwegian, these are closely related languages)