Pudorosa Neckwarmer by Lia Moya

Yarn: Wilferts Pure Cashmere

Needles: 3.5 mm circular

Modifications: I skipped the buttonholes, instead I added a buttonloop and placed the button for an asymmetrical closing.

Ribbed Scarf by Celeste Glassel

Yarn: Drops Merino Extra Fine

Needles: 4.00 mm circular

Modifications: Inspired by Slim Slicks version I added a simple cable down the middle

I’m very happy with both these small projects, and they were both very well received Recently I’ve had very little time for knitting, however I did find time to make these… admitted I was a little inspired by Valentines Day.

Beyond the blogroll there are the blogs I pass in my random seach for one thing or the other, somehow some of them have managed to capture my attention… and I have become a more or less regular guest in these places as well. Since these have become regular stops I actually ought to update the blogroll, however, until that happens enjoy the links here…

Beautiful work to be found here, and here and also a couple of Danish blogs always leave me inspired and in a good mood here and here… I’m sure there are plenty more out there, I like the thought of unlimited inspiration…

In between getting inspired and doing a little knitting there is yarntangler-time… When Zidane thinks it is time for some cozy yarntangler-time extraordinare he simply claims his place…

Oh yeah, and the knitting you see in the foreground of the picture is the Pudorosa Neckwarmer by Lia Moya in beige/sand cashmere (sooo soft!). I’m knitting this one for a gift so I really hope it will turn out nice, but more on that note in a later post.

Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark

Yarn: Evilla Artyarn

Habitat hat by Jared Flood (Brooklyntweed)

Yarn: Drops Alpaca (knitted with three strands of yarn)

With the beginning of a whole New Year I had to cast on a few new projects… Hoping for 2009 to be a good year for knitting!

Petersburg by Sarah Hatton

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Rich Chocolate (161)

Gail (aka Nightsongs) by Jane Araujo

Yarn: Sundara Silk Lace in Bronzed Sienna

Ribbed Mini-Scarf by Celeste Glassel in a slightly modified version.

Yarn: Drops Merino Extra Fine in a grey-brownish shade.

Finally two WIP projects made the transition into 2009, the Druid Mittens ( still need the final part of the second mitten) and the Icarus Shawl (I’m almost done with the repeats of chart 1, it is a lovely project to pick up once in a while). An update on these two projects will follow in a later blog post… for now enjoy knitting!

The finished shawl has also been approved by one of the yarntanglers, I’m pretty sure he thought it was a new spread for his cat-bed, and he wasn’t all too enthusiastic about me taking it of the floor again…

 A closer shot showing a bit more detail…

The yarn I used for this shawl is Evilla artyarn 6/2, purchased at www.garntrollet.no I knit the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark without any modifications. It is so nice with a warm shawl made in wool for these cold times, we had a notion of snow today, can anyone tell I like snow and am a bit excited…? Well, time to resume knitting, but I’ll be back soon with another finished winter knit!

Fortunately the sleeves turned out nicely after the second blocking, boy, did I get quite a scare…! And I managed to find a nice zipper (eventhough it is black on the sides, I had hoped for dark blue or green, but no), and last but not least, I managed to sew it in by hand. Since sewing is not really my thing, this was quite an accomplishment

I don’t know what is happening with the daylight these days, it seems it is semi-dark when I get up in the morning, and then semi-dark when I return home late in the afternoon… Where did the light go? It is not that I don’t like fall, I truly do. And I love the colors… all shades of yellow, orange, red and brown. However, an unfortunate side-effect of fall is the lack of daylight for proper photos of knitting projects. This week I had to wait till the weekend before I found daylight time to take a few proper pictures of Nevis. The good thing about this though, it was a nice occasion to enjoy a nice hot cafe au lait in the park with my husband.

Here it is:  

Modelled from the front:

And from the back: 

It is reported to be very warm and soft, and fits nicely under his warm waistcoat. (Of course we forgot the waistcoat at home because the weather was so nice, so unfortunately no pictures of Nevis under the waistcoat this time around)

Pattern: Nevis by Marie Wallin, Rowan 42

Yarn: Rowan Tapestry, Colorway: Moorland, Whirlpool & Rainbow

Size: L

Modifications: I made the neckband a little shorter than the pattern called for, due to a specific request from the recipient. Also the length of the sleeves I made a bit shorter, because the sleeves in the pattern are really long, and eventhough long sleeves are nice, I think making them according to the pattern would be a bit too much.

Right now I’m blocking the sleeves for the second time… the first time I don’t know what went wrong but they got quite big, not only very long but also very wide. Not knowing exactly what went wrong and how to fix this, I decided to block them once more. The reason for this is that the only thing I could think of I had done differently with the sleeves compared to the body, was using a different soap, so I blocked them again this time using the same soap as for the back and fronts. After a quick wash in the other soap, the sleeves felt completely different! Much more like the back and front… I’m really pleased with that, and just hope they will remain this way when drying up. However, it is completely beyond me if this is caused by the tiny splash of soap… anyway that will be the conclusion if the dry up nicely this time. Note to self: Don’t use other soap unless desire for garment to grow excessively!

For now, I guess the only thing for me to do is to find my (mostly non-existing) patience and wait for the result…

My previous worries concerning the blocking turned out to be unnecessary. It didn’t grow or felt excessively as I feared, and I have to say that I really like how it feels after blocking. Also I’m getting used to the dramatic color changes and I’m beginning to like the finished result I see in my imagination. Apart from finishing the last sleeve the next sub-project for Nevis is a zipper hunt… I need to make a decision whether to use a green, blue or brown zipper, or simply go with one with a brass look…? Did I mention how good it feels to be in the process of finishing Nevis?!!

Earlier this week we went for an evening walk along the Akerselva (a river in the city centre) along with a few ten-thousands of other people… To mark the autumnal equinox all electric light along the river was turned off, and replaced with varying light shows and torch lights. It was an absolutely beautiful walk… not to mention the special atmosphere created by so many people in the same place at the same time. Below a little glimpse from the walk.

I knitted it in Wilfert’s Pisa, dark brown and Noro Silk Garden colorway 248, and I love the result. The colors are amazing, however the pictures doesn’t really do them justice. The finished result is somewhere in between the above picture and the picture below.

Main thing is that he is really happy with the hat, it is very warm, it fits very well and easily covers the ears, which was a specific request.

Apart from knitting the Turn a Square, I’ve been preparing for new projects. I’ve done a little stash enhancement, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some beautiful silk lace from Sundara (this is really exceptional yarn, not to mention the color, it is Bronzed Sienna, just beautiful). I haven’t decided what to make of this yet, for the moment I’m saving it for a special project.

Furthermore this arrived in the mail a few days later… Vogue Knitting fall 2008 (beautiful mittens), Phildar winter 2007/2008 (with several beautiful sweaters, especially a few with cables have my attention), 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Sheperd Sock yarn in Charcoal colorway (I have a lace sock pattern in mind for these) and of course finally the Sundara silk lace.

I hope this can serve as inspiration to finish the Nevis sleeves, I just so want to finish this cardigan now… and I guess the good news is that I’m almost done with the first sleeve. Just gotta keep on knit 5 purl 2  

Tangling yarn can be exhausting, I guess this is what an annoyed cat looks like…

Well… progress is made on the Nevis cardigan. Now both the back and both fronts are finished and I’m knitting away on the first sleeve. I’m really curious to find out how the finished result will be and I’m really looking forward to finishing this one. Honestly though, I’m a bit worried about the many many ends I’ll have to weave in, the unintended felting of the yarn, the rainbow color combo and that it turn’s out to grow extensively in the process of blocking. For the moment though I’m happily ignoring these thoughts and I just enjoy the knitting.

Since the pattern is not at all complicated this fits perfect for tv-knitting, my favorite for the moment is ”Six feet under”, it’s brilliant. With only the sleeves and the collar to go, I’ve today begun to consider new projects. As preparation I had to order the Phildar magazine no. 480 from winter 2007/2008, it has several beautiful sweaters (with a lot of beautiful cables) in it, I would just love to knit.