1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?
If I had to pick one, it would be scrap yarn. I use it for all sorts of things – markers, provisional cast-on, …and best of all, if you have a lot of it, it’s no longer scrap but new material for a new project.
2. If you’re heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?
Yes. On my last vacation I took a stole. On the one before that, a pair of socks. To the cottage I tend to take a lot, and usually get a lot done as well.
3. Where have you traveled to that you’d consider your favorite spot?
Impossible to say. I do always feel a sense of homecoming in Bohuslän and love the islands and the sea.
I also think the Rhine and Mosel valleys are wonderful, and the Biergarten in München.
4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?
I like the kinds that show you lots of different stitches – like the Harmony Guides. I own the Harmony Guide to Aran Stitches, but there are many others.
I also like A Gathering of Lace, by Meg Swanson, but I don’t own that.
5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?
Nope.
6. If you could only knit with 1 color for the rest of your life, what color would that be?
I don’t imagine this will ever happen….. but I guess I would pick something neutral, like cream colour.
7. If you were far into a project and then noticed a mistake near the beginning what would you do?
It depends on what the mistake was. I don’t tend to leave mistakes, but drop stitches and fix them. I’m rather good at fixing things, both in lace and cable work without frogging everything. But hypothetically, if I found a mistake near the beginning of a large afghan or something, and I didn’t find it until near the end, I would leave it, because if I hadn’t found it earlier, it was probably not a big mistake.
8. Where is the most unusual spot you’ve ever knit?
On a ferry in the Bosphorus.
I will have a pattern published in the September or October issue of MAGKnits. I am not allowed to say what it is, exactly, but suffice it to say that I am very excited about it. So stay tuned!
It’s been a long process, since I submitted the idea back in May…. but the pattern is in and will show up sometime in the not too distant future.
I’m back from a wonderful trip to Sweden. I’ve discovered that you can get a lot of knitting done on the plane – assuming the kids cooperate. The trip back home was great, as they all had personal TVs built into the seat in front of them, and could choose any movie or TV show they wanted. It kept the kids busy for most of the trip, and I even watched a movie for the first time in I don’t know how long.
I’ve made a fair bit of progress on the Faux Russian Stole – I’m on my third iteration of the pattern. It looks lovely. I have also discovered the Addi Turbo lace needles, and they are wonderful. Imagine knitting on circular needles without the stitches snagging on the joint between the needle and the cord! I didn’t dare to fly with the metal needles though, so I had to switch between bamboo ones and these new ones. The difference is amazing. Anyhow, enough about the needles…. the stole is coming along nicely, and I can really see how it will look when finished.
While in Gothenburg, I visited Strikk and Bohusslöjd and picked up some lovely yarn in both stores. I had hoped to visit Deisy Design on Avenyn but didn’t get a chance. (I had high hopes for Deisy Design in Marstrand, but they didn’t have any knitting gear or yarn, only souvenirs, so I was a little disappointed there.) Still, the yarn I found was really nice. I’m not sure exactly what it will become, but I think perhaps the brown alpaca will become a warm winter shawl, and that the other two will turn into some lace.
I particularly liked the colours in this skein, called Blåmussla – blue mussel.
The MS3 is on hold for a while, since I’m debating how to continue. I’m really not all that sure about the wing-idea, so I’m just waiting to see a few pictures of the finished stole before I proceed. I did see one trial-panel that took the wing pattern and added the border-waves, so the shape was symmetrical but the pattern not. I thought that looked nice, but am still holding off on mine until I see a few more versions.
Well, what’s a knitting blog without at least one SP-exchange? With that in mind, SP11 – Here I come! For starters, here’s the questionnaire.
1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
My current favourite yarn is Apple Laine. I tend to like wool yarns, either aran weight or sock yarn. I am however dabbling in lace at the moment, but haven’t ventured into true laceweight yarns yet.
I’m not that fond of acrylic (don’t like the static)…. and I really do not work with novelty yarns.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A drawer, usually in the plastic cases they come in.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Well…… I learned how to knit when I was 7-8, and knit a bit during my teens. At that time I loved the two-colour knitting (like Fair Isle or the Norwegian patterns). Then I didn’t knit at all during my late teens or twenties. I just started again last December because my daughter wanted to learn how. She knit a scarf, and I knit a blanket, and then I haven’t been able to stop…. My first goal this time around (after finishing the blanket) was to knit cables. And then I’ve been designing some patterns. It’s all fun. I think I’m an intermediate/advanced knitter, and a sink-or-swim knitter – just try something new.
I learned from my mother.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Nope.
5. What’s your favorite scent?
Sandalwood.
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
It goes in waves. I do love salt licorice. For you non-Swedes (or non-Dutch) that may sound icky, but it is delicious.
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don’t spin. I crochet, but not often at the moment.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
(I noticed I skipped this question……) Yes, I can play MP3s. As for what type of music I like, well… there’s quite the range. From Swedish folk and visor to classical to the Cure and Tori Amos and Matthew Sweet, to mention a few.
9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I really like most colours. My favourites are either reds/oranges or blues.
I also like green, but that’s a tricky colour. I’ve rarely seen a green yarn that I actually like.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married with 3 kids. No pets.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes, yes (it’s very cold here in the winter) and noooo for ponchos. I do however wear shawls as well.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
It changes. I like afghans. At the moment I’m doing shawls, and that’s great fun too.
I do love cables and twists and turns – anything Aran style.
13. What are you knitting right now?
Two lace shawls and an afghan.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes.
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I tend to prefer straight needles, in bamboo. Although the metal addi turbo lace are wonderful too. I do not like plastic.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope.
17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Do I count the sweater I started in 1987? Let’s not. It will never be done. I don’t even like it anymore. So if not that, it’s a pair of socks I started in July.
18. What is your favorite holiday?
Midsummer.
19. Is there anything that you collect?
No.
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I love the look of the hand-dyed yarns from Hand Maiden, or sea silk.
I don’t have any magazine subscriptions.
21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
I’d like to do Fair Isle again. It’s been too long. I’m not sure I remember how. Maybe I’ll tackle that next (after lace).
And I’d like to learn how to do double sided knitting.
Oh, and Swedish tvåändsstickning.
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I’ve knit 5 socks. That’s two full pairs and one sock that didn’t quite fit.
My foot is size 8.5 or European 40. I can post actual measurements when I get home, if requested.
23. When is your birthday?
In April.
24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?
No.
The fourth clue was completed on Monday. As mentioned before, I was debating whether or not to lengthen it, but I eventually decided against it. There are a few reasons….
First of all, since I don’t have the complete pattern, I’m concerned that it will somehow become lopsided if I lengthen it. The placement of the lifeline makes no sense to me at all, but my guess is that it is going to be in the center of the stole. But then it makes even less sense if I lengthen it, since the lifeline ends up in the same row the second time around….
Secondly, there is only one option on how to lengthen it, and it adds a LOT of length.
Third, I don’t tend to wrap shawls completely around my upper body, so while I am tall, I don’t know how long it will drape over the shoulders.
Finally, since this is my first major lace project, I really have no idea how large it will be once blocked, and every time I think “Just go for it and lengthen it” I hear another voice in my head that says “After blocking it may become a veritable landing strip” (from one of the messages in the group).
“Go for it”
“Landing strip, landing strip”
I guess I don’t want a landing strip, and that’s why it’s going to follow the regular pattern.
Now I’m just waiting for the next clue to be posted on Friday.
In the meantime I have decided that I will indeed knit the Faux Russian Stole. Here it is, in Arizona colourway from Apple Laine. It´s on 3.75 mm needles.
Recent Comments