Sort-of-quick knit: the K-shawlette

I've wanted to knit something green for a while, but all the greens I came across where not the right kind of green... and then while walking through a farmers market in Gammlia last September I found it! I would have liked the wool to be softer but I like that it was procured from a local source and my friend K looks lovely in it.

There is nothing that I like more than knitting for the people I love. Corny, but true. Here is a picture of the shawl, that is a free pattern by the lovely Wendy D Johnson. K is holding up the shawl on the day I gave it to her. I would have liked it to be a little wider, but I am happy that it was such a quick, happy knit!

WiP: blanket for my niece

Two of my brothers are fathers now (well, one is almost a father, with a baby due in January) and I decided I could make baby blankets for them. The idea that something I made in the north of Sweden will keep those little cuties warm all the way in Guatemala city makes me happy and feel like I am not so far away.

These are some pictures of Erika Knight's first blanket. I already finished the body of the blanket and I'm making the edging now. I chose a lovely deep blue thinking of how pretty it will look with my niece's black hair.

This is a picture of the blanket, knitted in garter sticth

And this is a picture of the edging, which is what I'm working on now. I wish my iPhone had taken a better picture, but I take what I can get!

Stupid gauge

I was very excitedly making a pair of poor poet's mitts and then, as I was finishing the thumb gussed I had this strange feeling: are these too small for my hands?

Yes, yes they were. I had to rip them out. I will give it another go with larger needles. I am such a loose knitter that I usually have to worry about my knitting being too big.

Must learn to measure gauge, must learn to measure gauge.

Co-supervisor cardigan (and one for me!)

When I first got the Wendy Knits Lace book I just knew I had to make the cardigan that she has on the last pages of the book. It would be a hard project, I figured... it said it was 'advanced' and I had never knitted lace before. I started out slow with other projects, and even made the co-supervisor shawl (that I will write about later).

After I had finished A-K's cardigan I just couldn't bare to be torn away from it, so I made one for my self. Here are some pictures of it as WiP and of me wearing mine (A-K's is in a box, waiting for it to be given to her future owner. Only three weeks left in the countdown!)

Here I have the finished pieces (and I blocked the hell out of them too!)

And a little close-up of one of the sleeves

And two of me wearing it in our balcony on a sunny Bergen day

WiPs

I have many works in progress this week. I just started a pair of little girl socks for my friend A's little soon to be four year old, started a pair of fingerless gloves for a newlywed friend and have some knee high socks that are waiting for me to finish the gusset on the second pair. I'm excited that I have so much knitting going on!

Supervisor projects 1: main supervisor sweater for Miguel

Although I have devoted most of this year to learning how to knit lace, I didn't really think it was appropriate to give my male main supervisor a delicate lace shawl (although I would have liked to see his face if he had gotten one).

For Miguel I chose a simple pattern with lovely cables all around. I knew I wanted cables and something of an Aran feel, but I didn't want to knit something that was too busy. I also knew I wanted nice blue wool. I chose this pattern for the sweater because I loved the simple, clean look it had and I thought it would suit my supervisor very well.

Then it was time to get the wool! Nothing really is as exciting as going to the wool shop for a project you are going to give someone that is very important in your life. Miguel has been a thoughtful, kind and all around A+ supervisor, and I wanted to give him a graduation present that reflected how thankful I was for this opportunity.  I used a visa run to London as the perfect opportunity to get some lovely, hand-dyed, Aran weight wool. I went to Loop for the wool and spent a little more than I had hoped (but after spending the better part of an hour talking about wool with the nice woman there I just had to pay the eighty pounds :/ )

I knitted the sweater with some help from E, Mg's mom. She explained some things I didn't understand about the pattern (I didn't know how to read sweater patterns!) and it took me about three weeks of full-time knitting. It did come out even better than I imaged though!

Aaaand I'm back!

It has been too long since I felt the need to sit down and write in my knitting blog. It's definitely not that I haven't been knitting. I have just been completely overpowered by my thesis. Anyway, I am back and have done tons of knitting and have a lot of works in progress. My thesis is printed and I'm enjoying these last few days as a PhD student. I think I might write a lot of posts today, along with pictures (which is what really has me excited!)