Kj's mittens (a walk through three Scandinavian winters)

This week I was gifted a beautiful pair of mittens! My friend and 'former supervisor' Kj knitted them for me. I have wanted to have something green for son long and she just hit the mark! I can't take any credit for the color scheme other than I asked for them to be green. Here is a picture of them:





Kj explained that she has made this pattern three times. The first time was in 1978, for a particularly cold winter (they hit -42C), those are the red mittens in the pictures. The second time she made them in blue for a winter circa 1995 and the third time in green for me, in 2012. Aren't they lovely?

And a picture of all three pairs together. I think the green ones are the prettiest pair, but I might be biased ;)

Poor Poet's Mitt's (again)

This is actually the third time I make this pattern, but I just think fingerless gloves are a fast, nice and thoughtful present. Currently, these have no owner. I have toyed with the idea of keeping them for myself but I know better: I always give all my projects away and can never manage to make anything for me. I guess it's because I already feel like I enjoyed the knitting so much that keeping it is selfish.

Go figure.

This is a picture of both gloves















And here is a detail of one, hopefully, my iPhone camera captured the little roses well enough

Xmas knitting: the Eva shawl

'tis that time of year when I am stressed out and worried I will not have enough time to finish everyone's presents. I did start a little later than I would have liked this year, since that whole PhD defense and getting visits from Guatemala ate up all my time...

I am back to my knitting stride and put a little extra work in for finishing my first project in record time. I had tried to knit this pattern before. In fact, it was my third lace project out of my 'Wendy Knits Lace' book. The first one had been the Poor Poet's Mitts that were super easy and then this scarf that came out all sorts of wrong, but that my mom still liked well enough. When I first tried to make this shawl, back in early February, l I had to rip it out and repeat it so many times. This was not long ago, but I have seen my knitting skills increase dramatically. I think it was because I didn't know now to read charts a year ago and now I can. Lace charts are fun.

So this is the first xmas project. I will post more pictures on other mini projects I have made in these days of late autumn darkness.

These are two details of the shawl

A detail for the shawl (note I blocked it before weaving in the ends. I really don't like that part and postpone it as long as humanly possible!

A more complete view of the shawl

I will make sure to upload a picture of the shawl with its owner after Jul!

I learned how to knit when I was a little girl, although I never got the chance to practice much or to learn how to do anything more than to knit and purl. In my little heart, I always wanted to learn how to knit socks. Today, it is not a secret how much I love to make socks and virtually everyone I know owns a pair of socks from me.

This year I was pretty devoted to lace, and didn't make a pair of socks until late September. I made two pairs of socks, one for the lovely A and one for the lovely K, the two toastmasters at the party after my PhD defense.

Knitting socks is pretty easy, but I find I have become better at it since my first pair in winter of 2010. They fit better and they look more 'even', if that makes any sense. Here's a picture of a basic 8sts per inch sock from this book, that I completely love.

I have to start getting on those xmas projects for Mg's family soon! yay!

I'm especially proud of this pair, since they fit A like a glove! 

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.