One down four to go!

This is harder then I thought. I so want to start a new project… maybe a soft headband (braided) and mittens to match… or a soft warm sweater out of lopi for me… or a quick last minute christmas gift. But I finished one cardigan and have three more and a blanket. No new project before the new year!

Self control

So here´s my latest experiment. I meet a very wise woman at a knitting group past Sunday that said that every time she is more than half way done with a project she starts itching for another.  Spends hours looking at patterns on Ravelry and as a urge to visit a yarn store.  This is the same for me and I´m thinking a lot of other knitters I know. It has gotten so bad that my living room is flooded with wip.  My living room is very small and my family are getting a bit tired of this.  So here is my plan:

 

Finish every project before the new year!  I know crazy right? I cannot start a new project until I´m done with the ones I started on.

 

I´ve got two secret projects for Knitting Iceland on the needles , I´ve got an Afghan from 2008, a baby sweater for my son and Ysolda´s Cria out of some Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca/Silk Yarn I bought in London this last spring.  So here´s hoping. I will keep you all informed!

 

 

 

The only question that is left, how do I reward myself if I can finish in time?

Laikia

In the beginning of the year I pre-ordered Ysolda´s new book Little Red.  This is the first time  I´ve ever pre-ordered a book, and what a fun process! Laikia was the first pattern that was sent to us how pre-ordered a few months before the book was published.  I wasn’t planning on knitting Laikia, I was more interested in Melina which I saw when Ysolda came to Iceland for a Knitting Iceland tour, but because I was so excited and I found out that handprjon.is sells Lorna Laces I just had to start. 

The pattern is so fun to work with, so clever.  Even the pages are perfectly planned so you can fold it twice and use it sufficiently. 

I changed the pattern a bit,  I skiped the hood because I didn´t know if I had enough yarn.  Turns out that I did have enough but I don´t really like hoods anyway

The sweater is surprisingly warm and perfect design for us ladies who need to hide a few pounds around the tummy area… another great office sweater for the winter!

Leaving

Sorry for the silance but there has been knitting!  Here´s the first project:

Leaving

I found this project on ravelry.  It´s my first twist collective purchase.  Dangerously easy but you are not able to keep the pdf. in your ravelry library which is a bummer.  The designer Anne Hanson is wonderful, you can read about the pattern on her blog.

Pattern: Leaving by Anne Hanson

Yarn: Fiber Optic Yarn Casmire (bought at Rhinebeck, sheep and wool festival in NY)

Needels: 3.5mm

Model: My wonderful sister inlaw Sigríður Hrönn.

The yarn is amazing!  I bought two skeins at Rhinbeck and when I got home I decided I wanted to make a sweater. I contacted Kimber at Fiber Optic Yarns and she sent me 5 skeins of the yarn and I sent her back the two skeins I bought from her at Rhinbeck.  Super service I cant´s recommend her enought!  The yarn was amazing… amazing, so soft, so fun to knit.  The small changes in color really make the sweater flow.

I love the little details like the sleeves.

Modifications

I hate sewing with a passion so I knit both the fronts and the back in one piece, and the sleaves in the round.  This made for some interesting blocking!  I bought blocking wires at handprjon.is that really helped alot.

I love the sweater, perfect for the office.

More coming soon!

Knit in public

I found this amazing photo on The Satorialist and it made me think.  A few years back Ilmur an Icelandic knitting pioneer started a knit in public movement to help bring Icelandic knitters out of there couch and in to the wild.  I myself am a very shy knitter, the only time I  knit outside the comfort of my home or other knitting friends is when I´m travelling.  But I´m trying to break the habit and bought an amazing project bag yesterday and plan to do some more public knitting.  I wonder if Knit in Public Day is still alive?

Published!

Sorry for the silence but I was just so excited to tell you all about this.  Yes my very first published pattern.  Ragga was so wonderful and helpful.  She edited the pattern and gave me wonderful pattern writhing tips.  I highly recommend Knitting Iceland as a place to publish or just to visit, online or physically.  I so want to go on one of her Faroe Island trips.

The pattern is in icelandic and english and free!

Crazy cakes!

A few months ago my boyfriend bought me a lot of Þingborgar lopi.  I´m almost done with my cardigan (just to pockets left) and where´s whats left of my stash:

Before

After… as you can see I only touched the first skein/cake, this stash will last me a lifetime!