things by t.

looking for ideas

I have these two balls of yarn, one Pirkanmaa Ohut and one Färgkraft remnant in a complimentary colourway. I have been trying to combine these two in some sort of shawl or scarf for ages now, but just never seem to be happy with the result.

So now I'm turning to my friends for some ideas and suggestion!

I think I have about 400 metres of the pink yarn and maybe 100 of the two-colour one.

One idea I had was to knit a shoulderette Laminaria using the Färgkraft yarn for the Star chart beginning and then the rest of the shawl in the pink yarn. Or would that look completely insane?

temptation

To me autumn means shawl knitting. The thought of wrapping myself in some cosy laciness is very tempting. I already have a few unfinished shawl projects hanging around and I really should finish them first, shouldn't I?

Or maybe I should just cast on for Nancy & Judy?

hatful of hollow

Summer is leaving all too quickly. While the sun still shines (on occasion!) it's getting chillier every day and I want to wrap myself in warm wool.

Yesterday I re-discovered an old WIP, an improvised cowl in a pearly shade of Malabrigo Worsted. And because I had to spend time on a commuter train today - almost 2 hours in total - I made the most of it and tried my best to finish the cowl. Not quite there yet, but very close. Photo shall follow shortly.

From my stash I unearthed a few more skeins of the wonderously soft Malabrigo yarn in three other colours: pink, forest green and petrol blue. I also had one more skein of the grey shade so that I can make a matching hat.

So to the point, I want and need to make some hats or berets!

Hit me with your best suggestions, preferably using Malabrigo, but any similar yarn will do as long as there's not too much re-calculation to do.

Here are some of my favourites from Ravelry:
- Spring Beret
- Maelstrom Beret
- Koolhas
- Chunky cabled tam

here, there and everywhere

I went to Helsinki for a few days. There were sales everywhere and I found an interesting book about Karelian bobbin lace on sale.

 
I don't know how to make bobbin lace and I don't really have any plans to learn it either, but I do have family ties to Karelia so this was an valuable book in that sense. 

I also stocked up on my favourite Finnish yarn, Pirkanmaa, in grey and turquoise for a future crochet project. See the swatch to the left here.

Back home I noticed someone in my neighbourhood is practising crochet graffiti...!

knitty fall 2010

Knitty Fall 2010 is live and there are a few interesting patterns in there, although perhaps not something I will be knitting in the near future. Except the hat Minty and maybe the elephant Flo.

Ok, maybe Coquille also...

more of everything

Yes, even more vintage knitting/crochet magazines! I love Ebay. To the left is Creative Crochet, which also contains knitting and hairpin crochet patterns. Interesting in that the text is in English, but at least one of the charts is in Finnish and it was printed in Sweden (by Bonnier)!
The left booklet is a special supplement on Fair Isle by Stitchcraft from the 50's.

I will probably not be making this bobble picture, though...

But I really liked this pattern, the Squirrel's wheel.

I've been swatching for a crochet blanket. Found some lovely colours of Sublime Soya Cotton on sale at Get Knitted. Originally, I was planning to make a "beach blanket" from Simply Knitting, but wasn't happy with the result after swatching that pattern. I wanted a denser fabric.

Eventually I settled on one of the chevron patterns, from Donna Kooler's Crochet Encyclopedia.

a little bit of argh!

Firstly, a wonderful vintage magazine find! Stitchcraft, which was first published in the 30s, is still readily available on Ebay. My preferred decades are the 60/70s. This particular issue is from 1961.

Then, a little bit of frustration vent...

 

I started on this crochet shawlette...and...erm...well, I wasn't using the yarn recommended, but I did use the correct hook. Unfortunately, the end result was way too stiff and lacking in drape. So upon basically finishing the whole thing (just started the edge scallops, as you can see) I decided to frog it. Now starting again with hooks 4mm, instead of 3mm.

I really should be more disciplined when it comes to swatching.

busy

Lots of things happening right now, so not much time to blog. But I am still knitting and also crocheting! In fact, I overdid the crochet a little and almost got that horrible thing in the wrist-what's-it-called.

Just posting a photo of some vintage patterns from my library. Thinking they should go into my queue at Ravelry somehow. 

One of them I had already swatched! If only I had remembered to write down the yarn and needles used...

half-done

The main lace section of the Highland Triangle shawl (from Oberle's Folk Shawls) is done. Now I have started on the lace edging.

This is such a pleasure to knit. Wonderful Visjö yarn that is perfectly plied and runs smoothly on the needles. Easy to remember 2-row pattern with breezy garter stitches all through. This has really been a relaxing knit for winding down in the evening.

In other news, I bought the new issue of Verena Stricken (German version) and discovered they had upped the content to high quality articles on themes such as Orenburg lace, how linen yarn is made and a lace special with information on yarns and techniques. Plus of course, the usual eclectic mix of slightly over-the-top designs and innovative fashion. 

This dress was featured in the fashion inspiration pages and is from the runway show of PPQ. I think it would be great for summer in a lightweight cotton. I'll have to look into that...

quick as a...

No sooner had I blogged about the Afghans book than I placed an order and just for the sake of it also bought a new sock book. Incorrigable!