knotworknits

Hooked...

2008-04-23T14:13:00.000+02:00

Just a quick update on what I've been up to lately... not much, really, at least in terms of working with yarn! But... I am working on a new crochet project. Flowers again -- please don't tell me you're bored with crochet flowers yet! It's too soon to say if my idea is going to work or not, so here's just a quick picture of some swatches:

I might have to re-name my blog if I keep on like this. Make it knotworkrochet or something... It's about time to get back into some serious knitting!!!

Ruffles!

2008-04-03T20:40:00.000+02:00

The Spiral Scarf has been finished for some days:

Pattern: Spiral Scarf
Materials: Wolle Rödel Formosa, colour 9425 (grey), 3 skeins
Tools: 10 mm circular knitting needle, 80 cm long
Modifications: cast on 110 stitches instead of 100

I am so glad I took the time to rip my first attempt and start over with a different yarn and larger needles! I am not really the type for too many ruffles on my clothes, but I actually enjoy wearing this a lot. It is very soft and cozy -- just right for this crazy April weather -- and adds just a tiny bit of sparkle to my otherwise mostly straightforward and classic wardrobe.

Both the yarn and the pattern were great practice for a tight knitter like me -- pull the stitches a bit too tight and you get into real trouble... especially once you have more than a thousand stitches on your needles! I only had a standard 80 cm long circular needle, so for the last two rows it was really hard to find room for all the stitches. (I actually did buy a 100 cm long needle especially for this project, but the only one I could get was a cheap plastic one and I hated knitting with it so much I switched back to my beloved Addis almost immediately. Cramming my stitches seemed by far the more comfortable alternative!) -- The most fun part about this pattern? Casting off and beginning to see the ruffles develop!

When I was eating pasta the other night I suddenly had this strong feeling of déjà vu...

Much better

2008-03-24T21:14:00.003+01:00

1760 stitches (give or take a few) on an 80 cm circular needle...

Hope you all enjoyed the Easter holidays!

I hear a frog calling...

2008-03-17T22:09:00.003+01:00

"ribbit, ribbit, ribbit..."

Somehow, none of my recent attempts at knitting have been very successful...

First, I was going to make a neckwarmer (remember this picture?). I had seen these cute, buttoned neckwarmers all over the net this past winter and wanted one for myself. I had this idea of a mixture of textured knitting, a crocheted edge and some colourful embroidery and started knitting away happily. But now that it is long enough to wrap around my neck I am not sure that it will look good at all.

At first, I thought I had simply made the neckwarmer too wide, but I have seen much wider ones on Ravelry, so it can't be that. But I think I now know what the real problem is -- see that stripe of stockinette in the middle? This is where I was going to embroider some flowers, but it really weakens the structure of the whole piece so it just folds up in the middle. I wonder if embroidery would strengthen it enough to make it lie flat around my neck? I somehow doubt it... But who knows? A tiny voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to go ahead and finish it anyway to see how it turns out, if only to be sure that it really doesn't work instead of just wondering. But I just can't get motivated enough to pick up the needles again... Oh well, I will push this into a corner of my knitting basket for now and probably forget about it until after the summer. Maybe I will be more motivated when the weather is turning cold again...

Next, I cast on for a Spiral Scarf. But... after several hours of knitting I finally had to admit that I was using the wrong yarn (too thin) and the wrong needles (also too thin) for this pattern. Nothing else to do but pull out the needles (-- and that was hard work, too, with all those hundreds of stitches!!!) and rip rip rip...

(Hey, at least it curled up like it was supposed to...!)

To make up for my grumpy mood after all these failures, I decided to honour my blog's name and make a few knots:

And here's the result:

Pattern: No-Knit Scarf
Materials: two balls of Lana Grossa Caldo Print, colour 022 (pink)
Tools: blocking board and lots of pins
Modifications: wider than the original, I used six bunches of yarn instead of four

This was a fun project, and really quick, too -- the scarf was finished in less than two hours. It is very comfortable to wear and I really like how it looks. I am feeling much better now!

Well, I'm off to search my stash for a more suitable yarn for the Spiral Scarf. I have learned from my mistakes (I hope!) and know what I have to look for now...

I feel cheated!

2008-02-27T01:00:00.002+01:00

Whatever has happened to winter???

Here I am, still waiting for winter to finally arrive, without realizing that it's actually the end of February already and spring is saying hello from my garden! This is the second winter in a row with hardly any snow, and I feel so cheated! At least it has been cold and freezing for quite some time, with plenty of opportunity to wear your handknits, but what I really want is SNOW!!!

My son is really disappointed, too -- he was so looking forward to building a snowman...

FO No. 2

2008-02-18T23:49:00.002+01:00

I've been crocheting flowers again...

This pattern is quite addictive, and so much fun to crochet! This time, I made a scarf for myself. Here it is in its full glory:

Love it! Love the colours! Love how the colours pop on a black background. It's been finished for a week and I've worn it almost every day since then. I even got enthusiastic compliments when I walked into a yarn shop last week, which made me extremely happy! Sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging, but that is just something that has never happened to me before...

Pattern: my own, inspired by store-bought scarves I'd seen, and very similar in construction to the Pretty Pretty Flower Scarf
Materials: Wolle Rödel Soft Merino, about half a ball for each string of flowers
Tools: crochet hook 5 mm

Anyway, enough crochet flowers for now and back to knitting. Here is a preview of my current WIP:

I am quite obsessed with all kinds of scarves at the moment, not just because it's been so cold for so long now. I simply don't have the time or energy for large knitting projects like sweaters or cardigans right now, so for the time being I have settled for smaller objects. At least this way I can hope to actually finish something! It's also a great way to use up all those odd balls of yarn that have been lying around for years...

HELP! -- Too. Many. Ideas.

2008-01-17T21:30:00.000+01:00

Ravelry will be my downfall. Someday soon. I can't believe how much time I've been spending on that site lately, admiring all those wonderful finished projects, coveting the books those projects are from, finding loads of new free patterns, filling up my hard drive, filling up my to-do list, filling up my Amazon wish list ... and I haven't even started to upload all my own stuff yet!

Just think what I could have accomplished if I had spent all that time knitting (crocheting -- sewing -- reading -- sleeping -- doing the dishes -- whatever)!

Sorry. Have to go now. There was that link on Ravelry I wanted to check out ...

Happy New Knitting Year!

2008-01-11T23:24:00.000+01:00

Hope you've all had wonderful holidays and a great start into 2008! We had a good time spending Christmas with our families and then set off to celebrate the new year in the mountains. We spent some days in this romantic village hidden away in the Swiss Alps:

It's the perfect place if you're looking for some quiet days in the snow away from the crowded slopes of the ski resorts. Just some beautiful old houses and grand landscape all around:

While we were there, a friend took me on my first snow shoe hike ever. I really enjoyed that! And just look at the handfelted (by himself) and handsewn (by his mother) gaiters he was wearing:

Oh wow, I want a pair of those for myself!!! Guess I'll have to try some felting some time...

Well, speaking about crafting... I am getting really depressed seeing all those mosaics people have put up on their blogs to show how much they have been knitting last year. 2007 was a difficult year for me, so it's no surprise I didn't have much time for my hobbies. Still, it is rather frustrating to compare what you wanted to accomplish within a year with what you actually managed to do. Oh well...

Anyway, after having failed so miserably at last year's knitting resolutions, I won't post any more of those. After all, knitting (and writing about it on this blog) is supposed to be fun, and I don't want to put myself under any kind of pressure. I still want to achieve the same goals I wrote about last year, but I won't set myself any time frame.

But I do have one more FO to show for 2007! I was in bed with a bad cold for almost a week just before Christmas, and since my ears hurt like hell I decided it was about time to knit myself one of those earflap hats. So I got out some odd balls of yarn and my DPNs, took some basic measurements of my head and just started knitting. In the end, the earflaps turned out much too long and looked really silly, so I added a button and turned the hat into a helmet:

Very cozy and warm! It is far from perfect, but I still love the result, it's so comfortable to wear. I'd like to make another one that fits better -- and without the pom pom so it will fit unter the hood of my skiing jacket!

I was too sick to come up with any fancy cable patterns, plain old k2 p2 was about all I could manage. But I did sew on a crocheted snowflake in the end:

And believe it or not, there is already a FO to show for 2008, too!

It's a flower scarf I crocheted for my husband's goddaughter who just turned eight. No need to think much about what colours to use -- obviously it's all pink and red at that age... (hey, sometimes I am really glad to have a son and not a daughter!).

I got the idea for this scarf from several similar ones I have seen in the shops lately, so I sat down and tried to figure out how they were done. I'm not sure if the result is exactly like the original scarves I saw, but I am very happy with it as it is. I have started to make another one for myself, too, but in a bit more grown-up colours...

Edit (23-01-2008): Go have a look at the beautiful scarf my friend Angelika made!

Getting in the Mood...

2007-12-11T00:22:00.000+01:00

... with the right kind of decoration ...

... and the right kind of food!

Alas, the beautiful winter weather has not lasted very long -- it has been mostly bleak and wet outside for days and weeks now. All the more reason to spend lots of time preparing the house for Christmas! This is something that hasn't been really important to me for the last five or ten years or so -- but now, with a small child around who is just old enough to start appreciating the special mood of Advent and Christmas, I am really enjoying showing him all the season's traditions.

As far as crafting is concerned, I've been sewing like mad to get my son's Advent Calendar finished in time:

It has beautiful snowflake fabric ...

... machine embroidered snowflakes ...

... and lots of little surprises!

(Oh... any advice on how to convince a two-year-old to take out only one package a day?)

Sorry...

2007-11-18T23:16:00.000+01:00

... no time to post, too busy having fun in the snow!

Still here!

2007-10-31T10:11:00.000+01:00

Well... it's been one of those months...

I know one should try to make the best out of each and every day, but still there are some days -- or even weeks -- you could very well do without! (Ummm, that sounds a lot worse than the last few weeks actually were, but I will still be glad for things to settle down a bit.)

Anyway, the good thing about not blogging for a while is that when you finally do get around to posting, you have a lot to show -- even though there has been very little time for crafting!

Right, I promised some more details on the sewing projects I showed in my last post...

First, I made two tote bags, based on tutorials on Craftster, but with some modified techniques and details.
One is for my son to carry his favourite books around:

The other one is for myself, to carry my books around... or rather, my magazines and newspapers that I want to "butcher" (i.e. tear out all the interesting stuff and throw the rest away):

There's a divider in the back seams to form a seperate compartment that will hold one or two folders in which I keep the torn-out pages and clippings:

I also made a matching case for my scissors, an essential tool for cutting out articles, recipes and other interesting stuff! This will go into the front pocket of the bag.

Next, I made two small pencil cases to throw into my handbag and take with me wherever I go... Once again I was inspired by tutorials for wallets and pencil cases which I found on Craftster, but the final pattern is my own. (Let me know if you're interested and I can write a tutorial how to make these!)

One is for my son's drawing equipment -- very important to have with us when we go out to keep him busy for a while! There is even a small compartment to store a sharpener and a folded sheet of paper. It's hard to see in the picture; look for the seamline just above the tips of the crayons.

The other one is for myself and holds a notepad as well as two or three pens. This is great for quick sketches of all the knitting ideas I get when I walk around town!

All these items have been used a lot already and serve their purposes perfectly. And I have a long list of other useful little things I want to sew -- this is so much fun! (Hey, Christmas is coming up, isn't that the perfect excuse???)

Then there is some lovely craft-related stuff I bought at various markets. Here is one skein of nearly-black-with-just-a-hint-of-brown alpaca and a wonderful, handwoven herringbone scarf -- just in time for the dropping temperatures! I will use the yarn to make a cowl, but I haven't decided on a stitch pattern yet.

Also, I finally found a yarn swift at a flea market; I'd been looking for an affordable one for a long time and was about to build one myself. (There are great instructions here, in case anyone is interested!) Then I came across this one, and it was definitely affordable at only 3 Euros! It's a very simple and fragile construction, but it works quite well and I am very happy with it.

And guess what I picked up at a children's flea market:

The most beautiful handknitted socks! They look brand new, I bet they haven't ever been worn. I keep wondering if they were knit by some loving grandmother and simply not appreciated by the receiver or his/her mother... why else would one sell something like this??? I know I will always keep the things I knit for my son, even when he's long outgrown them. -- It'll be years yet before my son will fit into the socks, but I just couldn't leave them behind. Want to see the best part? The price tag!

(They definitely didn't appreciate the value of handknitted socks if they gave them away for a Euro! Good for me, though...)

There is still more, but I will save that for my next post. I have started a few new projects, I got tons of new ideas, and -- finally -- my Ravelry invite arrived. You can find me there as "knotworknits", but don't expect to see much yet... I'm still spending far too much time browsing through all the projects! (HELP! I don't need any more ideas!!!)

Oh, by the way, the Aran is growing slowly but steadily -- no new pictures though, because so far the front looks exactly like the back...!

WARNING: Infection Hazard!

2007-09-14T23:15:00.002+02:00

Ladies (and Gentlemen?) --

there has been no knitting whatsoever going on at knotworknits due to a serious virus infection. The virus that has struck is called the Craftster Sewing Tutorial Virus and is extremely contagious. On infection, it will effectively disrupt any attempt at keeping up a normal daily routine. To avoid infection, DON'T GO HERE!!!

(Details to come after partial recovery)

Surprise!

2007-08-25T14:51:00.000+02:00

Look what fell out of my mailbox today!

I (only just!) resisted the urge to tear the plastic open and look inside right away. I'm about to take my son to spend the night at my parents' place and my husband is away to climb some mountains, so I will have a quiet weekend to myself. What better way to pamper myself tonight than with a brand-new issue of my favourite knitting magazine?!

I was not quite so disciplined with this, though...:

(before)

(after)

Sign Of The Times

2007-08-20T16:15:00.000+02:00

This weekend I was sitting in my garden being very lazy and enjoying the sun, a drink and a good book, when all of a sudden I noticed this little fellow who had quietly settled on the pillow beside me:

There's no denying it -- autumn is on its way! All the more reason to hurry up with my knitting so I will have something new to wear when it gets cold... I have made rapid progress on my Aran in the days after casting on, but then I slowed down and now I haven't knit a single stitch in about two weeks or so. The back is finished right up to the point where I have to decrease for the armholes, and while I was preparing to cast off the first couple of stitches I suddenly thought this sweater might actually look very nice with raglan sleeves instead of regular set-in sleeves. Only I have never before planned raglan sleeves, and I'm not so sure the decreases will go well with the cable patterns and the seed stitch... Oh well, I guess I will just have to give it a try and be prepared to rip if I don't like it! Not knitting at all just because I can't make up my mind is definitely NOT a good idea...

This is what I have accomplished so far:

So what is that dark thread doing in the middle of my knitting...? It's the outline of the V-neck I will knit on the front piece! About halfway through the back I made a paper pattern of the neckline and stitched the outline onto my knitting, so now all I have to do is count the stitches to figure out where to do the decreases.

And here's a detail of the ribbing continuing into the cables:

I have now cast on for the front piece so I can postpone the decision about the sleeves a while longer ...

Summer in Bavaria

2007-07-31T22:24:00.000+02:00

Every year in summer there are these little beer festivals you can visit in the villages all over Bavaria. What I find so charming about them is that everything is absolutely genuine; it's not a show set up for tourists but just a way for the local people to show how much they enjoy keeping their traditions alive.

There is music ...

... and dancing ...

... food and beer ...

... and most important (to me anyway!), there is lots of beautiful knitting to see! Traditional garter stitch jackets for old ...

... and young ...

(I am watching with great pleasure that garter stitch jackets are becoming more and more popular with knitters all over the world. I know this is mostly due to the popularity of Elizabeth Zimmermann, but she used to live in Bavaria after all, so I'm sure I know where she got her inspiration from!)

... cabled cardigans ...

... the occasional shawl ...

... and socks!

(I don't think any of these were hand-knitted though, there were just too many that looked exactly the same. Probably most of the garter stitch jackets are store-bought as well, but they are still nice to look at and use as inspiration for your own knitting!)

Lessons Learned

2007-07-24T13:25:00.000+02:00

Lesson 1: Wash your Trachtenwolle before you knit!

While knitting my swatches I found that I absolutely didn't enjoy working with my yarn -- it was far too coarse and not flexible enough for smooth and even knitting.

So after just a few moments of hesitation I wound all my beautiful balls of yarn back into skeins and threw them into the sink together with some wool detergent. Several rinses later this is what it looked like:

Some spaghetti, anyone?

You don't think I'd ever be able to untangle this mess? To be honest, I wasn't so sure myself... But here are my skeins, all safely laid out to dry:

I was not happy about all the extra work (and rather nervous about the outcome, too!), but I am very glad I took the time to do this. The yarn feels so much softer now and is so much more fun to knit with!

Lesson 2: Do your maths before you cast on!

I am very particular about the ribbing matching the pattern in Aran knitting (or in any kind of knitting, for a matter of fact). I hate it if the ribbing doesn't continue smoothly into all the "vital" parts of the pattern, and I think this is a detail that is absolutely essential for a well-designed piece of knitting.

And I can't understand why most knitting instructions simply tell you to "increase stitches evenly" after the ribbing, either. In my opinion it is very important to put the increases in exactly the right places -- like at the beginning of a tight cable that pulls the stitches together a lot.

Thus, I am usually spending quite some time calculating my stitches before casting on.

You may have noted I said "usually"...

It might have been the heat wave stopping my brain from working properly, or it might just have been my impatience to get started -- but here I was with a finished ribbing and no way to match up the stitches with my cables. How dumb. And no matter how much I was thinking and thinking over and calcualting and re-calculating, in the end the only solution was to rip and start over again. This time with the correct number of stitches and the knit and purl stitches all in the right places. Yay!

The Virtual Sweater

2007-07-17T00:00:00.000+02:00

Isn't it amazing what you can do with a few swatches, a digital camera and some image editing software?

I have made two major changes to the pattern in my book. First of all, I substituted a simple Seed Stitch for that Trinity Stitch I didn't like. However, that made the pattern look somewhat flat, so I decided to add a little braid on both sides of the diamonds. I think the design looks quite well-balanced now and I won't mess around with it any more than that!

Now all I have to do is actually knit this sweater...

Playing Around

2007-07-06T09:27:00.000+02:00

I have a new toy!

Schachenmayr Trachtenwolle...

... for this sweater from one of my new second hand books:

Or rather, for a sweater inspired by this pattern. I have knitted some swatches and I don't like the Trinity Stitch that makes out a great part of this pattern. I think it looks very beautiful in the picture, but it doesn't look beautiful in my swatches at all, and I find it very awkward and slow to knit. So I'm off to search my books for an alternative ...

Treasure Trove

2007-07-02T13:07:00.000+02:00

I just LOVE second hand bookshops. There is something extremely exciting about browsing shelf after shelf full of old books, never knowing what treasure you might find... Some of those books might even give you a hint about their previous owners, like a handwritten name or date. I once bought a book signed "Helen Hamilton Xmas 1886" -- how I would love to know more about that lady and who it was who gave her that book for Christmas! Did she read and treasure the book, or was it an unloved present that ended up in a forgotten corner or a box in the attic? And how did it find its way into the tiny shop in a remote Scottish village where I picked it up and bought it? -- Somehow I always feel the air in second hand bookshops is filled with such personal histories and that's one of the reasons of why I find these shops so appealing.

Of course, another reason is the thrill of the hunt for a good bargain -- who wouldn't be excited to find a great book at a great price?! Lately, however, prices for second hand books in general and second hand craft books in particular have gone up so much, it wasn't much fun looking for old books anymore.

Today I was walking through a part of town where I hadn't been much before and came across a small second hand bookshop -- and of course I couldn't resist looking around for a bit. Right when I came in I saw they had a whole shelf full of craft books, something that is quite unusual for second hand shops around here. Usually, you can count yourself lucky if you find two or three craft books, and if you do you probably already own them. You can imagine my joy when I found that they had quite a few books I hadn't seen before and that the prices for them were extremely reasonable! I compared prices throughout the shop and they were generally much higher for books on other topics, so it seems they just hadn't heard yet about crafting being popular again... -- lucky me! I walked out with a whole bag full of knitting and sewing books for just €12:

Now, most of the patterns in there are rather out-of-date, the kind of seventies and eighties clothes you DON'T want to wear... but there are still a lot of great ideas and stitch patterns to keep me occupied for some time.

Ahem... Did I say I need any more ideas...?

Birthday Meme

2007-06-27T21:49:00.000+02:00

I am usually not too fond of all those memes floating around in blogland, but I thought this one was really neat. Especially since I am still recovering from my birthday party last Friday! (I am definitely getting too old to throw cocktail parties...)
I wasn't tagged by anyone, I just picked up the idea from Iris. So here we go...

(In case you haven't read about this meme yet, these are the rules: Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.)

Events

451 - According to some sources, this was the date of the Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun.

1214 - University of Oxford receives its charter.

1837 - Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.

Births

1819 - Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer (d. 1880)

1909 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (d. 1959)

Holiday

Roman Empire – Festival in honor of Summanus
(the god of nocturnal thunder - ha, I like that...)

I'll skip the part about tagging five friends since most of my friends are blogless and would be rather amused if they knew what I was doing in my spare time... But I hope you will be inspired to check out your own birthday on Wikipedia -- I certainly learned a number of facts I didn't know before!

By the way, just wondering what the word "meme" means... is it something to do with the French "même" ("self")? Does anyone know?

I'll leave you with some pictures from our holiday in South Tyrol, taken at the Museum of Ethnography in Bruneck:

Hello...

2007-05-29T14:27:00.000+02:00

Uh... anyone still out there?

I sincerely apologise for my long absence from this blog, but life got in the way! There have been some ups and downs, lots of work, and above all an incredibly beautiful spring to enjoy, so during the last two months my time in front of the computer screen has been drastically reduced.

Instead, I've been busy baking rhubarb tarts...

... and enjoying outdoor life in my garden.

Not much knitting has been going on around here lately, but this has been finished for some time:

Pattern: my own
Materials: 1 large (150 g) ball of Regia 6fädig Tweed, colour 53
Tools: 3 mm circular knitting needles

I bought a second ball of yarn halfway through the back because I was afraid one would not be enough -- turns out it wasn't necessary after all, but I would have been extremely nervous if I hadn't bought it! It was this close...:

Well, I hope to be back to posting (more or less) regularly sometime soon. I still have that Guernsey knitting to show that I promised in my last post...! Right now, however, I have some broken bones to deal with -- not my own luckily, but still quite a strain on my daily routine. I'm glad I still have my old straight knitting needles (I only use circulars these days, even for flat knitting) -- they are great tools for scratching inside the cast!

Work in Progress

2007-03-14T12:23:00.000+01:00

Sorry it's been so quiet around here, but I simply haven't had anything to show you. And I'm afraid I am definitely lacking the talent to write an interesting post with absolutely nothing to say! I really envy those people who know how to do this...

But now there is finally work in progress again! Out of sheer neccessity I have started a new project, something spontaneous that suddenly occurred to me and had to be started right away. It's my son's fault, actually, that I couldn't concentrate on the 1001 projects I was already planning to do, but had to start something completely new. He is one and a half years old now and GROWING! All of a sudden he seems to have outgrown all his clothes, so last Friday I went shopping and came home with three huge bags full of new things for him. But with spring on the doorstep I definitely refuse to go out and buy him any more warm sweaters that will be too small after the summer! So on a whim I decided to knit a slipover for him to keep him snug and cozy on those sunny yet chilly spring days.

(By the way, I often see what I would call a "slipover" called a "vest" -- but then what is the difference between a sleeveless sweater that you have to slip over your head and a sleeveless cardigan that you button up in front, which is what I would call a "vest"? Could someone whose English is better than mine please enlighten me?!)

At first, I was thinking of a simple yet interesting rib pattern, something that knits up quickly and still won't leave me bored after a few rows. But when I started swatching I suddenly found myself knitting patterns that were getting more and more complicated... until I realized I was in the middle of designing a whole Guernsey pattern! (I am so obsessed with Guernsey patterns, I think they are so beautiful, especially the vertical ones. But that is a topic for another post or two... -- I have Guernsey plans for the near future, so stay tuned!)

Anyway, I sort of pulled the emergency brake on my design and turned back to my original idea of something quick and easy. I want this finished in one or two weeks and not start something too complicated for mindless speed-knitting! So I settled for a simple rib and cable pattern that is still fun to knit, and I am quite pleased with my progress so far.

(Sorry, no pictures of the Guernsey swatches, I ripped them before I remembered to take out my camera!)

Too many projects...

2007-02-23T10:47:00.000+01:00

All my knitting projects are on hold right now due to a serious lack of time... and it doesn't help either that all my WIPs aren't works in progress but works in planning. Wish I had a mindless knitting project lying around that I could simply pick up to knit a few rows whenever I have a few spare minutes!

Right now my main priority is spring cleaning the house -- even though it's not officially spring yet, the weather certainly makes me think of spring! So it's high time to get some fresh air into the house and make some space. I really need to throw out all the stuff that has accumulated over the last few months! (Months? Years! I even found some newspaper articles dating way back from 1998...) I have too much of everything: too many books, too many magazines, too many clothes, too many knitting and sewing supplies -- time to be honest and ask myself how much of all this I really want to keep. And it does feel so good to get rid of things that don't fit into my life anymore!

A few days ago I was at my parents' house and looked through some boxes that had been hidden away in their attic for ages -- most of what was in them ended up in the waste bin as well, but I did find some interesting things. First of all, look at this swatch I knitted when I was about 15:

I remember drawing some patterns during a boring school lesson and saying to the friend who was sitting next to me, this would be an interesting pattern to knit. She just looked at me as if I was mad and said, yeah, right, go ahead. And I did! I don't think I ever showed her the swatch, but I felt very good about actually knitting it. Compared to my standards today, the quality of the knitting is terrible -- my tension was way off, and I had obviously never given a single thought to being consistent in holding one colour above the other. Just look at this mess!

Nevertheless, it was fun to dig this up again. The design is a bit psychedelic, but who knows, I might end up using it for something one day. This swatch is certainly something that won't go into the bin -- if only for the sake of a big grin...!

There were some treasures, too, which I had completely forgotten about. I found four balls of this...

... which I will probably use for a Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I just love this design! I have never knitted lace before and I'd really like to try.

And finally, there was some lovely wollen fabric, which perfectly matches the Schilf yarn I bought in Austria. This will make a nice skirt to wear with the cardigan!

Now I really need to make a priority list of all the knitting (and sewing) projects I want to do. So many plans, and so little time! How can I decide what to do first???

To frog or not to frog...

2007-02-18T22:04:00.000+01:00

It's not going to work. My stocking-to-be is just not going to fit. I have to face it, there is no use in trying to deceive myself any longer! I don't know if it's the pattern, or if my knitting is way too tight, or if my calves are too thick -- fact is, it simply won't fit.

So what do I do? Frog everything and start over? But more stitches means I have to recalculate the whole pattern. Which I suppose doesn't really matter, since I decided I don't like the cables my pattern uses anyway. I find them much too fiddly, especially when knitting with such thin needles. So I was thinking of ripping back to the ribbing and designing my own cable pattern anyway. But that still leaves me with the decision if I really want to frog those 12 cm of ribbing that were so boring to knit and start all over again? Right now that thought is just too frustrating to contemplate!

So... maybe my first sock will be just that -- a sock, and not a stocking after all.

It's a sock!

2007-02-10T19:59:00.000+01:00

Well, not quite yet, but it's going to be. A stocking actually, to be more accurate. There's not much to see yet except for about 10 cm of ribbing -- knit on 2 mm DPNs this was NOT fun...! Luckily I only have 2 more cm to do before I can start on the interesting part: cables! I finally found a pattern that is interesting enough and that is written exactly for my size, so hopefully there will be no calculating to do. I'm a bit worried -- I tried to take one of those popular "I'm wearing my half-finished sock with the needles sticking out" pictures, but I couldn't even pull my stocking-to-be halfway over my calf. I do hope this is because the needles prevented the ribbing from stretching enough and not because I have too few stitches. I know my knitting is very tight, so it might turn out to be too small after all. (Swatch? What swatch? This is my swatch...) Compared with the ribbing on my skiing stockings the width looks alright, though. So I will stick to the instructions for now and see how it goes -- I can still rip later, or decide to turn this into a sock instead.

Wish me luck!!!

Temptation

2007-02-02T22:32:00.000+01:00

Yesterday two friends and I went on a little day trip to Austria to visit Spinnerei Jordan.

In a time when most yarn manufacturers seem to think in terms of soft-softer-softest and the shops are full of novelty yarns, it was so very refreshing to see a whole room full of sturdy traditional new wool! I am a rather conservative person when it comes to chosing yarn for my knitting -- I have tried all sorts of yarns, but I still like the good old solid wool best. A shop like this will make me happy any time!!! The only thing not traditional was their colour palette: who could resist buying yarn named Wildente (wild duck), Blutorange (blood orange), Erdbeereis (strawberry ice cream) or Kornblume (cornflower)? Very tempting indeed...

Now you might wonder... was this my first lapse in my resolution to buy no more yarn, with only one month of the year gone? Well, the trip was planned several months ago, so in my mind I had already added the yarn I was going to buy to my stash. Maybe that's cheating myself... but I like to think of it that way. [*VBG*] Besides, I was very good and bought only enough yarn for one cardigan. (The three skeins for a baby vest and two for a ski hat don't really count, do they? Ahem...)

The colour I bought is Schilf (reed) and the picture doesn't do it any justice at all, it is such a lovely pale green with just a hint of brown in between. I can't wait to see how it looks knitted up! I have no pattern for the cardigan yet, but I am thinking of some traditional Bavarian twisted stitch cables.

Talking about cables... I wish I could give you some news about my Aran slipover, but the planning for this has come to a complete standstill. I have been thinking about it quite a bit, but I just haven't found enough time to get back into the design process. This is not something I can do in a few "stolen" moments in between other jobs; I need some undisturbed hours to think everything through. (And I must admit, right now I am much more tempted to knit some swatches with my beautiful Schilf wool...) -- This project is still on top of my "To Do" list, though, so hopefully I will be able to report some progress soon!

The other thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is that sock knitting thing... -- thanks to Juliana and Sabine for your advice! Over the last few weeks I have been studying so many patterns and sock tutorials in books, magazines and on the internet -- I think my problem is that there are just too many possibilities! Do I knit from the top or do I knit toe-up? Do I want a traditional heel or a short row heel? What kind of toe... cables or lace... socks or stockings -- the decisions I have to make seem endless! So for now I am still waiting for the perferct pattern to come along, the one that just jumps at me and says "knit me as I am and stop thinking about it"...

Sweater Recycling

2007-01-29T15:01:00.000+01:00

Remember the sweater I showed you in my welcome post back in November? The one from 1989 that is so huge? Well, I had another one I made about the same time that was even bigger. It was huge even for that time and I don't think I wore it more than once or twice. I remember re-knitting the neck several times to make it less bulky, without much success. Guess I wasn't any good at planning my knitting back then! Just look at this, compared to what I'm wearing now:

Well, that monster has been filling up my wardrobe ever since. I could never quite make myself throw it out, even though I knew nobody was ever going to wear it. It was too big even for all the men in my family! So I pushed it to the very back of my wardrobe and ignored it for most of the time, only sometimes thinking about what in the world I could possibly do with it. A few weeks ago, inspiration finally struck me! I took out my scissors and, without thinking much about what I was doing, simply cut the whole thing up.

Then I did some measuring...

.... some steeking...

... some more cutting...

... some sewing...

...and finally, some knitting (luckily I still had some of the original yarn).

And like phoenix rising from the ashes... my new old sweater!

I am so happy how this turned out, I am already planning my next recycling project...

Snow!

2007-01-24T10:58:00.000+01:00

Finally, winter has decided to make an appearance! And of course, although the weather forecasts have predicted this for the last four days at least, nobody seems to be prepared and the whole region has been plunged into chaos. Does nobody ever listen to weather forecasts?

I'm lucky to have a few hours left before I have to leave the house, so I will cuddle up on the couch, light a candle, listen to some Mozart and pick up my long neglected knitting. Over the last two weeks or so I've been working on a very satisfying project which is nearly finished now. Here's a sneak preview:

No knitting but more resolutions...

2007-01-14T15:48:00.000+01:00

January has been very busy so far, so I haven't been able to do much knitting. Sorry, no more swatches for my Aran to show you... I have been thinking a lot about how to combine the patterns I have chosen, and about the pattern for the centre panel. But all I have managed to do are a few rough sketches on whatever paper I found lying around.

I have also been thinking about the knitting resolutions I wrote about in my last post, and there are two more things I really want to do this year:

Knit my first pair of socks
Can you believe I have been knitting for more than 28 years and have never made any socks?! Somehow, this is something that has never really appealed to me -- I guess I have always been put off by all those self-striping socks you find in the pattern books and, nowadays, on so many blogs. I hope I'm not offending anybody by saying this, seeing how popular those yarns are, but I just don't like them! Lately I have seen some really beautiful socks though, made with textured and Fair Isle or Norwegian patterns, and this is what has finally made me want to knit socks, too. I have already bought some Regia, but of course, being me, I can't simply choose a pattern and start knitting -- like with most things I knit, I want to make my own design! So I guess it'll still be some time before there'll be anything for you to see...

Learn a "proper" way to hold the yarn in stranded knitting
I have done a fair bit of multi-coloured knitting in my life, but I have never managed to learn an elegant way to hold both yarns at the same time. I'm always switching between the two strands and that makes progress really slow! So with all those georgeous books about Fair Isle knitting and all those online tutorials around, I finally want to take the time to sit down and try one of the methods to hold both strands at the same time. I have so many ideas for stranded knitting projects, I simply can't afford to knit slowly anymore!

Knitting Resolutions

2007-01-01T15:05:00.000+01:00

Welcome 2007... -- I can't believe there's another year gone. A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU! May all your hopes and dreams for this year come true...

Somehow, the first day of the new year always seems to be a good day to review the past year and think about what you want to change in the year to come. I am no exception... -- As far as my knitting is concerned, I am not very happy with what I have achieved in 2006 and feel I need to make some serious changes!

Here are my knitting goals for 2007:

Knit more
No more sitting idly in front of the TV because I'm too lazy to get up and fetch my knitting -- even if it's just for 10 minutes watching the news! I'm always complaining how little time I have for knitting, but I guess it's just a matter of getting organized better. I'm also determined to stop spending so much of my precious time on the internet -- it's fun and great inspiration to read all those craft blogs out there, but it's a real time killer. Just think how much knitting I could get done instead!

Reduce stash
Do I need to say much about this...? I won't join any "Knit from your stash" KALs or set myself any strict rules since I'm not much of a person to follow rules anyway. It should be enough to know how bad I feel about all the yarn I have stored under my bed -- it's really beginning to bother me!!! Besides, there is some very beautiful yarn in those boxes and what good is it to me stored away and out of sight?! Knitting something nice for myself out of those yarns should be all the encouragement I need. I am not saying I won't buy any more yarn at all, but there will definitely be no more impulsive stash additions this year!

Sort out my book shelves
Same problem as the stash problem... Over the last years, I bought just too many knitting books and magazines through eBay and Amazon -- they all sounded so tempting, but to be honest I was rather disappointed with what I got more than once. Now my shelves are overflowing, and I am desperate to make some space. So some time soon I will spend a day or two going through all my books and keep only those I really treasure. Those will be more than enough to keep me supplied with knitting ideas for the rest of my life anyway!

Well, none of this sounds too difficult to achieve, but I know it will be a real challenge for me. I will keep you updated on my progress...

Swatching

2006-12-28T23:37:00.000+01:00

Funny how Christmas seems to come so suddenly and unexpected every year... you keep thinking you have all the time in the world to finish your presents and baking and decoration, and all of a sudden you realize how little time there is actually left. So -- despite my best intentions -- once again I was rushing to get everything finished at the very last possible minute. Sorry, not a single moment left to log into my blog and wish you all a Merry Christmas... I do hope you had a wonderful time with your families and friends, though! I'm enjoying a few quiet days after all the running around and meeting people, and slowly my mind is getting back into a crafty mood. No time for knitting over Christmas, no fiber-related gifts, not even a new knitting book -- I am seriously beginning to suffer from deprivation!

I finally found the time to knit up some swatches for my Aran slipover last night:

Still not sure about the centre panel, not sure about the bobbles either -- I'm not even sure I like the yarn. Somehow it feels far too soft for Aran-style knitting, even though the cables do show nicely. I guess I will have to knit a few more swatches, maybe it's just one of my not-sure-about-anything days. It's nice to do some knitting again anyway; after all the crocheting I've been doing lately I really enjoy working with two needles again. I can't wait to get through the planning stage and cast on for this project!

Done!

2006-12-20T22:20:00.000+01:00

Finished just in time to wear for Christmas:

Pattern: Burda SH 414/78, pattern no. 1412
Materials: just over 350 g of Schachenmayr Extra (100 % new wool), colour 3521 (black)
Tools: crochet hook 4,5 mm
Modifications: added four pattern repeats to get the required width, did only two rows of border pattern instead of four

I am very happy with the result, although this took me a lot longer to finish than I had expected and I was thoroughly fed up with the flower motif towards the end. I did enjoy the crocheting as such - it was only my second major crochet project ever, the first being a very colourful granny square afghan I made when I was about 20. I had hardly even touched a crochet hook since then and was a bit nervous when I started this shawl if I was up to the challenge. It turned out to be quite easy actually, once I knew what I was doing. Here is a big THANK YOU to Angelika for getting me started with the stitches!

B***ty on the Blocking Board

2006-12-18T23:18:00.000+01:00

I am extremely pleased...

Edit (February 2007): I keep getting spam comments for this post, so I suppose I must have used some keywords that trigger certain people's search engines... I have now "disfigured" one of the words I suspect, so let's hope this will solve the problem.

It's a mad world

2006-12-17T00:12:00.000+01:00

Today I felt like baking Christmas cookies, so I got out my recipe books, wrote a shopping list and headed over to my local supermarket - only to find they had already cleared away all the Christmas baking stuff! When I asked a member of the staff about this, I was told "oh, but we're now selling products for New Year's Eve".

Excuse me???

Please tell me if I am hopelessly behind schedule if I want to do some Christmas baking a week before Christmas? -- Well, I guess I am, considering they start selling Christmas products in September...

But there is good news, too: the crochet shawl is finished and I hope to be able to block it tomorrow. So stay tuned for pictures some time soon...!

Planning Ahead

2006-12-08T21:26:00.000+01:00

The crochet shawl is growing slowly, but my mind is already occupied with my next project - a tight-fitting, heavily cabled slipover. Here's a rough sketch of what I have in mind:

I have the yarn, a soft merino wool in a classic off-white, and I have picked a number of patterns to try out. I haven't decided on a pattern for the centre panel yet, but I already have a quite clear idea of what the sides are going to look like. I've never cared much for bobbles, but somehow I feel I need lots of bobbles here! Funny how things you always thought you didn't like suddenly become desirable... I used to think slipovers were hopelessly old-fashioned and until last winter I would never ever have thought of wearing one. Then I saw a friend wearing an aran slipover and instantly knew I had to make one for myself! I've been too busy with everyday life all during the year to get started before now, but I really want to wear this before the winter is over! (-- Not that it has even begun yet here in Germany - temperatures have been more like spring lately rather than snow and ice like you would expect and hope for in mid-December... --)

Thanks...

2006-11-29T10:50:00.000+01:00

... for the nice comments on my blog! It feels good to get positive feedback, especially since the whole blogging thing is all new to me and I still have to figure out the "rules"...

I know I don't have much time for knitting or all the other crafts I'd like to do, and I can't promise I will be able to post regularly, but I do hope I can make this a blog you will enjoy to look at!

Birthday Present

2006-11-26T23:30:00.000+01:00

I needed a birthday present for a friend and decided this was the perfect opportunity to make one of those knitting needle cases I have seen on various blogs lately.

This was a fun project, easy to sew, and it took only just over two hours to finish. I am definitely going to make more of these! I am already planning one for circular needles - and maybe a smaller one for crochet hooks, too? So many possibilities ...

Here's another image rolled and tied up:

Nordic Impressions

2006-11-23T15:25:00.000+01:00

I just got home from a four day trip to Oslo - what a treat to be back in this beautiful city after such a long time! I went to see a friend who moved there last year, and a visit was long overdue. I didn't do much sightseeing, I just walked around the streets and spent quite a lot of time browsing through book and yarn shops.

One of the places I did visit was the Norsk Folkemuseum, a wonderful open air museum with lots of old houses from all over Norway. You can just wander around all day and discover the most fascinating things - like this interesting object:

It's a "mangletre", a wooden board used for ironing linen sheets. The still damp cloth would be wrapped around a wooden cylinder and then the wrinkles would be smoothed by rolling the flat side of the board back and forth over the cylinder. I tried the board in the picture, and it was really hard work! The museum has quite a few beautifully carved examples of these boards in its collections and they are very common with horse-shaped handles. I have read that a mangletre was often used as a betrothal gift a young man would hand-carve for his fiancée - now doesn't that sound romantic! But honestly, would you agree to marry a man who gives you an iron as an engagement present...?

There was a display of traditional lefse baking in one of the old baking houses; I've never before tasted such good lefser, still warm from the open fire and dripping with melted butter!

Sorry the picture is out of focus, but it was quite dark in there and that lady was constantly moving around. I just thought I had to show you that gorgeous Setesdal cardigan she was wearing. Those "lusekofter" - "lice jackets" - are most common in black and white, but hers was grey and white and I liked that colour combination a lot. I've been wanting to knit myself a Setesdal cardigan for a long time, and I think if I do these will be "my" colours. By the way, if you want to find out more about lusekofter, you must read Annemor Sundbø's wonderful book "Setesdal Sweaters"!

I didn't bring home much knitting stuff, just some Dale yarn and some pattern leaflets. I was actually quite disappointed with the current Dale patterns, I didn't see anything I was even remotely interested in. But then again, I don't really need any more pattern ideas and no more yarn either - being a "typical" knitter I have plenty of both...!

Two is company, three is even better company!

2006-11-10T22:21:00.000+01:00

I had two knitting friends over today and we spent the whole day chatting about our latest projects, pattern books and yarn acquisitions. It was a beautiful sunny day, there was good food, and we even managed to get some work done!

I made some progress on my current WIP - not a knitting project, though. It's a crochet shawl from an ancient BURDA magazine - an original vintage pattern from 1978! The yarn I'm using is much thinner than the original yarn, so I had to add 4 pattern repeats to get the required width. This adds up to the incredible sum of 136 flower motifs, each of which has two ends to weave in...

Well, 108 down, only 28 to go!

Words of Welcome

2006-11-05T00:58:00.000+01:00

I've been struggling with HTML and CSS for weeks, but I figured it's about time to leave things as they are and finally start posting. There will still be some minor changes to the layout sooner or later, but for now...

... a warm welcome to KNOTWORKNITS!

This will mainly be a blog about knitting, but no doubt you will be reading about other things once in a while as well - some crochet, some sewing, some cooking, ... You will not, however, see any pictures of cats, dogs, or socks made from self-striping yarn!

My knitting history goes way back to craft lessons in primary school, and I remember coming home in tears because I just couldn't figure out how to purl! 28 years and millions of purl stitches later, my favourite knitting projects are cables of any kind and Fair Isle/Norwegian colour knitting - the more complicated a pattern, the better! I usually prefer to design my own patterns than following someone else's instructions, and eventually I would like to make some of my patterns available on this site.

For now I will leave you with a picture of the first Aran sweater I ever knit, back in 1989 when a sweater just couldn't be too big. Not much planning went into it - two huge rectangles and some simple stitch patterns, that's all. Good thing that oversized garments are coming back into fashion, so I might actually be able to wear this again!

Does the world need another knitting blog?

2006-10-11T20:44:00.000+02:00

Certainly not, but since everyone's having fun showing off their knitting, I finally decided to join the party...

Well, there's still much work to do to make this blog presentable, so I hope to see you later!