Garn Boet - The Yarn Nest

The red pile is finished. The bear shawl Fifi III is already shown, and here is the rest.

First in the pile are the socks. These socks have a, for me, new heel, and a new toe. The heel is a combination of short rows and 2ktog: s, and incredible comfortable to wear. I didn’t follow Nancy Bush’s directions for the short rows, since they would have resulted in a row of holes (this was the intention behind the pattern), and to me they didn’t look good, just like ill-done short rows. I also made the 2ktog: s on the right side as SSK: s, in order to create symmetry. The toe is done with 2ptog: s in triangular shapes, and is comfortable, but a bit weird looking. All in all a very nice pattern.

Projects details: Rib and cable socks by Nancy Bush for Interweave Knits Fall 2005.
Yarn: Novita Nalle Colori in red, less than one ball (to be exact 102 g).
Needles: 2, 5 mm.
Gauge: 29 stitches and 38 rows to make 10x 10 cm in stockinette.
Alterations: Short rows without holes, symmetrical decreases.

See all entries on Rib and Cable Socks

The next on in the pile is the Flower basket Shawl. With my yarn and needles I got a pretty small shawl, even smaller than the picture in the magazine. It is very soft, and the pattern is easy to knit. My yarn choice was perhaps not the most genial; I think the alpaca I used is a bit too thick. But it is a lovely yarn, and the shawl is very soft and fluffy.

Project details: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark for Interweave Knits Fall 2004.
Yarn: Drops Alpaca, 1, 5 balls.
Needles: 4, 5 mm.
No alterations.

See all entries on Flower Basket Shawl

And at the bottom is Flirty. I’m still a bit undecided when it comes to the colour. I would like it brighter, now it a something close to brick red, and I feel I’m fading away in it. I know a dye bath would fix it in no time, still I hesitate.

Project details: Flirty by Sasha Kagan for Rowan 37.
Yarn: Rowan 4ply cotton, less than 3 balls in shade 132 (the pattern said 4 of main colour + 1 for the edges…)
Needles: 3mm, crochet hook 2, 5 mm.
Gauge: 28 stitches and 38 rows in rib to make 10 x 10 cm.
Alterations: I changed the crocheted edging and omitted the beads.

See all entries on Flirty

Posted by Maud at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

We have a secret pal exchange going on in Finland! The Salainen Neule Ystävä Exchange will continue until November, and I got yesterday the first sign from my pal. It was a card sent from Tallinn, Estonia, with greetings! Now I can conclude that my pal 1) Visited Tallinn on August the second, or 2) do live in Tallinn, or 3) has a good friend in Tallinn who has promised to send the card. Hmmm, that was pretty many alternatives… Thank you secret pal! And you, that information sheet you got about me, it wasn’t very informative, was it? No, I don’t think so either. I hope I didn’t sound too cranky, but I have been knitting for quite a long time, and one creates quite a lot of likes and dislikes. I’ll try to put small hints in my blog postings too, just to help you out.

Click to zoom out!

The sun is back, and it has motivated me to work on my Flirty top. I started to crochet the edging as the pattern told, but did soon rip it out and start to work out a different kind of picot edging. The way the pattern wanted it to be done created very high spikes very close to each. It took very long time to crochet, but patience wasn’t the problem. Patience is my middle name, and I have a lawyer’s degree and Elfin to prove it. The problem was that the tightly placed spikes were very hard to make stay flat, since there were two dc in every second dc from the first row. The wavy effect looked like there were too many stitches. Not good. So I changed the picot to a rounder arch and added two dcs between the picot. Now I like it!

Nelli got her shawl! Fifi III is blocked and the bear has received it. The size is almost perfect for a cosy shawl to snuggle up in in front of the fire in the winter. Bear and girl are both very pleased.

Project details: Fifi III by Sari Åström (pattern available only in Finnish)
Yarn: Pirkka thin in bright red.
Needles: 3,5 mm.
Other: I only knitted 1,5 X the middle chart in order to make the shawl small. A very well written pattern, the shawl is an ideal one for a beginner in lace knitting.

See all entries on Fifi III

Posted by Maud at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I run into a slight problem when knitting the second front band of MIL's cable-trim jacket. It was very clear that I had to find another way to make the buttonholes, since the ordinary method would have made the second cast-off stitch to run into the cable. There are only two purl stitches between the cables, and this jacket is so heavy it needs bigger buttons than those going through a one stitch bind off or eyelet button hole. The answer was to be found in my knitting handbook Vogue knitting, a very good book for knitting problems like this. I highly recommend it.

A scrap yarn was knitted over the two stitches between the cables.

The stitches are picked up on the wrong side after the front band has been finished, plus two extra stitches in the edges.

One round is knitted with the main colour yarn, and the live stitches are stitched down one after another on the wrong side of the front band.

The buttonhole from the wrong side…

… and from the right side. Neat, isn’t it, with undisturbed cables.

And there was enough yarn for all the front bands, but only about 15 grams extra. I'm on to seaming now.

Early in the morning, coffe, blogs and Flirty from Rowan 37

I started a new project. This is my perfect timing, when the worst heat is over, the vacation is almost over (schools start in two weeks) and everybody over here starting to think about autumn, then I pick out my cotton yarn and start knitting a summer top. Okay, I did cast on when we were in the archipelago, but I haven’t had that much time to knit on it. It should be a fast knit, and I hope to be able to wear it before it cools down here finally. I’m a bit unsure about the colour, I ordered it without looking at the shade card in real, and it looked much brighter on my screen. I had in mind to make the crocheted parts in a pinker yarn, but it doesn’t go together with this colour at all. I think I have enough yarn in this colour to use in the crocheted parts too, and then I can dye over the whole thing in brighter red if it looks terrible.

On another note, remembering my agonies over Solveig Hisdal's beautiful but ill-fitting boxy sweaters? Take a look at Eunny's creation, I can't wait for that pattern to be out!

Posted by Maud at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)