Born to knit

The Troubling Number Two

The mittens are finally finished, all three of them.
Yes, Johanne started knitting another pair in an alternative colourway, but decided that the first choice was the better of the two.
It would be more useful if she made a fourth mitten to go with the third mitten, but that might take a while.
You´ll soon see why.

The last few days Johanne´s been at home with a sick and ill Ludvig and to cheer him up she started making him the much longed for Malabrigo hat with ear flaps that you can tie under the chin.
All according to Ludvig´s own wishes.

As a surprise Johanne decided to add some silver lurex letters that form the words Star Wars.
It might have something to do with having to sit next to Ludvig in the sofa watching "The Return of the Jedi" over and over.
Then again it might just be sheer coincidence.

After all the mitten-knitting Johanne really enjoys knitting a hat. When you knit hats you only have to make one.
We all know what happens when you knit things like socks, sleeves and – yes mittens.
You have to make two almost exactly the same. What a bore.
That´s why Johanne loves knitting hats.

And Ludvig was thrilled when he found his nearly finished hat this morning.
Even though he can´t read he immediately recognized the Star Wars logo.
But we all know what happens when you have two kids and make one of them a hat, right?
When Elise discovered that her brother was getting a new knitted hat she, of course, wanted one, too.

At least it doesn´t have to be exactly the same, Johanne consoles herself.
And nothing makes a child so happy as getting a new knitted hat.
Just look at little Eva. She loves her beaded hat in soft baby wool that Johanne made for her when she was newborn.

Little Eva´s mum Teresia is an accomplished knitter in her own right, but without a blog.
So Johanne asked if she could post a picture of the really cool scarf that Teresia made for Eva´s older sister Ellen.
Here it is.

Luckily Elise won´t demand that Johanne makes her one of those. She´s already got one. Sort of.

Ribbit! Ribbit!

Maybe it has escaped someone´s notice, but there is to be a mitten competition in Stockholm at the yarn store Nysta very soon.
Therefor Johanne has spent the entire weekend knitting mittens.

Or to put it more accurately – she has spent the entire weekend knitting just one mitten and frogging it. Several times.
The first attempt... oh, well let´s not go into boring details here. Or this could go on forever.
Just like Johanne´s knitting.

To cheer herself up while she´s frogging she taken to humming a little tune under her breath.
It´s called "We all stand together", and is the only song featuring both an ex-Beatle and a Frog Chorus.
Very much fitting the occasion.

One line is particularly cheerful. And appropriate. It goes:
"One thing is certain, we´ll never give in."
Who, but Paul McCartney could put it so eloquently?

The mitten is now more than half way done.
And this time it looks as if if could actually fit someone human.

Using the same yarn over and over again is excellent if you wish to make your stash last that little bit longer.
True, it is beginning to look slightly worse for wear after all the frogging.
But maybe there will some kind of consolation prize for "The Most Knitted Mitten".
That Johanne stands a good chance to win.

Mission accomplished

Johanne was getting ready to pop open the champagne. The cardigans for her
nephews were done at last. Buttons sewn on and everything.
But... Something didn´t look quite right.

Like where were the sleeves on Hampus´cardigan?
Oh, tucked behind a cushion in the sofa.
The champagne had to wait until the next day.

But finally the cardigans were done, sleeves and all.
Johanne delivered them personally into the hands of her dear sister Filippa.

And yesterday four-year-old Hampus phoned up to say thank you and ask:
– How good are you at knitting really?

Johanne had to admit that she´s fairly good at knitting. But still not
good enough to keep up with her other skill – yarn buying.
She is, if truth be told, so good at buying yarn that it´s almost frightening.

There is no way Johanne could ever knit at the same pace with which she acquires new yarn.
Unless... Unless she stopped sleeping. Now there´s a thought.
Of course, she might look a wee bit rough if she went without sleep. But it could be well worth it.

Cute nephews sans cardigans

Sleepless in Stockholm

Something woke Johanne up last night. It was a voice inside her head. It said:
– Oi, how can you SLEEP when you still haven´t decided what to knit with that pink Koigu?

The clock showed that it was only three in the morning. Johanne tried to go back to sleep.
It was impossible. The voice was right. She didn´t have a clue what to do with the pink Koigu.
Pink Koigu is special. You can´t just knit anything with it.

The pink Koigu was a Christmas present from American Santa.
She also sent Johanne this yarn:

The label says it´s sock yarn. But noone in their right mind would make socks with such lovely yarn, right?
Surely it´s shawl-worthy. Thin and soft and beautiful.

Then there was this yarn.

It´s a merino-tencel blend in a pure, warm pink. And wait – there´s more:
It was handspun by Wendy herself and her friend L–B!
When Johanne saw this soft and shiny yarn she knew immediately that it was (hand)made for a hat.

But American Santa can sure be a troublemaker. Swedish knitters aren´t used to such exclusive yarns.
Pink Koigu is almost too much to handle.
Should it perhaps become something lacey? Or matching hats for Johanne and her daughter Elise?
Or beaded wristlets?
Because Johanne didn´t get enough sleep last night she is too tired today to make a decision...