Born to knit

Finally: Two of Susanna´s

It´s never easy going back to ordinary, everyday life after a simply fabulous holiday, is it?
After being to Ally Pally Johanne has suffered more than usual from post-holiday-depression.

Not even her knitting has been going that well...

And the view from her office does NOTHING to cheer her up.

Sigh.

Just look how happy she was the other week, in front of someone else´s office.

This is Paul McCartney´s office in London, at Soho Square 1.
Johanne has spent rather a lot of time hanging out there in the past.

But this blog was supposed to be about knitting, not moaning.
And not all knitting has been going haywire.
Look at these wristlets, for example.

Handpainted alpaca yarn and wristlet pattern, both from Marias garn.

And if those wristlets failed to impress you – have a look at these!

No, there has not been a mistake. They are supposed to be different.

The pattern is called "One of Susanna´s", the yarn is Louet Gems
and the beads are Japanese. The whole kit was a gift from Wendy!

They are Johanne´s new favourite pärlmuddar. And Ludvig´s...

But he´s promised he´ll give them back as soon as his mother
makes him a pair of Star Wars-wristlets.

Wish You Were Here

This week the Born to Knit-blog brings you "The Knitting and Stitching Show"
at Alexandra Palace in London.

Johanne was there on Friday last week – and as you can see she wasn´t the only one.
But luckily there was yarn enough for everyone.

Entering the main hall Johanne thought she had died and gone to yarn heaven.
Everywhere she looked she saw silk, cashmere, alpaca, merino and mohair...
Solid, handdyed and au naturel.

First she went to the Get Knitted stand.

There she met up with Amelia and Polly, two great knitters who live in London.
Amelia had kindly promised to be her guide at Ally Pally and she did an excellent job.

First she took Johanne to The Woolly Workshop stand.

As you can tell from the sign they sold Cherry Tree Hill sockyarn.
Johanne had to return several times before she could make up her mind.
Finally she managed to pick two skeins.

What´s that? You want a closer look?
Okay.

Johanne became so infatuated with this yarn that it broke her heart to
leave all the other skeins.
And Johanne got the impression that Polly felt a bit the same.

But onwards to the next stand: KnitWitches Yarns

How about some handdyed cashmere laceweight?

The colour is actually burgundy. One of Johanne´s favourites.

But anyone with a nine-year-old daughter knows that you can´t come home
with cashmere for yourself and not give her any.
Sollution to that problem: more handpainted cashmere of course.

This is going to be a hat for Elise. The yarn comes from the Hipknits stand.
Johanne always reads Kerrie´s blog, so she was very pleased to meet Kerrie
in person with her beautiful baby Trinity.

When it was time for a little something Amelia and Polly took Johanne
to meet some of the other lovely London knitters.
They usually meet at Liberty´s tearoom on Thursdays to knit and natter.

This is Polly to the right and Jill to the left.

Here is Amelia to the right and Fiona to the left – in a knitted dress!
And in the middle is Jacinta, who is something of a blog queen,
despite not having a blog of her own.

But she does make guest appearances in so many other knitters´ blogs
that in order to make your blog a proper knit blog you might have to
have a picture of Jacinta. Unfortunately there are no free downloads to be had...

Finally Johanne would like to say a big THANK YOU to Amelia!

You really made my day.

It was hard to leave Alexandra Palace.
And not only because the queue for the bus was half a mile long...

But Johanne survived the rest of the weekend in London
and even managed to have a good time.

Meet the Girls

So glad you could make it to this opening of my virtual exhibition!
Please come in and have a look around.
And Wendy, you can put those bottles over there...
Awfully kind of you, you really shouldn´t!

Exhibit A

This is Tyra. She is a very traditional mitten.
The pattern is put together from various sweaters that can be
found in the county of Hälsingland.
The carnation is very typical for this particular area.
And the colours are the traditional red and green, but the green is
usually a bit brighter.

Exhibit B

Hjördis is the perfect mitten if you wish to practice stranded knitting.
The cuff is slightly fiddly, but not difficult.

Because the pattern is so simple you could also pick a yarn that is
variegated or experiment with changing colours like in a fair isle.
This yarn, however, is a wonderful silk-merino blend called Silla.

Let´s play spot the thumb!

The old sweaters from Hälsingland were usually knitted in black
and white wool and would be dyed red only after they were finished.

Exhibit C

The inspiration for Signe comes from an old cardigan from the 40´s.
The pattern is a bit unusual for Hälsingland.
It is perhaps more similar to old patterns from Norway,
though the owner of the cardigan is of Finnish descendant.

Hope you have enjoyed the show!