Born to knit

From Sundsvall With Love

Last week I found myself in Sundsvall (a beautiful town in the north of Sweden).

I wish you could have been there, too.

 

You can go skiing not far from the city centre.

The sun was shining, the snow was glistening, people were skiing...

And I was merely standing there, at the top of the ski-slope admiring the view.

(Believe it or not, but doing things like that is on rare occasions part of my job)

Later on I met up with some Sundsvall-knitters in a café, so I didn´t have to spend the evening on my own in a boring hotel room.

Cina, who organized the evening, with Ingrid and Maria.

Maria runs the online yarn shop Garnkorgen  and she had brought some samples.

I couldn´t resist a skein of Louet Gems.

This still life is called "Winterberry in the snow".

Cina also runs a yarn shop in Sundsvall, called "Cina´s garn". 

I spent quite a lot of time in there the next day waiting for the train back to Stockholm.

And I did not go away emptyhanded, but in the good company of  the two latest Kim Hargreaves-books and some more yarn. 

(Yarn not pictured since it is destined to be a gift for someone who might be reading this. Plus I forgot to take a photo of Cina´s lovely shop)

The train was delayed both ways and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the train company SJ profoundly for all the extra knitting time this gave me! I finished a pair of mittens.

  

Or I would have finished the mittens if I hadn´t had to frog them and re-knit them. 

No matter how perfect I think a pattern is, there is always something that needs changing.

In this case it was the size, so I changed to smaller needles - and a few other minor details.

This is the first mitten, that was later frogged. But it looks almost the same now.

My first "Winter of Love"-mitten.

Can anyone guess what the writing on the second mitten will be?

Battling Dragons

The heroic Knight of Knitting sharpened her needles and went to work.

Three weeks later this she was still struggling going strong.

Two out of three dragons slayed, so to speak. 

And the third and littlest baby dragon nearly finished.

This little dragon cried "Wee, wee, wee, wee!"

Actually I only meant to knit one dragon hat and I started off making a hat for child of seven or eight. 

Then Sheri at "The Loopy Ewe" suggested that I make a size for an adult, too.

And the thought of a father-and-son-combo really appealed to me. Or mother-and-daughter, of course.

The baby dragon hat came along as an afterthought. I think the size will be for a one-year-old. 

I shall have to cruise all the playgrounds in the area and try on the hat on toddlers of various ages to make sure that I´ve got the size right.

It will probably make me quite notorious...

But there will be patterns, eventually.

And speaking of patterns – I believe that my other patterns are available again at "The Loopy Ewe".

 

Woof woof!

Or: How To Get a Ten-year-old To Wear a Hat When It´s Cold.

Last week we had a bit of a cold spell in Stockholm. We even had some snow.

On my way to work in the morning.

My daughter Elise, who will turn eleven quite soon, will no longer put a hat on. 

Not even when it´s freezing.

There is no way you can make them at this age. 

And even if you do they will take the hat off as soon as they are out of sight, anyway.

The only solution is to out-smart them.

 

Admittedly that is getting harder and harder.

But I must say that I had to pat myself on the back when I came up with this idea:

A hat with a dog pattern!

It would have to be a pretty darn cute pattern, though.

Something with paw prints, hearts and pink doggies.

Elise may have a dog hat, but she´s no publicity hound like her little brother.

It took some persuasion to make her pose for the blog.

But persuasion is no longer needed to make her put her hat on when it´s cold.

I might have to make her some matching mittens.

 

The yarn is alpaca, some of it hand dyed by Maria.

Now it can keep on snowing for all I care. 

Ah, if only all problems were as easy to solve as this one.

 

I would also like to apologize to all the hobbits in the Shires. 

I had totally misjudged your knitting skills and your need for warm, woolly socks.

One Track Mind

I´m sure that anyone bothering to read this blog would agree that there is only one proper way in which to celebrate.

Look here:

Yup. Its new yarn from Cherry Tree Hill.

I´m working hard to defend the title "Biggest CTH stash in Sweden".

So far I´ve never met anyone who´s dared to challenge me.

Yes, I admit that I felt a strong need to celebrate even before I had sold a single copy of my patterns.

But just putting the pattern together on the computer was a real struggle for someone with as mediocre computer skills as myself. 

I buy all my CTH yarn from "The Woolly Workshop" in England. 

I´ve never been there in person, but on the invoice it says that the shop is situated in the Shires.

You may correct me if I´m wrong, but isn´t that where all the hobbitses live?

Actually, I had no idea they could knit. 

While I´m working on the pattern for the Dragon hat I´ve had to put my old "Kakel Spektakel"- sweater on hold. 

I´m nearly ready to start the steeks for the sleeves, but it´s good to have a bit more time to mull over what to do with the neckline. I´m not always terribly well planned when I start a new pattern.

The problem with the rolling bottom edge has not vanished either.

Sometimes wishful thinking just doesn´t work. No harm in trying, though.