Born to knit

Same Time Next Year

Last weekend on the island of Edö it felt as if the end of summer was near.

I took the opportunity to enjoy a bit of knitting on the jetty. And a last dip in the sea.

I´m working on a cardigan in a lovely denim blue cotton yarn from Huskroken.

On needles size 2 mm (US0). I know that I might seem a bit of a masochist making a whole cardigan in stocking stitches on such small needles but in my own peverted way I do enjoy it.

This is the back and the two front bits.

I´ve been knitting and re-knitting the sleeves but I think that I´ve finally got them right.

Now all I´ve got to do is sew the pieces together and try it on to see if it fits me.

I have high hopes for this cardigan. It has gussets that I think will create the illusion of a waist.

What do you think? Will it hide all the bumpy bits and make it look as if I am still shapely?

I have a similar cardigan in white that I made a few years ago and it´s become my favourite.

Oh, how I love gussets!

And beads.

I love gussets and beads. The cardigan has a beaded edging.

The pattern is a vintage one, but I´ve changed it quite a bit so it no longer looks very much like the original cardigan.

Japanese beads. No other beads will do.

Thank you for all the comments of sympathy about my broken knitting needle.

As much as I´d love to blame anyone for what happened I think that it was entirely my fault.

I don´t feel that it would be right to ask KnitPicks to replace the needle. I really should not have stuffed my knitting bag with a wet towel, water bottles and a book while carrying such a delicate needle. Or I should have made sure the needle stayed on top out of harm´s way.

Now, I don´t want to disappoint the readers of this blog who come here to look at pink knitting.

I have not abandoned pink yarn, there is still plenty in my stash. 

As a matter of fact I´ve started a whole dress in pink linen yarn. 

Pink enough for you, I hope!

But since the summer is more or less over I think it will have to hibernate on Edö. 

And I have a feeling that this autumn, winter and spring will be great. I´m taking a course in traditional knitting from different regions of Sweden at HV, School of Craft. 

It´s called the "Knit Trip" and starts tomorrow! I look forward to meeting the teacher Karin Kahnlund.

So I´d better go and start packing. The first destination is Skåne in the south of Sweden and we´ll be learning all about Spede sweaters.

Lana Merino Extrafino

Si, I returned from my holiday in Italy bearing new yarn. It´s a lovely forest green laceweight merino wool. It was a bargain. And I´m only human.

We stayed in a hotel in Riccione, just outside Rimini – a popular seaside resort. 

We spent most of the week going from the pool to the beach and back again. 

As usual we had a lovely view from our hotel room:

There were quite a few derelict buildings in that area.

One day we went to San Marino to admire the view from 749 metres (2,457 ft) above the sea level instead. And that was pretty spectacular.

Another day my Italian-speaking friend Anki and I went into the little, old town of Rimini on our own – leaving husbands and children to enjoy themselves at a ghastly wonderful place called Aquafan. 

And we managed to find not one, but three yarn shops!

The first one we came to was very small, but crammed full of yarn. It was called "Lucia Bianchi" and situated at Via Garibaldi N. 87. I had of course forgotten to bring the camera, so there are no pictures I´m afraid. I know, I´m such a plonker!

Signorina Bianchi didn´t spare herself, but climbed ladders and rooted through cupboards and brought out cashmere, silk and the softest merino wool I´ve ever felt. And when she gave me a "good price" for all the green skeins she had left in stock I was down for the count... 

There were two more yarn shops a bit further up that street and I should of course have written down the exact addresses. One sold wool on big cones, mainly for machine knitting I guess. I was very tempted to bring back a big cone of pink angora – but unfortunately we travelled with hand luggage only.

Only having hand luggage also meant that it was hard for me to take a knitting, because I wasn´t sure if I would be allowed to bring the needle on board the plane. So I went to Marias garn and bought a brand new needle especially for this trip – a wooden circular one from Knitpicks. 

I had no problem getting it through security and managed to knit a little each day before it got too hot.

But on Friday  that week disaster struck! When I returned from the beach and unpacked my knitting bag I found my precious Knitpicks needle broken in two.

My husband took one look at my face and went and locked himself in the bathroom, while the brave children tried to comfort me. 

– Isn´t it lucky that we´re going home tomorrow, mummy.

And indeed it was. Home to my old, sturdy Addi turbos.

This is what DISASTER looks like. In case you wondered.

There is a Swedish saying that is oh so true:

To be away is good – but to be home is better!