Born to knit

Do You Believe in Magic?

Magic skein. That´s what the name Zauberball means in English. And the magic really works – at least on me. 

I happened to look at my old hat pattern called Signe, that I made in black and white. Nothing wrong with that – but suddenly it struck me – how would that pattern look like in Zauberball?

I happened to have a little bit of a skein of Zauberball left and it was just enough for a hat. Magic!

Signe in Zauberball. 

I think that this colourway is my favourite – purple, pink, orange and yellow.

It´s really not the time of the year when one  yearns to wear a wooly hat...

The colours don´t look very natural perhaps. They are kind of bright next to the grey-blue sea and grey rocks. That is – until you see what colours nature itself can come up with.

 

  

The Flowers of Spring

I´ve spent the weekend on a remote island and as usual it was hard to pick what knitting to bring.

I decided to finish the blue and white Britta hat before I started something new. After a few alterations to the top of the  hat I was finally pleased enough to deem it finished and Ludvig agreed to model it for me. 

Quite brave for an eight-year-old boy I must say – and I hope that none of his school friends see this blog post or he will be teased at school. 

Though, the risk that any eight-year-old boy (in his right mind) would ever find this blog must be very minor, I must say.

Jackie, who often comments on my blog, asked a little while ago how I picked the colours. And I think that I had this pretty Swedish china in mind.

If you have been searching for a matching wool hat to wear when you´re having your coffee you can stop now. 

The design is called Mon Amie and comes from Rörstrand china manufacturer. The designer Marianne Westman got the inspiration one rainy Midsummer Eve – but can you guess how old it is?

I will leave the answer in the comments later.

Another reason might be that one of the first signs of Spring is the appearance of the blåsippa:

Anemone Hepatica

Yes, of course I know all the names of flowers in latin.

Just kidding. I had to look it up. But one of my sisters knows nearly all the names of flowers in latin. Maybe  I should knit her a Britta hat? My mum wanted a Britta hat, too. In cotton. But since I don´t want carpal tunnel syndrome I won´t be knitting her one. Ledsen, mamma.

The second hat that got the seal of approval this weeken was my old Inga Snöflinga hat – even though snowflakes don´t feel quite right this time of the year.

When I knit the lining for the hat in the larger size I forgot to use a smaller needle, so it ended up too wide. It was not a flattering shape – especially not for someone with a very small head and a pea brain to match it (that would be me).

But after re-knitting the lining and sewing it back in place it looked good enough to wear. Ludvig deserved some time off so I did the modelling myself. Took the photo myself, too. 

The result of serious multi-tasking.

You can´t really see that it´s silver lurex yarn, but it does have a sparkle. If you should ever need a wool hat to go disco dancing in – this is it, baby. 

 
 

A New Neighbour

Last Saturday I went to the last knit café at Maria´s garn shop. As usual it was packed with eager knitters.

I spent two hours there weaving in hundreds of ends on my Britta mittens (no questions about the thumbs, please) while talking and laughing.

Actually it was a little sad that it was Maria´s last knit café. She´s sold the shop and is "retiring" at the end of this month.

Luckily her successor is Karin – a lovely person and a talented knitter. Karin has one of the oldest knit blogs in Sweden. It´s called Litet Nystan – and that will also be the name of the shop when Karin takes over.

So while I´m sad to see Maria leave I also want to take this opportunity to welcome Karin to my 'hood!

Karin was in the shop on Saturday to say hello to everyone. 

Yes, I live just round the corner from one of the best yarn shops in Stockholm. Isn´t that fortunate? 

Well, it is if you ask me. The opinion might differ if you ask the younger members of my family, who are not always as keen as their mother to go and hang in a yarn shop. (But they can be bribed with ice cream.)

And it looks as if I will stay living here. NO Norwegians have offered to adopt me...

But I have had two very nice offers from the US. A very talented knitter called Pat emailed me and said I am welcome to join her family – of Norwegian descent. She now lives and knits in Seattle.

I also received a very tempting offer to go and live in Wendy´s stash room in Washington. That would practically make me Lucy´s sister, wouldn´t it? 

This will be a difficult decision, I think. 

I have to admit that I am a little disappointed with the Norwegians, though. My Elise mittens didn´t win anything in the Selbu mitten contest either. But there are some great mittens to admire among those who did win. Go and check them out here.

 

I know that they are not real Selbu mittens, of course. But "Stockholm mittens" doesn´t have the  same ring to it, does it?

Anyway. To cheer myself up I took the last scrap of yarn from my favourite Zauberball and made a new hat. The pattern is my old Signe hat pattern. It was made in black and white – and it looks very different in colour.

 Now in colour!

Zauberball is the cure when a day feels grey. It´s magic!

  

At least that is what the word zauber means in German: magic.
 
 

Up for Adoption

A big THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment about books on Norwegian knitting!

Now, if any Norwegian who happen to read this would like to adopt a fairly well-behaved 44-year-old mother-of-two please drop me an email. I would love to be able to call your textile traditions my own.

 

I don´t smoke and my alcohol consumption is very modest.

Last Sunday we made a trip to an tiny island in the Stockholm archepelago and spent the day with my nice in-laws. I enjoyed quite a few hours in the sun with my knitting, while the children sat totally still and quiet.

You want to know what makes a 12-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy behave so well?

No, it has absolutely nothing to do with my parenting skills.

They were waiting for this to appear:

The photo is a little dark, but you might be able to make out the fox cubby, whose mother had made a home right under the house.

And here is a better picture of the new hat in blue Zauberball. It´s a Britta hat that I started knitting instead of making thumbs on those sad and thumbless mittens.

The rolled up edge will become a facing and sewn into place when the hat is done.

It has been brought to my attention that it can be difficult/impossible to leave a comment on my blog. If anyone reading this has had this problem, I would like to ask if you could send me an email to this address: johanne.landin at gmail.com (change at for @) and let me know.

That is also the address you Norwegians should use should you wish to adopt me.