And another project...

Well, first let's see what's in progress:
Cables (I'm ignoring this for a bit because I'm just frustrated with it)


Baby sweater (re-knit the damaged arm, and now I've got the thing joined and am knitting back and forth now)


And here's what's done:
Handstúkur/Handsmokkar/Handwarmers
Pattern: from the book Nordic Knitting, but I think it may have come from Hugur og Hönd originally since the pattern writer is Elsa Guðjónsson.
Yarn: Shetland 2-ply in natural sheep colours

I cannot for the LIFE of me get a decent picture of the texture pattern in these. If I can manage it later, I'll just replace the image. It's too bad because it's the best part really.

So I had some extra white yarn from the other sjál and I couldn't wait any longer.... after all, I think I have an excuse to wear this one..;)

(Hálfskák from Þríhyrnur og langsjöl)
Note the bamboo crochet needle in this picture. I bought a crochet needle on the way home so I can use it when I finish that other one (and this one too). Of course, being not much of a crocheter at all, a bamboo crochet needle is REALLY HARD TO USE! I just experimented with it, even though I am not ready for the edging on that other shawl until I get the brown yarn, but I think it will take me a month at the rate I was going just to do the top loop part. So maybe I need to get a metal needle. But the packaging is cool, and it says "Hight Quality Bamboo Needle."

I also just finished reading Grrrls: Viva Rock Divas, which is really old but still entertaining, interviews with women rock stars from the late 90s. And I gave it back to the library before writing down a book that was mentioned that sounded interesting, so now I guess I'll have to look for it again to write that book title down. And I watched Calendar Girls, which was a cute, funny movie about those Yorkshire women that made that nude calendar for charity, and Connie & Carla, which is your typical silly girls-on-the-run-from-gangsters-so-they-have-to-dress-up-as-drag-queens sort of movie. Kind of different ends of the spectrum, but both fun anyway.

Well I gave it a try...

This is why I didn't officially enter the Knitting Olympics. I have so many time obligations in my life that I didn't think I'd get enough knitting time. And then I got well and truly confounded on the cable sweater. The pattern calls for size 8mm needles for the body, and then you come down to size 5,5mm needles for the bottom ribbing. The problem is that with this yarn being a bit small, I had to use size 6,5mm needles for the body. Now I have this set of interchangeable needles that is not quite true to metric sizes, so I have a choice between 4,85 or 5,2 for the bottom ribbing. Which one should I use?

I am on ball 4 of the yarn and I did complete the main part of the body (before the ribbing). Maybe I'll just give it a go on the sleeves while I'm trying to sort out that puzzle.

As I posted earlier today, the heat at work was broken. Well, it's more like the boiler in the big concrete building tripped a fuse, so that had to be reset and it took the better part of the day to warm back up (being a big concrete building). And I had almost worn that lopapeysa to work today too. It was 5C when I got in the building!

So this evening I was inspired to finish those handsmokkar. As I was finishing them, I was pondering... you know how they have those books like Sweaters From The Ragpile that analyse antique garments. If anyone did that with the items I knit for myself (as opposed to for gifts, since I am always more meticulous with those), they would see all these half-woven-in ends and whatnot. Oh well. The other thing about these is that somehow I lost count of rows when I made one vs. the other because one is slightly bigger. But I don't think that it's that noticeable, and if I get really annoyed by it I have plenty of yarn to make another one to match whichever I decide is my favourite.

And on a final note...being a "knitalong on the sidelines" gal during the Knitting Olympics was really great. It inspired me to stay focused on only 2 projects (I kept running into snags with Cables so it worked out OK). It inspired me to actually work on my knitting. But I'm kind of relieved to have the pressure off. For one, I seem to have gotten REALLY SICK of that cable sweater and I need a break from it. Also, I want to finish up a few lingering projects, as well as wind some yarn for this Poetry in Stitches sweater that I was supposed to split yarn with someone and now I wonder if she'll even still be interested since I took so long. So it's good to have these drive kind of things. Maybe I'll participate for real next time around, as long as I can make something knitted in the round.

Hann keypti hringa!!!

...OK...back to work... wish I had finished the handwarmers because the heat isn't working right here today....

Hugsa um brúðkaup í haustið...

Okkur langar að gifta okkur í Reykjavík en vegna bandarískrar vegabréfsáritunar við þurfum að gifta okkur í Bandaríkjum. Jæja. Við erum að skoða hringa í gærkvöld. Við reynum að velja. Okkur finnst bæði þessi og hinn mjög fallegir. Ég held uppáhaldið mitt er hvítagull, en eg veit ekki. Fyrsti er ódýrari.

Which one do people think is nicer?

Og við erum að skoða skóna líka. Þessir eru mjög skemtilegir.

Oh yeah, knitting. I'm on ball 3 of the yarn for the cable sweater. I am HOPING I've done enough increases. Sweaters always look too small when they fit, so I can never tell. I was on sleeve 2 of the baby sweater but due to a run-in with some velcro, I have to throw that out and start the sleeve again. (Good thing I had some extra yarn). Important note: knitting bags should NOT have velcro on them. Ever. Velcro and yarn are like chalk and cheese (I don't really know what that expression comes from but it's just so fun.)

Blogger ate my post

So I made all these template changes and a post yesterday, and Blogger ate them. So as soon as I republish, they will go *poof*. I sort of remade the template change but the links are all wrong (many missing) but I am too sleepy to deal with it. So I've saved the text of my last post and will repost the interesting bits later this week, since it involves lots of editing. Argh.

At any rate, I made some progress on my 2 projects. The baby sweater is knitted like a lopapeysa where you attach the sleeves and then knit the yoke. So I've got sleeve 1 on, sleeve 2 started:


And the cable sweater is going top down. Had another frogging incident, but am back on track:


Núna ég ætla að sófa. Ég er mjög syfjuð.

Sumar??

Last week I was in lopapeysa, Sunday we had all that snow, today it was 16 degrees (C)! Huh??? This has got to be the weirdest winter yet. I went for a walk at lunchtime, down to the river near work. The snow is all slushy. I found it interesting that people seemed to be walking in matched sets: three bald men, two large women, three skinny women, two old women in anoraks (that was weird in itself), two middle-aged women in wool coats with identical haircuts. Do we tend to surround ourselves with similar people?

Like Bobby's basketball game the other week, where he got the ball and started running the wrong way, only to correct himself and make a basket, I have caught up and surpassed where I was with the Olympic sweater. I'll try to post pictures this weekend, so far I have two cable twists and should be at the point where you divide off stitches soon. In the meantime grænar baunir peysa (AKA baby sweater) is coming along (hey, what can I say, that's what the colour makes me think of! Hopefully she'll like it), and I've gotten to the point where you hold the body stitches aside and do the sleeves. And I managed to lose one of my double-pointed needles, which will keep me focused on the other sweater for a bit.

I got to hang out with friends and knit last night for the first time in AGES. It was so nice, I don't get out enough lately.

I made this fun pasta recipe for dinner tonight, it came out so nice. I just picked it because I had all the ingredients that needed using up anyway.

Valentínusardagurinn

I got a lovely purple Lush gift box in the mail. My whole house smells like a Lush shop (which at least to me is a good thing). I'm not much of a girl for jewellery and whatnot, my favourite gifts are ephemeral, like cut flowers (and maybe that comes from spending my teen years selling them, but I still don't cut flowers from my own garden) or bubble bath. Well, and books, but books are sort of consumed in some way, aren't they.

We got a DVD of Börn náttúrunnar for Christmas, but my DVD player was being disagreeable, so I finally got to watch it last night on my laptop. That is such a beautiful movie, it's a wonderful story. If you can find it, I highly recommend it. While watching that, I sadly ripped the cable sweater off the needles and started again (yep, I messed up, and I think it was one of those that would show horribly). The good news is that baby sweater is really coming along (not that it matters, she is due 5 July I guess). Tonight I was worried it was too big, but I triple-checked the number of stitches. I guess babies are just bigger than you think.

A lot of bloggers out there have been "reading" poetry on their blogs, so I thought in honour of the day I'd put my favourite love poem (by none other than Shakespeare):

My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun;
Rubies are far more red than her lips red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But none such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied by false compare.

I Eldhúsinu


So we've gotten all kinds of snow today (as predicted; it came to 14 inches or about a third of a metre) and all my plans for the day were cancelled, so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Mostly cleaning because my dishwasher is broken. It's a 3 year old dishwasher by a Major American Manufacturer Who Shall Remain Nameless. First it sporadically stopped draining. Then lights started flashing randomly when I ran it. Ingi said it must be the brain, but we called a repairman, who charged $120 to try something that didn't work, since it was no longer under warranty. When I called him back, he said, oh it must be the control unit and it would cost another $100 or so to fix. So I wrote a letter to the Ostensibly Reputable Manufacturer, complaining. I mean, when I got this thing 3 years ago it was to replace another broken one. I didn't think it wasn't going to last. First they tell me I have to use their repairman and then I could get a free "brain", since THAT part is under warranty for 5 years. After I complained enough (since this guy will come back without charging a fee just to come to my house, unlike their guy, and I would have called their repairman in the first place if I had known), they told me they'd send me the free part. So I won't post the name of their company on my blog, since they did try and set things right. But anyway, I have to wash a lot of dishes until I get that part.

But I also made súrmjólk and skyr using this recipe, which I've used before and comes out really nice, if you add jam it tastes just like the presweetened storebought one. And we made kókóskulur (I have no idea what they are called in either English or Swedish, maybe Maggan can help me). This recipe came from my best friend in university who was from Sweden, I just made a few minor changes:

Sænskar kókóskúlur Helénu
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup sugar
227 g butter (2 sticks US)
3 Tbsp cocoa
1 Tbsp cold coffee
1 tsp vanilla
coconut

Cream butter and sugar. Process oatmeal in food processor so that it is somewhat fine. Mix in oatmeal, cocoa, coffee, and vanilla. Shape into balls. Process coconut so it is finer, and roll balls in coconut. Put in fridge to let harden.


Shoveling lots of snow always makes me feel this immense girl power thing. And then, being a girl, I can have a nice bubble bath to make up for it.

The so-called Olympic sweater had a few technical difficulties, I believe that I've managed to miss a side stitch the entire way, so I believe I need to frog it. Instead, I've gone to working on the baby sweater as consolation, while I confirm whether I need to rip the cable sweater out and start over again.

And then there were two

So now I've got 2 WIPs...
Bulky cables:


And the baby sweater, I love this springy green colour:


So I doubt I'll finish either by the end of the Olympics. Oh well.

We are supposed to get a crazy big snowstorm tonight into tomorrow (well I guess it's after midnight here). I guess it's still happening, just delayed. Miss K and I went to go see Hoodwinked, which is just about the most hilarious kids' movie I've seen. It's from some independent group, too, a pair of indy film maker brothers I guess. It was so cute and funny and they even have Ben Folds doing a song. The theatre was pretty empty, I'm thinking the doom and gloom about the storm made people afraid to go out with their kids. It is starting to snow now, but it's really light flakes, not much to speak of. It is windy, though. And I'm off to bed.

Accidental Olympics Entry?

I kind of knew this was going to happen.
I toyed with the idea of entering the Knitting Olympics and I said to myself I had too many projects going on. Then I was thinking of that Glampyre bulky cables sweater this week and I got some Schoeller Stahl Wonderwool (ooh, lovely soft yarn!) which I thought would be just lovely. It's a little bit thinner than the yarn the pattern calls for, so I did some weird gauge maths and HOPEFULLY sorted out how to make the pattern work with the yarn. Fingers crossed.

So what does this mean? I end up casting on on the big Olympics kickoff day. Hmm. Not sure if I should officially enter or not.

In the meantime, I've got some other projects planned on the horizon. Some friends of ours are having a baby (and it was one of those "tried-real-hard-for" babies). I've been puzzling over what to make for a gift. Nothing seemed right. Then I saw the placket pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts on a couple of blog sites today (Carola and Alison). Perfect! (I have the book too, and I kept meaning to look through it for ideas.) And then I am going to make those adorable jeans from Knitty that Sonja posted about a while ago. The baby's not due till summer so I should be good with these projects, they don't look too difficult.

So I guess I'm going to be going back from no projects (well a couple of quick little ones) to a bunch of projects again.

Checking in with the shawl...

I was a bit confused about grafting 5 stitches together, normally I do it in pairs. So I did it like this, if I have A B C D E, I put the needle through E, then A, then D, then B, then C. That seemed to work OK. So now I'll put it aside while waiting on that yarn.

Here it is, on my oh-so-glamourous IKEA duvet cover (we saw a very similiar one in Tillsammans):

It keeps curling up, so I enlisted a jewellery box and a rhino massager to help hold it down. I'm sure that will be fine when I block it, maybe even when I start knitting the border.

Confession time... I don't much like TV, and certainly not reality TV. But a certain 10 year old was watching Dancing with the Stars and I got sucked in. It's really silly, I am not even that big into dancing, and I could care less about any of the stars that were on (the only one I knew was George Hamilton, who is older than dirt). I still had to go vote though (if anyone in blogland watches that show, I voted for Stacy.)

Um lopapeysuna

I forgot to put the details on the sweater yesterday.

Pattern: Álafoss Lopi #1223/1224. Yarn: Álafoss Lopi various shades of blues (the pattern originally called for greys or browns).

I used a smaller needle than called for on the bottom of the body. This made for a smaller sweater (the original smallest size was too big for me). It also made it nice and warm. I used the called-for needle size for the rest of it. If I were going to make it again, I'd have made it shorter, but the last time I tried to make a sweater shorter was disastrous so I just went with it as written. I like the free patterns on the Ístex site because they are shorter.

I also almost finished the first stage of that shawl. I have 5 stitches to graft together and then I'll do a photo. I need Ingi to get me the missing shade of brown when he has a chance. The next thing I do is pick up along the bottom with the missing brown and knit and then comes the scary CROCHET! I practised a crocheted flower to be felted from a pattern in Prjónablaðið Ýr and it looks disastrous, but I think I sorted out the how to do certain stitches. I'm sure it'll be fine.

I need a cardigan (I have this ratty awful storebought one I wear around the house) so I think my next sweater project will be Glampyre's Bulky Cabled Sweater. I was also thinking of making the free lopapeysa with a zipper on Álafoss's site, but maybe I should wait on that. I also am thinking of doing a felted bag with leftover yarn bits, just arbitrarily striping it. I also thought about doing another sjál from that book while I wait on the yarn, but that seems silly too.

Tying Up Loose Ends

For some reason I HATE finishing projects. I have this paranoid fear that I will sew them up but I won't sew in the ends just right and the whole thing will fall apart. I was telling this to Ingi as I sewed up lopapeysan last night. "Well, has it ever fallen apart?" he asked. "Well....no," I replied. It still doesn't stop me worrying. He said it's sort of like handing in a paper, you're never quite sure it's done.
Still, I wore the finished sweater to work today, with my $1 corduroys:

(this is a horrid picture, I am so tired and look awful, and I had been washing dishes so I had pulled up my sleeves earlier so part of my shirt underneath is hanging out. I hope to replace it with a better one at some point.)

Kærastinn minn er bestur í heimi, hann gefur mér blóm:

And somehow he manages to pick ones I'll like, being the picky ex-floral designer that I am. You can't really see but he got delphinium and rubrum lilies which are some of my favourites. And NICE roses, not ones with no scent. And sunflowers "becauseI like them" he tells me.

Logan :þ

Not only did I have to drive Ingi minn to the airport to take a plane far away from me, but when I came back home I couldn't get my keys out of the car!! Luckily he gave me his keys so I have locked my keys into the car for the night and then tomorrrow morning I will have to sort out how the heck I am going to get them out so I can go to work. (Even with locked doors, I don't think it's a good idea to have keys in a car downtown.)

This week has been a bit crazy. I got the knitting done on lopapeysan but I still need to sew it up (the underarm seams and the loose ends, sewing loose ends has to be my least favourite thing ever. Maybe even after cleaning the toilet.

I keep looking at the kits on Marianne Isager's site. The summer tops and Ribjakke especially appeal to me. So if I come into some money (like winning that lottery that I don't ever play) then I think I would get them. Maybe someone will give me her Strik a la carte book when my birthday comes around.