a book and a few ears

I got this book in the mail today. I ordered it from the big book sale and got it today for 99 Swedish kronor. It looks good. I'll start reading it tonight.
I'm trying out a new thing (for me at least) crocheting. I've done a head and two ears and one paw so far. Not sure what kind of animal it will be. My sons thinks it looks like a mouse or a rabbit. I was aiming for a dog / rabbit. Same problem as usual, pictures will be posted after I've been blessed with some daylight at home.

Ugly? Not so ugly?

My son: It's not ugly anymore!

The yoke is done. There are still some things to be done, knit the armpits and weave in all ends.

Quick update

It's starting to look like a proper sweater.

the ugly sweater

The sleeves are done. With blue lining.


And this is how far I've come with the body.

...and by the way I think it's UGLY.

The body of the seamless yoke sweater.

My son: Why are you always knitting sweaters for me?

Me: Well, I never finished the first one I knitted for you. You haven't got ANY knitted sweaters from me yet.

My son: But I want a blue sweater.

Me: It's going to be much more blue on the top of the sweater and in in a nice pattern.

My son: Hummm....and by the way I think it's UGLY!

This is an attempt to knit a seamless yoke sweater according to Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system.

I'm using a 2-ply wool yarn. 164 stitches on a 4 mm circular needle. I have started on one of the sleeves as well (pictures to come soon). It's quite quick to knit so far. When it's time to connect the sleeves and the body I might run into some more time consuming knitting.

We'll have to see if my oldest son will wear it when it's finished. If not, his brother might.

the set is completed

Even the I-cords are finished.

Till och med snoddarna är klara.

Baby hat

Soon the matching baby hat will be finished. Same alpaca yarn as for the mittens. The pattern I used is from Garnstudio this time as well.
I got hold of the Backyard leaves scarf pattern from Scarf Style today! Now I have to decide what yarn to use.

Snart är den matchande bäbismössan klar. Samma alpacagarn som till vantarna. Mönstret kommer från Garnstudion denna gången med.
Jag fick tag på mönstret till Backyard leaves-halsduken från Scarf Style idag. Nu måste jag bara bestämma vilket garn jag ska använda till den.

Alpaca baby mittens finished

Alpaca mittens with a cord. I thought I was done when the mittens were finished, but then there was a cord to be done too.

Alpacavantar med ett snöre. Jag trodde att jag var klar när vantarna var stickade, med då skulle det göras ett snöre med.

Chocolate balls

We (or rather the kids) made chocolate balls today.

Soft baby mittens

Friends of mine are expecting their first baby in the end of this month. I'm knitting a pair of mittens and a hat for the baby. The alpaca is so fuzzy it's hard to see the cables. They feel nice though, soft and warm.

Några av mina vänner ska få sitt första barn i slutet på månaden. Jag håller på att sticka ett par vantar och en liten hjälm till bäbisen. Alpacan är så luddig så att det är svårt att se flätorna. Men de känns goa, mjuka och varma.

Strumpis on feet

Not easy to make him sit or stand still.

Inte lätt att honom att sitta eller stå still.

Strumpis

Strumpis is the name of my latest creation, a sock for my kids. As usual a have to make them a pair each. I thought I'd try the new sock yarn from garnstudion called Fabel.


It's 75% super wash wool and 25% polyamid. I used a set of 2,5 dpns. I like the colour combination on this but I'm not too fond of the spotty bits.
This was the first one, now there's three to go.

Weird

I've been tagged. It's the "six weird things about me" meme.

the rules: People who are tagged should write a blog post of six weird things about themselves as well as state this rule clearly. In the end you need to choose six people to be tagged and list their names.

number one:
my thumbs are weird. The are short and chubby. Maybe you've seen someone with the same kind of thumbs as mine. I've met about seven people (including my mother) with the same thumbs. and three of them are occupational therapists, just like me.

Number two:
I like old ice cream that tastes like paper, the skin on hot chocolate, doughy, not completely baked cakes.

Number three:
I am a drunk-homeless-person magnet. Whenever I'm on the bus or tram and an old (most of the time they are old), alcoholic man enters the bus or tram he always sits next to me. There could be 20 free seats, but they for some reason always choose to sit next to me. And start a conversation.

Number four:
I once had a calender in which I wrote down every concert I went to. My goal was to have seen one band or artist on every day of the year.

Number five:
I used to have an music magazine addiction. I could not pass a news agents or record store without buying a new number if there was one out.

Number six:
For a period of my life I wanted to be a tram driver. I'm not sure what influence weird thing number three had on that decision.

Ida

Elin

Annakika

Anna

Katarina

Susanne

the fake beret hat

Not that the demand has been enormous, but a few people wanted to know how I made the hat. I didn't have any pattern, but a few pictures to look at. I used a circle needle (4,5 mm) and at the end dpns.
Karisma yarn from Garnstudio, 92 stitches. started with the dark colour,
Row 1 knit
Row 2 - 5 purl.
Row 6 - 11 knit in white.
Row 12 dark colour knit.
Row 13 - 16 dark colour purl.
Repeat until the 6th dark stripe. then on the first and last white row increase every 7th stitch.
Knit one dark row, purl the next four dark rows and then decrease the following first and last white row with a suitable number of stitches (I can't remember exactly).
Repeat the decreasing so that the top of the hat becomes flat.
End with a white row.
Don't know if this is much help.

and now there's two...

My first pair of socks. This was so much fun so I started on a new pair straight away.

Mitt första par sockor. Det var så roligt så jag har börjat på ett nytt par direkt.


Here it is the new green and white sock. And the toe will be white as well.

Här är den nya grön och vita strumpan. Tån ska bli vit med.

Sock exchange exchange

This used to be my sockbyte (sock exchange) sock. It's a Garnstudio pattern. But it took me forever to knit one single inch. I kept coming up with excuses not to knit it, like the fake beret for example, so I decided to knit something less complicated.

Det här var det som skulle bli min sockbytestrumpa. Mönstret är från Garnstudion. Men det tog mig tusen år att sticka ett par ynkliga centimeter. Jag kom hela tiden på ursäkter för att inte sticka på dem, som till exempel mössbaskern, så nu har jag bestämt att mig för att sticka något lite mindre komplicerat.

This s the result. My very first sock. It's originally a sock for a man, Thuja from Knitty, but I made it a little smaller. A perfect pattern for a beginner. Easy to follow. Nice result. one more to go.

Så här blev det. Min allra första strumpa. Det är egentligen en herrstrumpa. Thuja från Knitty, men jag gjorde den lite mindre. perfekt mönster för en nybörjare. Lätt att följa. Trevligt resultat. Nu är det bara en kvar att sticka.

This is a more accurate colour.

Så här ser färgen ut i verkligheten.

new beret / hat

The new beret is finished. It's just that is really more like a hat than a beret. But I don't mind. As long as there's no monster on the top of my head everything is fine.

Den nya baskern är klar. Bara det att det är mer likt en vanlig mössa än en basker. Men jag är nöjd ändå. Bara jag inte har några monster på huvudet är allt bra.

Linslus

One kid likes to pose in front of the camera.

Ett barn tycker om att posera framför kameran.


The other one isn't as pleased. He has a cold today and not in the mood at all.

Och det andra är inte alls glad. Han är förkyld och inte alls på humör.

one more try...

This morning a new beret was born...
I hasn't turned into a monster - yet.

I morse föddes en ny basker...
Det har inte blivit något monster av den - än.

This is what my son drew for me today. His version of the perfect flat for us to live in. It's got one gigantic hallway in the middle, a bathroom, a big kitchen (the first one he drew was too small), one living room, one bedroom for him and his father (?) and one for me and his younger brother (?) and a balcony.
Pretty much the same amount of room as have now BUT with a larger kitchen (I'm always complaining about how small the kitchen is, so I know where that idea came from) and a balcony. I'm happy to see he doesn't want a bedroom of his own yet, but he did think we needed a change of bedrooms, who shared with whom.

Detta ritade min son till mig idag. Det är hans version av den perfekta lägenheten för oss. Den har en gigantisk hall i mitten, ett badrum ett stort kök (det första han ritade var för litet), ett vardagsrum, ett sovrum till honom och hans pappa (?) och ett sovrum till hans lillbror och mig (?) och en balkong.

Vilket är ungefär som vi har det nu, lika många rum men med ett större kök (jag klagar alltid på hur litet kök vi har så jag förstår var den iden kommer ifrån och en balkong. Jag är lättad över att han inte vill ha något eget rum än, men han tycker tydlingen att vi ska flytta om våra sovrum, vem som sover var.

the story of a Monster Beret

Once upon a time a young beret was born. At first it was hard to see how this creature would turn out. It looked nice and friendly, circling around it's needle.


Little did we know that later that very same day after feeding on almost 100 g of Karisma wool yarn it would grow into such a monster.

It had to be put down. The old ripping lady took care of it. The next morning the monster was gone. Hopefully a new beret will be born. One that looks more like Ilsefin's beautiful brown beret.

Banjo

This is what I've been doing the last couple of days. Working on a scarf pattern with a banjo cable.

Detta är vad jag har pysslat med de senaste dagarna. Försökt få till ett halsduksmönster med banjofläta.