Sweden 2010 - Part 2 - The Snow

The Day I arrived in Sweden about half a meter of snow was dumped on the country (well, at least where I went). As the sun was out, it made for nice photos.

It had been below freezing for more than two months and the sea close the coast and the smaller harbors are all frozen over.

Some people didn't get their boats out of the water in time:

Some just enjoy that they can ski over the water:

The birds may have some trouble finding their feeding stations:

I mentioned it was cold, right?

Cycling was possible in principle, but first one had to find his bike:

Picnicing may also be somewhat difficult:

And finding out where you buried uncle Sven also was a challenge:

Sweden 2010 - Part 1 -The Crafts

Olympic Games means for me usually (or at least for three times now), a visit to my sister in Sweden. We watched the Games (of course) but I also spent time with my nephew (making big progress on MySims Agents) and doing crafts. Last time I did some quilting projects as well as some socks and some beading. This time I did sew a bag, finished a pair for socks, started a new pair of socks, stitched a bit and got a cold - I could have done without the last one though.

As a little present for my sister I made her the second Daybreak shawl in a smaller size.



She seemed to like it, so I'm happy.
The yarns are again Zauberball, though this time in the color 'Frische Fische', and the Istex Einband.

On our trip to Boras (spelled with that little circle over the 'a', but somehow I can't get my keyboard to make that symbol) I did pick up a small DMC kit for a bracelet with metallic thread which I stitched up on the same day.

Nice and glittery and very easy.

I also sewed a Grab Bag, which is a small and fairly easy to make bag for smallish projects (i.e. socks)

Actually, I did make two, but the second one is a present, so I can't show it here ...

And finally, I knitted the first of two Skew Socks. The pattern is quite unusual and borders on genius. For a while there you don't know what you're doing until that one magical 'origami' moment when you finish the heel and everything comes together.

From the front:
And from the back:
I really, really like how this sock turned out.

Daybreak

Once in while a knitting pattern comes along, which is, at least for me, like a good book. Once you start, you can't stop. 'Just one more row' easily turns into an hour or more of happy knitting and though you can't wait to have the finished object, you threat the moment you're done because it has been so much fun.

One of those projects is 'Daybreak' by Stephen West. It's a fairly simple semicircular shawl with stripes and can be knitted in three different sizes. I've bought the pattern when the 'pattern for Haiti' was one, meaning that a large percentage of the proceeds went directly to a charity to aid the people after that terrible earthquake one month ago (though, I have to admit, that was not the main reason - I just wanted the pattern)
I saw several people on Ravelry using Schoppel Zauberball yarn in the colors 'Schokocreme' (brown/creme) and 'gebrannte Mandeln' (red/brown/orange) and as I had one ball of the 'gebrannte Mandeln' in my stash I thought it a pretty cool idea. I also had a ball of 'Schokocreme', but had knitted it up already last year for a triangular scarf.
Now, I could try to get another ball of the 'Schokocreme' or I could try something else. So I dove into my pile of wool and came up with three skeins of Ístex Loðband Einband, an laceweight yarn I've bought in Iceland last summer, in the color black.

I have to say, I'm very happy with the combination. The reds and orange colors work very nicely with the black and the black make those colors simply pop.


While blocking I found it had a bit different shape than I expected, but I like it. As the 'arms' of the shawl are somewhat longer, they stand well on my shoulder when I'm wearing the shawl.
Even though I knew I was knitting the 'large' version of the pattern it turned out a bit bigger than I really wanted. Done the center line it's a good 60cm long, and across about 150cm.


This picture is probable truest in color. Isn't it gorgeous?

The Icelandic yarn was very rough while knitting, but it softened a lot in the wash and it blocked out beautifully. The Zauberball is a dream to work with and I know this won't be the last project using that yarn.

By the way, I did cast on a second daybreak already ....

Careful What You Wish For

Well, the snow is gone. Most of it at least. There are still splotches of it here and there where there used to be piles of it. Though, next week, the forecast is for the temps to be below freezing again. I will guess winter is not beaten yet.

New socks:


Pattern is called 'Pyroclastic' and can be found on Knitty (where else?). I seriously love them. The foot part is a bit unusual in such they are knitted with a bias, but it makes for a great fit.
I liked that idea so much, I started with a second pair like this, though this time just with a simple 3-3 rib.

One sock's done and I'm working on the second one right now.

Other than socks I've started on 'Daybreak' a semicircle shaped shawl using some Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball (in red / brown / orange) together with some of the lace weight Icelandic wool I've bought last year. I think it's a pretty good match.

Okay, It's Enough Now

I know I said last week that I love snow, and this is sort of still true, but I'm getting to a point where I've got enough of it.
Usually, our winters are wet and miserable, with temperatures hovering just about freezing and some wet, cold rain. There's usually one, tops two weeks of real snow and real cold temperatures, but this goes usually away pretty quickly.
Not this winter. We've got lots and lots of snow and for the last four weeks I didn't see much in the way of positive temperatures. Driving is getting adventures and my sister is talking about getting out the snow chains (she's living a bit higher above sea level then I do, but not by much)

Though, I have to admit, it does look pretty.

A figure of Dostojewski in Dresden.

Trees just a short walk away from home.

The bird house on my balcony (though, strangely enough, no birds this week ...)

Still knitting socks, so my feet are staying warm.

We did brave the snow yesterday and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Great, great fun. I'm tempted to give it a repeat viewing. Good story, great acting and the rest was also just right. Loved it.

Upper and Lower

It's snowing. Again.
So far it's been a very cold winter, though, to be honest, I don't mind. A) I like the snow, it's pretty, and B) I've got plenty of knitting to keep me warm.

Like my newest hat.

The pattern for this Beret is called Meret as it used to be a Mystery Beret. Now, luckily, the pattern is available for free. It was a very fast knit (two movies).
The yarn is some really old stash yarn I got in Holland ages ago. There's a golden threat running through the yarn, which adds a little bit of umph.

Also, the second 2010 pair of socks is finished.
Remember my experiment in dying in October (--> link) ?
I finally knitted some socks with this yarn and I love the color. Only ... it's not colorfast - my hands were always green after knitting. I tried a trick to fix that I've found on Ravelry, but I might have lost some of the definition in the colors now.
Ah well, it's still a pair of nice green socks.

From the leftovers I had after knitting the big squared bag (--> and another link) I've knitting up a smaller bag, but still need to felt it and decide which handles I'm going to us.


And I've already got the next sock on the needles, Angee from Cookie A's book Sock Innovations.

Not very far along right now, but I've sadly managed to break two of my beloved 2mm Knit Pro dpns (stupid me that one). Luckily I've got a bamboo set as well, so I was able to continue.

Hail the Irish

Sock pair no. 1 for 2010. The pattern is called 'Die Grüne Insel' (the green isle) and can be found in the book 'Socken aus aller Welt' by Stephanie van der Linden
I've used Regia hand-dye yarn for the green and I like the effect of if a lot. The black was a close call - in fact I did run out of it on the toe of the second sock, but luckily I found a small left over in a different project, so I didn't even need to buy more.

I've made progress on the Central Park Hoodie, but am currently thinking about ripping it up and knitting it a again on a smaller needle. The problem is that I like the feel of it before washing, but after washing the yarn loosens up a bit and I'm not overly fond of the drape of it. I think a smaller needle size could change the problem.

A New Start

One of the pattern I've been wanting to knit for quite a while now is the Central Park Hoodie. It is an immensely popular pattern, especially if one considers it's not free. Currently over 3000 people on Ravelry have knitted this cardigan up and almost 5000 more have it queued with the intention to knit it up one day.
I did queue it a year ago, but it took me forever to decide on the yarn I'm going to use. As I'm not living in the US, most of the substitutes are not really doable for me, and I wasn't really happy with the options I have here. Now, finally, I've decided on a yarn called 'Lord' by Lana Grossa and using the last of my vouchers from my birthday, I didn't even crinch too much about the money.

The pattern knits up fast, and I finished the back already. After washing and blocking it did grew a bit, though I have yet to see how it will behave after drying.

My current interest in jigsaw puzzles had me dig up an older puzzle I've bought years ago with the intention to give it to Bill one day. As this is not going to happen now, I've decided to put it together myself. It was quite tricky and I did curse a few times, but eventually I managed to put all 1.000 pieces where they belonged.

At the moment I'm working on figuring out how to get is up on my wall. I think I've got just the perfect spot for it....

Statistics

I hope everybody had a good start into 2010.

It has been a rather productive year, knitting wise at least. I just counted my finish projects and am quite impressed by myself.

socks - 10 pairs
potholders - 6 pairs
bags - 6 (5 of them felted)
shawl / scarfs - 5
pullovers / vests / cardigans - 5
mittens / gloves - 3
hats - 2
toys - 3

Obviously, I don't need to worry about cold feet and burning my fingers on hot pots shouldn't be a problem, except I didn't keep any of the potholders for myself (most of the socks stayed with me, though)

2010 already saw two finished projects.

The mittered stripes back was finished knitting in 2009, but the sewing together and the felting was done in 2010. I did block it using old video cassettes which worked great and I'm very happy to see it does stand up on it's own. I does shed a bit, still, though.
The felting made it shrink by 10 ~ 15%. I would have liked a bit more, but ah well.

The gloves are 100% a 2010 product. I *did* start on the 31st, but had to rib everything up again.


The turned out to be rather small, but they are perfect for me. As it snowed today, maybe they will so some action today already.

Other than that, my mom got me back onto jigsaw puzzles.


This 500 pieces puzzle was fairly easy, but now I'm on another one that's somewhat harder.

In Memory

Sorry, this is going to be a rather somber post with very little knitting in it. I'll stick the finished knitted item at the end (it's only one), so, if you're not interested in me lament, just scroll down until you see the picture.

Okay (I'm taking a deep breath here)

This year in October a good friend of me passed away. I learned about it only a few weeks later, as his wife had trouble tracking me down (all the contact information was on his computer and she couldn't get into it). His death was very suddenly, caused by blood clots in his lungs and there was no real warning (his wife should know - she's a doctor). I had no warning, though I thought it was a bit strange that he hadn't answered my last two e-mails. Usually he was very prompt about it, but I figured he was away traveling without any internet access (it happened before, but usually he sent me a warning he would be out of touch for a bit).
I came back from my trip from Florida in November when there was a message on my answering machine from Ann with the bad news. It took me another three days to get hold of her in return. So, now the plan is for my to go to Alaska next May for a memorial service and to scatter his ashes over Denali National Park as to his wishes. Bill loved Alaska and I think it is the right thing to do.
I've met Bill August 1993. I was a student at this time and took part in a work and travel program which allowed me to work for two months in the US. It was my very first time in America and, thinking back, I believe I was a bit naive. I knew about Bill before the trip - he was at that time maybe the biggest distributor of fanzines in the US and I had bought stuff from him before. I remember I contacted him and asked him if he would mind for me to come by his house and meet him. Obviously he didn't mind and he picked me up a the train station In East Lansing, Michigan. He told me he would be easy to spot as he was almost seven feet tall. He also brought two of his border collies and Skylass and I were love at first side. Afterwards, Bill always said, Sky was my dog, even if she was in the US and I was in Europe.
Originally, I had planned to stay only a few days (I didn't want to be a bother), but Bill and Ann insisted that I stayed two weeks. He introduced my to some new series I hadn't known before and Ann's cooking was to die for.
After that we never really lost contact, though sometimes there was a month or two we didn't write. We went on vacations together as Ann, as a doctor, didn't have the time for it. London, Scotland, Germany, several trips to the US, and, of course, New Zealand. Very good memories there and tons of pictures.


After Michigan, Bill and Ann moved to Ohio, but Bill's dream always had been to live in Alaska. Finally, Ann found a job there and they moved maybe four or five years ago to Kechikan. Eventually, they ended up in Kenai, south of Anchorage, and where in the process of buying a house there, when it happened.
Bill was a very generous soul and very sharing. He had a wicked sense of humor. He loved music and movies. He was a very willing recipient half a dozen of my stitching projects and I have a few more I had planned for him. In Alaska Bill had taken up fotographie and had taken some fantastic pictures.


Since I've learned of his passing, there was never a day I didn't think of him for some reason, was it because I saw something that reminded me of him and because of something I thought he would be interested in.
I miss him!


So, okay, some much for the morbid part. I needed to get that off my chest.
Christmas has come and gone. There were not many presents - we have the deal among the adults not to make any and I very fine with that as it cuts down on the pre-Christmas craziness.

I did a bit of knitting and made an hat for my youngest nephew (who's going to be nine in February) from the left over yarn from the pullover I've made for him.
I designed it myself and have no clue if he'll ever going to wear it. I just think it's a funny little hat.


Happy New Year to everyone.

The Day Knitting Saved My Life ... Well, At Least My Mind

... and that's without even picking up a knitting needle.

This week a bit earlier than usual and without any pics.

Thanks to my job, I'm doing a lot of traveling. Almost every week I drive about 480 km from my home to Dresden and, at the end of the week, back home. I don't really mind driving. I listen to the radio, some audio book or, lately, to podcasts, and let my mind wander, thinking about my next project or what I'm going to cook on the weekend.
The normal driving time is 4 1/5 to 5 hours, incl. a half hour break in the middle.
Yesterday, however, it took me 9 hours.
Nine hours!!!
And they haven't been fun at all.
End of the week, the temperatures decided to take a plunge to below freezing and it has been between -12 and -14°C all day yesterday. Add a bit of snowing to the mix, and you have the recipe for disaster. A bit after the halfway point I got stuck in a traffic jam for two hours because some trucks had trouble getting up a couple of hills, which did nothing at all to improve my mood.

What saved me, though, were the knitting podcasts I'd downloaded last weekend. I really enjoy the 'Electric Sheep' and am still looking for more good podcasts. I picked a selection and am still working my way through them.
So, here a list of what I've got so far.

Cast On - An American living in Britain
Here's to Ewe - Knitting in Vegas
KIPing it Real - Knitting in Public
Knit Misadventures
Knitmore Girls - A mother and daughter team
Knitting History
Never Not Knitting
The Sassy Sheep

I didn't got around to the last two yet (there's always tomorrows trip for that ...)
So far, I rather liked the Knitmore Girls, though I'm not in love with the voices, the others were so-so.
Well, at least they kept my sane.


I don't really have anything to show this week - I didn't do much knitting, really. The new Zelda game keeps me happily busy. I'm maybe 2/3 through by now and am enjoying every minute of it. I hope to be done by Christmas. I expect my nephew will want some pointers...

Snow Day

When I woke up this morning, we had snow. Yeah, winter has arrived. My guess is, it's gone by christmas....

All three projects I've had in the works two weeks ago have been completed.

The Schokobaktus made with Schoppelwolle Zauberball in the color 'Schokocreme'
I was a bit too careful on the halfway point, and now have a good 20g of the yarn left, even after using some of it to make two tassels.


The flower trim bag also went pretty well.
The pattern didn't make any mention of lining the bag, but I decided to do so anyway and found the absolutely friggin' perfect fabric for it.


The sewing took at least as long as the knitting (at least it felt like it), but it was very much worth it.


Third project was the hat heel socks. I finished them, and they fit perfectly, but I don't know if I really would ever make a second pair. They are nice enough, but the method is a bit too fiddly for my taste.

Off course I've already have something new on the needle. This here is the start for the mitred stripes tote. The first scare ended up at a solid 40 by 40 cm, though it will shrink a bit once I throw it into the washing machine for the felting.


I don't know, though, if I get a lot of knitting time in next week - the new Zelda game came out last week, so there's a bit of the distraction.

Christmas Cookies - 2009 Edition

As every year in the Christmas Season, I throw caution and calories to the wind and make a batch of Christmas cookies.

As every year I have a few classics (in the sense I'm practically make them every year) and a few newcomers.

My favorite recipe is probably the one for Cinnamon Stars.

Sweet, chewy and wonderfully nutty. This year I've made them a bit smaller then before, which I think works well. You can eat more of them without feeling too guilty, right?

A repeater from last year (on special request by my mom) are the Ginger-Fruit Sticks

Made with candied Ginger, dried apricots and almonds, plus some honey and other lovely things there are wonderfully nice and fruity.
I took a couple of those to friends last night and already got one request to pass on the recipe.

Another great hit from last night were the Linzer Cookies, which are a new addition to the list, but have a good chance of coming back next year.


I've made those having my dad in mind, as he rather likes cookies with jam. The cookies are base on a famous Austrian cake. They are a tad on the soggy side, but the taste is quite lovely.

The next cookie recipe is sort of a half cookie / half praline thing, which is in princible not a bad thing, but didn't quite work out the way I wanted.


They are very brittle and I already have quite a few broken bits in my cookie tin, which I really can't offer to anybody else.

Last, but not least, I've made a patch of my favorite short bread with ginger, which was in the oven when I made the pics, but to be honest they are a bit on the boring side of photography. Just imagine a round, light brown cookie. There, that wasn't to hard, was it.
The taste though .... mmmmmmhhhh.

Listening to Knitting

Last year in July I bought an ipod. I used to have a different mp3 player before and was okay with it, but eventually I decided to upgrade and enter the world domination of Apple. Not that I don't like my ipod, I do and I love that I actually can play little movies, but what had put me off for the longest time was that for using an ipod, you also have to use itunes, which I was rather opposed before.
But what makes it all worth (at least to me) is that opportunity to download podcasts, and though I started rather late actually doing so, I'm now hooked.
(and, yes, I know, you don't really need itunes and an ipod to listening to podcasts ...)
It all started when I knew I had to spend 8 to 10 hours sitting in a plane on my flight to the US. There was a discussion on Ravelry at this time about the best knitting podcasts, and two which had been recommended were 'Electric Sheep' by Hoxton Handmade and 'Cast On'. 'Electric Sheep' is currently on episode 30 and 'Cast On' has a whooping 88 parts already. This is a lot. Though I listened to and enjoyed only two episodes of 'Cast On' so far, I'm now on episode 21 of 'Electric Sheep' and my plan is to keep on listing until I get them all.
Interesting enough, 'Electric Sheep' isn't so much about knitting. Hoxton Handmade usually starts out with an essay on whatever topic that comes to mind (something having something to do with knitting, but sometimes not) and then goes on things that caught her attention, may it be knit wise or not. She does have a lovely English accent, which is something I really enjoy listening to. She talks alot about what's currently going in and around London, and though I have no chance to go to all the places she recomments, I still enjoy hearing about it. There are clearly worse ways to spend have an hour knitting each week.

Speaking of knitting. I'm currently working on several things.
A) is a very popular scarf on Ravelry called 'Baktus'. The idea is to knit in plain garter stitch (every row is knitted), increasing on one side every fourth row. By the time you have knitted half your yarn (determined by weight) you start to decrease every fourth row, making sure that you pretty much use up all your yarn and have none, or rather little, of it left once you done. I think this is a brilliant idea as my stash of left over yarn is occupying a rather large box in my work room with no idea what to make with it.


I'm using a Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball for this pattern, which I split in two smaller ball in order to make stripes. It doesn't quite work out as strippy as I'd hoped, as the dark colors and the light colors seem to like to group together, but after ripping the whole thing to that point once already, I decided not to care. I've just hit the half way point at 80 stitches and am now on the decreasing.

Project B is the 'Flower Trim Bag' from a little book I've bought in the US, 'Stitch Style Bags'.

(that picture is ...ehr, borrowed from here)
I'm doing it in the recommened yarns and it's breezing along fabulously. Only downside, as this bag is not felted, I will need to line it somehow, and I'll need to find out how.
There are two more pattern in that book I really like.

Last, but not least, is a pair of socks I'm working on. I've knitted socks cuff down (my normal modus operanti), toe up, even sideways, but this is the first time I'm knitting one heel out. The pattern is called 'Hat Heel' and can be found here.


I actually finished the first sock, but then discovered that I misplaced my printout of the pattern, so I had to print it out once again.
It really is a very nice fit, and the bright, strippy yarn makes it look interesting.

Florida

I've been away to Florida for about a week.

I saw palms:

I saw pelicans:

I saw alligators:

The space shuttle (Well, technically, I only saw the external tank and the boosters, but they promised me the orbiter is there as well....)
I did plan my vacation so I could see a shuttle launch, but then the launch was pushed out by a couple of days just to the day I was flying home. A well, at least I've tried...


I saw lots and lots of water

I saw surfer dudes


And, of course, I saw a lot more but there's just not enough space for it here.

A few sizes smaller

One of my favorite yarn stores had a sale a couple of weeks back. I've managed to score a bit of yarn, though not enough to make myself a pullover, and not enough to make something fully in one color. The yarn, though, had a nice rustic look to it, and I really wanted to make a pullover for my nephew with it.
I decided to make the body in one color and the arms in another and just add a couple of green stripes to keep it interesting. I've got the measurements from my sister and then I started knitting.


I'm quite happy with the outcome, really. The interesting question now is: will it fit?
I already know the arms are too long (that's after I already did the arm again taking out a good 3 inches in length), but I guess my nephew always can fold the cuffs over.


There's still enough yarn left to make a hat and a scarf.

Next Sunday there's a chance to see if it fits, as my sister and her family make a stop at Frankfurt airport on there way from South Africa to Sweden.

I'll be flying to Florida the same day, so I have to be at the airport only a few hours earlier to meet them. My parents are going to pick me up and give me a lift.

I'll be in Florida for about a week on vacation. I've never been there, so I'm really looking forward to it. I hoped - and planned my fights accordingly - to catch a shuttle launch, but last Friday I've found out they moved the launch window out a couple of days to the same day I'm flying back home, so no luck there. Ah well, at least I've tried.

There will be no blog for the next two Sunday, as I'll be without computer on my trip.