Clapotis

I must be one of the few knitters left who haven't made the famous Clapotis. It's not that I haven't wanted to, it just took me this long to find suitable yarn for it!

Last weekend I went to the Álafoss factory outlet, mostly to keep my SIL company because I'm trying to not buy yarn for a while (I got a small shock when I unpacked my yarn from Helsinki). I went there with the sole purpose of buying the new Eingirni pattern book, which I did. Then, while innocently examining the shelves of yarn I bumped into this beautiful funky merino and realized that I had finally found the yarn for my Clapotis.

The yarn is Løve Symfoni in colorway 8462 and it's a supersoft, loosely spun merino singles. I have a hunch that it's not going to wear very well, but let's hope for the best.

This week has been a week of meeting knitbloggers by surprise. At the outlet I bumped into Dísa, who was having fun spending a gift certificate she received as a gift from a friend. What an excellent gift for a knitter! On Tuesday I started a class on wool preparation and spinning at the handicrafts association, where I met Carola who's also taking the class! At the class we learned how to separate the fleece of Icelandic sheep, pulling the tog out and then trying to get the hærur out of the þel (which requires a lot of patience, I've discovered). We got to take the wool home and by Tuesday we're supposed to have finished preparing it so that we can start combing (tog) and carding (þel). Great fun! Here's a picture of my progress so far

(þel on the left, hærur in the middle and tog on the right)

I've been doing more sewing than knitting lately. We're supposedly having an economic recession in Iceland, so I figured I could let that inspire me to re-use clothes I've stopped wearing. While unpacking the boxes from Helsinki I realized just how much clothes I have that I hardly ever wear. Right now I've got a pair of trousers re-cut and ready for sewing, but I'm trying to decide if I want to dye them black. The fabric color is sort of beige and I'm not sure if I'd use pants of that color much. On the other hand, it feels like a lot of trouble to do the dyeing. All of this means that I can't start sewing because the thread color will have to match the final color of the fabric! Unless I want black pants with beige stitching, and I'm not sure I do. Choices, choices.

That's the news from here. Happy knitting!

My new home

I guess I should do a post on the thing that has been keeping me occupied and away from blogging for a month! I moved into my new apartment the weekend before Easter and I've been slowly (oh so slowly) settling in. It's amazing how much small stuff you need to do/buy when you move to a new place. I've realized that it's going to take me a few months before it's fully ready. How about a tour of the place, even if it's still a bit empty (and messy)? Here's the kitchen

The previous owners recently renovated the kitchen and I think they did it in a really nice way. They kept parts of the original 50's cupboards, and for the new part chose a white, high-gloss front which fits nicely with the old cupboards. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow an old, red fridge from my friends and I'm so thrilled with it!

I think it gives such a nice accent to the extreme whiteness all around. Oh, and there's a great view from the window, I can see the ocean:

(the kitchen window is a bit dirty, as you can see from the blurriness!) The living room is pretty big, on the right there's a sofa corner

and on the right there's room for a dining table (to be found)

From the living room you get to the balcony,

from which you see the backyards of the surrounding buildings.

You can also see the mountain tips of the Reykjanes peninsula peaking over the roofs of the opposite houses.

I also have a craft room - at the moment a seriously messy craft room!

Lots of sewing is going to happen there in the future. I'm still trying to get all of my things organized so that I can keep the desks free of junk and ready for sewing action at all times. The desk in the foreground has extendable legs and will be used for pattern cutting. I've actually been sewing a bit since I moved in. I finished quilting the black and burgundy blanket, and practiced attaching a binding on a cute pot holder.

The apartment also has a bedroom and a bathroom (surprise!), but I didn't include pics of those...

I love love love my new place! It felt like home already after the first night there. It has totally brought out the home-y side of me, I've been baking bread (I bought a fancy mixer that has become my new favorite appliance), sewing and doing home improvement stuff, and I love every part of it!

Although I haven't been knitting too much lately, I have a heap of finished projects to show because I have been a lazy blogger. Blame it on the apartment.

Big news

There has been a lot going on for the past month. The big news is that I bought an apartment! It's a lovely place close to the city center and I'm very much looking forward to moving in, which will hopefully be in a week or so. It'll be awesome to finally unpack all the stuff that has been occupying my parents garage since I moved back to Iceland, especially all my beautiful yarn and all my beautiful knitting books. I can hardly wait!

I've been knitting quite a lot but I haven't been so diligent in taking pictures of what I've finished. The bank-friendly Lopi sweater was ready a while ago and I've worn it with great success to work! I've finished a couple of hats, four pairs of socks, a couple of pre-emie caps (for charity), a shawl (still unblocked) and I started a coat.

I have a picture of the shawl in its half-finished state.

It's the hugely popular Hyrna Herborgar which I've been planning to make for ages. Although my Icelandic shawl book is in the parent's garage, I was fortunate enough to have an old Hugur og Hönd issue in which the pattern first appeared. I used handspun yarn that Cassie gave to me when I was in New York, she spun it herself and it's been such a joy to work with.

The other picture I have is of a sock that's done and its partner as well.

This was based on a pattern in the Finnish sock book, Sukkasillaan, and it's a perfect pattern for leftovers. The colorwork pattern is very simple, and it's fun to dream of lots of color combinations. Before I finished these, I made another pair in this stitch pattern using Lopi leftovers that my mom gave me. It's that much fun!

Hopefully I'll have pictures of the other stuff very soon. The light is already returning (and it feels so darn nice) so picture-taking is now possible outside of the weekends. I have no excuse. But tonight I'm going to the monthly knit café. Fun fun fun!

The bank-friendly lopi sweater

I think I mentioned once that I couldn't wear handknit lopi sweaters to work and that I was going to try to knit more elegant sweaters for the workplace. I work at a bank, if I haven't said that before. Last summer, the new part of the headquarters, which has been under construction for quite a while, was opened and my department was one of the first to move in there. The construction has continued since then and part of it included ripping down the entrance of the old building, which means that there has been a gaping hole in the building through which the wind could blow. The building has been seriously cold all winter, in fact it was bad enough to make the bank buy designer wool cardigans for the reception ladies. (I envied them a lot.)

So. I've been pretty frustrated not to have any bank-friendly wool sweaters to keep me warm at work. Then, a few weeks ago, I noticed that one of the reception ladies was wearing a classic lopi sweater. AHA! thought I. If the reception lady can wear a lopi sweater to work, then I damn well can. She's out there for all to see, and I'm sitting in front of a computer screen all day long. I never meet clients, I seldomly have important meetings. No one's going to mind.

I drove to the Álafoss factory outlet last saturday (a week ago) and bought some grey plötulopi (unspun singles). I thought I'd keep it simple and in muted colors so as not to draw too much attention to myself. Then I drove home, but instead of casting on I went cross-country skiing with Sigurlaug and Böðvar.

Ok, that doesn't have anything to do with the sweater but I just wanted to show you the beautiful surroundings and gorgeous weather. It was so much fun!

Back to the sweater. Initially the plan was to do the body in charcoal gray and then a single-colored yoke pattern in light-gray. Probably the pattern on the Él sweater from the last Lopi book. But one night last week, as I was falling asleep I had the idea to do the yoke in different shades of gray, starting with the charcoal and going gradually to white at the neck. There are of course very few original ideas left in the world, and this was most certainly subconsciously inspired by a Michael Kors sweater in the fall 2007 issue of Vogue (sorry, can't find a picture online).

Yesterday I finished the body of the sweater and I had already done the sleeves last weekend (I usually get the sleeves over with before I start the body). Last night I knit and knit and knit and finished the yoke. I had done minimal math before starting the sweater, just figured out the approximate stitch counts and then I tried it on as I went along. I probably tried it on three times while knitting the yoke, but apparently I was at first blind and didn't notice that it was a tad on the tight side and later my brain did an excellent job of convincing me that really, I wanted a tight fitting yoke. Really. Despite the nagging suspicions, I knit on and finished the sweater today in the afternoon. I grafted the underarm stitches and wove in the ends and thought: I can try to stretch it a bit when it's wet. Mhm. A recipe for failure.

Fortunately, my brother and nieces came to visit at that point so I had a few hours to let the feelings brew. When they left, I had come to my senses. I dug out the woven-in end at the collar and ripped right back to the beginning of the yoke. And I'm really glad I did. I spent the whole week knitting the body of the sweater and half a day doing the yoke. I'd rather redo half a day than wear a wool sweater that's so tight over the chest that there's a risk of me choking! And I like the sweater a lot. I think it's very bank-friendly and I'm already picturing myself wearing it at work.

So, back to yoke knitting. Fun fun fun.

I'm on a roll

The coming of the new year has obviously had a positive effect on me. I'm feeling very enthusiastic about my knitting and I've knitted quite a lot. This morning I finished the pink log cabin socks so I cast on for a Foliage hat using my first handspun yarn. Before I knew, the hat was done! I have to remember this pattern when next in need of a last-minute gift. The newest additions to my stash of handknits were quite crumpled in they're pre-wash state

but they're having a bath together at the moment which should make them more presentable. This has been a great weekend! Four FO's, and two blog posts. I'm afraid to jinx it, but I'll say it all the same: I might be back to my good old self. Here's hoping.

Old and new

During the holidays I put some effort into finishing lingering projects. I wanted to start the new year with a cleaner slate, to have a better opportunity to be inspired by new projects without feeling weighed down by the ones already on the needles. I just can't have too many ongoing projects at the same time since it gives me a bad conscience. I'm like that.

I was pretty close to finishing the Shetland socks that I started back in June, so those were the first to get my attention. The reason why they've been taking such a long time is partly that the knitting experience wasn't very pleasant. The yarn is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply, and it's a bit stiff and cotton-y. Combine that with 2 mm (US0) needles and you've got a project destined to be laid aside for others which are easier on the hands. I'm glad I perservered because now I have a lovely pair of socks to wear around the house. The yarn really softened up in the washing and I love the resulting fabric. I think I might just make a sweater out of some tweed in the near future.

Specs:

• Pattern: Shetland Socks by Nancy Bush, in Folk Socks.
• Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply, 3 balls of main color and bits of 4 other colors for the cuff.
• Needles: 2 mm (US0) DPN's.
• Gauge: 38 sts, 53 rnds / 10 cm.
• Knit: June - December 2007.
  

Once the socks were done, I picked up the sweater that I started in October, the one I was dreaming of finishing before Rhinebeck (ha ha). I've picked it up from time to time, but each time I got more worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish. Although I'm in general a sensible human being, I somehow figured it would be better to just forget about it than to continue and possibly find out I didn't have enough yarn. As if it's such a big deal to go back to the yarn store for an extra ball. The mind works in mysterious ways sometimes.

Specs:

• Pattern: Kort Drops Jakke med flette, Drops Design.
• Yarn: Drops Alpaca, 10 skeins.
• Needles: 4.5 mm.
• Knit: October - December 2007. Buttons put on in Jan '08.

I managed to finish it with only a few meters left of the yarn, just enough to sew the shoulder seams and the buttons on. I really like it and I'm looking forward to having a warm sweater to wear to my cold cold workplace. Unfortunately I work in a company where Lopi sweaters would be frowned upon, so I'm making an effort to knit up more ... elegant? sweaters! I have hardly any, to tell the truth.

If I were to knit this one again, I'd definitely lengthen the body. It's a little bit too short for my taste at the moment.

With these two out of the way, I began thinking about new projects. I had two hanks of Manos del Urugay which I bought in the Mendocino Yarn Shop back in May 2006 and I wanted to make something out of them. I have this mindblock that scarves are the most boring projects ever, because they're so damn long. This is why I hardly ever knit scarves, except if they're wide enough to be called stoles - then they're ok! Logical, right? But what are you going to do with two hanks of Manos? Last Christmas I knit my dad a My so called scarf, a pattern which is made for exactly two hanks of Manos.

Specs:

• Pattern: My so called scarf.
• Yarn: Manos del Uruguay, 2 hanks.
• Needles: 8 mm.
• Knit: 27 Dec '07 - 5 Jan '08.

I started this one sometime between Christmas and New Years and despite being a scarf, it just flew off the needles. I guess it helps when you use 8 mm ones (US 11)!

Yummi texture

I also began a new pair of socks. This winter I've been obsessed with having lots of thick wool socks. I actually only have two pairs, the Turkish ones and a pair of Log Cabin Socks that I finished last year. Since I love the log cabin sock pattern I decided to make another pair, this time in a color other than black. Cables and black are so not a good combination. I had just enough neon pink wool, perfect for driving away the bleakness of Nordic winter!

I'm already on the second sock. Sometimes fatter needles and thicker yarn is very satisfying. Before long I'll have my third pair of winter socks. Yay!

Christmas presents

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you had a lovely New Years Eve. I had a very nice evening with my family and after midnight I met up with some friends for beers and board games. Isn't it unbelievable that it's 2008? The years just seem to zoom past at an ever increasing speed.

This Christmas I had decided I didn't have the time or energy for a lot of handmade gifts. When I realized that Christmas was coming (which was about a week before - don't ask me how I managed to ignore the constant bombardment of advertisements) I felt bad about not having something handmade for my loved ones but by then it was too late. I will do better next year.

I did make a few things. During last year my mom would occasionally suggest that she would like to have a pair of handknit socks. For your information my mom's method of indicating her wish was to look at me knit socks and ask: "what on earth are you going to do with all those handknit socks?". Subtle, right? I made her a pair of my favorite socks, the Turkish ones from Strik deg varm.

Specs:

• Pattern: Mokkasiner i gråt og blåt from Strikk deg varm (originally Vantar, mössor, sockor och sjalar in Swedish) by Annita Gunnars.
• Yarn: Ida by Trysil Garn, 80% superwash wool, 20% nylon, 150 m/50 g, 1 skein each of red and white.
• Needles: 2.75 mm (US2) DPN's.
• Gauge: 32 sts, 38 rnds/10 cm.

I realize now that I completely forgot to blog about the pair I made for myself, so here are a few pictures of those. I wear them all the time.

My brother got a We call them pirates hat. I also love this pattern, it looks cool and is quick to make - it took about three evenings all in all.

Specs:

• Pattern: We call them pirates by Hello Yarn.
• Yarn: Superwash ullgarn by Trysil Garn, 100% wool, 100 m/50 g.
• Needles: 4.5 mm (US7).
• Gauge: forgot to measure.

The last handknit gift was a pair of winter socks for Markus. These were made using the Cable rib sock pattern from Favorite Socks

Specs:

• Pattern: Cable rib socks by Erica Alexander, from Favorite Socks.
• Yarn: Superwash ullgarn by Trysil Garn, 100 m/50 g, 3 skeins.
• Needles: 3 mm (US2.5).
• Gauge: forgot to measure.

Since I bought myself the fancy sewing machine in December, I also made a few handsewn gifts, a couple of tool rolls based on a pattern in Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter. These went to my friend Arna and my sister in law Bryndís.

I think the recipients were happy about the gifts. This made me happy, because I worry a little bit about spending a lot of time on making something that then ends up in a drawer at someone's place, never to see the light of day again. My mom wears her socks every day, my brother was wearing the hat on New Years Eve while we watched the fireworks, and I'm sure the tool rolls will be used since they are so damn handy!

I have been knitting quite a bit during the holidays. I got the idea that it would be nice to finish some UFO's before the end of the year, so as not to drag a whole lot of unfinished business with me into the new year. I finished the Shetland socks that I started back in June and thought I would never finish, and I finished knitting and blocking the white alpaca sweater I started for Rhinebeck. I'm pretty darned pleased about that. So pleased that it spurred a cast-on fest and I have a few new projects to show you next time.