Tuesday, February 7, 2017

A knitter never talks about her stash...

How have you been? The new year has started with all it’s madness and it is already the 7th of February. Where has the time gone?

January has been a surprisingly beautiful month. Before all the horrible news from the US.


Sadly, all the Christmas lights, Christmas markets and the beautiful ferris wheel of Düsseldorf are gone and with them, all the holiday vibes. I tend to be very depressed on New Year’s ending up hating January. This year was different though. Maybe with all that has happened in 2016, including politics and also the sudden passing of so many celebrities, 2017 seems like a new opportunity. A chance to become a better year. (leaving Trump out of the picture for a second now, as I bet we all need a break from that guy from time to time.)


I knit those for a friend of mine but liking the pattern, I made a pair for me, too. 

Sorting my yarn. What a mess!


So far it has worked, by last year this time already Bowie and Alan Rickman had died, so I keep my fingers crossed, that we won’t have another year of too many young dead people. To boost the mood a little more, I was much more disciplined during those last few days, when working from home, I studied, sat over my books, like a PhD student is supposed to. And only in the evenings I allowed my hands to grab the needles and keep on with my knitting. The pattern for the cardigan I was planning turned out not to look so great with the ordered yarn, which still is very beautiful and I longed to do something two-coloured again, so I dove deep into the topic of Norwegian knits. My, there are an abundance of cute patterns here. Especially the concept of Kofte fascinates me. Did you know that they knit the cardigan, top to bottom, adding the arms later. In order to avoid backrows, they are knitting the cardigans in the round, like a jumper, and then they cut them open! It’s true. My knitter’s heart screams when I hear this. Imagine, knitting a whole jumper in a beautiful pattern, with differently coloured yarn and then cutting into it? The thought scares me big time, but I would love to try it. The technique is called steeking and the stitches have to be secured either with a sewing machine or with the help of a crochet needle. Check out the crocheting way in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vno-cMURQjc



To prepare for the big project and also to use up some of my leftovers, I started to knit socks again, with Norwegian patterns. This is so much fun! Plus they are finished in no time and I am a big fan of that. First I used leftover yarn for those babies. A friend of mine liked the pattern a lot and so I asked her for her favourite colours and made another pair, this time in blue und purple. Feeling prepared for the adventure to knit a Norwegian cardigan, I started with a kid-sized one, which turned out a bit bigger than expected. I didn't knit a gauge, as I did not have a specific size in mind, but when I begin to knit one for me, I definitely have to prepare much better. 


First socks made from leftovers

second pair


Third one, made in blue and purple as a request for a friend

So far, so good. It is a lot of fun to knit in the big round, plus the baby yarn is really nice and easy to work with. I am collecting patterns from all over the place, different books and Pinterest, to connect them to one cute little cardigan. I am not too happy with how the yellow bell flowers turned out, as they don't contrast enough with the green background, but what the hell... I am not the kind of person that unravels their knitting. Perfection is overrated. I guess, one more evening to go and then I can face the adventure of steeking. So exciting!


The bell flowers are a nice idea, but they somehow don't fit the rest... Lisek likes to help, of course!
The top row here is part of a border of snowflakes, which I finished yesterday, so yay!


Next, I want to knit for a sofa cushion and when the ordered yarn is here I am going to start a Kofte for myself. Let's see how it goes. Especially knitting the right size seems to be a challenge for me. 

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