Tuesday 28 January 2014

I Caught A Rainbow

Right now we are drowning in snow. I simply do not like to be snowed in and have to shovel snow every other hour to just get outside.

Well, enough about that awful winter - nothing to do about that. Other than knitting and drink hot coffee.

As you can see I managed to get my latest scarf photographed before the blizzards. It is, no wonder, another hitchhiker scarf. With a variegated yarn in rainbow colors it simply works perfect.

So does the fact that it is mindless, easy to take with me and actually is fun to knit as well.

I have never tried Shibui yarn before. It was certainly about time getting that on my needles. They have all these wonderful colors just crying to be knitted.

I used up four skeins of the color Spectrum, and one skein of the color Anime. I wanted to combine those two and found them to be a perfect match.

I used the most of the Spectrum before starting on the Anime and mixed in some rows of the spectrum to add some more life with a few stripes.

I am excited about these colors and the yarn was nice to knit with. It got really soft after a round in soak.

Now lets see - we are promised a lot more snow the next week. We are promised a lot of wind as well. That means snow shoveling, traffic chaos and a long wish for summer. I just want to knit and forget all about those promises...

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in in an invincible summer
Albert Camus

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock, colors Spectrum and Anime
Needle: 2mm
The little extra: Glass beads, tassels
Pattern: Hitchhiker
My Ravelry Page: The Spectrum

Friday 24 January 2014

Wings Of Fun

It has been a lot of birds lately. And this post is also about them - although the knitting goes on in addition. I bought the book Polymer Clay Global Perspective and found a lovely tutorial from Rebecca. I have always admired her work and I was so happy that she shared her technique.

I love that the thought about keeping colors inside the lines are challenged. That is very exciting to me. Why in the world are we taught that - most of the time that is unreasonable. Rebecca made me take that step out of limited thinking and I thank her for that.

As birds are a theme right now I found it naturally to try out her technique on them. There are a lot of steps in making them: Forming the bird, adding all the details, scribing on them and bake them. They are also painted and sanded. Not to mention polishing - all done by hand. I love that about polymer clay. All those steps leading up to a finished item. 

I fancy having words on my birds - so I find room to those as well. I can see more birds flying out of my hands :-)

To create is like having wings inside
Lone

Sunday 19 January 2014

The Flock Is Out

There are different words on the sides of the birds.
I am having a wonderful time in my studio. While the winter is keeping most of us inside it is nice to have clay between my fingers. I seem to have problems stopping making these birds.

But then again, why should I stop when I enjoy it that much.

They are mostly meant for gifts. I am planning to add wire and a beautiful ribbons to them.

They can also be used as pendants. I print words on them to make them more personal and with a little interesting effect on them.

Different words on both sides are suppose to give a meaning beyond the words them selves.

In a few weeks my blog is five years old. And two birds will be up for a giveaway.

And not to be afraid - I am knitting as well. A day without knitting is a strange day. But one can never go wrong with spreading the wings and get another perspective in clay...

Use what talents you possess: The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
Henry van Dyke

Also made a gray bird with the words grow strong.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Woollen Tradition

Goes well with my scarf Hitchhiker.
Norwegian patterns are so popular in Norway right now. And this Fana pattern is no exception. This is a simple pattern and very easy to knit. I wanted a large jacket and I have already used it a lot.

I knew I wanted to use the Kauni effektgarn in the rainbow color. But I had no idea what other color I should use. The usual gray and black was out of the question.

First of all, I do not look good in those colors. Second, those colors steel from the rainbow colors. So I started the background color hunt online. I knew I could not find anything where I live.

So I went to Sweden - online that is. I found this wonderful wool yarn in the best color I could ever hope to find as a background color. It is heather blue, a very light blue color.

It made my rainbow shine, and most importantly it does not drain my face for life (as gray and black would).

So, here we are. The jacket is finished and I am so pleased with it. I started knitting in large and ended on medium decreasing on the sides. Just to avoid that typical male shape on every traditional knitting pattern for jackets in Norway.

I could have started in medium and ended on small. I mean, patterns from the 90s are huge.

Anyway, no harm done. I love it. As you can see I knit the edges in the round with steeks and add pattern and my name on the inside. That makes it looks good when the jacket is open.

I really love that I found out that I could do that with the edges. I was never happy with edges in one color when I had knitted a colorful and pattern rich garment. Knitting in the round is freedom for a color and pattern freak as me :-)

Winter has arrived and it is freezing and snowy. It sure is fun using that woolly jacket now.

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Kauni effektgarn EQ, Kampes 2-trådigt Blåmelerad
Needles: 2.5mm
Accessories: Buttons
Pattern: Fana sweater from the book Norsk Strikk
My Ravelry Page: Fana For Fun
The inside of the sleeves - with pattern on.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Hang Out With The Birds


It has been so long since I made any other item in polymer clay than bracelets. I wanted to give a little present to a friend. As I came over the bird tutorial by Jessica Jane, I gave it a try.

For some reason birds seems to be hard to form in clay. At least to me - but the tutorial made it a bit easier. It is all about trying and trying some more. That is how polymer clay works.

I have to work with the form a bit more to get it in my fingers. The birds are textured, cured and antiqued with acrylic paint.

It was so nice to be in my studio and actually make something. Hope to make more of these to have ready for gifts and surprises for others.

So, off you go little bird. Fly into the heart of my friend.

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly
Langston Hughes
An extra bird to use as a gift another time.

Sunday 5 January 2014

Hands On Winter

The mittens and the gift box for them. Also added some red love in the gift.
We are having a green winter. And that would make these mittens perfect. Or maybe not - it is warm outside with about 9℃ and no snow in sight.

Anyway, these mittens were knitted as a christmas gift for a friend. I have knitted them once before - and with a very bad result. They were huge.

The year and my friends initials is knitted on the thumbs.
I thought it was my knitting gauge. But after consulting my knitting friends I realized they have a grown man size. That was after knitting these...

I actually had to knit them on 1.5mm needles. I do not mind that - I am a loose knitter and used to that.

But I was very concerned about the size. They were too big. Only one thing to do.

I put them in the washer on 30℃ and hoped for some felting. They felted a bit - enough to be used.

The pattern is so beautiful. I love that there are two different motifs on them. And the pattern is extremely well written.

My friend is very happy about them. She was surprised as they were put in a wooden box so she had no way of knowing what was inside.

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull
Needles: 1.5mm
Pattern: Winterland
My Ravelry Pattern: Green Winter

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Knitting Through 2013

As stitches past and being binded off it is fun to see what really happened between my hands in 2013.  Good to keep track in a way. What you see here is not all of it... But I have highlighted some projects.

Shawl of the year
My first lace project made for my wedding summer of 2013. It was so special to knit it and to wear it. And to even use it for everyday with that wonderful day in mind.

Turbo knitting of the year
To knit three Viajante would be a little over the top. But I could not stop. They are so nice to wear and so versatile. And a really great tv knit, travel knit and mindless knit. I can see myself knit another one..

Surprising knitting of the year
When I decided to join Stephen Wests MKAL I never thought it would be so much fun. I enjoyed every stitch and to never really knowing how it would turn out. I improved my knitting and learned a lot. 

Jacket of the year
Not a lot of sweaters and garments. Just one - my fana jacket. Just finished a couple of days before the new year. I will post about that later. I am so pleased with the colors in it.


Debut of the year
I never thought I would design anything. But in 2013 I designed three scarves. Simple designs, but it takes much more work to pull it off than I thought. What really makes it worth it is to see other knitters makes their own scarf from my patterns. That makes my heart jump a little extra.

Scarf of the year
I knit too many scarves. 34 of them to be more precise about my time on Ravelry from march 2010. I like almost all my scarves. And in 2013 I have to choose the Woolly Waves. It was fun to knit and really nice to wear. 

Rainbow of the year
I love colors so much. To actually continuing knitting with bright colors is what keeps me knitting. And using the yarn Kauni rainbow has given my knitting a new path. I knitted a Hitchhiker in that yarn and simply had to make mittens to go with it too.


Failure of the year
Must be the mittens I knitted to go with a scarf in the same pattern. First of all, they are not warm at all. Next, when I lost them in the snow the colors were bleeding so much that the white yarn got pink. Drops delight is no more on my list of yarns to use. But it looks good before use - as you can see in the photo...
Also, all my alpaca yarn is given to charity. You can read that story here.

UFO of the year
Some projects stays unfinished. I should maybe have frogged it. But I always think I will finish it... The cowl is nice but it takes forever to knit as every other stitch is slipped on every row. That means that every row has to be knitted twice. Not fun at all...

For 2014 the plan is to finish some of the projects I am knitting right now. An open front jacket, a huge shawl and to start a tunic. Otherwise I take it all as it comes. After all, knitting should be fun, colorful and giving. If it is not - drop it! Life is too short for boring knitting ;-)


Happy new knitting year - all the best to all of you. 
Thank you for reading my blog - without you there would be no blog.