On the needle

Life grabbed me and I couldn’t find the time to blog. It happens from time to time. But as the title of this posts states: I have been creative while I was MIA. I have knitted three Jaywalker socks, one pair in red-ish Fabel, and one sock in green guacamole color. See how proud my dog is? He saw me taking my camera out today and decided he wanted in on the action.

I love the Jaywalkerpattern. It’s really not that hard to do, and the pattern itself looks really good. They also stay up well, they won’t roll down like other socks might do. I still have half of one green sock left, and two skeins of pink Fabel yarn to make another pair. (They might end up as Christmasgifts, but I am keeping the green ones!) See closeup of my Jaywalkers here.

In other knittingnews, I finally decided what to do with my gourgeous skein of purple Lucca from my swappartner. It is slowly turning into an Argosy scarf.

I love this pattern as well. It is my first lacypattern, and although I am following the written instructions and not the chart, I feel kind of good doing it. I had to learn yarnovers for this project, which wasn’t brainsurgery, I have just never need to learn them before now. I have made a small error, there is a line of stiches that should have been purled, and I knitted them instead. I really don’t mind, and I am not going to frog it just because I have already made a small mistake. I realise I can’t watch tv while knitting this pattern though, which is strange to me. I have always been able to do two or more things at once, and now I am failing. It is not a big loss, just strange.

I have found another thing to be obsessed about too: Knitting podcasts! Check out this Knitty.com feature on the subject. I have been downloading all day. So far, I have listened to a couple of podcasts from SSK podcast, Pointy Sticks and Pixie Purls. It is great stuff. I have been listening to my ipod while walking my dog for years now, and since I found podcasts in general, I have been listening to everything the podcastworld has to offer: Cnn podcasts, some tvshows from Norwegian TV channels, even a couple of podcasts to learn more french. The possibilities are endless.

My quilting project is coming along: I got the pattern and the fabric on friday, and I have washed the fabric as well as ironed all 16 fatquarters. I got both at Kathrines Quilte Stue, and I am very happy with the colorcombinations. I am a bit nervous to start the cuttingprocess, but I might get around to it tomorrow. Luckily I have all easter to start. I have spent most of my weekend browsing quiltingblogs to get tips, and I have almost mustered up the curage to start. Wish me luck!

I might be crazy, but since I have fallen deeply in love with my sewingmaching I have a feeling that I might start a quilt in 2008. I am not setting a startdate yet, but I am thinking about it all the time. I want a colorful quilt, and hopefully I’ll be done in time for fall 2008. Then I can snuggle up in my couch, underneath the quilt and be warm and toasty. I found out that the Sew, Mama, Sew blog has been blogging about quilting all month! So today, I am reading the post about different types of batting.

I got my Amazon.com package yesterday (this has been a great week mail-wise) and tore open the box in my hallway and just sat down in the hallway to start reading. I got four books, and I especially liked Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew by Amy Karol. I already know that I will be making alot of the projects in there. I also got Amy Butler’s In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects by Amy Butler, Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe by Wendy Mullin and Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca DenHartog.

I need a new bookcase……

. I have been using this little stash and dash bag all week, made from Amy Butlers pattern. It keeps me organised, and the colors remind me of spring.

I got the best package in my mailbox today, I am beaming with happiness.

The package had a purple theme, complete with little ribbons and ladybugs. But i was blown away when I uwrapped it, and spotted a supersoft purple yarn.

I have never seen such beautiful yarn in real life. (Although I get my fix from surfing yarnwebsites looking for skeins) It is called Lucca, and it is now officially my new favorite yarn. I have no idea what I should make of it yet, and I know I need many days maybe weeks of pondering the subject.

Also in the package was two (!) danish chocolates (I have tasted Anton Berg before, as norwegians are chocolatelovers, and I can’t wait to dig into this one) and something I have been wanting to try for a long time: teaflowers! I am supersurprised and very thankful towards my swap-partner from Denmark

She saved my day actually. I have had one of those days where you are incredibly tired and feel lonely and sad. I just wanted to curl up underneath a blanket and zone out today. But since I got my package, it turned my frown upside down.
See those litte ladybugs? They somehow bring me hope of spring. Which isn’t likely here, since my appartment is surrounded with ice, and it has been raining all day, but hope is always good. The ladybugs are clipped on the teaflowers.

Ok, just one more pichure of the yarn. It deserves a pichure all by itself. I have a feeling there is chocolate inside the little ladybug too…..

Just popped in to share a knitting tip: Check out Knittinghelp.com, they have tiny videoes that show how to knit. I just learned K1 f/b, by clicking the video link. Great page, and now I can k1 f/b!

I need a knitting project that takes some time. I really want to try out some of the new colors of Fabel, (I want to try the new Big Fabel too) and spent my morning looking for pattern that match in gauge. I am thinking about Monkey or Jaywalker. It is a though decision, but I think I might have to just get 2 skeins of some nice yummy yarn to be able to decide. (Even if I already have to skeins of red fabel in my stash).

Sorry guys, this is in norwegian. One day I’ll translate into a more common language, I promise….

Pulsvarmere i Kitten og effektgarn

Det er kjempelett å strikke disse, og de kan varieres i det uendelige: brede striper, tynne striper, lange eller korte.
Selv brukte jeg Kitten Mohair og Lanartus Broadway effektgarn, noe som gjør at de må vaskes for hånd, men sånn er livet. De kan like så godt lages av bomull, ull eller det du selv syns er fint.

Legg opp 38 masker med Kitten på pinne 4 for å få 20 cm lange pulsvarmere.
Strikk 4 riller, sett til effektgarn og strikk en rille. Tilbake til Kitten, strikk 4 riller, deretter 1 rille effektgarn. Fortsett slik så lenge du vil, mål rundt håndleddet for å få en perfekt passform.
Sy sammen “pølsa”: først omtrent 1 cm i den ene enden, så et opphold på noen cm for å få hull til tommelen, og så resten.
Strikk en til.

Ikke legg denne oppskriften ut på din egen blogg eller noe annet sted på internett, lag en link hit. (http://mette.wordpress.com/oppskrifter/ )Det er god karma.

I made my own pattern, inspired by the crochetneedlecases I made, and ended up with a new case for my dp sock knittingneedles. I even embroidered munbers on the pockets, to show what size are in which pocket. The project didn’t take too long, and now I feel so much more organised. Now I just need more dpneedles to fill up all the pockets.

Click this pichure to see the numbers on the pockets. The last pichure shows the case all rolled up.

Maybe I need a matching case for my crochethooks?

I made a sockbag after Laneas tutorial this week too. I feel I have been very productive.

It is now stuffed with my “happy spring” project. The last photo shows the bag closed. My next sewingproject will be another pouch with a zipper. Got some new zippers the last time I stopped by a fabricshop.

I have one week off from work, and I have so many things I want to do.

• I want to finish the huge “Sepulchre” book, that I haven’t touched for a while.
• I want to sew some “Stash and dash” bags by Amy Butler.
• I want to knit some socks (strangely enough, since I made so many for Christmas and really hated even to look at sock yarn for a week or so…)
• I want to bake.
• I want to go for a couple of looong walks with my dog.
• I want to continue my happy spring project. (It is a bit bigger than this pichure, but I have a long way to go)

And then there are things I don’t really want to do, but I have to. (I wont make a nice little list even, I’ll just sum them up Clean clothes, clean shower, clean oven, clean more clothes, trim dogs fur, exercise.

See? Dont the first little list look alot more appealing? I think so. I need some willpower to do all the things on the other list.

(I have made too many crochetcases, and I need to find new homes for them. The rest of this post will be in Norwegian

Nå har jeg laget litt for mange heklenålmapper, og tre stykker trenger nye hjem. De er litt forskjellige både i antall nåler de kan inneholde, og stoffvalg. Det er noe rart med kameraet mitt, så bildene er en anelse rødere enn virkeligheten. Har du noen spørsmål, er det bare å hyle ut. ( mette.rogstadATgmail.com bytt ut AT med @)

For å ikke gå i minus på matrialsiden, men likevel ikke være dyr hadde jeg tenkt 150 kroner per mappe, pluss frakt. Mappene er både lette og nette, så det blir ikke mye i frakt.

Heklemappe 1:

Har plass til tre store heklenåler (str. 8, 9 og større) og 16 mindre lommer, som helt fint har plass til str. 7 og mindre. Silkebånd som lukkeanordning. Mappen er litt rynkete etter å ha ligget sammenrullet. Hei allergikere, mappen er sydd i et hjem hvor det bor en hund. Continue Reading »