---------
Poetry in Stitches cardigan in white Cotton Sport by Idena body :: 100% complete! arms : 1000% complete --------- Cardigan
for Dad from Maske for maske - ungdom og voksne by Mette Handberg. click here for a picture. -----------
Country Socks from Folk Socks in Nature Spun sportweight (Snow and Charcoal) :: 90% complete (problem is: I ran out of charcoal yarn) ----------
Lace baby cap and mittens from Homespun, Handknit :: done
P.I.P.S.s ::
(projects in planning stages) Finish writing
up the pattern for the Cotton Sport cabled sweater and post
it.
Hva er dette for noe?
This is a weblog. It's mine. It tends to be about knitting
with occasional ramblings about my experience living in Norway.
(Sometimes it's the other way 'round.) Want to know more? Read the
faq's! :O)
Currently reading ::
In English:
På norsk:
Mandag 24. Juni 2002
Something for you to check out while I'm away from the computer for a couple of days:
music my sweetie made at gromyko.com ! :O)
Whoo hoo! Finished the arms! Put the arms on! Sewed the arm seams! Very tired! I used a back stitch seaming thing for sewing the arms in and
a crocheted seam for the arms themselves. I think it worked out very well. Likely because I took my time and was careful.
I've got lots to do because we're on vacation starting Tuesday. Which is why I've been so scarce. I have nearly all the laundry done, and
I'm semi-packed. I have a list of things to do tomorrow. And I'm nervous. (= scattered and unable to concentrate)
I'm trying to figure out something to knit on the airplane. I'm thinking socks. On the swallow casein needles. With two colors. Rather like the
ones that I didn't find the pattern book for at the library.
And I'll do my best to get a new Personal Yarns up tomorrow. And do the Monday positives thing. I'll go think about those things now.
Finally finished up the one arm and am quite close to finishing the other. Can't wait to get this thing
put together! Now, before I start doing that, I am not the most experienced finisher in the world, as most of what I make is
knit in the round. The cast-on and cast-off edges of the sleeves must be sewn together and then the arms sewn into the body. And I
want it to be as perfect as possible. I would love some help and suggestions!
(Oh, and I made a hat in the meantime. Just a k2, p2 for 9 inches then decrease thing...the yarn for it was on sale too...)
In non-knitting related news: I washed and waxed the car today, put Rain-X on the windows and Armour All on the black parts (what do you
call that strip that goes around on a car?) And I have lettuce growing in my little mini-garden, the tomatoes are about 6 inches high (I have
my doubts as to whether or not we'll see ripe tomatoes before the first frost) and the sun was setting at 11:20 this evening. Magical, this
long summer nights. And the bumble bees are partying down in the roses. Bzzzzz...
Poetry in Stitches cardigan arms update: I got all the way through with one of them and had the sense to check and
make sure it fit in the armhole before doing the second 1/2 of the other. Naturally (naturligvis) it didn't. Too small.
Rip rip rip. So I now have two half finished arms. Which is a good thing! (?) And I feel confident I will
finish in time. :O) Picture added to project page... click here.
Went to take the video back while S. got groceries and did something I didn't mean to do: I bought 19 balls of
a idena yarn called "Titicaca" 17 green and 2 a wine color for contrast for some vague notion of a long jacket with a hood
for cuddly, cold weather sofa movie-watching. My excuse: it used to be NKr. 50. It was on sale for NKr. 5. You guys
understand, don't you?
Feelin' loose.... I've just been doing some yoga, of which I've been plugging away on and off for about 2 1/2 years. Result: being able to do
the downward facing dog and breathe at the same time!
I have both Dixie Carter
Unworkout and Unworkout II, because
I really do feel that if she can do it, I can too. The Jane Fonda one
is okay too, if you haven't been given the impression that Jane Fonda might be slightly evil.
Yoga Journal: Yoga Practice for Beginners is also lying next to the VCR,
but I find Patricia Walden rather intimidating
and more than a little scary. Plus I find it hard to hold the pose while laughing when she goes on about releasing your eyes and softening the back of your throat.
I came across an inspiring list of poses at yogajournal.com a few days ago, which
allows you to search for anatomical focus (such as wrists) and
therapeutic applications (like carpal tunnel syndrome) both of which
would be excellent for knitters, no? And child's pose
is marvelous for stretching those upper back and shoulder muscles that get tight while knitting for long periods.
Oh, for crying out loud. Now I read the email from the
tagboard people that says the tAds will be discontinued, which
was my main issue with the tagboard. But now I've become fond
of the non-boxed in appearance of the chatterbox. Sigh.
I've also decided that I shall from now on feel more free
to ramble in this space. So. ...
I feel like I'm going crazy. Yesterday wasn't Wednesday. It was Thursday. So, I'm changing the date on the last post. Oh,
the joys of manual updating.
The tagboard vs. chatterbox voting is just about even. And my sweetie votes for the chatterbox. Kate brought
up the irritating "refresh the page" problem. If you don't want it to do that, the solution is to use the popup window, which does what it needs to on its own.
Please note: This was not an obvious thing to do before I spent about 2 hours fiddling with it this morning! (i.e. Kate is not a dolt)
And did I say how happy I was that Carolyn is back? ;O)
One more thing: I saw this chatterbox this morning and can't decide which is better, it or the Tagboard.
Enter your vote by leaving a message in the one you like best.
Hi everybody! I feel like I've been away forever... Sunday we spent sunning ourselves at a nearby lake, Monday we went to the
model airplane field to watch S. crash a just put together plane (he's already fixed it) and then thunder and lightning
for the rest of the evening... makes me not want to sit next to electrical things. ;o)
I've been working on the arms to the PIS cardigan after all...
I sewed up the shoulder seams and realized I'd like it better with arms. I'm doing both arms at the same time and I'm right now
halfway through.
I finished the Henley T-shirt and there's a picture up there to the right.
I bought yarn for Dad's cardigan (see WIP on the left sidebar) yesterday and cast on last night to see if I could get
the right gauge (I could not). The yarn called for in the book, Telemark by Sandnes doesn't exist according to the 3 yarn
shops I asked in, so I got pt5 sport that's a 80% wool, 20% nylon blend that was supposed to knit up to about the same gauge as the yarn
in the book, but I had to go down to size 2.5 mm needles and I'm going to give it a try in the size smaller than I would have otherwise and see
how it comes out.
I'm way behind on everything else, email and the knitblogs list, and reading what everyone's up to but
I'll get there!
WOW! Look! The counter passed 10,000! I'm so excited! I feel like we should have a party, but
unfortunately, I'm still spaced out on allergy medication... stupid grass pollen...
Change the position of the dividing point between the DPN's by
knittting 2 or 3 stitches from one dpn to the next every few rounds. Or use a set of 5 DPN's instead of 4... less stress on the dividing points.
To avoid holes at the tops of gussets
Slip instep stitches to a length of scrap yarn to hold while knitting the heel
or single crochet with a length of scrap yarn over the stitches rather than leaving them on the extra
needles. This will put less stress on those corner stitches which will prevent them from becoming
elongated and causing a hole.
To avoid a tight cuff
Cast on loosely for the top of socks by either holding two needles together (or using a larger needle) for the long tail
cast on method or using a larger set of needles for the "knitting on" method.
To make a better join when knitting in
the round
Cast on an extra stitch, then knit it together with the first stitch you cast on when joining.
Move the last stitch cast on so that it is on the same needle as the
first stitch. Then lift the last stitch over the first stitch so that you
switch their order. Then start knitting in what ever pattern in the
following order: first stitch, last stitch, second stitch, third stitch,
etc.
Make sure you make the initial slip
knot (if you're using a long tail cast on) so that it gets
tighter when you pull on the tail, not the yarn coming from
the ball. Then you can tighten up that stitch for a nicer
looking join
The above did not, obviously, all originate with me. I've gotten these from the knitlist,
the socknitter's list, the knitblogs list
and woolworks. There's more, I just have to go rooting around and find 'em. Is there anything else you
know of? Leave a comment!
Knitting report:: Finished the Henley T-shirt. It's washing now, and I'll get a pic when it's blocking!
Don't feel up to making your own Dale sweater? Buy one online at the Oslo
Sweater Shop! (Or just drool onto your monitor while staring at the pictures.)
Quick WIP update: I'm almost finished with Mom's Henley T-shirt. Just an short arm and some finishing touches and I'll snap a picture.
I did finish up the gloves (finally) and will get a picture up of those tomorrow. I also cast on for a small, carry-around
project tonight at the model airplane field, while fighting off the mosquitos (mygg): a lace baby cap (just like this one)
from Homespun, Handknit.
Thanks to the marvelous Kate & the wonderful Jennifer, I recovered the
posts for May 1-8. If anyone has the 9th-14th of May in their computer's cache, I would be
eternally grateful if you send them to me. (See Saturday's post to
to find out how to check your cache.)
Vestland, ladies jacket with embroidery in the style of the western coast of Norway
and Dame og Herrejakke, one men's and
two versions of a ladies' jacket (short and long).
You can also order it from Pinnsvin Design
for Nkr. 245 or about 28 US dollars.
I'll translate what they say about the book::
Her er det mye å strikke! Enkle vester, lekre ytterjakker,
gensere, vanter, tøffe hatter. Boken utmerker seg spesielt ved at her er
mange fine modeller for menn. Det finnes et par enfargete modeller, men de
fleste er i tradisjonelt mønsterstrikk, men med spennende ny design!
Oppskriftene er godt forklart med diagrammer i farger og med mye
gøyalt tilbehør til modellene.
Here's a lot to knit! Simple vests, beautiful outer jackets, sweaters,
mittens, tough hats. The book distinguishes itself by having many fine knits
for men. There are a couple of single colored examples, but the most are in traditional
color patterns, but with exciting new designs! The patterns are well explained with
diagrams in color and with lots of little extras for the patterns.
The book is in Norwegian, but like it says, there are lots of color graphs and the pictures
are quite good, several of the patterns have pictures from more than one angle. And Kim Salazar,
of wiseneedle.com posted to the knitlist a few days ago that the next thing
she would be working on is getting the Norwegian knitting terms (that I sent her) added to the
glossary there! And I, as always, am available to
translate. So, if you're interested here is the order form (in Norwegian)
or a form (in English) to inquire about prices for this book plus
shipping. (You'll have to enter the name of the book under "Other Requests" since it's not in the drop down menu.)
I need help. (Well, that's obvious.) I have been updating this page manually and did a very silly thing:
I uploaded the second half of May over the first half of May in the archives without having saved them. So, if anybody out there looked at the May archives
sometime between the 15th of May and Thurday (or maybe it was yesterday) please, oh, please do the following:
Set your browser to "Work Offline". (So your computer will pull up the cached version of the May archives and not the one that's there now.)
Go to the May 2002 archives from the drop down window on the left side of this page.
See if the first half of May is there.
If it is, view the source. (If you're using Internet Explorer, right click on the page and select "view source".)
Schedule for Today :: we'll soon be taking the bus to Oslo for Musikkens Dag (Music Day : free live music outdoors in 11 different spots in the city), then taking the boat from Vippetangen to
Bleikøya, an island out in the Oslo fjord for
to meet the line dancing folks for grilling and dancing and socializing for the rest of the evening.
My little "rain, rain go away" thing did the trick... there's blue skies and big white fluffy clouds this morning.
We've been having lots of weather for the past few days... raining while the sun is shining and whatnot. Plus, being close to mid-summer, the
sun is coming up at 4am and going down at 10:30pm.
Result :: we've seen some amazing rainbows for the past two days.
I've never seen anything like the one on Thursday about 8:30pm... incredibly vivid, bright, Crayola colors. Unbelievable.
And shining like it was giving out its own light. A little
earlier that evening there were two right on top of the other and in a complete arch. And it's not that terribly unusual to see
double rainbows. I think it has something to do with the angle of the sun here in the summer. You guys really should come visit Norway. ;O)
?
->>
