Viser innlegg med etiketten mittens. Vis alle innlegg
Viser innlegg med etiketten mittens. Vis alle innlegg

søndag 12. februar 2017

Votter, treningsbestikkelser og alpakkabeleggdille

En god stund nå, men spesielt etter jeg blei sjuk i slutten av november, har jeg vært vitne til mitt eget kroppslige forfall. Det kreves ingen medisinsk utdannelse for å forstå at når selv det å stå opp av senga er en utfordring, så blir man ikke akkurat i bedre form. I det siste har i heldigvis den biten falt litt mer på plass - tur med Arya har jeg klart å gå regelmessig, men det går ikke akkurat så fort med en hund som skal snuse på noe hver tredje meter. Pulsen måtte opp, og endelig har jeg klart å finne litt giv til trening.

For å gi meg selv enda mer motivasjon, har jeg gitt meg selv en utfordring - eller en bestikkelse? Den går ut på at hvis jeg greier å trene to ganger i uka i fire uker, skal jeg få kjøpe noe nytt garn. Jeg har selvfølgelig allerede planlagt hva det skal være, så nå er det bare å stå på! Med trening er det her snakk om styrke og utholdenhet på treningssenter. Hvis jeg bare greier å trene én dag, kan jeg gå 10 000 skritt i tre dager i tillegg. Det pleide å være lett som en plett før, men nå er det mildt sagt en utfordring. Fitbiten og garngulrota hjelper på motivasjonen, og selvfølgelig den følelsen jeg får av å trene. Jeg føler meg som en hykler der jeg står i vektløfterskoene mine og tar 30 kg i knebøy, men sånn må det bli!

Jeg synes faktisk jeg er veldig flink til å slanke garnlageret mitt (å slanke kroppen orker jeg ikke å tenke på nå, selv om den er tyngre), men det kom jo mye garn inn i lageret etter jeg var i Kongsvinger og hentet derfra, også er det jo alt som er i kjelleren. Jeg tror det er på rundt 20 kg nå. Jeg har lyst til å lage en bedre oversikt over hvor mye jeg har brukt opp, men da må jeg legge inn absolutt alt på ravelry først! Det er litt av en jobb.

For å fortsette på garnslanketemaet, så ble jeg nylig ferdig med det ultimate restegarnsprosjektet - nemlig Fiddlehead Mittens. Det er en skikkelig klassiker på ravelry!


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Dette er jo kanskje noen av de mest Ingvildete fargene som finnes, i skjønn forening. Og det er sju forskjellige garntyper her! Det som er så genialt med disse vottene er at de er foret, så man kan bruke opp for eksempel de alpakkarestene man ikke veit hva man skal gjøre med. Ellers er det Pickles Merino Tweed (farge løvfall), Brooklyn Tweed Shelter (farge Hayloft) og Loft (farge Barn owl), Malsen og Mor Shetland Soft (fargene grå skumring og basis hvit) og et skotsk tweedgarn som ligner en del på Shetlandsull eller lamullgarnet til Rauma. Alt er holdt dobbelt bortsett fra Shelter. Jeg strikka yttervotten på pinne 3, og den er så tett at den kan brukes som skjold! Det var nesten ubehagelig å strikke så tykt garn med så tynne pinner. I stedet for icord-opplegg gjorde jeg ei latvisk flette. Her må vottene dampes litt bedre, for den synes ikke så godt.

Og inni er det Rauma alpaca silk, et pusegarn, i beige, og Drops alpaca i naturhvitt:


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Og det er så mykt atte hjælp. Vottene er bare helt utrolig varme, og de besto dagens skogstur:


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(Også avbildet: Lancet-lue fra Brooklyn Tweed, og Senjegenser fra Kofteboken)

De ble nesten for varme for dagens tur, og jeg måtte ta dem av flere ganger.
Utrolig artig å strikke dem, og det gikk med en del garn. Den skotske ulla blei strikka helt opp.

Umiddelbart etter at jeg hadde strikka ferdig vottene, tenkte jeg på det geniale som er foret strikk, og i tillegg hadde jeg femten gram igjen av nøstet med Drops Alpaca. Det klarte jeg ikke å legge tilbake i skuffen, og jeg trenger jo ei lue som matcher, gjør jeg ikke? Jeg trenger i hvert fall ei lue jeg kan gå med til den plommerøde kåpa mi. Dermed skjedde dette:


Hat

Deilig foret brem i Drops Alpaca og Rauma Alpaca Silk, og brei ribb i dobbel Shetland Soft (mitt nye favorittgarn, kan man si det? Dobbel Shetland soft?) i fargen lilla plomme. Utrolig vakker lillafarge; den ligner nok litt mer på den fra vottene. På selve lua blir det vel noe mønster etter hvert, vi får se hva det blir til.

Det får være nok for i kveld - resten skal nok brukes på mer strikking(!) mens jeg ser på at mannen spiller Skyrim på Playstation 4. Slik går dagene!

søndag 8. mars 2015

#6 & #7: Rolf fingerless mitts and lizard ridge dishcloth

It's been quiet here lately - after I posted my last post I got really ill and was actually unable to knit for a while! This week I have managed to finish some projects, though, and get up to par with the ones I have on the needles.

The fingerles glove has recently had its renaissance in my life. I was a big fan of fingerless gloves some five-ish years ago, and wore them a lot. I slowly stopped wearing them altogether. Then last autumn I knitted a pair of Merletto Mitts for the bi-annual NydeligFin (my sewing group) gift exchange and I was kind of reminded that they exist. Now spring is coming to Trondheim, and my eyes have yet again opened to the fingerless glove! Not only are they practical to wear as the weather gets warmer, they are also great stashbusting projects and very quick, satisfying knits.

I also got lots of inspiration from my newly purchased Mittens & mitts book (Vantar för alla årstider).

The first pair I have knit is the Rolf mitts.


rolf_mitts2

They are a quick knit in a heavy worsted weight yarn and fun with the thick cables.
The yarn I chose is Cozy from Pickles. It's a type of yarn that has become very popular in Norway lately, kind of a fuzzier version of Malabrigo worsted. It's an alpaca/nylon/merino blend, one ply. It's light and extremely soft. I had knitted a pullover out of this yarn and I had almost two skeins left, so I decided to knit these mitts.


rolf2

Unfortunately I did not manage to use it all up. Oh, well... headband next, I suppose.


rolf-1

I have also recently become very taken with the colour of these mittens - a dusty beige, so stay tuned for more projects in this colour! The mitts have been all knit up for over a week, now, but only today did I weave in the ends. I don't like doing boring stuff...

I promptly cast on for another pair of fingerless gloves - but I will post them in this week's WIP Wednesday, unless I manage to finish them before then!

The next project is a quite different one, and an ongoing project of sorts: Dishcloths. Our kitchen needs them sorely, but I have never been a cotton kind of lady, so I just have never had any in my stash. This week, however, I managed to destash over a kilogram of yarn, and got lots of white cotton in return. Of course, So because of the destash (which was quite big - over a kilogram!!) I justified buying some more cotton - because I can't have only white dishcloths, right? So in the end I managed to shrink my stash by about 300 grams.

While in the yarn shop, I thought I would get some colours I can't wear myself, so I was drawn to this extremely turquoise yarn.

Extremely turquoise.


lizardridge

Wow. By itself, it didn't look so bright, but once paired with the white it is just TURQUOISE. Good thing it will be used to wipe the stove top and other surfaces, and not be worn by me.

And now I have lots of cotton, so I have to knit many cloths. I have scoured ravelry for fun patterns to try, so that is what I will do. A great way to try fun stitch patterns! The one above is the Lizard Ridge pattern, and it's free on ravelry.

Anyway, that's all for today - and this coming week  I will do the WIP Wednesday, for sure. I have many things going on, and even more ideas. Happy Sunday!

søndag 22. februar 2015

#5 / 2015: Otto mittens

It's Sunday, which seems to be the Great FO Day, and I finally finished the Otto mittens for my boyfriend yesterday. Today they were dry. I guess being ill helped - I finally left the house today for a short walk and now I'm exhausted!

I feel lucky that he agreed to model the mittens, too.


otto4

Knitting for my boyfriend is definitely something I enjoy, and I have slowly introduced more knitted items to him. Of course, they have to be functional. I think I started with the scarf he is wearing in this photo, a bit over a year ago. Then a hat, and another hat... a pair of socks.. and now these mittens.


otto5

I like the simple design of these mittens, and I also think it's very effective. I love geometrical designs, moreso than the traditional Norwegian ones, these days. They have the aforementioned Latvian braid and a nice pop of colour by the cuffs.

On our way home the mittens also got to pet a cat.


otto3

It is not often that one gets to take such candid pictures of mittens!

After I finished them yesterday I promptly cast on for another pair, fingerless mitts this time, from the same book, in worsted weight and cables. Yep. I have finished the first one already... more on that later.

All in all, the Otto mittens were a win-win; I was able to use stash yarn and the result was a great success. I have many other stash mittens and mitts planned, too, so maybe this stash will actually shrink a bit... let's hope!

fredag 20. februar 2015

WIP Wednesday #3 delayed: Test knitting, university knitting and Latvian braid love

Unfortunately I did not have time to post my WIPs this Wednesday. Today I'm at home being sick and feeling sorry for myself, so I have used the opportunity and daylight to take some pictures and give a little WIP update.

I finished one sweater, so I swiftly started a new one. This is not a stranded sweater, it is a single-colour henley pullover. I am doing a test knit on ravelry, the pullover winter song by MonaLykaina. I need more simple and casual sweaters in my wardrobe, and I often feel like I choose patterns with too many design elements, or at least I have in the past. And while I love straned Norwegian sweaters, a lot, I can't have a sweater wardrobe only consisting of them. 

The yarn is from Hillesvåg, a sport weight with good meterage.  The colour is an example of Don't Trust Your Monitor, as I ordered this online. I wouldn't have chosen this green if I had seen it "live", but I like it enough to go with it. I'm just not crazy about it... Objectively, though, this is a colour that probably will go well with my colouring, but I would have liked it a little lighter. I'm sure it will be fine, though; and I already sent back five skeins  (that is 500 grams)  of yarn in a colour I was unhappy with. Hopefully I will be happy with the colour I chose now. 

No denying it, though, the colour Moss Green is a pretty green and it looks differently in different lights. 


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Here is one representation of the colour...


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And here is another!

I like this version better...

As you can see, there is a lot of stockinette in the body of this sweater, so I guess it will be quite uninteresting for a while, until I get to the yoke.

That brings me to the next project... the mittens which I'm still working on.


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Yes, I have had a littke knitting photo shoot in my window sill.

These mittens are slow going because I am only knitting on them while I am at university. I haven't been at many lectures lately, but I have been working a lot on developing a good system for analysing a compound, and it is taking a LOT of time, and it produces quite a bit of down time. Combine that with low energy levels due to a beginning cold and I had a good excuse to do some knitting. So hooray - I'm over halfway with mitten number two!


otto_latviskefletter

And let me just say, I am in love with the look of the Latvian braid. I actually didn't know of it until a few months ago, but it's just great for the bottom of mittens with this kind of cuff (that is, no ribbing). It is absolutely lovely, and a total pain to knit. The result is worth it, though.

I think I am going to make an effort to finish these mittens soon. I want to start a new project...

onsdag 4. februar 2015

WIP Wednesday #1 and yarn diet

So, what's on the needles?

Well, right now I have one project that has been ongoing since December 27th. December 27th because that is the day the shops opened after Christmas and I could buy yarn for my new sweater. 

The pattern is, as my lately finished Veme sweater, from the book Kofteboken. It's taking some time - not only because it's knitted at a gauge of 27sts/10 cm, or because it's patterned all over, but because I have been distracted in the meantime. I had to knit the baby onesies, and then I just "had" to knit the Veme sweater. 


Medaljekofte in progress

This is not the most up-to-date picture, as I am closing in on 30 cm knitted on the body! The sleeves were finished before the body, which is just great (I may need to do that more often). My ravelry page is here, by the way, but the pattern itself is not yet on ravelry. Overall, it's quite a slow going project, but I have learned the pattern now; good thing about these types of patterns is that they are often quite intuitive.

For the interested, this updated version of the cardigan will have raglan sleeves (the earlier version had steeked set-in sleeves). Although I'm thankful I don't have to cut and sew, I can't say I am looking forward to having a trillion pattern stitches. Whew. But that won't be yet...

The yarn I am using is Sisu by Sandnes yarn, a superwash/nylon blend, and it's creating a nice and elastic fabric. I think I bought 13 skeins in total for this, and I still have 8 left, so I'm concerned there might be a lot left...

Which brings me to the next project - the Otto Mittens (link to ravelry pattern page). On Saturday I came across the book "Votter og pulsvanter til alle årstider" or "Mittens and mitts for all seasons". It's a very pretty book that caught my eye, and it had a lot of nice patterns.

The thing is this - I am on a self imposed yarn diet. Compared to many others my stash is probably very cute and little, but to me, there is a lot, and I don't live in the largest place, either. My goal is to knit up as much as possible before the summer, and I have lots and lots of yarn in mitten friendly quantities. So my plan is to always have a little project on the side of a larger project - and this time the choice fell on these mittens.


Otto mitten

There are a lot of other mittens I want to knit from that book, not to mention I can knit hats and other things. If I can knit many small things during the year, maybe I won't be in so much trouble come Christmas? ;) Anyway, these mittens are for my boyfriend, to whom I have not knitted many things. Somehow it feels a bit scary, still, but he really likes these mittens, and I get to reduce my stash by a smidgeon. Win-win.

That's all for today - happy Wednesday to everyone and I hope I have something else to show for next WIP Wednesday!