Første halvdel av 2015: en oppsummering

Det er stille her for tida. En skulle kanskje trodd sommerferie virkelig ville sette fart i strikkingen, men den gang ei. Det har vært en travel tid; flytting, oppussing og sammenskruing av møbler har stått på agendaen. I det siste har det roet seg, og jeg har faktisk fått strikket en del, men så har det seg slik at jeg holder på med et Hemmelig Prosjekt, og det kan jeg jo ikke vise fram. Derfor tenkte jeg å lage et oppsummeringsinnlegg.

Første halvdel av 2015 er straks omme. Ganske tidlig i år bestemte jeg meg for å strikke 12 gensere, og når ting gikk fortere enn forventet, bestemte jeg meg til å øke antallet til 15. Jeg synes det fungerer utmerket, men det har ført til at jeg kun har hatt store prosjekter på pinnene. Dette innlegget skal omhandle genserprosjektet mitt. 

Siden jeg er opptatt av ubetydelige regler,  så har jeg bestemt meg for at babygensere ikke teller.

Per dags dato har jeg strikket åtte gensere, altså er jeg godt i rute! I tillegg er jeg i gang med både nummer ni og ti. Den ene kan jeg vise her, det er versjon to av "Med åpne diagonale masker" fra boka Vintagestrikk. Her er ravelry-lenken til prosjektet!

Denne gangen valgte jeg å strikke bolen først, og jeg er nå såvidt i gang med ermene. Dessverre er den ikke prioritert nå. Kanskje den skal få bli reisestrikk til helga!

Grunnen til at jeg strikker den igjen, er at den første ble så vellykket. Denne gangen har jeg valgt å gjøre den litt lengre og smalere, og det oppnår jeg ved å strikke med pinne 2,5. Malsen og Mor Shetland Soft er fortsatt garnet, i fargen lilla tistel. Utrolig deilig garn!

Her kommer de andre genserne jeg har strikket så langt i år:








Åtte flotte gensere... og seks var til meg!
Andre halvdel av 2015 byr derimot på mer strikk til andre. Etter nyhetene om at Kofteboken 2 kommer ut til jul, må jeg strikke så mye jeg kan fra Kofteboken! Slik blir det julegaver av. Men jeg har også planlagt noen flotte høstgensere fra Brooklyn Tweed til både meg og kjæresten.

Det er alt for i dag!

Nå er det norsk! #13 / 2015: Slalåm/Senjekofte og dårlige tider for egostrikk

Nå er det endelig tid til oppdatering! Masteren er levert, jeg har tatt min siste eksamen, og om få måneder skal penger begynne å strømme fra ingensteder inn på kontoen. I tillegg har jeg flytta, så dagene har gått med til nettopp dét og mangel på internett. Nå er jeg derimot hos mine foreldre, og der finnes det internett i fleng.

Alle de flinke strikkedamene jeg følger på instagram har lagt ut nydeligvakre kolasjer med alt de strikka i mai. Hva kan jeg skilte med i mai, sånn strikkemessig? Ikke noe nytt, siden forrige innlegg...

I mai var det blant annet dropssalg, og  Syforeninga Nydeligfins byttekveld nærmet seg i juni. (Byttekvelden til Syforeninga er en slags hemmelig nissevenn, du får en mottaker med en ønskeliste og oppfyller et ønske - med ditt eget håndarbeid, så klart.) Jeg bestemte meg, i masteroppgaveskriverus, å strikke ei kofte. Det  burde gå bra, mottakeren er minst to størrelser mindre enn meg og det går da relativt raskt å strikke ei kofte til meg selv!

Egentlig skulle jeg strikke Nancykofta, men Alle har jo den, så valget falt i stedet på Senje/Slalåm fra Kofteboken. Fargene var i mottakerens egne farger, grå bunn med turkis mønster. Ikke noe for meg, men vakre farger jeg koste meg å strikke med.

Kofta ble ferdig andre juni (dagen etter masteravhandlingen min ble ferdig)! Jeg brukte altså rundt tre uker på ferdigstillingen. Og resultatet ble riktig så flott!




Kofta er strikka i Baby Merino fra drops. Jeg brukte ganske nøyaktig seks nøster av grått, og godt under halvparten av ett nøste av hver mønsterfarge (jeg har selvfølgelig veid de resterende garnnøstene. Data er viktig!). Jeg strikka den minste størrelsen.

Strikkefastheten min var mye strammere enn anbefalt, på grunn av kommentarer fra ravelry om at plaggene vokser i vask. Og det gjorde de! Kofta vokste 8 cm i bredden og 5 cm i lengden. Dermed ble kofta en perfekt størrelse XS! Jeg var litt nervøs for at kofta ville bli for liten, for hvem strikker vel prøvelapp.. OG vasker den etterpå? (Svar: Ikke jeg...)




Jakka fikk også et mye bedre fall etter vask, og var mindre "sprettent". Det er også utrolig mykt -  nesten for mykt for kofter, synes jeg! Trives best med ubehandla ull, i grunn.

Og mottakeren var godt fornøyd med gaven. (Selv fikk jeg et kjempeflott forkle.)

Nå har jeg pådratt meg haugevis med gavestrikk, så det kan muligens se ut som det er dårlig med arbeid her, men de skal vises fram etter at gavene er overlevert. I tillegg skal jeg passe på å ha et plagg til meg selv (eller samboeren) til enhver tid. Da ordner det seg nok!

God helg.

#9, #10, #11 & #12 / 2015... oh my! Sweater bonanza

Last time I updated was almost exactly a month ago, and while the blog has been silent, the knitting needles have click-clacked! Right now, if I am not at university,  I am knitting. In four weeks and one day I am handing in my master's thesis... so I need knitting more than ever, to zone out in the evenings.

Since I last updated, I first finished the Fana sweater for my mum.




I finished this April 11, not too long after the Easter holidays. The body was knitted at great speed! It is a little wide, but I hope it will be okay for my mother. I will see her in three weeks, so I will give her her cardigan then... I used 15 skeins (I think), 9 of the brown and 6 of the white. Yarn is Peer Gynt from Sandnes, a yarn I really enjoyed knitting with!

The next one I finished the day after, April 12. Wow, I was on fire! I didn't have much left, though. This had been on the needles for a long time, and it is the Winter Song test knit. The pattern is now released! I still haven't taken decent pictures of this sweater because I have yet to add buttons. Bad Me.




My favourite part of the sweater is all the lovely, intricate cables which pop on the back:




I still kind of think the colour is a bit too murky for my liking, but it is a colour that suits me. It will probably see more wear in the autumn! I used 3.1 skeins of Hillesvåg Ask for this sweater, that is appproximately 1000 meters.

The next one is the classic Bøvertun from Kofteboken. There are several versions of this; two with a round yoke, and this with the set-in sleeves. I opted for the classic version for this yarn, Rauma 3 ply, a dk weight yarn. I had to adapt the pattern to suit my gauge of 22 sts/10 cm, so I made an even smaller size.

 In the end I cast on 254 stitches for the bottom ribbing, in total 18 of these were set aside for button bands (9 on each band). After the ribbing I decreased from 236 stitches to 225 stitches. The square pattern is divisible by 10(+5), the flowers by 16(+1) and the rest by 4 or so. I only had to adjust number of stitches for one of the patterns, so I didn't have to think too much.

I ended up with about a 102 cm bust size, which fits me well and gives me over 10 cm of ease.

The yarn softened up greatly with washing. I have  been brave lately and washed all my knitted garments, superwash or no, on the wool cycle in the washing machine, with great results!




I was also brave and cut the front steek which was not reinforced - only by the wool's grabby nature. I like it!

In total I used 8 skeins of purple, and 5 skeins of white.




Can you see the mistake I made?

And last but not least, my most recently finished sweater that was actually finished yesterday! This is my 7th sweater this year, so it looks like I might make the 15 mark after all...




This is from the book Vintagestrikk (Vintage Knits) and is called "Med åpne diagonale masker" ("With open, diagonal stitches"). For my birthday I went on a yarn spree, and I decided to try a new yarn, Shetland Soft from Malsen og Mor. This is a light wool yarn with extremely good meterage, and it can be knit at a gauge of 24 sts/10 cm. With 280 meters per 50 grams, this makes for light and airy sweaters, and as a frugal knitter, I do like it! It fluffed up wonderfully when washed, and if the gauge seemed loose the washing plumped the yarn up.




This sweater is very short, but I used less than 200 grams of yarn.

I also quite like the pattern, it was a very quick knit and it just looks so cute. I have plans to knit another one, a longer version, which can be worn with jeans. But this cream version will look great with high waisted skirts and shorts.




And that is all I have to say for myself!

Hopefully I will be better at updating now, so I won't have to do everything at once... whew!

WIP Wednesday: Sleeves

Wow... it is Wednesday, and I am actually writing a WIP Wednesday post! Thank you, Easter.

Not too long ago, after having knitted almost two sweaters with no stranded patterns, I could feel the longing to knit a Norwegian kofte again. I could not stay away from them very long, apparently. I reminded myself that I still had a sweater to knit for my mother, whose last gifted sweater turned out too small. (I have later realised that my gauge is NOT the same as in the magazines... oops.)

The sweater she wanted, both this time and last time, is the ever-popular fanakofte. I am not unfamiliar with it...




My first one, started in 2007 and finished in... 2010. Knitted in Really Thin yarn, though.




My second one, started in 2010 and finished in... 2010! Knit in alpaca. Ugh, never again...




Third one and fourth one. The third one was the failed sweater for my mother, which now is with my sister in law. Fourth one for my dear niece. I knit them in 2013 and 2014.

I guess there is nothing special about the one I am knitting now, but I feel like the skills I have in these kinds of cardigans are much higher than my first, second and even third attempt. This time I am also getting gauge (!!), which is always a plus.

I am knitting in a DK weight 100 % non-superwash wool yarn, Peer Gynt by Sandnes Yarn. It's knitting up greatly, with lovely stitch definition and I have a feeling it will wear well. It looks crisp and nice.




The design is classic. The stripes makes it feel like the knitting just flies by.




But wait a minute... that is three sleeves! Am I knitting a second sweater? Yes, as a matter of fact... my only regret is that I have startitis. Somehow I decided that knitting a bunch of sleeves would speed up the process, because then I would only have the body left. I always get so excited when finishing the body of a sweater, only to get devastated when finding out I have to knit sleeves. And not just one, I have to knit two! So to not have this problem, I am knitting the sleeves before the body, and to not get tired of one sleeve, I am alternating. Whew.

Hate knitting sleeves? Just knit four!




The pattern of the second sweater is called Bøvertun. It is in the book I have previously mentioned, Kofteboken. In the book it is knitted in fingering weight, but I am knitting it in DK weight. I am knitting it in Rauma 3 ply, which I had lying around, and it is much rougher than the Peer Gynt yarn. It looks quite nice in the picture, but I can't help but thinking that Peer Gynt looks even crisper and nicer. I do like the look of it, though.

So right now I'm not knitting just one large sweater, but two! It looks like it's going fast, but then again, I am on Easter break... but I hope to be on my way on the Fana body when it is over.

Happy Easter!

#8 / 2015: Thermal

I finally finished this!

This week I suddenly had three sweaters on the needles, and they were all sleeves. One of the projects was kind of hibernating... and it will continue to do so, for Easter. The sleeves for this sweater were so long, and I just wanted them finished. Hooray for weekend (and Easter break!), I say!

So, what I had wanted was a super casual henley sweater, which is a style I like. I knit the Thermal pattern at a looser gauge, with a sport weight yarn, and I knit the smallest size. I think the sweater could have been even smaller, but the looser fit is fine, too.

I feel a bit like a grandpa wearing it. The colour is very neutral and the pattern is simple. I like it! It is what I wanted, after all. The fabric, which is a 100 % wool, became quite soft and fluffy after washing.




I still haven't sewn on buttons, but to be honest, I quite like the open look like this. I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

Now I have a week long break, so I hope to be able to knit a fair bit!

On the needles: Sweaters

I am still hoping that 2015 will be the Great Sweater Year. My goal is to end up with a wardrobe of sweaters that is varied enough that I won't have to wear store bought sweaters anymore. I am already well on my way to that point; at the moment, I only have one store bought sweater that I wear regularly. Then again, it is winter (though not for long, hopefully!). Let's see how this plan will work out when spring and even summer arrives. Maybe I will have to start knitting in cotton.

There are so many sweaters I want to knit. Right now, I am dreaming of cables, and I have two words: Brooklyn Tweed. Ugh, the sweaters are SO lovely. I am also drooling over the yarn, SHELTER. It looks so nice. Hey, it's my birthday soon...

Right now I'm not knitting anything too cable heavy, though - although the previously mentioned Winter Song sweater does have a whole bunch of small, intricate cables all over the yoke..




This even has cabling on the wrong side. I'm not used to it, and I had a lot of problems with it in the beginning! The yoke is split into three parts; left and right front, and the back. I sped through the right and left front, but the back is taking me such a long time, and it's very attention demanding knitting, so not good for TV knitting. Hopefully, this weekend will see me get some real work done with this yoke!

The intricacy of the Winter Song sweater is what made me cast on for a new sweater... and hey, it's a classic: Thermal from Knitty. Even though it's much simpler than the Winter Song sweater, they have one thing in common, and it's one of my favourite sweater styles: They are henley sweaters! I don't know why, but to me it's like the henley is the epitome of the casual, cozy sweater. I have at one point actually owned four of the same henley sweater model from H&M... in different colours, mind you, but still! Something about the buttoned front just speaks to me.

I also find that when knitting, I tend to want to use so many techniques, to kind of show look what I can do, look how talented I am but I can't only have sweaters like that; my style is very casual.




I am also going back to my roots, so to speak, with this yarn, which is all Norwegian. Ask/Hifa 2 from Hillesvåg. I "accidentally" had a bit of a yarn spree, I guess you could say, a while ago, and got yarn for four sweaters(!). I like the yarn, it's at a good sport weight gauge (24 sts) and very good meterage. It's also quite soft in its own way - I like it!

So these are the sweaters I'm currently knitting. I hope I will finish at least one of them in the coming two weeks; I want to knit a yellow sweater in the Easter holidays!

Happy Thursdays!

#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.




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.




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




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.




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!