I am speechless!!!!

This dog would definately scare me away if I decided a career as burglar!! I am gratefull I don't have to take it for a walk!!!

The mermaid

The mermaid lives deep under the sea

You don't know where she hides

An underwater kingdon, maybe

On a seahorse she rides

Wendy miller

I WON!!!

Wow! I won a contest on www.rokken.dk. A big skein of handspun dog and sheep yarn from Gudmindrupgarn. I think it is the first time ever that I win anything! Great :-)

Mermaid addict

Started to make the gusset with the colour similar to the main colour. Didn't like it!


How many times can I change my mind?!

I really like the egde with the slip stitches

No more pictures today -I can hear a mermaid sing.....

Mermaid -"The beginning"

At a point I almost gave up on the colours for the Mermaid, but I think it will end up okay. I have done 45 rows so fra. Heaven knows how many I have left!!


My new camera (less than 18 hours between the ordering and receiving it -amazing) does much better in reproducing the colours. Here are a few shots.

Lace square

I have FINALLY finished the lace square! I must admit I was very fed up with it. I kept on making mistakes. It hasn't scared me off doing lace knitting though. But the patterns on the sides I will never do again!

I have ordered an new digital camera today: Canon Supershot A710IS

I will be nice with good quality images again.

And! My mermaid yarn has arrived. I am still in doubt as to which colours to choose. Some of them are much more similar than expected and I fear they will not show up in the stribes. So maybe I'll choose the dark one after all.

Lace scarf

Ta daah!! My first lace shawl -for absolute beginners. Made of the wonderfull Colinette yarn my SP send me and inspired by the cat paw shawl pattern she send me too. The pattern says 25 g, but I only used half of that! Which means I can make one more!!

Today I put away my winter coat, digged out a black summer jacket and looked oh so summerly on my bike with my new scarf and all...


Started a new book: The Taking by Dean Koontz. What a subject to pick for a sunny day in March!

The best SP in the whole world

My secret pal has sent me the most amazing, wonderful, beautyful welcome parcel. I am in lack of words!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

Not just the presents themselves but the beatyfull wrapping (I resisted the urge to rip it all apart, the paper was so beautyfull), the small notes, the silver silk paper. It was so much fun to open them one at a time. My son too was excited, but even he understood to enjoy every moment. And boy have I been spoiled!!! Look at the things she has sent me!





The most fantastic hand dyed Colinette mohair. Extremely soft and I just love the colours. They are difficult to reproduce. Turquoise, green, blue. I am so much looking forward to using it.











A skein of black Rowan kidsilk. But not just black. It has a little bit of silver in it too. I will definately use it for making a shawl or scarf. That will be perfect for wearing with party dresses.

A skein of Classic soft tweed -wool and silk! It is grey with small bits of blue, yellow pink. Very soft and yummy.

3mm short wodden knitting needles. I have never seen them so short before. I look forward to use them and I am sure these will make the whole sock business much easier.


And offcourse coriander :-) We both like to cook indian so she made a perfect choice. I always have coriander in my garden and this year I will enjoy watching it grow even more. I promise to post pictures of it :-)




And look at all these wonderful things. We both discovered already that we have a lot in common, but I am quite sure she didn't know I am adicted to lip balm and have dryness of my hands this time of year!!


And delicious chocolate. There was some dried fruit for the kids aswell, but that was unwrapped before I god a chance to take the picture. However, my son is a bit picky, but he loved the gold wrapped chocolate. My daughter words when she had a piece of the dark organic chocolate: This is the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted. And she is right.

A magazine with all kind of things I all of a sudden get an urge to make *lol* We don't have magazines like that here in Denmark!! What a great thing to give. I already had a quick glimpse in ot and look forward to read it.

And finally some stickers (not on this photo) a cute card (I wish my husband wasn't allergic) and a homemade cotton cloth that I had to promise to use for my least favourite household chore! Does that mean I have to remove dust from now on??!!!! Arrgh

I almost forgot. She send me two patterns aswell. One for socks (I don't have it) and one for a Cat's Paw Lace Shawl. Maybe I will do better on that one than my lace chunky square *lol*

Boy, have I been spoiled. How about that you become my SP11, 12 13...too?

Thank you!!!

Hats

Yesterday I finished the balaclava for my daughter. It turned out a little big. And a hat for my husband. (in case you wonder...this is not my husband)
























And 5 minutes to midnight I remembered the box of pearl in the bottom og my closet.

Postman Pat was here...

...but I wasn't. I waited for him for ages but he came very late. That means I ordered the yarn for the mermaid too late for it to be mailed today and now I will not get it until Monday or Tuesday. (I needed the sample chart to choose the colours)

There was a note about a package too!! I rushed to the postoffice BUT the postman hadn't returned yet. Now I will not get the parcel until tomorrow. It must be from my Secret Pal although it has arrived much earlier than expected!!! I want it now!!! Sigh!!

Well, curiousity killed the cat! I wil try to be patient (NOT NOT NOT).

Anyway, I ordered 600 g of shetlandwool for the Mermaid. It was almost impossible to choose besween the colours. I have settled for petrol as the main colour (ny51) and then ny10, ny12 or ny07 for the gussets and stribes. Couldn't make up my mind :-)

New layout

I found the right button. Now everything isn't squeezed together in the middle.

Downstream package received

Marion received her welcome parcel yesterday. That was fast! And it seems like she survived (and liked) the purple attack.
I will send her the next package in the end of april. Think I will go for at "luxury" theme this time and send her som silk.

WIP

I just realised I havn't been commenting my knitting and crochet for a while. So here's alittle update.

My Secret Pal mailed me some of her favourite websites with lace knitting. It is very beautyful and have never tried it before. So decided to try it out on a square. You sure have to be very patient!! *lol*

A crochet mouse and cat potholder for Marion. Or mybe not...

I finished the left front of the "not too crazy about it" jacket.

And finally a cotton hat for my husband. It's blue although it looks black. (SP, he would never wear a hundredwasser inspired hat!!)

A change of mind

2 days ago I wrote no knitting using 3mm needles.

2 days ago I wrote I prefer yarn that is not itchy.

1 day ago I discovered the "Mermaid".

½ a day ago a friend of mine lent me the pattern for the Mermaid.

This morning I spend ages looking at shetlandwool .

This afternoon I ordered samples of the different colours.

YES, I am going to knit the Mermaid!!

All I can say is WOW

How about this!!! I love it!

SP10 package no. 1

The first package is on its way to Holland. Inside it Marion will find:

• 6 skeins of cotton in a variety of purple


• One 3mm wooden circular needle


• A pattern for a summer top


• A purple travelkit for knitters containing scissors, stitchmarkers, rowcounter etc.


• A homemade shawl -purple aswell (do you get the theme?)


• One piece of very dark chocolate


• Some goodies for the cats


• Basil seeds

Norway 2006

A few pictures from last years holiday in Norway.

Q from my SP

My Secret Pal mailed me some questions and instead of making my mail to her even longer (the non-knitting subjects occupied several pages) I will post and answer them here. Who knows, I might participate the SP11 too and then my future SP get to know me even better.
Her we go:

What is your next project, now that you’ve finished the shawl?
I still havn't finished the balaclava for my daughter, it is on the way from a WIP to an UFO. Instead I started doing a hat for my bald husband. I fear he will never wear it but I'll give it a try. I am not used to 3 mm needles and it kind of takes foreeeever. I would love to make some kind of special sweater for myself using some nice yarn. But havn't found the pattern nor the yarn. Altough I would love to make it using 3 mm needles I better stick to 4mm and above.
Because things went a little slow with the hat I digged out an UFO . This one, only in black and shorter -but I am not to crazy about it to be honest. The yarn is too cheap and the pattern to wide. I Think I felt a little fat the day I chose the pattern.

I’m trying to choose some special yarn for you that you wouldn’t easily find in Denmark. Can you find Rowan and Colinette yarns? I tried to do a danish google and found nothing for Colinette and only one place that had a bit of Rowan. I for sure havn't tried them -would love to!

Do you prefer to knit with soft yarns for example cashmere/merino or possum to hardwearing (and tougher to knit with) wool such as Shetland or Blue faced Leicester (BFL) which soften incredibly on blocking? (not sure which category I would put mohair in) I guess I am a little to the soft side, but it depends on what it is for. Not too itchy I guess, unless it is for felted bags.

Do you like handpainted yarn? Yes I like it but havn't had a chance to try it yet.

What weight is the yarn you are knitting your squares from? The off white is It is 300m/50 but I use two threads at a time. The light blue is 145m/50g.

What kind of yarn(s) are you using? I am always ready for something new. If I use one kind of yarn it doesn't mean it is the only one I want to use. I have used mohair quite a lot- I find it very good for making winter shawls. Especially if it isn't too thick. I sometime use cotton, especially for the kids, however, at the moment I have plenty of cotton -ran into a sale. I am really not much of an expert when it comes to yarn. Most of the things I have made are with one colour only. I would like to try mixing colours but don't really know how to do it. I have a thing with horizontal stripes -I was ones told short people shouldn't wear that- And I am short. Guess I have to go for something a little more sophisticated than stripes! Or maybe multicoloured yarn like the sockyarn hundretwasser . Maybe handpainted yarn is the answer!

What do you like to bake? What was the last thing you made? Bread, rolls, baguettes, naan, white bread, brown bread and bread with cinnamon, cardamom, carrots etc etc. My favourite bread these days is brown bread rolls with chopped dried fruits -figs, apricots and prunes. Yesterday I made a pile of white baguettes and some brown rolls for my son (he doesn't like the ones with fruit).

Marion shawl

Not as big as I meant to but I ran out of yarn. :-)

Do you see the cat?

I was about to show my invisible cat but then it actually shows up on the picture although not easy to see. In real life you can't see it at all!!

This is the shawl for my SP10 pal -Marion. She likes purple, so hopefully she will like this one. But she doesn't like mohair yarn!! Which I have used. The question is, doesn't she like things made of mohair or doesn't she like to knit with it herself. A little risky. Oh well, if she doesn't like it then maybe her cats do!

So far this shawl has taught me 3 things

1. Don't use mohair for filet crochet.


2. Don't use multicoloured yarn for filet crochet.


3. Filet crochet is rather time consuming :-)

Finished the last book of the Lionboy Trilogy today and have moved on to the last book of the Abhorsen Trilogy , so don't mind a little easy going crochet.

squaaaaretime

I am busy making things for my secret pal. I meant to make a filet shawl with a cat and her initials. I have never done filet crochet before and well, not a succes. I guess mohair is not a good choice. Soo..I'll just make a shawl....


I made a few squares the other day and now it is time post them. I'll post pic of the shawl tomorrow.

Welcome Secret Pal :-)

This is it! SP10 is in the air and I have been blessed with a secret pal. Welcome my secret pal!! I am soooo curious about what you come up with. I just love surprises! I have been looking forward to this for ages. Actually, the anticipation is half the fun.

And offcourse I am a secret pal myself. I am going to spoil Marion from Amsterdam i Holland. http://marretje.punt.nl/
She makes a lot of nice things apart from knitting. Cross stictching (actually I am working on a cross stich myself, a christmas thing for my son, but right now it is an UFO as it is a christmas thing -and I am so not in the mood for xmas at this time of the year)and miniature houses. She says she is a beginner knitter, I am impressed with her beginning skills!

So, it is a great day and on top of that it is the first real spring day. The weather is sunny and mild (13 degrees celsius). So far I havn't been in the mood for hanging out in the garden, but I can feel it is going to change soon.


With a weather like this is feels kind of stupid to make winterclothe! Anyway, I am still working on the balaclava. As I couldn't find a pattern I make it up myself. So far I have done quite a few changes on the one I had in mind. I am facing a problem though -soon I will need to continue with double pointed needles. Which I don't have!

But this is not the only thing I have been up to. I have tried out my winder. Both me and my kids find it fascinating! The yarn, however, takes up much more space this way.

Socks

I have bought my very first multicoloured sock yarn. A bloody expensive one as I backed into another car at the parking lot. Sigh.

But instead of making socks I wil try to make a balaclava for my daughter.
The pattern so far: Gauge 24st/10cm.
CO 112 st on 3 mm needles. k2 p2 for ?


The socks will have to wait, apart from a pair of crocheted babysocks -which are not even made of the sock yarn.