Fair Isle Shawl – in the round

Following the brilliant idea of Pinneguri I am now knitting a fair isle shawl in the round. This way you avoid the nuisance of color knitting the purl side.  Since I was quite happy with the edging of Kotten's blanket my plan is to make a similar edging on the shawl.

I am knitting a checked pattern, and some stars. But most of the shawl will be checked. 

/Maia

Kotten blanket, finished

We went to see our daughter, son-in-law and dear dear grand daughter E this morning for some coffee. Lovely! While sitting there chatting I managed to get a lot of work done on the Kotten blanket, that I prepare for our next grandchild, the cousin of E, who hasn't arrived yet. And tonight I finished it. 

Here it is. The roses are from a sweater pattern that I found at Garnstudio, and the snow stars are also from Garnstudio, I think it was a sock pattern of some kind (Red. January 2014: I found it!), but I can't find it anymore.

I have used Drops Lima, offwhite (0100), light grey (9015) and dark grey (0519). Check out the price for this yarn right now. At least here in Sweden there is a sale on Drops Alpacka yarns, and I complemented my stash with some six or seven balls of Lima for 20 SEK/50 grams at Deisy Design in the center of Göteborg this friday.

No lining on this blanket, since all the threads on the back are interweaved.

The corners turned out quite all right and I also put the year in one corner. Too soon to put the date there, but Kotten, you may come now! Any day you think fit to be a good birthday.

/Maia

Kotten's blanket update

Sewing the loose ends. Looks neat.


/Maia

Blanket for Kotten: Cutting and edging

So the fair isle part was done. It took some time, with the roses and all. Then I machine sewed twice on each side of the pattern and I cut in the middle. This cutting. Every time this is a little bit scary, even though I know it really is safe with the machine sewing and all. 

I have decided to make an edging that looks a bit like the one that Pinneguri made on this beautiful blanket. You have got to look at this blog, even though it is in Norwegian. Use Google translate! This lady is a pinneguru. I don't think my edging will be as nice as hers but I will try.

I have picked up stitches through the knitting some three stitches in, see the picture below. The edging is knitted with pins that are somewhat smaller than the rest of the blanket, three knits, three purls.

Of course the cut edge is not very beautiful, but I will fold it in and sew off nicely as soon as the knitting is done.

My first knitted blanket, I lined with cotton. But this time I wanted to take advantage of the nice wrong side of the knitting, where all the threads are weaved in due to my knitting european style with one thread in the left hand, and american style with the other thread in the other. No lining means a softer and more comfy blanket.

And this is how it will look on the right side. Hopefully.

/Maia

All-winter Irish wool sweater

Yarn: Drops Alaska

Colour:  49

It is getting all autumn now, here in Sweden, and baby Edit needs something to keep her warm. This little sweater is worked top-down on circular needles.

There are buttons at the left shoulder to avoid any sad moments when getting the sweater on and off.

The cables make the arms look quite sleek, although they are very roomy. A good sweater to grow into. I made some decreases on the inside of the arm.

/Maia

Tingestar pattern: Hedda – the luvhjälm

This is Luvhjälmen. Sometimes, with small children, you need to make sure that the knitted hats stays on. At the same time, you would want to look smart with a luva and a nice pompom and all.

This little hat is a combination of that. 

You start at the top with six knits in the round. You go on like that for a while, and then you add six every fourth row. 

When you are OK with the width, you make four more rows with stripes, and then you leave four stitches on a string of yarn and knit 3 purl 1 on the right side, purl 1, knit 3 on the wrong side for about 11 rows. 

Bind off  (always on the right side, bur with purls) and leave the last stitch on the pin. Pick up 11 more stitches on the side of the ribbed part, knit the six stitches on the string, pick up 12 stitches on the other side of the ribbed part. And then go on with 3k 1p for a couple of rows (6–8).

Bind off, like above, and leave the last stitch for the crocheted band. Pick up a new stitch for the band on the other side. Make a small pompom and put it on the top. (Make sure you fasten it well...)

Ta-daaa! The Luvhjälm!

/Maia

PS. I used a yarn in sport weight and needles 4,5. The hat I made had seven increases and it fits a newborn up to three or four months. It is easy to change the size by adding increases and adding to the stitches that are put on the string. Or change to bigger needles and a worsted yarn?

PPS. Here's a link to a more detailed pattern. In Swedish.

Testing: Angel's wings vest

I got the opportunity to test knit the Angel's Wings vest from Kyrkkaffe. So I grabbed some Drops Alaska and got to work. Here's the result. BTW, the pattern worked as a charm!

The name Angel's Wings comes from those bookmark angels with just a head and the wings under it. Just look how the yoke looks like the wings of an angel.

I used some left over yarn that I had in my stash and 4,5 needles. The finished vest weighs 103 g all in all, but I think I made it somewhat longer than the pattern said. Just checked. Yes, I did. 2 centimeters longer. So 100 g Alaska with needles 4,5 will work fine, just as the Falkgarn Sport and needles 5 that the pattern suggests.

In the original pattern, there was thin crocheted chain, that you tied into a pretty bow, but I really wanted a button, and found one among those that my mother-in-law and her relatives had left in the house at Donsö in the Göteborg archipelago, and that now are mine. It is so precious to have access to a treasure like that.

This is how the button hole looks from behind:

One important thing with the finishing off a garter stitch (Swedish 'rätstickning') is that you need to bind off from the right side, but using the purl stitch. That way you prevent the "chainy" stockinette bind off to show on the right side.

See how great it looks below:

I really liked this pattern. As you know, I am NOT a fan of patterns, but this was neatly put. 

I would really like to try this pattern out for a little dress or a tunic.

/Maia