Third time lucky

I assume you remember this sweater.

The notorious birthday sweater for Christian. and maybe you wonder why you haven't seen it done, here on my blog (or maybe not because you are used to me being a slow knitter!)

But here is the reason why I haven't felt the need to flash it. 3 sleeves. 3!

Almost done with the 2nd one, I discovered that my incresing had gone terribly wrong. And after a despressing fit on Christian, I sadly realised that a 3rd one was a necessity.

Now I'm nearly done with that one too - finally! Sleeves are boring, and definitely even more tedious when it's sleeves x 3.

However I have to say that I did find some icing on the cake. Christian is absolutly thrilled about his forthcoming sweater, and that is all worth it to me.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Jeg går ud fra at du kan huske denne sweater. Den famøse fødselsdags sweater til Christian, og måske undrer du dig over, at du ikke har set den gjort færdig her på min blog (eller måske undrer du dig ikke, fordi du er vant til at jeg strikker langsomt!)

Men her er grunden til, at jeg ikke har haft lyst til at flashe den. 3 ærmer. 3!

Næsten færdig med det 2. ærme, opdagede jeg at mine udtagninger var gået helt galt. Og efter en nedslående prøvepasning på Christian, indså jeg desværre at et 3. ærme var en nødvendighed.

Nu er jeg næsten færdig med det også - endelig! Ærmer er kedelige, og helt bestemt endnu mere kedsommelige når det hedder ærmer x 3.

Jeg må dog sige, at pynten på kransekagen var der trods alt. Christian er utrolig begejstret over sin fremtidige sweater og det gør virkelig, at det er alt besværet værd.

En - l i l l e b i t t e - smule om...

...j u l.

Se lige hvad der venter alle os strikkeglade i slutningen af september!!

En bog af Pernille Fisker og Helene Jensen. Der er bare noget over layoutet der siger mig, at det er en rigtig god og anderledes bog. Og smuk.

Det er spændende med nye tanker omkring julepynt, og hvilke materialer det fremstilles i. Jeg er i hvert tilfælde allerede meget begejstret. Og der skulle ligeledes være idéer til årets julegaver.

Faktisk kan du komme til strikkebogens release. Se nærmere her på Helene og Pernilles blog og på Charlotte Tønderings site.

Nu glæder jeg mig frygteligt til d. 28. september hvor bogen udgives . . .

Billede fra Strikkede Stribers blog

. . . . . . 

A - tiny - bit about...

...Christmas.

LOOK what all of us who love to knit, can expect at the end of September!!

A book written by Pernille Fisker and Helene Jensen. There is something about the layout which tells me, that it's a really good and different kind of book. And beautiful too.

It's exiting with new ideas about the making of Christmas ornaments, and which materials to use. I'm definitely already very keen on it. And it should contain ideas for this year's Christmas presents as well.

Actually you can go to the book's release (if you live in Denmark). Have a closer look here at Helene and pernille's blog and on Charlotte Tøndering's site.

Now I can hardly wait for it to be September the 28th . . .

Jeg strikker af - og i - gamle jeans...

                            ENGLISH BELOW THE DANISH POST

...og hvor er det fedt. Garnet er Blackhill Recycle Cotton Indigo Tweed i farven lys lime, købt hos Garnudsalg.dk. Garnet er fremstillet af vintage jeans, og jeg kan rigtig godt lide tanken om genanvendelse.

Egentlig havde jeg forestillet mig, at det muligvis skulle bruges til endnu en dejlig Liselotte cardigan, men jeg bestemte mig for at strikke BIG rubble af Alison Brookbanks. En løs og luftig model til at smide over en t-shirt, når man fryser.

Og det er den slags opskrift som man ikke behøver tænke det mindste over, hvilket måske ikke gør den til den sjoveste, men jeg synes at trøjen er smuk med sin vidde og de brede rib borter ved ærmer og bul.

Billedet af BIG rubble tilhører Alison Brookbanks

. . . . . . .

I'm knitting with - and in - old jeans...

...and ít's so cool.  The yarn is Blackhill Recycle Cotton Indigo Tweed in the colour bright lime, bought at Garnudsalg.dk. The yarn has been made from vintage jeans, and i really like the idea of recycling.

Actually I had imagined that it should have been used for yet another lovely Liselotte cardigan, but I decided to knit BIG rubble by Alison Brookbanks instead. A lose and airy design to put over a t-shirt, when you are cold.

And it's the kind of pattern which you don't have to think the least bit about while knitting it, which perhaps doesn't make it the most fun one to make, but I think that the sweater is beautiful with it's width and the wide ribbing on the sleeves and the body.

En Liselotte til Anne-Sophie

Endelig fik jeg færdiggjort den Liselotte cardigan jeg har været i gang med over foråret. 3 neon  koral farvede knapper fra Betty P. satte prikken over i'et. Og dertil trenser syet i den fedeste sytråd også fra Betty P. 

Jeg er rigtig tilfreds med trøjen og synes at det var et dejligt stykke arbejde at sidde med. Og endnu en gang blev jeg overbevist om, at runde bærestykker er lige noget for mig - både at strikke og bære.

Jeg ville rigtig gerne have den stribede cardigan klar til weekenden, så jeg kunne tage den med til Anne-Sophie. For det blev hende der fik ejerskabet over den. 

Til min fødselsdag forelskede hun sig i trøjen, og da jeg hellere end gerne vil strikke til mine børn, ja så skyndte jeg mig at sige, at den var hendes. Først ville hun slet ikke høre tale om det, da hun syntes at jeg skulle beholde den, når jeg endelig havde strikket noget mig selv. Men det tog ikke længe at overtale hende derefter og stort hurra for det.

Så nu bor den hos Anne-Sophie og jeg er glad. Glad for at hun gider gå i mors hjemmestrikkede, og glad fordi jeg selv mangler en Liselotte cardigan nu, og er nødt til at strikke en ny til mig selv...

* * * * * * * * * * 

Finally I finished the Liselotte cardigan I have been making over spring. 3 neon coral coloured buttons from Betty P made the finishing touch. And the attendant loops made in the coolest thread also from Betty P.

I'm very pleased with the cardigan and thought that it was a wonderful work to make. And once more I was convinced that tops with round yokes are just me - both for making and wearing.

I wanted to finish the striped cardigan for the weekend, so I could bring it to Anne-Sophie. Because she got the ownership of it.

At my birthday she fell in love with the cardigan and since I'm more than happy to knit for my children, then I told her that she could have it. At first she didn't want to hear of it, because she thought that I should keep it when I finally had knit something for myself. But afterwards it didn't take long to talk her into having it, and a big hurrah for that.

So now it lives at Anne-Sophie's place and I'm happy. Happy that she cares to wear it and happy that I don't have a Liselotte cardigan now, and have to knit a new one for myself...

T h a n k - G o d - f o r - Betty P.

I'm so happy that the online shop Betty P. has started. Since Små Tekstiler closed I have missed a shop with haberdashery of the good kind. Something you don't come across every day. Something which radiates fine quality.

This is my 2nd order from Betty P. and I'm very pleased at shopping there. The pink and white Gingham button at the back of the photo, was intended for my Liselotte cardigan. But after testing the button on the yarn, I have decided that another one is needed. But no harm is done - I know that it will come in handy one day soon.

The - almost - perfect cardigan

In the newsletter from lovely Bettekun, I saw this fabulous cardigan designed by Kaffe Fassett. It's so much me. The colour makes me smile and the big redish dots make my smil even wider. Don't you know the feeling when you find a piece of clothes, which really appeals to you? It doesn't happen often for me, but today I were lucky.

Cardigans are almost a must for me. They are so easy to get rid off when it gets too warm. No troublesome sweaters, which make me fell irritated in the blink of an eye, and stuffy if they are too tight in the neckline. I hated that as a child, and I hate it now.

I definitely have enough yarn for now - and many years to come - but this cardigan I had to have. The stripy Liselotte cardigan I'm kniiting for myself, is coming along fine. (I'm still amazed by the yarn).

Maybe I will have it done in time for warmer spring days. How wonderful it would be to be able to take of a cardigan, because it's sunny outside...

Laz(c)y day

It's definitely a lazy day today - in more than one way.

Emil and I slept through the morning and I barely heard Christian go off to work. Now we are having a cosy time doing absolutly what we want to, and maybe I can find a little moment in a while, to do some more knitting on the Lacy Baktus I'm knitting. And some flicking through the magasin RUM.

I have a thing for mustard colored scarfs at the moment. And ever since I saw the Lacy Baktus made by Terhi on flickr, I have wanted to have one of my own. With holes and everything...

Later on we are going to spend time with some of the people we love the most - my sister and her family. Not a bad day in the middle of December.

The little red pig is Christian's from his childhood and the angel is my childhood favourite at Christmas.

Little pink cardigan...off you go!

By now it has been wrapped and ready for several days, the little pink Christmas presnt cardigan. And I had completely forgotten about the photo of it. Until tonight.

Not that it's a very good photo at all.

The neckline didn't turn out the way it was supposed to, so I had to come up with an idea to make it look better. It was far to wide for a baby neck.
So I decided to knit a long row of holes, and then crochet a white string to pull through them.
And because of that, I left out buttons.

Now I just hope that Agnes only wears the cardigan when supervised, due to the string...

Cool cowls

I don't think that one can have too many cowls - and scarfs for that matter. Especially when the weather gets cold and the wind seems to crawl in through every layer of clothes.

Cowls are a brilliant idea, if you ask me. It is not a new and ground-breaking invention. When I was young we had similar ones - only they were called skorstensrør (chimney stacks(!!) - if it's directly translated!)

Photo from Phildar

At that time only girls and women wore them, but nowadays men use them as well. And it suits them.
I wouldn't mind if my husband asked me to make him a cowl like the one above. It's from Phildar - and so are the rest of the ones you see in this post.

Photo from Phildar

Boys can wear them and still look cool. Sadly I will never get Emil to warm his neck with a lovely cowl like the greyish one above. Maybe I would get more luckily if I asked Anne-Sophie whether she would like to have a cowl with the most gorgeous patterns.

I really like the pink and the blue together - eventhough I think that the wristwarmers in the same pattern are a tad too much.

Photo from Phildar

At least I know that I would adore wearing cowls myself. I have faved an unknown number of patterns for cowls on ravelry, but they have mostly been in one colour only. Using several colours of yarn is tempting indeed - and just using two also make a whole lot of a difference.

Photo from Phildar

All the recipes can be bought individually as kits on Phildar's website. And if you want to see more winter accessories you might like this.

Stripes for Kalle

Washed, blogged and dried. The scarf I have been making for my dear friend Kalle is now done. I have wrapped it as fine as possible along with the book I bought for him, and now it's all tucked away in a big brown envelope. With Kalle's name and adress written on the thick brown paper.

I have put the envelope on top of our old chest of drawers in our livingroom, so I don't forget to bring it with me to the post office tomorrow. So it can begin the long journey to England where Kalle lives.

And then I will go back to my pale pink yarn...

Late night shopping

Late last night, while I was waiting for a text message from Anne-Sophie to tell that they had arrived, I surfed around the internet. It's such a fine way to make time pass and let your mind flow.

Of course I had to go to knitting and sewing sites to see if anything new and interesting could be seen. My way went by Tanterne as many Danish knitters and crocheters prefer to call this lovely shop. I haven't actually been at the physical shop, but I have visited their online shop - Tante Grøn - many times.

And look what I saw in their children's category - Pippi i blomsterfrø. Those of you who went to Fanø for the Dansih Knitting festival this September, probably already know it. (I read that Tante Grøn brought the pattern with them to the wonderful island).

But I think that it's beauty has to be shown again - at least for those of us who didn't have the pleasure to well in knitting paradise for a whole weekend.

Photo from Tante Grøn

It's a knitted version of the kind of scarf dress I love for little girls. I have sewn quite a few during time, and I don't think that I will ever get tired of the look.

So it was almost the formula for success when I saw the Pippi Blomsterfrø scarf dress - and it had stripes as well!
This is how it looks like seen from the back. I adore those colours.

Photo from Tante Grøn

The yarn is  Bio Blomsterfrø - a 100 % ecological yarn in beautiful dusty colours, and the pattern is designed by Tante Grøn. I bought the kit for the sizes 1-2 years + 3-4 years. It requires the same amount of yarn, so I haven't decided which size to make yet.

Not a bad outcome of some late night shopping.

Yesterday Otto wasn't my favourite name...

Because my beloved dog decided to put his paws and teeth in my lovely custommade cardigan, which I bought several years ago (for 2000 Danish kroner) from knit designer Christel Seyfarth.

OTTO

I was NOT pleased at all. Sadly there is nothing I can do about the many holes in the cardigan. I can't seem to figure out any way to save it...
So, if any of you have a great solution, then do let me know.

Actually I'm mostly annoyed with myself for leaving the cardigan in a place where a curios and happy dog was attrached to it.

The most ironic part is, that I took of the cardigan when I was going to give Otto food. I didn't want him to pull out a thread of yarn!

Recht & Averecht poncho

Photo from Recht & Averecht

I'm totally in love with this poncho from Dutch Recht & Averecht.

The pattern reminds me of beautiful white and blue china and Norwegian sweaters. I adore how the colours are knit together to give different parts a tweedy feeling. And the string at the neck is a brilliant detail.

I could easily imagine myself wearing a poncho like this, and the high polo neck would keep every bit of biting cold away from my neck.

Sadly the pattern is written in Dutch, and no matter which resource I try to use for translation, I don't think that I will understand that language. Especially not in knitting terms. 

But that can not keep me from admirering the wonderful piece of knitting...

Photo from Recht & Averecht

Soft yarn for soft skin...

It will not be long before our niece Agnes turns 1 year old. 

I can't believe that she's that big already, but it probably seems harder to understand when she lives in Copenhagen, and we don't get to see her that often. It would much likely have been different if we saw her frequently. Then we could see for ourselves that she grows and grows.

Nevertheless a cardigan is being made for the little lady - hopefully I will be done by her birthday. If not, then I will use it for Christmas. I'm making a size 18 months just to prevent it from becoming too small while I'm knitting it (a thing which has happened to me far too many times in the past...)

The pattern is from Sandnes and so is the yarn. What a soft yarn. Perfect for delicate baby skin.

If you want to have a closer look at the details, you can find them here.

A scarf + a beard

The o o o scarf is now complety done. I'm not fast at all but I'm done and that's a huge joy for me.

On the photo you can see that I still needed to crochet about 45 centimetres of the edge this afternoon, but that's taken care of by now.

I also have a new model on my hands - I persuaded my husband to wear the scarf while I took the photos. He only agreed to participate if I didn't tell that it was him, who wore it. But how could I not tell you. You might think that I had grown a beard, when you saw the photo!!

Tomorrow I will wash and block the lot, and then put it on the shelf in our little hall, until the really cold and windy weather begins.

Making the edge

Finally I reached the point, where I could begin crocheting the edge.

I have had some specific colours in mind since I started the scarf, and luckily I'm satisfied with the way the stripes look.

It's quite a lot of stitches to get around the entire scarf, but I can only blame myself for making it so long.

I hope that it will look good when it's blocked - I'm a bit worried that the edge will be flappy...

Dragging it on

Oh yes, I'm still making the little colourful circles. I don't know if you can tell that the scarf has become longer. The photo looks a lot like the one I took a while ago!

I almost don't know what to do, when I finish the scarf. It's been such a cosy job. So now I have decided to make it a wee tad longer.
Even though I look forward to making the border, which will surround the many circles.

Maybe it's time to reveal that I have bought the Jawoll Magic yarn in a green version. One wouldn't know whether I got the urge to make another circle scarf some day...

Do you love baby blankets as much as I??

I definitely have a soft spot for lovely knitted blankets for babies.


Far too many times have I clicked on the favourite button on ravelry, when I saw a tempting pattern. And that without having a baby to warm with stitches in wool.


Now it's time to fall in love with another fabulous pattern. And so I did - right away - when I read the blog post Rosanna wrote yesterday.  


She has knitted the most beautiful blanket for her little niece. It looks extremely fine and delicate with the neatly knitted lace pattern. Perfect for a soft baby to be swaddled in, and a luxurious gift for baby and parents to enjoy for many years.


The pattern is designed by Rosanna herself, and I love the idea she had about making something auntie-made for her sister's daughter.


And take a look at what Rosanna generously offers to us  - the Savannah baby blanket pattern - for free!!

Photo from Rosanna's blog Eaviola

o o o o o o o

Circles, circles, circles.... I'm crocheting this.

With the many little circles which are needed for the scarf, I will most certainly get a bit more experinced in this particular kind of handwork. (At least I hope so). And maybe then I can take a wee step ahead in the wolrd of crocheting. But first things first - the scarf must get done.

I have decided to make the scarf 3 circles wide contrary to the recipe, where they have used 4.

The easiness of making the cirles, the size and the convenience of bringing it along, suit me perfectly. Especially in these days, where the warmth has finally hit us.

I like to sit in our little patio in our old garden furniture with Otto runing around. He loves to look for the titbits I hide for him. And since he doesn't possess the patience of an angel, I think he's rather satisfied with the fact, that a half-finished yarn circle can be put at the table in no time...

My intensions were good...

When we packed our bags to go on holiday, I also prepared a fabric tote and a plastic bag with items for all the crafting I was going to do in the cottage we rented at the North Sea.

I brought linen, embroidery floss, cotton yarn, the 2 new embroidery kits I recently bought, more yarn, hooks to match the yarn, a pair of scissors, large pieces of extra thick carton and 2 different knitting books.

As usual my husband laughed at me when he picked up my stuff, and put it in our car.

But I knew that I would get to make loads of things from all my supplies, so I didn't mind him laughing...

However...

The things you see in the photo, are what I got around to making in the 7 days we were there! 3 lousy attempts at crocheting cirlces and a tiny pile of carton hexagons for a patchwork blanket.

Never before have I made ​​so little handwork during a holiday...I wonder what happened?

Well, I know the answer to that question myself. I simply enjoyed being with my family  (I always do that!)  playing, talking, bathing and all the other lovely things you make with your loved ones, when everyday life has been put on standby for a while.

And I loved it - SO much.