Unexpected Things to be Thankful for

That´s definitely a headline that would make me go bleurgh! If I hadn´t written it myself.

But the truth is that this week I´m very greatful that I still have my day job – believe it or not. 

Because my knitting seems to have reached a dead end.

I haven´t even bothered taking photos of all the knitting projects that have gone wrong lately.

For instance, I started a second sleeve that became a LOT bigger than the first sleeve. I ripped and started again. And the same thing happened again. 

I´ve also come to the conclusion that I picked the wrong yarn for the lace cowl that I started knitting a little while ago – after casting on about 500 stitches and knitting one pattern repeat of 20 odd rows.

So that is a gonner, too.

So last night I decided to knit something completely different and cast on for a cable cardigan in some old Rowan denim that I´ve had in my stash for ages. After five rows it still seems fine – but I´m holding my breath.

Before my knitting became a sworn enemy I did manage to finish two hats though. And last weekend on Edö I even managed to take some photos.

I have made a new version of my Maja hat in yarn from Östergötlands ullspinneri. I think that Ann at Anntorps Väv dyed these colours especially for me some time ago.

The yarn from Östergötlands ullspinneri is quite a lot thicker than the original yarn that I used for the Maja hat and I had to change the pattern quite a lot – or the hat would have become enormous. The re-designed pattern will be available at Anntorps Väv.

And I´m glad that I managed to finish a new hat before all my troubles started.

It´s a hat that matches my Märta mittens.

I think the Märta hat will become one of my favourites the coming winter.

It has a different shape compared to my other hats.

And I think that it looks slightly old fashioned. But as a friend pointed out - most of my designs look slightly old fashioned.

It took a whole week of my holidays to make this hat. It took a lot of ripping and re-knitting. 

Yes, life can be pretty tough even when you´re sitting on the jetty in the sun...