Born to knit

Kära Hemslöjden!

2012-02-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

This post will only be in Swedish.

Grattis på 100-årsdagen.

Så roligt att det blir jubileumsfirande hela året med massor av utställningar: vävning på Nordiska museet, knypplade spetsar i Vadstena, Lilli Zickerman på Waldemarsudde, trasmattepicknick på Stortorget i Östersund och diverse hårdslöjd.

Men... stickningen då?

Jo, lite "Stickmagi från Färöarna" kommer att visas i Sollefteå. Och några av löven på Liljevalchs kommer att vara stickade. Men varför blir det ingen stor utställning om stickning som är så älskat just nu? Vi har ju så många fina gamla traditionella mönster som syns alldeles för sällan.

Kanske finns det en fin tanke med att Hemslöjden vill stödja den slöjd som inte är lika livskraftig som stickning? Hoppas det. Knyppling och vävning kan behöva få visa upp sig för att få nya fans.

Stickningen är kanske rentav lite för populär? Inte fin nog. Det är mer som en folkrörelse – det stickas ju mer än någonsin i hela Sverige, hemma och på stick-caféer, det öppnar nya garnaffärer, kommer nya handarbetstidningar och bilagor med massor av stickmönster och på nätet dominerar stickningen.

Stickningen klarar sig bevisligen bra utan Hemslöjden.
Frågan är snarare klarar sig Hemslöjden utan stickningen?

Stickad ärm från Dala-Floda. Fin nog att visas upp.

Why You Should Listen to those Voices in Your Head

2012-02-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

As I was knitting this hat I could hear a voice that kept nagging me about the size.
– It´s going to be rather big, it said.
But did I listen? Of course not.

Turns out the voice was wrong anyway. The hat wasn´t big.
It was massive.

Even if my head is on the small side – and my ability to think seems to be in correlation to the size of my brain, there is no doubt about it. This hat would be too big for most people

But maybe one could wear this instead of a burka if one was of the burka-wearing kind?
And it works much better than an anti-age cream. No wrinkles to be seen anywhere.
But enough of the bad jokes.

This hat has now been ripped and I have started again. Luckily I love the combination of the colours – brown and green/blue – so I am not feeling too miserable.

And the pattern of happy little hounds really cheer me up!

On Show in the Snow

2012-02-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

It´s well below freezing and pretty windy, too. Siberian winter has reached Stockholm and it´s the perfect weather to curl up on the sofa and knit. The Maja hat now has a pair of matching mittens.
Of course it meant that we had to go outside to take a photograph...
Brrr.

Luckily I also had a new hat to model or my ears would have frozen off.

Later on teenage daughter took the mittens and the camera out to play in the snow.

The yarn is my favourite Zauberball and Loopy Ewe Solids in bright green. They work well together.

And for all the members in "Friends of the Thumb Gusset" here is a close up of the thumb gusset. Enjoy!

Last weekend something happened that I never thought would actually happen. I finished my first mitten made in the twined knitting technique!

After washing and blocking the mitten softened and even stretched enough to fit my rather wide hand.That was lucky because I had been worrying a lot about it being too narrow.

By the time I started knitting the thumb I had grown confident enough to risk making a simple pattern. And that is when I actually started enjoying the two end-knitting technique. Which feels like something of a miracle given how much I disliked it at first – but only because it made me feel like all thumbs.

Now I have started the second mitten. The first one took two years, but by now I think I have the speed up so I probably knit twice as fast.

Secret Projects (and Not So Secret)

2011-12-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

A lot of the time this autumn I have been working on secret projects. New hats and mittens.
I´m not sure what will become of them, but time will tell.

But here is some stuff that is not so secret. A new pair of mittens made with yarn remnants.
When it comes to colour I always find the more the merrier.

I have loved knitting these mittens. What I don´t love quite as much is weaving in all the ends.

This mitten is nowhere near being finished. I haven´t even started on the next one.
And needless to say both mittens still need thumbs.

As long as the yarn is roughly the same thickness and of the same yardage it works rather well together.
And you don´t need to have a lot of yarn left, just a couple of yards/meters.

I made these mittens as part of a project for the group Stick-Salongen that I belong to. There are eleven of us and we meet once a month to knit and talk. Yes, the Nerd Level* of our conversations is pretty high and would probably bore others to tears. But some of the things we knit are quite interesting.

(*Nerd Level is a way of quantifying nerdiness, measured in social outcast tiers)

Last Christmas I (very nobly) gave my Karin Kurbits mittens away, so I´m now working on a new pair.

So now the pile of mittens that need thumbs is now growing rapidly next to me in the sofa. For next Christmas I´m going to ask Santa for a thumb-knitting machine.

God jul!

2011-12-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

God jul!

A Merry Christmas!

(Needlefelted Santa was made by daughter)

All You Need is Paul

2011-12-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

Knitting while waiting for a Paul McCartney concert to begin:

Check!

And finally – there he was. With his Hofner Violin bass.

This was the fourth time I saw Paul McCartney in concert. I was in row 4, seat 34 – right in front of the stage. I couldn´t believe my luck! It´s the best seating I´ve ever had. Maybe 4 is my lucky number?

It was easy to forget the other thousands who filled the Globe Arena, especially when Paul played acoustic guitar and sang without the rest of the band and told little anecdotes.

Next June Paul will turn 70, even though it´s hard to believe. He still has a boyish look and kept rocking for two and a half hours almost non stop. He played one song for John and one for George. And I bet he played "Maybe I´m Amazed" for Linda, though he didn´t say.

My love for the Beatles made me do a lot of half mad things when I was young. I went to Liverpool as a teenager and walked in their footsteps (it was before there was a Magical Mystery bus tour) and I stayed in London and hung around outside Paul´s office at Soho Square 1 as often as I could. And that´s where I met him and Linda once.

I´ll never forget how kind he was to me and the other giggling, young girls who had been waiting for him in the freezing cold (it was January and had been snowing – in London!)
After giving everyone an autograph he shook hands and even thanked us for waiting for him.

A lot of the people in the audience last night wore Beatles or Paul McCartney t-shirts, but I only took my Winter of Love mittens.

The hat I was knitting in the photo above still has no name and now I wonder if I should perhaps call it Paula? Or maybe Linda – or Mary, Stella or Beatrice (after his daughters). Then there is Jane, (the actress he was engaged to in the 1960´s) Nancy (his present wife) and of course Martha, his sheep dog.

Since it´s going to be a pretty nice hat, calling it Heather is out of the question.

But do leave a comment – I´m open to suggestions!

Oh Lord, What a House!

2011-11-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

The dilemma of being a tourist is that you want to see spectacular things but you don´t want to go where all the other tourists go, right?

Now, in London there is a rather spectacular little museum that is not very well known. At least not compared to Buckingham Palace or Madame Tussaud´s anyway.

It´s the house of a lord who was one of Queen Victoria´s favourite painters in the 19th century. It´s called the Leighton House Museum and is situated in Holland Park. Surprisingly close to all the tourist hotels but still something of a secret (maybe the British want it all to themselves).

When you enter the hall you get the feeling that Lord Leighton really really liked tiles. I have to admit that I have a thing for tiles myself, but not quite to this extent. The hall was tiled from ceiling to floor and it was an amazing sight. Hundreds of 16th and 17th century tiles from Syria.

But it can be a shocking experience if you are only used to white walls and blond Scandinavian furniture...

The floor was also decorated with tiles – that might be transformed into a lovely knitting pattern.

On the top floor was Lord Leighton´s studio where he painted. Big windows let in the light that made it the perfect place to paint. But there was also the most beautiful stained glass windows.

I have to confess that you were not allowed to take photos in the museum, but I simply couldn´t resist. Before we went on holiday I had treated myself to a new compact camera (a Canon S95) – and it´s brilliant for taking pictures indoors in poor light. You don´t have to use a flash that would alert the staff who would come and tell you to put the camera away.

And I hope we have a deal here: I show you all these pretty photos and you come and visit me in prison if I get found out and have to go to jail?

Lord Leighton was also a collector of china plates and displayed them on the walls.

And when I saw this plate it reminded me of something else.

My Märta hat – that I made that before I saw the plate.

Even the ceilings in Lord Leighton´s house were decorated. More inspiration for a knitwear designer, I dare say.

So next time you visit London make sure you take the time to visit Lord Leighton´s house.

But don´t tell anyone else – we don´t want the place crawling with irritating tourists now, do we?

Looking Back

2011-11-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

We spent our summer holiday in London – during the riots in August. We were lucky to stay in a suburb where we didn´t have to fear the mobs roaming the streets.

But the yarn shop Loop is situated in Islington – where the Tottenham uproar spilled over. A number of shops had to close early on the Monday, but on Wednesday the same week I thought it seemed calm enough to mosey on over.

Of course the riots was the talk of the town. But by this time – when I visited Loop – the streets of London were crawling with extra policemen that had been called in from the rest of England. So I didn´t feel so very scared. Even if my heart jumped every time I heard a police siren.

Once inside the shop it was clear that the trip over to Islington had been well worth it. This is the ground floor with all the yarn. On the upper floor there was even more yarn and a big bookcase filled with books about knitting.

But I walked away with some skeins of Madeline Tosh sock yarn – and Wollmeise!

Yes, there was a big bundle of Wollmeise lace yarn in a deep red just waiting there for me. Last one it was, too. I think the sight of it made my heart jump more than the sirens of the police cars.

While in London I did come up with a new hat design and decided to name it Victoria – in honour of the Victoria & Albert museum that is such a rich source of inspiration.
We decided to take some photos that would sort of hint where we had been.

Teenage daughter is still a good sport and agrees to model my new hats.

I think the pattern is swirly in an old fashioned way, like a Victorian embroidery.

It certainly was an exciting and eventful holiday. But next summer I think we will avoid London the best we can and watch the Olympic Games from the safety of the sofa in our living room.
Besides it´s so much easier to knit in front of the television.

The Best Thing About Syfestivalen

2011-11-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was at Syfestivalen, the Handcraft Fair in Stockholm and ~~preached about knitting~~ gave work shops.

I think I might have said it before but the best thing about giving work shops at Syfestivalen is to be able to drone on and on about knitting – and yet no one you talk to get that glazed look in their eyes and start searching for ways to escape.

Instead people lean in closer in order to hear better. Ladies having fun can be pretty loud and I´m still pretty hoarse after trying to make myself heard above the crowd. It was busier than ever. But I really enjoyed meeting old friends and making nice new acquaintancies.

Last year I talked about how to make your own knitting patterns. This time I shared my best knitting tips – like using circular needles for knitting everything.

Here I am demonstrating how to use two circular needles instead of five dpns and I do take my mission seriously.

People could sit down and try knitting with two colours.

And people did.

I had a helper – my daughter Elise. While I was busy talking and knitting she took the opportunity to play with my camera. This is a close up of my Britta hat – one of the most popular designs at the fair.

Frequently asked questions were did you really make all these? and are these machine knits?

The answers are yes and no.

See you again next year I hope!

Unexpected Things to be Thankful for

2011-07-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

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...

Home After the Holidays Part 1

2011-07-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

Half of my holidays this summer are already over and I´m back in town to work.
I think that I manage fairly well not to feel too sorry for myself – even though husband and children are still enjoying island life.

If I were to rate last week I would give the weather 7/10 skeins. I almost got burnt in the sun.

The temperature in the water was quite enjoyable – 20 degrees Celsius. So that´s 9/10 skeins.

My attempts to grow salad, dill and possibly some radishes (hard to tell in that wiltered state) were – as the kids would put it – an epic fail. 1/10 skeins.

Nope, I can honestly say that I have never ever considered giving my day job up to become a gardener.

But I can make pretty mean kanelbullar.

8/10 skeins – if I may say so myself.

I also tried my hand at knitting. I got fed up knitting the lace cowl (nearly 500 stitches in each round) in record time. So then I started on a new hat. Inspired by the folk costumes in Dala-Floda I picked red and green from my stash of Loopy Ewe Solids. It´s very nice to knit with.

I was happy with the border, but I didn´t think it suited the rest of the pattern.

So I ripped it and went back to the drawing board. 5/10 skeins.

And that was all that I had time to do last week.

This week I´m so busy meeting friends in the evenings that I have NO time to stay at home and tidy up the flat – which was my original plan. Shame isn´t it?

But if I have done my sums correctly the result of last week allows me to buy a total of 30 skeins.

Go me!

With a Little Help From My Friends

2011-06-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I packed no less than three different knitting projects for my five-day-stay in Hälsingland. We spent Midsummer at my mum´s house, on the menu was pickled herring for lunch and rhubarb pie for dessert.

This particular project is the second sleeve for my son´s new Dragon sweater. It only needs a neck band and some sewing before it´s all done. It was easy to knit the second sleeve with the support of all my new furry friends (yes, as you can see my mum has quite a collection of cuddly, old teddies).

I also finished a lovely shawl in green mohair, but forgot to take photos while I was knitting it. I blame it on the loveliness of the yarn, it was mesmerising.

But I didn´t even start on the third project, a hat from a new pattern because I couldn´t decided what kind of brim it should have. Making decisions is not one of my strong points, to put it mildly.

My mum (aka the Button Queen) does not only have a collection of about a hundred teddy bears and around 600 000 (gasp) buttons.

She also has a modest, but very nice collection of old Swedish mittens. Most of them have been worn and darned with love and care.

Perhaps the inspiration for this pair of mittens came from Norway. Although the star/rose pattern is pretty common in Sweden, too.

But maybe these mittens are Norwegian? Or maybe Swedish knitters also made thumb gussets?

I´m no authority – but I believe that most Swedish mittens didn´t have a thumb gusset.

No thumb gusset – but I love this pattern! I guess the former owner did too – this mitten has really been worn to the bitter end.

Here the same flower is used in a different way.

Notice how this mitten has a bit of shaping that is almost a thumb gusset. I love studying interesting little details like this and... Hello – anyone still there?

Okay, I guess I need to talk some more to my therapist about this – close to unhealthy – obsession with thumb gussets.

Glad Midsommar!

2011-06-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

The children and I have already been on holiday for a week, while husband has been slogging away in town. Oh well, noone said that life would be fair.

I have been working hard too – creating a new hat pattern. After ripping back lots of time and returning to the drawing board time and time again I finally find the result pleasing enough to be written up.
The week started off with glorious weather but by the time I was ready to take photos of my new hat the rain was pouring down. Hence the shortage of photos of new, pleasing hat.

But maybe after midsummer – I haven´t seen the weather report so I remain optimistic...

This photo is from my trip to Dala-Floda. Incidentally that would be a great place to celebrate Midsummer – surrounded by people in folk costumes dancing around the maypole.

Maybe not wearing mittens – but you never know. It can still be pretty cold in June.

Did you notice the nice napped edgings – kavelfrans in Swedish.
After learning how to make a napped edging I went home and made my own "napped edging maker".

First you wind yarn round and round two knitting needles and sew a seam in the middle. You then sew this on to the edge of the mitten.

I knitted a pair of simple cuffs to practice on.

The pink yarn is quite lovely – it has been hand dyed by my mum.

Now you need to cut the loops to create a fringe. Like this:

I could have done with some manicure before taking a close up like this, but I honestly don´t have the time for stuff like that. Too many things to knit and kavelfransar to make.

Glad midsommar!

Happy Holidays!

2011-06-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

I´ve just returned from Småland and my bright and beautiful god daughter´s graduation.

This is Linn in the Summer Mystery Shawlette that I finished last week. It´s the perfect size to bring if you are going travelling like Linn is planning to do in the autumn.

Linn partied until 4 this morning and still manages to look this fresh faced today. That´s 18 for you.
Linn´s mum and I stayed up talking until midnight and I am not going to show you what I look like today. Even though I slept two hours on the train home I feel like the 45-year-old wreck that I am.

Since the first part of my summer holidays have already started I have spent all evening packing stuff to take to the cottage in the archepelago where my son and I will spend the week, just the two of us (while husband is still working).

So far I´ve packed one fair isle sweater that need sleeves.
One hat that I started knitting on the train going home from Småland.
One lace cowl with only five rows done.
Yarn for one mohair shawl, just in case I get bored and need something new to knit.

I hope this will last me all week. And that I have something to show when I return.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The Sun Makes Shawls Grow Faster

2011-06-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

The few plants that grow in my only flower bed are wilting already. But it seems as if the sun has a good effect on knitted shawls. I finished two over the weekend.

The first one was Grace:

Grace is designed by my friend Heléne Wallin, and you can download this pattern on ravelry.

It has beads all over and I decided to make a beaded picot edging too – that took forever to knit. But it was definitely worth it. This is such a lovely shawl and I can see myself wearing it a lot with my pink and green tartan coat.

If you look closely at the sea in the background you can see my father-in-law and my two kids taking the dingy for a trial run.

The next shawl that I finished was my friend Wendy´s Summer Mystery shawlette.

I made it in thinner yarn so it is quite small, but it is very pretty.

It will look a lot better once it´s blocked. Just look at the edging – it´s so cute!

I have a lovely godchild who graduates on Friday and now I´m contemplating giving this shawl to her.

It would be hard to part from it because I like it so much, but I think the colours would suit her and it is a design made for a beautiful, young girl – don´t you think?

Besides, I´ve already started on another pink project, but this time it is a cowl. And my own "design".

I don´t know how many times I have written "join in a circle, being careful not to twist the stitches" in one of my patterns..

This bundle of joy is almost 500 stitches and you´d think that I would make really sure I hadn´t twisted the first row before I started knitting. But, no. I didn´t. Sometimes I think that I knit to stay humble. And that "staying-humble" part of knitting is going really well!

Thank you once again for all the kind comments about the baby blanket and my niece Hilma. She is such a sweetheart and I look forward to knitting many things for her in the future.

And next time I will show more photos from my weekend in Dala-Floda.

Hilma´s Blanket

2011-06-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the kind comments about my beautiful niece Hilma and her new blanket!

It probably took me about a month to knit.
I made up some of the animals myself and some come from old embroidery pattern booklets.

The yarn that I´ve used is my favourite – Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids – that sadly has been discontinued.

The blanket gave me an excuse to ~~hoard~~ buy some more of this nearly extinct yarn – from knitters on Ravelry. Now I really must have the biggest CTH stash in all of Scandinavia!

The first two rows were easy to pick: dogs and cats.

And I love owls and squirrels.

The penguins are from an old embroidery booklet. And those litte mice are of course – gerbils.

Everyone in Sweden old enough to remember the 1970´s will recongnize the koala.
Yes, it is the same koala that Ingemar Stenmark had on his hat. Though I´ve changed the koala slightly and added tufts of hair on the ears, for instance. The koala is my own personal favourite.

The cute goat is also from an old embroidery booklet.

But cutest of all is of course Hilma with her blanket.

Photo taken by Hilma´s father Per, who is a professional photograhper.

When I Fall in Love...

2011-06-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this Dala-Floda-feast to welcome a new member of the family.
My niece Hilma.

Isn´t she adorable with her black hair and cute profile?

We have waited a long time for her arrival – she was ten days late. Which was a bit lucky for me, because this baby blanket took quite a while to make.

Like so many times before the inspiration came from Norway and my friend Pinneguri who has made several beautiful baby blankets, or vogntepper as they call them in Norwegian. What a lovely tradition!

And what a coincidence that Hilma´s mother happened to have a favourite blanket when she was a little girl – a blanket that she took everywhere and that she couldn´t sleep without. In the end it was just a rag.
Now I hope that Hilma will love this blanket until it ends up as a rag.

Dala Floda, part 1 – Heaven is a Place on Earth

2011-05-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

If I should end up in heaven when I die – I´m sure that I´ll recognize the place.

I never thought that I would live to see such a huge collection of beautiful Dala Floda costumes!

Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg, who organized the weekend in Dala Floda, had borrowed some from the local village museum and some of them come from her own family. Her mother and grandmother were both embroiderers – or påsömmerskor as they say in Floda.

Anna-Karin is a very talented påsömmerska herself, and had made a beautiful jacket with embroidered flowers, that I failed to take a photo of. But this is Anna-Karin arranging all the dräktdelar (costume parts).

From the beginning everything looked the same to me, but we quickly learnt to distinguish between older and slightly newer embroidery and knitted sleeves. There is also quite a difference between costumes from Floda and the neighbour parish of Gagnef. But these two jackets are pretty typical for Floda.

The knitted sleeves were sewn onto a bodice made of green woollen material. Anna-Karin has written a very interesting essay about the knitted sleeves and gave us a talk in the evening. Then the teacher Karin Kahnlund, taught us how to knit the mittens that belong to the costume in a special twined technique.

On the inside of the sleeve you can see that the knitter bound every second stitch and on the following row made sure that they did not line up.

The patterns are smaller closer to the cuff and grow bigger as the sleeves get wider.

Sometimes the knitter would use embroidery patterns for the knitted sleeves. These rather complicated flowers are probably an example of that.

On Saturday there was the annual local market for selling and/or trading costumes. Eva Eriksson – who gave us a very interesting talk about the costumes in the nearby parish of Boda – bought this cute hat for one of her daughters.

I bought two old embroidered hats, too – even if my teenage daughter wouldn´t be caught dead in one. I just needed a little hat like this, you know...

And as soon as I have save up enough I think that I need a jacket like this, too.

To be continued...

Home Alone

2011-05-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend I saw husband and son off to Hamburg for a long weekend while daughter went on a 24-hour school trip. I was all alone in a big, empty flat (that usually feels small and crowded).

So after wiping my tears there was only one thing to do. Party!

I belong to a group of knitters that are really serious about knitting (nördfaktor 10 typ). We call ourselves The Knit Salon, Sticksalongen, and the subjects we discuss would bore non-knitters to tears if they hade to endure one of our meetings.

Seven of us met on Saturday afternoon and we knitted, talked about knitting and had wine that is supposed to taste like wet wool (don´t ask). In this photo you can see Tove B, Asplund knits, En till and Wynja. Knitting with Katarina was probably in the kitchen when this photo was taken, dishing out the cake she had brought. Ah, cake!

I took the opportunity to work on the neverending ruffle edge with beads on my Grace shawl. It´s easier to do boring things in nice company. Nevertheless it took me five hours to reach the half way point.

I found a good description in Knitty about how to do a beaded picot edging. You can find it here.

The main part of the shawl is made of two strands of yarn held together. Madeline Tosh silk and Rowan Kidsilk Haze work together beautifully. The ruffle edge is knitted using only the silk yarn and the change of texture adds a little extra something.

I wish I could say that this is all my own brilliant thinking – but I have to confess that I had a helper. Blogless Anna, who is a member of Sticksalongen, is a master of combining yarns and she gave me the idea last summer.

(Anna is the one dressed in black, reading a new book with Norwegian patterns that Ivar had brought.)

To make that picot edging isn´t my own idea either. It was Maria, who suggested it. She couldn´t join us yesterday because she is away on the west coast – of America.

What a party that was!
I don´t think my husband will recognize our home on his return tomorrow (it´s not usually this tidy when I´ve been on my own).

Half the edging done – and half to go. Thanks for coming over and keeping me company!

Today, my very tired daughter and I have taken it real easy. I´ve been working on Wendy´s Mystery Shawl while thinking about ideas for new patterns. I´m still digesting the fantastic weekend in Dala Floda and I promise to post more about it soon.

And I predict that next winter will be all pink.

Pretty in Pink

2011-05-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

An ~~old bag~~ mature woman nearing 50 should surely not be knitting pink things for herself. She ought to grow up and realize that her pink phase is over.

And if she insists on pretending that she´s still in her 30´s she ought to get a face lift to make it easier for other people to believe that she is still a girl in her prime. Or she will be a walking embarrassment.

Okay, then. A face lift it is. Because I clearly can´t stop myself from buying new pink yarn.

Last week my friend Wendy started a Summer Mystery Shawl knit-along. And for the first time I decided to join in the fun. Wendy makes such lovely lace designs that I am willing to take the plunge, even if I have no idea what the finished shawl will look like.

Come to think of it, this must be pretty good therapy for an old control freak...

I don´t know if there is anything called a stash malfunction – but when I looked through my stash I could not for the life of me find any suitable yarn at all. Weird.

Luckily I live very close to the yarn shop Litet Nystan and I seemed to recall, albeit vaugely, that I´d seen some pretty nice hand dyed lace wool in there last time I visited.

It was this little beauty.

The next part of the pattern won´t be published until Thursday so I had to find something to occupie myself with while waiting.

And lo and behold – look what I found in my heap of UFO:s.

Why yes, it is another pink shawl. I started it last year, but never quite finished it. Because I decided to to do a beaded picot edging and it takes forever. This is how far I had got after a whole weekend´s work.

And I´ve got about a gazillion stitches left to cast off.

The pattern is called Grace (ravelry link) and it´s designed by my friend Heléne, who is also a very talented designer. Grace is a simple, but stylish shawl with beads and a cute ruffle edge.

I thought that I was very clever and traded one of my own patterns for this pattern and I´m very happy with the swap.

Now there is only one more knitted thing that is just ever so slightly pink. It´s a new Britta hat made in wool from Östergötlands ullspinneri.

And if you can´t afford a face lift it works nearly as well if you just grow your fringe until it covers all the wrinkles around the eyes...

Ja, vi elsker!

2011-05-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today is the National Day of Norway and I hope that all my Norwegian friends have had a lovely time.

Of course, I secretly wish that Sweden and Norway were still united – because then all those lovely lusekofte sweaters and Selbu mittens would be part of my inheritance, too.
(Honestly, I´m only after the knitting patterns for some inspiration – you can keep the oil.)

But at least my first name sounds more Norwegian than Swedish (so maybe I could pass for Norwegian) and earlier this year some of my ancestors were actually pictured in the Bunad magazine.

In this issue: no 1, 2011.

If you look up page 51 you will find a photo of my great great grandfather and great great grandmother.

That´s the couple in the top right corner.

Here they are:
Eric Persson and his wife Katarina Christina.

Now, I´m sure you´ve all wondered where my devilishly good looks come from – and here you have the answer right in front of you.

And if this doesn´t almost make me honorary Norwegian I might as well give up the struggle and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...

Sneak Peak

2011-05-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

I very nearly fainted as I entered the room and saw this – an enormous heap of colour and patterns.

The Dala Floda folk costume is simply stunning. Both the knitting and the embroidery are amazing.
You want proof?

Exhibit 1: Marvellous mittens

Exhibit 2: Knitted sleeves in the twined technique.

The long weekend in Dala Floda was unforgettable. This post is just a first preview – these pictures are all taken with my cell phone camera. I have still to upload the 240 photos from the real camera.

Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg, who put together and organized all the workshops had thought of everything.

When we walked to the mountain farmstead she brought her violin and played to us.

(Hon är spelman också)

Her best friend Lill-Karin was our guide – a guide with the gift of the gab (as they say in Ireland). I have not laughed so much in years. She is a natural stand up comedian – with a horse as her side kick.

The walk up the hill and the storytelling gave us a real feel for the way the people in Dala Floda used to live – and still do to some extent.

There was quite a view from the top of the hill.

And then we returned to the treasure trove again.

There is lots more to come.

So if you – for some STRANGE reason – are not interested in folkloristic patterns I suggest that you go away now and come back in about a month...

But if you are dying to see what the inside of a knitted sleeve in the twined technique looks like – stay tuned!

Child Labour

2011-05-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

You have no idea how BORING a weekend spent on an island in the Baltic sea can be. There is absolutely nothing to do. If you are 13, that is. I can assure you that I was fully occupied myself.
So I asked teenage daughter to take some photos for my blog. And she was so bored that she agreed to do it – and without charge.

Off she went to the jetty with my new Britta hat in tow.

She did a good job of taking photos, I think.

As you can see from the next picture my father in law has got the sail boat in place. It´s summer!

I´m knitting a new Britta hat in wool from Östergötlands ullspinneri. It´s my favourite Swedish yarn, very soft and the colours are beautiful.
But it has a slightly different gauge compared to Shetland yarn or Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids. Therefor I´ve had to change the pattern slightly – or the hat would end up more like a sack (which – admittedly – can be useful when you don´t want your mug on display).

Incidently there happen to be a new book about Östergötlands Ullspinneri, that Ulla-Karin (who runs the spinnery together with her husband Börje) has written – to celebrate the 30th anniversary. I was there at the book release and snapped a photo of Ulla-Karin and Ann at Anntorps Väv.

Another lovely addition to the knit book shelf!
But I seem to be making a habit out of going to book releases, don´t I?

Tomorrow I´m going somewhere very special. Dala Floda – where there will be a kind of knit- and embroidery camp for four days. Lots of work shops and visits to the local craft shop and Wåhlstedt´s wool spinnery have been planned by Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg – here with cute daughter Emma in their Dala Floda costumes.

I hope to come back with something like this:

But if I do I will probably have bought it off someone. Embroidery is not my best discipline.

(The mitten belongs to my friend Eva-Karin)

Fantastic Folklore

2011-05-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

My friend Eva-Lotta was right - I wasn´t disappointed when I finally held a copy of Scandinavian Folklore in my hands. It´s the book about folk costumes that you couldn´t even dream up.

This is a photo from the book release held at Biologiska muséet in Stockholm last Tuesday.

The photography is beautiful, you learn a lot about how folk costumes have been used and it´s a great source of inspiration.

It´s written in Norwegian, Swedish and English - which is really good if you wish to send it to a friend abroad, for instance.

But I have to warn you that it´s NOT a good bedtime read if you are easily agitated. Too much colour, too many pretty patterns – I could feel my blood pressure rising with every page I turned.

The authour Laila Durán has spent a whole year travelling around in Sweden and Norway visiting museums and private collections to take photograhps of folk costumes in action.
And a lot of the models in the book had gathered in Stockholm to celebrate the release.

Two Flokullor: Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg and Lill-Karin Gustavsson in their Dala-Floda costumes. Like I´ve said before it´s my own personal favourite among Swedish folk costumes. There is something about the colourful embroidery that I can´t resist.

And I can´t believe my luck. Next weekend I will be in DalaFloda to attend a workshop arranged by Anna Karin Jobs Arnberg. Then I will try to learn how to do påsöm - the Dala Floda embroidery.

Their knitting wasn´t bad either. Anyone for a close up of that mitten?

Yes, I thought so.

And Lill-Karin has knitted sleeves, made in the traditional twined technique.

The sleeves were usually knit in black and white wool and then dyed red.

I wasn´t the only one there taking photos of the event.

And even if you happen to like dressing in traditional style, it doesn´t prevent you from using the latest technology.

It was some party! And plenty to eat, too.
Served by maids in 18th century costumes.

Can you believe that going to events like this one is part of my job? No, I also find that hard. And now I´ll have to go on another diet and that will be really hard.

If you live in the US and would like to buy the book you will get a special price that includes the postage, so it won´t cost much more than what we pay in Sweden or Norway. Just send Laila an email.

And you can find her blog about the making of the book here.

Nice Work (If You Can Get It).

2011-05-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

I´m really looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Yes, even more than usual. I´m so excited that I even have to blog about it!

The reason is that I´ve been invited to the press release of this book, held at the Skansen outdoor museum. A whole, big book about Scandinavian folk costumes.

I saw some of the photos for this book back in the autumn and I have been looking forward to seeing the rest ever since.

It was actually the mother of this cute girl on the cover who showed me the photos. And a friend of mine said that I behaved like a stalker after that. I would perhaps prefer to describe my behaviour as more like that of an enthusiast.

Believe me, it was hard to try and feign some sort of indifference after seeing pictures like this:

Photo from the book Scandinavian Folklore

These girls are wearing the Dala Floda costume, that just happens to be my own personal favourite among folk costumes. The jackets with knitted sleeves that belong to this costume are just as amazing.

A friend of mine at work was born in Dala Floda and she, of course, has a full costume. You can see it here on her blog. If you scroll down you will find photos of Eva-Karin and her daughter Amanda wearing their full Dala Floda outfits.

After ~~nagging Eva-Karin incessantly~~ asking Eva-Karin nicely only a few times she brought her beautiful embroidered mittens into work to show me one day.

She told me that a very talented seamstress called Edith made these mittens for her about 20 years ago. Notice the expertly made "kavelfrans" (the fringe) and the embroidery on the thumb. Of course these mittens were made using the technique called twined knitting on such small needles that you can hardly make out the stitches. Nice work indeed!

Eva-Karin wearing her mittens

And that is why I am so looking forward to going to work tomorrow.
It has turned pretty cold again so maybe – as a tribute – I will wear my Edith hat.

The pattern was actually borrowed from a Dala Floda sleeve and named after the seamstress Edith from Dala Floda.

Hello Hello!

2011-05-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog!
Same same, but different.

It´s still about knitting. It´s still in English.
But sometimes I wonder if I should switch to Swedish instead. Or maybe I should have a bilingual blog.

Making my mind up is not my strongest point. Never has been and never will be.

This is Solveig, by the way. One of my latest hats made in yarn from Östergötlands ullspinneri.

I have been knitting a lot lately. A big project that will have to be kept secret for a little while longer – while we wait for a new family member to arrive. It is my younger sister Emelie who is expecting her first baby.

Emelie has modelled a lot of my hats, so she might look familiar.

Emelie in Inga Snöflinga

I predict that a lot of my knitting will be baby-related in the near future. And I have to confess that I am VERY pleased with the Secret Project that I am workingon right now. It will be one of the cutest things that I have made. Ever. I am not even going to attempt to pretend to be modest.

But you know what they say about all work and no play. So last Friday I got all dressed up and joined the wedding celebrations at the British pub in Stockholm, Tudor Arms.

Chris, the owner of the pub, and myself.

This is definitely the best pub in Stockholm and the only one that has a genuine British feel to it. The food is great – and the party spirit is never lacking either. I even had my own hen party here (photos are censured, I´m afraid).

Early Arrival

2011-04-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

I´ve found the missing photo of the sleeve for the Dragon sweater, from when it was half way done.

The yarn is from Östergötlands ullspinneri and dyed especially for the Dragon sweater by Ann at Anntorps Väv.

But this knitting was interrupted quite suddenly by a small surprise – only 50 centimeters and 3,3 kilos.

The small surprise – now named Siri – is the daughter of my friend Erika.
She arrived three weeks early so of course I was under the delusion that I had plenty of time to knit a little something.

When I got the news that it was a girl I hotfooted it over to my yarn stash and dug out some lovely apricot coloured wool and started knitting a little cardigan. I used an old pattern from the 1950´s – simple but pretty stylish. And a very quick knit – it took me under a week to finish.

You knit back and forth in garter stitch and when it´s done there is only one small hole under each sleeve that needs sewing together.

Brilliant – in my humble opinion.

I hope baby Siri will be happy with the cardigan.

A New Beginning

2011-04-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, I´m cheating on my old blog with a new blog.

Due to lack of imagination I´m calling my new blog Born to Knit, too. Why change a winning concept? Not that my concept was winning... I haven´t been able to access my old blog for about six weeks I think.

Typepad 1 – Johanne 0. So to speak.

In the meantime I´ve nearly finished a new dragon sweater for Ludvig.

This is when I was half way done with the body some time ago.

And this is the nearly finished dragon. It´s all done now, but I haven´t taken a photo.
Or I may have taken a photo and forgotten where it might be (probably still in the camera.

There is a sleeve somewhere, too. But the second sleeve still needs to be done.

Because of the sunny and warm weather (well, you have to blame something) there is a great risk that this sweater won´t be finished now. It might end up in the basket with all the other nearly finished things.

I´m congratulating myself for my foresight to make the sleeves extra long. Ludvig will no doubt grow a lot over the summer and it would be extremely annoying if he´d already outgrown the new dragon sweater before it was even finished.