The Swallow Tail shawl from the fall 2006 number of Interweave Knits is a wonderful pattern, very easy and quick to knit and very beautiful. Even though I added five repeats of the Budding Lace pattern, I was able to finish in less than a week. The yarn I chose for this project was a 2 ply wool/silk blend from Bånsull, a yarn that fits the pattern perfectly. Unfortuanately photographing a white shawl is a bit difficult, but I hope you can get a general idea of what my Swallow Tail shawl looks like.

And finally, a close up:

Around Easter I dug out my big bag of left over Rauma Baby yarn from the stash. For a long time my goal was to try and use yarn from this bag whenever I make a baby sweater. And I really tried, but even though I always found some suitable yarn in the bag, I would still have to buy more yarn to be able to finish the projects in question. In the end I had to put more left overs into the bag than I took out of it. I finally decided I had to do something drastic about this infamous plastic bag full of wonderful yarns. Inspired by other knitters I cast on for a Log Cabin blanket. My initial plan was to make a baby sized blanket, but when the bag of yarn was empty, the blanket was to big for a baby. It measures about 1,65 m x 1,65 m! The perfect TV-blanket!

I love this blanket and I love the fact that I was able to use all the different colours in the bag. I never thought they would look so good together.


I am so thrilled by this blanket that I want to make another one. I think there is a bag of yarn at my mother’s that no one knows what to do about. Well, now I know.

I liked the fingerless gloves I wrote about in my last post so much that I had to make a pair for myself. The pattern is the same as then, an adaption of Fetching from Knitty. I just love them, they are the perfect thing to wear at the moment, when there is no way of predicting what the weather is going to be like when you live your house in the morning.

There is one minor flaw though; the gloves have different colours.

I knew they wouldn’t be completely similar when I started knitting them, but if I had known then how different they turned out, I might have tried knitting them a little differently. I don’t mind really, I think they are charming the way they are.

So, what is the reason for this mismatched pair of gloves? This:

I used some of the yarn left over from knitting the Trellisscarf last summer. The scarf and the mismatched gloves match perfectly and they are just the thing for the season’s unpredictable weather.

There has been a long period of hibernation and knitting nothing but socks. I am happy to finally have some new knitted objects to show off. (Socks in progress are plenty, but I am saving them for later.)

The first finished objects are a pair of fingerless gloves knitted in lambswool (Røros lammeullgarn). The pattern is an adaption of this famous pattern. The yarn I used was a lot finer than the yarn asked for in the pattern, so I had to go down several needle-sizes, adjust the stitch and row-count and ad more cables. I am so happy with the result. Unfortunately, this pair is for someone else, but I love them so much that I immediately started another pair.

The second finished object is not completely finished yet. It is a very simple triangular shawl knit top-down. What makes it interesting is the yarn used; unspun yarn from Evilla. This was my first experience with unspun yarn, hence the simple pattern. Even though it is very easy to break the yarn, it is very nice to work with and in my opinion knits up very nicely. The knitted fabric is very soft. I want to felt this shawl, but not to much. I have never intentionally felted anything before so I am a little scared that it might look like coming out of the washing machine. For now I am just contemplating and looking at my shawl which I actually think is quite pretty.

Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Silent poetry reading

Från mars -79

Trött på alla som kommer med ord, ord men inget språk

for jag ut till den snötäckta ön.

Det vilda har inga ord.

De oskrivna sidorna breder ut sig åt alla håll!

Jag stöter på spåren av rådursklövar i snön.

Språk men inga ord.

Tomas Tranströmer

(A quick and very unpoetic translation:

Fed up with everyone who comes with word, words but no language

did I go out to the island covered in snow.

The wild has no word.

The unwritten pages spread out in all directions!

I come by prints of deer hoofs in the snow.

Language but no words.)

My first encounter with this poem was when I was living in Krakow about seven years ago. I had just arrived and even though I didn’t know much Polish I bought the a newspaper every day to try to keep up to date. On day I found a notice about a poetry reading with Tomas Tranströmer and Czeslaw Milosz. I decided to go because I figured it be my one and only chance to see and hear a Nobel Price Laureate. The reading was wonderful even though I understood very little. The poem I entered in this (silent) reading was read in Swedish by Tranströmers wife Monica and I was instantly touched by it. I still am.

That’s how I get by. I always keep a sock in progress in my purse where ever I go and make sure to work on it whenever my hands aren’ doing anything. And it pays off, I have several finished objects socks, even though my knitting time has been very limited.

2 pairs of socks for children, in medium weight Socks That Rock, a rare gem colourway.

Two pairs of socks from Nancy Bush’ wonderful books. First, Conwy from Knitting on the road in lightweight Socks That Rock, the Mustang Sally colourway.

The colours look so different in the snow in the first rays of the sun.

And, Child’s French sock from Knitting Vintage Socks in Opal UNI.

I knit these socks with my sockkompis in mind, but I think they turned out to be a little big. I love the pattern and the colour and the socks fit me perfectly so they are staying with me and I will knit something else for my pal.
Nancy Bush’ books are wonderful sources of inspiration. My current sock in progress is Gentleman’s plain winte sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is Regia 4-ply in Nation color, and the nation is Germany! I purchased the yarn when I visited Hamburg last summer when the Soccer World Championships were taking place there. When we were there Germany played Sweden in Hamburg and won and the whole city just went crazy. That’s probably what inspired me to buy this yarn. And the gentleman these socks are intended for is my boyfriend.

I hope that I will get the opportunity to work on this shawl, Mim’s Hidcote Garden, but for the moment socks are all I have time for.

After 84 continous days of rain, the sun finally came back, almost as celebration of my second Sunwheel shawl which I just finished!

Here are some close ups of the unwashed shawl:

And here it is: washed, blocked, light fluffy and beautiful:

Close ups:

I love this shawl, maybe I have to knit a third shawl and keep it.

PS. For specs, see here, here and here.

Some time before Christmas I came across the Swedish book Tvåändssticka and some z-plied yarn in a yarn store and of course I bought both the book and a few skeins of the yarn. I have been intrigued by twined knitting for quite some time and really wanted to learn. Seeing what other people have knitted this way made me want to learn even more.

My first attempt at twined knitting was quite successful, I made one mitten!

Twined knitting is very time consuming, at least for someone who like me, does not have the experience. And then you constantly have to untwist the yarn. I know that winding my skein into two separate balls of yarn was not very wise. It would have been smarter to wind it into one center-pull ball and use both ends. I will try that with the next skein.

Twined knitting makes the perfect fabric for mittens. It is so dense and keep your hands nice and warm even in the most windy weather.

I think it is interesting how the knit stitches look like ordinary knit stitches, while the purl stitches look so different from regular purl stitches. In the picture above there are both all purl rows and rows with a combination of knit and purl stitches.

Why haven’t I made the second mitten? Well, I started it, and then one of my needles broke and I found a few mistakes and decided to frog the whole thing. I will start the second mitten as soon as I buy new needles. I used a set of five 2,75 mm double pointed needles which I purchased in England last summer. No LYS close to me carry that size needles. I know I can get them on-line, but I have decided to wait till next time I go abroad. I originally intended these mittens to be a Christmas present for my Mother, now I plan on saving them for the next.

I always wish to start off the new year with clean sheets and empty needles. Unfortunately, that never happens and probably never will. So instead of trying and failing, I decided to start the new year by finishing the projects in my knitting basket. My knitting basket takes care of three shawls in progress, a Faroese Sunwheel shawl, a Swallowtail shawl and a Hidcote Garden shawl.

The Faroese Shawl is a gift for my Aunt’s 80th birthday in the middle of next month. I started it in late August to make sure I would finish it in time. Well, after a few rows the shawl has been laying untouched in the knitting basket. When I started thinking about all my loose ends a few weeks ago and pulled it out I was actually quite worried that I wouldn’t have time to finish. I made the same shawl in July so I know the amount of work needed. I am proud to tell you that over the weekend I really pulled myself together and finished the knitting. Here it is:

I still have to weave in the ends, crochet the edging, add fringes, wash and block it. Hopefully, I will be able to get that done by the end of this week. I am using the same yarn as last time, but in a different colour. I really love this yarn. The yarn is unwashed and the colour is the sheep’s own. I love the oily feel of it. I also enjoy its coarseness and the smell of sheep. I have to admit, the shawl isn’t very impressing in its present state, but once it has been washed it completely transforms. It turns into a wonderfully warm and light shawl. The smell of sheep stays on, but not as intense. I don’t mind though, and neither do my old aunts, because we all love sheep!

(More detergent or a scented detergent would make the smell go away completely.)

I love sock-knitting. It’s the perfect portable project. I have to spend a lot of my time waiting for other people. I am not good at waiting and doing nothing. Knitting keeps me sane and my fingers from tearing sheets of paper into small pieces or playing with candles or flowers that happened to be within reach.

For me knitting is very much about the process, I find it relaxing, interesting and exciting. And I think people who don’t knit like seeing people who knit. A few weeks ago I was knitting in an airport and the elderly lady in seat next to me said that it was so lovely to see someone knitting. I also love the fact that as a knitter I am able to make beautiful, useful things for myself and others. And I don’t think anyone can have too many socks.

I think I must have knit more than twenty pairs of socks this year. Several of them left my house before I could photograph them. I know however that they are greatly appreciated and frequently worn.

The socks in the pictures are Christmas gifts for friends and family. Every year I tell myself to plan ahead, but I never listen . One pair was knit in June, the rest in the last weeks. And there still is an unfinished sock on the needles, I hope I will be able to finish it by Saturday.

From left to right:

Plain stockinette sock in Trekking XXL (I don’t remember the colourway)

Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush, in medium weight Socks that Rock, Pink Granite.

A simple ribbed pair of socks (k 6, p 2), in 4 ply Regia color

Traveller’s stocking from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush, 4 ply Opal Uni.