Knitting and other stitches

Socks - Livstykkesokker fra Geilsk

2012-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

After I found this sock pattern at Geilsk online shop, they are the favourite socks to knit. The fit the feets very nice.

I just knitted a pair very large socks for my husband. Sock yarn and knitting needle 2,5.

Another pair of geek mittens

2012-01-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

It seems like my daughters prefers programmers for boyfriends. Marte has a pair of Geek mittens, the first pair I knitted. Then I made one for Rigmor and Nelson. Jostein, Martes Boyfriend would like a pair too... So then I made one for him...for around Christmas time...

This pair is knitted in double Baby Wool from Dale, Grey and black. So then they should stay a chance of being thrown in the washing machine and survive.

Buff, knitted collar, or what?

2011-11-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

I have just finnished another small project, bought in Denmark this fall. A knitted "buff" or "scarf" or loose neck to keep the cold winter weather away.

This is made in a thin delicat, grey woollen yarn. At the bottom there is a thin leaf pattern running around the "neck". The rest is just pure stockinett stiches.

Now, it is in the washing machine for (hopefully) some light felting.

Knitted socks, Livstykkesokker - from Geilsk

2011-11-23T10:53:00.000-08:00

I really like much of the new Danish Knitting design. Socks, in a cooler layout, with a good fit to almost anybody is "Livstykkesokker" from Geilsk.

I had 140 grams of red and black Kauni yarn bought in Silkeborg this summer. And I know how warn and firm that yarn is, perfect for socks, I think. i like the colour mix in this yarn, and look forward to presenting this pair for a special young lady in the family.

So the first sock is done, and almost done with the second sock.

More knitted mittens

2011-11-23T10:27:00.001-08:00

Out walking the dog in the wintertime. i remember that area of my arm that would become cold, the area between my mittens and the sleeve of my jacket when bending to pick up dog poop, or throwing stick or other important stuff you do when you have a dog.

Now we do not have a dog anymore. And Her Royal Highness, the Empress of Våland would not be happy with her staff if the staff would throw sticks and expect her to fetch it...or if the staffed dared to be outside and bother the cat.

But my Daugther Rigmor has a dog, and lives in Oslo, So these are for her when walking the dog.

The extend really far up under the jacket sleeve, and are colourful enough to find :-) A smaller change to the original: http://strikkogandrestikk.blogspot.com/2011/10/mittens-from-randi-k-design.html

Granny squares

2011-11-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

I never have been any good at crotheting. So when almost all workshops at Fanø knitting festival were sold out, I decided to attend a workshop in making Granny squares. And it was extremely easy and relaxing.

Back home, it came handy when I was left with lots of small yarn left-over after producing mittens for gifts. All the same yarn quality, and in colours not to far from each other.

After having used most ogf the yarn and produced 18 squares, I had to start thinking what I could use these squares for. To little yarn to make a blanket, but enough for a cushion for the sofa. Due to my darling husbands panick for to soft and cuddly stuff, I made bothe the front and the back of the pillow with Granny squares, so he wouldn't have to live with two colourful cushions on the sofa.

Wrist warmers

2011-11-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have made wrist warmers in grey yarn from yaks, bought at the Fanø knitting festival. At the same festival there were another set (really there were many) I liked. I bought the kit to make feltet wristwarmers. It was the same thin wollen yarn used for the baby blouse, but in more lively colours.

When I had followed the measures in the recipe, I was wondering if they would felt enough to fit me.

After finnishing them, I took the chance of felting them in the washing machine. It went fine, and the final product are in use. I love the warm feeling.

Baby blouse

2011-11-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

When we were in Denmark in September for the Knitting Festival at Fanø, we found several small projects. Among the ones I picked (liked enough to buy a kit) where this baby blouse.

It is made in really thin wool. It is knittet on knitting needles 3,5 which provide a lot of air to the final product.

Now I need some baby friendly buttons to sew in the blouse, and may be a grand child to give it to? Or maybe one of my nephews or nieces are having a baby? Time will show.

Japanese yarn bought from "Tante Grønn" in Denmark

2011-10-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

Another result of the knitting festival is a "scarf" in silk/iron quality from Japan. I knitted it as told by the recipe, and you can bend, fold, strech it, so it shapes as you would like it to.
It was a bit like knitting with thread for a sewing machine...and I am not sure that I will ever use the resulting scarf, since I am not very good at "decorating" outfits.

Time will show.

My flower power jacket - extra part needed

2011-10-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

Due to my recless way of felting my big project, I needed to make some wristwarmers for the Flower Power Jacket.
Luckily there were leftover yarns in amounts good enough for wrist warmers. (And for more small stuff).
I used the smaller flower parts of the patterns and the start of the jacket as pattern.
And I made them big so I could felt them.

I am happy with the result.

Wrist warmers

2011-10-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

When we where in Denmark on the Knitting festival - I ended up buying loads of new knitting projects. One of them was wrist warmers made by wool from Yaks.
(Sorry - I am not joking - 50 grams of nicely spun, thin yarn from Yaks)
With the yarn there were a great pattern for Wrist warmers. So I knitted a pair as my travelling knitting project.
The result is:
They are just always keeping the right temperature. Never to warm or cold, in the office or outdoor.
Amasing quality.
Easy design.

So now I need to find out more about this yarn.

When I was done with mine, Sofie also wanted some.

I did not have more yarn (Well some, but not enough) so I used the same thin yarn as her socks were made of. And the result was satisfying.

Baby sweather with kittens

2011-10-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

I really have "discovered" loads of Danish knitting designers the last year! This sweather from Isager I had to knit, even if I do not have a baby or a grand child. So the neighbour kid will get a sweather for sure.

I know I would like these kittens on some garment to my self...but not in this amount. I will need to work out a good idea here.

Sofie will for sure love these on a sweather, but the whole sweather? Not sure.

For a small child on a small sweather, I think it is nice.

The pattern was a bit difficult to knit, I was not able to find a rythm in the pattern while knitting. I needed to count and keep counting.

Knit one below

2011-10-05T11:59:00.001-07:00

I went to the Knitting festival in Fanø in September with two friends. We had great weather, good work shops and delicious foods. We meet great people and returned with loads of inspirations.

One workshop I went to was named Knit One Below and we learned a technique to knit with two colours, one colour at the time, creating columns of colours.

I tested this out at home with some leftover yarn from a pair of mittens I made.

So this is how it looked by my first trial.

I think these will become nice wrist warmers.

Sofie's new socks

2011-10-05T11:53:00.001-07:00

My youngest daughter Sofie is just growing up to fast. Her wollen socks are getting to small. And she is already cold going out into the rain with her big rubber boots. SO then I have made a special pair for her in thin sock yarn that changes colour.

Since she is so long and slim, I chose to make a kind of rib-socks, but make them smooth under the foot.

The colour changing in this yarn was different from what I was used to - so I gave up creating two similar socks, but created them more on the basis "Same Same but Different"

Mittens - from Randi K. design

2011-10-05T11:40:00.001-07:00

When it comes towards winter, I like to make sure that we are all well equiped and ready for the coming cold days. Mittens are useful, but easily misplaced. So this time, knitted in a not to traditional pattern and bright colours.

I do like the traditional Norwegian Mittens...but I do like variations in colour and patterns.

So I was happy to find Randi K. design. So now I have bought knitting recipes and knitted two pair of mittens. Pink and spring-green.

The green are for a friend moving over to Canada to enjoy the cold winter further east instead of here in Norway. I know they fit her - she tried them already.

My Flower Power jacket

2011-10-05T10:36:00.001-07:00

I did finnish my FlowerPower Jacket. The process consisted of lots and lots of work, and an idea of how lovely it would be when i was done. And when I finally was done with all the parts - It was far to big for me :-( It did not look nice at all.

I brougth the big jacket with me to Stavanger "Strikk og Drikk" at Cardinal Pub and asked the experienced knitting ladies at the pub for advise.
Felt it by hand and with lot of care - they said.

I was told how to do this, and I tried, and I worked the jacket between cold and warm soapy water...for a long time, but nothing happened with the jacket except getting heavier and heavier with water. At the end my arms were aching and both me, the floor and everything surrounding us was wet. And I was really frustrated.

I ended up felting it in the washing machine! First time at 40 degrees - but the jacket seemed to have been vaccinated against felting in the process. Then I did it again on 50 degrees Celsius....and then it was to small!

I stretched it as best I could when it was wet - and the result was OK. And this jacket is what I wore in Denmark on Fanø Knitting festival in September.

My Basker

2011-10-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

This summer in June I stumpled upon a recipe and yarn for a basker hat in a small knittingshop in Silkeborg in Denmark. I had to knit this version of a basker, so I baught the yarn and started one for myself.

It is knittet on knitting needles no 3, wollen yarn. The recipe can be found on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dragspelsbasker

When I came home from vacation, I went on a business trip to Svalbard, and brought with me yarn to knit a basker for my daughter. But she is 11, and for to old for pink - I was told. So her basker is in Red and Black.

And then finally a more masculine version for my darling Husband :-)

Mittens - again

2011-05-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

I actually started these mittens as a travelling project in Januay. You know - a small easy transportable project to bring along while travelling. But luckily I have not travelled that much - so I finished them while we went to Denmark this Easter.

the Yarn is two threaded wool from Rauma - left-over Yarn. To Make the mittens real warm for the lady they are intended two - I have used two coloures as much as possible, and fair isle knitting technique.

I have made the pattern my self, based on traditional Norwegian patterns.

Knitting for babies and premature babies

2011-04-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

Our knitting group, Stavanger Drikk and Strikk is encouraged to knit babysocks, mittens and hats and blankets to premature babies at the hospital as well as newborn babies with a need for medical treatment. Nice woollen clothes to help the keep warm and calm. So - yes we will do it.

Baby mittens:

http://midtbosy.blogspot.com/2009/06/oppskrift-pa-babyvotter.html

http://smuleblogg.blogspot.com/2009/06/superenkle-og-superste-babyvotter.html

Baby socks/boots:

http://lilleduck.blogspot.com/2007/09/mandags-mnster-monday-pattern_24.html

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/no/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=b20&d_id=6&lang=no

Baby hats:

http://honehuset.blogspot.com/2008/09/lage-noe-til-de-premature.html

http://hanna-ladybug.blogspot.com/2011/01/hjelm-og-votter-til-baby.html

Baby blankets:

http://hobbykrok.blogspot.com/search/label/Mine%20oppskrifter

http://www.pickles.no/lun-bris-sommerbabyteppe/

Flower power jacket

2011-03-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am still working on my Christel Seyfarth Flower power jacket project. It takes some time.

There are appr. 20 different colours involved, and three basic patters. But it takes time to knit it all.

So here are the progress so far. Done with the main part of the jacket, and both arms.

Sofie´s woolen scarf

2011-03-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sofie is always getting up early in the weekend. Well, not earlier that everyday, but she is normally up and about at 7 in the morning saturday and sundays. I m not. So normally I find her reading a book, playing with the computer or watching TV, and always a bit cold.

I knittet a scarf in some Sofie friendly colours, so now she stays warm in the mornings.

Moebius knitted scarf

2011-03-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

I had this great yarn from Denmark, yellow, orange and red, and approximately 140 grams. To bad to use it on socks...probably not ideal for a hat....but a Mobius scarf.

So then I tried to make one, but became uncertain whether it would be long enough. So I started again , this time with plenty more stitches. It is long enough, actually a bit long I think. Three time around the neck. But it works nice with my coat, and 100% wool keeps me warm in the cold, cold Norwegian winter.

Sofie's knitted hoodie

2011-02-22T04:11:00.000-08:00

We went to Denmark several times last year, due to the building of our cottage. At one of the trips I took a friend with me to Silkeborg to do some shopping of Danish knitting designs and yarns. I ended up with a huge knitting project called the Flower Power jacket (still working on it - it will be posted when it is done!) designed by Christel Seyfarth.

And I bought some nice, soft, lambs wool and a easy knitting design from designclub.dk.
That lovely red yarn is now turned into Sofie's new red hoodie. It is rib and stockinette in a nice combination. It took some hours, but was worth the effort when I see that she likes it. She has practically lived in it since it was done.

Strange little useful things

2010-12-10T01:20:00.000-08:00

When I was in Denmark, my friend Mona bought yarn and a recipe to make what we call "pulswarmere", a wollen warm garment to warm the your hand and lower part of arm....

Anyway, I had some multicoloured yarn in wool, not enough to make anything decent of, so I tried out the recipe.

The result was warm enough - and quite useful in the mornings when the steeringwheel in the car feels like a block of ice!

Monster pants and matching sweather

2010-12-10T00:58:00.000-08:00

My lovely nephew is now a young father. For his beautiful little girl I have knitted warm wollen pants and a warm sweather for when she is big enough to start in day care. The yarn was bought in Denmark, and the

pattern is from a Danish designer. Find more at Designclub.dk

The monster pants are made in the same material. Inspired by this blog I made the pants.

So now I hope to see her in the outfit when she grows into it - may be still 10 months to go?

Fingerless gloves in lambswool/doghair mix

2010-12-10T00:53:00.000-08:00

For my dear spouse I have knitted fingerless gloves in a mix that are claimed to protect the skin from the rough cold Norwegian winters. The gloves are rather "boring" both strangely enough warmer than the pure lambswool mittens. HMmm may be we need to look further into dog/lamb mixes of yarn for the wintermittens.

Tux mittens for my son-in-law

2010-10-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

When I first found the pattern for tux mittens I decided to knit a pair. In size they were perfect for one of my daughters, so she got a pair of orange and purple, soft woolen mittens. Then I decided to make a pair for my son-in-law. So I switched to thicker needles and used Sisu yarn. I followed the chart - but understood that they would be too short for his hands. So that pair was finished with my oldest daughter in mind. Then I streched the pattern by adding on 4 rows with a simple pattern, and 4 rows of white before starting to knit Tux. So now they should be long enough.

Nelsons Tux mittens:

and then a shot

of Rigmor and Nelsons mittens side-by-side.

Even more TUX mittens

2010-10-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

I strated out making some TUX mittens for my son-in-law. But they turned out to be size "Women" so now they are a gift to someone instead :-9 and I am on to the right size for men. Trial and error.

Geek mittens with Tux

2010-08-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

I found this pattern on a link from ravelry. I just had to modify them a bit to make them fit the size needed when knitting with this thin yarn and needles 2,5.I used multicoloured yarn, the same as for the last two pairs of mittens, and was very happy with the result. This pair of mittens are a gift - so I can not tell for who, but a slightly geeky girl I know well.

Knitted gloves in thin woolen multicoloured yarn

2010-08-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last Time I was in London I stopped by I Knit london to buy some knitting equipment, and I noticed this Purple, red, orange yarn in wool. Zauberball. I just knew I needed some of that yarn. So far I have made two set of gloves with the yarn. The dark set is sized for Sofie (surprise, surprise the young lady lost several knitted items at school). The lighter pair is for a niece.

Double knitted scarf for Sofie

2010-05-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to learn double knitting for a long time. It seemed like a useful technique, but I did not crack the code on my own. You tube is a great thing, the show you how to....

And it was actually easy!

The result, a scarf for Sofie in her colours.

Finally done - my sleeveless jacket now only needs some buttons

2010-02-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is the nightmare project. I started it a year ago when we lived in Lagos, Nigeria. The plan was to have something nice and warm for when I returned to cold Norway. It went well, until I startet with the sleeves.

No matter how I made them, it just would nor fit! It looked bulky, it looked wrong. I tried and retried, but there were no nice fix.

So my solution was, yesterday, to give up the sleeves and make it sleeveless.

So this is my sleeveless version of Drops design number 107-1, made with Bris yarn from Gjesdal.

As you can see, I used a lot of purple shaded yarn, and added on some blue-green-ish shaded to brighten it up a bit. I was happy with that result. Now I need 6 big buttons tha matches the purple colours. And knitting Mosaic knitting does not leave a lot of loose ends to fasten afterwards.

All the little things for decorating Sofies hat.

2010-02-25T03:02:00.001-08:00

As a tassel she wanted a Michaelmas Daisy. That was not to hard. Flower number 47 in the book.

The Bumble bee were not to difficult either, but I felt my fingers were a bit to large for the job. But she was happy with it.

The Meconopsis were picked because now I could see that I could manage without beeing glued to the computer in order to make it.

This is a failed periwincle. (It doesn't know, and neither does Sofie!) But it looks like a flower at least. May be it exist in the floral world to?

After this little project failure I needed something very simple to gain some confidence again. And I looked for something were the diagram made sence.

So I wanted to make the Forget -me-not, but I did not want to mix blue inte the already colourful mix for the hat. So I made a not correctly coloured forget-me-not. That helped. The courage needed to try the challenge was there.

And then I went for the flower Sofie really really wanted.

So here it is.

My pride!

I made it!

An Auricula. Recognisable and everything.

It is in the middle of the winter olympics, so yesterday evening I was watching womens speed skating to cheer for the Norwegian ladies, and particularly Maren Haugli. (I think she became number 5 in the end.) It is not so much to watch, round and round. So I decided to be brave and try the butterfly as well. So this is my version of Orange tip butterfly.

I used a yarn that is called Silja, and it has a lot of nice colours yo choose from, and was easy to crochet with.

Sofie hat - new version

2010-02-25T02:48:00.000-08:00

This hat seems to be very popular. It is so easy to knit. Purl 2, knit two for a rib. Then knit two stiches together, and continue with purl 2 knit two and you get this diagonal pattern.

Sofie is very found of flowers, butterflies and everything remotely connected with summer. So when this hat was done, with only one colour, she decided that to like it, it needed some decorations.

Since I bought the book 100 flowers to knit and crochet, I have just flipped through it and decided it woyuld be a nice gift for someone better at crocheting than me. But Sofie flipped through it and begged me to make some flowers, a bumble bee and a buttefly. I love YouTube, there are lessons in doing different crocheting stitches there. So I managed. I also made a red hat for Marte, same pattern, no flowers. And a black one for me. The trick is to use smaller knitting needles for the rib, the switch to large knitting needles. (I started with 4, and ended with 7 mm).

Hat for Sofie

2010-02-25T02:24:00.001-08:00

Sofie needed a new hat, nice and warm for when the other nice, warm feltet hat my mother in law gave her, was wet. I bought some red, pink and white nice warm alpakka and made her a hat. The day after it was gone, dissapeared at school. So i Then did the same thing again. This time with some pure wool Eskimo from Drops. The hat was just a bit to big, and kept sliding around her head and falling off. So I planned to felt it just a little bit. Well, 40 degrees was to much, and it came out probably best fitting a baby. Sofie was not happy at all, so I promised to start all over again on a new hat, this time in new wool, no felting.

Fingerless gloves for my cousine

2010-02-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

I went to a nice birthday party last weekend. My cousine turned 50 and she had invited all the family, and many turned up. Nice to get reunited with those we had not seen for years! Well, I decided to make her something she could use. She runs a restaurant very close to the water, in one of the Norwegian fjords. We both grew up spending childhood years in a fishing community off Bergen, on Askøy. So I decided to make har fingerless gloves with fish, in green and white. Again, thin pure wool, thin needles. As those with an eye for details might have noticed, I inversed the colours of the upside and underneath the gloves. So depending on her preferences she can have green with white fish and stripes, or white with green fish and stripes.

Mittens with moose - for Sofie

2010-02-16T00:24:00.001-08:00

I was surfing internet to find some inspiration for what to knit. Then Sofie suddenly got interested. "I would love a pair of mittens like these!" she said. Again, it was a pattern from Jorid Lindvik. I bought the pattern and knitted a pair of mittens for young Sofie. Since trhe pattern were sized for a grown up mans hand, I bought thin yarn (Sisu wool), and knitted with needles number 2,5 mm. She loves the gloves, even if some classmates think they are childish.

Sofie´s knitted dress

2010-02-03T11:38:00.001-08:00

At the local knitting shop, Garnkilden, Sofie noticed a knitted dress in white, blue and black. She liked it, and asked if I could knit her one in wool, nice and warm for the winter. But she wanted different colors. She picked red, pink, white.

Well it was easy to knit, and a rather quick project. She has used it to school a lot, but now when the snow is covering the ground, it is back to jeans and warm sweathers.

My new hat

2010-01-29T10:01:00.000-08:00

I have lost my favourite hat! I must have forgotten it on the plane one day. To bad. Well I ended up knitting a new one. This time in 100% Merino wool, knitting needle 3 mm. Purple.

Kitten gloves for a man

2010-01-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

I have a friend, i wanted to make some gloves for. These days are colder than what we are used to. I basically enlarged the size of the gloves by adding some vertical lines in the outskirt of the pattern, and removed the most girlish of the colours from my gloves.

I was very happy with the result, this weekend I will see if he likes them. I used a thin wool yarn, and knitting needle 2 mm.

My kitten gloves

2010-01-20T01:52:00.000-08:00

My red knitted gloves were getting worn, so I made myself some nice warm kitten gloves. The pattern was made based on a recipe for kitten socks made by Jorid Linvik.

Making the world better with warn gloves and mittens

2010-01-07T01:57:00.000-08:00

I have undertaken a very small project these last months, I am trying to make the world a better place by creating some warm wollen gloves for people I know. I have knittet gloves for friends and family members I know will use them.

Hilde got some yellow, orange, red gloves in pure wool, easy to wash. They got the feeling of cotton and the warmth of wool.

Same yarn is used for Britt's gloves. For Britt I decided to make add-on wrist warmers to the gloves, in the same yarn, and the same colours.

Axi, Sofie's little friend from Austria will receive these mittens in red 100% wool. He picked the colour himself when we visited him in Vienna.

For my sister Linda - some black-grey shaded gloves she can wear even if she needs to wear a uniform.

These gloves together with the gloves for my friend Hildegunn is knitted on the concept I picked up in Nigeria. Things being almost identical - but not completely. "

Same-same-but-different". Which I found cute and cool. Hope the receivers feel the same.

Hege Merete got a pair of mittens based on the same principle. With kittens.Then I just had to make some warm pink gloves for my clever niece. So I choose to keep to one colour - and add some structure.

What else to choose than a tiny Owl. So Inger Elise - I hope to receive a picture of you wearing the gloves:-)

Sofie has an unfortunate habit of loosing clothes. Mittens and gloves included. So now when we had a lot of snow, both her still existing gloves and mittens were wet. She wanted something warm to go back out into the snow. I had to tell her that I was not able to do magic. But then I remembered a warm sweater someone boiled to a sudden death in the washing

machine. We got it, and cut it into the shape of mittens and quickly nested it

together. I feltet two hearts just to decorate them, and she was soon back into the snow with really warm mittens.After knitting these gloves, we got a kitten. So I knittet kitten gloves for my self also. In multiple colours. The yarn is designer for socks - but it makes good gloves also.

Alpacca jacket

2009-10-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

I spent my knitting time this summer on knitting an alpacca jacket I found on "Drops". In September, when I was finally done and attached to to sleeves to the fornta and the back and tried it on - it was to wide! The jacket I had put so much effort into was not for me. My mother was visisting at the time, and tried it on - no she has a nice warm alpacca jacket that fits her. I guess I have to do another in a smaller size.

Knitted gloves

2009-10-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

It is cold. I have been knitting gloves lately. One pair for Marte, one pair for Sofie, one for a friend of mine, Hilde and now a pair for myself. Nice and warm, and not itcing at all.

The yarn used is Cherry Tree Hill bought in London at I Knit London. Lovely shop, and lovely yarn. 100% Merino wool

Sofie's jacket is assembled.

2009-05-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

I have now assembled the jacket. I decided too make an orange edge around the neck and in front to brighten it up more. The only thing lacking now is buttons, and that should be fairly easy.

Sisu yarn made it soft, light and warm. I guess that some gloves and a hat would be good accessories.

Fanakofte - traditional Norwegian pattern

2009-05-12T01:31:00.000-07:00

Sofie and I are living in Lagos. No use for wollen clothes here. But we are moving back to Stavanger in August, and Sofie will need wollen jackets then. She has grown so much this year, that new clothes are required. I offered to knit her a sweater of her choice. She chose a traditional knittet jacket from Fana, normally seen in dark blue and white, grey and white or possible red and white.

Sofie insisted on orange and red. I must admit I thought this would be two too bright colours together, but I had promised. So I have now knitted the sleeves and the body and are going to assemble the sweather soon. I have opened the body for front and sleeves, and cut out the neck. It will be finnished before August.

Sofie's orange jakket

2009-02-16T00:36:00.000-08:00

Last July while we were in Denmark on vacation Sofie asked me to knit her skirt and top in yellow, and a cardigan in orange. She went with me to the shop and picked the colors she wanted. I hesitated since I belived the colours would be to brigth. Sofie responded that colours could not be to bright for her. Based on the photo of her in a Nigerian outfit with her cardigan on top, I guess she has proven me wrong.

Well, I made the set in yellow, which she is frequently using, and started on that cardigan. It took some time, and I just had to do a few smaller projects while doing it. But now it is done, and she is using it.

Recipe and yarn were from the Danish company "Hjertegarn" and luckily Danish and Norwegian are so close as written languages that there were only one word I had to google to find out what to do.

Details from the top part of the cardigan.

Details from the front.

Something warm while travelling

2009-01-16T03:11:00.000-08:00

I am travelling a bit back and forth between Nigeria and Norway, and when I am in Norway I am not necessary in my hometown and my home. So a couple of times I have been so cold, particular on the feets. So last time I was in Trondheim I bought a ready-to-knit set at the airport and knitted me slippers that travel easy.

Warm, woollen slippers that do not take up a lot of space in the suitcase. And they fit relatively well on the feet, so I am happy.

Sofie's set is complete

2009-01-16T03:07:00.000-08:00

There were a lot of work, but not to difficult, to make the skirt. As long as I payed attention everything went well. But several time I had knitted to long before changing pattern, and had to re do it again. But the girl is happy. She likes the set, and it is good for her in this climate.

Sofie's new top

2008-09-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

When we were in Denmark this summer I asked Sofie if there were anything she needed or wanted that I could knit to her. She joined me to a shop and looked through many recipes before she found a skirt and a top that she liked. I took a look at the pattern and said to her that sure, I could knit this for her. She wanted to choose the colours, claiming that I always chose so boring colours.

So a sharp yellow top is so far the result, and now I have started on the skirt.

Baby sweater with heart.

2008-07-12T01:46:00.001-07:00

When I was in London visiting my daughter I went to John Lewis on Oxford street. I found a booklet by Debbie Bliss with lovely recioes for babyclothes. So I bought some baby casmerino yarn and knitted this white sweater for my niece.

Hope she will like it.

Next project is to use the leftover yarn.

Knit-a-long London

2008-07-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

I went to London to visit my daughter. Saturday we took a long walk along the south side of the Thames and ended up in a spot where a lot of activities were going on. Some were giving a concert, some were showing their rabbits and guneapig to the young children, some were playing with loads of vegetable creating different vegetable creatures. And in the corner were I Knit London and the great British Sheep
I knitted a square and so did my daughter Rigmor.

Vest and socks for baby

2008-06-29T09:55:00.001-07:00

I started to knit this wollen baby vestcoat to try out some methods I had never used to make the structure. When it was done my niece informed me that she was expecting a babygirl. Then I added the little bunny rabbit.

So together with a white body I think this will make a nice baby outfit.

Since the baby is due in the fall, and the winters around here can cold, I made some baby socks to go with the outfit.

So, Is this girliesh enough?

Baby socks

2008-05-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Finishing off my own socks there were some leftover yarn, and the quality is so nice I did not want to trow it away.

As I have a niece expecting a baby in the fall, I thought that these colours could fit a little boy or girl. Well they were quick to make, just 40 stiches around.

Warm socks in thin wool

2008-05-21T11:57:00.001-07:00

One day waiting in the airport in Trondheim, I came across a small package with bamboo knitting needles and yarn enough for a pair of socks. Looking at the colours - I decided that this is the kind of socks I will need for my summer vacation in Denmark. Long evenings outdoors can be a bit cold. But these socks are thin enough to be comfortable to wear.

Not for me or mine, please

2008-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

There are some real imaginative knitters in the world, but some of the products are a bit far out.

Winter hat with beard

Knitted replika of an i phone
(yes thank you, give me an i phone, no thank you, please keep the replika away from me)

Knitted zombie and knitted pirate penguin (Way to go - fight for your right not to be extinct)

And worse than knitted clothes for dogs that don't need it...clothes for penguins

And then there are the totally useless stuff that you still think could be worth it. MAy be?
Linux penguin

I have started a scarf project

2008-03-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

and run out of yarn...I went to the shop before easter and bought some extra yarn in the same color and pattern as my hat and gloves. My great plan was to make a matching scarf - since my most used scarf is pink.... and that was not a good matcth with the red hat and scarf.

Then I ran out of yarn - and I forgot - living in Norway -easter almost last forever. Shops are open as if it was a saturday - the wednesday before easter. Then thursday and friday they close down completely - and saturday - it is a lottery - you will never know for sure if a shop is open or not. The shop where I get my yarn - were not open...and on monday they will be closed as well....

But I have started. And I have used all my yarn.

I choose to make one round with Tunisian crotcheting and one with standard crotheting. It is really soft and airy....and just 50 gram more of Dale Baby wool and I will have a nice, long, warm, scarf. And yes, we still need it here.....

Jacket for Rigmor

2008-03-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter Rigmor found one jacket she would like, when I asked her if there were anything she would like me to knit for her. Pattern from Drops Design.

So now I have made the jacket - and I went shopping for some nice buttons for the jacket today. I finally found them at Bånsull in Stavanger.

My red gloves

2008-03-19T13:18:00.001-07:00

In the babywool yarn I knitted some red gloves. This nice thin wool is warm without being lumpy or itchy. It is so nice to wear! And then they have this multicoloured yarn that helps bring life into the knitwear without to much work. I used a free pattern from Drops design for the gloves.

I Guess I will start to make a warm scarf now - to match. My pink one will not do anymore. At least then I have a small project for easter.

"Alpelue" - knitted hat

2008-03-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

In the winter issue of VK I found a nautilus spiral shaped cloak - a bit to "arty" for my taste - but I did like that spiral pattern a lot. So what could I make ...sirkular shape...

A hat for the earlt spring. In Dale Babywool so it do not itch...So I knitted the spiral form with a simple Yarn over repeatable pattern - increasing for every round...and then I had to find a way to decrease it - but at the aproxemately same ratio - and then a couple of rounds with no decrease to make it sit nicely on the head and not slip off.

Baby blanket - Mosaic knitting

2008-03-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

I bought a brilliant book called Mosaic Knitting - and they had page on page on very small projects to learn the knitting technique. I always like a challenge - so I made a baby blanket for a friend of my daughter expecting a baby soon. A woollen blanket is alway nice in our climate!

Each square is made up based on 29 stitches. Then on every 2. row you reduce 2 masks by using the three middle masks on the knitting needle. In the end you are stuck with one mask only. This you can use together with masks you pick up along one side of the square (all together 15) and then you add 14 extra masks and repeat.

Some details:

What not to make

2008-02-19T06:52:00.001-08:00

This is two brilliant blogs - just after my taste - What not to knit and its sister blog - What not to crochet.

Girlie warm wollen socks for Sofie

2008-02-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

Sofie has grown a lot lately. Suddenly most of her socks and shoes are to small - included warm wollen socks. So I knitted this pair to fit her long slim foot. I made them shorter on the leg, and ended them with two rows of crotheting to make them more girly. I used Silja sock yarn with multicoloured thread.

Warm twirly alpakka scarf

2008-01-25T12:20:00.001-08:00

I used three different colours of blue to make the scarf. Dark blue, medium blue and light blue. The scarf is very easy to make. The way I made is was identical to the recipe from Drops Design - with only one easy alteration.

I kept the first part of the recipe, done in the darkest colour. Then I added a second row in the medium blue colour where I did as follows:

" Crochet 1 tr in the 4th ch from hook, then 1tr in each ch until the end of row, turn the piece and change to the third colour." Then I did what is explained as the second row as the third rom, in the lightest colour.

I chose a nice warm alpakke quality for the yarn.

Olav's Squirrel Mittens

2008-01-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

I made Olav a pair of mittens to. I just needed to make longer thums and extend the mittens a bit.

Same colours, same material.

And now we can hope for some snow so they will be useful. So far the winter has consisted of rain, wind and storms.

My squirrell mittens

2008-01-03T11:15:00.001-08:00

I have made myself a pair of squirrell mittens, so the squirrells are facing each other...

The big plan is to scan the pattern and put it out on the net... May be I will remember to do so one day.

I used Silja from GJESDAL to the mittens. Silja is a yarn designed for socks - but I loved the colours together, and my thinking is - socks need strong yarn - and then may be the mittens will not wear out for many years. And they can be machine washed....

My rug is all done!

2007-12-16T11:11:00.001-08:00

I have been working on a side project for some time - making a nice rug to be on the rather cold floor in our guest room in the attic. The room is green, and I wanted some nice fresh colours.

The dog is absolutely grateful for the rug - I have tried telling her it is not for her - but she does not seem to believe me. Whenever I tried to take a picture of it - she appeared in the view....

I finalized it yesterday by crotheting a thin edge all around the rug.

Left over yarn and Domino knitting

2007-12-07T13:12:00.001-08:00

I had some leftover yarn from some mittens, and decided to experiment a bit with the principles for Domino knitting.

First square - 29 stitches in yellow.
Knit one row.
2. row knit 13 masks, slip one mask, knit 2 masks together. Pass slipped stich over the "two masks", knit 13 masks.

Then I have used the Three center masks to reduce the number of masks with two.

Change to red.
3 row. Knit 27 masks.
4.th row - knit 12 masks, reduce the centre three masks to one as described in row 2. knit the next 12.

Continue till you have finished a square.
Make 4 more squares and join to one big square.
Make an extra square to make this wrest warmers.

Warm feet for Christmas

2007-12-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

My sister bought an older house in the eatern part of Norway. The climate there is colder than here...and our floors are always cold in December - february... so a useful and environmental X-mas present for her and her closest should be home made slippers.

The grey/purple - three treads of thin wool.

The Red - one thread tick wool, one thread thin and then feltet.

The same with the pink pair.

Cortina + a thin wool yarn.

Mittens from Stjørdal

2007-12-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

I have made christmas present for someone - so I can not say whom...

But these are definitely warm. Made from a recipe from Husfliden and yarn from Rauma. Extra fine woollen yarn.

Carpet for the guest room floor

2007-11-08T10:53:00.001-08:00

I have just started a project making a nice warm carpet for the guestroom. Woollen yarn made into 6 sided pieces and joint together.

Sofie's scarf

2007-10-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sofie loves all kinds of accessories, including scarfs. So she wanted med to make her one from some multicoloured yarn she had.

And as seen on the photo - she is happy with the result.

Some details:

Scarf - crotheting

2007-10-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

For a long time now I have wanted to make myself a nice warm scarf for the winter. A collegue looked at the recipe and friday she showed me how to do it. Now its done. It was not difficult at all! And the project moved real fast forward (the weather has been bad this weekend...)

Slippers made of squares

2007-10-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

Jeg fant en oppskrift på tovete strikkete firkant tøfler, og prøvde ut min egen versjon. Jeg hakket firkanter i Cortina med 18 masker i opplegget. Da de var ferdig monterte nble de litt større enn jeg hadde tenkt...ca 42. Min mor var på besøk, trengte nye tøfler - og da var den saken grei. I etter kant har jeg laget flere...men det har ikke vært helt enkelt å finne frem til "rett" størrelse til meg selv - til slutt fant jeg den. Men før det har jeg laget noen røde og svarte - ca 34? ett par trefargede som ble for små til Sofie - heldigvis kjenner vi folk med mindre føtter som kan se frem til varme tøfler til jul.

I had noticed a method to make slippers based on knitted squares. So I experienced making slippers from Squares made in basic Tunisian crotheting. Then felting them. One pair became to big - so my mother got them. The next to small. But now I seem to have gotten it worked out so I have made myself a nice pair of warm slippers, and in the process created a few slippers to give away.

Princess outfit....

2007-09-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Sofie likes accessories. She likes to combine them with her differet outfits, but sometimes she just can't find what she is looking for in the shop. In Denmark this summer she baught a scarf and two long loose arms in dark purple. She also wanted this in pink....

But - this was nowhere to be found. So I used some leftover yarn from my blanket project and made her this in pink and grey. Easy to make - and she was a happy receiver.

Slippers for the winter

2007-09-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

I have been travelling a lot one week in August. So to spend the time avoiding the complete boredome, I made some slippers for the winter.

I tried different yarns and combinations to make then soft, make them warm and make them steady.

The green slippers are made of two relatively thick wollen yarns, steady and warm. The read is made of one thread tick wollen yarn, soft and warm.

A blanket for the dog

2007-09-01T02:40:00.001-07:00

I wanted to try out a couple of different techniques but not having to make a big project out of it. So I had some leftover yarn of the same quality - and decided to make a blanket for the dog to sleep on.

A nice and simple technique is to use three threads, and change color at the end of the needle for every row.

This time a pair of black mittens

2007-08-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

I modified the recipe so this pair of mittens fitted me.

Still warm, wollen, but a bit longer.

I think this is for me in the winter.

Next week my mother-in-law will be here. I think she would love to learn this technique.

My extra warm gloves.

2007-08-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have been trying out different techniques lately. I needed a break from knitting, and looked in to tunisian crotheting, and now "pjoning".

I work round and round using a crotheting needle. By variating a little (using the backmost stich like on the illustration) or the foremost stich I get to different patterns. I made a pair of thick warm mittens for the winter. I then used the left over yarn to make ekstension for them so they would warm the wrist as well.

My aunt Lizzie in Denmark told me that this would be perfect for her as a Christmas gift. They were a bit short for me, so may be she will get them...or may be one of my nieces.

A blue hat

2007-07-18T03:59:00.000-07:00

We went to the mountains for a hike. Two friends of mine, and our daughters and one of my nieces. 7 "girls" together for 5 days. Hiking, enjoying the Norwegian summer in the mountains. Bringing waterproof, windproof clothes and swimsuits. We know by heart how fast the weather changes.

Two of the days were perfectly sunny and our hikes were perfect. Two of the days were rainy but warm enough. But one of the days had a cold cold and pretty strong wind blowing. Sofie were lucky and borrowed a hat form one of the others. I did not bring a woollen hat to the mountains in July - I should have - together with gloves. But I had brought along the needle and some blue yarn in case there would be need to entertain myself. So I made her a hat, and one for my friend Berit.

This time I used only the one hook method, and alternated between the two blue colours I had to make a nice effect.

She is happy with the hat, I am planning to make one for me as well.

On the last photo you can see more details.

The jacket is finished

2007-07-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

I was lucky and found some pretty flower buttons for Sofies jacket. Pink against grey. When the jacket was presented to the young lady she did thank me, but also made me aware htat she has been looking at so many fashion magazines that she would have loved the jacket even more if I had payd attention and been aware that this year it was supposed to be pink and brown...and may be something white.

Tunisian crocheting with two hooks

2007-07-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

I got two crocheting needles with hooks in both ends for my birthdaypresent from my mum. I looked up a couple of tutorials on the Internet on how to do this two hook tunisian crocheting and the fundamental principles are easy! But finding interesting recipes was more difficult. So I made my own - in order to get familiar with the technique and get a product as a result.

I have made a jacket for my daughter - in the colors she loves. And I have now gotten to know two of the methods very well, and how to increase and decrease the number of masks. I just need to finish up the edge around the jacket and buy some buttons.

The blanket is all done!

2007-05-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

The blanket ended up 6x7 squares with the colours inverse in a diagonal pattern. It is framed by a darker grey colour. It is big enough to snuggle under on a cold day.

My next project is another sweather with loose neck - this time size 4 for a small friend of the family.

Knitted sweather with loose neck

2007-04-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is Sofie in her sweather. She saw the model exhibited at Gjesdal spinnerier and went and picked the correct yarn her self. I helped her getting the amount correct. Then she started to ask me if I was not going to knit soon.

When it was done she picked buttons to decorate the sleeves and the neck.

The sweather is 100% wool and knitted so it is extra warm ("patent strikk" in Norwegian). And she is using it outside a lot.

When I am done with the blanket - my next project is to knit a smaller version of this sweather to a young friend of the family.

Earlier this winter Lene flipped through a magazine with several patterns for children - and picked this sweather.

So that is the next thing.

Still working on the knitted blanket.

2007-04-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

And it is growing at the average rate of 1/2 a square per evening when I am at home. 16 squares so far. I have decided to make half the squares inverse in colour to avoid the blanket of becoming to boring.

Knitted patchwork blanket

2007-03-22T13:05:00.001-07:00

From time to time, when travelling, I scan the shelves in the magazine stores.
Most of the time it is gossip, cars, sex, photo, music or game magazine that dominate the content. Once I ran into this little airport shop with 4 different knitting magazines. Obviously, I ended up buying all of them, it is so rare I find that kind of magazines.

While flipping through the "Knit simply" winter edition 2006 I saw a patchwork log cabin blanket.

I got inspired from the simplicity of it, combined with the fact that it was quit nice. The pattern had 3x4 squares. Off course, competitive that I am, I am aiming for 6X8.

And I am going to felt it when it is all done. Sure. I'll run the risk of all the work either being worth wile or end up as a catastrophe. Risk taking for sure...

The technique in each square is quit simple. I start with 10 stitches, knit a square (20 rows). Changes colour and continue. Then put the stitches on a thread or spare needle while turning the work side wise and pick up 20 stitches and knit in colour 2.

Hat and mittens, scarf and socks

2007-03-21T14:37:00.000-07:00

Sofie found this yarn in a shop and asked me to knit a set of baby clothes for her new cousin that are due any moment now. She found this yarn childish so it fitted a baby. I liked the colours, and the fact that they were gender neutral.

So we decided on this little hat and a pair of gloves. The we expanded the set with a scarf and a pair of socks. She looks forward to see the outfit on the baby.

Tone's hat

2007-03-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

My niece Tone was visiting this weekend together with her sister Marita and Didrik a younger brother. It is not a long time til Maritas birthday is up, and thereafter Tone's. So I offered the girls that they could pick some ear rings from a collection I bought. Marita founs some, but none of them were Tone's style. So I asked what else I could give her - money would not be an option. We agreed that I should make her a hat.

So Tone decided how it was going to be, the colours, and shape, and I made her the hat.

Dragon scarf

2007-03-21T13:40:00.001-07:00

I once saw a photo og a dragon scarf on internet. When I wanted to knit something for my young nephews they find that most patterns are "girly" and most of the stuff in books and magazines are for girls. So I decided to make my own dragon scarf for them. To take a picture I hade to persuade Sofie, my youngest daughter to pose. No need to say - she found the scarf to boyish and were not happy at all.

I hope the boys will like a scarf like this. I will wait for a responce.

Preparing to become an aunt again

2007-03-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

I am going to become an aunt again. my younger brother Jimmy got married this summer and any day now they will have a baby boy arriving. So I decided to knit an outfir for a real little man.

I made a jacket that are traditionally knitted in one piece and in one colour. Instead of traditionally baby colours I choose light and dark grey and brightened it up with some stripes in red.

The outfit has now been shipped off to the mother to be so she can decide whether she likes it or not. There isa possibility that the bright red baby hat missed the target, but I liked it.