Geraniums and an elderberry

The scrappy helix scarf

Since I have nothing else to do with my time (like packing for the move, working on the Storm-at-sea quilt, knitting the Ullared sweater, or... gasp... cleaning the house) I've started a helix scarf with the leftover yarn from the Shifty triangle mittens.

This is what I did:
Yarn: Drops Delight,
         Color nr 10
         50gr = 175 meters (1,76 oz = 191 yards)

I used two double pointed needles 3mm because they don't take much space when knitting.

Cast on 20-40 stitches (depending on how wide you want your scarf), I did 30.
Knit all the stitches on the needle, turn.
*Knit 8-15 stitches (how wide do you want the center of your scarf?), I did 10.  With the yarn behind the work, slip a stitch purl wise.  Turn. Knit to the end of the needle.
Knit 4-8 stitches (I did 5).  With the yarn behind the work, slip a stitch purl wise.  Knit to the end of the needle.
Now knit all the stitches on the needle, to the othe side.*
Repeat from * to * until desired length.  (and then add some or you will think it's too short..)

Good Luck and enjoy your knitting!

Quilting the Storm-at-sea

I've been trying to figure out how to quilt Storm.  I had an all-over feather pattern all thought out and everything.

But once I got it in the machine.... it didn't want all over feathers...  This is what happened instead:

I think I'm going to make the swirl in the square-in-a-square larger and fill the block, and I'll make another swirl inside the biggest block - because the feathered wreath doesn't show up well enough to make it worth the trouble.

Do you get all silly over mittens too?

Have you seen this web page?  It appears simple at first sight, but I can drool over it for ages!  So many wonderful mittens...

Cimdu Raktsi

The reindeer socks are finally finished!

I suppose they became a UFO (unfinished object) lying there in my knitting basket waiting for me.  But now I finally got my act together and finished them.

The pattern is a Drops pattern and can be found here.  They were tried and found true on a all day kajak trip yesterday. 

Just shoot me.... (or the Ullared sweater part 1)

I think I have just started the biggest project of my life.

I've always been interested in history, and especially historic knitting and quilting.  I can wonder about a antique quilt or sweater, who made it, who used it, how did their lives turn out.  There are plenty of antique dress clothes, but unfortunately working sweaters have, literally, been worn to threads.  This is a lumberman's sweater from late 1800's. 

It's tightly knitted in a two color stranded knitting, almost water proof and wind proof because of the small guage. 

I got the yarn in the mail yesterday, a Scottish combed wool 3-ply.  Surprisingly soft.  In natural wool colors unlike the original.

I don't have a pattern, but let's not let that stop us, eh?  I think I can figure it out along the way, with some guidance from a couple books on antique fisherman's sweaters.

I started with a swatch, to get a guage, get a feel for the stranded pattern and figure out what size needles I am going to work with.  The original is probably knitted with 1 to 1 1/2 mm needles, but there ARE limits!

The swatch is made with 2 mm needles, which made a thick, tight, supple fabric.  Knitting an entire sweater with 2 mm needles feels.... scary!  So, I'm going to make a swatch with 3 mm needles too. 

The 2 mm needles gave me a guage of 44 stitches and 42 rows in 4 inches (10 cm).  Let's not do the math to find out how many stitches are in a whole sweater, at least not yet..

Storm progress

I've been working on my Storm-at-sea quilt today, got half of it pieced...

...when I realized that I somehow messed up when cutting the diamond blocks.  There are not enough of them to make the size I wanted.  Very disapointed!

So now I'm trying to figure out how to solve the problem.
Borders?
Pieced border?
Just give up and make it a throw?