Happy knitting: Finished short row shawl

Tadah - it's finished! And believe it or not, I managed to knit it in just a little more than two days, because it was such a nice and comfortable work - and interesting to see how the colours in the variegated sock wool turned out while knitting those short rows!

I'm already thinking of knitting another one, same pattern but with a different colour scheme ..!

(German summary: Mein Schultertuch ist fertig! Ruckizucki ging das, weil das Muster so angenehm zum Stricken war - und jetzt liebäugele ich schon mit neuen Farbkombinationen ...!)

Happy knitting: Short row shawl

Yes, I'm knitting on a new project again - when I saw this gorgeous short row pattern by Veera Välimäki at Ravelry; I just couldn't resist!

It's a simple, still nifty pattern, teaching you the basics of the short row technique in an easily understandable way - and although there are hundreds of stitches on the needle by now, it does neither bore me nor give me the feeling of endlessness ...

With the beautiful, handpainted sock yarn from Susa and another couple of sunny hours outside in the garden, I think this shawl will be finished in no time!

(German summary: Jawohl, ich stricke schon wieder an einem neuen Projekt - ein geniales Sockenwolle-Tuch mit verkürzten Reihen! Hört sich kompliziert an, ist es aber wirklich nicht!)

Challenge Navajo/chain plying

In order to maintain the beautiful colour separations which come with spinning a handpainted fleece or roving, I always wanted to know how to Navajo/chain ply. Still, as rather a newbie, this is not exactly the first thing you're giving a try at ...



Well, now I felt ready to deal with this challenge - and thanks to YouTube ;-), it wasn't even that difficult!



What you need is a slightly overtwisted single, three times the length you wish your yarn to be, and if you don't want the final yarn to bee too bulky, try spinning the single quite thin.

Set your whorl on big and slow, select a strong uptake, put your single on a lazy kate, make a loop with the single and the leader on your bobbin. Then it's basically just 'finger-crocheting' your single through the loop with your left hand - making real big loops -, while your right hand is pinching the three strands to form the twist.

Sounds more complicated than it actually is - just take a look at that video and I guess it will come perfectly clear!

Another funny little thing which I found at YouTube was an i-cord earphone wrapping tutorial, showing how to knit a colourful i-cord around the cables of your earphones, to prevent them from tangling. Of course I couldn't resist, these are mine:



(German summary: Jetzt habe ich mich ans Navajo/chain-Verzwirnen gewagt - und mit Hilfe des YouTube tutorials, war es gar nicht einmal so schwer. Der große Vorteil ist natürlich, daß die Farbsequenzen vom handgefärbten Vlies oder Kammzug viel besser erhalten bleiben.

Bei YouTube habe ich auch das lustige Einstricken der Kabeln gefunden - jetzt ist kein Kabel mehr vor diesem privaten 'guerilla-knitting' sicher!)

Challenge knitting complicated patterns

Another challenge for me was to dig into new, rounded patchwork knitting à la Horst Schulz - I had tried to understand one of his more intriguing patterns - 'An African Adventure' (here's the free pattern pdF - in English) - a couple of years before, but had failed - and now I gave it a new try - and suddenly it came all clear!

I also found this new book by of on his 'scholars', showing further variations on this adventurous knitting technique: ('Patchworkstricken' by Liane Schommertz - in German).

A funny thing about these patterns is that you only have to deal with one or at the most two colours at the same time, and that you (except for the borders) only hold very few stitches on your needles for every patch, which are even decreased constantly while working.

It's also a splendid opportunity to use up lots of yarns from your stash, awakening the pattern to life without the feeling of producing a 'patchy' look.

So I started two new projects, the first one maybe turning out to become an afghan in the end, with 5 mm needles -



- the second project with 4 mm needles and double 4-ply sockyarn, aimed to result in a sleeveless vest some day (although at the moment, it looks more like a frog to me :-) -



At Ravelry, there is even a 'Horst Schulz Fan Group' where you can find more information on the patterns.

(German summary: Meine neue Herausforderung sind die gerundeten Patchworkformen à la Horst Schulz - so langsam begreife ich endlich das Prinzip und erfreue mich an dieser witzigen Stricktechnik!)

Blue mohair wrist warmers

When I stumbled upon this beautiful handpainted blue mohair roving at Etsy, I just couldn't resist it ... I had never spun mohair before, but it's so silky and long-fibered that it almost span itself into a very thin and shiny yarn.

To make the luxury complete, I plied it with a hand-dyed royal baby alpaca lace yarn (from Susa) and decided to knit myself a pair of super-soft - and very warm! - wrist warmers. Yes, I know, spring is here, but my wrists still do ache for a lot of warmth.

As this gorgeous yarn reminds me so much of water and of the sea, I crocheted a row of 'shells' with the thin alpaca as a side border. And what would be more suitable for decoration than a couple of those miniature shells, which Elizabeth/Landanna had collected on her Danish seashore and sent to me as a gift last Christmas?



I'm so happy with these, they warm up my wrists and my heart!

(German summary: Ich habe zum ersten mal wunderbar weiche, handgefärbte Mohairwolle versponnen und mir daraus sehr luxuriöse Handgelenkswärmer gestrickt. Als Krönung habe ich noch - mit Hilfe einer Drahtschlinge - einige der winzigen Muscheln draufgenäht, die mir meine Blogfreundin Elizabeth/Landanna zu Weihnachten geschickt hat.)

Blue batts and a 'denim' yarn

One of the best things about our blogworld is the mutual inspiration - how one idea leads to another, like in a relay ...

My dear blog friend Elizabeth/Landanna is working on a big jeans project, where she is unseaming piles of worn jeans and then handsewing them together for new shapes with a bright red thread. This combination of faded blue shades and the red stitches is really awesome, and I just adore the fresh and beautiful look of it.

Having had these pictures in mind, I've been pondering over how to integrate these colours in a project of my own.

And a few days ago I found what I've been searching for - the 'Shizuku' scarf pattern by Angela Tong (free Ravelry download). Shizuku means drops of water, I've learned, and so I think these shades of blue will be a perfect match.

(I admit I'm not really the only one loving this pattern - if you go visit Lavendelblau or MelinoLiesl f.e., you will see other beautiful versions of it.)



To create the feeling of worn jeans, I carded the different blues I had stashed - a little green and white too - together with some red sheep locks I've dyed myself.

I carded the wool quite roughly and only once, then spun the batts into an irregular and a bit bumpy worsted yarn. I decided to ply with a ball of the new Noro Sekku (yes, also stashed!), a very thin cotton/wool/nylon/silk blend, which emphazises the casual denim look quite well, I think.

(German summary: Seit einiger Zeit folge ich meiner Freundin Elizabeth's Jeansprojekt und überlege, wie ich die schöne Kombination ihrer blauen Jeanstöne mit leuchtendem Rot auf ein Strickprojekt übertragen kann. Das nette 'Shizuku'-Muster von Angela Tong gab mir dann den Anstoß zum Kardieren, Spinnen und Stricken ...)

Another sleeveless vest!/Noch einen Pullunder!

Yes, I enjoy this way of knitting very much - this time, I tried doing a more graphic pattern in a colour scheme which I have never chosen before.

As I'm just knitting strips with quite few stitches at the time, I prefer using (wooden) double-pointed sock needles. The finishing rows at neck and arms are crocheted, and for the waistband I then needed a circular knitting needle, of course.



This vest is actually a de-stasher, as most of the yarn was either found in my stash or reclaimed from another garment - I only bought one single ball of sockwool yarn to get a bit of glowing turquoise into it!



A clever thing about knitting strips is that you don't have to worry about gauge and measurements until you've been knitting for quite a while - then there's still time to layer it onto one of your favourite sweaters and compare sizes.

Another advantage of this piece-work is that you can knit it almost entirely on sock needles - even knitting two strips parallel, if you want. The striping itself helps you count the rows easily when comparing lengths and sewing it all together.

And furthermore, the strips make it possible to re-arrange the design and the order of colours till the very end - you can even turn them upside down before mounting!

(German summary: Mir gefällt diese Art, Streifen zu stricken, sehr gut, da man wirklich bis zuletzt die einzelnen Teile neu arrangieren und ergänzen kann. Die Strumpfstricknadeln machen die Arbeit sehr handlich, und auch das Kombinieren verschiedener Wollreste- und stärken ist hier kein Problem!)

Reclaimed wool: Sleeveless vest/Pullunder aus Recyclingwolle

I like yarns. And I like repurposing things. So the idea of reclaiming yarn from non-fitting garments laid close at hand.

When I was given two bags full of hand-knitted garments which I didn't want to wear as they were, I decided to unravel them and use the wool for some new projects.

Out of an unravelled shoulder cape, I knitted this sleeveless vest -



I didn't really use a pattern, just knitted strips and sew them together, taking measure from one of my old vests.

I like knitting the front and the back the same - so I can wear it both ways.



When you've unravelled an old garment, it's important that you wind it to a skein, soak it in lukewarm water (I used a bit of soap too), rinse it thorougly and then dry it, eventually with a weight, in order to straighten out the 'curls' of the former knitting. If you don't, your new knitting will get uneven and ugly.

Shake the skeins several times while they are drying, and you will get an airy and fluffy yarn, good as new!

(German summary: Da mir sowohl Wolle als auch Recyling am Herzen liegt, ribbele ich gerne nicht mehr getragene Stricksachen auf und stricke daraus etwas Neues. Wichtig ist, daß man das aufgeribbelte Garn zu Strängen wickelt, und es dann im lauwarmen Wasser - auch mit Seife - badet, dann spült, trocknen läßt - evtl. mit einem Gewicht - damit sich die 'Wellen' glätten und die Wolle wieder ein schönes Maschenbild ergibt. Mehrmals ausschütteln, ausschlagen - und das Garn ist wie neu!)

Mongolian Warrior Pullover/Mongolischer Kriegerpullover

At last, at last - I've finally managed to finish that Mongolian Warrior Pullover, which I promised my daughter more than a year (shame, shame!) ago ...



When she saw the design in Nicki Epstein's book 'Knitting On Top of the World', she asked me to knit one for her too - but in black, with just a bit of olive green - and if possible, with detachable sleeves (which is of course not in the pattern), so that she can wear it both as a pullover and as a sleeveless vest/waistcoat.

As I had already knitted a red vest for myself using this pattern, I wasn't that eager to make another one (I hate knitting the same pattern twice!) - but nevertheless I bought some nice wool & bamboo yarn and started on it -



Well, now it's finished, at last! (And when I finally started, it didn't even take that long ...)

For the detachable sleeves, I crocheted a row of single crochet along the outer strips, working some short chains as 'buttonholes' on the shoulders - which you would hardly notice when the sleeves are off. The buttons themselves were spread onto the top of the sleeves.

The buttons on the hips are just for decoration - I thought it would look nice to repeat the brass buttons there, giving it a slightly 'military' touch - well, it is after all a warrior pullover, isn't it?

And - I've got a big parcel from Susa again - wonderful handdyed wool, to knit and to spin -

this one makes me think of an old fisherboat, lying on the shore:



- and the spinning wool (I've already begun spinning it!) - which Susa dyed upon my request, on Wensleydale sheep wool - will become a wonderful, soft 'deep lake in the forest'-sweater ...



(German summary: Endlich habe ich den 'Mongolischen Krieger'-Pullover fertig, den sich meine Tochter schon seit einem Jahr wünscht - wir haben ihn mit abknöpfbaren Ärmeln abgeändert. Und dann habe ich noch wieder wunderschöne, handgefärbte Strick- und Spinnwolle von Susa bekommen - und natürlich schon angefangen zu spinnen ...)

Have a nice summer holiday!/Schöne Ferien!

Did you know that a yarn can almost make you feel the sea shore nearby? Well, I think these yarns do:



When wandering through the net, I discovered Susa's shop and her beautiful handdyed yarns - this is a 30/70 silk/wool blend ... as you can see, I just couldn't resist ...

I have started knitting already, but as I'm still experimenting with it, you'll have to wait a little bit yet.

School's out and the kids are at home, my mother is here to visit - so I'm a bit busy right now - but I will be back in a while :-).

Enjoy your summer too!

Spinning and knitting/Spinnen und stricken

Oh deer ;-) - it's been a bit of a time since last ... I'm sorry for that.

Yes, I have assembled my deers roughly -but I'm not satisfied with the result yet, and therefore it will have to 'mature' in a safe place until inspiration strucks me anew, I'm afraid.

Summer has come to Austria, and I've been spending a lot of time in my garden, also spinning and knitting.

Do you remember the hand-dyed wool I bought last month? I've spun it all during the last weeks, and the icecream-coloured New Zealand lambswool turned out like this, when plyed with a golden-yellow silk thread from my stash:



For the first time I made a fringe as well - wound it over a pocket book to get the size right, cut it and passed it through the border stitches with a crochet hook and made a slip knot.

This shawl is dedicated to become a luxurious present for someone later on.



The other wool roving I bought from Dornröschen was a wool/linen blend, which I spun quite thin and plyed with a linen thread - one part with a green, another part with a black one.

You can see how much darker the same wool appears with the black plying than with the green one!

I worked front and back the same again, so I can wear the vest/slipover both sides. This time, however, I knitted the mitered diamonds horizontally, like a patchwork, to receive a different look than for the Noro slipover though the pattern idea is the same.



It's a wonderful thing to wear, lightweight and yet warm, still with a touch of 'coolness', due to the linen part ... and it was marvellous to spin as well because of those long and grasping linen fibers - with eventual soft short-fibered bumps!

And while I was on the go knitting, I made myself a shoulder poncho too - one single string (100g) of one-ply Swedish Gotland fur sheep wool from 'Färgkraft' - this hand-dyed colour is called 'Dusk' ...

I worked two pieces of triangle shawls, beginning at the top center, sewing them together in front and back. This light-weight piece only has 100 g but is as warm as an oven on neck and shoulders - perfect to put on over a T-shirt when the evening chill comes around!



I finished it up with a crocheted picot border, using some Schoppel Crazy Ball Lace yarn I had at hand.

(German summary: Meine Rehe und Hirsche sind zwar grob zusammengefügt, müssen aber noch etwas nachliegen, bis mir die zündende Idee für den Abschluß kommt.

Inzwischen habe ich aber fleißig gesponnen und gestrickt - der bunte Schal und der Pullunder sind aus dem Spinnfutter von 'Dornröschen' entstanden - den Schulterponcho habe ich wie zwei Dreieckstücher gestrickt und dann vorne und hinten mittig zusammengenäht - die Wolle ist von 'Färgkraft', handgefärbte einfädige Gotlandspelzwolle ... mmm, luftig leicht und trotzdem warm wie ein Ofen an den kühlen Sommerabenden!)

Noro slipover and a turning yarn holder/Noro-Pullunder und ein kugelgelagerter Wollknäuelhalter ...

My first Noro slipover is ready!

I worked front and back the same, so I can have the choice which side to wear in front.



I didn't really have any pattern, just worked the mitered diamonds (go visit Fibermania!) and took the measures from an old sweater. I do enjoy this 'domino knitting', which makes it possible to knit the whole garments with just two double pointed sock knitting needles.

For this vest, I used the more blurred and darker colours - the bright ones will be knitted with the entrelac vest project, which is also proceeding as rapidly as that slightly more complicated pattern allows ...

While knitting with my fantastic Noro yarns, I felt that I would very much like to have the yarn being unrolled from the outer side, so I can see the colours coming up next and sometimes even do a bit of planning - normally, I take the yarn from inside, to prevent it from rolling around.

When visiting me last summer, Sara had a very useful tool, a turning yarn holder, which had a ball bearing and moved very smoothly, following the knitting movements without snatching.



Unfortunately, she couldn't quite remember where she had bought it - somewhere on-line - so after having searched the net without success, I decided to make one myself.

First I just wanted to use a plain kitchen roll holder and cut off a bit of the stick - but then I stumbled into a cheap normal wooden yarn holder and bought that instead. The next step was to find a ball bearing - I started asking around - until my teenage son had one of his (rare) cleaning-up-the-mess moods and got rid of a pencil organizer which, to my great content, had a ball bearing hidden inside!

As the bottom size of this organizer happened to be almost the same as for the yarn holder, the only thing I had to do was to put the organizer apart, drill a center hole big enough for the stick casing and screw the ball bearing part to the wooden bottom of the yarn holder.

Et voilà! A turning yarn holder with almost no effort at all!





(German summary: So, mein erster Noro-Pullunder ist fertig - ich habe ihn in den gedeckteren Farben gestrickt, und zwar so, daß ich ihn beidseitig tragen kann - mit den kleinen Quadraten, die sich wie Dominosteine aneinander fügen. Außerdem habe ich mir einen kugelgelagerten Wollknäuelständer gebastelt, weil ich den Farbverlauf der bunten Noro-Wolle gerne rechtzeitig erkennen möchte.)

A Japanese love affair/Eine japanische Liebesgeschichte

I'm having a Japanese love affair ... with Noro.



No, unfortunately not with Mr Eisaku Noro himself, but with the yarn, above all the Silk Garden Sock Yarn.



When I visited Sweden in February, my very favourite yarn shop, Litet Nystan in Stockholm, tempted me with a big pile of freshly delivered Noro Sock Yarns - and of course I couldn't resist.

During my stay, I started a large shawl in blue-green-grey-beige-rust and continued with a moebius in raspberry-strawberry-green-golden-brown when I got home ...

Right now I'm working on two sleeveless sweaters, one with mitered diamonds in brownish/blueish/greyish yarn with some colour highlights, the other one in entrelac with all those crazy red-pink-rosé-salmon-lavender-green-brown-turquoise-black shades ...

I don't use any patterns for it, just knitting as if in a trance, enjoying ...



I love this yarn so much, because it is constantly surprising me with the most unexpected colour combinations - weird, but always beautiful in its mosaic brilliance - and also because of the unevenness, the silky bumps and the handspun touch, keeping the knitting adventurous and exciting ...

Yes, it's expensive, and it's hard to get hold of - but I don't know any other yarn which comes near this one - it makes my heart sing!

(German summary: Ein absolut unbeherrschtes, begeistertes Loblied auf die Noro Seiden-Sockenwolle - ich kann nicht anders und ich steh' dazu!)

Autumn/Herbst

It' s getting more and more chilly in the mornings - autumn is finally here to stay. I made a door wreath with the rose-hips from my garden and keep the wooden fire burning in my hall.



I needed a small triangle scarf and knitted it with the colourful handdyed wool I bought from 'Dornröschen' earlier this fall - it's a 6-ply sock yarn.

As a small decoration in front, I knitted a woven part for the front by dividing the stitches within a square, knitting three cords separately.



Now I'm planning to start a bit of experimenting - with the embellisher and with embroidery techniques again ...

(German summary: Der Herbst hat jetzt auch bei uns endgültig Einzug gehalten und es ist kühl und nebelig in der Früh.

Ich habe aus Hagebutten einen Türkranz gewunden und schüre das Feuer im Ofen. Mit der dicken, bunten Sockenwolle von Dornröschen habe ich einen kleinen Dreikantschal gestrickt und ihn mit einem geflochtenen Mittenteil versehen.

Demnächst plane ich wieder ein paar Experimente mit dem Embellisher und mit Stickerei.)

Taking it further .../Selbstgemachte Stricknadeln

As I've been knitting a lot with my Chinese chopsticks lately - they have a very handy length for the knitting I'm doing right now and are comfortable to knit with - I thought I would like to present them once more ...

This time I've taken it a bit further - and I still find it to be a very easy and useful way to recycle your Asian take-away cutlery !

Using a normal pencil sharpener and a fine grain sand paper, you can turn your chopsticks into a pair of knitting needles (mine are about 5 mm). This time, I used some felt-tip pens to colour them, drawing the pattern with a waterproof overhead pen, then covering them with a thin coat of transparent varnish. As my varnish was water-based, the colours were a bit blurred - which resulted in a very handsome patina, all by itself!

I made a set of five very short double pointed needles too - using them as a stitch holder when knitting braids or other patterns where you need to 'park' the stitches in between -



and another set of five double pointed needles, for socks or hats knitted with medium thick yarn - this time I didn't colour them, just polished them with a bit of a wax candle to get them real smooth.



The smaller sized set above is made out of five wooden barbeque sticks - mine are 3,5 mm, which means they are perfect for normal sock yarn!

The effort of making these is almost zero, you can colour them any way you like to - and they would make a nice treat or present with a matching strand of yarn too, wouldn't they? And they are recycled!

(German summary: Weil ich so gerne damit stricke, zeige ich nochmals meine selbstgemachten Stricknadeln aus chinesischen Eßstäbchen (5 mm) und Grillspießchen (3,5 mm) - mit einem normalen Bleistiftspitzer und einem feinen Schleifpapier kann man sie ganz einfach so formen, wie man sie braucht! Am Ende bemalt man sie dann noch mit Filzstiften und etwas farblosen Lack - oder poliert sie nur mit einem Stück Kerzenwachs!)

Hooked on those colourful African flowers/Kleines Häkelprojekt zum 'Drüberstreuen' ...

Oh dear, I can't help that I just have to start this little extra project as well ...



I read about the 'African Flower' pattern on Sara's blog and followed her link to the South-African Moxycrochet Project - and then I thought I'd try out just one of those little colourful flowers myself ... and I was literally hooked! The only comfort is that I can re-use some of those stashed yarns and yarn ends of mine ... (By the way, I think the only thing I'm not using my sock-wool for, is for knitting socks ;-)!

I don't know yet what it will turn out to be - thought of some kind of jacket, maybe ... if I can stick to it that long ... Or a fancy bag ... But seven of them, sewn together, would look nice as a small potholder - for a teacup or so - too, wouldn't they?

But faster than I can de-stash, I'm up-stashing again: I made the 'mistake' to have a look at Dornröschen's online-shop right after she'd done some new dyeing:



Well - what can I say? This parcel arrived yesterday! There will be plenty to spin and to knit now, during the long autumn evenings ...

(German summary: Tja, was soll ich sagen - diese kleinen bunten Blumen sind so entzückend, daß ich einfach ein kleines Nebenprojekt noch starten mußte ... aber mit 'lagerndem Material', zumindest! Und dann kam noch die frische Lieferung von Dornröschen ... da hab' ich auch noch ein paar Ideen für die langen Herbstabende ...)

A bunch of shawls/Drei Tücher

Well, I haven't been quite as lazy as it may seem: Three shawls have been knitted during the last few weeks, and today the weather was fine enough to make some photos of them - my daughter Emily is the model with the beautiful back!



This first one (above) is knitted with a Schoppel Crazy Ball (Colour: Frische Fische) in a simple pattern, starting at the upper middle and proceeding as long as your yarn ball allows -



the second one is a variation on the same pattern idea, but this time knitted with a self-dyed yarn, one of my first experiments on variegated sock wool -



and for the third one, I chose a multi-coloured, hand-dyed silk- and wool roving which I bought from Dornröschen and then spun myself. This shawl is knitted in stockinette stitch from one side to the other, increasing (and after the center: decreasing) on one side only. As half of the fibers are Tussah silk, this is an extremely soft and delicate shawl!

(German summary: So, endlich sind meine drei Tücher fotografiert, die ich in den letzten Wochen gestrickt habe - einmal Schoppel Crazy Ball, einmal Selbstgefärbtes, einmal Dornröschen's Seide/Wollfasern, die ich dann versponnen habe! Sehr angenehm, sowohl zum Spinnen als auch zum Verstricken!)

Knitting gadgets/Kleine Helferleins

Last week I visited Ikea and found this piece of fabric:



I think it's quite interesting - makes me feel inspired to use as a background, or outlining, for using the embellisher and a bunch of wool and fabric scraps ...!

My mother is visiting me right now, which means I won't get too much time for blogging and posting within the next fortnight - but I did some more row- and stitchmarkers lately:



I must admit I love these little useful gadgets - especially when they are so easy to make yourself!



A few I will keep, others will be passed on to knitting friends!

(German summary: Nur ein paar Kleinigkeiten, diesmal - ein lustiger Stoff von Ikea, den ich als Hintergrund für Resteverwertung mit dem Embellisher verwenden werde - und ein paar Reihen- und Maschenzähler, die ich für mich und für ein paar Freundinnen gemacht habe.)

Knitting sea waves .../Wellenstricken!

No, no, I haven't been lazy though I'm still enjoying my holidays!

I've been carding and spinning and knitting my blue water into a sea wave pattern, altering between knitting and spinning and spinning and knitting ...

and just for some change, treating myself to a couple of matching stitch counters after taking a dive into my magic stash!



...knitting ...



... carding ...



...spinning ...



... knitting!



And well - it wouldn't be me, if not - a couple of other projects as well ... But that's another story!

(German summary: Nein, ich liege nicht faul herum, trotz Urlaub - ich kardiere, spinne, stricke meine 'Wasserfasern' zu einem blaugrünen Meer ...!)