argh or øv as we say in danish.

i have a new love. and when love isn't over or hasn't started it is normal to be eagerly anticipating for one's love to come along. my new love is porom in jamieson's dk by the one and only jared ( i do not have to link). alas there wasn't enough yarn as i had read it as to skeins were needed but they are twice as big in the us as in europe. so now i hope mr. gary jamieson of shetland islands will be quick to send me the missing skein plus a few other.

jared says that a light dk is needed for this project and i agree. this is the right yarn that both shows off the lace and gives the right drape. and it is very different from any other old yarn. and i know yarn.

it always takes a long time to ship from the hebrides or the shetland islands. i wonder how it is done. by boat, by a weekly ship, by helicopter.

one day i will go there and find out for myself. wearing the porom and saint brigid.

comments

i knit a lot in public and right now i enjoy early autumn by sitting in 'my' park knitting in the afternoons. it is fun how people react. men will always say: how diligent you are. do men like diligence in women???

and today a spanish lady came and exclaimed: san mirar. relaxacion.

but the best comment this week was when somebody stopped me in the street and asked where i bought st. brigid. not because i particularly wants my knitting not to be home made but it is nice to get a compliment from a stranger in the street.

i have finished secret garden. another starmore knit. i cannot begin to say how clear and lovely her patterns are. and i learn a lot i can use for my own designs when i am back at creating my own things. it is a little thing but with a lot of techniques to be learned. and i am a sucker for technique right now.

the yarn is a kit from virtual yarns in red rattle. yes i also learn about scottish flora and fauna by shopping with alice. the button was given to me from my mother 30 years ago. and the lovely little tag is made by peggy of noodleknit fame. there was no way to make alba model it today. and never mind that. she is cute anyway.

i have embarked on knitting a few arans for my grandnephews. and then i have a sweater for my brother on the needles. there is a lot of twisted purl stitches so i shouldn't knit too diligently on that one.

st brigid no. 2

here is my latest st. brigid. it wasn't less fun to knit the second. i love the pattern and learn a lot about cables when i knit it. my st. brigid's has a lot less ease than the original pattern due to my gauge that is obviously different than alice's. and i am happy about the more snug fit that in my opinion makes it much more wearable. especially for skirt girls like me and my sister. she is alba's grandmother.

i used to think it was not so hip to knit other people's patterns but i have changed opinion. there is a lot to learn when using a skilled knitter's patterns. as for example alice's or jared's . and from that learning experience it is possible to refine my own designs eventually.

the whole knitting process was very fast with this one. it made me think of when the mice helped cinderella hem the dress for the big ball. i almost felt like some one was doing the work for me. from start to finish the whole thing was done in a fortnight.

the yarn is hebridean 3 ply. i absolutely lurve this yarn. it has all the qualities a good yarn should have. and there are some amazing colours all inspired by different aspects of nature and especially the nature of lewis in the hebrides. i love reading alice's colourstories on her website. the colourway is fulmar which is inspired by the colours of this bird's wing. it is a kind of latte colour with whispers of rust, green and dusky pink. a very unusual colour that changes a lot depending on the light. i guess all colours do but this does it very much. and yes we like to wear hats indoors.

i have a lot of projects that i want to knit. i want to knit jared's new hats and ordered some jamieson's for one of them. and the red hebridean 3 ply is for a matinée coat for alba in a design by alice starmore from her book 'the children's collection that is available at her website at a reasonable price ( 12 gbp) and at an unreasonable price at ebay. maybe it will be a collector's item in time to come.

i have also started knitting irish moss from aran knitting for my brother in cushendale from ireland . it consists of a lot of purl stitches knitted from the back so i think it is important to have more than one project going on since it does make your hands and arms ache a bit.

oh dear what a lot of boring details.... i always wonder if my blog posts would be a bit more fun in danish.

my knitting refuge

so i am going on and on about knitting in the park. be warned my park is nothing like central park but it has lovely benches, lovely flowers, plants and trees and i have spent all spring and summer and now autumn sitting there knitting for a few hours almost every day. it is a 40 minutes walk from where i live and a nice place to spend a few hours. i love the benches, i love the castle (rosenborg) and the whole ambience of the place. when i am there with friends i tend to sit in the grass sharing some wine. all summer the gardener took take of the flower beds that were colours ranging from a warm rusty orange to baby pink (poppies mostly). little alba used to say: isn't it beautiful... right now there are yellows, lavender, purple and browns. i wonder what mr. noro would get out of that..

and when i look at the medallion on the bench i think it would be easily adapted into a cable or a pattern for some colourful fair isle knitting.

design ideas are all over the place if you want them to. and not only in pretty places like this.

and i am knitting away on my 2nd st. brigid for my sister. the colourway is fulmar and it is a strange pinkish russet beige colour. i like it . it has, like many of her heathers a strange kind of pale opal look. strange to compare opal and wool, maybe, but that is what i think.

i think i can actually finish this within 2 weeks. that is my goal. and then i am going to knit irish moss by alice for my brother. this time i am going to use cushendale dk from stephanie, a fellow raveller. her shop is in ireland, in a town called moneytown, and she is very good to do business with. good prices and excellent customer service. if you are after some nice irish yarn. try her out.

what are your autumn knits.

a cardi for my niece

as readers of this blog may know alba has a father. and he has na craga. and an uncle who has the fishtrap cardi and a mother who didn't get a sweater for some time. last winter i started knitting an adult tomten without any refinements and it stayed as a wip through the spring and summer. i didn't really agree with me. so i saw the moss stitch jacket on ravelry and ordered the book scottish inspirations by sarah dallas et al. and decided to use the yorkshire tweed chunky that i had purchased from jannette to knit a moss stitch jacket for my niece ulle. i got it an incredibly good price and it is great to wear with all colours especially jeans.

my favourite clothes shop in copenhagen (that is closing down unfortunately) had a great sale on safety pins in supersize. so i got a few of those. i have yarn left for another moss stitch jacket, you see.

i think my niece loves when her family get gifts but i also think it is important to remember that even though you are an adult with your own family, your inner child still has to be nurtured with gifts and nice words too. well it is just a thought.

my yarn from the outer hebrides finally arrived and i have cast on for another st. brigid. a saint brigid that will be popular with anyone who is a burberry fanatic. not that my sister is that.

it is great and it is proceeding swimmingly. i am even able to knit after a few g and t's.

i am in awe of st. alice and st. brigid. there is a lot discussion going on at ravelry about the malice of alice. especially that she is so fussy about her copyright. i find it rather peculiar, as i think it is so great that she lifts up knitting to being an art form. and i don't understand that women who knows how long time it takes to get ideas let alone knit, doesn't cherish this upheaval of knitting. i wouldn't like people to say that knitting is something everyone can do effortlessly. i have worked and worked to get to this stage and no matter how much i work i know i will ever get alice's genius. so it is art. and hence be paid respect to. this also goes for other designers and i really appreciate those who actually give out some of their patterns.

when that is said, i really do hope that starmore will be reprinted eventually. because why not share the beauty.

st. alba

as you all know there are a few things in life that inspire me. among those alba and knitting so i have knitted a lot for her since she was born. and when her mum asks her, who do we know who knit, she promptly answers: merete knits. she is even starting to request things. i gave her mum the bookmark scarf and alba said: i want one too.

this year i have been very interested in cables which have resulted in different cabled knits. among those i enjoyed to knit both st. brigid and na craga enourmously. hence i will knit another st. brigid for my sister soon. but while waiting for the yarn to arrive from outer hebrides i decided to knit an alice starmore inspired sweater for little alba. when i order yarn abroad i normally order generous amounts and therefore i had enough left of beaverslide worsted for a sweater for a child. and even for a hat.

i used all my starmore literature to find the cables i wanted to knit and put it all together, my way. i thought the heart cable is so cute for a little girl, i am in love with the aran braid and the sand stitch is a great pattern. the rib is called knotted rib and is really lovely and fun to do. the neck line is inspired by na craga with 5 rounds of knitting after the ribbing.

i hope she will wear it a lot. she is as sweet as pie in it. in my opinion.

knitting stats:

3 skeins of beaverslide worsted in the colourway lichen

needles no 4½mm

the thing is knitted in 4 pieces and then seamed.

the measurements are based on ez eps however.

crochet

i was miserable at learning to knit when i was a child. my needlework teacher was highly dissatisfied with me. but somehow i managed to teach myself to crochet (with a little help from my mother) and when i got the grasp of that i soon learned to knit.

i have crocheted a lot in my life. doilies, garments, dolls clothes, grandma square afghans. but it is a long, long time ago.

since adrian posted her anne scarves i have been quite interested in crocheting again and hence i took the hook in hand last night a crocheted a scarf. it is not the anne scarf but something very much similar made from noro i had in my stash. it is actually two colourways but that just adds to the charm (seriously you will not notice).

it was great fun and i ordered some kureyon for some more scarves, but i think i will use it for mitered mittens instead. i am so much more fascinated with knitting when it comes down to brass tacks although crochet in variegated yarn has some jimi hendrix qualities to it. but i think that is all about the variegated yarn.

stay tuned for my alice starmore knock off for alba and a cardi for her mum.

there is a lot of knitting going on here and i am sick from waiting for my hebridean three ply order.