Swedish Knitblogger who loves spinning, knitting, dyeing and yarn. I will do some other roundabouts about life too.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Planning, throat, and studentjubilee

Ohh, so summerish outside. My throat aches and my eyes are swollen from the birch pollen. I'm still thinking about Catherine Parr, but, you have learned by know, I'm a bit crazy with both yarn-shopping, and cardi planning. I have about 15 hanks of linnen yarn. Here is the Karin Öberg spun from Holma Hälsingland in my favourite green. Also, the orange was one of those crazy internet sales, where I bought 10 hanks Rowan summer tweed. And I do not even like the colour, but I guess Im trying to get used to it. In the latest Rowan magazine is a fantastic pattern for summer tweed. Im definitely thinking about that one. Fair-isle and much more intrecate slip yarn in front to make pattern. Also you can see my new turquoise linnen yanr (yllet?) just on the edge. Yummy. Linnen knits up like cotton. No elasticy. But having only linnen means it is durable, and after a few washes and wears, it just gets more and more soft and beautiful. So, in right bottom corner there is one hank colinette, and very vague in the lower left corner is the Patagonian thick cotton in green and blue. In the middle is the Garnstudio silke-tweed. All from my stash.
Anyhow, I went to IKEA today (a place I never go (do not like bad quality), and, bought curtains to our library (yepp, we have dedicated a room to - the library) being bookfans that is a great idea. Very calm pattern by Katarina Breiditis, very Swedish. White sturdy cotton with thin blue/black strips. But, the real reason was, I really got fed up with the mess in the yarn room, and bought 15 (!) semi-transparent yarnboxes (with lids). I hope that will bring some order in the stash mess. So, this weekend I'm taking the train to meet my Student friends at Sundsta in Karlstad. 25 years is a long time. And Monday, the flight goes to Vienna. And it will be soo quiet at this very busy blog. So, planning. Hmm. I'm still thinking that maybe Yorkshire Tweed 4ply could be used for Mrs Aragon. And I have to hunt fo some "gold" or colour myself.. hmm that was not a bad idea. But in Rowan Yorkshire I have 14 balls of 25 grams, but there is of course no info about the weight of the sweaters...Well, that could be great figuring out! Maybe do a slink summertop "inspired" by fair-isle? Wouldn't that be cool. I have being too holy. I have decided that I will buy the yarn for the Henry VIII in any case. So, the colours for them are great.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I'm back for a few days- Valencia report

Wow, I dipped my feet in the Mediterrian.. sunshine, tapas, and cerveza, por favor. Americas Cup (sailing) in the background. Wow, My conference speach went great. I walked around the city (all closed) on sunday- then you cannot see any shops. Working all monday, and some morning hours before the flight back, I found (with bad spanish, and help from hotel) a shop. The owner's nose was so high up she was falling backwards (I suspect she did not like foreigners, and did not like to talk to non-spanish). She sold 100% acrylic yarn for 1 Euro (Yikes; it was terrible!).
But, I tried: Angora???? yepp, for 4.50 Euros for 10 grams I got some small ball's with me home for a fortune. Hmm..I'm sure there are better shops. This is not recommended... Lana something on Christina street (just between townhall square and market). Safe to write, since no-one understands english ;-( Well, I needed something in the yarnhole (did not buy ANYTHING elseok, some tapas and beer!)... But I saw a lot of really nice knitted sweaters.
Great inspiration, but as always I think (I can do that better!). So, grabbed one of my knits (the lightweight one). CashCotton 4ply from Rowan - I'm knitting Julia from Summer Collection nr 11. And, after 4 boring hours in transit (Madrid airport) I got one the first pattern (lace) of 24 rows. I have of course changed the pattern to circular needles, and added an extra 20 cm (Rowan sizes are pygmy women that do not eat, sorry I mean models ;-) not REAL women.

So... I was knitting until 3 a clock last nite - and note, I was ALMOST finished with the rib when I started. Will this be a slow knit? You bet.
So I think it is my next long trip (Vienna, Austria and Shanghai, China) so, yarnshops anyone??? (well, it is work again ;-) But, lots of time to knit on the plane and airports ;-)