Crazy purdy!

At least I think so!

On the shawl train

So what's up in Pjusken's world?
Well I recently started making shawls. I've started four and finished two so far. One is resting at the moment since I don't really like the yarn, it's so difficult to work with. But I'm sure it will be mighty pretty when finished - eventually. The fourth is an experimental project, I'm trying to make a shawl with Létt Lopi! Imagine that! I wanted something really warm, really big, really, delicious. It will be bulkier than most shawls but I want something I can throw over myself on the chilly Icelandic summer nights and will keep me warm. It will be interesting to see how it works out.




The blue one is called Hyrna Herborgar - and it's stunning! Well, maybe not in this picture, but I just finished blocking it (my back is aching like crazy) and it's absolutely gorgeous. When I first saw the shawl (in the book Þríhyrnur og langsjöl by Sigríður Halldórsdóttir) I just knew I had to make it. First of all because it's so beautiful, but also because it's absolute destiny. My daughter's name is Herborg, after all... In any case, knitting it was a wonderful experience, I was actually sad when it was off the needles. I'm absolutely going to make it again (and again).

The other finished shawl is a Swallowtail shawl, a pretty little thing. I wear it all the time like a scarf, actually. I haven't got a picture of me wearing it like that but it's really nice. It looks like a pretty collar. I'll fix a picture of it when I don't look like a zombie. But here are pictures of the shawl itself:




The Swallowtail pattern can be found here.


The Burning Cool sweater is still hanging out in a drawer, somehow it's much less fun working with a tiny needle and thread than the knitting needles and yarn. Besides, it's too big for my baby at the moment, and will be for another few months, so there's no real rush.


I went to buy that needle I need to finish my mother's sweater - I only had enough money to buy the needle, but guess what I did? Yes, I bought yarn instead. How sick am I?

This and that

So I've come to a point in my mother's sweater where I just can't do any more until I get out and buy a new knitting needle long enough to hold all the pieces. So it's waiting a bit...

I have, however, been working on a few other things. I guess I just have to admit that my promise to not start new things until the one otn is finished is very forgotten. But it's fine, I think that with more experience I've gotten over the 'never-finish-anything'-syndrome. So I'm not worried, even though I have like five projects running at the moment.

Recently, I made a goody bag for my niece in Denmark:



In that I sent her a scarf and a 'bad hairday hat':



I liked the hat so much, I just had to make one for myself:



Then I finished the felted bag I posted on here earlier, I didn't really like it but managed to needle felt some fishing-related stuff and gave it to Tony, he's going to use it when fishing and think it's great. I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I guess they can't all be winners. I do think it has some charm, though:




My baby girl needed a new hat so this one was born, I have to admit that I'm loving this one, isn't she adorable? Sort of reminds me of the sun in Teletubbies...:



I made a pair of wrist warmers for my friend:



My friend also got this lipgloss cozy, I think it's hilarious!:



And then decided I wanted to learn to do entrelac, and using that technique, this pair was made for Tony:



I've finished a couple of other small projects but don't have any pictures of them yet, so I'll just post about them when I do. I'm quite happy with the production lately. ;)

And good news from 'Burning Cool Sweater'-land, it's pretty much finished, I washed it and am waiting for it to dry and then I just have to do a little bit of seaming and it'll be done! Can't wait to see if it's as pretty as the one I thought of in my head. More on that later.

Back on track

I had to rest my mom's Christmas cardi because I had a couple of projects on deadlines I had to finish. Let me tell you, it was absolutely painful not being able to work on it!
The two projects were some hand warmers for my friend and another scull and crossbones sweater my BIL's mother ordered from me. I gave a sweater like that to my nephew, she saw it, fell in love with it and asked if I could make another one.

So I did... it's certainly not a difficult project, a simple top down raglan that took me around 15 hours to make. But it's soooo booooring! I had a hard time staying awake while making it, there's no challenge in it whatsoever. I hate, hate, hate projects that get me bored with knitting. I knew this before starting the sweater, the first one was every bit as boring. But I could hardly say no when she asked me for it... But the sweater is ready, washed and dried and just waiting to get picked up. Nice.

So I'm back with the cardigan, at last. I'm half way through the second sleeve, can't wait to join my pieces and start the raglany stuff. My only fear is that it will all be over too soon. I've really loved this project.

Christmas knitting and then sum...

I started knitting the Christmas presents last month. Better start early! I've made the present for my younger sister and now I'm working on a sweater for my mother. It's the first time I ever make a full-size sweater, all my sweaters so far have been baby sweaters. I feel so good while knitting this for my mom, in a way I feel like I'm weaving love into every stitch. She lives a couple of hours away from me and I don't see her all the time so I'd like to think that when she wears it, it'll be like she's getting a hug from me. *awwww*

I have to say, it's a lot easier than I ever imagined to make a grown up sweater. I'm already hard at work thinking of all the sweaters I'm going to knit when I finish this one. The next one will be for my father. Haha what a sweatery Christmas it will be!
Anyway, the 'mom-sweater' is turning out extremely well and I'm so happy with the pattern choice. It's even going much faster than I thought, I started it March 31st and I'm guessing I'll have finished it in a weeks time or so. I'm also following a huge, American pattern for the first time and never did I think it would be this easy!
BTW you can find it here, check it out.

Here's a closeup of the back piece:



My other projects are resting at the moment, I had to frog a little bit of the burning cool sweater but nothing catastrophic. I'm just loving my mom's sweater too much to put it down. I guess my old promise to myself to never start a project without having finished the last one is pretty much out the window, huh...

The felted bag is also taking a long nap, I have finished the shoulder strap though but haven't gotten around to buying a felting needle to do the finishing. It seems that all the stores that would sell such a thing are way downtown and I'd preferably have to get paid to go there.

WIP pics

So here are finally a few pictures. I apologize for the bad quality...

The sweater (I've named it the 'Burning Cool Sweater'):



And the (still) awful felted bag:

The First Felt

The bag felted like a dream, but so far I'm 60% happy with the outcome. I'm not too excited about the color combo (an everlasting problem of mine, color-coordination), but I'll do my best to jazz it up with some needle felting work... that'll be another first for me! I'll let the bag dry for another day before starting the salvage operation. In any case I can be happy about having used up the yarn I couldn't/wouldn't use for anything else.

I'm much happier with the sweater, I've come half way down the second sleeve now, have to go buy a bit more yarn to finish it completely. I can't wait to see it finished. Pictures coming soon, the camera is giving me some attitude...