#getyouryarnwishesgranted

A good while ago, I decided to give this little thing over at Instagram a try. It's fairly simple, you just post this picture with the hashtag #getyouryarnwishesgranted and post whatever you want/need in the world of yarn.

 

I've seen so many people getting amazing stuff from this thing. Everything from handspun and dyed yarn to stitchmarkers. Some people even throw in little souvenirs if they send international.

I figured I'd give it a try. I've been looking for camo yarn (in animal fibers) for a good time now without any luck, so why not toss my wish out there. I also mentioned that I wanted wool scraps for my scrap blankets if ayone had some stash they wanted to spare. It didn't take too long until an American person answered me and told me they were going to send me something, though it wasn't too much of scraps. I said sure and gave them my address.

Today the package arrived and I were so overjoyed when I opened it. Three skeins of beautiful green-ish Palette yarn from KnitPicks! I've only had the pleasure of touching one skein of this before, which was given to me by my friend Brooke. I ended up dyeing it with red and pink Kool-Aid, but now I kinda regret it. Just imagine how perfect that white/creme coloured skein would look along side these three beauties!

I will have to figure out something amazing with these. They're just too good looking for any scrap projects!

I've been keeping an eye on the hashtag on Instagram to see if there's anything I could help others with, but nothing has come up so far. Most people ask for special yarn brands from indie dyers/spinners and they're mostly American.

If you as a reader have Instagram, I do suggest you to take a look at it. It's really an amazing idea and it's filled with so many generous and kind people.

Scraps and computer problems!

*sigh* So the main reason why I haven't bothered to actually blog much so far this year, is because I haven't really done much interesting in the world of crafts. The only interesting projects I've been working on are either secrets or scraps. I've spent a whole lot of time trying to catch up on my Granny Bacon eternity scrap blanket...also known as solid rectangular granny square. It's actually become so big now that I can use it while sitting in my chair, and it is warmer than any other blankets we've got in the livingroom...not really surprising since it's about 60% wool scraps...

I almost managed to empty out the jar with scraps, but now I've started to fill it up again after roaming through my acrylic bags...there's so much icky scraps in those...

But the other, more complicated reason why I haven't bothered to blog to much lately is because I've been having computer problems...again. I swear, this laptop of mine have given me nothing but headache... I'm never buying a laptop from Dell ever again...or a computer with Windows 8 for that matter... It's been constantly a mess of freeze-ups and internet cut-outs, from the very start... I regret not calling up Dell sooner.
Two days ago, I decided to do back-ups of my important stuff because it started to stall again, and Bård figured that it was about time we rebooted Windows on it yet again. And good god that was a good thing to do! Wouldn't you know, yesterday when Bård got a call from the delivery guy that his new desktop was at the door, my laptop froze up completely and we weren't able to do shit with it. I were going to get Bård's old desktop when his new one arrived, so I've jumped from that shit to this shit. And this thing is shit because the monitor I'm using is crap and a half!

So, I spent a whole hour on the phone talking to a swedish guy at Dell, trying to fix this problem. He ended up sending me a new harddisk and new Windows disks that'll hopefully get here tomorrow at the earliest.

But Lizzy, I hear you say, this has only been the last couple of days, what about the entire month of january then? Welp! My danged laptop have had this problem where it stops pinging in certain programs...one of which has been Dropbox, which is the program I use to transfer the pictures taken with my phone to my computer so that I can blog them. This happened in early january, so getting the pictures off my phone have been too much of a hassle to be dealt with.

While I've been without a stable computer, I've frogged and restarted the "Fåvangkofte" jacket for my mother, but because of all this stress, I haven't been able to make much progress on it, sadly. But I'm getting there. Do not like to work this pattern with this yarn and colours though...

Finished projects and a loss for motivation...

I just can't seem to get myself to do anything these days. Both my blog and my Instagram have been pretty quiet lately, even though I've got a handful of finished projects to document.

The kid sweater has been done and over with for a long time now. I've even sent it off and it has reached its new owner. I'm just really slow with getting things out of the way here on the blog. Getting the motivation to sit down and type it in isn't really tempting, but we all know that blogging isn't my strong side... ANYWAY:

And I can also confirm that the christmas stockings has been sent off. Sadly my sewing machine couldn't handle sewing the linings, so I had to send them off without it... Hopefully the commissioner will be able to get that fixed with someone else... But my part is done, I really love how they turned out! It's almost a shame seeing them off.

Other than these, I've been working on christmas presents...which I can't really share much of on this here bloggy sadly... Which is one of the reasons why I've couldn't be bothered to give a damned to update you guys. I've had to frog a present three times now... Once because I managed to spill tea on the white yarn, ruining it totally...

But the KAL I can update you guys on! Part 10 is due today! Actually...any second now. And my scarf is looking pretty colourful at the moment! I do not care which colours comes next. I just pick randomly out of a bag, hoping that the scraps I pull out doesn't colide with eachother or the previous part and also if it will be enough for the whole thing.

 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

 

Part 8

Part 9

Can't wait to have this scarf finished! I've been working on a little extra design to put in the middle of it.

Mysterious advent knitting!

Yesterday was the start of probably the most awesome KAL (knit-a-long) that'll ever exist!
The big advent mystery knit hosted by dearest Bittami through her Facebook page.

This is so cool and so awesome, I really don't have any words. We started off yesterday, but before that, all we knew was the recomended yarn and needle size and the fact that it'll be a looooong scarf. It consists of 20 parts that we will be handed from now until the 19th of december.

We were supposed to get the first part at 6pm yesterday, but it was released early, so I had to hurry up with my chores so I could get started too. I had used the whole day, digging out scrap yarn and winding it all up into neat yarn cakes.

I finished off the first part fairly quickly, and I'm using SO much scrap yarn for this thing! SO MUCH FUN!

The next part will be released tomorrow, so while I'm waiting, I'm working on a hat for my friend Nina. She asked me if I wanted to make one for her, and then she ran off to buy yarn for it. She's all about that blue!

As soon as I'm done with this hat, I'll move on to a sweater for the baby girl for another friend of mine. I ordered yarn for it earlier this week and it arrived today! Beautiful Merino!

Fair-isle socks!

Welp, I totally forgot to blog the, but the fair-isle socks with Kool-Aid yarn are now finished!
Really not pleased with them, they gave me way too much grief. But they're warm, and they're for me, so I can't be bothered to complain too much or frog them.

I've already planned my next pair of socks actually! Some time ago, I bought this super pretty pattern, and I dug out yarn for them last night!

Can't wait! But it'll just have to... Gotta finish up these Christmas Stockings before I'll do more ego knitting... Speaking of Christmas Stockings, I've finally reached the heel, so it'll be finished soon enough! So far, the charts have worked perfectly with the pattern for the other stocking.

 

Not really Christmassy, but I love how it turns out anyway!

Always a procastinator...

I really am the worst at everything... Minecraft have managed to suck me in again, so now I'm stuck in the hole called procastinating. To top that, I'm lazy and in a "bored but doesn't want to do anything creative" mood, so I've done little to nothing called knitting lately...

I did finish the knitting part of Melissa's Christmas Stocking a few days ago though. I've been lazy with it, but it's more or less done...for now.

The green and purple yarn in the back are for the second stocking she's commissioned. I've yet to start it cause I'm in a foul mood and it demands a lot of reworking. The patterns ask for completely different needles and yarn thickness, so I am planning on redrawing it to fit the same bill as this one here... But we'll see... Worst case scenario, I could work it double stranded to get the right measurements, but I don't trust my yarn to last...

Both of the stockings will be lined with fabric and have bells all over for extra Christmas spirit an joy! I really can't wait to see them finished, but right now, I can't be bothered... Good thing there's still 2 months until Christmas! Or atleast one month (or something like that) until I've got to ship them. Shouldn't be a problem.

On the 14th of october, I frogged and restarted the Setesdal's mitten I started on back in august. 14th of october is the first day of winter according to the runic calendar, and it's marked with a mitten, so just about all of yarnster Norway was knitting mittens on that day. I'm still not 100% pleased with this first mitten...expecially not the thumb (I will most likely be redoing that thing at some point cause it is just horrible).

Last night I decided to just put everything on hold and so something familiar and mindless, so I started another pair of my favorite fair-isle socks. Snow Lily from Drops Design. I'm so happy that this pattern finally have gotten a name! I haven't made a pair since last Christmas! About friggin' time I make another pair! It's very much needed as well since all of my old pairs (except for the blue pair) have holes in them, and I'm too lazy to patch them up...

This is how my morning looked today:

I decided to finally use the first Kool Aid dyed yarn I've done! It looks fantastic with the petrol yarn. The white is just some scraps I had lying around.

I am taking it slow however... My right arm ain't too pleased with my crazed Minecraft gaming that has been happening lately... So knitting on top doesn't make it any better to put it that way.

One last thing before I end this blogpost. Needles are friggin' expencive and hard to find! I've been searching all over the place for 12mm needles! If you remember the gignatic ball of yarn that my mom got for me and the pattern that I wanted to use it for, I'm in dire need for a 12mm 80cm circular needle. I've been searching high and low for a pair, and the closest I've come to find a pair was on Strikkenett.no, but the shipping wasn't worth it and I really shouldn't be buying more yarn for a while... I did end up getting a 10mm 80cm one at Nille today though. Even though it's 2mm thinner than suggested in the pattern (and also friggin plastic... YUCK!!!), I figured that I could try it out. A little swatching never hurt anyone. Worst case scenario would be going up one size or adding a few more stitches... Though, I don't see how much difference it would be with such huge needles...

That's all for me for now! I'm gonna chill out with some coffe before I crash and burn... It's only 5pm over here right now, but I'm already super tired...

Giant ball of yarn and socks!

My parents came over for a visit yesterday. It's recently been my boyfriend's birthday and my sister-in-law's birthday is coming up, so they went over to Nord-Trøndelag for a double birthday visit. Not only did they bring Bård a birthday gift, but my mom also brought me some stuff! She gave me a giant ball of yarn!

This is Verdi from Drops, a yarn I've been looking at several times in webstores, but never really seen in real life. The price was very off-putting...but I didn't know how big it actually was and how much yarn its worth! There is actually a whole sweater in there! Believe it or not!

The details say it weights 350g (12,35oz) which equals to 1225 meters (1339 yards)! That's crazy! I've already picked out a pattern that I want to spend it on, but I need HUGE ASS needles for it!

Pretty pretty! I know it seems impossible that there's enough yarn in there for that jacket, but after looking up the yarn amount needed for it, comparing the yarn they suggest using (which is Vienna, but the pattern says that Verdi is a good replacement), it looks like it might be enough for TWO jackets in this skein! Crazy time! Might not actually happend though... We'll see. Need to get the needles first!

She also brought a book filled with patterns of iconic "barne-TV" characters, both old and new...mostly new... Barne-TV is a TV-show made for kids only in the evening just before bed time. It lasts for about 30 minutes (atleast so it did back in the day) and had colourful doll characters that spoke to the kids inbetween cartoons or other small shows and sketches. While I couldn't care less for the first 3/4 of this book, seeing that they are mostly current characters, the last quarter makes me very nostalgic and I've GOTTA make some of these, even though they're mostly crochet...and all norwegian patterns... I'm most familiar with 'Murican crochet therms.

For dere norske. Boka heter Lag favorittfigurene fra Barne-TV og er skrevet av Lise Nymark. Utgitt av Cappelen Damm med ISBN nummer: 978-82-02-43118-1.

Over to something different. I finished up the ugly scrap socks last night. Weaving in the ends was a nightmare though! That's always the worst thing. And as I said yesterday, there was 20 ends on each sock! That's 40 in total! If I use 1 minute on each end, that's 40 minutes! For gods sake!

Stupid flash washed out the colours... I tried to use the short row heel instead of the one I usually use. Figured it would feel better for this type of sock. I also tried to make the leg longer than I usually do on these...which ended up in using more scraps...and then more ends to weave in... *sigh* But they're done now! Gonna probably make more of these! My 'Murican friends love them!

And while we're still on socks... I've started making Christmas stockings! Another one of my 'Murican friends have commissioned two Christmas stockings from me! I'm so excited cause Christmas Stockings aren't usually a thing over here. And the ones she asked me to make are so pretty!

 I'm gonna enjoy making these so much!

Third time's the charm!

Last year, I promised Bård a Marius sweater. I had bought the yarn and I started it right away, but at the time, I was working on two other sweaters that were of the same colour, and just grew tired of it. I put it on the back burner for quite some time before I picked it back up and decided to frog it, just to start over again. Then I put it to the side again! And I didn't pick it up until july! I worked a few inches before I ended up frogging it a second time! Now, I've just finished two sweaters and I'm on a sweater roll! And seeing as it's Bård's birthday in a couple of weeks, I decided to pick it back up again now. This is the third time starting it, and dang it if I'm not to finish it this time! Two-three days have now passed with my knitting being focused on this sweater alone, and I've already surpassed my two earlier tries!

It's uneven and full of cat hair, but that's how it works when frogging has taken place in my home. It'll tidy itself up after a wash, so there's no worries.

The traditional Marius sweater do have cut and sewn in sleeves...

But since I haven't had much experience with a sewing machine together with my fear of cutting my knitwork with scissors, I think I'm gonna try and work it in raglan instead. It gives a better fit and it's less feminine than the round yoke one. BUT! There's not really many Marius sweaters with raglan...so I'll have to do a bunch of trial and error to get it to work, and hopefully it'll look good...

And for those of you wondering, I'm gonna do this sweater in navy blue and white as the traditional one, but I'm switching the red out with a lighter blue.

Grey Marius sweater DONE!

And it's done! Sorry for the lack of updates on this one... The lazy blogging syndrome came over me again...

Took me 10 days to complete this one! Excuse me while I give myself a highfive!

The yarn was a treat to work with! ...even though I didn't feel too much of a difference from the yarn I usually work with... Luckily, I did end up with some scraps, so I'll probably do some research on it compared to other, cheaper brands.

Yarn: Smart from Sandnesgarn
Needles: 3-3,5mm
Size: Adult size M

Yarn wreath! Finally?

I've had this idea in my head for about a year now, and I were supposed to make it real life for last christmas, nothing really turned out as I wanted them to.

You see, I saw this picture and fell in love with it right away.

I knew I had to make something like it, and my hope was to make it christmas themed. But as things has it, the styrofoam balls I had bought wasn't really good for this project. They weren't styrofoam at all, but rather compact packed papermache...which made it impossible for me to actually do anything with them. First off, they were kinda heavy and second, it was impossible to get a wire through them.
I ended up ordering a lot of new styrofoam balls from eBay (for just 1/10 of the price of these papermache ones), but when they arrived, christmas was just about over. Now they've been lying underneath my crafting chair for 10 months soon, and I thought it was about time to dig them out and see if I can do anything with them!

Along with these balls, I've got a bag full of crappy acryllics I can use! So I'm gonna have some fun and waste some yarn! Cross your fingers that I'll be able to make something out of all of this!