this lazy lady

Five plus two is... Seven?

2005-10-04T17:02:00.000+02:00

Some times stuff happens that makes me reevaluate myself or my life , it doesn't happen very often but it happens. And it has happened! I have realized that I can't do math. Now, I've never claimed to be a math genius but I do remember learning addition and subtraction in the first or second grade, and being quite good at it as well. That is what my math teacher told my parents anyway. I don't know what happened, if I never actually had any talent or if I have just lost my talent recently.
So you ask, how did I discover my lack of math talent? It's the Baby Bobbi Bear. Look at him, doesn't he look cute? He doesn't look at all like someone who could make people realize life altering things about themselves does he?

He is almost done, I have knit some arms for him (T thinks they are a little short - I haven't made up my mind about that yet) and stuffed him. Now he needs some ears, and here is where the life altering thing happened. The patterns says:
"Cast on 5 sts, work back and forth in rows, cont as foll:
Row 1 and all odd rows: Purl to end
Row2: knit 1, Make 1, knit 1, make 1, knit 1 [5 sts] "
Huh? Five? Please correct me if I'm wrong but if I've got five stitches and I make two more stitches I should have seven stitches total, right? I don't get it, do they want me to cast on three stitches and end up with 5 or do they want me to cast on 5 stitches and knit 1, make 1, knit 3, make 1, knit 1 and end up with 7 stitches?
Or the even more disturbing possibility, the math in the pattern is correct and I'm just to stupid to get it!?

The knitting has been a little lazy. I've started a new pair of Broadripple Socks. These will be for my mom - for Christmas! I can hardly believe it, we're only in the beginning of October and I've already started on my Christmas presents. This is a definite first for me.

Mom got to pick out the yarn and pattern herself! Fortissima Colori, Mexico-Disco-Color! Pretty!

Done!

2005-10-02T17:45:00.000+02:00

Taa daaaaaaa!

Can you believe it? CC is finally done. It turned out that I did have enough yarn to knit a wider collar and I even have one third of a skein left over. The collar is wide enough to cover my chest, and I can wear it open or closed with a pin. I've pressed the collar and the cuffs (with the collar I might have been just a little too efficient with the iron, I've basically ironed away everything ribby about it....but I think it looks and feels ok.)
I have learned some things knitting this sweater, some of which I surely will have forgotten next time I knit a sweater.

Making a gauge swatch is really important, especially if I don't want to reknit half the sweater.
Read through the pattern before you start knitting, if you don't want annoying surprises.
When knitting in the round - the rounds can be VERY long.

I'm so happy with the way my Chocolate Cover turned out, I think I will wear it a lot this fall and winter.

Specs: The pattern is # 14 50 58 05 from HP Garn, the yarn is Iceland from Løve in a brown color. I've knit a mix of size M and L, and have knit the collar at least 10 cm wider than what the pattern describes. I've also changed the collar and knit it in the round instead of back and forth. I bought 6 skeins and have used all but one third skein.

Now I have to consider what to knit next. I'm really into the Lace Garland from Shawls and Scarves, and have already knit up a test, just to check out if I'd be able to follow the instructions. And to se how difficultt it is to knit in the round from 6 stitches....See I told you I'd forget what I've learned knitting CC - the rounds can get VERY long.... Visse vasse, the rounds will be just fine.

2005-09-29T17:58:00.000+02:00

Lola sure is one fast girl. She has already written her meme!

Linda asked me a while ago, why my cat's name is Banana. When I first got him from Kattens Værn (cat shelter) two years ago, he had been named Gustav at the shelter. But a few days later I realizedd that it was just not the right name for him. With some help from my sister I decided that Rasmus would be a better name. Unfortunately that name didn't stick to him either, it just didn't sound right when I called out for him. And then the name Banana came out of nowhere, and it really is the right name for him and his big kitty ears. When I met T a year and a half ago,
he wondered about the name as well. He asked me: Do you call him Banana because he is not yellow? And yes, that is probably why!

No pictures again today. Is this what you get when you don't pay? Blogger-schmogger!

Hanne wanted to know some more about the CC pattern. The pattern is originally called sjælevarmer med stor krave. The pattern number is 14 05 58 05 and it is by HP Garn. I got the pattern from Nicoline Garn on Nørrebrogade, Kbh N, but you can get both pattern and yarn here. I'm using the original yarn Iceland from Løve, and I'm impressed with the yarn. The sleeves I reknitted look absolutely fine even though I didn't wash the yarn after frogging the two first sleeves.

I'm getting closer to finishing CC. I'm ready to pick up stitches around the wrist. Ok, done or done... um...I'm not quite sure that the collar is wide enough. I'd really like the two front corners (is it possible to have corners on something round?) to be able to cover my boobs without flattening them completely. But I'm playing it safe and will knit the two cuffs first, and then if there is yarn left over, I'll try and knit a few more pattern repeats on the collar. I tried it on yesterday, and it will be ok if I don't knit anymore on the collar, it'll just be more of a shrug than a cardigan.

Please let there be enough yarn to knit a wider collar!!!

Meme

2005-09-28T21:30:00.000+02:00

I've been tagged for the first time to do a meme. It seems that Linda wants to know more about me. Thank you for the very nice compliment you paid me in your post from this Monday - I think I almost blushed. I'm having so much fun with this blogging thing, and I think it is wonderful that you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy reading all of yours!

Number of books in the house.
I grew up in a house full of books, and I used to play bookstore or library sitting in front of the bookshelves, actually the bookshelf-picture Linda posted pretty much resembles the bookshelves I grew up with. One time I even discovered some money my dad had hidden in a book 5 to 10 years earlier. He hid the money because we were all going away on vacation and he didn't want the money laying around the house while we were away. When we came back, he had forgotten which book he had hid the money in....He only remembered that the book was about something that smelled bad. I don't know how much time he spent looking for the money, my guess would be quite a lot of time. Years later I found the money in a book about fishing! Guess he was right about the smell.
Anyway... the number of books in my house: not enough. I love books and I love to have books around me, but the prices on books in Denmark has made me a passionate library user. I estimate that we have about 250 books in the house.

Last book I bought.
Do knitting books count? I've bought two recently, Strik og sy til den lille ny and shawls and scarves - both very fine books.
In fiction the most resent buy would have to be Harry Potter 6.. um...I actually bought it twice! But it was an emergency, really! I pre-ordered the book from Play months before the release of the book, then T (the one formerly know as the Boy, now with the new uninspired nickname: T!) and I planned our summer vacation, and it turned out that we would be leaving on the day of the release, meaning that I wouldn't be home when the book was delivered or be able to take the book with me on vacation like I had planed. I decided that I would just buy some other books to take with on vacation, The Time Traveler's Wife and The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, both really good books! At the airport T asked me if I were sure that I didn't want the book, because it was for sale at the airport bookstore, and he wanted to buy it for me. I told him that I was a grown up and that I would be perfectly able to wait until we got home two weeks later....And I probably would have been able to wait, had I not finished the two books I had brought with me a little sooner than I had expected AND seen 117 people (at least!) lying around the pool reading HP 6. I had to get it. I just couldn't stand not reading it. So maybe I'm not a grown up (28 isn't old is it?) at all. I finished the book while we were still away, and I left the book at the hotel, as a kind of Bookcrossing. Er.. well...there really wasn't room in the suitcase.

Last book I read
I spent all of Sunday reading Undtagelsen by Christian Jungersen from front to cover. I meant to blog that day, but I was just really caught up in the story and I couldn't put the book down. The book is about four women who work at a center for information about genocide. They receive some e-mail death threats and then the story takes off. It was interesting, because the books also includes some articles about the psychology of people involved in committing genocide. Pretty scary stuff.
Earlier this month I've read Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, and The Kite Runner, both really good reads.

Five favorites
Børnerim, by Halfdan Rasmussen. "Tyggegummikongen Bobbel, sidder i en ...." Reading these nursery rhymes is really like reliving my entire childhood.
Winnie the Pooh - one of the first books I read. I still read achapterr once in a while. It really helps put things in perspective.
100 years of solitude. Love Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book was the one that got me turned on to magical realism and South American literature.
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami. Great book, with elements of magical realism, and historic fact.
Kærlighedens kåbe, by Thit Jensen. About a young mans fight with tuberculosissis. I cried and I cried.

Passing it on
I will pass this meme on to Lola. Like me, she is a new blogger, and she has been book shopping TODAY!!

round and round and round and.....

2005-09-26T16:11:00.000+02:00

I might just get dizzy from knitting round and round on the collar of CC and from working with Blogger pictures, has anyone else had problems with Blogger today? Anyway, it took me a while to figure out why the pattern told me to knit the collar back and forth instead of in the round. Take a good look at this picture. Do you see it?
I've circled (ok tried to circle it, it's hard without a mouse!) the problem area. The collar is not knit in the round because it is not round. It's open in the back, like a shirt collar, just in the back of the neck instead of the front.
Huh? Why? What were they thinking?
I honestly hadn't seen this... er... design feature earlier, because I naturally assumed that the collar would be knit in the round like Nanas bolero.
But of course,I couldn't live with that, so I knit it in the round anyway. I fiddled a little with the chart, left some stitches out and knitted away. I have been a little concerned that the collar will be too short, when worn, to go all around the shrug without stretching too much, but I can't be bothered to take the shrug of the needles to check it before it is finished, and now that I'm almost done, I think it will be fine.
Right now it look like this:
Well, you'll have to imagine what CC looks like now - Blogger won't upload the picture!!!!

Ok, I'm done with Blogger for tonight, they must be trying to drive me insane... and it is working! Mwah!

New person

2005-09-22T20:31:00.000+02:00

A new person will be entering the world at the end of October. This baby's mother has decided that the baby shall not have any plastic toys, I really don't know how she is going to pull that one off, but I do think it is very commendable. I have thought long and hard about what to give this baby, and I think I have come up with the perfect thing. The Baby Bobbi Bear, knitted with Blue Sky Alpacas organic Cotton. The yarn is organically grown and the color is a naturally occurring shade, free from bleach and dyes. It should be safe for a tiny little new person to suck on this yarn right? I really hope that baby's mother will agree.

Er...right now the bear looks more like an alien than a bear, but I hope that will change with some stuffing, a pair of arms and ears, and a face! The bear is also a lot bigger than I had expected, and I am really pleased I didn't knit the original Bobbi Bear, because it would be too big for new born.
It is a pretty quick knit, on 5,5 mm dpns, but the yarn....it is soft... and totally unforgiving of any of my knitting flaws. Everything shows with this yarn, I think that if I were to knit the bear again, I'd use a wool yarn instead.

Look what I got at Netto:

I took out this book from the library the minute I first found out about my friends pregnancy. I knitted a pair of tiny socks for baby, they turned out to be baby's first piece of hand knit (might as well start them early - in the womb isn't too soon!). Well, I fell in love with this book, it is pretty and cute, but not too pretty or too cute, if you know what mean. I could have jumped up and down from sheer joy when I found this book while buying milk, and with a good price too!

CC is sewn togther... still need to pick up stitches...

Would you like some coffee with that?

2005-09-20T20:19:00.000+02:00

So he came home, and all is well now. He has however expressed some discomfort with the nick name I've given him here on the blog. I suspect he feels that it doesn't represent him very well. So, I have to think of a new nick name for him. I really like the nick name DivaKnits uses for her boy: CoPilot. I haven't figured out if he really is a co-pilot or not, but it is still a very cool nick name. Sadly the Boys line of work doesn't make a very cool nick name: computer guy in bank. Totally uncool. If you have got any suggestions I would love to hear them.

He(the one formerly know as the Boy and currently without nick name) brought home some stuff: horrible (he thinks so too) synthetic stuffed animals from Universal Studios (they all went on Wednesday - not a vacation my b...!), the Ipod Nano and American candy. Hersheys chocolate and Pretzel Flips.

Pretzels covered in white fudge! Need I say more? Would you like some coffee to wash that down with? I wonder if these have ever been featured on super eggplant.

I hurried up and finished the fingerless mitts, because I had seen this article about frosty weather on DMI, the Danish Meteorological Institute, and they are always very dependable, especially concerning yesterdays weather. But now they are promising 20+ degrees (Celsius) the next days, and I guess I have to wait a while to try the mitts out on the bike. But I am currently testing their blogging abilities ...

...they work just fine. Keeps the hands nice and warm, but leaves the fingertips free to type. I think they might come in handy in my new cold dark north facing office.

Specs: The pattern (nr 8 from Drops 93) was, if no well written, then easily understandable. I knitted the mitts on 2.75mm DPNs instead of the 3mm DPNs the pattern calls for. The fit is prefect, but I do have very small hands. The yarn is Arwetta, soft and strong, and I used a little less than one skein. I highly recommend these fingerless mitts!

I spend the afternoon speed knitting, and now the third and fourth sleeves of CC are done. Didn't really use a lot more yarn than the first time I knitted them, but they do seem bigger. I'm sure they are bigger. They are bigger. I mean if I knitted them a size larger, they must be larger? That is how it works, right?Bigger size equals bigger sleeves?!

Tonight I will sew the pieces together (again) and by tomorrow I should be ready to pick up the googolplex stitches that will be the large collar. Finally some lace!

Home alone 2

2005-09-18T10:44:00.000+02:00

...but not for long. The Boy will be home in just a few short hours. And it is about time too, because I've really missed him. I don't think I could have a long distance relationship, but I do admire people who can make it work. I don't think it would work for me is because for me it's not the special occations or the celebration of events or the vacations that makes a relationship work. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want be without all that, but I think it is the everyday that makes my relationship, the kiss I get every morning, the request for a bag rub I get every evening and the uneventful being togetherness.
This afternoons being togetherness will certainly be uneventful, the Boy will sleep, he's still on LA time, and I will be quiet and do my homework, maybe just knit a row or two on my new project

Well, Mette, I decided against a trip to Nicoline Garn. Instead I dove in to the stash (good girl!) and found some yarn to start a new quick project with.
But first I finished these:

The Broadripple Socks.
Mismatching, but I love them still. I think if I were to knit them again I'd use a yarn with just a little more elasticity. That way it would be possible to use the needle size that the pattern calls for, and not the 3mm I used for the cuff and the 2,5mm I used to knit the rest of the sock.
Banana seems to like them too.

The new project is some fingerless mitts, pattern nr. 8 from Drops nr. 93. Their patters aren't terribly well written but this one isn't too bad. I'm knitting them with Arwetta sock yarn, from the stash!! I made pretty good procgress on the first mitt yesterday.

This yarn might be a new favorite of mine. And I really have to hurry up and finish the mitts, it's getting cold riding the bike in the mornings.

The postman always calls thrice

2005-09-16T12:37:00.000+02:00

I love my postman, he really knows how to satisfy me. He's been around three times this week, keeping me happy while the Boy is away.

This is how he keps me happy:

Monday he brought me two balls of Blue Sky Organic Cotton from Coolwoolz , I just love their little sheep with the sunglasses! I'm going to use them to knit the Baby Bobi Bear, and the yarn is so soft. Yum!

Tuesday he brought me this:

Kool-Aid! From KoolAidUK. I've got some Berry Blue, Lemonade, Watermelon Cherry and Pink Lemonade, and boy do they stink! But I can not wait to dye some yarn, maybe tomorrow?

And finally today he brought me this:

Shawls and scarves, The Best of Knitter's Magazine. I got it from Play - love that shop. And I love this book, especially the round shawl patterns like the Pi Shawl and the Lace Garland.

Well, wouldn't you love a postman who brought you wonderful things like these? Yup, I thought so.

I'm out of here, the Sister and I are going to have one last summer visit to Tivoli.

The second first and second

2005-09-15T20:00:00.000+02:00

So I finally did it. Made like a frog and ripped out the sleeves.

These sad looking little centerpull balls are the result of said ripping. But I'm proud to say that they are almost knitted away again. I've now got two half finished sleeves and just one little centerpull ball left. Knitting these two sleeves for the second time is just not my idea of fun. I felt pretty sure that my second trip to Sleeve Island would make me choke on the second second sleeve (in reality the fourth sleeve!), so I made a plan.

Pay attention now.

My Lazy logic told me that starting with the first half of the second first sleeve, then knitting the first half of the second second sleeve, then finishing the second half of the second first sleeve, would leave me with, when the second first sleeve was done, just one half sleeve to knit! Yay! Did you get it? Does it make sense? Well, it works for me. And if it seems that I'm making no sense at all today, well there is an explanation, I'll get back to that in a bit.

As we speak I'm finishing the first half of the second second sleeve, hoping to quickly move on to the second half of the second first sleeve.
And now you probably want to know if I did the proper thing and washed the ripped out yarn, to get rid of the waviness, before winding it into balls... ? Oh come on, you know I didn't. And, you ask, was that not a tad stupid? Why, yes it was. Do I care? Hmm, not really, I'm probably a knitting optimist, always sure that everything will be just fine, until I'm proven wrong (see post from September 13th.). Please don't prove me wrong this time, I won't survive knitting the sleeves a fifth and sixth time.

I want to knit fun pretty stuff like this, love that color and this, love the alpaca. Must.Knit.Soon. Or perhaps the very pretty lacy Diamond Fantasy Shawl that everyone has been knitting lately?

As for not making any sense today, well, I can't be held responsible. I've been reading this all day! I've read it, but not understood it, and I desperately hope that I will get some things clarified during tomorrows class. If you have read and understood it, I would appreciate a short recap of it?!

This is a hoax no?

Chocolate frog

2005-09-13T19:06:00.000+02:00

I have just been watching Bill Gates' speech at the PDC, mostly to try and see if I could spot the Boy in the audience. I had told him to wave if he was being filmed, but he was nowhere to be seen. The speech was pretty interesting, and there are lots of fun stuff to look forward to with the new Windows Vista and Office 12. I especially liked the brand new RSS features in the upcoming Office 12.*

Last night I sewed the pieces of Chocolate Cover together... Now it is just too bad that I'm not a pygmy. CC is just tiny. It's not that I can't fit into it... I just can't wear anything underneath it. Want proof? It looks like it has been painted on me. But the color is still so pretty!

Although I am a European, in Europe (!) I think it would be considered inappropriate to be nude underneath a shrug, no? So now that the nude option has been discarded, what I am going to do? I thought about giving it a very serious blocking, but have discarded that option as well, it is just not going to do the trick. That leaves me with only one option...frog it, rip it, tear it to threads!

Actually I probably only have to rip out the sleeves... that is not so bad is it? (She asked herself reassuringly with just a hint of desperation in her voice.) The back piece is ok - I guess I must just have really fat arms.
I haven't mustered up the strength to rip out the sleeves yet, not because it would be difficult to knit the two sleeves again, but because it sure is going to be boring. And I was really looking forward to getting started on that lacy collar. Mwah!

I've had an accident, it's not as funny as Stephanie's shampoo incident, but it did have something to do with a type of cleaning product... I'll just give you the short bullet point version.

Vent to buy groceries.
Bought milk, tortillas, chili beans, dish washing detergent, a potato peeler (and completely off the record - I did pick up some chocolate as well. Perhaps that is why I've got fat arms?).
Waited patiently (no, really I did!) in the looong check out line.
Put my stuff on the conveyer belt
Accidentally opened the bottle of dish washing detergent - but quickly closed it again.
While packing my things I realized that I had not actually closed the lid on the detergent.
Result: very slippery groceries.
Including a very slippery and sharp potato peeler
Result: the pealing of my thumb!

I left a trail of detergent and blood all the way (we live 200 m from the store!) from the store to the apartment building. You know, the Lazy version of Hansel and Gretel. The thing I don't understand is how I managed to NOT get any blood on my white jacket, when everything else was covered, the groceries, the keys, the mailbox and the mail. Must have been a freak of nature.

Now my thumb looks like this:

The 'paper towel and elastic band' is not my preferred type of bandage, but I've run out of band aids - and I'm not going shopping again!

There was practically no pain involved in the accident. But now that I've realized that I can't knit, because the huge bandages gets in the way, the pain is practically unbearable. Tut tut, and I was going to finish the second Broadripple sock tonight. But alas, there will be no knitting tonight at Chez Lazy.

I guess I could rip though...

*This is NOT an advertisement for Micosoft - I just liked some of their new features.

Home alone 1

2005-09-11T10:24:00.000+02:00

I'm home alone, the Boy has gone away on business to do this. He claims that it is not a vacation, but I think that living here and having plans to spend monday at the beach sounds pretty much like a vacation to me. I hope he is not to badly struck by jetlag, but I know that a 9 hour time difference is a lot to deal with. He's probably going to be VERY tired today.
While he is away, I plan to get busy with some knitting. Yesterday I took pictures of most of my old knitting projects, the living room was covered in sweaters, socks and scarves, such a wonderful wooly mess! I actually took so many pictures that I had to stop mid way to recharge the camera battery. Banana found it more than a little odd, that I was standing on a chair in order to take pictures of knitted things laid out on the dining table. The Boy probably would have found it odd too, which, I'm sure, is why I haven't done it while he has been at home. Eventually these pictures will be uploaded to my Flickr page....
The last year I've scribbled a few words about every project I've knitted, some stuff about the pattern, the yarn or about pattern revisions I've made. I meant to type these hand written notes onto the computer and add a picture of the project, but I just haven't gotten around to doing it - until last night. And it really is time consuming, it took me 2 hours to write and print 8 project pages and I have lots more left to do. It really makes me wonder why I haven't done it from the beginning... Well actually I know why, I've just been Lazy!
Now I'm left wondering why I have this need to document every little sock and scarf I knit, is it because of my librarian training, or is it because knitting is such a great important part of my life, and I just can't risk forgetting the even the slightest of my knitting projects? I think it is probably both. The librarian in me craves order and control, and it is relatively simple to achieve this state with old knitting projects, unlike some other aspects of my life that are in utter chaos, and will remain that way for ever. The knitter in me would love to, at the end of a year, have a book filled with every project I've knitted during the year, sorta like knitting diary.

I finally finished the three pieces of Chocolate Cover. Here they are looking weird and rolly. I've pressed the pieces very gently, just to be able to sew them together. I think a regular blocking would have been better, but I was concerned about washing and blocking some parts of the sweater, when I have to add the collar, that for obvious reasons can't be blocked or washed before it has been knitted (the Lazy revelations of a Sunday morning!) . Ergo, the washing will have to wait.
So will the sewing however, I'm spending the rest of the day at the parents house, we were going to have the last barbecue of the summer, but I think the weather is looking rather too cold and autumnal. That is of course a very good reason to wear one of last years warm and wooly creations, for the first time this fall.
I'm bringing the second Broadripple sock, it is the perfect portable and conversation friendly project... Which reminds me, I think I've forgotten to set up a project page for these socks. I better go do that now.

Harry vs. Winne

2005-09-06T20:07:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was bad.
I had the day planed out perfectly, first work, then do a social thing in the afternoon, and then home to knit all evening. But suddenly my plans were changed by the strongest of forces (the mother!), and to my horror I found myself caught at an all-afternoon-all-evening event at the sisters house without my knitting. It's not that I don't love spending time with the mother and the sister - later in the evening we were joined by both the father and the boy - but I HAD NO KNITTING! Hours and hours of small talk, and no knitting, it's just not right!
Earlier in the day I took a "sorting hat" test, that I came across while surfing to find something extremely work related, just for fun to see witch house at Hogwarts I'd get sorted in. Of course I'd be thrilled to be in Gryffindor, who wouldn't be? But I'd also be proud to be in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and even Slytherin would have been ok with me. The test had about 1000 questions, that I tried to answer as truthfully as I could. I waited a few seconds while my answers where being computed, ooohh, there comes the result and I'm in..... oh crap, I'm a Squib!?!? Wow, that really is most disappointing to me. I was sure I would have been a pretty sharp wizard, but they'll never know now, will they? And I guess I won't have to knit any Weasley sweaters this winter or ever!
Naturally I had to get som vindication after this, so I stopped by Bagatell and took another test.
Look, it's my all-time literary hero. And apparently I'm loveable and kind, who could ask for more?

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

The fall Knitty is up, lovely stuff!

I finished the first sleeve of Chocolate Cover, and have just cast on for the second one, no pictures, just miles of stockinette. I can't wait to get started on the lacy collar.

Thanks to everybody who offered to help me with my German problem. Shortly after I blogged about the problem I managed to pull myself together and Google the words german english knitting vocabulary, and ended up with about 115.000 hits. This one uses the exact same symbols as Verena does, so it might turn out to be very handy if I decide to knit any of the models from the magazine.

Today is going to be a good day, and I'm not leaving the house without my knitting!

The Japanese way

2005-09-06T16:06:00.000+02:00

The last issue of InterweaveKnits has a story about Shibori, the art of "manipulating fabric to create textural and color effects" (Quote from IK fall 2005). I was immediately intrigued by the colorful pictures and by the prospect of working with some of these techniques myself. Yesterday I took a trip down under to take a look at what is going on at six and a half stitches. And Allison has done it, shibori felted an amazing burgundy colored piece, with pretty little bubbles of unfelted fabric all over it. Go take a look! I can't wait to see what her final product turns out to be. It's fun to see that the technique is actually as simple, but a lot of work, as I thought it would be, and Allison's good results gives me some reassurance that I might actually be able to do this myself. I have a project on my mind, and have been mentally workning on it a few days, even picked out some yarn!

Alaska from Garnstudio. Now I just have to get cracking with the nedlees.

Chockolate Cover is spending the day alone - it is too hot to knit with that type of fussy wool. I might just have to get started on the second Broadripple sock.

Right or left?

2005-09-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

The past days the questions of anonymity and why do we blog at all, has been discussed on several Danish knit-blogs. A lot of these bloggers, including myself, have decided not to tell our family, friends and co-workers about our blogging. (Check out Cassie's survey from last march!) Firstly because we know they don't care about knitting (the weirdos...), and secondly because we're a bit embarrassed because they think that blogging is for sad lonely internet geeks pretending to be someone they're not. But we (knit bloggers united!) all know that it is not true. We might be internet geeks, who spend too many hours in front of the computer, but we're not sad or lonely, and we certainly don't pretend to be something other than what we are - knitters! When we blog, we reach out to other knit bloggers, and connect with the real live people that are on the other end of our hyperlinks. We should all be proud to be bloggers. Then why don't I just spill the beans, and tell everyone I know that I blog? Well, I like the idea of having my own place where I can voice my opinions without censoring myself in order to protect friends or family - or even myself. So, what to do? Will I tell or keep my blog a secret? For now I'm keeping the secret...

Chocolate Cover is coming along nicely. The back is done, and I'm halfway though the first sleeve. No pictures, trust me, it really just looks like the first half of a brown sleeve.

Saturday I was browsing the magazine shop in Magasin, and I spotted this magazine. I've never
seen it before and I naturally had to get it - you know - just to check it out. I really like a lot of the models, but the magazine is in German. I have had lots of German during school but I'm pretty sure we never learned anything at all knitting related. I understand a lot of the words, but I do get confused when they tell me to knit rechts (right) and links (left). Is that German for knit and purl? Does anyone know of a German/English or German/Danish knitting vocabulary?

This lazy lady will greatly appreciate any kind of help, that will keep her from having to do the work herself. Why invent the hot water if it has already been invented?

Chocolate covered

2005-09-02T20:26:00.000+02:00

Yeah, I got my first comment. Thank you Lauren! The past year I've been reading a lot of blogs, but I've never wrote comments on any of them. I know... Hi, my name is Lazy and I'm a lurk-aholic! No, seriously I found it weird to comment on blogs, when the owner of the blog had no way to check me out. But now that I've got my own blog, five days and counting, I'm able to send people back here to find out whether I'm a weirdo or not (No, I'm not telling, you'll have to keep reading!). And now that my lurking days are over, and I've experienced how much fun it is to get a comment on my blog, I'll be sure to get the Lazy comment out on the blogs as often as I can.

Broadripple sock #1 is done!
By the way, that is Banana leaving the picture. He's not as photogenic as the lovely Lucy of Wendy Knits. Never mind Wendys amazing lace knitting, Lucy is the real star of that blog.
Broadripple sock #2 will have to wait a while...

This is the pretty thing that is going to keep my lazy hands busy the next weeks.
Chocolate Cover is not the original name of this shrug/cardigan/bolero - Sjælevarmer med stor krave (Shrug with large collar!) is.
But I can not possibly knit or wear anything with such a lame name. The color of the yarn is warm and chocolaty, thus, Chocolate Cover is born!
The pattern and yarn is from HP garn, bought from the nice ladys at Nicoline Garn. The yarn is called Iceland, 50% wool, 15% alpaca and 35% acrylic. So far the yarn has been good to work with, even if it still a bit to hot to knit with wool.

How to spend the last day of summer

2005-09-01T13:33:00.000+02:00

Today is the last day of summer for me, tomorrow I start school again. I'm looking forward to getting started again, the summer has been wonderful and long, but it is time to get those brain cells working again. Because if it is true that we loose 10 IQ points every week of vacation... yikes...I must be as dumb as a door. Fortunately it seems that the points I might have lost during my vacation in July and August have no impact on my knitting abilities. Phew!

The weather here is warm and sunny, but has the crispness of a fall day. I know just the way to spend this last day of summer.
1. A long morning of blog reading.
2. Lunch with the Boy - he's working from home today.
3. A bike ride to the library to pick up books by Paul Auster, Daniel Silva, Jasper Fforde and of course a knitting book by Sarah Dallas. (Vintage Knits! Finally, I've waited forever for this book.)
4. Prepare for first day of school by reading the semesters reading list. (It would be too much work for this lazy lady to actually read the article we were supposed to have read by tomorrows class...)
5. And finally... sit on the balcony in the sun with Banana, books, cool drinks and knit some more on the Broadripple sock.

Some progress has been made on the sock since this picture was taken yesterday, but the battery in the camera is dead... I really like the striping the yarn makes, all though I'm sure it will be impossible to make the second sock look the same. But that really is the joy of self striping yarn, no?
Yesterday I added a new sock pattern to my "to knit soon" collection. The Elfine's sock, designed by the fashionable Anna. Isn't it cool that she's got plants that match the color of her socks? Note to self: Buy more sock yarn!

Ripple and cable socks

2005-08-30T15:33:00.000+02:00

Is there anything more comfortable than a pair of home knit socks?

I finished the Rib and Cable sock from the latest InterweaveKnits the other day. They are knit with "Baby og Hosegarn" in a bright green color. The color representation is more accurate in the first pic. The yarn isn't terribly soft, but I rather like the fabric it creates. It also makes the cables look very pretty, I think. Knitting these socks was the perfect reason to learn how to cable without a cable needle, and Grumperinas most excellent tutorial taught me how to, in just a few minutes. Thanks! About the pattern, I had to change the turning of the heel a bit. I tried, but the yarn overs just didn't work for me. The toe was new for me as well, but it turned out much better than the heel. These socks are wonderful and I will probably knit them again.

Tonight I'm casting on for the Broadripple Socks from Knitty. I was reminded of this pattern when I saw Knit Flix gorgeous socks last week. Gotta love the name of the colorway. I will be knitting mine with some Tobbi baby jacquard I picked up at the LYS last Friday. The yarn is a strange mix of cotton, wool and acrylic, but it seems quite soft, and the colors remind me of summer days.

First times

2005-08-29T18:07:00.000+02:00

First post on my blog and my first two hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. Too exciting! I've been wanting to try both blogging and Lorna's Laces since I started reading blogs a year ago. My encounter with Shepard Sock is going to be pleasant I'm sure. This stuff really is soft and mushy. Sadly I can't get it from any LYS in my part of Euro-land. These two hanks I got from Getknitted. I've been visiting Getknitted regularly over the last six months, window shopping, trying to decide which colourway of the Shepard Sock to get or whether to get some Koigu or Cherry Tree Hill instead... so many choices. Finally last Tursday I made up my mind when I saw the Valentine colourway, yum! The package arrived Saturday - very speedy shipping I think - with the newest Vogueknitting. I bought the Vogue because of the cabled patterns, I've been searching for something cabled to knit for a while now and I had hoped that the perfect one would be in the Vogue, but... no. I've also considered Kepler, the latest hot free pattern on the blogs. It is a really beautiful sweater, but I'm looking for something with cables ALL over. More like the Must Have Cardigan, well, except for the v-neck. Wonder if it is difficult to change the v-neck to a round neck?? In the five years I've been knitting I've never changed a pattern that radically, but today is all about first times, perhaps I should take a look at the pattern one more time? Really, how hard could it be?

About my encounter with blogging, well I just don't know. Only time will tell.

That's it... my first post is done, Lorna's Laces await me.