My new toy / Husqvarna Emerald 116

Let me introduce to you out new family member, Husqvarna Emerald 116.
(Grannys old Husqvarna zig zag, may you rest in peace).

I've been so busy fixing the bedroom re-decorations chaos, taking care of my sick husband and working since we got home for Munich,  I't wasn't until yesterday I had the opportunity to spend some time with it. It sews like a dream, compared to my old one (not a difficult feat, I'll admit). I wont give you any illusions of a review, now or later, since I'm really not in a skill position to do so. I can however say that the automatic needle threader is complete junk since it more fiddly than threading your self, and the little sharp hook breaks the thread, but I can thread my own needle, no probs.

I made a children's hat practicing sewing in streachy materials, which I have no experence with. Im having another project in mind for this fabric, but I wanted a test run first. I used this tutorial from Blomma åker vagn (varning, swedish). It was super easy, fast and fun.
(Edit: forgot to mention, the fabric is cotton/lycra from swedish fabric chain stor Ohlssons)

I also made a prototype for a baby grab ball (end result will be something like this). I have crocheted a ball like this once (not fun) which you can see on my ravelry page, it turned out way to big but thats another story. This time Im going for sewing (hopefully more fun). I like the color combination of the fabrics, but i think I need to make the "leafs" a bit longer in proportion the the width to be able to assemble it properly.

I think this marks the start of a long friendship. In my family there is a tradition of animosity rather than friendship with sewing machines, but hopefully I can break that.

Love and Stiches from me.

Knit and crochet for the air

Tomorrow, Friday, we are flying to Munich for the weekend. Hurray! I've been looking forward to this for so long, especially since it's my first time going away since the whole disc herniation ordeal.

Since I fly with just carry on luggage I don't want to take my interchangeable metal needles, since there seem to be no consensus what so ever if they are allowed on flights. Instead I'm bringing some short wooden needles and a bit of Järbo Raggi sock yarn for a small project I have in mind (that might result in a gift, hence the lack of details). I'm also bringing some of my cotton Tilda to make a few more granny squares. If they take my beautiful green hook I'll be seriously pissed, but It's the only size 5 i have. It should be allright. Right?

These small project should be enough to keep me entertained on the way there and back. I don't think there'll be much time for it while there, I'll be busy drinking beer and eating sausage and red cabbage.
Ah German food,  so cheap, so delicious.
We'll be visiting a Bundesliga game between Munich and Dusseldorf as well. I'm not really a sports person, but I can get enthusiastic about most things if I just put my mind to it. And they have beer, so all is well.

Since I know what yarn to pack I should be ready to go, right?

Have a nice weekend! Hope you get some quality time with friends and family as well, where ever you are.

The 10 km scarf knits on for the second WIP Wednesday

So, It's WIP Wednesday again. It seems like wednesdays occur more frequent then the other days, dosen't it?

Anyway, I'm still mostly workning on my 10 km Scarf. Since it's so much else going on in the appartment, i like simplicity of it. It's measuring about 1,1 m now! (1.2 yards)

I've added all of the pink I had, some crazy withe effect yarn that made people at the knitting café get a strained look on their faces and say "oh, how.. interesting".
It's not interesting, It's really quite ugly. But then I'm not generally one for effect yarns, and I don't think the kids will care all that much. The grey is a short bit of Norwegian sock yarn.

Someone at the knitting café asked me if It was a two sided braid. Apparently there is a way to knit braids that makes them identical on both on the front and back side. I need to check this out and try it., Im fairly certain I understand the principal of i when she explained.

I have sorted out a few skeins from my stash for this project. All of them is Eskimo from Drops Yarns, except from the red one which is Iglo soft from Trysil Yarn (Note how they all happend to be bulky, I'm not stupid, I want to see som dan progress when i knit this, 10 km is a loong way)

I've also made a bit of progress on Baktus but it's going slooow and I've made a few granny squares with the goal of a pillow for the kitchen sofa.

And, as always, check out some other WIPs over at Tamis Amis.

Chaos (not pictured)

It's a bit quiet in here because there's a lot of this stuff going on in the appartement at the moment, leaving less time for other tinkering. I did fit in some knitting time with friends this saturday though, and to nigh I'm attending a knitting café at the local yarn shop Perssons. Just need to find my missing skein for the Baktus scarf, which is easier said then done in this appartement due to above pictured reasons (our bedroom is now fitted in to our living room, I will spare you those pictures).

the 10 km scarf / WIP Wednesday

No, I have not gone completely mad and are planning to make a 10 km scar by my self. Im to easily bored to even finish of Baktus...

It's going to my my contribution to the 10 km scarf project, which started out here in Umeå, and have spread through Sweden, and also Europe. It's a joint projects where the goal is to knit a 10 km long scarf that is going to be show cased in 2014 when Umeå is the Europan culture capital. After that, the scarf is going to be cut up and made in to blankets and normal sized scarf for a orphanage in Russia for handicapped children. The combination of joined effort, a big ass scarf and charity really makes is something special, I think.

So, this week I started my contribution. I had almost 1 skein of Natur Uld left over from Owls which is the grey, the yellow is the yarn used for Maplewood (which are finished by the way, and will be posted on Friday) and the hot pink I just started with is just something I had laying about.

The only rules for the scarf is size 5 needles, 40 stitches, then knit away! So anyone can do it, newbie or pro. I chose garter stitch for fast progress and then a simple braid to keep me from going garter-mental.The scarf all in all is about 3600 meters atm, so there is quite a bit to go. Hopefully the project will keep on spreading and more people can chime in with a couple of inches here and there.

If you want to join in, just send me a message and i can provide more info and also give my address so you can send your contribution, and I'll make sure it gets delivered, with proper reference to you of course.

50 cm down, quite a bit to go. I'm aiming for 2 meters to start with.

Latest thrift finds / Map, Tin, Cotton, Pattern

Thought I might show some finds from my lastest thrift shop rummage. Above is a framed old map over the nordic countries (with Latin names). Pretty happy about this one, since we really lack decorations for our walls, and my husband is very fond of maps. Need to hang it still, but our wall is concrete so it's easier said then done.

I also found a small baking tin with a nice triangular pattern, about 3 yards of turquoise cotton fabric for about 20 sek (3 usd) and a nice cape/coat/jacket Burda pattern (paid a measly 10 sek, 1,50 usd, for that one).

It was a good day.

Owls finally finished

Owls. Such a pretty pattern, such a fast knit.
Then how come it took me about 3 years to get this done?
I have no idea, but now it's finished, so lets leave all that behind. This is actually my first "big" project. Something went amiss in the back, I think i might have attached the sleeves at the wrong place. Anyway, it left me with a big bulge on the back, so I improvised some pleats and now I don't think any one notices.

Knitted with Natur Uld from Hjertegarn. You can get the pattern here.
If i where to do it again I would probably chose a less bulky yarn. It is very warm. Very. So it makes for a good cozy sweather for cold evenings, but it is hard to wear as an everyday sweather, which I would have liked to.

Have a nice weekend, and check out some other FO's at Tamis Amis