La, la, la! La Droguerie, Paris

I had a soft and colorful present. Bought for me on a vacation to Paris, and thanks to Ravelry I was able to identify the yarn.

Stripe Study Shawl has been on my to-do list for a while, and it was fun to play with the colors, as I had not one but two main colors. My sister did a great job choosing them. And of course I can´t help tie this as a tie shawl.

There were two more yarn cakes and some adorable wooden pearls in the parcel. 

I am looking forward to browsing their pattern support. Here is their blog. It is oh ,so sophisticated. So French!

** Cortinarius semisanguineus



Knitting looks monotonous. Working one stitch at a time for hours and hours. I have even talked to people who seriously believe that knitting can be used as  a tranquilliser. Not my way of knitting. It is thrilling. Here is how it works:
I want a cardigan. In stead of going shopping and buying one which fits me and I can wear immediately, I cast on, hope it will fit and will know in a month.
Now here are some other choices I made which made my cardigan  knitting even more exciting:
I chose a well written pattern with lots of innovative details.

May I present Walnuss "A classic and light cardigan with details that make it unique. The “Walnuss” cardigan is worked with a traditional saddle shoulder construction: 

 and is then worked top-down, seamlessly in one piece"



I could have chosen the yarn which the pattern called for. Well, I wanted to use a present, two skeins of vegetable dyed wool, 600 meter. Color, what you get when you dye with this: a medium-sized mushroom with a pale brown to ochre cap, and bright blood-red gills.
Even before I cast on, I knew that I would need an extra skein. I want my sleeves to be long. Karin, who dyed this wool, is local. She blogs here: Vilde Farver  I contacted her and was lucky to get hold of a skein in the same color, however, not the same dye lot. That really jazzed up the creativity. I searched the pattern for natural places to replace the main color.  The edges and the pleats. 
Fallmasche suggests a drapey and light weight yarn. My yarn is a bit rough, reminds me of Blue faced leicester.
- Here it has a nice lukewarm bath with a splash of vinegar.



  I wanted this cardigan to have negative ease and used a needle size 3 in stead of 3,5. That made the fabric a bit tight. After all these considerations I just followed the pattern as written..
Now it is done and I am very pleased with it.

The button artist is Birthe Sahl.

.

You can find them here.

This is the back. Short row construction makes the front longer than the back.

- a good thing if you want to hide the body part a bit south of the waist.

**Cortinarius semisanguineus

A merry and wooly Christmas to all

Since September, coping with Real Life Issues has taken up my attention. I am still knitting, however writing about it, felt akward.
However, interesting yarns and knitting projects are piling up and I am looking forward to a New Year of knitting adventures.
Sock pattern is Country Girl Socks

Yarn candy is from Knitting Goddess

Sheepskin is Gutefår from Samsø.

Best wishes, Mette



Viking textiles: How to!

Yesterday - in the most gorgeous September sunshine, while my DH was far away to watch the Road World Championship, I went by my own beloved bike to visit the local prehistoric museum, Moesgård. They have a fantastic exhibition on Vikings and in the afternoon, a spare time viking craftswoman, archaeology student, Birgitte Damkjer, was invited to show how to work with :

naal binding

,

tablet weaving

We had a very good talk. She was dressed in her homemade viking clothes, and looked absolutely fantastic with her glass beads and jewelry.
I have several copies of prehistoric brooches. Presents from friends, family and colleagues, who know of my lifelong interest in historic crafts. Here they are, displayed on my new vest.

They all look great,however I will not copy the viking woman and wear them all at the same time.

soft, warm neck grotto

Two skeins of Manos del Uruguay silk blend have been in my stash for a couple of years. When I saw Ana´s interpretation of Tiny Owl Knit "inspired by the seaside cowl" playing with stripes in different colors, I felt an urgent need to crawl into such a soft grotto of wool and silk. However, using this colorway there was no need to make it more watery than it already was and I decided to skip the stripes and work purl ridges in stead. 

The design is gorgeous, the pattern quite simple. Perhaps it is not necessary for me to buy a pattern for a knitted tube. However, I want to support this young creative knit designer who generously has offered this pattern, "some cloudy day " for free. The leg warmers are on the needles but not for long.

This How to wear a scarf-you tube-video was bookmarked the minute I saw it.So charming and playful. Some of these ways are quite complicated.

 

With the cowl you can just do this:

 Sorry for the blurry photo, it was hard for me to focus.

Tendrils

This sock pattern is called Tendrils, the designer´name is Mary Lou Egan.

Here is another pattern from her knitting basket : Coquille 

 Mrs Egan is inspired by organic shapes - and knitting her patterns makes me think of the Art Nouveau period: In Denmark called "Skønvirke" (1895-1920) The decorations were inspired by wild flowers, insects and the flora and fauna of the sea.
Kristian Rørdam, Danmarks Tilblivelse (1898) A wild danish forest, drawn in "skønvirke" style (Danish Arts and crafts : Art Nouveau, Jugend style").

In Britain the movement was called arts and craft.

"The Arts and Crafts style started as a search for aesthetic design and decoration and a reaction against the styles that were developed by machine-production. Arts and Crafts objects were simple in form, without superfluous decoration, and how they were constructed was often still visible. They tended to emphasize the qualities of the materials used ("truth to material"). They often had patterns inspired by  flora and fauna."
This goes for knitting, too.
The sock yarn is an ordinary solid blue, however the stitch pattern has 3D effect on the solid yarn color, reflects the light and makes it look like semisolid. And the knitted fabric becomes elastic and lofty.
Tendrils is a birthday present for my son, who appreciates a hand knit sock.

head or tail

It has almost been a month since I went to Copenhagen and visited  North Atlantic House, a building which is dedicated Icelandic, Faeroe and Greenlandic exhibitions and events. 

Round the corner is this blue igloo. It is locked but you can get the key in the reception.

I tried to take a photo of me inside. With thousands of mirrors it should be easy, however where am I? I wore a red scarf that day!
Trondur Patursson has made various examples of his “cosmic room”.

Outside the museum was a small coffee shop, with Icelandic specialties. I had a cup of coffee and an Icelandic chocolate bar.

I was so surprised when I took a bite. The chocolate melted in my mouth and I was chewing a small liquorish lump, a bit salty. Very delicious.
Not far from Transatlantic Brygge is Fretown Christiania.

They have an arts and craft shop  next to the entrance. A visit was very inspiring.

A shawl knitter cannot have too many pins. I intuitively chose this one and it is now incorporated to my collection.

I also visited Københavns Bymuseum. 
I am not particularly interested in how kings and queens lived. I am absorbed by the way poor people were treated, women and children. How they managed : Illness, poverty, suppression. I found this photo of a group of people from the bottom of society.

 

I am always touched when I see women wearing tie-shawl.

This summer fair Isle knitting brought about a strange creature to my house.

 

Once I housed this one.