Pattern for Lillebrors Vest now available!

Just a single post to let you know that the pattern I promised you back in January, is now finally available! At least by this delay, I've had time to create more sizes and have it properly test knitted. So here it is, Lillebrors Vest:

The pattern is available in English as well as in Danish - you can find it for sale on Ravelry here.
It comes in five sizes from 0-3 months to 2-3 years. Read many more details on the Ravelry page.

Happy knitting!

Time is not for blogging

Neither my time nor the times in general, as far as I can follow the development in social media.

You can follow my knitting, sewing, and other parts of my daily life on Instagram - this is where most of my activities are these days (username @birgittezeuner).

You can still keep track of any new knitting projects and plans on my Ravelry profile.

I may or may not return to this place, but I will leave the blog as it is since I like to keep my old posts (and keep track of my yarn shopping in the sidebar).

12 Months of Knitting

As part of the Instagram inspiration, I've decided to join the 12 Months of Knitting project. You can read more here, but the general idea is to actually spend some time knitting some gorgeous stuff rather than just dreaming about it (and I quite like that). You're not a failure if you don't finish each month's project within that month, but maybe the deadline will help you get there?
Instagram: #12monthsofknitting #12mok #12mok2015

Foreseeing a lot of baby knitting this year, I've decided that this project is going to be about me :) I have 11 projects planned so far, but I'm open to new inspirations over the year (and expect that there will be some). You can find the links to all the projects on my Ravelry page.

Coming up this January is Arvingen.

Destash

I've been doing a bit of stash sorting today. This is up for sale on Ravelry! 

Inspiration

I'm currently trying to modify my plans - or rather: make them more accomplishable - on what to knit within the next few months. Here is some of my inspiration:

The most recent book from Pickles: Voksne ingen adgang (Norwegian)

Charlott Pettersen: Strikk til mamma og mini (Norwegian)

Susanne Øland: Godsbanen (Danish)

Susie Haumann: Warm knit[s] for cool kids (Danish)

On top of the books, I'm also a keen follower if Pickles' website

As you can see, I get most of my inspiration locally these days, but then everything Nordic is rather popular at the moment, isn't it?

I have a Ravelry page which started with projects I planned in the autumn - some of which are now accomplished - and it has continued to grow with new ideas. Now is the time to modify the list and make some more tangible plans. I plan to knit from stash, so that also takes some contemplation. More on the plans later. 

FOs: My favourite baby booties

I mentioned Sokker på to pinner as my favourite pattern for baby booties last year. They stay well in the foot due to the tie - which I modified to an i-cord for a softer feeling on the tiny foot - and having knit four pairs over the last month I can also say that they are a pleasure to knit - and fast. 

They are all knit from the same, wonderfully soft yarn: Tusindfryds Engleuld (held double for the sock/shoe and single for the i-cord). 

You can read more on my Ravelry project pages: Yellow, coral, pink, grey. 

FO: Warm & fuzzy coat

This is my last finished project of 2014: the Warm & Fuzzy Coat from Pickles. 

 

It is knit in one strand of Pickles Tweedy (the yarn called for) and two strands of Blackhill Silk Mohair (a substitute for Pickles Big Fuzz since yarns with a synthetic content is a complete no-go in my book for anything other than socks). Both yarns are highly recommendable. 

I followed the pattern completely except for omitting a few centimetres on the sleeves (to avoid too long sleeves) and on the body. I used a skein less than called for if the Pickles Tweedy - quite convenient as I forgot to bring the last skein with me on Christmas holidays. Any good suggestions for a good hat pattern with a quite heavy yarn?

No modelled photos this time as you wouldn't be able to see the cardigan for my huge belly ;)

Find more details on my Ravelry project page.

A project for January

One of my projects for January is to write up a pattern for this little vest that I made for LittleBrother (who is due in February). I knit it some months ago and I'm rather fond of it - and now I finally have time to knit more samples and write up a pattern. 

Happy New Year

Six months of silence. I give no explanation other than preferring a quick Instagram update to a cumbersome blog post. You can follow me there if you want to.

Anyway, I decided to try and make January another month of daily blogging. Let's see where that'll take us. This time I won't promise to start blogging regularly afterwards!

Happy New Year to you all, in case you are still reading!

FO: Normandy

In fact, this sweater has been done for exactly two months exactly today and I've worn it several times already. 

However, it is very hard to photograph it's coral colour and mix between the shiny Plant Fibre and the hazy Silk Mohair, so it's taken me quite a while to blog about it. 

Anyway, this is my third sweater from the similar Amimono patterns - No. 23 and Normandy - but the first one with long sleeves (Normandy). Like the previous two, the fit is a winner (why else make three?) and the drape of this yarn combination is fantastic!

More yarn and pattern information, etc. on my Ravelry project page. 

Three dresses

Although, I'm still knitting as good as every day, I've recently been obsessed with sewing rather than knitting. I've been sewing baby clothes for a few years, but recently I've taken up sewing for myself, aided by the skills I've leant at workshops with Nanna (How to do fashion) and Line (Marapytta) - both highly skilled ladies. I've sewn one rather fabulous dress for myself previously (not shown here), but now I'm finally beginning to get the grip on how to adjust the patterns to actually fit me!

The fabulously red dress I'm wearing here is my favourite of the three. It's made from Nanna's first pattern - No. 1 Dragør - using the techniques for adjusting patterns she has compiled on her website (all in Danish). There is already a second one of these in the making! The red and pink chevron fabric is a plain cotton from Riley Blake.

The next dress pattern - Judith - is made by Line. To the locals, I highly recommend attending her sewing school - and everybody else can gain inspiration from her website.

The fabric is Japanese - Itaya Naomi. I got it for my birthday two years ago and have been saving it for the right dress pattern. It was a bit too narrow for this pattern, but I adjusted it to make it work.

Finally, a pattern from the crafting magazine Alt om Håndarbejde. I adjusted the bodice quite heavily to make it fit, and though it's quite good, it could use just a bit more work. Anyway, the dress is nice - not least due to the blue leo fabric from Stofdepotet - it's a heavy cotton with a bit of stretch perfect for trousers and shorts, I'd say. At least the shorts I've sewn for the little one from the leftovers are rather nice!

So, that's what I've been doing lately! I still much prefer knitting - it's more meditative and relaxing than sewing - but sewing challenges me and my skills, and I can feel that exactly that part attracts me. That and all those beautiful fabrics out there.

I'll be back with more knitting later - after I've sewn a bit more... ;) If you want to see more of what I've been sewing, you can follow me on Instagram (@birgittezeuner) - I've been posting quite a bit of the recent work there.

I'll be back

I'm terribly behind in updating you with photos and words on all the knitting and sewing that is going on here at the moment. Apparently photography doesn't just happen.

In the meantime I've recreated my Amio shop with hand knit and sewn childrenswear. You can always find the link in the sidebar. It's all in Danish.

I'll be back with more knitting-related news asap!

More shorts

As mentioned in my last post, knitted shorts are the new thing for babies and children. Maybe because they are so good for using up leftover yarn?

In any case, here are two pairs of baby shorts I knit from stash oddballs. They are here and here on Ravelry. 

Shorts

As far as I can see on Instagram, knitted shorts are a must-have for children this summer. So, I went ahead and knit some for the wee one.

They are based on a pattern from Den Store Guttestrikkeboka, but with quite a few modifications such as elastic waistband and a wider crotch. If I am to make them again, I'll make the crotch even wider since the fit is not perfect. Even so, they are rather cute:

They are large enough to fit him both this summer and at least one or two more. They are knit in Rasmillas Yndlingsgarn, which is a wool/cotton blend. More details on my Ravelry project page. 

What I knit this Easter

This is how far I got on my Himalaya sweater during the Easter holidays. The back and half the front are done. It's fun to knit - I constantly have to decide which colour to use next, whether it should be a stripe or a wedge, and how wide it should be. 

On the side I've started a cardigan for the wee one. It's the same pattern as used for the first one in this post (enlarged), knit in Hverdagsuld. 

New layout

I've updated to a new, very minimalistic layout. What's mainly new (apart from the look) is that you can now jump to older posts at the end of each page, and that there is a new, nicer archive for finding old blog posts in the sidebar.

Enjoy!

Easter Knitting

It shall be interesting to see how far I'll get on my Easter knitting project during the holidays. I'll probably be knitting more than one project, but this will be my main one: the Himalaya sweater (Rav link) from Helga Isager's recent The Map Collection. 

So far it's fun to knit with all the random colour changes and wedges. Just like Kashmir, but lightweight and with changes in fabric density, too. 

Status

Today's post concludes my one month of blogging every day. It's been a good experience; both to get me going with blogging again, but also because it has inspired my to look for other topics than FOs to blog about. I know I've mostly blogged about FOs so far, but in fact I find the other topics (favourite yarns, knitting books, knitting needles, wool in use, etc.) a bit more interesting.

I won't be blogging every day of April, but I have some ideas for more blog posts up my sleeve, so hopefully I'll be blogging a bit more regularly from now on.

Thanks to those of you who commented and not least those of you who came up with ideas on what to blog about! And thanks to everyone for reading :)

A new favourite yarn

A few days ago I wrote about my go-to yarns. Recently, I have discovered a new yarn which will be added to my favourites, namely Tusindfryds Hverdagsuld (English: Tusindfryd's Everyday Yarn). You may remember that I just finished a colourwork sweater in that yarn. Having tested it, I went ahead and bought some more colours of it - you can see the ones I chose here.

It's a simple, sturdy wool yarn (150 m/50 g), and it comes in a very well balanced range of colours. While I do miss some of my favourite reds, blues, and purples in the colour range, I very much appreciate that the colours have been chosen so that they can be mixed and matched across the entire range of colours. You can see all the colours here. 

The yarn is nice to work with, and while it is 100% wool it becomes nice and soft already when working with it, and even more when washed. Even so, I don't expect this yarn to pill very much.

You'll have noticed that my favourite yarns are all classic wool yarns (or alpaca or silk mohair) and not fancy, hand-painted cashmere/merino blends. When I first discovered Ravelry, I - like most new Ravelers, I suppose - was amazed by all these luxury yarns that are kind of hyped on Ravelry and I did buy many of them (Posh Yarn, Malabrigo Sock, Madelinetosh, Wollmeise). However, while I do understand why these are considered luxury yarns, I have recently come to the conclusion that these are no longer for me. Quite simply, I'm not too keen on the coloured fabric that a handpainted yarn (even a semi-solid one) produce. I much prefer my yarns to be even in colour throughout. That does not mean that I prefer dead or flat colours; indeed, I'm very fond of the deep Highland/Shetland wool colourways as explained a few days ago. Obviously, you are free to disagree with me here (I know most people might), but it is kind of liberating to have come to this realization.

Anyway, if you haven't tried the Hverdagsuld yet, you should consider it.

Halfway there

I haven't had time for blogging today - I was busy doing something else. Today the World Championships in Half Marathon were on in Copenhagen, followed by a mass race for 30.000 runners of which I was one. It was my first time running this far in these flat 'barefoot' shoes, so it was all a bit exciting even if I have run twice as far back in the pre-baby days. It all went fine, I finished in just under 2 hours, which was great given that I didn't train as much for it as I should have. 

I'll be back with some more yarn tomorrow!

Wool in Use

Last year you could read a series of blog posts on Wool in Use, i.e. knitted garments actually used by their producers. You can find a list of links on Merete's brilliant blog. It's both interesting and useful to see which models are actually successful when it comes to being used. When I showed my Top 5 Knits for Babies on Sunday, Lena asked if I would make one for grown-ups as well. However, it was too hard to decide on five knits only, so here's my contribution to the Wool in Use tour instead.

Let's first take a look at my wardrobe:

Here are my - ahem - two shelves of hand-knitted sweaters, cardigans, vests, and dresses. If you look at my Ravelry page you will however realize that many more garments have left my needles. These have been passed onto friends and charity shops. I'm no more attached to them than being able to give old and unused ones away to make room for new ones. 

My two shelves have a sort of system that is clearly visible from this photo. In the lower right corner are the sweaters that are used a lot and hence put back in in a not-so-tidy fashion. Moving towards the upper left corner, the sweaters come closer and closer to a life in a new home. Some of those on the top shelf do however have a long way to go before facing that destiny, but you won't see any of them in the following display of frequently used sweaters, which are the ones on the lower shelf - here listed after how frequently they are worn. 

On the top shelf you'll find some previous favourites, that are no longer worn very often (I guess my style has changed) but did get a lot of wear some years ago - e.g. Cabled Spiral Sweater, Bubble Pullover, Still Light, and Twenty Ten. 

The next two photos show the sweaters, cardigans, and vest that I put on occasionally, i.e. somewhere between three and seven times each winter season (and by winter season I mean something like September-April + cold summer nights):

From the top: 1) An old timer, Twinkle's Best Friend Cardigan - still used because of the vibrant colour, it's almost blazer shape, and the fact that chunky knits are still fashionable; 2) Vitamin D; 3) Leise.

From the top: 1) Swallow - this has not been used so much recently because I got into my head that it was too small, but I tried it on today and realized it is not, so it will now be moved to a different pile - quite appropriate since I chose to use my favourite (discontinued) highland wool colour for this one; 2) my The Killing III sweater; 3) my Cara variation; 4) Buttercup; 5) Nightingale.

The next photo shows the garments that are used a bit more often than the ones above but less than the favourites below - something like once or twice a month:

From the top, going in rows from left to right: 1) Raven - I've used this sweater dress a lot; 2) Mellow - I'm not using it so much at the moment, but I have used it a lot previously and think I will do again; 3) Day job dress - a new addition to my wardrobe, but I'm sure it'll get some more wear; 4) a Kim Hargreaves-inspired mohair sweater; 5) Warriston - I use this for outdoor life and it's  actually a quite brilliant sweater.

And finally the favourites: These are used somewhere between a couple of times each month and several times each week:

From the top, going in rows from left to right: 1) Kashmir - currently, this is number one on my list of Most Frequently Used Knits list; 2) Lemon - this has been abandoned for a while, but recently I've started using it often; 3) Høstjakke; 4) Vanilla - a simple and flattering go-to cardigan; 5) Kingscot - I like this one for its colour, the durability of the ÅLJ yarn, and it's almost blazer-like shape; 6+7) my two No. 23 sweaters (red and grey), which are probably the two sweaters I've used the most of everything I've ever knit (and still am) - a good reason for my knitting a third, long-sleeved one (Normandy) at the moment!

So, if I were to make a top list of my favourite knits for adults, it would contain Kashmir, No. 23/Normandy, Kingscot, and Vanilla. I'm hoping that it will also contain Manchuria and Himalaya once I finish those.

My go-to yarns

No prizes for guessing that my favourite colour is red!

My go-to yarn - the yarn which is my starting point when trying to find yarn for a new project - is the highland wool (100% wool, approx. 550 m/100 g, where the colours are mixed from several colours before spinning to give a deeper colour). The main part of my estimated more than 6 kg highland wool is Blackhill Højlandsuld, but I do also have some Holst Yarn Supersoft and Jünik Supersoft. In total, I have 46 different colours, albeit only a few metres of some of them.

This yarn is fairly cheap, the main reason for this being that it contains spinning oil. It's possible to wash out the oil before knitting, but since I'm not sensitive to it, I don't. The presence of the spinning oil means that the yarn blooms when washed and becomes softer. If you prefer purchasing this type of yarn without spinning oil, Isager's Highland Wool is a luxurious (and more pricey) option. To the best of my knowledge, Garnudsalg's Blackhill Højlandsuld and Jünik are from the Scottish spinning mill J.C. Rennie, whereas Holst Yarn is from English Knoll Yarns. You can buy both of them in more places than the ones I have linked to above - Google and Ravelry are your friends. I find that the former is bit easier to wash the spinning oil out of as well as wee bit softer and hence my favourite.

When in need of a yarn heavier than this light fingering yarn, I do one of two things depending on the yarn weight and type of fabric needed: 1) use more than one strand, or 2) combine it with another, thinner yarn. Doing the latter gives me the opportunity to mix with either alpaca or silk mohair for a more drapey and fluffy fabric. For this, I have fairly large stashes of lace alpaca and silk mohair, too:

The lace alpacas are either Isager Alpaca 1 or Blackhill Superfine Alpaca. The silk mohairs are Isager Silk Mohair (by far the most luxurious one), Rowan Kidsilk Haze, or Blackhill Silk Mohair. 

It all takes up some space, but I really like being able to rummage through my stash and combine colours (it's not always easy on a screen - especially not with the highland/shetland wool yarns which are indeed made from several colours and therefore made to match with yarns that share one or more of the same solid colours; I remember Kate Davies blogging about this at some point, but I cannot find the post again). Furthermore, I like to be able to start a new project whenever I want without having to wait for new yarn to arrive, let alone time to go to a yarn shop.

FO: Colourwork Sweater

Recently, I discovered a new yarn: Tusindfryds Hverdagsuld - more on that in another post. Inspired by the well-coordinated colours, I wanted to knit a colourwork sweater.

I couldn't find a pattern that I liked (enough), so I made my own instead. When it comes to colourwork I much prefer stretches that are no more than three stitches wide for two reasons: 1) It's much easier to knit and 2) little fingers don't get stuck in the loops on the back of the work. With this - and two contrast colours - as a starting point, I ended up with this colourwork pattern. The shape is a simple slim fit raglan with a short row neckline.

The main colour is a bluish grey, and the contrast colours are a slightly cold lemon yellow and a navy blue. I like this combination. 

The sweater is an intentionally slim fit size 3-4 years - I expect we will use it next winter (and if we're lucky also the following one). You can read a few more details on my Ravelry project page.

Top 5: Not-so-useful Knits for Babies

This is the final list in my series, which started with Top 5 Knits for Babies and Top 7 Knits for Toddlers. Today, I'm taking a look of the knits I prepared before welcoming the little one, but never actually used. I do not mean to speak ill of the patterns mentioned - it is merely a matter of misjudgement from my side!

My Top 5: Not-so-useful Knits for Babies

1: Knitted Bodysuits

In my opinion so not worth the trouble (especially of buttoning all these buttons) when you can buy really brilliant ones and spend your knitting time on something which will actually be seen, like little vests. I may be wrong, though.

2: Heavy Summer Sweaters

It may have been the timing with the seasons, but I never used heavy cotton summer sweaters.

3: Baby Booties that Don't Stay on the Foot

I much preferred these that did (cf. my list of favourite baby knits).

4: Knitted Bibs

I'm not sure this is worth the trouble either. Maybe it would have been, had he been a drooler, but we only ever used bibs for eating and they need to be considerably larger!

5: Knits that Don't Fit!

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this little vest, except that I never managed to get it over his (rather large) head!

Top 7: Knits for Toddlers

Continuing from the Top 5: Knits for Babies from yesterday, here's my Top 7 list of Knits for Toddlers (I couldn't cut it down to five!). Note that some of these knits also work for 6 months old babies - especially if you have a summer baby, where warm winter knits are required at that age.

My Top 7: Knits for Toddlers

1: Lark Vest

This surprises nobody. You've already seen it here five times before, but there is no getting away from it: Vests are brilliant for toddlers, and Lark is - in my opinion - the prettiest and coolest vest for little boys.

2: Knitted Trousers

I've knit four pairs of these (three for the little one) simply because they are brilliant, simple trousers and woolen trousers are good for the little ones in winter time. I'm quite fond of my main modification to the original pattern: Elastic waistband. For crawling babies I'd also recommend reverse stockinette stitch, since the knit stitch side is softer against the skin (the pair in the photo is an example of that). I have to admit that these days I 'cheat' and sew woolen trousers for him instead!

3: The Poppy Sweater - or another thin sweater

The Poppy sweater took ages to knit, but the result was completely worth it. It's so pretty and it was worn a lot when he was around one year old (the photo is from his first birthday)! Another thin sweater, which was also used a lot, is this one, which is much faster to knit.

4: A thick cardigan or sweater

We also use heavier cardigans (in particular) or sweater for outdoor life during spring and autumn - and for driving in the car during winter. The one in the photo is an example, but it could also be the September Cardigan, which my mum knit for him (it's so cute!), or a cabled one like the most recent one she knit for him (I cannot find the pattern online). I also knit this simple sweater from a generic pattern in Strikk til nøstebarn. 

5: Raindrop Hat

The Raindrop Hat is such a cute hat and fun to knit! I prefer ear flap hats for the little ones because you avoid all the trouble of keeping their ears warm while maintaining their eyesight... Of course it makes is slightly harder for them to put it on themselves, but we're getting there. I've knit this twice and we use it all the time.

6: Mittens

I wrote about these from Strikk til nøstebarn a few days ago.

7: Collared Pixie Balaclava

Balaclavas are brilliant in winter time and fulfill the kindergarten 'no strings' criteria. This pattern is great because I like the cute pixie form, but I'm also quite fond of the modifications I've introduced. The only drawback of this pattern is that it doesn't quite cover the forehead as much as I would like, so I've now taken to sewing woolen, jersey-lined balaclavas instead.

What's your favourite knits for toddlers?

Stay tuned for the Not-so-useful Knits for Babies Top 5 tomorrow!