Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017

Ella Gordon just announced this winter's knitalong - Fire Festival KAL 2016-2017, where the colours are inspired by Up Helly Aa!

With all the yarn I bought at Shetland Wool Week this year my intention was not to take part in this winter’s KAL. But when I saw my favourite yellow I could not resist, and placed my order… Looking forwards to a colourful KAL!

Photo from the Jamieson & Smith blog

Last year I made a pair of mittens in the Winter Wollies KAL, using seven of the eight colours. The pattern is called "Pysje mæ alt", and is found on Ravelry. 

For the summer KAL I decided to use all the eight colours, and try to make a pattern that would use as much of the yarn as possible. 

The result is the Ringdans  cowl. 

I have an idea for the Fire Festival KAL too. Stay tuned!

New pattern - the Ringdans cowl

I just published my new cowl pattern, Ringdans ("round dance").

This cowl was designed to make the most of the 8 colours of Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight from the Spring and Summer KAL 2016. It uses just under one ball of each colour and can be wrapped twice around your neck to keep you warm.

Besides that, it's a fun knit.

The pattern is available in Norwegian and English.

Summer knitalong - because winter is coming

Of course I could not resist when Jamieson & Smith announced the 

Spring and summer knitalong 2016: 

Use at least 5 of 8 specified colours, do some Fair Isle knitting (2 colours per row) and make any accessory or garment. 

In the Jamieson & Smith group on Ravelry you can see many lovely projects. Here's mine:

 I'm making a cowl - or infinity scarf -  using all the 8 colours

I'm nearly there, just a few stripes, 

some ends to weave in, and the joining. 

Stay tuned, here, on Ravelry or on Instagram.

#Rainbowfebruary 4

I made another one! 

Ambitus necwarmer - brilliant free pattern.

#Rainbowfebruary 3

I have finished the third rainbow project, a cowl. It's a brilliant free pattern on Ravelry, called Ambitus. I have found the pattern via Annepaalandet, who has made several cowls. I used what I found in my stash sport and fingering weight, and rainbow colours. Yesterday, ends were woven in by a good friend, who was in between projects, and was itching to use her hands. Thank you very much!

The cowl is warm and colourful, 

Knitted on the edge

Last year I bought a knitting book with lost of different edgings, knitting on the edge, by Nicky Epstein. This lace was started then, trying out one of the edgings And finally turned into a little cowl by adding some stripes and ribbing. Gifted to a little niece. 

And how about the book?

There are lots of nice edgings, many of them are not just edgings, so it can be used as a stitch dictionnary also. The lay out and photos are beautiful, and there are some patterns too, one for each chapter, using one of the edgings in a garment. 

What I didn't think of when I bought it, but that I missed when I started knitting from it, are charts. There are no charts, and for me, who much prefer charts to written instructions, that's a drawback. I would also have liked more edgings knitted topdown, so you can easily add them to an existing garment, or use them in top down constructions. 

But exept from these two things, it's a very nice resource. 

February FO #6

"Stripehals" - stripy cowl, made to match the scout hat.

A nice free pattern: Ambitus neckwarmer by Lankakomero. To fit boy 7 years I casted on fewer sts (100) and worked only the two first increases. Will probably make more from this pattern, like Anne has done

Oops! - A rainbow

I did not plan to make this a rainbow cowl, I just picked some nice colours from my stash. Working on the other half now, want to wear it on my trip to Shetland. Pattern is BMC cowl by Kate Davies.

Cold weather, warm cowl

DSC00249, a photo by Torirot on Flickr.

The other day, my cowl came back from Iceland. I wore it for the first time out skiing today (seminar 3,5 hours lunch break.) As you can see, the weather is cold (around 20 degrees below zero) but iI can assure you, the cowl is warm!

Have a nice weekend!

PS Link to Ravelry pattern page here. The hat is my design too.

♥ 2 ♥ Toasty, twisty, tweedy

A free cowl pattern from me to you, via Knitting Iceland.


Photo borrowed from Knitting Iceland

My parents went to Iceland, and came back with some beautiful skeins of Lettlopi for me. I wanted to make something to combine the colors of the four skeins, and I thought: a cowl. I wanted a pattern that could work from both sides, and was quite happy when I found this tweedy, slip stitch pattern. Just for fun, I decided to twist it too.

"Right" side

"Wrong" side

 The Lettlopi yarn comes in many beautiful colours, so there are endless possibilities.

Photo borrowed from Knitting Iceland