Swing-Knitting II

So other than working with the Nordic Knitting Symposium I have managed to slowly finnish Swing-Knitting WS3 and a bit faster Swing-Knitting WS5.

Swing-Knitted landscape by Petra Neumann

WS3 was not difficult but I was completely uninspired, I constantly found other things to knit, which is not bad, but it slowed the learning process down. I started with WS3 last May on my way to the "Swing-Strick-Treffen 2013" in Helmstedt.
 Where I took some amazing workshops with Birgit Fitzke and Heidrun Liegman. The workshops were above my Swing-Knitting knolledge and all in German, I'm not that very good in German, but I think it went quite well and I saved what I was taught there in the back of my head even though at the time I had difficulties to apply what I learned.
To me as a native Swedish speaker the Swing-knitting terminology were clearer in German than in English so that helped.
The reason for my dislike of my WS3 project were due to five things.
I couldn't figure out what should become of the knitted workshop item.
I do not like when there is only one stansa and a loooong stem.
I chose the wrong quality of yarn, acrylic, it do become squeaky to knit with when it is warm in the summer.
 I used to wide pauses with a pattern that made it difficult to follow where the pins should be placed.
I was getting tired of following the written instructions, I usually knit after my own mind.
So now I am ready but I have not decided what to do with it. I might make some kind of shrug or shoulder warmer.
WS5 - The Swingy Hitchhiker were a much more agreeable project to me.
It is smaller, fewer stitches, there are no stems or at least fewer and shorter ones, multiple stansas on one row, and here I finally broke free and started to Swing on my own.
That was such a relief, I hate to sit with my nose in a pattern. I also really like the Melody and beat given in this workshop. It do create beautiful stansas. there were a learning curve but I made it.

So finally, I have now started my first genuine own swing-knitting project. I am going to make a sweater knitted sideways inspired by a pattern called Bahar.

I started on the first sleeve last week. I do hope to have it done by May when I am leaving for The "Swing-Strick Treffen 2014" in Helmsted.

Nordic Knitting Symposium in Vörå 2014 part I

I started a new job in December.

I got job at Ostrobothnia's Craft Assosiation . Together with my colleguaes I have been organizing the Nordic Knitting Symposium for 2014!

This is really something that I like to do and I also have had the opportunity to contact interesting knitting teachers and lecturers from Finland-Sweden-Estonia-Germany-USA and Japan!

After two months we, I do not work with this on my own, were finally ready to launch the programme a week ago and what a success it was!

When I went home from work today 72 applications had arrived and some of the workshops have almost filled up completely!

We have both full day workshops and half day workshops.

Each participant can choose to participate in two full day workshops and in two half day workshops.

I am especially happy to be able to present Swing-Knitting with Heidrun Liegman on the programme. At the symposium it will be the more basic parts in Swing-Knitting that will be taught. Heidrun calls her classes the Taster class and the Needledance class. We call them basic and beyond the basics for simplification.    

We have also been lucky to get Pörrö Sahlberg to have two workshops teaching how to make buttons in Polymer clay and Colortheory in Polymer clay. I participated in Pörrös button workshop a few years back and managed to make some pretty decent buttons myself. Making this programme I really felt the urge to start making my own buttons.

Another interesting Workshop is Tuulia Salminen's "the tailored sweater" where you both get to know how to knit a top-down set-in-sleeve sweater and get a Excel 2003 worksheet  to fill in your measurements and choice of model and it creates a custom made pdf pattern for you! Amazing! 

Tuulia will also have a workshop in knitting toe-up socks, I really would need that workshop myself.

The amazing glove artist Kristi Joeste from Estonia will teach some beautiful estonian knitting techniques in two different workshops. 

We have Susanna Hanson teaching stripes, how to arrange the colors, how to make jogless stripes etc.

My friend Leena Siikaniemi will teach the technique to make her amazing Doublefun socks.

Some amazing 3D knitting can be learned at Adrienne Sloanes workshops "Sculptural knitting" and "Knitting wired".

more coming soon.........

Happy Wristlets

I love colors, Happy colors! Colors full of energy!

Personally I am a purple person but when I was asked to contribute with a knitting pattern to a new Finnish-Swedish magazine, Est-Elle, I wanted something full of energy so I decided to make a pair of wristlets in orange with cerise seedbeads.

I was so happy that I have been given the opportunity to publish this  pattern in , Est-Elle, 3/2013.
The picture in the Magazine was smallish so here I give you more mood pictures.

I will translate the pattern and add it to Ravelry.

Swing-Knitting I

Just a few weeks ago I stumbled across a new knitting technique. One would think that one knew it all by now but, no I do not, and even if it feels like I every day learn something new, it seems I still have a long way to go.
I have on Ravelry seen some amazing knitting done where the rows are not straight nor complete, it is something that looks like cascades of leaves, rolling mountains, waves at sea.
I have been intrigued and mystified, I had discovered Swing-Knitting!
The origin of Swing-Knitting are some German textile artists that wanted to combine picture weaving techniques with knitting.
The term Swing-Knitting were not used from the beginning, KlugeStrickArt is another name, it seems that both names exists and are used parallel even though the Swing-knitting term has reached out from Germany.
Swing-Knitting is in short a way to use short fields of shortrows stacked on top of each other leaning to the right or to the left. By keeping track of the short-row turns you add stacks of shortrows on-top of each other up to the turning points of previous stacks. it is important that every stitch is knitted the same amount of rows vertically to get a straight knitting even when the rows are broken up and stacked horizontally. The way the shortrow turns are tracked is with adding safety pins at the turning points.
So I purchased the three first workshops into this technique and cast-on.
The first workshop resulted in a pair of arm-warmers, I made more repeats and changed the pattern some.

The second workshop were supposed to become a slouchy cap, I changed the workshops pattern from a cap to a hat. And then I changed the rows and pattern in the pauses. Of course, as a good learning piece I made my bit of mistakes in the beginning but I am now getting a grip on this part.

Next workshop is a wrap, half pocho/half scarf  but neither do I care much for this type of item, nor for the way the shortrows are stacked up in this piece. I do however think that this time, I really need to follow the pattern...
Dicipline needed!

Garnyran in Korsholm

Garnyran in Korsholm

Yesterday I were a happy participant in Garnyran in korsholm, arranged by Korsholms Vuxeninstitut. The program started with a lecture by Maria Blomberg who told us about social medias and Knitting. Maria has started her blogging and participating with speed. She participates in several bloggs, her own blogg Knappmakerskan is updated with new projects frequently.

Tekniktorget

After Maria's Lecture it was a long lunch and there were people crafting and showing what they had learned at different classes at Vuxeninstitutet.

One lady were assembling a Qvidimina Jacket. Qvidimina were a lady who earned her living by handicrafting to other people. Her cardigan/jacket has a very specific look although it is basically made of granny squares. The tiny granny squares are crochet very densely with two threads of different color at the same time and instead of trying to hide the joins it is done in a contrasting color with a very specific pattern. It really is a one-of-a-kind design.

There were also some LYS owners there with yarn and needles for purchase.

Maria Blomberg talked about the 5 hour cardigan and charity knitting that she has taken on.

Were were also lucky in that they had a beading exhibition in the premises with some very beautiful beadwork.

Knitting workshops

Last autumn I was asked if I were interested to teach a workshop at a yarn happening in Korsholm, Finland. I said yes of course and waited for someone to tell me that I would get the job.

Since then I did not hear anything about this until three weeks ago when I received a call were I was asked to keep two different workshops, 1,5 hours each. 1,5 hours is not much time to dive in to something new so I had to try develop something really small but still desirable.
The workshops were Knitted Necklaces and Knitting a seamless doll sweater.

Knitted Necklaces

The workshop in knitted necklaces went quite well, unfortunately it takes quite some time to string beads unto the yarns but the participants were quick to learn and they had all grasped the concept before the 1.5 hours finished.

Knitting a seamless doll sweater

Knitting a seamless, topdown sweater were more of a challenge for my students. They were all new to knitting with Magic-loop although luckily half of my group had participated in Maria Blombergs Magic-loop Workshop before attending my workshop. but joining to knit in the round were a challenge for all of them and using stitchmarkers were also a new concept.

 I think that they all had at least learned to use stitch-markers and Magic-Loop, and how to do the raglan increases before the class ended.
This workshop really needs 4 hours to present all details in a relaxed time frame.

All in all it was a full day and I learned some new things and were inspired to develop new aspects of crafting.

Sock knitting and toe-up socks

Knitting toe-up

I knitted my first pair of socks attending a weaving education at Kvevlax Hemslöjdsskola 1991-1993, and thought it was quite easy. Those socks were knitted from the cuffs down. The biggest issue for me at the time were my dislike of knitting with dpn's. I knitted socks for all my family and then I stopped.
After discovering Magic-loop almost 10 years ago knitting socks were became an easy task and after learning how to knit 2 socks at the same time the second sock syndrome disappeared.
Now the last couple of years I have tried and tried to get the flow with knitting socks from the toe and up. I really, really would like to love this method but...
after knitting about 5 socks this way I still have problem getting the knitting to flow. I like socks with an instep and knitting from the toe up makes this a bit awkward for me. Knitting cuff down is easy, just knit the heel flap as long as I want it, make the heel shaping  pick up stitches along the sides of the heel flap, decrease until you have the right amount of stitches. Easy peasy!
On the other hand I love the cast on when knitting toe up, I use the Turkish cast on ad it is sooo smooth  Increasing at the toes are fun but then...
Knitting the socks from the toe up I have to "know" where to place the first increases for the instep, Then I need to "know" where to stop. This continues, I feel trapped, I need to measure and calculate far more than cuff down. I just can not get the flow with these socks.
These my latest toe-ups with an instep heel turned out quite well but there were no music when I knitted these.

So I decided to try a completely new heel for me. I knitted the complete sock straight up after the toe shaping with only one exception, I knitted the stitches at the back of my sock on a spare yarn piece the same way as when knitting a thumb on a pair of gloves, slipped the stitches back to my left needle and then continued to knit with the sock yarn over the spare yarn.

After the length of the sock were knitted and the socks were cast off, yes to at the same time with Magic-Loop. I picked up the stitches around the spare yarn, removed the spare yarn and decreased at the sides.

These socks were unbelievable easy to knit. I made a pair in two days! The foot became a bit to long hence the heel sits to far up my leg but they became quite good for a first try. I will try this way of knitting toe up socks again but I still prefer Knitting the cuff down way.

Taking those sock pictures reminds me that I really, Really should get a sock blocker!
Either buy or make some...

Shh!

I thought I might break the silence over here and start blogging again. Ravelry is fun but, sometimes I do not find the right place there to express myself.

So what have I been up to the last two years since I blogged? Well, I got unemployed, studied Finnish for 1,5 years and have now a temporary job.

I have had some new fiber related happenings too. The latest thing is the completion of Purple Cotton Light. It is knitted after the pattern "Still Light" by Veera Välimäki. I love it!




Somehow I have been lured to start ordering yarn from Wollmeise! To order from there is like a sport, you have to prepare by knowing what colorways you prefer, log in a certain time a week when the stock is updated and then fast go for what you want. If you hesitate you will loose the game and no yarn will come to you with the postman. For most colorways there are no pictures of the yarn so you just have to take a chance. By browsing through other peoples stashes at Ravelry you will however know approximately how a colorway will look in real life. These skeins has been purchased in the intention to become a winter version of Still Light. The Colorway is Ballerina and it is Wollmeises 100% Superwash Merino yarn.



I played around some with some yarn in my stash and all of a sudden i had new a hat for the winter season!
It needs some decorations for a more finished look but it is warm as it is. I can not decide what I should decorate it with...



So that was something for the top, something for the body, so let's have a little something for the feet too. Lime green socks made of Novita Nalle yarn that has been soaked in Aloe Vera. This seasons only socks so far. My old socks start to get worn out so I do need to knit more socks but I just do not seem to have the inspiration for it.

Sock yarn at Liedl

Could sock yarn from Liedl be any good? The content and yarn weight is the same as in Trekking, Opal, Regia...

I had to buy a Package just to try it out. The yarn was quite popular since they got the yarn in yesterday and there were only one colourway and 3 packages left when I came in today.

For those of you that do not know about Liedl: It is a german low budget chain of stores that get special offers in twice every week. Their plan is that what they get in should leave the shelfes asap so they keep a rather low price and when gone they might not have that product again.

Garter all over again.

Since last year I have knitted several projects in garter stitch. I used to hate garter stitch so what has happened? Well garter has it's advantages. it is stretchy, and the edges will not roll. I have found many interesting patterns using garter that has been very interesting too me. My garter fever started last summer when I found a jacket on drops pages knitted in their sock yarn. As my sock yarn stash is extensive I fast found some Opal Magic that I purchased a couple of years ago. Two months later I was done and quite happy with the end result.

This July it was time to again start a large Garter stitch project. This time it was a garter stitch skirt that cought my interest. I have however been a bit taken back by the project when the yarn I have used had been used before and the first used ball of yarn gave a completely different gauge so I will have to cut away 30cm from the beginning.

To boost my spirit I decided to try a different angle on making socks. I bought at the knitting symposium in Norway last year a leaflet fo Krija Kongsbak where they had a sock knitted sideways.
Look here is my first sock before I have seamed the sides together:

And here is the first sock after sides was connected:

Next I will have to try sideways knitted gloves in garter and maybe some multidirectional garter garments will sneek in among the WIP's too...

Yarn diet

This year has been a very productive year, I have knitted and completed more projects than ever before and many far more complex and larger than the years before. One of the goals I have been working toward is to slim down my stash. Do not get me wrong, I love my stash but I feel a bit crowded. I really need to free some space so that the family can move around freely and get some drawers to other stuff.

I have during the spring knitted two dresses, two skirts, one summer cardi, a pair of socks and two hats for me and a cardigan for the little one. I have completed two UFO's one jumper and a pair of gloves.

I have been very good, avoiding the yarnstore and not ordered yarns from online. Pleased with myself I assumed that now I must have been able to at least match the knitting with the speed I aquire yarn. Well one of the dresses I did purchase yarn for and since I had some left I "had" to purchase more of the same dyelot to be able to complete one more project of this. And then summer came and I visited Kampes Spinneri and Daisy Design in Gothenburg and suddenly I had purchased almost the same amount that had been knitted, Ugh!

What we can learn from this is that yarndiet is just as hard as an ordinary diet. You controle yourself for months but then make a few misstakes and most of your efforts are undone. The difference with the yarndiet is however that you have some beatiful FO(Finnished Objects) to make you happier and the added weight will one day also turn in to some beatiful FO that will make you happy both during their creations and after.

Time to wake up!

Ok, I have been knitting, I really have. And I have tried to be active on Ravelry but lately it seems I log in to ravelry just to try to find some action but I do not. I joined a KAL at Ravelry and it seems I am the only one actively knitting at the moment.

The project is Rosalind and here is my latest picture(2 days old) of my version.


I am now done with the frons and back, first arm is 2" and growing.

I will try to be more active here at my blog. Ravelry is fun but I can express myself differently here on the blog soo, in the future less time at ravelry and more on the blog.

Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it

I know, and we all know that when your project starts to feel wrong something most definatlely is wrong!

Knowing this I was so eager to finish my almost ready "holiday-project" that even though I knew that the neckline would not work I continued until it was time to cast off.
The neckline was and still is, the last and only thing left to do.
I had to rip it, I started a second neckline, I knew it was not a good one but continued and then ripped it. And then... ... and ripped it!

This time I will make it properly and make it work. I hope I will be ready and have a new camera to document for all of you a FO by the weekend.

Stay tuned!

Holiday knitting and yarn, yarn, yarn.

After The Nordic knitting symposium in Joensuu it was time for holiday. I had planned to do a lot of knitting and get some FO but I have only produced a lot of test swatches and started with 5-6 different things none is close to be finished and some may never become a FO.

On our yearly trip home to Sweden I visited for the first time Kampes Ullspinneri in Ullervad just outside Mariestad. Every time we go to Sweden we pass through Ullervad on our way to visit my now 93 year old grandma. I have known about the spinnery for years but this was my first visit to their shop but I can assure you not my last. What I like especially is their crochet cotton. They have 200 gram balls in a many colors and a few different weights.

This is the kind of yarn I started to knit with some 25 years ago since it was very affordable then and still is today and procuces a nice fabric with 3mm needles.
And Kampes have two different lilac colors in my liking, I bought 600gram in color 686 and then one hank of laceweight combed wool 20/2 in color 218.
Kampes webpage is an disaster, really, but you can find the yarns there and you can order by writing an e-mail to them. No prices is given for the yarns on the webpages but as you can see on my picture especially the cottons are very affordable.

On our way home we took a slightly longer route to be able to visit Tapion Kauppa only 100km from where I live it could very well be the largest yarn shop in Finland but I was not in the mood but still 600gram of purple alpaca yarn from garnstudio and 500gram white bamboo yarn from Novita came home with me from there.

Nordic Knitting Symposium in Joensuu part 1

I spent last week in Joensuu at the Nordic Knitting Symposium. I have a lot to tell but no time. I have bags to unpack, clothes to wash and bags to pack.

I took four workshops:
I saw amazing knitting:
 

 
 
I met old and new fiends:
  

We went to the top of the world:

Dyening some yarn

A friend of mine Celebrated her birthday last week. As she is an amazing lace knitter I purchased two hanks of Merino Oro that I knitted together on the knitting mashine dyed
and unravelled as I have described in a previous post.  
My friend likes blue and red and this is how the balls of yarn looked when ready to be wrapped in gift wrapping.


I was worried my friend would not like the yarn but I had no reason to, she loved it and I am happy.

New inspiration - New sweater

These flowers are so pretty.

I have been swatching for a forgetmenot sweater. The real thing is the summer holiday knitting and has been on the needles for three weeks.

I'll get back to you on this one after the holiday.