Yarn Along

What are you knitting and reading this week? I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along.

We are in the third day of cold weather here, the second with -25 C, so I'm feeding the woodstove and are drinking tea today.

Knitting: In one of the Norwegian groups on Ravelry we are trying to knit up our stash. And one way of doing it is by picking out about 600 g of yarn and try to knit it up by the end of April. Here's a photo of the yarn I found in my stash. and one of the balls of yarn I found was a ball of Freedom Spirit I have had in my stash for years. I think I got it in a swap and have never known what to knit out of it as it's just 50 g. But after some browsing on Ravelry I decided to cast on a pair of Nalu mitts. And they are turning out great :)

Reading: Last night I finished The Ice Twins. And what a heartbreaking story it was! So if you haven't read it you must. Tonight I'm starting The Husband's Secret.

Even though it's freezing cold outside, it's so beautiful and the sky makes promises of a returning sun.
It was cold, but still refreshing when I went for a walk yesterday. All bundled up in wool ;) But despite wearing a woolly tights, my butt and thighs were SO cold when I got home. I might have to knit a pair of Majas Mamelucker to keep warm ;)

2016 The Year of Socks and Mittens

I browsed through my Ravelry page and had to admit that I mostly have knitted socks and mittens last year... Most of them can be found in the collages below. I only knitted 1 hat, 1 cowl, 2 shawls and finished the buttonbands on a jacket besides socks and mittens...
SO, this year I really need to start knitting other things. And I have made a bundle on Ravelry of what I want to knit this year, so we'll see :)
Setesdalskofte and Rygja is on my list as I need to knit myself some new cardigans. Ryðrauð is also a cardigan I'd love to knit or maybe as a sweater like this one. Hearts on a String and Waiting for Rain is two shawls I hope to knit. Of course there is some socks and mittens on my list as well. I can't not have a pair of socks on the needles! But I'll try to knit up most of my leftover sock yarn at the beginning of this year, so because both mine and Hubby's sock drawers are full, the kids will get some new socks first. I think...

2016 in Books

My goal was to read 80 books this year and I managed that and a couple more :)
82 books and 28996 pages.
You can find more info about the books in My year in books 2016

My favorites
En fisk til Luna
Kistemakeren
Belgravia
Iron House
The Napolitan Novels 2 And 3
Drums of Autumn
The Storm Sister
Evna
The Apple Tart of Hope
The Architect's Apprentice

Countries visited for my Around the World in books project.
- Ethiopia in Tobbia
- Italy in The Napolitan Novels
- Turkey in The Architect's Apprentice
- Peru in Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
- Germany in Instituttet for de siste ønsker

On The Needles :: Totoro Mittens

What are you knitting and reading this week?
I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along and Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm and Craft On.

The days just seem to flew by and suddenly it's Wednesday again... It's raining today so what little daylight we have is dark and gloomy, so sorry for bad photos. Anyhow, I've brewed a cup of tea, have the fire going in the wood stove and my knitting trying to ignore the lousy weather.

Knitting: It has been cast on all the things lately... There is so much I want to knit! And I'm sure I'm not alone feeling like that now and then ;) Right now I'm trying to finish up my daughter's Totoro mittens before christmas. It's going to be a part of her gift. Which means I need to knit the boys something too - not sure what yet, but I think it will be socks or mittens. I have my needles ready - just need to find the right yarn.

Reading: I've picked up The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children #6). It says on my Goodread page that I started reading it in April 2011... And I know that I was SO eager to get it as I loved the previous books in the series. But somehow this one didn't keep my interest long enough to read it through. I have been reading a few chapters now and then during the years and was almost halfway through it when I picked it up a few days ago. I have decided to finish it this time and it does seems like the story is getting a bit more exciting.

As the story opens, Ayla, Jondalar, and their infant daughter, Jonayla, are living with the Zelandonii in the Ninth Cave. Ayla has been chosen as an acolyte to a spiritual leader and begins arduous training tasks. Whatever obstacles she faces, Ayla finds inventive ways to lessen the difficulties of daily life, searching for wild edibles to make meals and experimenting with techniques to ease the long journeys the Zelandonii must take while honing her skills as a healer and a leader. And there are the Sacred Caves that Ayla’s mentor takes her to see. They are filled with remarkable paintings of mammoths, lions, and bears, and their mystical aura at times overwhelms Ayla. But all the time Ayala has spent in training rituals has caused Jondalar to drift away from her. The rituals themselves bring her close to death, but through them Ayla gains A Gift of Knowledge so important that it will change her world. - from Goodreads -

I have finished a couple of things since last week. First is a pair of Bird mittens. They turned out a little to small for me, so I'll have to knit another pair using a needles size larger and in the colours leighsideknits used for her mittens.

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Bird Mittens from Norske vottar og vantar
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1.5 and 3 mm / US 2.5

Trying to photograph purple in the light we have now is almost impossible... but you get the idea. And yes, I have used two different yarn dyelots as I am trying to knit up my stash.

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Fidelio (free pattern)
Yarn: 107 g Ida Strømpegarn #336
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1.5
Size: small

On The Needles :: Snow Lily

What are you knitting and reading this week?
I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along and Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm and Craft On.

Knitting: I cast these on yesterday and somehow knitting colourwork goes so much faster than knitting a plain sock... The pattern is Snow Lily, a free pattern from Drops I've had in my queue for years.

Reading: After finishing The Book of Speculations a few days ago, which was a good read, I picked up Hålke at the library since it seems like everyone is reading it here these days. Not sure if it will be translated into english, but who knows. So far the story is good.

The streets are covered with slippery ice, inside are Ebba and Karl. 

Ebba and Karl have been married for almost a lifetime. They have shared their joys and sorrows, they have raised children together, loved, betrayed and deceived. Wounds have arisen, bruises are healed. Now they are pensioners, with aging bodies, it is winter, and when the world one day is glazed in thick and hard ice, when the municipality can not afford to sprinkle the ice with sand, when a broken femoral neck could mean the beginning of the end, so they stay inside. 

Ebba and Karl are a married couple who may still feel the tensions between them, both as erotic attraction and as a quivering and sometimes unsettling undertone. In one day, two days, several days, they have only each other. The coffee runs out, and the bread. The feeling of being trapped, the insulation, the marital dynamics ... during some winter days are past betrayal, brutality and uncertainty in living and traveling the dangerous and impossible question: What is love worth? - from Goodreads -

FO :: Revespor Socks

Revespor or Fox tracks socks are done and more sock yarn has left my stash :)
The few hours of daylight we have now is so gloomy and blue so the photos are not capturing the real colours... Just imagine the orange a little darker and brighter.

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Revespor (free pattern)
Yarn: Sisu in orange and white, Senjagarn in grey and Ida Strømpegarn in black.
Needles: 2,5 - I wish I had gone up a needles size on the pattern part, but they fit and I know they will get looser when worn a couple of times.
Size: 64 sts

My favorite part is the white tip of the fox tail toe :)

FO :: Socks

I just love these socks!
It's such a great pattern for using up leftovers and those single 50 g balls of solid color in your stash.
I know I'll have to knit more in other colors.

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Socks with pattern (free pattern)
Yarn: Various, Fabel, Sisu, Ida and Senjagarn, 81 g total
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1.5
Size: 64 sts

We went hiking to our lean-to today to stack up some wood there for the winter, made a bonfire and enjoyed a cup of tea and cacao :)  It's been a very dry fall/early winter here and no snow yet... It's great to don't have to shuffle snow and it's easy to hike in the forest, but I really would like some snow to lighten up the days now as the polar nights are coming.

And even if the sun is not high enough to shine on us, she makes the most beautiful sunsets!

FO :: Norwegain Mittens

Well, I thought the next mittens to show up finished here was going to be my daughters Totoro mittens... But no. My Hubby so kindly (?) said that I of course could knit two pairs of mittens for some of his friends wives, without asking me first. So after buying some yarn for it and picking a pattern that would knit up fast, I managed to knit these up in a couple of days.
I must confess that this was not a mindless enjoyable knit. I had so many other projects that I wanted to knit on, but I pushed through and I'm glad I did because they turned out great. So I really hope they will be appreciated!

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Norwegian Mittens for Mimi (free pattern)
Yarn: Mor Aase in white #1001 and dark grey #1088
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1.5 and 3 mm / US 2.5
Size: Woman

On The Needles :: Leftover Socks

What are you knitting and reading this week?
I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along and Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm and Craft On.

Knitting: While I was looking for yarn for my Fidelio socks (which is in a timeout right now due to some mistake involving ripping back cables...), I saw that I have a lot of solid sockyarn leftovers and single 50 g balls. So I decided I needed to knit them up and went pattern browsing. The first one I wanted to knit was a pair of Socks with pattern from Drops. And I quite like how they turned out :) I might have to knit them up in another colour combination.

Reading: I've been waiting for this book - The Book of Speculations at the library for some time. And I must say it was worth the wait. It SO good!! I am just a few chapters in, but I love the ones set at the circus. A must read if you haven't already.

Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.

One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.

As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon's family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola? - from Goodreads -

Mittens

In my absent, I have knitted lots of mittens. I'm trying to use up my yarn and as it's getting colder, mittens seems to be the thing to knit ;) The kids need new mittens, but none of these are for them... I'll most likely sell all of these or gift them to someone. I have two more pairs on the needles that will be finished during the next days, one of them a pair of Totoro mittens for my daughter. But if you'd like more info about these mittens, you'll find it over on Ravelry.

Hello Again

It wasn't planned to have such a long blog pause, but it has felt good.
I have knitted a lot this month and a half. All without having the feeling that I need to take a photo of it right away and post it here, on Ravelry and Instagram. And it have felt good to just put the finished project aside (some times without sewing in the ends) and just cast on a new project. Hopefully the mojo to blog again is back and I'll try to blog more regular again. If you'll like to have a look at what I have knitted since last time, check out my Ravelry page :)

Right now I have a pair of Fidelio socks on the needles. Just love the cables!

We've had a very nice fall here up in the north. With warmth weather, almost no rain and foggy mornings. But now as we have November and the sun is about to leave us until January, I long for some snow.