FO :: Kvikk Lunsj Hats

Kvikk Lunsj is the norwegian version of KitKat. And it's the chocolate we norwegians bring along with us when we go hiking, skiing or just a walk in the forest. On the inside of the wrapping you an find descriptions for trails or hikes ;) And we can upload photos and descriptions on our own hikes and share our Kvikk Lunsj moments on this page.
There's been a free pattern for a hat knitted in the Kvikk Lunsj colors, but a while ago Freia and Hillesvåg ullvarefabrikk got together and made a kit with a pattern and yarn in the right colors. And I had to buy one. The kit has enough yarn for two hats in the biggest size. These two are in the smallest size and I could have made one more if there was just a little bit more red yarn...

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Kvikk Lunsj Lue - a kit from Ull.no
Yarn: Hifa Hjerte - Superwash 4. I used about 14 g green, 5 g white, 8 g yellow and 20 g red for each hat.
Needles: 2,5 mm / Us 1,2 and 3 mm / US 2,5
Size: Child
Made for: Endre and Eirin.
Started: March 23, 2014
Completed: March 28, 2014

We changed to summer time here today.
So we got a load of snow and more is going to come... Totally normal this time of year here in the arctic ;)

FO :: Green Rye

After I saw a pair of Rye knitted in fingering yarn a while ago I knew I had to make a pair myself.
And here they are :) They fit perfect and I think I'll cast on another pair soon.
The color was a bit hard to capture - it's a bit more green than it shows up here.

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Rye (free pattern)
Modifications: I casted on 64 sts and knitted garter sts over 20 of them.
Yarn: 77 g Yummy Fingering Super Sock #Candy Skein 1st Birthday
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1,5
Made for: Me
Size: 64 sts - european 39/40
Started: March 15, 2014
Completed: March 21, 2014

On The Needles :: Nancy, Angee and Rye

Joining Yarn Along :: WIP Wedensday :: Keep Kalm Craft On
What's on your needles today?

Knitting: I'm finally starting to see the end of my Nancy cardigan. I had to send it to my mom this weekend so she could sew the seams in the front with her sewing machine as mine is not working right... I picked up the stitches for the button bands earlier today and have knitted a few rows. Hopefully I will have it done by the end of the week :) I think I have some old buttons I can use. If not I'll have to make it to the yarn store. I'm almost done with my pair of Angee. Love how they knit up!
I saw a pair of Rye knitted in fingering yarn on a blog a while ago, and knew I had to make some one day. Well, it's the perfect mindless project so I just cast on the number of stitches I normally do for a pair of vanilla socks and the first one just flew off the needles :)

Reading: I finsihed The Search for the Red Dragon this weekend and it was good. I didn't know what to read next, but I had picked up Reached from the library a while ago, so I gave it a try. The first two books in this dystopian series was quite good, but I just couldn't get into this one, so I gave up.
Instead I'm going to finish Blacklands which have been sitting among my knitting and I've been reading a few pages now and then. Not sure what I'll read after that - there are SO many books I want to read!!

I haven't been knitting much today as the baking mojo hit me :)
Great to fill up the freezer with bread, cinnamon rolls and ham and cheese rolls!

Arne & Carlos - A Display at the local library

The local library are having a display with some of Arne and Carlos' works.
Great to see both known and unknown knitwear.

FO :: Rye

I casted on the first pair of Rye on the first day warm enough for knitting outdoors this year :)
It's an easy project and have been my mindless knitting for some weeks now. And I just had to cast on a new pair when the first one was done. So Hubby and I have a pair each :)

Pattern: Rye (free pattern)
Yarn: Raggegarn, 118 g black and 94 g purple
Needles: 3,5 mm / US 4 and 4 mm / US 6
Made for: Hubby and me
Size: M and L
Started: February 23, 2014
Completed: March 13, 2014



Linking up with FO Friday :: Creative Friday :: Fiber Arts Friday

On the Needles :: Angee & Holmenkollen

Joining Yarn Along :: WIP Wedensday :: Keep Kalm Craft On
What's on your needles today?

Knitting: I felt the need for a pair of socks with some texture pattern. So I flipped through Sock Innovation and found Angee. I just hope I have enough yarn... I have split the skein in two so we'll see. I haven't touched my Nancy jacket yet. I have to build up some courage to do the steeking! So instead I cast on a sweater for Eirin, the Holmenkollen sweater. I had some yarn I got from my mom's stash, but I think I am going to ran out of yarn before I start the yoke... Hopefully I will get some more in the same colour even though it won't be the same dye lot...

Reading: I started The Search for the Red Dragon last night. This is the second book in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. I really liked the first book, so I am hoping this one will be just as good.

It always amazes me how just a few simple stitch like knit and purl, a few yarn overs and some decreasing can make such intricate patterns.

FO :: Squirrel Socks

My Squirrel Socks are done :)
Sorry for bad photos today - I used my phone...
But don't them make you happy? I knew I had to make a pair in these colours after I saw Nasti's pair a while ago. And lucky me - I had the right colours in my stash :)
And the other day I saw this pair - Love the colours, so there might be a brighter pair of these squirrels soon!

Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: The Squirrel Socks (free pattern)
Modifications: I knit them cuff down and with a heel flap instead of a short row heel.
Yarn: Sisu, 39 g dark grey #1088 Silja, 16 g grey #305, 16 g white #37 and 17 g red #309
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1,5
Size: 64 sts, european 39/40
Made for: Me
Started: February 27, 2014
Completed: March 6, 2014



Linking up with FO Friday :: Creative Friday :: Fiber Arts Friday

After I posted about colourwork knitting in my last post, I came in mind that I should have mention that it's important to block.
I always steam block my colourwork knitting, but not the ribbing or the heel!
Below you can see a before and after photo of my squirrel socks. Espesially the toe got a bit wrinkly, but after steam blocking it, it came out flat and neat.

Before                       After

On the Needles :: Nancy & Squirrel socks

Joining Yarn Along :: WIP Wedensday :: Keep Kalm Craft On
What's on your needles today?

Knitting: I've come to the part where I have to bring out my sewing machine on my Nancy jacket... But I think I'll wait a couple of days before I'll do the steeking. In the meantime I can knit on my Squirrel socks :) They are a fun knit. I'm about to turn the heel on the first sock.

Reading: I've just finished the two books in the Highland series and although I love to read histirical fiction I needed to change genre for a while. So I picked up a book from the library - The Amulet of Samarkand. Love it so far :)

I got a comment the other day asking if I could show the inside of my colourwork knitting.
Well, here is one photo of my Nancy jacket and one of the last socks I knit and the one on the needles. Hope it can show how the inside of colourwork should look like.

Before you start colourwork knitting there are a few things to think about.

- Decide which strand will be “A” and which will be “B.” You will knit with only one strand at a time, while the other waits for its turn. When you change from using one color to another, keep their orientation consistent.
“A” is the background, or receding, color, and that strand should always cross below the other.
“B” is the foreground, or outstanding, color, and that strand should always cross above the other.

- The second key to stranded colorwork is making the strands of the unused color loose enough to keep the work from puckering. When changing colors, stretch apart the last stitches made in the prior color, and then loosely lay the new color across them on the wrong side. This strand on the back of the work is called a float. Knit with the new color, releasing the tension on the previous stitches. For a tidy look in the back of the work, securing loose strands or “floats”, consider “wrapping” the two colors while knitting. I do this if there are 5 stitches or more of one colour in a row.

Winterbreak

The kids have their winterbreak this week. So we can sleep a little longer in the morning :)
Today the weather has been great so we have spent hours outside.
After hours of fresh air it was good to find my knitting project and a hot cup of tea.
I'm trying to finish my Nancy jacket this week, and have come to the fun part - the yoke :)

    

FO :: Skumle Sokker

My second pair of colourwork socks this month :)
Love them! And yay, they fit me. I was a bit worried they would be to small for me, but they didn't. I might have to knit another pair as they were so fun to knit :)

Ravelry project page
Pattern: Ingrids skumle sokker
Yarn: 53 g Senjagarn blue #306 and 51 g Reliable Sock orange #Muirburn
Needles: 2,5 mm / US 1,5
Size: european 39/40
Made for: Me :)
Started: February 20, 2014
Completed: February 25, 2014

          

         

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey
Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

So, I finsihed Bellman & Black and didn't like it... I had so high hopes for this book as I loved The Thirtheenth Tale by the same author. I'm also reading a few pages now and then in Blacklands, but not much as I have been lost in the world of Vikings and Scots :)

I started On a Highland Shore last Tuesday and I've been reading into the late hours each night since. It's so exciting and when I read the last couple of chapters last night, I was kind a sad it was over... Hopefully the next book will be just as good!

On Scotland's western shore, the village of Somerstrath prepares for the joyous wedding celebration of Margaret MacDonald, the laird's daughter. But a dark storm of bloodshed and betrayal is closing in, as a merciless band of Vikings threatens the Highlands.
Margaret is determined to hold the MacDonald clan together and to locate her abducted younger brother. But can she trust the noblemen from King Alexander's court, who insist that only by adhering to a betrothal conceived for political gain will she find safety? Or should she put her trust in an imposing half-Irish, half-Norse warrior?
Gannon MacMagnus alone offers her hope of reuniting her family and vanquishing the barbarous Norsemen who would continue to rob her people of their God-given right to determine their own destinies. In whom should Margaret entrust the fate of the rugged, magnificent land she calls home?

I just gt to read a few pages in Rivals for the Crown last night, but I think this will be as good as the first book.

1290: The Scottish throne is for the taking after a child queen perishes ... and while bitter foes clamor to seize power, England's Edward I has his own designs on the embattled northern nation. Thrown into the maelstrom of politics, bloodshed, and ambition is Rachel Anjou, exiled to the border town of Berwick after Edward expels all Jews from his kingdom; and her beloved friend Isabel de Burke, immersed in a courtly world of privilege and peril as a lady-in-waiting. In Berwick, dangers abound Rachel, but the tall, dark Highlander Kieran MacDonald presents a risk of a different sort ... while Isabel attracts notice of two men --- an English knight and a Highlander outlaw. And as enmity between the lands reaches its violent peak, each woman must decide where her loyalty, and her destiny, lies ...

I love a good historical fiction. And I am reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I'm thinking about reading Voyager (Outlander #3) after I'm finished with Rivales of the Crown.
I also have the Highlander series in my shelf and are eager to start reading that one too :)
But I'd love to hear if you have a book or a series similar to these on you would recommend!