New on the needles

While finishing Louise I already had some new ideas. First of all I wanted to knit a pair of socks as a Christmas gift so that had priority. This time I even managed to knit an identical pair, something that doesn't happen to me very often because I always miscalculate the leftover yarn. But I'm considering to try out the "magic loop" technique to be able to knit both socks simultaneously so that I can distribute the yarn more evenly.

After finishing the socks I decided to give my old Estonian mittens a bit of a fix because they were so worn out around the finger tips. I'm not sure if it'll work but I'm trying to knit a lining so that it will be more stable. I also considered darning or reinforcing but it's not in a very convenient place and it would destroy the nice pattern. We'll see if it works, otherwise I still have enough spare pairs of mittens on stock.

And, of course, as it is getting colder I got into the Lopi-mood again and I ordered *ooops* icelandic yarn for two new jumpers. I want to make a "Hela" by Védís Jónsdóttir for myself and, because it was on offer, a "Riddari" by the same designer. Lopipeysar just never get boring! And they're so wonderfully quick to knit, exactly my kind of thing. We'll see if I manage to keep my productivity rate at this pace, somehow I have the feeling I might end up with RSI if I continue like this.

 

Me & Louise

Another project finished! I'm quite please with my productivity rate at the moment and I'm equally pleased with the result. To be honest, I'm not sure if this falls already under the "obsessive" category but I also started knitting on the metro in the mornings, at conferences, in cafés...   and I'm already looking forward to the Christmas break when I'll have nothing else to do but eat, sleep and knit.

My latest project was inspired by Carrie Bostick Hoge's "Louise" although I have to admit that I didn't buy the pattern (sorry, Carrie!) but I just made up my own. It's a fairly simply raglan shape with set-in sleeves, nothing complicated. I especially liked the colour combination with grey/turquoise/yellow and when I found some merino yarn on offer I thought of "Louise" immediately.

In the close ups you can see that my stockinette stitch is still slightly crooked, in spite of the blocking. I think I must do something funny on the purl-side because when I knit in the round it comes out more evenly. It doesn't bother me massively but once you see it you cannot un-see it! Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be?

If you're interested in more details about the project you can visit my Ravelry page.

                 

Belgian Raveler Meeting 2014

Most of you knitters are probably also regular users (or abusers) of Ravelry, like me. For those of you who don't know it I would probably describe it as "facebook for people who like knitting" but it is actually much more because it has an incredible amount of free patterns and links to shops, designers and yarn sellers and on top if this you can display and exchange your own projects, measure your progress and get help if you are stuck with a pattern. It is, in short, every knitter's dream!

I have been a member for a few years but only started using it seriously about a year ago when I started documenting my projects by uploading pictures and posting comments but even then I was not very active in the forums and groups. I only joined one group which unites all Belgian knitters online and is interesting to use as a resource besides my regular "Stitch'n'Bitch" meet-up in Brussels (to be perfectly honest I have not managed to go to many meetings lately but I mainly follow via facebook).

Once a year, the Belgian Ravelers meet up offline as well (or "irl" as I heard it is called by the young people nowadays) and I joined them in Gent in October for the first time. It was a truly delightful experience! About 40 knitters in a café, knitting away or trading yarn and discussing projects, kind of like our weekly meetings but just much, much bigger. I also saw a few familiar faces from Brussels but basically people were coming from all over the country and even from France. I was very impressed by the skills that people brought to the table and interested to learn about new "trends". 

I think the most intriguing thing I learned was about the whole "Wollmeise" craze which, to be honest, I cannot really understand. Yes, it is a lovely yarn and I like that it is hand dyed and all that jazz but since I'm really more in for the basic, raw wool yarns I can't see what the fuss is about. Maybe I should give it a try though since it seems to be so immensely popular. Oh, and the second interesting thing I learned was that you can raise your own silkworms, harvest the thread, spin it into yarn and then actually eat the silkworms to make the sustainability life cycle complete. After that, there wasn't much left to say. 

 

Stash update & fleamarket finds

More yarn, more fun! I got another delivery from Latvia, a very colourful one. I haven't decided what to do with this fiery colour-combination but I liked the quality for fair-isle knitting. The only problem is that the shades resemble each other too much and there is not enough contrast so it might be difficult to find a good pattern. Any suggestions are welcome.

The white yarn is going to be used for a Shetland lace shawl, at least that's the ambitious plan I have after receiving a book on lace knitting from Scotland from my Mum. The blue yarn is a similar quality but a different brand so that might go into some nice woolen mittens, ideally with another contrasting colour. I'll see if I can find something from the same brand online.

Oh, and did I mention that I was a regular at fleamarkets this autumn? This also included an excursion to Germany where I found those amazing original 1970s Swedish clogs. What can I say, it was love at first sight (although I'm sure my downstairs neighbour will love it a little less, those wooden soles are damn noisy).

 

I know what I did this summer

It's probably not the most beautiful city and definitely not the sunniest one but there's absolutely nothing wrong with spending the summer in Brussels. Proof can be found below. Picnics, fleamarkets, concerts, festivals, markets, food and of course countless crafting sessions made up a wonderful summer, only to be followed by an equally exciting autumn in my favourite city.

 

Autumnal creativity

It's high time for a knitting update! Because I finally finished my scallop jumper, sleeves and all,  and even though I'm better at posting pictures on Ravelry I'm so excited that I want to share them on my blog, too. And, by the way, this is the original Top Shop jumper that served as inspiration. Thank you, internet.

 Besides the jumper I also managed to squeeze in a beret in preparation of colder days (finally!), a project with leftover yarn from my fair-isle cardigan. I used the "Kim" pattern from Madeleine Weston's and Rita Taylor's book "Knit Vintage" which I found in the public library by chance. It's a lovely pattern if maybe a little too big (this time I really made sure I used the right gauge but it seems like I just have a small head).

I currently have another cardigan in the making and this weekend my stash was (not so miraculously) enlarged by a donation of some wonderful Latvian wool yarn in all shades of red and blue. Pictures soon to come.