Mittens in black and white

About two weeks ago I was in the library to see if I could find some knitting magazines. Imagine, me looking for knitting magazines. Me, just a beginner when it comes to knitting.

For sometime already I have had in mind to perhaps find a pattern for knitting a sweater. Then I saw the mittens in black and white (Pictures scanned from Novita knitting magazine) and decided right there that I’m going to knit myself one more pair of mittens. I read the instructions which did not seem too difficult. I thought it piece of cake even for a beginner knitter like me. I’ll knit the sweater later.

Well, it was a piece of cake all the way till I began to decrease the stitches. I soon found out I couldn’t get the pattern correctly done, not matter what. I tore it three times and then just did it may way. Next I was in trouble with the thumbs. Same thing, couldn’t get it right. I tore it down once and gave up and knitted the thumbs in black. Black did not look good to me so I made them in white. I’m happy I got the project finished and was able to prove my, ever supportive, loving, husband wrong, who predicted the project probably was too hard for me 🙂

New Pair Of Socks

Yes, new pair of socks 🙂 This time for my husband. I asked him in what color he would like to have them. It was not at all a surprise that he chose blue as it is his favorite color 😀

Second Pair Of Socks ~ Bouquet Of Tulips ~ First Anemone Hepatica

Look, my second pair of socks 🙂 I actually finished them more than a month ago but have not had the energy to neither take a picture or write anything.  The yarn I used for the socks in charcoal gray only has 40% of wool. This light gray yarn has 75% wool. These socks are much warmer.

How sweet of my very good friend and her family to cheer me up with this wonderful bouquet of tulips when I came back from the hospital. She knows how much I love flowers and specially to take pictures of them. Thank you so much Sari.

Hurray ! It’s spring 🙂 Sinivuokot, Blåsipporna the Anemone Hepatica are in bloom. My husband saw them in bloom already while I was in the hospital but I saw my first ones of the spring on Sunday when I was out for a short walk with Canelo.

Sock (s)

Well, well, well :=) Here it is. “The Sock”.

As i mentioned before I have not been knitting much in my life. The mittens I made were my first pair of mittens. In the end of the 60’s I knitted a sweater. I would not have been able to do it without a lot of help from a friend of mine. And I have knitted 3 pairs of socks long ago. I think it was in the beginning of the 70’s. Oh, and a knitted sweater and skirt. Back then I thought it turned out pretty well. Today I think it did neither look good nor fit well at all. I even wore the outfit at work ! Gosh, thinking of it now makes me feel so embarrassing.  Well, that was about 45 years ago I guess and hope no one other than me are able to remember it anymore.

Back to “the sock”.  Not the perfect one but a sock. After struggling a bit with the heel I finished the sock yesterday. Then I had used all the yarn. On the way back home from my language lesson I went to the shop, from where I bought the yarn for all my knitted works, to buy one more yarn skein. Oh no, there was no more of them. I asked whether they are going to have some more of them. Unfortunately, she said, no, not for now. Maybe in the fall. I was very disappointed. I went to couple of other shops. Nope, could not find the same kind and same color. The internet, yes the internet. I found the manufacturer of the yarn and was able to order one skein. That was yesterday so I think I will have it on Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile I am going to buy more yarn today, but not in grey, to knit yet an other pair of socks.

Mittens

After finishing the knitted scarf there was again, as was after the knitted hat, some yarn over.  On Tuesday I bought some more and began knitting mittens. I found a real simple basic pattern on the web. I have not knitted much in my life and was a bit skeptical about the project. I am pretty surprised to have finished them in two days. There is a slight difference in the size and some other minor mistakes. It does not matter. They are good enough to wear when I walk the dog. Also this time there’s yarn leftover. I think I have to try to knit socks as well.  I need to find a simple sock knitting pattern.

Knitted Scarf

For about a month ago I finished my knitted cap.  It’s a bit too big but I use it every day 🙂

As there was still some yarn left after I had finished the cap I came up with the idea to knit a scarf. I looked for patterns on the net. I found a pattern that seemed easy enough.

The yarn is, “Impivaara sukkalanka”, for socks. Maybe not the best choice of yarn for a hat and a scarf. It has 40% wool, 35% acrylic, 25% polyamide.  Recommended needles number 4. The use of yarn for my scarf is about 260 grams. Cast on 51 stitches. Begin each row with 2 K, 2 P all the way. End the row with one P. My scarf is 150 cm/59 inch long,  13 cm/5,1 inch wide. I think about 10 cm wide (47 stitches) would have been wide enough.

As after the hat, there is, again, some yarn left. So who knows, maybe I’ll think of something yet to knit 😉

Knitted Hat

As soon as I had finished the knitted pot holder I started to knit a hat. I already long ago had looked for a pattern on DROPS Design. The instructions did not seem too complicated. In two days I finished it. I was eager to try it on. Oh no! I should have knitted a medium size and not a large. Leif was laughing out loud when he saw me.  He suggested holes for the eyes as it fell down so I was unable to see anything. Hah-hah-haa . . . A rubber band and a “tupsu/tofs” was the solution. Now I can use it. The hat on DROPS’ pages looks a bit different but I’m okay with the way mine looks.

Finally ! The Second Potholder !

I have finished knitting the second potholder 🙂 I knitted the first one about two years ago. Neither of them is perfect. The one I made last week is a bit bigger than the first one. As you can see I, this time,  made so many mistakes on the cats. Some cats got too many rounds and some too few.  Also my stitches are too loose causing the size difference. Too late I realized it was about 2,5 cm larger.

Next I want to make a knitted hat. I chose a simple pattern. I already bought some yarn in gray. It would be nice to have the hat finished in time to wear it this winter but knowing me it may as well turn out an other project going on for years and years 😉

Grytlappsprojektet är avslutat efter ungefär 6-7 år ! Skönt 🙂 Det var enerverande att veta att jag hade något liggande i knutarna som behövde göras. Tyvärr blev denna andra lapp inte alls bra. Jag borde ha kollat stickfastigheten. Denna gång stickade jag mycket lösare vilket gjorde att den blev ca 2,5-3 cm större än den andra. Synd också att kattorna blev olika. Ibland hade jag stickat för många varv på dem och ibland för få. Grrr, märkte alla fel först när den var färdig ! Måste ha varit fel på koncentrationen. Men det är som det är och den får lov att duga.

Annars, det blev kvar garn som räcker till ännu en lapp. Så kanske jag någongång stickar en som blir den perfekta 😉 Men före det har jag ett annat projekt i tankarna. Skall försöka sticka en mössa. Jag köpte redan garn. Hoppeligen får jag den färdig så att jag kan använda den redan denna vinter 😀

Kudotut Patalaput Stickade grytlappar Pot Holders

Projekti jota aloitin yli neljä vuotta sitten.

Silloin nimittäin näin yhdessä lehdessä kuvat ja ohjeet kudotuista patalapuista misä söpöjä kissoja. Kissahullu kun olen niin päätin oitis että niitähän minä teen.  Enkä edes yhtään epäillyt taitoaani. Miten monta aloitusta ja yhtä monta kertaa jouduin purkaamaan ! Joko silmukoita oli liian monta tai niitä oli liian vähä tai sekoilin valkoisen ja harmaan värin kanssa tai koko työ meni solmuun tai olin tiputtanut silmukoita. Tapahtui vaikka mitä. Olin jo sitä mieltä etten iki maailmassa enää kudo mitään. Silti, asia jäi vaivaamaan minua. Aina vaan, joka vuosi, päätin että, nyt . . . NYT, hitsi, nyt minä sen teen. Miten voi olla mahdollista etten pystyisi ! Ovi kiinni ettei Lefa pääse sotkemaan ajatuksiani. Sitten vaan keskittymään kunnolla.

Nyt se on siinä ! Kiitos DROPSin opastuvideopätkää. Oli päässyt unohtumaan miten pääsen eroon silmukoista. Olin päättänyt että jos tämä tästä ikinä valmistuu niin toista en tee. Ikini ei pitäisi sanoa ikinä. Nyt sormet jo syyhyää ja odotan innolla toisen aloittamista.

‘Project’ grytlappar tog fyra år !

För fyra år sedan såg jag i, jag tror det var, Hemmets Veckotidning eller Journal, mönster på stickade grytlappar med söta, söta kattor.  Dom skulle jag minsann sticka. Lefas kusin Britt var på väg till oss så jag bad henne skaffa mig garn eftersom jag misstänkte att garnet nämnt i tidningen inte kunde fås i Finland. Ja hon hade garnet och stickor med sig. När hon hade rest så började jag genast, full av iver, att sticka. I mina vildaste fantasi kunde jag inte ens tänka mig att jag skylle misslyckas. Jag fick nog bittert erfara att det inte alls var så lätt som jag hade trott. Jgg vet inte hur många gånger jag började om från början på grund av att jag hade för många maskor, för få maskor, tappat maskor, stickat med fel färg, eller fått tvinn på stickningen. Ja allt som man bara kunde göra fel. Det retade mig alldeles otroligt att inte klara av en sådan enkel sak ! Så under årenas lopp har jag gjort otaliga nya försök men efter alla nya misslyckanden gett upp. För tre dagar sedan tog jag fram påsen med mönster, garn och stickor för en absolut sista gång. Nu eller aldrig. Jag stängde dörren för att inte bli distraherad av Lefas prat. Jag konsentrerade mig till hundra procent.  Tyvärr hade jag glömt hur man maskar av. Tack vare DROPS fina, utförliga instruktionsvideo fixade jag även det. Så nu, NU är den färdig ! Några små fel men dom stör mig inte.

Ännu medan jag stickade så tänkte jag att lyckas jag med denna så skall jag åtminstone inte sticka några fler. Men nu är jag full av energi och inspiration att börja sticka en till så fort som möjligt.

Finished an old project after four years 🙂

After so many attempts and mistakes over the years I finally got it right. It was so much harder than I had ever thought.  I’m happy I didn’t give up. Now I am already planning on making one more.

tisdag 27.3. 2012

 Ganska många som letat efter stickade grytlappar på nätet har kommit in på min sida.  Här kommer nu stickbeskrivningen och diagrammet för grytlappen med kissekatterna.  Kanske någon lika kattgalen som jag vill sticka sådana.