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Putting Stitches on Hold

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Do you remember that Paul Simon song 50 Ways to Leave your Lover?

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

I’m not planning to leave my lover (don’t worry dear heart). The song just popped up in my mind while I was pondering the many different ways there are to do things in knitting – all those different ways of casting on, binding off, increasing, decreasing etc. It was the cardigan that’s on my needles that set this train of thoughts in motion.

It is knit from the shoulders down, and the stitches for the back and fronts need to be put on hold for a while, and later the stitches for the pocket linings. This time I’ve decided to use plastic cords.

I don’t pretend to hold the key to what way is most suitable for what kind of knitting…

… but I do have some thoughts about the pros and cons of perhaps not 50, but at least 4 ways to put stitches on hold.

1) Needle and thread:

Pros: Inexpensive; always on hand; available in every length; can be knotted to prevent stitches from sliding off
Cons: It can be hard to get the stitches back onto a needle from the thread (the stitches tend to shrink into the row below)

2) Giant coilless safety pins:

Pros: Easy to transfer stitches to and from; can be closed to prevent stitches falling off
Cons: Only suitable for small numbers of stitches; ends may scratch precious needle tips; stitches can only be picked up from one end

3) Spare circular needles:

Pros: Available in many sizes; stitches can easily be transferred back to other needle from both ends
Cons: Needles may get in the way; stitches can slide off
Alternative: Use the cords of interchangeable circulars with end stoppers on (only I don’t have many spares of those)

4) Plastic cords
(Mine were a birthday gift and came in a tin with two 75 cm/30” cords and one 150 cm/60” cord.)

Pros: They are hollow and can be attached to needle tips for easy transferring of stitches; stitches won’t ‘disappear’ into row below as with ordinary thread
Cons: Expensive; plastic smell

What is your preferred way of putting stitches on hold?

To close off, a few pictures of a herd of fallow deer we came across on last Sunday’s walk. They have nothing whatsoever to do with putting stitches on hold, but I just had to include them. There is a pure white one among them. Aren’t they gorgeous? Bye! Xxx

17 Kilos of Blue Yarn

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Hello! Would you like to visit a cemetery with me? That would be killing if I were asking you out on a first date, I know. As it is, I’m quite sure you’ll like it because we’ve been invited to come and collect yarn!

There are 17 kilos of it on an old-fashioned wooden drying rack in the funeral building that we’re transforming into a more comforting space with wool.

Seventeen kilos of hand-spun local wool, hand-dyed with local woad. Isn’t it gorgeous? All of the hanks are the same shade, in tones ranging from barely-there to intense blue. Somewhere on that rack are the hanks I spun, but I have no idea which ones they are.

First, someone from the organisation updates us briefly on the Aula-in-Blauw project progress. The carpet turns out to be one of the most time-consuming elements. She tells us that someone worked out how many ends of yarn need to be hooked onto the canvas: a staggering 113,100! The carpet travels from town to town, so that different groups can work on it.

Then she invites us knitters and crocheters to come over to the drying rack and choose yarn for the cushion covers we’re going to make. That’s what all of the 17 kilos of yarn are for.

While everyone is rushing forward, I get talking to the artist making the felted wall panels and admiring her samples.

I particularly like this sample, that’s like a pale blue sky with little puffs of cirrocumulus clouds:

Then, shuffling forward, I pass the three sample cushions on the front bench – one crocheted and two knit. They’ll make sitting here for a while much more comfortable. Weavers are going to make long cushions for the back supports.

While I’m chatting with some of the others choosing yarn, I’m not paying enough attention and end up with 3 very different hanks – one an Aran weight, one more like a DK and one with a thick-and-thin effect. It’ll be a challenge to make nice and even squares from them.

But it’s a kind of challenge I like, and it’s lovely to be part of this friendly community of knitters, crocheters, weavers, dyers, rug-hookers and felt-makers. A friend has already finished her cushion cover. On her blog, she writes that all in all it took her about 8 hours. With so many people contributing a little of their time a lot can get done.

Well, I’m going to sign off now and hope to see you again soon.

A Would-Like-To-Do List

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Are you a list maker? I certainly am. Lists help me navigate through life, but I need to be careful that they don’t take over. It’s all about finding the right balance between getting things done and being realistic and gentle. For 2023, I wrote this wish list in my knitting notebook:

  1. Norwegian knitting
  2. Making things for our grandson
  3. Knitting challenging socks
  4. Designing

Some categories received more time and attention than others, and that’s fine. It wasn’t a have-to-do list after all, but a wish list. The list helped me bring some focus to my knitting.

For 2024 I’m recycling this list – keeping, adding, removing and modifying a few things. For the year ahead, my would-like-to-do list is:

  1. Norwegian knitting
  2. Make everyday things for my family and myself
  3. Be a little more creative
  4. Be generous with my knitting

The ‘be a little more creative’ item is still a big question mark. For the rest, my knitting baskets are filling up, with some Norwegian knitting…

…everyday knitting…

…and knitting for a community project:

More about the contents of these baskets over the coming weeks.

The poncho I’ve just finished definitely belongs in the ‘everyday knits’ category. It’ll be a nice and warm extra layer indoors in winter and an easy-to-throw-on outdoor item for the rest of the year.

It’s a simple rectangle that makes an asymmetrical poncho and starts with a crochet provisional cast-on. I was going to take pictures and talk about the how and why of that but forgot. I did take a quick picture of the blocking stage, but that doesn’t tell us much except that I blocked it:

I’ll try to do better with recording the process this year.

After seaming part of one side, stitches are picked up for a wonderfully cosy knit-in-the-round ribbed cowl. All in all, a lovely soft, simple, soothing project.

Well, I’m off to do a few things that will never belong on any would-like-to-do list but just need to get done – that’s life. I’ll reward myself with a few rows of knitting afterwards.

Have a lovely weekend!

PS The Easy Folded Poncho can be found here on Ravelry, and the ribbed cowl adaptation here on the designer’s website. The yarn I used is Rowan’s Fine Tweed Haze in shade ‘Deep’, a dark tealy blue with tweed nepps in pink, orange and white (the first photo captures the colour best). If you’re going to use this yarn, do swatch! I’m a fairly average knitter but needed to go down several needle sizes to get the gauge specified by both manufacturer and pattern designer.

Colourwork Hats in the Snow

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Hello!

This week we’re having a wintry spell with sunshine, blue skies and even a sprinkling of snow. Such a relief after all the rain we’ve had. On the whole I’m fine with rainy days, but three months of them is a bit much even for me.

On a glorious frosty morning, before we set off for a walk, I popped the four colourwork hats I’d just finished into my backpack for a photo shoot. Before going into the actual hats, this is the yarn I used:

Four skeins of Rowan’s Felted Tweed in the shades Rage, Clay, Cinnamon and Black (from left to right). I like it when manufacturers give their shades names instead of just numbers. The pattern I used is the Colorwork Cap (here on Ravelry). Four skeins make four of these hats when a different shade is used as the main colour for each of them – very economical.

Three of the hats were knit as per pattern. For someone with a smaller head who likes her hats to be closer fitting I made the fourth one (with red as the main colour) shorter. Here they all are in a row in the snow.

The difference will become clearer when you see me wearing them. The original hat is fairly tall. It has a wide colourwork section and a crown with decreases in four places.

The smaller hat has the same ribbing and colourwork band, but decreases in six places and consequently fewer decrease rows.

Here are the two versions side by side – the black hat with decreases in four places and the red one with decreases in six (click on images to enlarge and take a closer look at the decreases). The red hat would have fitted more smoothly over the head if I’d left off part of the colourwork and spaced the decreases out over more rows, but I didn’t want to do that and am happy with the way it turned out.

The photographs were taken in an area with shifting sands that is officially called Aekingerzand, but we call de Kale Duinen (the Bare Dunes). As children this is where we went on our annual school outing, to play ball games and sunbathe on our beach towels. It was like a day on the coast minus the sea. Here is an impression of what it looks like on a winter’s day.

I hope you are keeping well and warm (or cool, for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere) and have had a good start to the new year. The four hats will soon be on their way to their new owners. One more project to finish and then it’s time for something new. I’m bursting with ideas and am looking forward to sharing them with you again this year.

New Year’s Wishes

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Just a brief note from me today to wish you and yours a very happy 2024. Along with my general good wishes, I’m sending a Lüsterweibchen for you to personalize them. Make your own wish for the New Year while you rub her belly and it will come true. Shh, don’t tell or it won’t work.

The muscular Lüsterweibchen above, with antlers for wings and a mermaid’s tail, lives in Cochem Castle, Germany. Judging by the peeling red paint on her belly, many people have rubbed it to make a wish. I am quite sure it will work just as well via your screen.

I’m spending the rest of this week weaving in ends and planning new projects, and hope to be back with my regular posts as of next week. See you then!

Candle Flames

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Hello and welcome! It’s a pity I can’t literally invite you all round for some mulled wine or tea, nibbles and a chat, but at least we can spend some time together here on my blog.

For me, writing a blog post is like writing Christmas cards – a great way to connect. About the card writing my husband said, ‘that’s quite a job, you’ve taken on.’ Not at all. To me it’s like spending some enjoyable moments with all my friends and relatives, holding them in my thoughts and wishing them well.

Besides many cards, I’ve also slipped a pair of socks in the mail. They were knit from the cuff down to the toe, with a slip stitch pattern on the heels.

The design is Candle Flame by Mona Schmidt and it’s another pair from 52 Weeks of Socks (here on Ravelry). They have small 2-stitch cables in the cuff. The pattern on the leg and foot is basically the same tiny cable, only alternating the purl stitches and the cables every four rows.

I was going to write up a tutorial about different ways to knit 2-stitch cables, to transcend the look-at-what-I’ve-made level by offering something useful, but didn’t get round to it. Together with many other things, I’m moving it to my could-do list for next year.

In the original design, most of the foot is plain stocking stitch. I didn’t like that very much and added a diamond in the same cable stitch pattern. Candle flames to keep a friend’s feet toasty – isn’t that a lovely idea?

Speaking of candle flames, another friend sent us a card with a quote I’d like to requote here:

‘It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.’

Being a therapist, she also gives us some pointers on how to do this, using words like gentleness, self-care, love, joy, sincere attention, connection, hope and humour. Lighting metaphorical candles isn’t always easy and I am grateful to my friend for her message.

I’m taking some time off now, to be with my loved ones, read, go for walks, and knit. Over the next couple of weeks, I’d like to finish the colourwork gifts that didn’t get done in time. They were going to be a surprise anyway and will still be a nice surprise in January, I hope.

I wish you a joyful and peaceful holiday season, with plenty of time for the things that make your candle flame burn brighter. Thank you so much for visiting me here and I hope to see you again in the New Year!

Mitten 17

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Hello and thank you so much for all your kind responses to last week’s scarf! It’s good to be among people who like and value the same sort of things. I’m only popping in briefly today, with a short post about a small hat inspired by a wee mitten.

Around this time last year, I was knitting 24 Norwegian Advent calendar mittens. This year, I filled them with tiny gifts, pinned them onto a wreath and gave them away. I was a bit sad to part with them, but know they’ve gone to a good home.

Besides, I’ve still got the pattern and am just as happy with that, because it provides a lot of inspiration. Both the fronts and the backs of the mittens have 2-colour patterns that can be used in all kinds of other projects. Take mitten 17:

Multiplying the pattern horizontally and working one repeat vertically, I used it to knit a new hat for our grandson.

I’d asked his mother about the colour, and she said, ‘fox brown would be nice’. So fox brown it is. Or oak leaf brown.

Oak leaves look so beautiful on misty, frosty days, outlined in white.

A few weeks ago, someone contacted me on Ravelry about the Advent calender mittens. She couldn’t get the pattern downloaded. I tried it out too and, nope, the link wasn’t working. Trying it out again today, I didn’t have any problems downloading it at all! The internet works in mysterious ways.

The Norwegian Julevotter Adventscalendar can be found here on Ravelry. And here is a direct link to the pattern pdf. If you’d like to download it and it isn’t working, trying again another day may be worthwhile. Good luck!

In Seventh Heaven

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Hello! In between shopping for gifts, knitting gifts, wrapping gifts, and doing everything else that needs doing at this busy time of year, I’ve also wrapped up my Seventh Heaven scarf project. I have been working on it on and off for many months and have now uploaded the pattern to Ravelry. It’s been a fun and colourful journey. Let me tell you about it.

It all began with my search for a simple knitting project, and the idea to do something with my sock yarn remnants and other small bits of fingering-weight yarn.

Inspired by the first knitting booklets I had as a child, I started knitting swatches in simple garter stitch and slip stitches.

I chose a very deep navy blue yarn as a background for my colourful scraps – Isager Sock Yarn, a blend of 40% alpaca, 40% merino wool and 20% recycled nylon. Both the alpaca and the merino wool are ‘easy wash’. Easy wash is an environmentally friendly way to make yarns machine washable without felting or shrinking. I haven’t used this yarn before, but can now say that it is pleasantly smooth to knit with and softens up very nicely after washing.

It was a joy to knit a few rows every day, and the scarf grew and grew.

It wasn’t until I’d knit quite a bit that I realized the colours I was using reflected those of my surroundings in spring and summer, in particular the flowers and insects in the wetlands of De Wieden.

I was using the bright greens of fresh young reed stalks and grass…

… the blues of bright skies and damselflies…

… the pinks and purples of thistle, ragged robin and orchid…

… and the orange of the large copper, a dazzlingly beautiful butterfly. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to photograph it, because it disappeared from De Wieden about a decade ago. Very sad, but all hope is not lost (more about that further on).

Our photoshoot in De Wieden took place during last week’s foggy walk. My husband carried the scarf rolled up around a long cardboard tube (sticking out from his rucksack) so that it wouldn’t get all crumpled. It’s hard to believe, but the muddy field he is standing in, is a beautiful flower meadow earlier in the year.

This is Seventh Heaven in its full length – a little over 2 metres (80”) long. As you can see from the purple/pink/orange section folded over at the top, the ‘wrong’ side also looks good, with the colours more blended.

It is a generous scarf, but still very wearable.

Because of the fingering-weight yarn used, it is not bulky at all. The colours show up really nicely when the scarf is tied in what I now know is called a Pretzel Knot.

What more can I tell you about the Seventh Heaven scarf? The name was a gift from reader Lynn (thank you again, Lynn – it’s perfect!) and refers to how I feel when I’m in De Wieden, and also when I’m playing with yarns and colours. It has stripes in garter stitch and slip stitches, alternating the background colour and the yarn remnants. Oh, and let’s not forget the lovely I-cord edges!

I thought of giving the Seventh Heaven pattern away as an early Christmas gift to you, my dear readers and Ravelry friends, but have changed my mind. Instead I am turning it into a gift to the large copper .

Large Copper, Photo by Hans via Pixabay

In other words, from now through 2024 I’ll donate the proceeds from all sales of the pattern to Dutch nature conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten, as a contribution to creating the circumstances that will hopefully lure the large copper butterfly back to De Wieden. And it’s not just about saving one almost extinct subspecies of butterfly – the measures taken will also benefit other insects, plants and animals.

The Seventh Heaven scarf pattern can be found here on Ravelry

It is available in English and Dutch. Besides instructions for knitting the scarf, the pattern also contains tips on choosing yarns and colours for your creating own Seventh Heaven. Should you decide to knit one, I hope it’ll give you just as much joy as it has given me!

A Foggy Walk

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Hello! Today, I’m taking you for a walk in De Wieden, a wetland area south-west of our home. We’ve had a lot of rain lately and also a smattering of snow, but on the day of our walk it’s foggy. The fog muffles all sound and blocks out most of the view. It’s dark, wet and grey.

How different this exact same spot looked on a sunny day in June.

De Wieden is part of the Wieden-Weerribben National Park, the largest lowland bog in north-west Europe. In spring and summer it’s so very beautiful here, with many different kinds of butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies, romantic waterlilies and cheerful orchids.

Now, the orchids have gone underground and only the leaves of the waterlilies are visible.

No damselflies are resting on reed stalks, no dragonflies are flitting across the water.

At this time of year, it’s beautiful here in a more subtle way. It’s a symphony of greens and browns.

There are some small pops of other colours – an orange fungus, a single red clover and the last of the marsh marigolds (click on images to enlarge).

But greens and browns predominate, with pale yellow-green marsh ferns among the greenest-of-green rushes.

Most of the reeds have already gone from green to sandy brown. Behind them, the blurry silhouette of a great white egret.

At the foot of the reeds, there’s a tunnel. Who made it? It’s far too wide for a mouse. Maybe the otters did. They hunt at the night and sleep in their hiding places on the reed banks during the day. Maybe there is one snoring away here right now.

In front of the reeds, there is the orangey, pinkish and blackish brown of the alder branches and their dripping wet male and female catkins.

It’s incredibly wet here today and I’m so glad I’m wearing wellies. It’s a good thing that it’s wet, though, because De Wieden has suffered from the recent hot and dry summers. Now the soil and the plants can drink their fill. Towards the end of our walk, the egret takes off.

It’s time for me to be off, too. Bye!

Oh, before I go, here is a clue to what I’ll be writing about next week if I can find the time. I wasn’t just here to take photographs, but also to be photographed… (Hint: Can you see what I’m wearing around my neck?)

Needle-and-Hook Provisional Cast-On

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Hello! Draped over the washing line along our beech hedge in its autumn finery is a scarf I’ve just finished. It has an interesting cast-on I’ll tell you about further on, but first a few photos and a bit about the scarf (and about something I found!).

The Polka Dot Scarf, as the design is called, has holes for ‘dots’. A knitting friend sighed, ‘Oh, so much work in such a thin yarn!’ But it wasn’t like that for me at all. For me, it represents many hours of peaceful meditation.

The Polka Dot Scarf pattern can be found here on Ravelry. It is described in two widths and I’ve made the wider version. Knit on 3.75 mm (US 5) needles, mine measures 56 cm by 1.90 m (20 by 74¾ inches) and weighs 150 g. Lightweight, yet warm and cosy.

The yarn I’ve used is Lamana ‘Milano’ (90% wool/10% cashmere; 25 g/180 m), a heavy lace-weight in a dark denim shade. The yarn manufacturer has high standards with regard to animal welfare and sustainability, which is a big plus for me.

This is a scarf that really benefits from some severe blocking. (Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the blocking process.) When it was finished I decided that it would be perfect for my grandson’s other grandmother. What do you call someone like that? A fellow nan? A co-granny? Anyway, she wears stylish, unfussy clothes in navy and grey, and I hope she’ll like it.

I photographed the Polka Dot Scarf on a blouse with raindrops and umbrellas…

… not just because they looked nice together, but also because the blouse symbolizes the very wet autumn we’re having this year. During a sunny spell on a rainy day, I found a dragonfly in front of our house. A sadly bedraggled but still beautiful creature, with blue markings on its body and head.

It is a migrant hawker, called paardenbijter (horse biter) in Dutch. Does it really bite horses?, I wondered. Will it bite me? And more important: is it alive or dead? The best policy seemed to place it in a sunny spot to dry its raindrop spangled wings and fly away if it was alive or be picked up by a bird if not.

It’s gone now, and I’ll never know whether it’s flown away of its own accord or in a bird’s stomach.

To close off, here is a step-by-step guide to the

Needle-and-Hook provisional cast-on

1 – With a length of smooth waste yarn, make a slip-knot and place it on a crochet hook.

2 – With the hook in your right hand and the knitting needle in your left, form an X. The hook should be on top. Holding the thread behind the knitting needle, wrap the yarn around the hook…

… and pull it through the loop. Now the first stitch is on your needle.

3 – Passing the yarn between the knitting needle and the hook, bring it back behind the needle and repeat step 2 until you have the required number of stitches on your needle.

4 – Crochet a few chain stitches at the end. Hang a stitch marker from the last stitch to remember where to start unravelling later on. Now, start knitting with the yarn chosen for your project.

5 – Ready to remove the cast-on? Starting at the tail with the stitch marker, carefully unravel the crochet chain and pick up the live stitches one by one. Don’t forget the half stitch at the end!

This is a really useful technique for e.g. scarves knit from the middle out to the sides. In the case of the Polka Dot Scarf, it’s used for knitting on a nice I-cord edge.

I hope I’ve explained it clearly. If all goes according to plan, I’ll take you out for walk again next week. See you then! xxx