#Rainbowfebruary 2

More rainbow crafting in February!

Here's a pot holder made for Annepaalandet, in our private February pot holder swap.

2013 in knitting

... and a little crochet

 Top left: Pot holder for swap

Top right: Fair isle blanket - test knit

Bottom left: Warm cowl

Bottom right:Swap pot holder

Top left: Sweater in Shetland wool

Top right: Selbu mittens

Bottom left: Purple crochet shawl

Bottom right: Tunic

Top left: Drops mittens

Top right: "Lilyhammer hat"

Bottom left: TTL Mystery Shawl

Bottom right: September Mystery Shawl by Stephen West

I'm dreaming of a white....

.....blanket.

Or rather, I was dreaming of it, and decided to make one. 

Different white wool yarn, 

different sized squares,

different patterns. 

Mostly worked during lectures at university many years ago. 

For some years now, it's been in desperate need of repair, 

which I recently got around to do: 

Ta dah! A new bedspread.

February potholder for Bente-Tove

I sent this potholder from the Zoo to Bente-Tove. 

Pot holder fun!

Thank you so much for your nice comments on my last post. I'm very happy about how my vest pattern has been received on Ravelry. But now something else: This year's pot holder swap is about to finish. Lots of colourful and creative pot holders has been made and changed owner. Here's the January potholder I received from Annepaalandet.

And here are all the potholders I got this year!

And these are the ones from last year, photographed after one year of use.

 

Finally a shawl

Started: May 2010
Finished: March 2013

Pattern: Armorique
Designer: Anette Petavy

Yarn: Frøyagarn (Viking of Norway) - sock yarn
Needles: 3,5 mm

Modifications: Omitted scallops or leaves on the edge, as I was eager to get this out of my wips, and there was an upcoming birthday.

Notes: Hook not allowed on plane, so I had to leave my first hook on the other side of the Atlantic in 2010. But I had more hooks at home, so the airport is not to blame for me using almost three years on this project. Probably Ravelry and my startitis are to blame...

In the Zoo!

In February, the Potholder Swap went to the Zoo - and my swap mate wwent to the Aquarium. Look what I found in my mailbox yesterday!

A little butterfly had escaped to join the party too!

Thank you so much, Hannesol!

Here in the house, they say this potholder is cooler than the one I'm sending away. Good for us! But I hope Bente-Tove will like her potholder too. It will soon be on its way to her. When she's received it, I'll show you, and you can judge for yourself.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone, in the Zoo or elsewhere!

February FO #7 aka January potholder

Last post in the February FO series. I think I have blogged all my "unblogged" FOs now (except for one secret projects, that I hope to be able to show you in March...). 

January potholder for the potholder swap. No pattern. January's theme was winter, or from granny's kitchen. I hope you can guess which I chose. It was sent to Babben, who also got one of my potholders in last year's swap. 

✿ 17 ✿ Granny's granny square blanket ✿

This blanket was made by my grandmother 

and given to my parents at some point. 

I remember we used to have it at home. 

A while ago my mother gave it to me. 

Or rather, she said I could have it if I mended it. 

You can see a seam defect in the upper photo (bottom right).

There were several holes like that, 

and also a couple of squares that hat to be partly re-corcheted.

Which I did the other day!

And voilà!

Isn't it a beauty?

I think my mother will be glad to see it in or sofa 

when she comes for Christmas.

✿ 9 ✿ Pot holder swap - old news ✿

Here's the potholder I sent to Duvi in November

The theme was Flower Power.

✿ 6 ✿ Pot holder swap news ✿

Here's what I got in the mail yesterday, from Myrtell. 

I think it goes nicely with the first potholder I received.

(Colours are more accurate in the first photo, 

I'm just playing around with Instagram)

✿ 4 ✿ And now something crafty ✿

Christmas necklace

A couple of weeks ago, I went to cut my hair, and the hair dresser had this cool necklace. I looked like it was macraméed or crocheted. I didn't get a close enough look, nor did I feel I could photograph it. I complemented her on it, and could of course have asked to take a photo. Anyway, it was black and silver, made of joined circles, like these traditional Christmas decorations (see here).

So I figured, it must be easy to make something similar.

Here's how I did it:

I used to strands of yarn held together, one red, mostly cotton, the other gold, I guess light fingering yarn. Hook 3,5 mm.

First circle:
Chain 20, join with a slip st.
Ch 2, work 1 hdc in each ch, end with a sl st in 2nd ch. Cut yarn.

Next cirles
Chain 20, put chain through previous circle,  join with a slip st.
Ch 2, work 1 hdc in each ch, end with a sl st in 2nd ch. Cut yarn.

Last circle

Chain 20, put chain through previous circle and first circle,  join with a slip st.
Ch 2, work 1 hdc in each ch, end with a sl st in 2nd ch. Cut yarn.

There are some ends to weave in. I hid the first end in the hdc (crocheting over them, sort of), but for the other end, there's no such easy solution, I believe.

You can of course use other colours, to make it less christmasy.

October Potholder from Solbjørg

Here's the October potholder I received from Solbjørg.

A lovely and colourful potholder made over the theme summer memories. 

You can see all the Swap potholders here.

Potholder Swap - October

Here's the pot holder I sent to BeritKristine. The theme I chose was "Oldies and Goldies" - I thought a granny square and a log cabin square was suitable for that theme. The edging is "Krepsemasker", which I believe is called "Reverse crochet" in English (correct me if I'm wrong). It's just single crochet worked from left to right, easy peasy, but quite decorative, I think.

Last chance to join

... the pot holder swap is tomorrow!

Click here to join (for Ravelry members only).

One of the themes for the Ocotber Pot Holder is "Sommerminner" (summer memories) - as these flowers.

Recycling with shell stitch

Mostly knitting lately, but with the Potholder Swap, I need to change into crochet mode. These are my latest crochet projects:

An old tunic, bought in Tanzania 20 years ago. I love the fabric, but the neckline did not look good. So I cut off the bad parts, folded the fabric and worked chain stitch along the edge. From the inside, I then worked sc through the chain stitches, and then shell stitch. Brilliant, don't you think?

And the same shell stitch on this lacy underskirt, here I just worked the sc row through the lacy fabric. The dress is made from a XXXL tunic bought in a  thrift store. I love the fabric, and copied one of my favourite dresses from Desigual to make this one.

Btw, there is still time to join the swap!!

Norwegian Pot Holder Swap 2012

Join us on Ravelry if you're interested. (Everybody is welcome, but the group discussions are in Norwegian, so a certain understanding of that languge is necessary.)

Here  are my blogposts from last year's swap.

Calling out for summer

"Rop på sommer'n så kommer'n" is a Norwegian saying, meaning "call for summer, and it's coming".

So I'm calling out by making a new pair of shorts! Inspiration found here, shorts made from table runner. I used a scarf. Just enough fabric for a pair of shorts. Ready for summer!

And a flower belt to spice it up even more! 

First flower after Olavas pattern, found on her blog, in Norwegian, but with lots of photos. 

Second flower from Lucy in the Attic's super cute "Happy Flower Decoration". 

There are lots of projects on Ravelry.  

Third flower is a Lily, found here.

I would have loved to go outside in my new outfit (there is a "new" black top from Fretex to go with the shorts, too). but due to rain and 5 degrees Celsius, I'll probably be better off with a a pair of gloves.

Anyway, in May we still have the hope for a long and sunny summer. Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Warm wrists for you?

Life is busy at the moment, I was not able to show you photos of the puff stitch wristwarmers this weekend, but here they are. These are for a friend whose birthday is tomorrow. you can make your own from this free pattern, Elf Clobber, offered by Kerstin.

Puff stitch!

I love the new crochet stitch I've learnt -
the p u f f    s t i t c h !

Hope to finish and show you an FO this weekend.