Introducing: Baby Nerd

I'm not much of a gamer, but I used to play DnD back in the days. So I just had to make a homage to roleplaying and gaming on this cute little long-sleeved t-shirt I made for my youngest. 

The pattern is from my own head, an easy raglan knit top-down. 

I say easy, but I mean horribly, tear-wrenchingly filled with bad decisions, hair-tearing and lots and lots of swearing. First I knit a round yoke, but made a mess of the calculations, so it became way too wide across the chest. Fit for a 2-year old, rather than a newborn, not exactly what I had in mind, haha.

I unraveled, but didn't wash the yarn before starting again. You guessed it - the top half of the sweater looked terrible. I hoped it would look better after I washed it. In retrospect, that wasn't my brightest moment. I came to my senses a little late, washing it after having knit the main part of the body. It looked horrible. Wish I had a photo, but self irony was not a feeling I had at that moment. Unraveling one more time? No way.

How to salvage such a misery? For my part, it involves lots of swearing, and possibly alcohol. Being pregnant at the time, I substituted the latter with very loud music. (The teenager complained. He does that.) So now what? Wool shrinks, I thought. I tossed it back into the sink and gave it my worst. Hot water and agitation (I should say abuse, because that's what it felt like) made it felt. It worked almost too well - I had to tear the front and back apart when I finished. It doesn't look good, but it looks way better than before, so I guess I'm good. 

The arrows show the stitches that I cross. The white is the waste yarn that is ready to be removed now that I have picked up the under-arm stitches for the sleeves, 5 on each side of the magic loop.

To avoid seaming, I cast on and knit 3 rounds with waste yarn for the under-arm stitches, and I crossed the first and last stitch before and after the new stitches to avoid getting a hole. (I found this trick over at the Techknitting blog, but I can't find the right post.) Picked up stitches from the waste yarn for the sleeves, and crossed those as well. Perfect seamless armhole, works like a charm every time. 

Yarn from stash: Duo Silke/Merino, bought in Hirtshals in 2012. Maybe around 70 gram, but haven't weighed it yet.

Project page on Ravelry

Sidetracked...again.

During the summer I went on a major sewing spree, so not a lot were knitted. Plus this summer was incredibly warm! I'm a northerner, 30+ is just way too hot for me. Luckily my dear new little treasure was born just before the heatwave set in. She also had the great sense to be born the day before the new paternity leave rules took effect, so daddy gets his 14 weeks of paid paternity leave after all, woohoo! My leave lasts until primo February, so I'll make sure to relax and recharge...with lots of knitting and sewing in between mommying, lol! 

I'm a mother of three now. For a long time now I thought it would never happen. My son was born when I was 20, way too young in retrospect. I always wanted more children. My own dad a deadbeat dad, my son's dad the same, finding mr. Right Who Is Also a Great Dad took a long time. I am eternally grateful. Terje, you rock! The reason I get anything creative done at all is because he does a lot of housework and parenting stuff with our daughters. I'm lucky and I know it!

I did finish a baby blanket for my dear little one. Cute huh? She keeps me sidetracked...and busy! I actually finished it AFTER she was born - I thought she would be late like her sister...but no! It only took an evening to finish the last bit though. I love the colour, just about everything looks good with it. Red, green, purple, blue, petrol, turquoise, white... I need more of that yarn. Lots more.

I've also knitted three shorties and a pair of longies. Nothing fancy. They're on Ravelry if anyone's interested, here, here, here and here. OK the first one is really cute, it's for my oldest daughter, but sadly she doesn't like it much. Oh well. Maybe they will get some use when it get's colder, and if I knit the accompanying leg warmers. I've knit nearly 20 shorties and longies these past two and a half years. Guess I kind of like it.

Spring hats - vårluetid

Yes, she's a girl! Can't you tell by the purple shoes and the flowery hat?

Spring has arrived, and new woolen needs appear.

I have heard so much nice about the yarns from Pickles, and decided to order some skeins a few weeks back. I had planned to knit a baby cardi, but one of the colours were wrong. But with the warmer weather my daughter really needed a new, thinner hat, and this lovely, soft yarn just begged to be knit.

I did a quick Ravelry search on hat/toddler/gauge 21-23st/cm (21-23 st/in), and what did I see? A pattern I recognized! I had favourited a dress with that flower back when I had just started using Ravelry two years ago. I had no idea there was a hat pattern as well. That hat just flew on and off my needles with for me record speed.

I started knitting on Saturday afternoon, and finished Sunday morning. I was in a hurry, because we had planned an outing to an open farm to watch some animals, play a lot, and have homemade coffee and buns from the café. And she really needed a thinner hat. I’ve been off the hat knitting wagon for a long time…poor little one.

Playtime! Monster dress, and flower hat.

Plutselig er det vår, og nye ullbehov melder seg.

Jeg har hørt mye fint om Pickles sine garn, og bestilte en del nøster for noen uker siden. Egentlig hadde jeg tenkt å strikke en babyjakke, men en av fargene var helt feil. Men nå er det vår, og jeg har tenkt en stund at dattera trenger en lettere lue. Det myke, deilige garnet måtte testes i lueformat, rett og slett. Et kjapt Ravelrysøk på lue/småbarn/strikkefasthet 21-23 m/10cm, og jeg fant denne søte oppskrifta, som jeg til og med har siklet på før, men da i kjoleformat. Lua både fløy på og av pinnene i rekordtempo, sånn til meg å være.

Lua ble påbegynt på en lørdagsettermiddag, og ferdig på søndags formiddag. Den MÅTTE bli ferdig, for vi planla tur til Fritidsgården i Stavanger, og hun trengte virkelig en tynnere lue (jeg har virkelig vært litt lat på luestrikkfronten).

Magic loop, Knit Pro Karbonz 3mm.

No time to wash and block, I did that in the evening instead. Washed it and gave it a lanolin bath, and dried it on a balloon. I haven’t tried that before, but it worked like a charm.

I loved the hat so much that I knitted another right away, this time size 0-3 months. A present for friends who just had their first baby.

Ja jeg vet, vasking og blokking og sånt, kremt. Det gjorde jeg da vi kom hjem. Vasket lua, heiv den i et lanolinbad, og tørket den på en ballong i passe størrelse.

Jeg likte lua så godt at jeg like godt strikket en til i størrelse 0-3 måneder med det samme, som skal bli barselspresang.

Balloon blocking - so cool!

The yarn is a bit splitty, but not worse than I can manage. Most yarns become untwisted when I purl, because I knit combined. Russian purling prevents rowing out, and my rib looks way better. I just have to be careful. I really love the yarn, so soft and lovely. Guess it will pill...

Garnet har en bitteliten tendens til å splitte seg når man strikker. Jeg strikker kombinert (dvs vrangstrikk på russisk måte, slik at maskene blir montert feil vei på pinnene), og det gjør at garnet mister mye av tvinningen når jeg strikker vrangmaskene. Men garnet splitter litt på vanlig glattstrikk også, men ikke verre enn at det er levelig. Og så er det så mykt og godt! Tipper det vil loe en del.

Top: Earflap no.2             Bottom: Earflap no.1

Hats for babies and toddlers that doesn’t have earflaps are a bit unpractical, so I knit a few short rows on both hats to keep the darling ears warm. This time I used the short rows from Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heels. A bit fiddly at first, and the first earflap looks a bit untidy. The second looks a bit better, and on the last flap of baby hat you can hardly see the short rows at all. Even the purl stitches looks better once I got the technique figured out.

For å få bedre passform, strikket jeg kortrader over ørene. Jeg testet ut enda en ny måte å strikke kortrader på, denne gangen er det Kat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel som inspirerte. Det ble litt ujevnt på den første lua, men på neste ser det mye penere ut, i hvert fall på den siste øreflappen. Det ser ganske fint ut på vrangmaskene på ribben også, når jeg endelig fant ut hvordan jeg skulle strikke dem. En vakker dag blir det nok noen sokker med Sweet Tomato Heel.

     Left: Earflap no.3                                                                                Right: Earflap no.4

After being used a week in the kindergarten, I realize I HAVE to add Icord strings on the toddler hat, because the latest play fad is burying mittens, cowls and hats in the sand.

Etter ei lita uke i bruk i barnehagen, ser jeg at jeg MÅ strikke i-cordsnorer på datteras lue. Nyeste leketrend er nemlig å grave ned halser, luer og votter i sandkassa.

Pattern: Little Flower Hat by/av Ewelina Murach

Yarn/Garn: Pickles Extra Fine Merino. Yummy yarn/Deilig garn!

More info about the short row shaping and cool invisible cast on technique on my Ravelry pages/Mer info om kortradene og helt usynlig oppleggsmetode på prosjektsidene på Ravelry:

Size/Størrelse 2-3 years/år

Size/Størrelse 0-3 months/måneder

Ooops, is it her birthday?

Julaften på kjerringa er min konstante tilstand. Sånn går det når man outsourcer hukommelsen sin til mobiler, smarttelefoner og - den største synderen - internett. Eller så er det bare meg. To uker og en dag før bursdagen er det perfekte øyeblikket å komme på at gullet trenger en bursdagskjole. Hjemmestrikket. Panikk? Jeg kastet meg over Ravelry, min redning. (Må jo ha litt igjen for alle timene jeg bruker der inne...) Taiga Hilliard er en strikkedesigner jeg tidligere har merket meg, og da jeg bladde meg gjennom mønstrene hennes fant jeg den perfekte kjolen. Lizzy Dress. 

Ooops, is it that time again - this happens to me a lot. That's what you get for outsourcing your memory to cellphones, smartphones and - the Internet. Or maybe it's just me. Two weeks and a day, and she turns one! Just the right moment to realize she needs a birthday dress. Knit by her mom. Need I say I panicked just a little? A frantic search for something deserving commenced. Ravelry to the rescue! (At last a small pay-off for those hours wasted spent there.) Taiga Hilliard had come to my attention earlier, and while browsing her patterns I found the perfect one. The Lizzy Dress.