Cold Neck Syndrome

My pattern is finally here! I'm so excited. It's been a long wait but worth it, I hope. :o)

This is the first time I've ever written up a pattern for an adult sized garment and it's been a fun challenge.

Thank you everyone who encouraged me to write it up, and thank you all my fantastic testknitters!

The pattern link is here. Have fun. :o)

Smocking, part 2

First and second row (white): Double cable stitch.

Third row (dark purple): Cable picot.

Fourth row (medium purple): Wheat stitch - one row of outline stitch, one row of stem stitch directly under.

Outline stitch for left handed people: keep the thread under the needle.

Stem stitch for left handed people: keep the thread over the needle.

Smocking, part 1

A very generous lady in Australia pleated up some lovely fabric for me to make smocked dresses for my girls. She sent it all the way to Denmark, including patterns, magazines, booklets, needles, a needlecase etc... I've been so spoiled!

Yesterday I finally managed to go into town to get some embroidery floss:

They are all DMC 25. The colours I am using are:

White: 3865
Dark purple: 3834
Medium purple: 3835
Light purple: 3836
Green: 320
Yellow: 744

And today I am doing my very first row ever of smocking! The cable stitch, up and down cable. It's so much fun! I thought I would keep track of the videos and tutorials I'm using here if anyone is interested in learning how to smock too.

My cable stitch:

The video I used was this one from youtube.

Oh and I'm left handed, so don't let the direction of my sewing confuse you.

Sewing Madness

I've been sewing so much lately that I don't know where to begin.

My sewing has been limited to pillow cases, duvet covers and such for many many years. A few years ago my mother in law gave me a fantastic sewing machine though (a Pfaff Select 1528) and since then I've dreaming of getting better at sewing. 

Last summer I got started and my first good projects were two dresses for my oldest daughter:

On with small fowers and lots of twirl:

And a 'fairy dress' for her birthday which she absolutely loved. :o)

Then I got started with the bags I've been selling in my shop. And hats and purses and some more hats and bags. :o) And then I tried sewing a dress from some stretchy fabric I had lying around and it failed miserably. Ugh, I was so disappointed - and then life got in the way and I didn't have time to sew for a really long time.

Then a few months ago I finally got some more time again and I decided that I wasn't going to let the stretchy fabric get to me. :o)

An Ottobre magazine served as my inspiration and I managed to sew this amazing sweatsuit for my youngest daughter, Dora. 

So with the feeling of having conquered the world of stretchy fabrics I continued and continued and after a while I decided to ask my dear husband if he felt like we could afford a serger. :oD And yay, we found one used, a Husqvarna Huskylock 905. I've been practicing a lot and this is what came out of my practicing:

Hip hippo trousers for Dora:

A stripey t-shirt for Dora: 

Trousers:

A sweatshirt with hood for Iris:

Lots and lots of tiny hats (they are so addictive!):

(The hats are for sale in my shop too along with some other things.)

Leggings:

A t-shirt and trousers for a little baby in California:

And yesterday, another dress for Iris, complete with piping and cute pockets. :o) I love it and so does she!

Phew! That was a lot! And I feel like I'm only just getting started. :o)

Sock Madness

It's been so long since I last blogged that it's embarassing. It's not that I don't have anything to blog about! But life with two busy girls and one busy puppy leaves me very little time for blogging.

Ah well.

Apparently it leaves me enough time for knitting. ;o)

Here are the two pair of socks I've knit during the past couple of months. They're both from Cookie A's book Sock Innovation. I love that book! I got it years ago but until now it only served as goodnight reading. I thought they all looked beautiful but too complicated. Also, I wanted to learn to knit two socks at a time and experiment with different techniques - toe-up, cuff-down and so on.

I finally felt ready and I started with this pair:

They're called Vilai and the yarn was Dream in Color Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. It was an enjoyable knit all the way through and I love that the cuff is long.

So with the feeling of success I started the pair that I've in reality been dreaming of knitting ever since I got the book! Bex.

Oh my! They were indeed complicated! I'm usually a pretty fast knitter and I could have knit myself in entire sweater during the three weeks or more it took me to knit these. But I'm glad I started them - and more importantly that I finished them! Because they're just so beautiful and the fit is PERFECT. And they're so warm because of all the cabling.
The yarn was Skinny Bugga and I almost used an entire skein. My mother and sister got me the yarn at Rhinebeck last year. I dream of going there one day too. Until then - I'll just be fondling my Bex. :o)

Proofreading

This is what I'm doing right now:

Proofreading my new design, a cardigan called 'Cold Neck Syndrome'. ;o) Size 34 inch bust is already with three testknitters and size 38 inch bust will be too once I finish proofreading.

This is the cardigan:

You can read much more about it on Ravelry. I'm really excited about it and I've had so much positive feedback already. I wasn't sure that I would write up the pattern actually but I decided to anyway. It's my first time writing up a pattern for an adult sized garment in multiple sizes so I really hope it'll be ok. I got some tips from one of the best Danish knitting designers, Annette Danielsen, who saw my cardigan on Ravelry too. Thank you Annette! They were very helpful.

...and the winner is

I am happy to announce the winner of my One Month Anniversary Contest! Blame my husband if you're not satisfied with the result.

The winner of a lined zippered pouch (flower or japan style) is:

FAITH!

Congratulations!!

Sewing

It's been a little while but I'm still here. My youngest daughter Dora had an ear infection and was like an extra limb for about a week. So while I wanted to I just couldn't get around to showing you all the things I've been doing. Today was the first day I could finally take some photos, so prepare yourself for a serious picture overload. :o)

First of all, I've been sewing an amazing sweatsuit for Dora. Last week, while she was still ill, I took her with me to the library one day, pulled all the books and magazines I could find about sewing out and rushed home. With her sleeping in my lap I managed to flip through some of them. The best ones were clearly the Ottobre magazines. My jaw dropped deeper with every page I turned while my mind went 'oh, but this one is too difficult..' and 'I really shouldn't buy any fabric' and so on.

Anyway, after a few days I couldn't resist anymore. I picked out a magazine (left) and a pattern (right) I really liked:

and I went to my local fabric shop and picked out a simple but suitable fabric. After making the jacket I realized that I had enough fabric for a pair of trousers so this was my final result:

The jacket is fully lined:

 and it has pockets, a hood and a zipper. It's amazingly soft and I'm so jealous. I want such a suit myself! The trousers have an elastic waistband and ribbing around the ankles, like the jacket does around the wrists.

Here Dora is in action - she didn't have time to smile since she was very hungry. :o)

And then I also made her a little apron/dress:

It's fully lined too, and open in the back:

The pattern is from this Danish sewing book by Hanne and Sofie Meedom (I highly recommend it, especially for beginners). Lots of drawings and explanations.

Now my only problem is that my oldest daughter Iris wants a sweatsuit too! In pink! Gah...