Finally...

Thank you to all of you for the wonderful support you have been giving me. Your feedback is really appreciated since I live up here amongst wild (plenty of reindeer, few beautiful and timid deer, a bear has been seen walking through the yard in haste, wolf tracks just a few meters from the house, few foxes) and tame (a cat, three dogs) animals and human contact is at times rare. I can sometimes go for days without really meeting anyone.

I am never lonely as there is always so much going on and I am living up here after my own choosing (every now and then I need to remind myself of that fact). The downside of my lifestyle is that crossing over to the civilization becomes a task and that I easily can act like my neighbors when a human is sighted; you either run or hide... I realize this is not good. But then when I turn off TV, radio and computer the world goes away and I can be free to roam in my own thoughts (occasionally I do arrive at dead end) and creative endeavors and this is good.
I knit and I rip, I try and I try again, I knit and I rip (it does sound like cul de sac, does it not?) and just can't get it right. Repeat that for seven days in a row or ten days in a row. What makes it so difficult is the fact, that if there is the right answer, it is inside the head and I just can't find the way to fish it out from there and at the same time the thought that the pond is finally empty is hovering all around.
Okey, I know I am referring to a little cardigan here and nothing grand but then a little cardigan can take huge proportions in a little brain. Anyway, it is easy to talk about this today because, I think I have got it right now! And today I really don't understand why it was so hard yesterday or the day before. It is all so obvious now.
Before I throw myself into another pitfall, I will take a little walk to see if I can find new deer tracks if not the real creatures.

All is fine - wool be with you!

Lene

Lilleput

Linen embroidered with one ply of DMC Mouline Thread/Crewel Wool by Renaissance Dyeing Beige Yarn: Wetterhoff Sivilla colour 906 (70% wool 30 % silk) Violet: Regia Hand-Dye Effect colour 6553 Amethyst (70% wool 25% polyamid 5% polyacryl) Dark Violet: Austermann Step Classic colour?? (75% superwash wool 25% polyamid)

Lilleput was born in the fall around the time my twin girls turned 18 years.

On one morning in this last September I woke up and realized that there were no longer children under my care, instead there were two more (three altogether!) independent young women who were about to enter their own lives and callings; women whose lives I very much want to be part of, but women who are taking their first steps facing the privileges and responsibilities as young adults. When one is doing something new and important, one needs to concentrate, and really any kind of distraction from left or right or behind or whispering in the ears is going to be harmful and annoying.
I once had three babies, long time ago, and now years later, while they were bringing me up to be a mother and training me patiently from day to day to perform my duties accordingly, I am beginning to realize that in the meantime they grew up. I am not sure how it happened but they did.

Linen embroidered with one ply of DMC Mouline Thread/Crewel Wool by Renaissance Dyeing Beige Yarn: Regia Antik Colours 5753 (75%wool 25%polyamid) Blue Yarn: Regia Silk (55%merino, 20%silk, 25%polyamid) Orange Yarn: Cygnet Wool Rich (75%wool 25%polyamid)

I have been a slow learner, have flunked many times, and even though I have been carefully prepared during the last four to five years for this day, it still became as a surprise. One part of my curriculum "How to stand by but to not interfere in any imaginable or creative way" was extremely difficult. I still have not passed that course.

Linen/Cotton Blend appliqued with cotton quilting fabrids, embroidered with one ply of DMC Mouline Thread/Crewel Wool by Renaissance Dyeing Off White Yarn: Austermann Step Classic colour 1000 (75%superwash wool 25%polyamid) Brown Yarn: Austerman Step Colour 12 (75%superwash wool 25%polyamid) Blue Yarn: Black Bunny Fibers Fingering Weight (merino)

Upstairs in our house there is a room that we still call Play Room. It was the place for all the fun (and at times misery depending) when the girls were small. It was a room where toys were all around, sometimes in good order, mostly in a terrible mess. The room belonged to the girls and they were in charge there. I managed to trick them or maybe it was them who managed to trick me into playing house maids sometimes and thus the room got cleaned - this was a rare occasion. None of us were that keen on that play then. I am still not.

Linen/Cotton Blend embroidered with one ply of DMC Mouline Thread/Crewel Wool by Renaissance Dyeing
Off White Yarn: Lorna's Laces Yarns Shepherd Sock colour Chino (80%superwash wool 20% polyamid
Tweed Yarn: Trekking XXL colour 298 (75% superwash wool 25% nylon)
Orange Yarn: Sandnes Garn Lanett colour 4028 (merino)
Violet Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid colour 483 (75% wool 25% polyamid)

I found myself in the Play Room from time to time, looking out of the windows, thinking and remembering, mostly happy thoughts. All the toys are now put away to wait for the next generation but there are few items up there that tell of the days gone by: wooden horse, tiny rocking chair, little table with four child sized chairs and an old crib. The wooden doll house is going to be moved there. I started to knit up there and so the room continues to be a place for all the fun (and at times misery depending). My spinning wheels are up there and my most treasured wools.

The rest of the story you already know; the wild sock yarn stash and the frustration with it.

Lilleput Baby Jacket has many interesting knitting features: I-cords, I-cord edging and short row shaping to name a few but it is mostly simple garter stitch. It is knitted in one piece and only the sleeve seams are left to do when the knitting is completed.

It can be called done when the knitting and sleeve seams have been finished but one can carry on by adding crochet chain stitches and even furthermore if you'd enjoy a little bit of embroidery. The pattern has actual size templates for the fish, cat and dog and instructions for embroidering them.

This is a good project for wild fingering weight yarns. The overactive skeins can be tamed with pairing them with calm solids or almost solids. It uses less than 100g (but more than 50g) of both of the main colours (total 200g) and less than 50g of the accent colour. The accent colour is used for I-cord, front edgings and gussets.

The gauge in garter stitch is 32-33 stitches for 10 cm (4"). I got this gauge with 2,5 mm (US1.5) needles. The I-cords and front edgings are knitted with smaller needles. I used two sizes smaller for them, size 2 mm (US0). The size of the crochet hook I used was 1,5 mm.

Lots of encouragement and technical advice from both Cassie and Susanna went into writing this pattern. Thank you very much for helping me.

And thank you for Sofi, Nappi and Ekku for providing the inspiration. Be patient with me, I am learning and yes, I will continue to do as being told: "Go knit something. Anything."

This pattern is in my Ravelry Pattern Shop. Please find the link to the shop in the sidebar. Or you can buy it by clicking this link

Wool with You,
Lene

What's next?

First of all, thank you for all the comments! You have been on my mind a lot during the past days even though I have not been writing.

The winter returned after warmer period that was in between and all the new, fresh snow around is very inspiring. I do not mean knitting-wise only, but snow in this darkness is like sunny day after lots of rainy days. I wish someone would make a whole series of hand-painted yarns just mimicking these soft whites, greys and blues. There could be some dark heathery green like evergreens around and some greyish browns for tree trunks. It could be called Winter Hibernating or Winter in the Arctic. Maybe there already is one, if there is, please tell me. In fingering weight, please.

Yes, I am thinking of hand-painted or variegated or self-striping yarns all the time. This business with these yarns started in August when I was worried of them never being knit and just wished there was a good way to get rid of all these wild skeins. I thought that many of them were only good as they were, they could be displayed in bowls for admiring but as knitting I managed to bring out the worst of them. That thought just troubled me to no end.

Then I knit the little baby jacket that was called Seedling. Since there already is a cardigan named Seedling, I had to change the name. The new name is Lilleput. Anyway that was the beginning. Since then I have not looked at any other yarns and I have bought some new ones.
It is always the same route: the more I knit, the bigger the stash; the faster I knit, the faster the growth. The more I quilt, the bigger the fabric stash. The more I draw, the higher the paper pile.

And then the garter stitch - me and my big words! Some time ago, long time ago, I declared that I don't like it. Well, Lilleput is garter stitch jacket. On the needles at the moment is garter stitch scarf of Noro Kureyon sock yarn (S240, S149). So what's next?
Maybe huge boxy sweaters are coming back to me. I must admit that if they were not figure flattering, they were very comfy. Sweaters that were so roomy that they could host my twin pregnancy without any seam crying. And there never were any fit issues, they always did fit. One inch became ten inches when being knitted but it never mattered very much. If the stitch count was something like 320, just make it 420 to be on the safe side. The bigger the better. When buying yarn for them, it was never less than 10 big skeins. It really was easy time for sweater math.

To be totally honest, those huge sweaters and cardigans did get lots of wear, much more than these carefully calculated fitted sweaters I have been knitting lately. The socks then were always long simple basic ribbed ones, with heavy hard wearing yarns and again the sizing did not matter that much. There was plenty of room to wiggle the toes. The more I think of this, the more tempting it sounds... But one thing stays the same; it was knitting then, and it is knitting now. The joy of making the stitches, one after another, for hours and hours, for weeks that become years (decades!), and still there is no end to it.

Wool with you,

Lene