Gradient and gorgeous

It feels like I'm going on about yarn with long colorways. I happen to love gradient colored stuff, don't ask me why. So imagine my excitement when I found this seller on Etsy. The shop is called Color Shift Yarn and is run by Erica Heftmann. She calls herself "a studio dyer and Senior Member of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists" which I suppose is a fancy word for dyeing wizard. So she has been developing these dyes for 20 years but still, there must be some kind of magic involved when the results look this good! Just imagine all the things you could do with it... I can't stop thinking about it.

Pictures are from her shop. 

Other gradient stuff... not yarn-related! 

Must-have-tights from BZRshop on Etsy.

Versace

Keep going or give up, that is the question

I'm currently working on a boat neck sweater for Isola. It's in a milk chocolate brown hue with a narrow hot pink brim and inspired by a very basic sweater of my own. But the designing of the sleeve caps makes me crazy. I don't get the math right by some reason... So maybe it will stay a dream, it remains to be seen. And typical me, when I get stuck on something, I feel like just tossing it aside and make something that's a complete opposite of what I'm doing. Which, I guess, is why I just bought this pattern for myself:



It's Still Light Tunic by Veera Välimäki and normally a piece of this size, all in stockinette stitch, makes me go snooze but for some reason a knit like this seems strangely appealing and soothing all of a sudden. I can't get it out of my head! I need to make this!

But then I look at Isola's sweater and feel guilty. Not that she would care, she is sick of me running after her with half-knitted garments to try on, but I feel it would be such a waste to leave it unfinished. It was so good in theory...

Blocking mats

The first time I saw a knitting tool like this - a blocking mat - I thought: How smart, they use the kids play mat for blocking their knits. I didn't know that mats like these are actually sold as knitting tools. I want one! I like the KnitPicks set with which you can put together as many pieces as you need so it's easy to store. But I assume that those foam mats that you can buy for kids room will work well too and might be cheaper to buy. I also heard you can use a yoga mat with the same result. I've used the iron board so far but it doesn't really work well with larger pieces. If you don't have mats like these, what do you use?

New multicoloured yarn

Stitchdiva has added a couple of new yarns on their website and I immediately fell for Fanatic, a multicoloured yarn with long color lenghts. It means the that the colours shift sloooowly, which looks great on a sweater! And the colours available seems amazing, I want them all! I have been looking for a yarn like this but haven't found any in my town. It's 77% acrylic though. I don't mind non-natural material per se but I just hate garments that make your hair go all static.

Fanatic, see all colours here.

A bowl with yarn

I don't think that I would have appreciated the concept of yarn bowls so much if I didn't have cats. When I knit and yank the yarn it happens that the ball rolls down from the couch and over the floor, sending quiet signals to my two cats to come and play. And even if they leave it alone it always end up strands of cat hair in the yarn. Problem solved with a yarn bowl! Here are some to explore, all from Etsy, all handmade.

Lamb shaped from A Speer Ceramic Studio.

Teal yarn bowl from Uturn.

Bowl with scrolls from jampdx.

Shiny and black in stoneware from Dragon Pottery

Knit and the City

Wonderful yoke in perfect color combo by Raveler Crypto. Pattern by Laura Chau here.

 I love yokes. A well-designed yoke will make your outfit! And good news for knitters is that there are so many different styles and patterns to choose from. Maybe I should start a yoke-of-month-post? Anyway, I came across this pattern, Cityscape, by Laura Chau on Ravelry and just had to share. LOVE. IT. Have to put this on my knit-list. The most urgent one. Which is also the longest list, strange huh?

Instant love

Something remarkable happened yesterday. I fell in love with a yarn and didn't buy it! I mean yet. I haven't bought it YET. For the first time I decided to find a project/pattern first, then buy the yarn. The yarn in question is Malabrigo Lace. I went to my LYS to get some other skeins and they hade rearranged the shop a little. Normally I just skip the lace weights because I don't do scarves. But now all the lace skeins are just beside the counter and I couldn't help picking a Malabrigo up. It was the softest little skein! So incredibly soft I thought it was silk (which I also never buy since I don't like the process of making silk). But it was baby merino wool. Instant love. Even on their website Malabrigo says: When you experience Malabrigo Lace, you connect with a special place of the world. So there you have it. It's not just my imagination.

But I never make scarves. I'm just not a scarves person. But I do like lace patterns and they work perfect with scarves. But the casting on! My god. I hate casting on and some scarf patterns call for casting on A LOT of stitches, depending on design. Normally when I read patterns and they start with "Cast on 230 sts..." my eyes get blind and I just go to the next pattern. And when I looked through a couple of nice scarves I found one pattern that called for casting on over 1200 sts! It freaks me out. I would never manage doing that. Just imagine control counting the cast on. It would take all day. Are there any tips or tricks for casting on that many stitches?

But of course, I can knit wristlets or a baby cowl or something for Isola instead. Because I have to have that yarn. Next time, Malabrigo Lace, you will be mine.

The best store for storage

I have never been a fan of Muji until now. I used to wonder what on earth the deal with Muji was. When they first opened their store in my town I thought that everything they sold were made of recycled material, why did it otherwise look so dull? But that was then. NOW I have changed completely. I used to live like a victorian, ie the more stuff the better. But now I tend to wish for a more Zen-like feeling of my home.

So when I went to Muji a couple of days ago I did it just because I knew that they sell a lot of different boxes. And I did find some clear plastic shoe boxes that will work great for a lot of different stuff - yes, YARN too! In fact, there were loads of stuff that I suddenly felt a need for. Everything looks so darn clean and smart and it will make your home look clean and smart too. I will definately be shopping more from Muji. I think Muji may even have the solution for my yarn stash. Check out their storage range here.

Cables for me too, can't wait...

... to finish THIS project:

 It's a pattern by Deborah Newton, from Vogue Knitting magazine and I'm making it in light grey. It is the project that I work on "when I'm not knitting", ie I pick it up and make a few rounds when I don't want to think about WHAT I'm knitting and just do it. It's for those rare moments when I'm not making up kids patterns of my own but just want to occupy my hands. Or watch TV. It feels like I've been working on it forever but it's actually only about 25% left. I will post pictures of the end result when it's done! And I can't wait until it is, because I've decided that my next "not-knitting-project" is going to be... THIS:

I think it's absolutely stunning. I need to cast it on right now! It's called Snake-a-licious sweater by Tiny Owl Knits and you can buy the pattern on Ravelry here. Please do and knit along with me! But I just can't decide which color I want...

Mama needs new bag

Namaste Inc makes bags. Really nice ones. They make bags for knitters and mums. And vegans. They make them for me!

Most of them looks like regular and stylish bags but are so damn smart and have great compartments. Others are more specialized like the circular case pictured here.

They only have two retailers in Sweden and one of them is my LYS! Must be fate, right? It would be against the universe's wish not to buy one, right?