Sunday Swift

Sunday afternoon and I get to use my yarn swift for the first time! As far as I know, there is only one store in town that sells yarn swifts, or yarn winders. They cost 649 SEK which is almost USD 100. A bit expensive I think...  I got mine on the flea market for just 60 SEK! Just a tenth of the price, what a bargain.

It doesn't happen too often that I buy my yarn in hanks but the winder will be of great help if I decide to dye yarn as well. My first use of this winder is for Alpaca Flamé by BC Garn, a fine thick-and-thin of the softest alpaca in crisp light grey. I've already made a cowl and baby cardigan using this yarn, I love it so much! I've teamed it up with a thin cotton thread for making a basic sweater for myself.

A hat for Kaleido!

You know the saying that you should try something new each day? Well, this is a first, I knit a hat/cowl for a dog! This cute fella is called Kaleido and belongs to a friend of mine. Being more of a cat person I can tell you that my knowledge about a dog's anatomy is very limited. Kaleido is a whippet, which reminds you of a miniature greyhound. I learned that this breed has very sensitive ears and doesn't like windy weather (who does?) But Kaleido has got his ears covered now! It was a fun knit, hope that he enjoys it too. At least he looks great!

Great gifts for kids, knit a doll

Knitting toys is a great idea for gifts since you don't have to care about fitting or what season it is. There are tons of knitting patterns out there for dolls but Barbara Prime's are one of my favorite because of their classical look. See the all at www.fuzzymitten.com.

Pug!

Cat!

Lamb!

Nice stitch II

I love to find new useful stitches, it can really help you come out of a "knitter's block". This stitch is called linen stitch and I love it because it gives the feeling of woven fabric. The knitted piece becomes very dense, you might want to use a larger needle size than you normally do. Because of the density the stitch might not be suitable for garments. But I do recommend it for pieces like bags, shoulder straps for bags (or guitars!), placemats or even rugs.

It's quite simple too, like this:
Cast on an uneven number of stitches.
Row 1: [WS] K1, *p1, slip next stitch purlwise while holding yarn to the back, repeat from * to last 2 sts, p1, k1.
Row 2: [RS] * K1, slip next stitch purlwise while holding yarn to the front of the piece, repeat from * to the last st, k1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2.

Right side

Wrong side