I’ve been a slack knitter this holiday, partly because I decided to not do any christmas knitting this year. I love not having to knit anything, the only problem is that as a result I almost didn’t.

Except: A sweater, in the pattern Ester. Unfortunately I’m not really finished with it yet, it needs a few more inches around. And I forgot to take a picture of it in the hour of daylight we had today… oops.

During my reading for my second exam a couple of weeks ago I cast on some socks (the new knitty had just come out) and I needed some knitting breaks from the world. They are beautiful, but I don’t knit on them constantly, they are a bit too involved for that. It’s the Azure pattern. At first I tried to make them in some Opal Bamboo. a variegated green colour, but seeing as this is textured pattern made up out of increases and decreases (but not lace, genius!) it ate it up too such an extent that I frogged it and restarted in a single colored yarn.

The sock yarn I chose is Fabel, by Garnstudio. It’s a pretty good yarn, wool/nylon blend, much the same as Regia or Opal, but a little bit fatter and a lot cheaper here in Norway, as it’s not import.

The other thing I’m making is Quant. From the newest knitty as well. My first attempt at enterlac, a technique I haven’t really had the need to try. At first glance the pattern didn’t seem to appealing to me, but a knitting a friend made three(?) for christmas gifts, and said the pattern was pretty cool. So I gave it a try.

So far, so good. I had to go down one needle size to get gauge. Not that I really swatched, I just made the beginning and frogged back when it turned out an inche too big, without doing the I-cord again.
I’m a bit disappointed with the yarn though, Noro Kureyon has been raved about so much that I thought it would be… better? None has mentioned as I have seen that it’s not uniform, in the spinning department, it’s almost thick/thin, but not quite. More like the yarn I’m producing as a pretty novice spinner, than what I expected out of Noro.

PS. The fact that I pulled all this yarn out of my stash kinda worries me. 2007 apparently was the year of stashbuilding for me

Tags: christmas, norway, opal, socks, toe-up sock, yarn

One of my favorite authors of all times, Terry Pratchett (author of the Discworld books), has some bad news.
Read his letter here.

Summary: Has been diagnosed with early onset alzheimer, but isn’t dead yet…

The letter, even though it’s sad, makes me chuckle a little, he’s such a good writer! And funny!

For me personally the Discworld books has a very special place in my history. The first time I spoke to my sweetie it was because he was reading Witches abroad, I commented on his excellent choice of reading material and we started talking (also called praising pratchett). That’s two and half years ago and we’re still together. The Discworld books are excellent in that respect, if someone likes the books and reads all of them as soon as they get their grubby little hands on them, they are usually worth keeping. Those that read one book and dosen’t get it… or even worse, those that don’t even want to try… let’s just call them wankers.

So, don’t be a wanker, go and read some excellent books today!

If you’re on Ravelry I also recomend checking out the Ankh Morpork knitters group.

Tags: Books, discworld, satire

I’m joining another little thing in blogland (or the blogosphere or whatever you want to call it).

I’m letting Vorare explain this, as I’m a bit braindead lately… I blame the exams…

Here’s the deal: Be one of the first three people to comment here saying you want to play, and I’ll send you something handmade. In return, you post on your blog saying you’ll do the same for the first three people to comment there. (If you’re interested, go comment now. You can read the rest later.)

Handmade can be just about anything, it could be a print of a photo you’ve taken, a braclet you’ve beaded, a batch of vegan baked goods or a skein of handspun yarn…

So, the three first people wil get something from me, proably something yarny (if I know myself) and something else. Just comment and I’ll be in touch.

Tags: along, blogland

I’m drinking way too much coffee today, while trying to write something sensible about why libraries and bookshops should/shouldn’t be considered partners. 2 pages long. And that’s it, all I’m allowed to write. I need about 10 more pages to even start making a good argument about the case… sigh.

Shouldn’t the exam that gives me half of this semesters point be over more than 2 pages?

So, in honor of me drinking way too much coffee, here’s a picture of my favorite coffee mug at the moment.

(I know, I’m the most interesting person alive).

Tags: Books, coffee, School

If you need a fix of purrrrrrrrrrring…

I miss having psycothic purring creatures around me.

Tags: cat