malinmerino

A little while ago, I was bathing in goth nostalgia, now I´m really enjoying the Tattooed knitters and crocheters group, and I´m listening to Reverend Horton Heat - a new discovery, very good! I really love Raverly, there´s something for every little piece of you! Combine with Youtube, and it´s a homerun!

I´ve figured out how to post pics at Ravelry, and I´ve been over there for the past couple of days. It´s absolutely irresistable - I blame me being a Virgo and thus a sucker for organizing and lists. I´ve posted all my FO´s with pics, when I have gotten a pro account on Flickr (now, only my 200 newest pics are showing, which means you can´t see any of my SP pics), I´ll post more yarn, and when I´ve bought a camera, I´ll post pics of WIP´s as well. Now, I´m going there to find more people, patterns I want to make, great yarn, good blogs... It´s a knitter´s heaven!

I´ve seen this around for a while, and now I have to join the masses. I joined at "Tekopp", here´s what you do:

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.

So - for the first three who comment here, I´ll send something handmade, it´ll problably involve yarn or fabric in some way or another, I´ll say it right now - I won´t probably send right away, but within the next months. So, if you are formarly a lurker - step out of your lurking safety, and pay it forward!

I haven´t done much knitting lately, I haven´t even thought of knitting - I´m all about vingage housekeeping at the moment, but how easily I´m tempted! One look at a knitting blog, and I´m drooling after yarn, and socks - I don´t know what it is about socks that makes me want to make them - lots of them. I won´t go buy any yarn, though (ok, I need to buy for a baby blanket for a friend, that needs to be finished), I have so many things on my to-buy-list, which aren´t yarn at all. But I can drool, and I can want!

I´m having some difficulties over at Ravelry, I can´t get the pic importing from flickr to work, very irritating.

Today my Ravelry invitation came! Yay! I´ve been waiting and waiting, and now, at last, I can go over there and be part of all the fun stuff!

A knitting book arrived today as well (it´s actually my first in a while, I haven´t bought many knitting books lately) - "Holiday Knits", I´ve only flipped through it really fast, but it looks really good.

I´ve finished my parents Christmas knitting, socks and hats for both, and I´m working on a present for my grandmother, a hat. I hope it will come to good use - she lives up north, where winter is long and cold. We (me and my sisters) have been horribly bad at remembering her at birthdays and Christmas, so this year we plan to make a big present, with a lot of pampering inside for her.

I´ve seen it mentioned in blogs, but I figured I already was into too many things on the Internet, so I let it pass me by. How I regret it now! I just went to have a look for myself, and it looks like a great place to hang for a yarn junkie like me, but there´s a long waiting line - almost 15,000 persons are ahead of me, waiting for an invitation. What I´m talking about? Ravelry, that´s what I´m talking about. A community for knitters and crocheters, a place to organize your stash and your knitting, to meet people, and if you´re anything like me - to get even more obsessed. And I´m way back in line! How am I going to survive? When will they have me? Aaargh!

I just placed a bid at an online auction for two skeins of chunky Manos del Uruguay yarn. Actually, the colour is not a favourite, I hardly ever knit with chunky yarn, but it´s Manos. In Sweden. At a fair price. Need I say more? I placed one bid, I won´t go any higher, and if someone else swoops in and buys it, well - let them. And if not, I have some Manos yarn in my stash, either to give away, or to wait for me to love this shade of green.



UPDATE: I didn´t win the auction, but I´m not too sad about that - I´m going to Stockholm tomorrow, yarn is one of the things I hope to buy!

I saw the cutest capelet in a store in Stockholm, but I thought it was too pricy, so now I´m searching for a capelet pattern on the net. I found some nice ones:

Crocheted capelet

Teensey capelet

Reversible winter capelet

Vintage capelet (hmmm... maybe this one, but with a hood instead of a collar...)

Bainbridge scarf (is not a capelet, but I love how it looks, what do you think?)

Neither of them is what I want, a simple, open in the front, kinda raglan knitted, with a hood - anyone seen a pattern for that? Or have any ideas on how to do it? I was thinking of using a pattern for a raglan, top down cardigan, and stop knitting before I get to the sleeves, and then adding the hood - I mean, really - how hard could it be?

I know, I´m not here a lot (I´m keeping four blogs going, so I blog mostly at the one that goes best with my current obsession - now I mainly interior-blog), but it´s fall, winter is up, and there should be some more knitting going on. I am waiting for some swap packages as well, which I hope contains some yarn. I organized my crafting corner the other day, and realized (if I hadn´t before) that I need to do some serious yarn shopping - my stash contained about 6 balls of yarn... Not counting the untouchables, of course, the ones that must never-ever be used, the ones that are given as gifts and in swaps, and may only be fondled on occasion.

Anyway, I thought I´d do another entry on vegan knitting (even though I can´t stay away from the animal fibers... ). I thought I´d give you a little tour on vegan knitting sites, buckle up your seatbelts, and off we go:

Tofu is a staple in the vegan kitchen, how about making it a staple in your knitting basket?
Or have a piece of definately vegan cake!
What the heck - take a look at the entire blog! Both knit- and crochet patterns, and food, and links. Lovely!
Knitting is better, when there´s a tub of ice cream waiting in the freezer!
Buy your not-your-every-day vegan yarns here!
There´s plenty of vegan yarns at kpixie, I did a search and ended up here, but feel free to wanter the perimeters!
I can´t wait for the next Vegan Pal round to begin!
In the mean time, why don´t we dwell on some vegan knitting blogs?

What do you think - is there room for some animal friendliness in your life? You know, there´s a big vegan world out there, and everybody is welcome to join!

I´ve started working on my stepmother´s 50th birthday present - only 2 months late. I was so fortunate to find the yarn I ment to buy at half price, so I´m saving some dollars, which is really welcome. I´m doing a lace shawl in moss green silk yarn, she´s the type of person that never spends a lot of money on herself and her clothes, so she would never buy anything silk for herself (not to mention cashmere!), so I really wanted to get something with a feeling of luxery for her. I hope she likes it, and appreciate it!

Believe it or not, but I´ve started on my Christmas knitting! I´ve got quite a lot of Debbie Bliss Aran Merino in a petrol blue, and it will becom hats for my parents, and socks if it is yarn enough. They live up north, the winters tends to get rather cold, so anything to keep warm is usually welcome.

I hope I get my copy of the Stitch n´Bitch 2008 Calendar soon! It will be out on June 30th, which is really soon! I can´t wait to see my pattern in print! And the picture - they changed the pattern a little, I can´t wait to see how it looks! And I wonder what yarn they substituted my yarn with - I used Swedish yarn, hard to come by  in the rest of the world! And, we´ll get a little pay as well, $25, which are going right back into my yarn stash, I´m thinking sock yarn, or possibly Hand Painted Yarn. I can´t wait!

By that, I mean: are you knitting for the sake of knitting, or for the sweater/hat/socks/whatever it´s becoming? I think I can say, without giving it too much thought, that I´m a process knitter, big time. An example: I knitted a sweater, and wasn´t happy with it, so I frogged it. Then the yarn became a cardigan, but Iwasn´t happy with it, so I frogged it. Now I have this bunch of yarn, waiting for a new project. I knitted a pocho four times (knit-frog-knit-frog-knit-frog-knit-frog), and now it´s finally a cowl and a bag. I´m not sure if I´m happy with them... And now, my fingers are aching to knit, and I lack severely in the yarn department, so what do i do? Well, I have these socks in Regia yarn (see earlier post), which are too big, and I have been disturbed about it for the longest time. Now I´ve frogged one foot, and began re-knitting it, and already I feel much better about it. I know I wouldn´t have bothered, if I hadn´t been dying to get my hands on some needles and yarn. So what do you think, process or project? Or just very fussy? Tell me - what are you guys? Process or project?

My hands are dying to knit, I read only knitting books, I blog about knitting, I lust after yarn - but I can´t knit! All that´s left in my stash, is ment to remain in my stash (mostly swap gifts from abroad), so I don´t have any yarn, and I don´t have any money to spend on yarn either - I´m on a totally involontary yarn diet, and I´m starving! The only thing I have to knit on, is my Bird´s Eye Shawl, and since I do most of my knitting in front of the TV, it doesn´t work, I know, I´ve tried, and all I get to do is un-knit stitches gone wrong. If anybody out there has an urgent need to get rid of some stash - you know where to find me!

I´m a rather superstitious person, and I believe in magic as well, and have a huge crush on tattos, as well a deep rooted love for knitting - the result? A knitty tatto on my wrist, a kind of spell if you wish, to remind my hands to keep busy. I found the picture in Stitch n´Bitch, and love it, even though people often mistake it for a skull. I´m getting another one beside it, with a yarnball from At knit´s end.

And it´s completely devoted to knitting and other fiber related things. You know I had to have one - I´m such a typical Virgo, I like to cathegorize things, have boxes and slots and binders for everyone, and sort according to subject. Since yarn is a big love of mine, of course I had to start a knitting blog!