It hasn't happened much in here the last week. The reason is that I've been working with this:

Please come and visit me in my new blog. I done all the designs myself in Photoshop, but I left the programing to my partner, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I will be grateful for all comments about, and in ,the new blog.

After leaving the Pinwheel for a day or so I decided to give it another try, so I opened and undid half of it, as I also decided to make some changes from the original pattern. Normally, if this had been a smaller project I wouldn't have cared to redo it, and it would go straight to the bin, but since I've invested so much money in the yarn I think it derveres another try. So now the Pinwheel is back on the sticks. I've also made some progress with another project, my Sea sweater is coming along. What is left to do is the sleeves and the edging, I've never knitted with sticks of such a size before but I find that I really like it. Since each stitch is quite large you don't need so many stitches in each row, so you work each round faster, and you can see your progress immediately.

Every three weeks I have to travel for two hours to go to Kings College Hospital to have my foot treated. I found out that this time is well spent bringing a project to knit while I'm traveling on the tube and the bus, and after getting an I-Pod for Christmas (thank you Mom!) I can listen to music aswell, what a joyride! But my resent projects has such a size that it makes them difficult to bring in a small bag, so when I left for the hospital yesterday I started yet another project. This time it is a pair of fingerless gloves for my self. It might be difficult to see on the picture since they are black, but they are knitted in ribknit and I'm planning to have a red edging on them. This is how far I got during my trip. I also wanted to show you what my daughter got from her grandparents this Christmas. This is based on an old invention which in Norway is called "strikkelise", and I think the right term for it in English is a Knitting Doll. On these you knit tubes which you can turn into scarfs, bags, hats, and in this case a teddybear. My daughter is already buzy making the arms and legs for the bear.

A new year, a new beginning and new projects. It is said that 2007 will be a lucky year for Sagittarius, and that sounds good since I am one, but I haven't seen much to that luck yet considering my projects. I'm entering the new year with not one or two, but three new projects, and one of them has allready caused some frustration. I fastened the ends of the pinwheel and layed it flat to damp it, but it isn't flat, it's like a bag. It looks like I've increased fewer stiches than I was supposed to, but I followed the pattern and controlled the tention during knitting, still it came out wrong. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish the sleeves to see how it ends up, or if I should just throw it in the bin and forget all about it. On the picture I've hanged it up wet and I'm trying to force some shape into it by letting it hang to dry like this.



My second project is another sweater. This yarn is just beautyful! I fell in love with it when I bought one ball of it to my secret gift friend on Hobbyforum this fall, and I've wanted to make something with it ever since. It is spun and dyed by hand, and it is really chunky so I'm knitting on sticks size 12 (UK). My daughter has also nagged me for making something for her, and I think that I have to realize that the other dress I've started on will not be finished, and if I finish it there's no way that it will still fit her, so there you have it...another dress. It's made in thick wool so that she can use it now during the winter, and since I'm knitting with sticks size 8 it proceeds quite quickly.





I've also joined a picture along which Sylvia has started. "Tema" is about making the creativity flow through assosiation. We're given a different topic each week and are supposed to publish a picture on our blogs related to that theme. The kick off is next week, and the topic is stripes.

Look what I got! This is a gift from my secret friend at the forum DinHobby which I'm a member of, and I got exactly what I wanted. Bamboo sticks and Norwegian chocolate! Yummy!!!! Thank you so much my secret friend, now I'm off to the forum to try to figure out who you are.

I were out shopping for Christmas presents and I ended up in Borders, a huge bookstore in Oxford street. I spent allmost an hour there, not searching for presents but browsing through the art and crafts books, and I ended up buying my self a present. "Not Tonight Darling, I'm knitting" by Betsy Hosegood. It's a funny book with fact and fiction about knitting, history, fashion and techniques. I'm also making progress with the Pinwheel, only a few rounds left to go, it's just that each round is getting terrible large and takes longer and longer to finish.

After some very busy days I finally got ready for the Christmas sale. I brought some caps, some shawls, pairs of fingerless gloves and a few turtles. On Friday morning I even managed to make some cards using Photoshop. The cards describe washing instructions and my contact info. After printing them I noticed that the font is hard to read in such a small size, so this will not be a permanent solution.



But the Christmas sale resulted in quite an anticlimax. As I told you earlier they were fully booked so it was uncertain if I would be allowed to attend, and when I got there I realized quickly that there would be no room for me. However, the owner of the café, where the Christmas sale took place, cleared up some room for me on top of a piano. The problem was that my space were separated from the rest of the sale, hidden in the background with the catering, so nobody noticed me and I didn't sell a thing. The other women selling their products at the sale told me that it was the worst year so far, and that almost nobody sold anything, except from those selling homemade food. On the bright side I got a few glasses of free wine and I got to meet a bunch of nice women. One of them even asked if I could do some orders for her on chrocheted "Nannysquare" blankets after New Year. So all in all I'm quite pleased with the evening.
During my preparations for the Christmas sale I decided that when the stress was finished I would find an enjoyable project to work with, something larger than a cap or some gloves, and this time it would be something for me. About a year ago I found the pattern for this sweather at Elann.com, and I bought the yarn planning to make the sweather three months ago. So the project has been waiting and mutured a while for me to have time to do it. The sweather is knitted flat from the middle of the back and in circle, I haven't done this before and now I'm totally hooked on this new technique.



You can find the pattern HERE among the many free patterns on this site. I chose to make my own version, so I've changed the colours, and I'm knitting in cotton instead of wool as in the original pattern.This is how far I got until now.

I'm working hard these days to have enough products to show at the sale. Still I have to admit that I'm a bit frustrated not knowing if I'm going to be allowed to attend, maybe all this stressed work will end up in nothing. I keep telling myself that atleast I will have a lot to show when the next occation appears, and that keeps me going. I'm really looking forward to be finished with this period of making things for sale, and I have promised myself that when I am, I will start making something nice for me, a bigger project like a cardigan or something. Well, here's another pair of fingerless gloves.

I'm trying to knit and crochet as much as I can these days. I'm really exited about the possibility for me to join the christmas sale and I want to have as much as possible to show off to illustrate the range of my work. If I'm very lucky I might get some orders based on what products I've made. So the second Basque cap is done, and I finished a crocheted shawl today. The shawl is still missing tassels, and I have to steam it before it's totally done, but I'll save that work for the last finishes. Right now I have some pink fingerless gloves on my sticks, which I will continue working with tomorrow.

Lately I've tried to figure out different ways for me to sell some of my products, and the other day some luck struck me. I was visiting my local café last Tuesday and found these cards advertising for a Christmas sale taking place next Friday. The owner of the café helped me to get the phonenumber for the woman, Diane, arranging it, and on Wednesday I gave her a call. We agreed to meet on Thursday so I could show her some of my stuff. She liked what I've been making and she wanted me to join, especially since I do crocheting and not many of those attending do that. The only problem was that the sale is fully booked, there is no room for me. Still there is a chance for me to participate, if someone there would like to share their space with me. Diane told me to come early on Friday and then we'll see, I really hope someone will let me join in on their table. Since I don't have many items yet, at least not suitable for wintertime (just a bunch of bikinis), I'm knitting and crocheting as fast as I can to make more before Friday. As you can see I've made another turtle, and I'm almost done making the second Basque cap. I also did some shopping today and my plan is to turn all of this yarn into shawls and fingerless gloves.





I also wanted to show you a new technique I been working on.... No, I'm just kidding. Nevertheless this is a project which I'm very proud of and really want to show of. This is my daughters first knitting, she made a scarf for her doll. Not bad for a first try from a four year old girl.