Projects coming out of my ears

Seeing as I primarily started this blog to try to keep track of my projects I thought I should give an update on how I'm getting on...

I've had a couple of slow computer afternoons this week, so have managed to finish David's not grey socks..... he seems pleased with them, and they just about match. Here he is reading Steve Waugh's autobiography and enjoying his new socks. He's usually pretty good at getting holes in his socks so I guess I'm going to have to become proficient at darning.....
My Konfekt jumper is also making progress... it still feels pretty slow, but then I guess I'm knitting it in the round so am knitting the front and back at the same time. Another 9cm and then I'm up to the armholes.(Not that I've done any more on it for a couple of months, but) I joined a flickr group called "kaffe fassett inspired creations" and put a picture of my quilt on it - I've had a few nice comments about it which is very satisfying. Hopefully I'll have some time soon to do a few more squares.

And of course I'm having thoughts about the next projects (am I getting ahead of myself?).

My Mum and Dad brought this wool with them when they came to visit a couple of weeks ago - it's Jacob Wool produced quite locally to them at High Head Castle, Ivegill. The picture has washed the colour out quite a bit, but it's thick looking (it says on the label that it should be knit as a light Aran), soft and squishy feeling, and a nice natural looking (because it is) brown colour - definitely without the greyness of the photo. The plan is to make this cardigan... I haven't swatched or anything for it yet - but that's the plan at the moment.

I've also come across a pattern on the MagKnits website that I think I might think about knitting with the red Rowan Cotton Glace that I've had kicking around for a bit without a purpose. Again no swatching has taken place yet - but that's the plan.

I'm also hatching a plan for a pair of socks for my Mum, and also for doing some more sewing. I'm exhausted just thinking about all the things I want to do.

knitting update

The yellow booties I finished a week ago or so have finally gone into the post to Jen et al - Jen had a boy on 12th July (a couple of weeks late), they've decided to call him Samuel Frederick.

I thought I'd better start the next pair of booties. These are for Annie - her due date has passed, but as far as I know she hasn't had her baby yet. (Update - I've just heard that she had Edward on Friday afternoon) Annie makes fun of David and I for both being red-heads, but as she's got a red-headed brother I'm sure she's going to have a red-headed son (she's blonde, and Tony is brown) - so I thought it only appropriate to make orange booties for junior:

Here's the progress I've made on konfekt 18703 - slow, but steady - it's starting to feel a little less "just started" than before.

I also have finished the first half of David's not grey socks:

And have cast on the second half:

My parents are coming to visit this next week - I ordered this book from Amazon, which they're bringing with them, which will hopefully give some inspiration for the next pair of socks to tackle. My Mum's also bringing some Jacob wool that she got locally. The plan is to make it into a cabled zip front cardigan, but I'll wait to see it before I completely commit.

I'm not sure what we're going to do while they're here - we've got a day trip to Røros planned, and probably some walks, and some playing in the garden, I just hope the weather's nice - we're having a few days of rain at the moment, but I don't think it'll last for too long (fingers crossed).

Bergen weekend

We had a great weekend in Bergen with Mina, Arild and Lauritz. The weather was great, and it was good to see them again. We took the train north to Voss on the Saturday to see some of the extreme sports weekend, it was mostly paragliding on the Saturday:

It looked fun - but we didn't try!

On the Sunday we went to the Baroniet Rosendal - more my kind of thing! Beautiful rose garden, and a large (under construction) kitchen garden in a stately house in a beautiful mountainous, fjord-side setting, by a waterfall (if that wasn't enough!).

David also did a bit of this by where we were staying:

The weather since we've been back in Trondheim has been great - fortunately the rain and bad weather that hit the UK over the last few weeks has passed to the south of us. I took this picture this morning at about 7am:

In case you can't read it - or don't believe your eyes - it does say 43C! It's not a true temperature, but I thought it was pretty impressive looking - especially considering we're only 600km ish from the arctic circle!

The good weather has meant that are tomatoes are finally starting to fruit - this is our first San Mazano tomato:

With being away there hasn't been a huge amount of time for knitting, and progress is slow. David's not grey sock is making progress - I'm ready to pick up the heel stitches and get going with the foot.

I've also been working on konfekt 18703 - it's making slow, but steady progress - each row seems a long way round after socks.

Multiplying boxes

June seems to be flying by.

We moved on June 1st to our new house - which went fine. Then we abandoned all the boxes and mess on June 2nd to travel to Spain (not quite Syden in the Norwegian sense, as we weren't on the coast) to visit David's parents. We had a lovely time - nice and relaxing. It was pretty warm, but most of the time there was a bit of a breeze, which kept it nice. We went to some pretty places and went to a couple of ex-pat parties and generally had a good time. Nothing too strenuous - we almost managed to forget that we would be coming back to boxes and stuff everywhere.

I managed to do a bit of knitting while I was away. The first of my pregnant friends was due on June 11th - I haven't heard if she's delivered yet, but I'm sure I'll hear soon. While we were away I knitted these:

Helen and Simon, have a daughter already, Anna - so I thought I'd better knit something for her too. She loves pink, so I thought some pink socks would be good. I used the stitch pattern from this pattern, but sizing as for the smallest size for this pattern. I think Anna's 3, so I hope they (once I've knitted sock two) fit.

I've also been continuing with David's not grey socks using magic loop - they're progressing, and I quite like the technique for a change.

Since we've been back we have had a bit of a go at the garden - we've mown the lawn and made sure the veggies are behaving themselves - although I'm itching to dig another bit for planting some more vegetables. We've also been enjoying some of the flowers and blossom that are around the garden:

We have three, or maybe four lilac trees/bushes around the garden that are all flowering at the moment - they smell lovely.

We also have a hawthorn tree that is looking very pretty at the moment. There's quite a lot of work that needs doing in the garden - it's been allowed to become a bit of a jungle and is now growing really fast with the long days and abundance of light.

We still have loads to do in the house, so I'm not sure how much time I'll get away with spending in the garden!

While the cat's away, the mice will cast on

David's been away for a few days on a work trip (jolly) to Barcelona - how can going to Barcelona, looking around a couple of shops and then lookng at the architecture and other retail outlets in the city be called work? - and I didn't even mention the beer drinking or the tapas eating....

While he's been away I thought I'd have a casting on session - so far I've been consciously having only one knitting project started at a time, but thought it was worth seeing how it is the other way round - and I want to knit something a bit bigger, which something a little smaller (like socks) can fit around.

So here we have them:

Second sock of Ice on the Pond socks.

Cast on of the "bigger" project - this doesn't look like much - I think I'm maybe three rows in when I took the photo, but it is going to be this (konfekt 18703 from Dale of Norway). This is one of the patterns I contemplated for the red cotton that I still have. The pattern's in Norwegian, but so far it's going OK.

And third, but not least - David's not grey socks. I took two attempts to start these - I've decided to learn the "magic loop" method of knitting - ie knitting the sock on one circular needle. I started off thinking that maybe it was worth a shot at knitting both socks at the same time using this method as I've heard that it's possible...

So, yes it is possible, but my attempt was messy and I knew that I wouldn't be pleased with the results, so thought I'd stick to learning the magic loop method before I advanced to trying two at once. Here's the second attempt:

Much better. I'm hoping this method will be useful for when I knit the sleeves for the Konfekt 18703 jumper. I also would like to knit these socks, the pattern hasn't been published yet as they were entered (and won) a competition, but I understand they're knitted using the magic loop method. So there is method in my madness.

As you can see, this doesn't include any baby booties - I need the needles that the ice on the pond socks are being knitting on so that I can start.

So far my reaction to having a number of knitting projects on the go is that it's hectic and I don't really know where to start, or which to work on.

more socks

Had another enjoyable but more relaxed weekend. I managed to finish the first half of my ice on the pond socks:

This one's to prove that they fit!

We went into Trondheim to do a few jobs on Saturday, including dropping the engagement ring into a jewellers to be resized, and finding out where the Sponhuset is as a possible wedding location.

We also took a visit to the wool shop.

We got this wool for socks for David:

It's the same wool as I'm knitting the ice on the pond socks from, but in a different colourway. After telling me that he was a "grey sock person", I think this is a positive sign.

But the first thing I must do before I start the second ice on the pond sock, or the not grey socks for David is to fulfill a request I had from Rob at Easter for some socks that look like a bee. This is what we got:

Hmmm... interesting - they will, of course, be stripey. I intend to learn another couple of techniques in order to make these... the jogless jog and weaving in ends as I go along.

And this is our garden bench that needs resanding and varnishing - I thought if I put it on my ikke ferdig list it might actually get done.