Mobil-pose

Jeg liker ikke riper i mobilen, og er flittig bruker av hjemmelaget etui til mobiltelefonen. Da jeg nylig fikk ny jobbtelefon laget jeg etui til den også - i nytt "design" og variant. Denne ble jeg veldig fornøyd med noen ting på, mens jeg savnet noe fra den "gamle" versjonen. Dermed måtte jeg jo bare sette igang med en til, og her er resultatet.  Målene er ca 7cm x 13.5cm, og den kan nok strekkes litt i begge retninger etter behov. 

Blir nok et par til etterhvert som jeg finner tid innimellom alt det andre som fyller dagene mine... for disse tenker jeg er supre å ha på lur til impulsgaver, eller for salg om anledningen byr seg :)

I really don't like getting scratches on my mobile phone, and I'm always using my own homemade mobile phone pouch. It's kept my phone nice and clean for almost four years now - and I can't do without it. When I got a new mobile phone for work I made a similar pouch, but with a different design. I really liked some things about it, but it also had some weaknesses. The result was that I just had to make another, improved version, and here's the result. The pouch measures around 7cm x 13.5cm, and can probably be stretched a bit in both directions if needed. I'll probably make a few more of these when I find time for it  - I'm sure these will turn handy as gifts, or maybe even for sale if the occasion presents itself :)

Hils på familien Nøkkelpus

For en stund siden spurte en god venninne om jeg kanskje ville bidra med noe som Dyrebeskyttelsen Drammen og Omland kunne få til utlodding eller salg. Jeg funderte litt på hva jeg kunne finne på, og endte til slutt opp med å prøve meg på noen heklete puser til nøkkelhanker. Jeg laget min egen oppskrift, og siden det tar litt prøving og feiling før man finner det "riktige" ble resultatet en fargerik familie på 4:

A while ago a very good friend of mine asked me if I wanted to donate something handmade for the animal care organisation in her hometown, Dyrebeskyttelsen Drammen og Omland. After thinking a bit while finishing some other projects, I decided to try out some crocheted cats for keyrings. I made my own pattern, and as it takes some trial and error to get things "just right", the result was a colourful family of 4.

Maskemarkører

Det nærmer seg ferietid, og årets ferieprosjekt er tunikaen som er vist i et tidligere innlegg. Til den trenger jeg maskemarkører, og jeg hadde bare en - i beste fall, ettersom jeg ikke er helt sikker på hvor jeg har den... Jeg har pleid å bruke tråder i en kontrastfarge, men innbiller meg at det er lettere å holde styr på noe man trer inn på pinnen...
Inspirert av G-Anette og diverse varianter av maskemarkører på Epla.no dro jeg på en aldri så liten workshop hos en venninne, og kom hjem med to sett med fem markører. Dvs - fem markører + en sjette med karabinkrok som til vanlig kan holde de andre sammen, men som også kan brukes som markør man hekter innpå masken.
Jeg ble kjempefornøyd med resultatet, og det blir neppe de siste jeg lager - dette var gøy!

It is soon holiday time, and this years vacation knitting will be the tunic shown in a previous post. For this I need stitch markers, and I only had one - at best, as I'm not entirely sure where it is right now... The few times I've needed stitch markers I've only used bits of yarn in a contrast colour, but I imagine it must be easier to deal with markers kept on the needles... 

Inspired by G-Anette and various sellers on Epla.no I went for a small "workshop" at my friend's place, and returned home with two sets of five stitchmarkers. Or - to be exact - five + one, as there's a sixth marker with a carabina clasp on, holding the other five together, but which can also be used to mark a stitch. 

I am very pleased with the result, and it will not be the last time I make these - this was fun! 

Crocheted slippers

After finishing the blanket last week, I have now finished a small project: Crocheted slippers for a friend of mine. 

I used pattern 113-32 Crochet slippers in "Eskimo", size 38/40, with colours 21 (blue/violet, 3 balls) and 30 (pink, 1 ball).

They are now ready for delivery - I hope my friend will like them! 

A moment of weakness...

My stock of yarn has generally seen more yarn coming in than going out. It's not like I have crazy amounts, but I have quite a few balls I've bought without any planned purpose, or I might have abandoned the original idea I had... especially if that was an idea from another weak moment...
The last few months at least I have been very organized, and only bought yarn that I had a safe plan for. I have yarn for a few projects all ready - and I don't really need any new yarn for quite a while...
But yesterday I had a weak moment and gave in to an urge for putting in an order for new yarn.

This time I've ordere 7 different colours in an Alpaca yarn from 123knit.com. I have never bought this yarn before, but I've seen it, and it's very light and soft. And -  I do have a plan for it - if it works... that's still left to see...

For quite a while I've been dreaming of making a granny-square blanket for myself  - and I'm now starting to get a fair idea of how I'd like it... Ideally I'd like it light, fairly thin and it HAS to be very soft - and that's why I'll give it a try using this Alpaca yarn...it may be too thin- and I may have to use it double - in which case the amount of yarn needed may be far off what I can afford spending on this kind of project - but I'll test out a few different designs and different needle thicknesses, and hopefully I'll find a way that works. I also had to get one of each of the colours I'm considering, so that I can get a proper idea of whether they go together or not, and how I'd like the blanket to be...


If it turns out that this yarn was a bad idea for the blanket, there will be plenty of smaller, cute projects I could use this yarn for - no way this yarn will stay unused in any case!

Crocheted granny-square baby blanket

I finally finished the granny-square baby blanket I started on during the Easter holiday! As this was - and is - intended for a gift, and the baby was born 3 weeks ago, it was definately about time, too...

It turned out not to be as easy as it sounds to make all the squares the exact same size... I still hope that despite its lack of perfect geometry, the blanket is soft, warm, fresh-coloured and very suitable for a little girl.

The gift will be handed over tonight - I hope they'll like it! 

Earlier project show-off: Blue Totoro

In lack of any new projects to write about, I'll present an earlier project: the Blue Totoro amigurumi I made for my boyfriend's niece for Christmas. She's very into dolls and teddys, and when I asked her mother if there was anything I could make that she'd like, that was the obvious answer. I went on the hunt for a suitable pattern - I wanted something cute but not too complicated - after all it was my first ever crocheted amigurumi - and it had to be a decent size - keyring-size-amigurumis are very cute, but not really what I wanted to make this time...

I stumbled across the pattern for this Blue Totoro posted by Heaven's Hellcat, and I just loved it... I kept looking a bit more for others, as Totoro is  not a known "character" for the children today, but although I found many very cute alternatives, I kept coming back to this one... and this was the result:

The gift was very well received, and I was pleased with the result myself too, considering it was my first time doing this type of project. The most difficult part was without doubt getting the different pieces sewn together nicely - especially the part concerning finding the right place to put the ears and the arms... but I guess practice is the only thing that helps there! I'll definately make more stuffed animals sooner or later, but right now they find themselves quite a bit behind in the queue, after a blanket or two, diverse versions of socks, a sweater and a shawl...

Finally! Twin Sweater project comes to an end...

Around Christmas sometime I started on making two baby sweaters for a friend of mine's twins due in March... well... the babies were born just over a month ago, and I finally managed to get them done... they're supposed to be around size 3 months, but as the size is just based on measurements from a cardigan the to-be-mum thought might be a good size, this is a very rough estimate - hence my urgent need to get this finished before they grow too old...

I don't have anything to try them on, so I have no clue how they'll fit... I just hope they'll be ok...
Have to admit that I'll probably look for a proper pattern next time ... This time the pattern is from a book, but the model in the book is a different yarn, and around size 2 years, meaning I had to rescale everything, and some things didn't work out as well as I hoped...

But anyway - here they are - I hope the fresh twin-parents find a use for them!

Return to my new favorite yarn-shop

The granny-square blanket I'm working on did - as I feared - turn out a bit too small using the number of squares in the instructions, and I need more yarn to be able to complete it. I can't really say I was sorry that I just had to return to my new favorite yarn-shop To Damer to get more yarn....

I ended up going there just before closing time - and as I was the only customer there I ended up staying a bit for a chat with the shop-owner. I really enjoyed the chat - and it turned out we shared not only the interest for crafting, but also the interest in music! Plenty of things to discuss and time whizzed by - and it was long pas closing-time when I finally left the shop.

Thank you, May, for being so friendly and helpful - I will definately be back!!

My first ever granny-square

I just couldn't wait - I had to try to make one of the squares for the DROPS Alpaca granny-square baby blanket... and I finished the first square last night. The first one took some time, as I had to use all the colors, and it always takes some time to start on a new ball - especially when you only have one ball, but you're supposed to use double yarn... My square turned out 13cm x 13cm with crochet hook 6mm (pattern called for hook 5) - I think it looks good and it's loose enough, and I won't go looking for an even thicker hook to match the gauge of the pattern: 15cm x 15 cm.

I'll probably just keep the blanket a bit smaller, make an extra border or something  around it, or make an extra row of squares - I still have to decide on that, but for the moment I got 19 more squares to make until I can see what the size of the blanket would really be... I really hope I get some time to do all of this at Easter - and I can't wait to get home tonight to make another square or two! 

Knitter's paradise

This morning I've been to a yarnshop I've never been to before, To Damer at Askøy, outside Bergen... and all I can say is Wow - what a paradise for any knitter!
They have such a wide selection of yarn - all different kinds and colors - and a complete wall with knitting needles and crochet hooks of different sizes and materials.

I had a long shopping list for yarn, all projects I'm planning for the spring (or maybe even rest of the year), and I was really impressed that I found all the yarn I needed - in the colours I wanted. There was only one single colour I looked for and didn't find, but the substitute colour just screamed at me, and I'm sure the finished product will look just as beautiful, and maybe even slightly more "fresh" than the original in the pattern...

I won't reveal what all the yarn is intended for at this point - but there's definately nice soft products and many hours of knitting ahead - I really can't wait to get started on all of this!!