Variegated hat finished

Sideways hat
Originally uploaded by Asplund

I'm happy with how it turned out! My friend Elisabeth likes it, so I will give it to her. She and I attended a drop-in bookbinding workshop a couple of nights ago, which was fun. In blurred action here.

There's quite a lot of yarn left, probably enough for a cowl and a pair of cuffs.

And returning to something familiar

"Sideways" hat
Originally uploaded by Asplund

Yesterday I came across a hank of yarn I couldn't resist... Why write a post about that, you may wonder - has that never happened before? Well, two things make this purchase different.

First, I restricted myself to a single hank! (Its weight, 200 grams, may have helped.) Second, I hardly ever buy variegated yarn, but found myself drawn to these soft, muted colours and the gradual shading and blending of them.

I always like the challenge how to display the yarn: choosing shapes, techniques and patterns that will show off the beauty of the material. In this case I thought it would be a good idea to accentuate the fact that it's self-striping by alternating sequences of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch. Also, it would help making a hat knitted sideways warm and comfortable, and the short rows would create a nice visual effect too. And possibly it's a way to make up for my English Patient bowl (see previous post), to prove to myself I am capable of succeeding with stripes after all. :-)

Normally, I prefer (understatement!) symmetry, but in this case I actually like it that it will look different from different angles. For a while I toyed with the idea I'd knit it top-down or bottom-up, but decided I'd much rather see the colours in big wedges than in horizontal stripes.

The red yarn in the photo is the provisional cast-on. My plan is to graft the first and last rows for an invisible join.

Edited to add: I bought the yarn at Yllet in Stockholm. It's pure wool and 2-ply, but didn't have a name. Needles: 4 mm/US 6.

Trying something different

Last night I attended a workshop at gallery Kaleido in Uppsala, how to make a papier-maché bowl using pages from an old book. It was a lot of fun trying something new! Tonight it will probably be dry enough to remove the balloon; I used pictures for the inside, so I'm curious about that.

Hopefully, my bowl won't look quite as much like The English Patient when it isn't upside down... Not that I think I'll keep it anyway - I simply wanted to try the technique.

What I found most rewarding was appreciating workshop teacher Cecilia Levy's skills even more than before. Her show at Kaleido continues until 19 September.

I've started knitting a sweater with some beautiful red - the photo doesn't do it justice at all - wool I bought some time ago. This is a pattern I knitted in 1999, then with blue linen yarn. I think it works with wool as well. It's a modification of a pattern in Uuve Snidare's book "Fiskartröjor" (fishermen's sweaters).

Green Springtime shawl: finished

Green Springtime shawl: finished
Originally uploaded by Asplund

but impossible to fit into a photo: here's roughly 4/5 of it. I'll see if I can get someone to model it for me for a better photo.

I used almost two skeins (100 grams) of Wetterhoff's wool-silk blend Viva and 4 mm needles (US 6) and 3½ mm (US 4) for the border that frames the shawl.

What to knit now? Take care of UFOs (quite a few) or stash (quite a lot)? Buy more yarn?

Anyway, I'm in the mood for cables after a few months of lace galore. (Just checked: six shawls so far this year! It's a good thing I know people who like wearing shawls.)