I wasn’t intending to make a bedspread either but think I’m on good way there. 5 balls of Dalegarn Lerke got me through the bottom border of the Faeroese shawl. I’m now at ball eight and still can’t stretch out all the stitches on my 100 cm needle.  I think this will grow a lot in the blocking too, the yarn being half cotton.

(Ings, your record for largest shawl knit by mistake is safe but I can still hear you laughing.)

I have received reports that lambs are being born these days, jumping around and growing lovely, soft wool. Meanwhile I’m still working on how to make my darning egg hatch out little chocolate eggs.

Happy Easter!

1. Faroese shawls are pretty (that is a fact in my world).

2. They are knit from the outer edge and require  casting on plus/minus  half a thousand stitches.

3. The first ball of yarn does not take a knitter very far.

Pattern: Vinnland socks by Becca Compton, smallest size

Yarn: A Piece of Vermont Superwash Merino/Bamboo/Nylon Sock, colour ‘Mermaid’, 72 g

Needles: 2 mm bamboo dpns

Modifications: Used my favourite toe-up toe

The yarn is what was left from my Jaywalkers and has been designated for this pattern for quite a while, the toe-up leaves seemed perfect for using up the last bit of this colourway.

I don’t often pay much attention to names of knit designs, and it wasn’t undil I googled ‘Vinnland’ without adding ’socks’ I realized it was the English word for Vinland (yeah there should have been some bells ringing).

Whatever the motivatation was for naming the socks Vinnland, it is very appropriate. Aah, let me take you on a journey, long back and far away…

The left sock is actually inside out in the top two pictures. I like both sides of the pattern!

About a thousand years ago the Vikings were  racing around in Northern waters traveling far east into Russia, south to Jerusalem and west to Vinland. Such a journey did reqire its pitstops though, and the first leg was made by stray sailors stumbling across what was soon, and very understandably, named Iceland. This place was soon colonized but it didn’t stop the curiosity and eagerness, and need, to travel. After being outlawed for a murder, Erik the Red set sails westwards and returned with reports of more land, deliberately named Greenland to rise interest. You think today’s PR people are stretching the truth?? I wonder if he was enough of a practical joker to yell BURN!! when he returned with the first settlers and saw their jaws drop at the sight of glaciers and barren coastline.

I knit four repeats of the pattern before the heel, and four for the leg, that made a perfect sock. The pattern is so stretchy that gusset increases which I usually can’t live without, is unecessary.

Apparently his son Leiv Eiriksson did’t share his dad’s  sense of humour, but he did repeat him in  sailing towards unconfirmed discoveries of land in the west, reaching Labrador and Baffin Island and what he named Vinnland. The location of Vinnland is not known, but the word translates into either ‘land where wine grapes grow’ or ‘pasture land’. Wether he had more luck with his discoveries then his father, or just realized that a little PR couldn’t harm is unknown.

Archaeological findings including drop spindles and what Wikipedia refers to as a knitting needle confirms Norse settlements in North America 1000 years ago. I guess they refer to a nalbinding/needlebinding needle, as knitting wasn’t known back then in those cultures and only took over for needlebinding very few centuries ago. In fact, in many Norwegian dialects including my own, to knit is also referred to as to bind, and I call my work in progress my ‘bunding’ or binding.

Fast forward about 500 years to our friend Chris who thought the world was a ball and set sails for India. Little did he know that there was a lot standing between him and his target. In fact a whole continent or two. He never made it to India to see the tigers.

Cuff-down socks over 36 sts, 2 mm needle, picot edging and short-row heel. Opal Rainforest Tiger yarn, to fit a 6-12 month old.

He did bring back some other goodies though , like chocolate!, and although the behavior of his men and the consequenses of most land discoveries can be debated, all these guys lived a life in hand-spun, hand knitted (or bound or sewn) socks. That counts for something, right?

My Vinnland socks are now on their way to my aunt, hopefully bringing more reliable promises of buds and leaves than Erik the Red’s Greenland did!

Pattern: February Baby Sweater aka Baby Sweater on two needles, from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

Yarn: A Piece of Vermont Fingering superwash, 75/25 wool/nylon. I believe the colour is Sangria but I won’t trust my brain on that one. I do trust my scale though, and it says I used 65 g.

Needles: Most likely 3 mm. The jacket measures about 50 cm/19 inches around the chest. As Mrs.Zimmermann says, babies come in many sizes so t will most likely fit one at some stage. She says a lot of other things as well making her books worth reading, I can understand why they are such classics. She isn’t spoon-feeding the knitter with instructions so the patterns might be a challenge until you get used to the style, but I think they are worth it.

Modifications: Knit the collar and hems in seed st instead of garter and kept the upper portion in stockinette.

In spite of being involved in an almost-disaster, the whole thing took a lot less yarn than I thought so I knit a pair of booties to match.

Pattern: Stay-on babybooties

Needles: 2 mm bamboo dpns

I’ve knit so many of these I know the pattern by heart now, and the feedback I get from parents say that they really live up to the name and do stay on.  A very simple and cute project, thanks to Ullent Eventyr for sharing!

In other news I had a very nice weekend going home visiting my family. On Sunday the weather was nice and my mother and I had a great day walking along the shore sitting down here and there just taking in the scenery, spotting bird tracks and otter tracks and other tracks. You often see tracks from when the sea otters have been sliding on their bellies in the snow, the fastest way back into the sea!

The highlight of the walk was saying hello to these guys:

Very curious, but with their instincts all in place they gather in a circle when threatened. And they are fast!! Wild sheep, stone age sheep or viking sheep are some of the names, this breed is smaller than the now common sheep breeds in Norway and therefore went almost extinct at one point. Now it is regaining popularity, they can live outside all year in coastal climates feeding on bark and seaweed and some additional hay. Extremely tough and hardy. And cute!

The wool is shed once a year and the old fleece loosens from the body as the new grows out, so at one point the whole fleece can be pulled from the body without shearing, giving the fibres no cut-off ends. This gorgeous brownish-grey heathered ewe looks like she is ready to loose the coat soon. Couldn’t get anywhere near her though, and the handsome and well-armed ram in the background was always keeping an eye on us.

Not a guy I’d argue with!

Winter forest seen through the camera on a sunny walk

Deep in the winter forest, as pictured in stitches by Tuulia Salmela

Pattern: Deep in the Forest mittens by Tuulia Salmela

Yarn: Dale Baby Ull white 176 (1 ball) and Regia Galaxy Color 01578 Saturn, 40g

Needles: 2 mm Clover bamboo dpns

Beautiful pattern, just loved knitting these. It is not often my late-night moments of inspiration digging through the stash and buying patterns online actually last long enough to get things finished within a reasonable amount of time. But these were a really nice knit, I struggled a little with the braided edging but as always I couldget help from Ravelry, and I already have ideas for how this could be used in other garments, it is such a nice detail. The stranded knitting goes from very simple to more concentration-demanding as you move from trunk to twigs, but as the designer points out, noone will ever be able to see any “errors” in this irregular pattern.

I just love the graphic, almost print-like feel this pattern has, and it would look beautiful in so many colour combinations. I’d love to see them with white trees against a dark background. The designer has done a great job recreating the silence and calm atmosphere I feel when surrounded by naked trees.

I’m not sure what I think about mittens in superwash yarn, they are a little floppy and don’t have the texture and firmness of a slightly felted pure wool, on the other hand the colours won’t blend and make the design fade with time, especially important with these as there is no right and left mitten, and no palm and back side of the hand. And they are warmer than I tought so they might be upgraded from summer to spring-and-autumn mittens. Teal and lavender spots in the yarn make little stripes on the black and grey trees, like real birches.

Although it will be another three months until the leaves come out here, the seasons change so fast this time of year. We have gone from winter with no sun to long, light, bright days,  plenty of snow and the sun really warming during the day. Nothing like what you would associate with spring but still very different from midwinter around here. No wonder the the indigenous  Sami people divided the year in eight seasons.   We are now experiencing winter-spring, the snow will stay for quite some time still but it won’t be many weeks until we have no darkness at all.

I tend to keep political, or most things unrelated to yarn off this blog, but once a year, I feel the need to raise my voice and say something. March 8, International Women’s Day. That would be today.

I don’t have a lot to fight for.  Since you are reading this I guess you don’t either. Like me you can read and write, you have access to computers and internet and all the information that brings. I am a single woman closer to thirty than twenty, I live alone, no kids, have a University degree, my own job that generates money I can spend on what I want (yarn and wine), I can move around freely and be too big-mouthed for my own good sometimes. But I can do it, and in the place I live, in the time I live, none of this is a crime, or unheard of, or even remotely special or frowned upon. No one lifts an eyebrow (except maybe for the yarn and wine part).

Some say in this country where women’s rights are maybe more developed than anywhere else, there is nothing left to fight for. There is the occasional case of domestic violence, sexual harassment, or the fact that pregnant, or “women in their fertile period of life” are overlooked on the job market. The fact that nurses with three years of higher education make less money for harder work than engineers with three years of higher education. That Norwegian women have approx. 80% of the income of Norwegian men. That mothers more often than fathers stay at home with the children for the same reason, causing women to drop even more in income and career possibilities.

I’m not going to discuss any of that, or if hijab is restraining piece of fabric between women and their freedom, or an opportunity to take part in public life. Papers and news are filled with these discussions. They are important discussions, and seeing the debates weekly reminds us that yes, there are still big issues, important to women, their men and their children, that needs if not fighting then at least dialogue and negotiation.

Then why do I feel the need to raise my voice? Can’t we put all the feminist rant behind us and go on? Aren’t we done shouting now?

A lot of women fought for my rights and I owe them big thanks because life as I know it would not have been possible if they hadn’t. Most of all I would like to thank them for their battle to make education available to women. By educating girls, you educate the whole society. Without education, women largely depend on financial support through marriage. (Think about it. This was probably the case a few generations back in your family as well).

Everywhere, all shortcomings in humans and societies  cause more damage to women than men, and through women, also their children. The wonderful ability to give birth also makes us so vulnerable, and causes too many fatalities worldwide. For many, knitting needles are associated with dangerous  illegal abortions, the only option available to many women.

Women are last in the line so many places, if  in line at all. The UN millennium development goals will matter more to women than men, everywhere. Almost all the challenges listed below affect women the most. That also means women hold the key to solve them. Achieving the millennium goals cannot be done without fighting for women’s right to education, jobs, healthcare and control over their own lives.

GOAL 1:
ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER

Target 1:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.

Target 2:
Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

Target 3:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

GOAL 2:
ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

Target 1:
Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.

GOAL 3:
PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

Target 1:
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015

GOAL 4:
REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

Target 1:
Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

GOAL 5:
IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

Target 1:
Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

Target 2:
Achieve universal access to reproductive health

GOAL 6:
COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES

Target 1:
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Target 2:
Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

Target 3:
Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

GOAL 7:
ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Target 1:
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

Target 2:
Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

Target 3:
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

Target 4:
By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

GOAL 8:
DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Target 1:
Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states

Target 2:
Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system

Target 3:
Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt

Target 4:
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

Target 5:
In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Ambitious? Yes. That can’t keep us from not trying. United Nations, that is all of us.

I’ll ask you to please Pay It Forward to those who fought for our rights by making  a donation to make sure the battle goes on until there really isn’t more to fight for.  The tough economic times the world is in now will be harder on women than men, and with women, also their children. Remember, a little goes a long way, as knitters we know that every stitch counts. There are lots of worthy organizations out there but here are a few to make sure you don’t hesitate and forget about it.

Amnesty is working for women’s rights worldwide.

Doctors Without Borders give aid in many conflicts around the world, also training local staff to increase healthcare, especially around mother and children issues. Make sure your donation is registered with Knitters without Borders as well, show the world we are a crowd to count on, we will get to that million and beyond!

SOS Children’s villages gives new homes, education, healthcare and social development to many children and communities worldwide.

Come on, sisters, we are the key. Keep turning it, unlocking doors. And tell me, what do you want to fight for? Use your voice, I’d love to hear it.

I’m not talking about ripping yarn of the needles this time (which I do quite often. I have a low threshold for ripping out something if I don’t like the knitted fabric. Gives more value for my yarn money too!). Also not the about the very few times I have felt ripped off in a yarn purchase (oh, there was once this ridiculously expensive hand dyed silk…which was awful to knit with and stained my whole apartment with black dust when I wound it. I’m wondering if my aunt still remember I said I’d knit her that shawl, or if she is just being polite not asking about it anymore).

This time I’m the only one to blame if the yarn is no good.

When I said I found extra fibre in my stash for the thrummed mittens, I sort of gave away that I have a stash for unspun fluff as well. Not much, and not much have been done with it either, but I’ve had two spindles for a while (years), big, sturdy, heavy wooden ones that tolerate being dropped when the yarn breaks and spin for a long time. When I bought the first one 2?3?years ago I did a little practicing with the white stuff in the picture. Playing with the thrums made me want more..I’ve seen more and more people spinning yarn and without saying it out loud decided that this year, I’ll teach myself how to spin yarn. Not amazing yarn but something that holds together and can be used for knitting in a pinch, and then we’ll see if I want to move on from there.

So I dug out my other big (Big!) wooden spindle, watched a lot of YouTube videos and spun up the rest of that green fluff. I don’t know what it is, but it must be good beginner’s material. Thick and thin yarn yes, lots of backspinning events followed by yarn breakage yes but I got the hang of it.

And today..

…I received something very different from ZebsisDesigns. A top-whorl handmade spindle that feels so delicate and fragile in comparison that I most of all want to put it in a vase and just look at it.. The almost-black lava stone whorl is incredibly cool but really hard to photograph, it is not as rough as it looks  and does not snag the “yarn”. The carved black hardwood shaft is beautiful, and only a fraction of the diameter of my other spindles but it feels really nice.  If you’re looking for spindles I recommend Etsy, there are so many pretty ones there you’ll have a hard time buying just one!

The difference in spinning? It is smaller and MUCH lighter so I guess that is why it doesn’t spin as long. I think the wooden ones are better for first attempts, but for my third or so attempt at spindle  spinning I had no trouble using this one. I find that I have more control and spin a more even, less overspun, and thinner single, thinking this might become my sock yarn spindle if I ever get that far..

Oh, and the fibre:

I just don’t know how to start on this one. I’ve heard that Blue Face Leicester wool is supposed to be good to start with for beginners. I think I’ll just look at it for a while first and maybe pet it a little. The colours blend together even nicer in person. Yum!

And something that will remain an “as is” eye-candy for quite a while:

A small silk sample perfectly matching the orchid I bought yesterday to remind myself that spring will come to these latitudes as well. Like learning to spin, it might take a while.

Can you tell I’m really exited about spending a lot of time and money turning beautiful stuff into crappy yarn??

Pattern: Thrummed mittens. Used a cross between the Interweave version and the pattern on the yarn label.

Yarn: Fleece Artist thrummed mitten kit, Blue Face Aran and Merino roving

Needles: 3.5 mm bamboo

What took me so long? I clearly remember that when I started these about two and a half years ago it was in one of those ohdearIhavetoknitthisNOW! moments. That moment lasted until I had completed the second cuff. I remembered this project every time I’ve been waiting for the bus in freezing winds. Clearly even that wasn’t motivation good enough , and a few months ago I decided I wouldn’t knit socks until I had finished these. I like knitting socks. Since then I have bought and been gifted some very nice sock yarn. But I haven’t knit any. For myself.

These are so small that they hardly count. My standard top-down sock in 6-ply sock yarn over 36, 40 and 44 sts, hopefully corresponding to 1, 3 and 5 year old feet.

I ran out of rowing for the thrums, but had some turquoise rowing in my stash that fit exactly. The second mitten came out a lot fatter than the first one…so fat I had to turn it inside out an trim the thrums. Now I can bend my hand while wearing it and it feels less like a boxer’s glove. I think this is the kind og knit that I will either wear to pieces, or not at all.

Finally I could pick up one of my sock yarn gifts and start a new project. Ahem.

Pattern: Reversible Cabled-Rib Shawl by Lily Chin, Vogue Knitting Winter 99/00

Yarn: Evilla 6/1, colour A-10, 230 g, wound together with about 50 g of some really, really fine embroidery silk

Needles: Addi turbo lace, 3.5 mm for edging, 4 mm for main

I’ve had this yarn in my stash for a while, not knowing what to do with it.  As much as I love the gradual colour changes, it is a challenge finding a pattern that works with them. When I stumbled upon this stole on Ravelry I knew it was the perfect match. Those Ravelry hours had to pay off sooner or later.

The pattern is for sale online via Vogue’s webpage, but you can only make a purchase there if yo have an American street adress?! Someone has missed out on the main point of online shopping I think…and again Ravelry rescued me. Thank you knitters for being so helpful!

My version is a more rustic one than the original, the Evilla yarn is not a supersoft and fuzzy one, but a sproingy wool that still smells of sheep and softens your hands with lanolin during knitting. The stole is light enough to wear with a dress, perfec tas a shawl/lap blanket in chilly meeting rooms and auditoriums, and not too fragile to wrap around my neck and cover my face in a blizzard. Didn’t think I was a stole person, turns out I was just waiting for The Right One.

The sun has been back for a while now and today gave us a break from the really really cold weather we’ve had lately. When walking along the shore, closing your eyes and feeling the warmth you can almost fool yourself to believe that spring is just around the corner. That would be a fool’s hope.