Sandra lace cardigan

This one is for my daughter - it's the first time she decided she wants a hand knitted outfit, or to be more specific, first time when she thought knitting might be cool.
You can imagine I rushed into ordering the yarn before she would change her mind, that's how pathetic I am :).

I've started it two weeks ago but I had so many problems with my wireless connection in my computer, I just had no chance to post earlier.


This is more or less the stage now - I am knitting the lace band and it looks like it will take for ever.
I am still puzzled about how it's going to look with all the bands attached - but this bridge would have to be crossed later on.
I used the original yarn: Lang Mohair Luxe, from Rikes Wollmaus, as I had no idea about any substitute. After I received it I realised Kid Silk Haze would have worked perfectly as well, but still I think I prefer the colours in Lang Mohair.
The pattern is from Sandra September 2006.

Bad news for knitting

...good news for my body shape - I've just joined the gym next door.


I decided enough was enough with my weight going up every single year, so from now on, my morning free hour is going to be spent pedaling, lifting, sweating and cursing.
Less time for knitting though, BUT I strongly hope to compensate by knitting smaller garments.
NO, you can't knit while on the bike, I thought about it for a moment this morning, but it's definitely too complicated :).

My Japanese knitting books arrived

My order with Amazon Japan arrived yesterday and it was such a nice surprise, first of all because the delivery was much faster than I thought it's going to be, just under two weeks, and secondly, all the books are totally brilliant.
You can see the entire list of books I've ordered by clicking this previous post on Japanese books.
I chose these books more or less randomly, based on all sorts of reviews and ISBN numbers I found googling the Internet.
First impresion is that the patterns are very original. Lots of lace patterns, cables, bobbles and combinations of all these I haven't seen before.

Here are two entrelac projects in the New Style of Heirloom kniting, see the way the decreases were planned just by kniting smaller and smaller squares.




Another book I simply love is the Knitting patterns Book 250, which is packed with great lace patterns.
Here is one of my favourite patterns:


What can you do with it? For example this great lace cardigan from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006.



It is a small world after all :)...

Double FO - Alice Starmore Kinsale

First I finished this sweater last November and here is a picture we took in Beaumaris, Wales, during a trip in searching for puffins. (We didn't see any, just in case you were wondering.)



And here is a close up:



In the meantime, I realised it's too short - you know the famous question: 'does my bum look big in this?'. Well, the answer was undoubtfully 'Yes'.
...So I took it apart and added another repeat to the body.
This is more or less what happend to all my FOs - it's called 're-design' :). I am said to be restless.

I don't have a recent picture of the new sweater but you can imagine it being just a bit longer.

Yarn : Aurora 8 - so nice and soft, I would use it again and again and again...if I could afford it more than once per year :).

Pattern : Fishermen's Sweaters - Alice Starmore, see the original here.
Beautiful book and still available quite cheap.

Japanese knitting books

This is a list of Japanese knitting books I've recently ordered from Amazon Japan. I will have them delivered in about 4 weeks time hopefully. It was far cheaper then buying from ebay.
Unless you can speak the Japanese language, finding the knitting books on Amazon Japan website is not an easy task.
I started searching for the 'New style of Heirloom Knitting', which is somehow a famous book, as it has an entire knitalong built around it, then I just did a lot of browsing in the 'related items' section.

In order to place an order with Amazon Japan, you need a new account with them. None of the other Amazon accounts are valid.
PM me for instructions if you want to learn from my experience :).


Click on the images bellow as some of the books are browsable and you'll be able to see a few pages.

New Style of Heirloom Knitting - the famous Am Kamin sweater book




Guernsey and Aran Sweaters



Aran patterns



Knitting Patterns Book 250 - great patterns, do not miss it.



Fair Isle Knitting - just charts.



Fair Isle, Nordic and Lopi Sweaters



These are a few other knitting books which I might order sometime in the future.

300 Knitting Patterns



Knitting Accessories



Knitting Elegance - another great book - not to be missed.