Artswap

I did an art-swap!! :-) not my first swap, but this was my first artistic swap. Sometime ago I crocheted a tote bag in broomstick lace out of Leftovers from Industry curtain cord from Verosol. read the post here. I send this bag off on a whim with a friend and colleague who was going to visit Shannon from LittleDrawings.com in California. I thought it was nice to send her the bag, as she's always so enthousiastic about my crafting, my biggest supporter so to say.
Fortunately she was really happy to receive the bag, she responded by uploading this picture to Instagram.

she was so happy that she asked what she could ever do to thank me. Easy question, because I LOVE Shannons illustration, so I asked if perhaps one day she could make a little drawing for me.
and she did! Here it is it just arrived one week ago

It's so funny :-) because she made an illustration of a knitted sweater. From what I make up of the text it might have been knitted by bees (not sheep) that are now sleeping.
I'm now thinking about how I'm going to frame it, it came in such a nice "little drawings" packaging with cute cello-tape, I might just re-use some of that for the frame.

Happy Husband cardigan

"Happy Husband" cardigan now finally finished,  I have been searching and trying for years. It feels quite selfish to only ever haven knitten him a scarf. It was design by trial and error. Total time more than one year,  If I count the times I started off with other yarns and design ideas it took a decade. But here it is and he is happy.

I have tried off in 3 different yarns, first it was too thin and soft (feminine) then it was too thick and coarse (tchy). I started over many times, to get the needle size right, to get the pattern right (finally settled on seedstitch) and to get the design/proportions right. I wanted to knit something that was fully fashioned and slim fit, as I hate oversized sweaters. The design is contiguous top-down principle developed for this yarn size and with sophisticated fully fashioned detailing. By the way I'm also happy that my idea has now finally worked out and it's finished. I thank this last yarn to the kind donation from @Ivo and @annemarie who collected this vintage Hema Fisherman Wool from and old lady. Delivered to me by @inge_noordijk. Combined with a couple of skeins Drops Andes. I used pensize 6mm, thinner than recommended for Drops Andes, but that gives the work more body, and hence creates a more masculine result



This model is worked seamlessly from top-down using the contiguous sleeve method developed by Susie Myers, (“SusieM” on Ravelry)

Happy Husband cardigan by Knitbitch

Happy Husband cardigan by Knitbitch

Happy Husband cardigan by Knitbitch

Happy Husband cardigan by Knitbitch

Happy Husband cardigan by Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar picture gallery

Here are some more picture of the knitted christmas balls advents calendar.
If you want to make your own you can find the pattern here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/christmas-balls-advent-calendar-2015

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar by The Knitbitch

number 22

I'm now at number 22, almost there :-)

Knitted christmas balls advents calendar

This knitted christmas balls advents calendar is for my mum, she loves christmas. It's a labor of love, I would say, what have I gotten myself into? 25 christmas balls is a lot. I have now knitted 14, just 11 to go..... the pattern is now published in my Revelry shop, so you can start making your own.

Leftovers from Industry

Høken or haken? that's the question. Over the summer I got together with 2 other crafters Ellen from Studio Sillekens and Jaenell haken-en-ogen on Ravelry. Ellen had challenged us to find out what we could make with curtain cord leftovers from Industrial production which was donated by Conny Pasman from Verosol.

It's such a pity to let the beautiful cord go to waste, it has this muted shine which makes it look slightly like silk. We have 2 qualities a thick and a thin quality. Both are quite hard and not suited for clothing. Both can be knitted or crocheted, thick one on needle size 10, though perhaps macrame might be a better technique. it's tricky to work with the cord because it curls, so you have to continuously uncurl it as you work, and still then the finished work has a tendency to twist.

So far we have made bags, a basket and an attempt at a rug. And we have been trying different techniques and stitches. Some that camouflage the curling, and some that enhance it.

Here's what I made,

tote-bag in Industrial Leftover curtain yarn

tote-bag in Industrial Leftover curtain cord

close-up of the tote-bag in Industrial Leftover curtain cord

broomstick lace

work-in-progress broomstick lace totebag in Industrial Leftover curtain cord

a little girls bag in Industrial Leftover curtain cord

breadbasked in Industrial Leftover curtain cord wrapped around a hemp rope

breadbasked in Industrial Leftover curtain cord wrapped around a hemp rope

colours of the thin quality curtain cord

Inge's wrap-around

I also knitted a very chunky wrap-around blanket cardigan for my friend Inge. She had herself been working on a blanket for a very long time. and eventually given up. so she brought me the blanket for unravelling. It was a massive amount of Lana Grossa Regazza Lei yarn. Beautyful soft merino wool. so we settled on a design for her blanket cardigan and I went away and knitted it. Job easy done on needle size 12 :-)