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30 October, 2006

All Blue

Thank you so much for the great compliments on the Glowing Colors sweater. Pippi thanks you, too!

I have a new favorite distraction now, which is watching the live Elecam, from the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. I became aware of this sanctuary a few years back when seeing a National Geographic program about elephants being retired from zoos and circuses and allowed to move there. If you have ever seen this program, you know how touching their story is, and how happy they are to be able to live in a big family again, and not be living singly as most of them were. Both my husband and I cried when two of the elephants were reunited after thirty years. I love watching this webcast and seeing the animals just move around closely together. They are so sweet. If you are lucky you can catch them having a blast in one of the ponds.

In knitting news, you all were right, socks are fun! My first socks are finished, and actually they have been finished since last week, but the thought of making a "modeled" shot kept me procrastinating. It's cold, and I don't want show off my purple long-johns, and besides, purple doesn't seem to photograph well anyway.

Pattern: Beaded Rib toe up socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Gjestal Silja in denim blue

My only problem was that I didn't stretch out the ribbed fabric before measuring my gauge and calculating the number of cast-on stitches. Silly me! Therefore they are a little bit big and are going to be for the husband. Good thing I picked a dark color!

They were fun to make, but not nearly as interesting to look at as all the cool socks you all are making out there. I have ordered some handpainted sock yarn for future fun, though.


I have also started working on a scarf in beautiful, tweedy Dale Sisik, which I was lucky enough to get in a swap with Kris a few months ago. The colorway is Camel, and the yarn is delightful! So soft and silky. It's a mohair, wool, acrylic, viscose blend. I join the chorus of people wishing it had not been discontinued.


And there is more! My next sock project is this turquoise lacy sock, also from Sensational Knitted Socks. Top down this time. Actually my mother started this one for me when she came to visit me from Norway, so I am kind of cheating. The yarn is again Silja.



While she was here, she also knitted me some mittens. She was really inspired when we went to Knitting Treasures in Plymouth, where she found this pattern for Newfoundland Mittens (click on the picture to see the pattern better). The yarn is Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted, and I was the one who picked out the bright colors, Kiwi and Sapphire. I keep finding myself gravitating towards brights recently. They are really warm and the Lambs Pride wool/mohair mix is super soft.

We also picked up the book Jackets for Work and Play from Knitter's Magazine which is excellent! She took it with her of course, and I may have to go and get my own copy. It was so interesting that my mother, coming from Norway, was finding all the knitting interest here inspiring. She tells me that all the yarns stores near where she lives have closed!

15 comments:

  1. I love elephants, seriously. Welcome to the world of socks! Your first pair look great! I'm very impressed that you jumped right in with the lace, they're very pretty. Love the mits, I made a felted market bag (it was huge) with the Kiwi, it ran off to Boston to live though. Love that Lamb's Pride. Off to watch the elephants.

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  2. Amazing! Now, why can't I knit socks like those? My first and only pair had more than one hole each ;-)

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  3. Such eye candy you are sharing with us! I'm so surprised that your mom found things interesting in our knitting shops. I really thought our things would be plain compared to all of those lovely intricate patterns she would have access to in Norway.

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  4. OH a sock, oh TWO socks... hurrah! I haven't gotten to the finished Pair of socks yet... is it as happy a moment as I am thinking it will be? I LOVE that Sisik, and I just recently heard they discontinued it (frown face here) I have a vest made from the eggplant and silver that I need to pull out for cooler weather. Wow, look at you go... and just cuz your mum started the second pair of sock, I don't think it's cheating for you to finish and call it your second pair of socks done... oh and love the mittens (and the colours) too... damn, I thought you were just lounging over there....

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  5. yay socks! the finished ones look great, i think the pattern from the started turquoise ones looks really pretty - although something tells me your husband might not wear those ones if they turn out too big for you :)

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  6. i love elephants, even though a baby elephant tried to eat me in thailand once ;-)

    go socks! why have i still not tried a pattern from the sensational socks book? that lace one is gorgeous.

    you're a lucky girl to get mittens from mum!

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  7. I tried writing you a compliment on your last post, but for some reason it's not showing up for me. So let me try here! Your sweater is gorgeous and I envy your technique so much. If you are unhappy with the sleeve length, could you maybe fold in the ribbing at the cuffs and make a hem? I don't know how that would look with the proportions, it's just an idea. Pippi seemed to know that she matched your sweater's autumn tones, too. :)

    I notice that you put Poetry in Stitches in your sidebar. I discovered that book about two months ago online and have been thinking about it ever since. Do you think it would be a good investment? From the pictures that I've seen, it is beyond gorgeous.

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  8. Happy socks, happy socks!!

    Lovely mittens, too. But poor Norwegian knitting shops...

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  9. the socks are gorgeous! you should definitely get dan to model them for us! and the second pair is coming along very nicely, too!

    i love your new mittens!

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  10. Gorgeous stuff! Socks are so much fun and a nice change after a large project like a sweater. The mittens are fun as well. I love Brown Sheep yarns - kind of a staple like flour and sugar. Elephants are so intelligent. It is nice to know that there is a place for them. I saw a program about an elephant that painted pictures. Her favorite color was yellow!

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  11. Couldn't post comment the other day, Blogger was giving me problems :)
    Wanted to say that your socks look great, and I like the new one you've just started too.

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  12. Hi Hege
    Great blog, I did not know you knit so well
    Please email me, I have some info for you
    Many Hugs
    Smadar

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  13. Oh my gosh, you have so many gorgeous projects here, I'm stunned just looking at them! And yay for your socks, they look *so* great! I totally love the color, and the pattern you've been using is just perfect! The mittens are so cute too! And a big thanks for sharing that link to the Elephant Sanctuary site, I'll head on over there immediately to have a look! You know, ever since I saw elephants "live" in the Kenyan Maasai Mara, I'm totally blown away by their beauty, their majesty and sensitivity - elephants rock, that's for sure!

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  14. I love those Newfoundland mittens. They're both cute and warm. Hope to get that talented soon.

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  15. love your colour choices.

    not much call for mittens in brisbane, so all i can do is enjoy others' works. thanks! it's ... it's knitting accessory p o rn for me.

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