Noro Sekku shawl

It's -15 celsius outside. And it's still snowing.
I've been making some progress on my several knitting projects (lacy cardi, highly texturized cardi, gray jacket, a pair of socks & a couple of scarves... and I really think I'm still going to cast on for another pair of socks today..)

So still lots of knitting going on here - maybe it is time to show my Noro Sekku shawl that I knitted some time ago.
Pattern: none/mine - just sort of knitted and the thing just formed by itself.
Yarn: Noro Sekku, #5 - 1 skein exactly (I had maybe a 1 meter of yarn left after bind off)
Needles: 4mm
Basically I used the PI -shaping and increased with K1, YO rows. Also included some K2tog, YO rows in between the increase rows - to keep the shawl a bit more lacy & airy.
The hem is just simple feather & fan lace.
The colours in Sekku are incredible. So bright and saturated. And the feel of the yarn is something completely different to any other yarn I've ever knitted with. I enjoyed knitting this - but now when it is finished it looks like almost too much colour put into one shawl. Makes me think of the rainbow...Or the native american textiles.

Swatching

Lately I've been trying to figure out which stitch pattern to use for my tweed jacket/gardigan. I have 900g of Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed in wonderfully rich ochre shade...

I have had the yarn in my stash for a "couple " of years.... never really have found the right pattern for it. So I thought that "screw the perfect pattern hunt - I can totally design my own..." (is that self confidence? or delusion? or just plain cockiness?) only to find out that it is not that easy to find a lace pattern that incorporates (maybe) some cabling... and would look good super-sized... And would have airy enough appearance so that the jacket would be wearable, not too stiff and... You get the picture.
So I'm going to rip-it again - and try some other lace/cable combo - until I find the one that looks exactly right.

Oh - there has been some present knitting for Joulu(xmas) , but for obvious reasons I cannot show any of those until after I've given them to the lucky relatives...

As for the other stuff - I'm feeling better. We have snow - the scenery is covered with the fluffy white snow and it looks so nice. (although there are weather forecasts that say it's going to snow a lot next night, and the trains are likely to be late again and what-not...) It's definitely Winter.

Hat 1 - Clara

Today I'm at home instead of working - having way too high blood pressure. This really sucks.

On the brighter side, the health issues have given me quite some extra knitting time...(although it cannot wipe away the fact that I'd rather be healthy)

Anyways - while under the cold last time - I kept leafing through Cathy Carron's Hip Knit Hats. And ended up knitting 3 hats from that book and 2 more hats where I improvised the pattern myself.
Here's the lacy little number I knitted for myself: Clara (pattern has been inspired by Clara Bow, silent film actress)

Pattern: Clara by Cathy Carron
Yarn: Novita Aino in purple (a bit more than 50g)
Needles: 6mm dpns
This is no cold weather hat - as it is all net, but I've been wearing it this week when it's been around +-0 Celsius and it is warm enough for a warmish autumn weather like that. (I would not wear it today if going out - it is snowing heavily and windy...)

On the plus side is also the fact that this knits up in a jiffy. Took maybe 2-3 hours to make.

Luciole Shawl

Here's another small shawlette that I've recently finished knitting. It is once again a design by Anne Hanson. (she really has a talent for one of a kind lace designs. Love her shawls. If you look very closely - those are little fireflies that decorate the lower edge of the shawl. )
Pattern: Luciole by Anne Hanson (from Knitspot)
Yarn: Ewetopia superwash merino sock yarn less than 1 ball
Needles: 4mm

I knitted the smallest size - but due to the thicker yarn than called for (at least that's what I suspect) the blocked size is very close to the medium size shawl.
The Ewetopia yarn is wonderful. Very soft & springy. Which leads to an excellent stitch definition. I'd love to knit something else with the same yarn again. That's how lovely it was to knit. (I received this yarn a while back when participating into SecretPal 13 swap. Ewetopia merino has been in and out of my knitting basket several times after that but only now I found a project that I thought was perfect for the yarn.)
I've been knitting four shawls this autumn, which is quite a lot. The thing is - that time to time I tend to wear a lot of black and the small shawls like this one or the Pea Vines are perfect for adding a little bit of colour and some interest to otherwise quite somber look.
(and as I'm nearly always feeling cold, they are great at providing a tad of extra warmth as well)

Sewing day

Still alive and kicking. (although now my 5yr old is coughing her lungs out...)

Have been almost manically knitting hats for me and girls. So far I've finished 5 - they are knit in a jiffy from aran & bulky weight yarns... but those will come here later. (No photos yet-> for the fact that there is no light. Absolutely miserable darkness all day long. Hate, hate, hate this time of year!! It is not humane to live in this darkness. Please someone ship me to Australia for the next 3 months!?)

Instead - the other day I felt like sewing. I adore this book:
It has such a lovely photos and a very calm & serene feel to it. (not to mention that the designs are very wearable and easy & fast to make...no wonder I keep coming back to these patterns.)
This time I made the easy shift dress in a pretty flower print 100% cotton, that I bought some months ago...
It looks huge in the photo but actually it is pretty much the standard EU Medium size (used size Large of the book - it is made to Japanese standards and evidently women are smaller there)- and I've been wearing already with thick black tights, boots & cardigan + some vintage jewellery - and it looked quite charming. I really should sew more.

Sick and tired

It's been a challenging couple of weeks. (read tough, difficult, tiresome) All of our daughters have been sick one after another. Both me and my DH have been days away from our jobs due to this. (I'm sure our employers are really thrilled because of this) And then on this Wednesday - when the kids are finally ok I was driving back from work to home - and I started to ache all over. By the time I got to home I was shivering and shaky. And within less than two hours I had a very high fever. Went to bed and slept 14 hours straight....

Yesterday went in haze. I had such a pain in my arms and back that I could not even knit. No question about going to work.

Today it's finally better. Except the nose bleed that keeps going and going. So annoying.

I've been leafing through Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron - looks like I'm going to knit some hats next.