Potholders

New pot-holders were needed. I thought it nice to make some crocheted ones (the old ones were made in Tunisian crochet).

They are not as thick as the ones in Tunisian crochet, but I think they will be good enough.

Yarn used is Kampes Soft 8/8 cotton, crochet hook size 4.00 mm.

White hat in twined knitting

This is a hat inspired by the White mittens that I knitted in June. I thought the pattern would work on a hat as well as the mittens. As usual the yarn comes from Wålstedts. This hat was knitted with dbpns 2,5 mm and I used about 110 grams of yarn.

Now I have matching mittens and hat. I think they will be warm during winter.

The World´s Longest Book Stall 2013

As a part of Stockholm Culture Festival, the World´s Longest Book Stall is an annual event. More than 600 stands of books are lined up in double rows along Drottninggatan in the centre of Stockholm. For us, it has become a tradition to spend this day browsing thousands of books, trying not to buy too many (our book shelves are long since full).

It is a bit like a big party where everybody´s focus is books, books, books. Crowded, absolutely - but also a nice reminder that many people appreciate books and reading. I think that reading books is one of the most important things to do (and to teach our children). It gives a grasp of the language and it takes you to really interesting places. Books can teach you a lot.

Below I will list some of the books that we bought this year. I will stick to the textile related ones. Sorry to say most of them are in Swedish and as far as I know not available in translations.

Folkliga band - Ur kulturens samlingar.

"Folkliga band - Ur kulturens samlingar" by Kirsti Dahle Emaus and Ingela Julin-Kristiansson. This was published in 1985 ans is a treasure of traditional patterns for band-weaving.

Folkliga band - Ur kulturens samlingar

The patterns are from Skåne (Scania) in the south of Sweden. Lots and lots of patterns. No instructions regarding how to weave. ISBN 91-970441-7-2

Nålbindning Historiskt och modernt i Stockholms län

"Nålbindning - Historiskt och modernt i Stockholms län" - This is a book about nalbinding. It is about the traditions found in the Stockholm region in Sweden. Author is Eva Anderson. published in 2009. ISBN 978-633-3962-1

I learned how to nalbind from Eva Anderson and I have the highest regard for her knowledge regarding the nalbinding traditions in the Stockholm region.

Mönsterstickat - kombinationsmodeller

"Mönsterstickat - kombinationsmodeller" This is a book from 1966 published by "Föreningen för svensk hemslöjd". I like it because it is from a time when knitting at home was very common.

Mönsterstickat - kombinationsmodeller

Some of the vintage patterns are quite nice. Perhaps I will knit a sweater like this some time in the future (I am not a knitter of sweaters, unfortunately).

Ull & Ylle - Kläder och prakt

"Ull & Ylle - Kläder och prakt" This is a very interesting book about wool by Ewa Kewenter published 2002. The content spans many aspects of wool handling and different uses.

Ull & Ylle - Kläder och prakt

A lot of beautiful pictures by Ralf Turander.

Ull & Ylle - Kläder och prakt

You will learn a lot about wool and techniques/traditions if you read this book. ISBN 91-518-3811-7.

Ruteåklaer

"Ruteåklaer" by Marit Wang is a Norwegian book published in 1983. ISBN 82-00-05955-3. There is an English Summary: "Coverlets woven in tapestry type "rölakan" - a contribution" at the end of the book.

Ruteåklaer

Very inspiring information and photos if you are interested in folk craft traditions regarding weaving.

Hali - The International Magazine of Fine Carpets and Textiles

We also found a bunch of old issues of the magazine "Hali - The International Magazine of Fine Carpets and Textiles". We don´t weave carpets but the pictures in these magazines are fantastic.

Hali - The International Magazine of Fine Carpets and Textiles

Crocheted wrist-warmers/cuffs

Practising crocheting - this time I am making wrist-warmers. I am rather pleased with these since they are warm and comfortable (we have had some chilly mornings despite that it is still August, so I have tried them out).

Wrist-warmers are very simple in shape so there is no challenge there. I am however learning to crochet with two colours. It is a known Swedish/Nordic tradition to crochet cuffs, mittens and hats in this technique.

Sadly there is not a lot of documentation easily found on this tradition. So I have to make do with what I can find and then it is up to trial and error.

Crochet is a bit quicker that twined-knitting ... It is nice to try something new - it gives perspective. Next project with crocheting will be using my home-dyed red and green yarns.

Maruta Grasmane - Latvieša cimdi

I am planning a somewhat more substantial post about books on Latvian knitting, but after reading and looking in this book for hours I will write about it now. "Latvieša cimdi" by Maruta Grasmane was published in 2012 - and we missed it! Woe! I read about it on a blog and got the feeling that I had really missed out on this one. I told my husband about it and he searched the internet and managed to find a copy second hand. Great Joy! The edition is only 3000 copies - if you find one I recommend that you invest in it.

433 pages of treasures from Latvian mitten heaven. Mostly featured with a photo of a mitten on the right-hand page and the chart for the same mitten on the left-hand page. You will be spoilt for choice if you decide to knit a design from this book - it took me hours before I could decide which mittens to knit (and then I changed my mind the next day!).

The mittens are from the regions of Vidzeme, Latgale, Augšzeme, Zemgale and Kurzeme. There are introductions to each region, but only in Latvian. At the end of the book there is an English Summary "The Symbolism of Mittens in Latvian Folklore" by Janina Kursite, and an English Introduction and presentation of the different regions by Maruta Grasmane.

This is not a book that will teach you the different techniques of how to knit Latvian mittens - you will have to find that information elsewhere. What it is, is a treasure of patterns of fantastic traditional mittens from Latvia. I find it extremely inspiring.

If you want to see more about the author, the book and the mittens there is this clip on Youtube from Latvian TV (sorry, no translation - but it is worth viewing).

Book information:
Author: Maruta Grasmane
Title: "Latvieša cimdi"
ISBN 978-9984-9945-5-0

Dyeing yarn for crocheting

I found old grey yarn (2-ply wool) that I intend to use when practising crocheting. I dyed some of it to have something more colourful to work with. Red and green in combination with grey will give a traditional feeling to the finished items.

ORMSTA - free pattern for download

 

The pattern for my white wrist-warmers in twined knitting is now available as a free download. Download link is found under "My patterns/Mina mönster" in the right hand menu.

Knitted dishcloths and washcloths

Many years ago when I first saw knitted dishcloths on the internet I laughed. I could not understand why you should knit dishcloths. So, I googled and found that the internet is full of them, and free-patterns are everywhere. So of course I had to try them out. And since then we have used no other dishcloths. They are knitted in cotton and they go in the washing machine every week.

This is a new batch since the others are rather worn out now and will be used for heavier duty in the garage and garden.