The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

We (me and litte i) spent WWKIP Day (World Wide Knit in Public Day) with the Stockholm Knitters at Maria torget and Marias Garn, and had a wonderful time. I did, unfortunately, not get a chance to take any photos. Maria and Catrin were more mindful and you can find some picture proof over at Marias Garnhändelser or Everyday Life.

A pile of silky and cottony softness. I find myself simply fondling my knitting needles all wrapped up with lustruous white silk or humble soft cotton. It is comforting just to hold it in my hands. The pile of white medallions for Norah Gaughans “Medallion Shawl” seems to slowly grow by itself. It is almost like falling in love with knitting for the first time again. There has to be fifteen medallions before I can sew them toghether and I am halfway there.

 I need to share a few inspiational links, that I  stumbled upon while planning and dreaming about the interior of our new house.

Gudrun Sjödén is a Swedish designer with a wonderfully creative fabric collection. Follow the link to Home Spring 2008 from the startpage. Her blankets, rugs and bedspreads are so happy.

At HAPPYsthlm I found jewellry and fabric  themed “vegetation” which really appeals to me. I hope to see a lot more from them with inspiration from nature.

Hope you are having a good week!

My second swatch is made with Blu Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. A simply divine yarn. I have wicked thoughts about mixing up the cotton hexagons with a few made out of Deeba Silk. Which is, if possible, an even more magical yarn. It would be a kind of white in white, matte and silk and very soft kind of scarf. Would that be asking for trouble or could it be interesting? I must have knitted this swatch five times, because I kept messing it up.

I cannot make up my mind. Please help me.

Tyra loves this bag so much that she immediately stuffed it with her favourite things - three Barbie dolls, a collection of nice round stones, a sketch book, colored pens, a wand - really everything a little girl could need.

This yummy soft Blue Faced Leichester wool yarn is dyed by Storm op Zolder  I think it would be perfect for a pair of socks, the Swedish thick kind called “raggsocka”, but for now it is displayed in a bowl so that I can admire it whenever I wish.

Every little child should have a a perfect, soft, knitted ball like this one. It can be tossed and kicked anywhere in the room without any risk of distroying anything valuable. As a mom I must say that I appreciate that feature.

Saskia also made these beautiful stitch markers using Delft blue beads. I am planning a new project just so that I can use them in it. I am dreaming of Norah Gaughans Medallion Scarf (Ravelry link) in a variegated green meriono yarn. Two skeins are already purchased and winded into balls. 

The yummy candy included in the package was, unfortunately, gone before I had time to shoot it. I do enjoy the Jasmine tea though. Thanks so much for all your lovely treats, Saskia!

 I apologize in advance for my irradic postings. I hope to find a new routine, but I am not counting on it right now. So, why all these sudden words?

 We have bought a little house! It is a small, bright and very interesting structure which will fit our family perfectly. An old school building will be rebuilt into a string of houses with a small patch of grass in the middle. It includes a lot of work on our part, designing everything inside, but I do love that our house has a history. For so many reasons. It appeals to my heart and my soul.

I have a strong need to stay firmly connected and grounded throughout this process. The move is sure short in distance, but it has stirred such a strong rediscovery and re-evaluation of my core values.

Will you stay with me on my journey? Even if I do not write about knitting in every other post?

There will, on the other hand, be posts about building progress, scandinavian interior design, lots of worries, failed sewing attempts, chaos gardening AND knitting.

My next post for example, will have lots of knitting in it. Not my own, but by someone very talented.

Hope you will have a Happy Easter holiday!�

The colourful drawings at doodlespark is a collaboration between mother and daughter. Their story about their art made me wish my own doodling possessed such wonderful power.

Djurdjica Kesics jewellery uses nature in a very inspirational, yet simple, way. I am totally in love with her sweet pebble rings. Actually, I would not mind owning a piece of everything she makes.

If you have little crafters at home, be sure to check out Craft Projects by Arounna, featured by Bloesem Kids, which is a lovely new space for kids crafts.

Lastly, I just wanted to show a little piece of bling that I made myself. My first try at wire working. I am not quitting my knitting though, so do not worry!

One year old. I had really meant to write this on Ivars birthday the 6th of December, but I think I might have slipped on a black patch in my brain and got stuck. Well, I intend to shine some light into that darkness. Decorate it perhaps.

My sweet, smiley, cuddly, happy, cookie-loving little son is growing into a toddler. I am not sure if I want to let him grow any older than this. For someone only capable of saying three words (Mamma, Pappa, kaka*), he is surprisingly able to get what he wants.

He got this little sweater from me. I love the yarn, Opal Hundertwasser Wool, and it took exactly one skein to knit this with only a few inches of yarn left after finishing. The sweater did come out a little tight in my opinion. Anna had the same reflection on the very same sweater for her baby daughter. It took me forever to finish it because I could not seem to get the collar right. This is a keeper though. An heirloom. I will keep it for my grandchildren, if I am ever so lucky to get any.

* mammy, daddy and cookie in Swedish.

There are a few finished things I would like to show you. I am just waiting for the camera battery to finish charging.

My maternity leave is over by the way. Over a year filled with cuddles, kisses and slow motion living is over. I am back to the fast lane. Well, as fast as it gets at a museum.

Ok. See you all soon. That is a promise.

*The birthday “kids” were Ivar (yay!), my dad and my brother in law. The sudden death was not a relative, but a co-worker. Sadly missed.

Pattern: Cobblestone by Jared Flood from Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
Needles: 4 mm Addi Turbo circulars

Knitting sweaters for men takes a very long time indeed. At least, if your knitting time is limited to bits and pieces between feeding, clothing, cleaning and playing with your children. The progress I have made on Cobblestone thus far is proof that these rare moments actually exists. It gives me some sort of hope.

After about 20 cm (8 inches) of lovely smooth knitting I had to rip all of it out and start over. Actually, if I had not decided to knit openly (as opposed to secretly) on Cobblestone it would have been a sweater sized perfectly for ME and not for a grown-up man. I thought I was clever and measured my knitting against an old sweater of K. It looked a little snug but not too much. Not until K found out about the project and hinted that the said model sweater was (and has always been) a bit too snug for comfort. It turns out I am not all that clever after all.

I hope that any remaining sizing issues can be adjusted with a good firm blocking.