Overcoming Fear With A Hat

I did not wear hats. I did not knit hats. But that is about to change. It is all about the right pattern and the perfect colors.

It was actually very nice to wear my new hat in the cold weather we are having. So, I have converted to a hat wearer without limits. And in bright colors.

An easy pattern and it didn't take long to knit either. I really enjoyed it.

The colors match a shawl I knitted as well. So, I am really happy about my Shetland Wool Week hat.

In fact, I have started another one in bright colors. How I wish that I one day could attend that event.

I used only stash. And the colors are picked from a photo. At first I thought the hat was too big.

But it suits perfect without beeing too tight or anything. I like the baggy look on it as well.

It is a small project and then big enough to not get boring and the outcome is magical.

Just in time for easter, a storm that is coming and cold weather.

Knitting is such a wonderful diversion from totally negative news right now. I will do more of that: Knit more - cut out the news and live life as it is. Fear is taking over so many of us now. That is never positive in the long run.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Knit Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull Pt2
Needles: 2.5 and 2.75mm
Pattern: Katie´s kep
My Ravelry Page: Mind Off things 

Knit A Photo

 Is it possible to knit a photo? Or knit the colors from it? Yes, is the answer. I joined a knit along (KAL) for the Shetland Wool week hat. You find the free pattern here. 

All who participate upload a photo. Then all knitters chose someone elses photo and use colors found in that photo.

It is so much fun. I chose this wonderful photo with a boat in red and orange against a turquoise sky. Not really a surprising color choice - but I simply have to knit in the colors I love. I use Rauma Finull2 for the hat. I dropped a pattern repeat as this yarn is thicker than the original used.

What a fantastic idea. The KAL is hosted by Tori Seierstad on Facebook. I literally jumped out of Corona madness and into my yarn stash to find those colors. The hat is gorgeous and I can't stop knitting.

And what is even more fun - to see the hats of those who use my photo. Very exciting and excellent for keeping my mind on something knitting related in bright colors.

Overthinking is one of the biggest causes for unhappiness

Keep your mind off things that don´t help you think positive

Matt Mayberry

Never Stop Knitting

Always enough projects to enjoy.

As long as there are arms, needles, yarn and colors I will knit. I tend to always have a lot of projects lying around. In these times where one should stay indoor for a very long period it is lovely to let the needles fuel my creativity.

I always knit what I like and what gives joy. Nothing else. Right now I am a little crazy about Stephen Wests Garter Breeze. I have already knitted one and is right into my second. A very fun knit and a great stash buster or color boost. Will show you my first one as soon as I get the photos taken.

 This is from the first Garter Breeze:

The second is of course turquoise with a bright red icord. Going to be very nice, I think. A great mindless knit. Stephen West is genius. 

Garter Breeze in turquoise and with a bright red icord.

There is always more projects... This is the Horisont Shawl in finull and mohair. I just use stash for this project. Also a great mindless knit. Colors of the sea and the color of sunrise.

This Rosendal jacket is a long term project which has been lying around for too long. Trying to knit some on it and hope it will be finished some day. A lot of pattern but it is going to be very nice. I love this old pattern from the 90s.

My third Ticker Tape is also coming around. I love that there are only 36 stitches in one row. That makes it grow fast - if I knit on it that is... You could have a look on my other ones here on my blog.

I hope you are safe and well. And that the days will be as good as they can in these days. Nothing else to do than to stay calm and take care. And knit. And eat chocolate. Oh, and drink coffee.

Color Is Life Giving

After I started using bright colors, and colors I like and enjoy, I have been a happier person. 

The scarf goes with everything.

I am so grateful that I have all those wonderful colors to choose from in my favorite yarn, Finull Pt2 from Rauma.

I got so excited to see the outcome of rainbow colors mixed with a white mohair.

I really love this scarf and it is so soft and nice to wear. And it goes with everything I wear.

At first I thought it got too big - but being long and narrow it is just fine. Wrapped around my neck the colors goes perfect together.

Do you ever have that feeling: You have read a book, knitted a scarf of tasted something for the first time?

And then wish you haven't so you could do it again for the first time?

Well, this is one of those scarves I wish I could knit again. It was so much fun and I enjoyed every stitch of it. What a blessing.

Pom pom maker is essential.

A straight forward garter stitch knit.

The colors are spit spliced so only two ends that I could use for attaching the pom poms.

I made them color by color so they would stand out more.

A pom pom maker was essential for that job.

The pattern is sold as a kit - but you can get it in a book as well. I like brighter colors that are used in the kit and save money as well.

Gosh, I will wear this to bed. LOL!!!

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull Pt2
Needle: 5mm
Pattern: Horizon shawl, Århus sjal
My Ravelry Page: Rainbow in the horizon

Isn't is funny how day by day nothing changes. 

But when you look back everything is different.

C. S. Lewis

Wrapped around my neck the colors works so nice together.

Felt For Mittens

Sometimes it is really important that things are matching. Like scarves and mittens. And shoes...
I mean, I could not wear my new favorite scarf without having mittens in the same colors, right?  

What would people think? What would people say? LOL!! I am only joking. 

I couldn't care less about what people think. I am far beyond that wearing a colorful scarf in this country...

So, I decided I wanted a new pair of mittens in those wonderful colors. In stripes as in the scarf.

I found a pattern for stranded mittens and simply knitted them without pattern and on thicker needles.

Simply to felt them afterwards and to have a thumb gusset. I think that is the best for my hands.

I used the same yarn and the same stripe pattern as in my scarf. Although I am not fond of knitting mittens this was a quick knit. And fairly easy.

Had to felt them two times in the machine to get them felted enough. Felting can be a little tricky. Better to do it twice than end up with baby mittens...

I love wearing both my mittens and the scarf. I simply get happy and smile.

So don't ever underestimate the effect of knitting somthing you love in the colors that makes you happy. No matter what people think or say.

2 things:

If it makes you happy, do it

If it doesn't, then don't

Unknown

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Finull Pt2
Needles: 2.75mm for rib, 3mm for body
Pattern: Modyfied from Eventyrlauv
My Ravelry Page: Fun mittens

Look At Those Colors

That feeling inside that is pulsating in pure happiness. It is exactly how I felt wearing my new scarf for the first time. It is liberating to use the colors I love.

I have had so much fun knitting this that I just wanted to knit one more. Knitting stripes somehow brings out addictive behaviour. LOL!!!

One pattern repeat from beginning to my finger.

Remember the scarf I told about in my previous post? The one with what seemed like a random striped scarf but is not?

I am still astonished by how a pattern can come out like this. I simply took the ten colors I wanted and put them in the order I found best.

Then just varied how many rows I knitted from each color. and in different order. Then repeated the pattern a litte over four times.

The pattern is also listed in my blog post. As I like system this i perfect.

And it still get that random look but not with the frustration about not finding out how to do it.

I have spit spliced every color change - no way I was going to weave in a million ends.

When finished there are only two ends to weave in. Spit splicing is the best knitting technique I have ever learned. Since I knit in wool it works every time. For super wash as well.

I used about 300 grams from my stash. I am knitting mittens I can use with the scarf.

Knitting gives me so much joy - it is a red thread trough life. And this scarf is making me wonder why we are so afraid of being who we are. What would your scarf look like if you chose your favorite colors and just didn't care about what other people would think?

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull Pt2
Needles: 2.5mm
Pattern: Lifelines, Stripe pattern
My Ravelry page: This Is Fun

Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done 

Life is too short to think small

Tim Ferriss

Looks random but is not. I repeated a pattern a little over four times in the scarf.

Whatever, System Is A Good Thing

I have been called all kinds of things because I like systems. Amongst them nerd and freak. People have a charming way of telling other people they have some negative thing about them.

This is my protest to that.

This is my scarf of many colors in a system that makes it so fantastic that I almost started dancing.

At least I tried. But I stumbled in the yarn skeins... LOL!!!

Anyway, I love bright colors and putting them together so that each one looks good apart and together.

Knitting with stash yarn can be quite a challenge - I am not very good in just knitting with what comes to mind then and there.

I need a system. A pattern. So I finally found a way of doing just that.

Kaffe Fasset taught me this.

If you look at his way of knitting in different colors he almost always has a pattern - even though it does not look like it.

And that is the most fun of it: It looks like random knitting but it is not.

I found ten colors in Finull Pt2 placed them in order and made a pattern for the knitting.

I had my Lifelines scarf as the main pattern.

You can download it for free here.

When I knit like this it seems like there are no system. And it makes great harmony in the colors and the way they work together.

So people can call me what they want - I love this and it gives me great joy.

This is how I do it (feel free to do the same).
I knit the colors in this order with color code for each one of the ten:
10 rows dark turquoise (4605) 
10 rows light turquoise (4705) 
4 rows magenta (4886) 
4 rows light purple (4088) 
2 rows dark purple (4042) 
10 rows orange (4205) 
8 rows green (4018) 
8 rows red (424) 
4 rows light pink (4686) 
12 rows light blue (4406) 
10 rows light purple 
8 rows light pink 
4 rows light blue 
2 rows light purple 
12 rows dark turquoise 
4 rows green 
4 rows light pink 
12 rows orange 
8 rows light turquoise 
4 rows red 
2 rows dark purple 
2 rows light purple 
4 rows magenta 
10 rows light blue 
6 rows green 
12 rows light pink 
4 rows magenta 
8 rows orange 

That is the pattern for the colors. I think I end up with about four repeats for my scarf planned to be 2.5 meters long. So, here it is: A lot of fun. I could knit around the clock... 

Great, is it not?