First blanket: Done! / Primera manta: ¡Terminada!

Since I decided to start trying to use the crochet hook some more I have only finished Kristín's Pan collar and I had two blankets to go... well, not anymore! One of the blanket is finally done!! (I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago but I have been pretty busy lately traveling around the island... since last Thursday I managed to visit some of my favorite spots on Snæfellsnes, Reykjanes and the south coast, including camping under the biggest glaciar in Iceland (Vatnajökull)... I still have to go through all the pictures to choose some to show here :)

Desde que decidí empezar a usar más el ganchillo había sólo terminado un proyecto: el cuello de Kristín, pero todavía tenía dos mantas ya empezadas... bueno, ya no son dos, ¡Es sólo una! Una de ellas ya está terminada (de hecho, la terminé hacer un par de semanas ya, pero he andado un poco ocupado dando vueltas por la isla... desde el jueves pasado y durante todo el fin de semana anduve visitando algunos de mis lugares favoritos en Snæfellsnes, Reykjanes y la costa sur, incluyendo acampar a los pies del glaciar más grande de Islandia (Vatnajökull)... todavía tengo que revisar todas la fotos para poder elegir algunas para compartir con ustedes :)

Well, going back to the blanket... the one I finished was the flowers and stars that I was making along with Gummi. Let's see some pictures:

Volviendo a la manda... La manta que he terminado es que llevaba flores y estrellas que estaba haciendo conjuntamente con Gummi. Las fotos:

60 flowers, 50 stars. It is big enough to be used in the baby's stroller
60 flores, 50 estrellas. Es lo suficientemente grande para ser usada en el coche del bebé.

Details:

Detalles:

* Pattern: This pattern was given to me by a friend. It was originally meant to be a triangular shawl made with a blend of mohair. I am not really sure about how this would look as a shawl... but it makes a great blanket!

* Patrón: Este patrón me lo regaló una amiga. Originalmente es para hacer un chal triangular con una mezcla de mohair. No estoy muy seguro de cómo quedaría esto como chal, ¡pero como manta queda muy bien!

* Yarn: Létt lopi.

* Hilo: Létt lopi.

* Hook: 4.5mm

* Ganchillo: 4.5mm

Notes:

Notas:

* Making this blanket was PURE fun!! It has many great features:

* Hacer esta manda fue PURA diversión. El patrón tiene varias características que lo hacen ser genial:

• Each piece is really big, so it is not necessary to make so many to get a decent sized blanket.
• Cada flor es bastante grande, por lo que no es necesario hacer demasiadas para obtener una manta de un tamaño decente.

• The pieces are made in one color, so it is actually really quick to make each of them since there is no need to be changing yarns.
• Las flores están hechas en un solo color, lo que las hacer muy rápidas de hacer porque no es necesarios estar cambiando de hilos.

• The pieces are connected on-the-go, so there is no sewing. 
• Las flores se van conectando mientras se van haciendo, así que no hay que coser.

* I used basically just about any color I had in my stash plus some more that I bought. There is no specific order. Every piece was just put where it fell :)

* Utilicé casi todos los colores que encontré en mi stash (y además compré algunos). No hay ningún orden específico. Cada flor fue puesta donde cayó :)

* The stars are extremely simple but a bit boring to make.

* Las estrellas son extremadamente simples, pero un poquín aburridas de hacer.

* I  made the border with half double crochets to give it a more finished look.

* El borde está hecho con medios puntos altos para darle un aspecto más terminado.

* Létt lopi works wonderfully! It will keep the baby's stroller very, very warm!

* ¡En létt lopi queda fenomenal! Mantendrá el coche del bebé súper calientito!

* I highly recommend blocking when finished. The stars were looking AWEFUL as I was making them. So ugly that I was getting worried but that changed after soaking the blanket in water for half an hour and then laying it flat to dry.

*Recomiendo bloquear al terminar. Las estrellas se veían HORRIPILANTES mientras las estaba haciendo. Eran tan feas que hasta me empecé a preocupar. Afortunadamente todo cambió cuando puse la manta a remojar en agua 30 minutos y luego la dejé secar en una superficie plana.

Now, talking about something else... I think I mentioned before that while I was visiting a handcrafts shop in town I found a tatting shuttle... I was very tempted to buy it but I decided not to because I thought that I had already enough to do (knitting, crocheting and bobbin lace).... then by chance I ended up i the same store again! And there they were... so I bought a pair and a book with the basics.

Ahora, hablando de otra cosa... Creo que mencioné por allí que un día, mientras visitaba una tienda de manualidades, encontré una lanzadera para frivolité. La tentación de comprarla fue grande pero no cedí porque pensé que ya tenía demasiadas cosas entre manos (tejido, ganchillo y bolillos). Luego, por esas vueltas de la vida, terminé nuevamente en la misma tienda, pero esta vez cedí y compré un par junto con un libro.

Now I had all I needed to start: the shuttle, the book and some cotton thread. It took me a few hours to understand how to make the stitches, which consist of two halves (in the end it is just two basic movements that make all the magic happen). 

Todo lo que necesitaba ahora era ponerme manos a la obra. Me tomó unas cuantas hora entender cómo hacer los puntos, los cuales consisten en dos mitades (en realidad, son sólo dos movimientos básicos que hacen que la magia ocurra!).

The most complicated thing was to make the threads "flip". It was funny to realize that the knots (or stitches) are made in reality by the thread that is in the ring and not the one coming from the shuttle as one could think.  Now, once you get how to make the threads flip it is almost impossible to make a mistake.

Lo más complicado fue entender cómo hacer para el nudo se "transfiera" de una hebra a la otra. Al principio ni siquiera me había dado cuenta del hecho que cada medio punto se hace a partir de la hebra del anillo y no de la que viene de la lanzadera, como uno podría pensar. Una vez que se pilla la maña es casi imposible equivocarse.

I started with the excercises of the book and what I have done this far is this (only very, very simple things using just one shuttle):

Entonces, empecé con los ejercicios del libro (sólo cosas muy sencillas y que involucran sólo una lanzadera):

The first exercise: Rings and picots
El primer ejercicio: Anillos y baguillas.

The first exercise ended up decorating a present for my friend Sayo who left Iceland and moved to Denmark. So, I don't have my student anymore :(
El primer ejercicio terminó decorando un regalo para mi amiga Sayo que se fue de Islandia para vivir en Dinamarca. Así que ya no tengo a mi pupila :(  

The second exercise. A bit more complicated but still very simple.
El segundo ejercicio. Un poquín más complejo, pero aún muy sencillo.

And the third exercise. It looks like angels!
Y el tercer ejercicio. ¡Parecen ángeles!

I need some more practice, especially in terms of reading diagrams because, as usually, since I am left handed I make everything backwards... so I have always to "re-think" everything before even thinking about starting anything. 

Necesito más práctica, especialmente leyendo los diagramas porque, como siempre, como soy zurdo hago todo al revés... entonces necesito siempre "repensar" todo antes de incluso pensar en hacer algo.

I am very satisfied with tatting... it has not been THAT difficult, at least this far, hehe.

Estoy muy contento con el frivolité... hasta ahora no ha sido TAN difícil, jeje.

Another little thing... in dehilos.com we had another CAL. This time we made a basket. It was absolutely brilliant to make this! It takes no time and it is really cute! 

Otra cosita más... en dehilos.com organizamos un nuevo evento ganchillero. Esta vez hicimos una cesta. Súper fácil, rápida y queda preciosa!

For this one I used bulky lopi (double thread) and a 10mm hook.

Para la mía usé bulky lopi (dos hebras juntas) y un ganchillo de 10mm.

To finish, a picture from the weekend... more to come soon!

Para terminar, una foto del fin de semana... ¡más fotos pronto!

And since we don't only live of yarn and thread... a little experiment I made a few days ago trying to make mom's food with the biggest zucchini that I have found in Iceland (and the way they should be!). They are from a wonderful Organic Farm called Engi (in Laugarás):

Y bueno, como no sólo vivimos de lana e hilos... un pequeño experimento que hice hace unos días, tratando de hacer comida de mamá con los calabacines (o zapallos italianos como los llamamos en Chile) más grandes que he encontrado en Islandia (que lo compré en una granja de hierbas y verduras orgánicas preciosa que se llama Engi, en Laugarás):

Zucchini filled with rice, tomatoes, peppers and meat. Typical mom's food... at least in my house.
Calabacines rellenos con arroz, tomates, pimientos y carne. Típica comida de mamá... al menos en mi casa.

My mittens history. Ready for winter now? + Hyrna Herborgar KAL: Pictures.

As I advanced in my last post I have been working on a pair of mittens to have a full set of new "winter accessories".

I haven't knitted to many mittens since I began knitting at the end of 2008. I have made only three pairs plus a pair of wristwarmers (that I made to learn how to make a gusset for the thumb).

So going back a little bit on time, my mittens history would look like this:

My first finished project almost three years ago was actually a pair of mittens!

I made them with Álafoss lopi on 6mm needles. I made the design... well, if this can be called a design. It is just a few stripes :)

They came out quite ok. It wasn't so bad to be my first real project. I struggled a little bit making the decreases on top of the mittens. I think that by then I didn't even understand well how decreases slant. 

I have worn them A LOT. And they are still in very good conditions. In this picture it is possible to see better the decreases mess I made on top of the mittens :)

Then I made the wrist warmers as an exercise to learn how to make a gusset. I used pretty much the same stripe idea that I used on my first mittens.

I made these ones with létt lopi on 4mm needles.

When my sister saw them she waned them... so they flew all the way to Chile :)

The gusset was no problem, it was much easier that I thought and the result was quite OK :)

The third pair I made was a Christmas present for my dear friend Kristina who really likes to take pictures. To make this ones I followed the pattern that Bea Aarebrot shares for free in her blog and added the colorwork to it. 

Made with Aslan Trends Del Cerro, 100% Merino on needles 3.5mm for the ribbing and 4.5 for the rest.

And the third pair: I used stripes, many colors and made them with a thumb gusset. The idea was to make the mittens different from each other by using different colors and different stripes pattern.

Made with Hjertegarn vital using needles 3.5 and 4.5mm. These were a present for my niece when she came to visit me.

As you can probably see, I have only knitted one pair of mittens for myself. So it was already time to get a new pair.

Searching on Ravelry I found a very nice pattern. I liked it so much that I casted my stitches on immediately!

The result:

Details:

* Pattern: Houndstooth Check Mittens by Sarah H. Arnold.

* Yarn: Létt lopi. One skein of each color.

* Needles: 3.5mm for the ribbing and 4.5mm for the rest.

Notes:

* The pattern is very well written and the charts are easy to follow.

* I made some changes to the pattern because I used a yarn that is bulkier than the one than the pattern calls for.

* Casted on 36 stitches (instead of 40) for the ribbing and then increased 8 stitches evenly to knit the body of the mitten.So, I worked with 42 stitches (instead of 50 as the pattern calls for).

* I didn't knit the thumb gusset all the way to row 26, instead I made it shorter. I knitted it to row 21 and then put the 18 stitches in a scrap or yarn. 

* I began the decreases earlier that the pattern calls for because of the yarn I used. 

* I LOVED knitting these mittens. It was absolutely FUN. I am actually thinking about making another pair but this time using white as a contrasting color, instead of very light brown (oatmeal?).

* I have always liked this kind of patterned fabric but I had NO IDEA it was called Houndstooth! It looks so classy and elegant!

* Lopi works amazingly well for mittens. It is sturdy, somehow "all-terrain", durable and warm. 

* I strongly recommend this pattern. The result is very nice and SUPER warn since it is knitted using two strands of yarn all the way!

Remember the KAL with Kristín Hrund, Gummi, Jóhanna and me?

We met Kristín a couple of weeks ago to take the pictures. Unfortunately the light was not very good. It was very cloudy and pretty late as well.

Here they are:

Driving in Iceland and new keyring

This week I have finally changed my car! I had a little car before, a Citroën C3 which is a really nice car especially because it doesn't spend too much gas but the biggest problem was that it is good only to be used in the city where the roads are paved... and that limited a lot where I could go because here in Iceland there are still A LOT of gravel (or simply stone) roads. The is even a section of the main highway (the one that goes all around the island) that is still unfinished!

This is an example of a gravel road... this one is pretty good though :p

I remember that two summers ago we went to travel to the West Fjords and most of the roads were just TERRIBLE and we were driving a Ford Fiesta... the result was that we managed to break a wheel! Not fun!

The access to many beautiful spots is usually horrible. Like for example:

Látrabjarg

Svörtuloftaviti.

Háifoss.

Öndverðarnes.

Dettifoss (Let's see if you find me in the picture!) 

This is one of my favourite waterfalls in Iceland. I guess that the video says it all.

Somewhere in the West Fjords.

... so after thinking about it for a while... the decision was made and we got a 4x4 jeep! Now it will be so much easier to travel without the fear of breaking the car!

Ok... now all this blah blah is just to show you my new keyring!

I needed a new keyring for the new key of the car. I didn't feel like buying one so I remembered that about two years ago I made on to give as a present to a friend of mine. The result was extremely cute!

2009

So now I made another one but this time for myself:

2011