Baltic Blossoms and some more / Baltic Blossoms y otras cositas

Baltic Blossoms is a shawl that I have had in my mind for quite a while but never found the chance to knit or well, I really hadn't found the person to knit it for... until now.


El chal Baltic Blossoms lo he tenido en mente desde hace ya un buen rato, pero no había tenido la oportunidad de tejerlo... o más bien no había encontrado la persona para quien tejerlo... hasta ahora. 


The person I had in my mind while I was knitting it is the wife of a dear, dear friend, who I don't even know her in person (yet), but I think that my friend talked so much about her that I already like her so much as to knit a shawl for her! It is one of those strange things that happen sometimes...


La persona en quien pensaba mientras lo tejía es la esposa de un queridísimo amigo. La verdad es que a ella ni siquiera la conozco en persona (aún). Mi amigo me habló tanto de su mujer que siento que casi la conozco... ¡tanto como para decidir tejer un chal! Es una de esas cosas raras que pasan a veces, ¿no?


So, while my friend was still in Iceland he helped me to pick up a color that she would like and I was in charge of the rest: choosing the pattern and making the shawl happen.


Mientras mi amigo estaba en Islandia, me ayudó a escoger un color que, de acuerdo a él, le gustaría a su mujer. Del resto me encargaría yo: escoger el patrón y hacer el chal. 


So, no more words. Let's better see the pics:


No más palabras. Mejor ver las fotos:

I think it is always interesting to see the MAGIC that blocking makes... it seems impossible that this wrinkled knitted piece can be something beautiful.
Me parece que siempre es interesante ver la MAGIA que ocurre después del bloqueo... parece imposible pensar que un pedazo de lana tejido, todo arrugado pueda convertirse en algo tan bonito.

Blocking. The bed is the best place for blocking! (Just have to be sure to take all the pins!)
Bloqueando. ¡La cama es el mejor lugar para bloquear! (Aunque no hay que olvidar ni un alfiler, jeje)

Details:
Detalles:

* Pattern: Baltic Blossoms by Evelyn Clark (It is possible to buy it on Ravelry).
* Patrón: Baltic Blossoms por Evelyn Clark (se puede comprar en Ravelry).

* Yarn: Alpaca Lace by Cascade.
* Estambre: Alpaca Lace de Cascade.

* Needles: 3.5mm
* Agujas: 3.5mm

* Weight: 60g
* Peso: 60g

* Nupps: 9 stitches
*Nupps: 9 puntos

* Body repetitions: 13
* Repeticiones del patrón del cuerpo: 13

Detail of the body.
Detalle del cuerpo.

Body and edge
Cuerpo y borde.

Notes:


Notas:

* Alpaca lace by Cascade is an amazing yarn. It is extremely soft  and it comes it wonderful colors. But I must admit that I had some problems making the nupps. It is SO SOFT that it runs too easily between the fingers and the needle so sometimes the loops of the nupps became a bit too small to purl them easily on the purling row. It was nothing terrible though.


* La Alpaca Lace de Cascade es exquisita. Es una lana extremadamente suave y viene además en unos colores preciosos. Debo admitir que tuve algunos problemillas haciendo los nupps. La lana es TAN SUAVE que se desliza fácilmente entre los dedos y la aguja por lo que a veces las lazadas de los nupps se volvían un poco pequeñas lo que hacía un poco difícil tejerlos por el revés. Ahora, no fue nada tan terrible... sólo fue cosa de ser cuidadoso y tener un poco de paciencia.

* I think I should have used bigger needles. 4mm would have worked well in order to make a slightly bigger shawl. Even though I made 13 repeats of the body section (which are supposed to be 9 for a "normal size" shawl) the final result wasn't as big as I wanted.


* Creo que debí haber usado agujas más grandes, quizás de 4mm habría sido perfecto para haber obtenido un chal un poco más grande. Aunque hice 13 repeticiones del patrón del cuerpo (en el patrón proponen 9 para un chal tamaño "normal" y 13 para grande) el resultado final no fue tan grande como hubiera querido.

* For the edge I didn't make DOUBLE YARN OVER. I made just SINGLE YARN OVERS (and the wholes are actually still pretty big).


* Para el borde decidí NO hacer DOBLE LAZADAS. Hice sólo LAZADAS SIMPLES (una sola) y de todas maneras los agujeros del borde resultaron medio grandes.

* About blocking: It was pretty easy to block, even though I didn't do it as it should be. The scalloped edge is in reality not scalloped. Each point is supposed to be opened so in reality they are not pointy but rounded (it is possible to see pics on Ravelry). I didn't do the points rounded because I had the idea that after a while they would become ugly and floppy. So, I went for a safe pointy edge. 


* Sobre el bloqueo: Es un chal bastante fácil de bloquear, aunque en realidad no lo hice como se propone en el patrón. El borde en realidad no tiene puntas como el mío. Se supone que cada punta hay que bloquearla para obtener una onda (algo así como una punta redondeada, que se puede ver en Ravelry, si te interesa). Preferí hacer puntas porque me dio la impresión de que las ondas se pondrían feas después un tiempo.

* In general, I would say that the pattern is very clear, it is very well written. I highly recommend it... especially for those (like me) who love the Estonian lace tradition.


* En general, me pareció un buen patrón, está muy bien escrito y el resultado es muy bonito. Lo recomiendo, especialmente para quienes (como yo) les encanta la tradición de tejido estonio.

The wonderful nupps and the single YOs of the edge.
Nupps and lazadas del borde.

Folded and ready to be sent!
¡Dobladito y listo para ser enviado!

We are so very happy with Dehilos.com!! Over the last two weeks it has been growing and growing! Really cool people is coming and registering and most importantly making Dehilos work!


¡Estamos MUY contentos con Dehilos.com! Durante las últimas semanas ha estado creciendo y creciendo y creciendo. Ha llegado un montón de gente MUY animada y con muchas ganas de hacer cosas. ¡¡Muchas gracias a todos y todas por hacer que Dehilos funcione!!

Mavivi had a wonderful idea... she began a CAL. She proposed a crocheted flower pattern that everybody who decided to participate had to crochet and then show the results to the group. There are lot of beautiful flower on the group's wall now!!


Mavivi tuvo una idea genial... se le ocurrió hacer un GAV (Ganchilleando A la Vez). Propuso un patrón para hacer una flor. Todos los que decidieran apuntarse al GAV tendrían que hacer la misma flor, escogiendo los materiales y colores que desearan, y luego la idea es colgar la foto de la flor terminada. ¡Ya tenemos un montón de flores colgadas!

And... this is my flower:


Y... esta es la mía:

Remember that I mentioned that I was going to have a bobbin lace pupil?

¿Recuerdan que les conté que iba a tener una alumna de encaje de bolillos?

Well, I want to introduce Sayo to you :) She has just return from Germany where she bought a beginner's set with a beautiful bobbin lace cushion, 10 pairs of bobbins, some threads, pins and even a DVD!


Bueno, les quiero presentar a Sayo :) Acaba de volver de un viaje a Alemania, lugar donde compró un set para principiantes bien bonito. El set consiste en un mundillo, 10 pares de bolillos, hilos, alfileres y hasta un DVD.

So, we didn't waste our time and started right away with the exercises!


¡Así es que no perdimos el tiempo y nos pusimos manos a la obra de inmediato!

  First is first: putting thread on the bobbins.
Lo primero es lo primero: devanar los bolillos.

Sayo mastering the Torchon Ground
Sayo haciendo medio punto.

Looking good!

¡Tiene buena pinta!

Sayo in ACTION! She was so confident with the bobbins!

¡Sayo en acción! ¡Se ve tan segura usando los bolillos!

Removing the pins!
Sacando los alfileres.

Happy with her little piece of Torchon Ground!
¡Feliz con su primera pieza hecha a medio punto!

Doesn't it look good? I am HUGELY PROUD OF HER!! It took her nothing to understand the logic behind it! Can't wait to continue working with her!! :)


¿No encuentran que se ve súper bien? ¡¡Estoy TREMENDAMENTE ORGULLOSO de Sayo!! Le tomó sólo un rato entender la lógica y los movimientos del medio punto. ¡No puedo esperar a hacer los siguientes ejercicios con ella!

New book, Aolian progress and my lace super-pupil!

Tomorrow is Gummi's birthday and I was thiking about giving him an amazing icelandic book called Íslensk sjónabók (Ornaments and Patterns found in Iceland). I actually already bought it and gave it to him... I know! I couldn't wait until the actual birthday day! I am terrible!

Even the hard cover of the book is BEAUTIFUL!

This book is a compilation of patterns found in 17th to 19th century icelandic manuscripts. There are actually ten sjónabók manuscripts that have been preserved. The book contains all the patterns found in those manuscripts which have been redrawn digitally. It is a source of ideas with strong ties to Icelandic national heritage.

The book has 783 pages FULL of wonderful patterns that can be used for knitting, embroidery, cross stitch or whatever comes to your mind : ) It also comes with a CD! 

The book is a little bit pricey but it is worth every crown (króna). It is just WONDERFUL and the best of all... Gummi LOVED it!!

These are a few pages so you can see what I am talking about:

All the pages are arranged like this: to the left there are diagrams and to the right the drawings with color of the diagrams.

Some patterns could make beautiful wallpapers!

The Aeolian shawl is growing and growing. I have already started with the edge which is the main part of the whole shawl. At first I had decided to make the narrow edge version but finally I changed my mind and I am going for the full size version. I think it is going to look very, very good. I am very curious to see how it turns out!

This colors look so nice together! Don't you think?

The whole process of knitting this shawl has been pretty smooth. Except for a couple of SILLY mistakes I have made that have made me frog a couple of long eternal rows. The instructions are quite clear except for the set-up edge section which is made out of four charts:

- Right edge chart.
- Edge set-up chart.
- Center edge chart.
-Left edge chart.

The construction is as simple as:

* Knit the 2 or 3 stitched of the garter stitch tab.
* Begin with the right edge chart.
* Continue with the edge set-up chart repeating it as many times as necessary to get to the center stitch.
* Make the center edge chart once (between the stitch markers that are before and after the central stitch).
* Knit the edge set-up chart again as many times as necessary to get to the end of the row.
* Knit the right edge chart.
* Knit the 2 or 3 stitched of the garter stitch tab.

There IS something strange in the way this section is written in the pattern (at least I found it weird)... so I had to make up my own little instruction to get it right.

Today we were just at home, chilling out and Jóhann Birnir asked me, out of the blue, to teach him how to make bobbin lace. He is twelve years old and loves, loves, loooves handcrafts (and sports!). He is a great knitter himself!  Now, how could I possibly say no?!  IMPOSSIBLE!

Very concentrated.

Looking so PRO!

So, we started by loading the bobbins with some yellow, rather thick thread of linen. The first lesson: how to make a half stitch torchon ground. It was amazing how quicky he picked it up!! And how even the ground ended up! He made just a little piece because even though the thread looks really good it was kind of difficult to keep in the bobbins... somehow the knot that keeps the thread from running off the bobbins kept on running making it a little difficult to keep the bobbins in order. Anyways... Jóhann made a beautiful little first work!

Even and perfectly done!

I am so proud!! 

A new shawl: Mar esmeralda entre marismas

Hagakiri

The idea of making this shawl began when I shared some pictures of the last shawl I made (Hagakiri) on Facebook and my friend Þóra posted a comment on it asking how much it would cost to make a shawl like that one. I am REALLY bad  at putting a price to the things I make basically because I make them just for the fun of it. I have sold just a few of the things I have made (a couple of Icelandic pullovers and a headband, it is all I remember) to people that are not really that close but selling something to a friend... IMPOSSIBLE (at least for me). In the end we agreed to make an exchange which is much more fun than getting money, isn't it?

It always amazes me that everyrhing
 begins with just 7 stitched.

I replied to her comment inviting her to meet in the yarn shop, I would bring some books and she would choose the yarn she liked. So, we met, took a look of a few books, looked up in the internet and some other books that were in the shop until she finally decided that she wanted a Hyrna Herborgar.

That was great for me because this is one of my biggest favorites! I actually bought the book Þríhyrnur og langsjöl mainly bacause of this pattern. I really like the transitions it has, starting with the double yarn overs and the spider web sections and ending up with the amazingly beautiful edge, unlike Haruni, that is also very pretty but it has just one big leafs section and pretty edge. It is a lot of fun to knit something that changes so much so you are not doing the same forever.

  

About the yarn. She chose from Evilla Artyarn 8/2, which is also one of my favourite yarns to work with. I think that the color combination is wonderful but I must say that I wasn't so convinced about it at first because I thought that the colors were too unusual and my main corcern was that I wasn't sure about how the colors were going to "develop" across the shawl. And I think that Þóra wasn't so sure either but we just went for it!

As soon as I got home I winded the yarn and started to knit! At first it went a little slow because at the same time I was knitting this lopapeysa for another friend but still managed to have both projects done pretty quickly.

First Hyrna Herborgar

I had already made a Hyrna before so I thought that knitting another one would be definetely easier since I knew all the tricks already. But the process of knitting this shawl wasn't as smooth as I thought it would be:

Just finished. Unblocked. It looks so ugly!

* After having knitted almost all of the first section of the shawl (double yarn overs)99 I realized that I didn't like how the colors were showing up so I frogged everything and started again but this time using the other end of the ball. Now it started to look very nice. Fortunetely this part of the shawl is a very fast knit.

* When I was kntting the second section, the spider web, which is very simple because it is the repetition of only two rows, another accident! I was almost done with half of it when my stitch count went off!! I looked at the charts... then looked at the needles... then the chart again... and so on for about 15 minutes without being able to find the mistake! (I forgot to say that it was pretty late already... around 2am maybe?) In the end I had a "FURY ATTACK" and started to frog and frog and frog. In total I went 16 rows back to finally realize that there was no mistake at all... I was just reading the wrong row from the chart!!!

After these two little "accidents" everything went smooth again and managed to finish the shawl really quick, even though the rows were getting ETERNAL!

Off the needles and ready to let magic happen: BLOCKING. What a wonderful thing! Once blocked I could see that the colors go great together... it looks kind of eatable!!

Blocking. I used 4.5mm needles and the result was a lot bigger than the one I made before using 4.0mm needles.
0.5mm make a HUGE difference.

So, after finishing this project two things (or rules):

1. Before starting knitting with these multicolored yarns: TAKE A LOOK AT IT AND SEE WHAT IS THE BEST END TO START WITH.

2. Which should be RULE NUMBER ONE: NEVER KNIT LACE WHEN IT IS TOO LATE AND YOU'RE TOO TIRED. Bad things can happen.

I really like the colors!

PS (and last thing): I wanted to say thanks to Rosalía who wrote a comment on Ravelry and described the colors of the shawl so beautifully that I used it as the titles for this post (and name of the shawl as well). I don't know exactly how to translate it into english... so if you have any idea? suggestions? Please let me know : )