Škrinja

Škrinja je novopokrenuti sajt na kojem možete kupiti, prodati ili razmeniti vunicu, konac, pletaći i drugi pribor za ručni rad. Potrebno je samo da se registrujete i pogledate šta je već u ponudi i da, ako želite, ponudite i nešto svoje na prodaju ili za razmenu. Ja već prodala prvu vunu! :)))

Ono što je naročito zanimljivo jeste da Škrinja organizuje i svoje prvo darivanje (giveaway), a kako su nagrade više nego primamljive, obavezno se uključite. Detalje možete pronaći ovde.

Škrinja is a new site for buying/selling/trading yarn, needles and knitting accessories. They're organizing their first giveaway, this time open only for people in Serbia. But don't let this prevent you from checking it out. You can find it on Facebook too, as Škrinja na FB-u.

Big Blue

Photos by magrit
Pattern: DROPS top in “Paris” with yoke in garter st
Yarn: St. George's Big Easy

I like blue but it can be difficult to find the right shade. This one comes close as it's neither the too dark, navy blue of uniforms nor that light, washed-out blue of baby afghans. And it doesn't have a green tint so it is neither turquoise nor teal. What is more, it is an aran weight cotton yarn, which is extremely difficult to find in these parts. And it also has that faded look about it that goes so well with jeans. Or so I like to believe :)

This was knit some time in August, in literally five days, all with seaming and button sewing. However, it was way too hot to wear it until it cooled down a bit. It is a pattern by Drops, a Norwegian company, so it is perfectly normal for them to design and wear an aran weight top in summer. It works in Norway. It doesn't work in Serbia. I mean, it's not the first time I have been tempted by a lovely sweater on a skinny blond model posing on a long sandy beach somewhere in the Baltic, all those enticing combinations featuring a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved cotton sweater. And a pair of hiking boots. It is just too hot here for that sort of extravagance. End of story. And I can lament as much as I like - the climate won't change. I think I've finally come to grips with this fact. That's why this is not meant to be a summer top but rather a vest to be worn over a shirt. Besides, as Romantales has pointed out, the openings for the arms on this type of garment tend to be either too tight or too loose, neither of which is very desirable, of course. So the shirt worn under it is a good solution for that gaping underarm too.

Shepherd's warning

One early morning in November from my kitchen window. Sometimes it really pays off to get up early.



Red sky at night, shepherd's delight
Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.

Snowy Owls

Owls have been rather popular for some time, not least because of Harry Potter books, of course. But even if they weren't, I just love this pattern. This is the second time I've knit it and I enjoyed every minute of it as much as I did the first time. The owl cables are perfect and the thumb gusset is done very neatly. And they are a quick knit.

Vesna fell in love with my mittens the moment she saw them and has been asking me to make her a pair ever since. However, I couldn't find Unitas's Marija, which is absolutely perfect for them. Or any other suitable bulky yarn, for that matter. And then a local yarn shop got Vlnap's Exclusive and I knew it was then or never :) She picked the colour and we were rolling!



We bought two skeins but one would have been just enough for the pair. I wanted to be on the safe side as in the shop they only had something like 4 skeins per colour (and only the ugliest colours!) so there was a real danger of not being able to buy some more at a later time. But thanks to my paranoia she got a hat too, made of the second skein :)



Sorry about a bad photo of the hat, it looks much better on the head but it was too hot for modelled shots.

Exclusive is a wonderful, 100% wool yarn and it knits up beautifully. The fabric it produces, in this case on 5mm needles, is soft and squishy and it has a rustic feel about it.

Green Leaves in autumn

I might have created an impression that I was going to post more regularly now. Well, I was planning to. I really was, but somehow, as you've read so many times elsewhere, life has a habit of getting in the way. Fortunately, though, it didn't get in the way of some fingerless gloves, which, as I'm told, are a going to be a big hit this winter.

I never thought taking photographs of your own hands was so difficult! No matter what contortionists' moves I tried, I just couldn't get the right angle. That's why I'm using a friend as a model. While we were sitting in a cafe one lovely October morning, drinking hot chocolate, basking in the sun and talking about a pair of mittens she'd asked me to knit for her, a cunning plan formed in my scheming knitter's mind. I showed her my gloves and, sure enough, as I'd expected, she put them on! And then, all I had to do is quickly press the camera button. Thank you, Vesna, you are a fantastic glove model!



I actually made two pairs of these, one for myself (shown in the photo) and one for another friend's birthday but with a shorter cuff. The pattern is Leafy Fingerless Gloves by Laura Peveler, well written and easy to follow, with a clever transition from the leaf stitch section to the fingers. I used Majšperk's Carmen for this, which is a sport weight yarn, but on 2mm needles, to get a close-knit effect and make them warm (and to obtain the right gauge too). Gloves and mittens are usually knit on needles that are smaller than those you would normally use with a given yarn, for exactly these reasons. You don't want a loosely knit, see-through glove that even the gentlest of breeezes can penetrate.

What I love best about them is the textured surface of the leaf stitch pattern, how the leaves and the branches are raised above the garter stitch background. The version with a shorter cuff gives a decent length too so don't be tempted to go for the longer cuff unless you want them really long (and difficult to put on under a coat and over a wrist watch).

Next time, you'll see the mittens I made for Vesna, partly because she so willingly fell for my dirty trick :)