Beautiful Stockholm

Since my son moved to Stockholm I have come to like that town a lot. I went there last week to see my granddaughter for the first time. I'm sorry the world we live in is of a kind where you don't want to show your family and friends in your blog. She's a rosebud :)

It was sunny and chilly, a perfect weekend for walking. On Sunday we went to see an exhibition at the photo museum, Fotografiska. I have longed to see Henri Cartier-Bresson's photos for decades, and now I have seen quite many of them. And I would like to see more. The view from the excellent restaurant at the museum gives you Stockholm around Riddarfjärden on a plate.

Walking along Riddarfjärden:

Easter decorations for sale at Mariatorget:

Sugar at the bottom after a several kilometer walk (yes, I'm trying to be ironical). I call this "Hemska trappan" - "Awful stairs":

Views from the ferry Viking Grace when I arrived early Saturday morning:

There was still ice in the archipelagos of Stockholm and Turku.

For my granddaughter part 2

This is what I knitted from the yarn I spun in January. I love the "Old Shell" lace patterns of Shetland. It's designed for colored lace knitting, and works very well with the handpainted look of my yarn. The socks are called "Train Socks". I have written about them here. In the mittens I also used a yellow commercial yarn.

A little girl has the right to be cute for a while :)

Fiber club "Mountain": Machu Picchu

I had a package when I came home from a short trip to Stockholm:

Merino-Cashmere from Friday Studios. I couldn't resist, I started spinning at once. This lovely fiber calls for a lovely spindle. I chose one of my light apple wood spindles (I have two in different weights) from Spindlewood.

Frida was thinking of the green slopes of Machu Picchu when she dyed this top. She added blue skies and bright colors from the Incan textile culture.

St Kilda shawl

My little shawl is finished. I think I like it.

I used an Old Shell pattern from Sharon Miller's Shetland Hap Shawl, and a Celtic Knot from A Gathering of Lace. I added a few rows of a dark brown and a light brown handspun North Ronaldsay yarn I found in my stash, and also a few rows of a handspun dark brownish gray Shetland yarn.

After publishing the first version of this post I found I need to add: the yarns I used are the two St Kilda from Blacker Yarns that I showed in an earlier post: Roots.

Some Boreray sheep at Woolfest 2011:

Shining

                                            Snow. Sun. Trees. Bushes. Sky. Clouds.

Roots

A couple of years ago I spun a few locks of Boreray wool. I wrote about it here: Boreray. Jane sent me the wool, and later she wrote an article about Boreray in Yarnmaker. I added my own experience and my photos to the article. The wool was fascinating. I felt something touch me when I handled it. Jane experienced the same, and she went on working with Boreray wool. You can read about it in her blog: mrs woolsack's blog.

I now have four balls of this precious yarn, two balls of the Boreray/Soay Blend and two of the Soay/Boreray/Shetland Blend. Both are lovely yarns. They are spun into high quality lace yarns by Blacker Yarns, that amazing mill that spins miracles. I am knitting a shawl/scarf I'll show you later.

Isn't it wonderful that there are people who won't let the threads to our history break? Ancient wools, new yarns.

Notebook cover

Made by my brother:

He's skilled in many crafts. This is his newest obsession (I think, he may have found a new one since I last saw him). This book cover is perfect for me. I always have one or two small notebooks close to me.

Spinning dog hair in Latvia

I found this on Youtube: Ladies spinning chiengora. They have spun and knit the most beautiful and warm garments!

Oh and I have to add this one, that I think is from Russia (could my Russian followers please correct me if I'm wrong): Chiengora fashion. I've never seen anything like it.

African Flowers in snow

I have crocheted a first blanket for my granddaughter! I love this pattern, African Flowers. It's easy to crochet, it's nice to crochet, it's fast to crochet. It also allows you to use almost any colors without fear of them starting to quarrel. You can use all your left over yarns, it doesn't even matter if they aren't exactly the same thickness.

Here it is in the snow, waiting for a snow shower.

Close up:

Snow shower:

This used to be a common means of cleaning woolen garments and other textiles in the old days. You put them in fresh snow for about half an hour, shake off the snow and take them in to dry flat. It cleans most of the dust and refreshens the fabric.

A good advice when crocheting things like this: fasten the threads as you go... I always do that, because the amount of threads can be quite overwhelming.

My dust bin filled with threads, the floor around it was also full of threads! And this is only a very small part of them.

I'm happy with this blanket. I hope the little lady will like it too!

What next? I'm already starting to think about a bigger blanket...