Från Zickermans värld

tisdag, oktober 09, 2007

O dear! I have been a bad bad blogger, or - at least a quite ill and busy one. I finally got a gallbladder-surgery scheduled to the 22nd! Yey! And I have been spending quite a lot of time trying out different stitches on different materials - in short - embroideryweek at school. Surprise! I really loved that, aswell.. I´ve finally got some knitting done aswelll. The Startitusbug bit me and I started another lace leaf scarf, this time in the fabolous, super soft Malabrigo Lace.




I have also visited Östersund at a material fair - "Härdat spunnet" - "Tempered Spun" - where I represented my school. Great fair, great shopping. I arrived to Stockholm with a pair of woolcombs, two skeins of lovely 2 ply pälsull (wool from Gotlandic freerange (?) sheep) from Åre - spun and dyed at Wåhlstedts in Dala Floda. I also purshased a large cone of lin-tow to be the warp of rough twill towels.

Anyhow! Tomorrow I leave for the "Visa mig" conference at Nääs on the west coast if Sweden. It is held by and for the crafts consultants of Sweden and our class is invited. I am really looking forward to it, but why is my bag not yet packed - why am I not sleeping? After the conference I will go to Bohuslän and Grimslätt. It is time gentlemen!! It is time to... sheer the sheep. I will give you a report.

See you soon. And now, I am also avaliable at ravelry.com - please stop by.

/E

lördag, september 01, 2007

Since my gall bladder is giving me a really hard time I won´t be able to update as much as I would like to today either..

But I must say I really enjoyed this Basketrycourse, held by Jonas Hasselrot. We made frame (rib) baskets from spruce roots. And frankly, I would love to to it again, and I think I will. I enjoyed the whole process from fetching the roots, sorting and cleaning them to the actuall basktry. But I guess that anyone interested weaving has a chance of getting the basketrybug.

Hope to write more later.

Crafty weekend, everyone!

måndag, augusti 27, 2007

I am still here, and I have lots of pictures to show you - but that´ll have to wait since I am have a fever and need to be awake and well at half past six tomorrow.

School started today. We start of with one week of basketry - happy happy.

On the positive side.. I´ve started a pair of socks for Valdar in Fabel. Liked the colours, we´ll see about the pattern though. I really would like some tips on good childrenspatterns. Any ideas?

onsdag, augusti 08, 2007

So, I finally got to move my links from the old blog to this one, which I hope I am going to stick to. It´s nearly time to go pick up Valdar from daycare. Just wanted to write a line or two, wish for some crafty inspiration - which seems to have left me these past couple of days - and show you a freshly made Mosaic using this site. The picutures are not taken by me, but by talented people over at flickr. I just collected them!


mosaic1


1. raitasukat5, 2. asymmetrical cardigan - front, 3. 1, 4. claudine_ong_photo2.jpg, 5. IMG_3467.jpg, 6. whee small.jpg, 7. replica sweater, 8. replicadoublemint, 9. Fiber Club, 10. Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn, 11. satoko and anna's daughter, 12. Neopolitan Squirrel Mittens, 13. The Thrum Side14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

Have a nice day. Tonight it is S n B over at Marias Garn. Come and join us!

lördag, augusti 04, 2007

O dear.

Time flies. We left Bohuslän almost two weeks ago and since then I have been quite sick. After having three attacks it turned out they were attacks of biliary colic and after two hosplital visits I am awaiting surgery to remove a gallstone measuring 3 cm. Well. Should I say I have been laying down for most of the time? The first week we went for all kinds of adventures. I knitted away at my wristwarmers from Bohuslän:



bohusmudd

On our way home from Bohuslän we always make a stop at the Bohus Museum in Uddevalla where some of the classic Bohus-Knittes sweaters are displayed. To my undivided happiness they had some kits for sale in the shop, an since I couldn´t afford a kit for a sweater or cardigan, I settled for a pair of wristwarmers.

The patterns is a favourite - Gröna ängen. One of them, I should say. Follow this link to see a part of the yoke of a Gröna ängen-cardy.
Design by Anna-Lisa Mannheimer Lunn

As for now, I only yesterday received "Knitting Ganseys"by Beth Brown Reinsel , which might just be the trick to make me finish (reknit) the Guernsey for Björn I started last summer (I have to change yarn... *grr* the pattern does not show. At all. So I knitted the body and then the yoke twice. And then two times more. Finally i have decided: It Does Not Work..WHY am I this stubborn?).

I am knitting the "Flower Basket" shawl - using Pälsull from Östergötlands ullspinneri. Lovely yarn. This is a pattern I have knitted several times, but in different yarns and this one, I am going to keep. I won´t give it away, mostly because I really like the pattern but am so tired of knitting it. But we will see. Maybe someone claims it in the end?

Looking forward to either continue working some of my wip´s or to .. maybe start a quick fishermanssweater for Valdar. Maybe a Guernsey? I would really love to spin aswell, but for now I do not have the energy.


pion


Time to have a lie down and knit a couple of rows and make plans for the house-to-be.

Take care.

fredag, juli 20, 2007

We left Stockholm about a week ago for Bohuslän. A couple of close friends got married and held a wonderful ceremony and dinner by their house. Since we brought Valdar (at first we were not going to) we did not have to hurry home - so here we are.

We are staying at another couple of dear friends and their two children, which is great for Valdar. They own a farm - mostly sheep (Gotländska utegångsfår), poltery, cows and horses. Needless to say that we enjoy our stay deeply. The farm is called Grimslätt <-- visit their site! Today Sara and Markus received three large packages of..... YARN and WOOL! They send their wool to be spun at Solkustens Ullspinneri. Mostly it is 100% lambswool, 1 ply and 2 ply. This far I´ve tried to knit a 40 x 180 cm shawl using the knittax - a knitting machine (vad fasen heter det på engelska? Stickmaskin liksom) and I love the yarn! Soft, oh so soft.


The magical Knittax

Knitting a shawl. A shawl in one afternoon :-) Sweet.


Trying out some lacepatterns using the 1 ply aswell. Very exciting!

lördag, juni 30, 2007

The spring semester is long gone and since three weeks I am attending a four week weavingclass at my school - HV Skola in Stockholm. Thus far I am very pleased, and I´ve learned heeps.. The problem is that I have not got a proper swedish/english craftlvocabulary. This makes it somewhat frustrating trying to describe my endevours... Anyhow:

We all started out planning a striped weave - towels, fabric for a bag or a tablecloth. Since I´ve always had somewhat of a problem with making things not-symetrical, I decided to practise this and made it an asymmetrical striped cottonwarp (8/2) with linenweft (16/2).

Greys, greens and the occasional fuchsia

Trying out - plain weave and twills.
Greys and greens and the occasional fuschia.



Striped fabric

The knitting-bag-to-be

So, I decided on the cross-twill (korskypert på svenska, vad katten heter det på engelska?) and after weaving the one meter piece for the bag I also wove a 12 cm piece and made a small bag for my weaving notions as soon as I got home the day I was finished. I washed it and used our lovely mangle. Linen loves mangles... And then I took my poor sewingmachine out of the cupboard, lined with a vintage marimekkofabric - Voila! (Yes I will add a photograph. I would right away If I had´nt forgotten it at school. Pure Happiness. Pure satisfaction. Warping, weaving, sewing, using.

And then, time for the second weave. Earlier the second week our wonderful teacher showed us twenty or so swatches to gives us some ideas. There was loozengetwills, houndstooth and other coloureffectweaves (det heter färgeffekt på svenska, vadfasen heter det på engelska) and techniques. I instantly fell in love with this strangely checked but not checked fabric. So, come weekend and I took this piece of fabric and started to count threads and analyse it. I ANALYSED IT! I did. (gasp) It´s like making gold. I Understood The Fabric.


Analysing
Couting threads

So. I wove it. But I wanted to have a warming shawl in colour, so of I went to Marias garn and bought some Shetland wool in purple and orange. The magic of this fabric is that the squares only appear as long as every other thread in warp aswell as weft is orange and every other is purple (light/dark). If I was to use a solid colour, the pattern has a kind om a diamond look.



Purple and orange woolstole

I know it is a large picture, but it isn´t a good one - so if you should se anything.

So, before I leave for the sofa and some knitting time;
a picture of Valdar reading and eating cupcakes. Take care, knit and for God´s sake make some cupcakes!

torsdag, maj 17, 2007

Tabletweaving. Such a luxury! For three days we have taken a level 1 course in Tabletweaving by the wonderful Sonja Berlin. She wrote the great book "Brickvävning så in i Norden" on tabletweaving in 1994, and since then conitinued her research and development of the technique and material. So inspiring!

Thus far I´ve woven three bands over these three days. One in silk, thin as sewingthread - two in linen (16/2). I am planning on weaving words next.. the linenwarp is awaiting.

Tomorrow it is time for the annual knit-cruise. We leave for Åland in the morning and return to Stockholm at seven pm. So, now I will pack my knitting and sunglasses and go bed.

söndag, maj 13, 2007




So. Yesterday I had my birthday and a few friends came over to celebrate. Due to my current healthstatus we kept it small. Lots of wonderful gifts! Three skeins of silverygrey silky gorgeousness, one skein 1 ply gotlandicwool from organic farms, beutiful handcrafted candy, a ceramic sculpture by my friend Nati, a vintage wristwatch - made in 1949 ( LOVE IT!), Essence champagneglasses from iittala, a cute transistorradio for our bedroom, money for buying books (YEY!), lots of flowers, a very longed for cd by Sofia Karlsson and the very very very wonderful Fir Cone Shawl (link to Helenes blog and one of her pics) in which I will spend extensive parts of this sunday since I don´t feel to good at all. I also recevied two dinnerinvitions from dear, dear friends. Thank you ever so much! I also received three beams for my lovely loom - whish means she´s ready to get warped!

This picture of me and Valdar was taken by Katarina. Thank you :-)

lördag, maj 12, 2007

For several reasons I have been a bad bad blogger, partly because I have not been sure where to write. This is my first attempt to write in english, and I like the challenge. There will be a swedish blog aswell - for the moment at blogger.valdar.se. Well, this is all for now. I will move all my links and buttons from the old adress - wynja.blogdrive.com soon. But now I shall enjoy the silence, and enjoy my brithday gift - A lovely Fir Cone shawl knitted by the wonderful Helene at "En till stickblog". I am so lucky to have a friend like her. Bliss.
Är det dags att flytta igen?