Friday, August 3, 2012

on the needles from Sweden


I was nudged into knitting lovikka mittens and now I'm on my 3rd pair. Our Swedish exchange student was here in May, she taught me and another gal how to knit the mitts. We didn't have the right yarn or needles. I had four size 8  needles the other gal didn't have any and being a holiday weekend in a small town there were none to be had so her dad  cut some dowels to length and ground the ends to nice points and cut one for me. After my practice pair  I ordered lovikka yarn from an etsy shop and knit the green pair with the needles I had.
Buying Swedish knitting needles and lovikka yarn was at the top of my shopping list in Sweden. See what a difference the right size needles makes and maybe learning to relax when I'm knitting. 5 mm are just a hair larger than size 8. link to Judy at Patchworktimes  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/08/03/on-the-needles-august-3-2012/
The bottom row is all lovikka yarn. They had 3 ring binders full of patterns. It was as much fun as a fabric store but I refrained from buying more, I need to catch my skills up with my ambitions.
This gal was at Skansen, the folk park, she was spinning yarn with a drop spindle, she also had knitting needles in the basket made from sticks--tree branches with the bark scraped off and points whittled.
My yarn and needles from Sweden. A couple very special people might get mittens for Christmas and the way I'm going they may be done before the first snow.  Ann

2 comments:

Laurie said...

Sweeden..that would be a great trip. Your mittens have the shape of some I've seen lately that I'd love to try....I've done some mittens lately (last December) but LARGE then they are washed a felted and become verrrry warm.

fancystitching said...

Your mittens look fabulous! And that yarn shop would be a wonderful adventure. I have not been in a yarn shop... none close to me. One day I will venture out to a place where one is convenient and I have the time.