Redwing

The First Young, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

I met this little guy on my way from the shop yesterday. It let me get very close before it fled.

I'm getting heartily tired of the shawl. It seems to be taking forever but I'm resolute in not working on anything else (knitting or embroidery wise) before I'm finished!

Four

I was invited to play by Jagienka.


4 placed I lived in:

1. Kópavogur (Iceland)
2. Ísafjörður (Iceland)
3. Uppsala (Sweden)
4. Flateyri (Iceland)

4 places I like to come back to:

1. Mozambique
2. Vestfirðir (The west fjords of Iceland)
3. Austria
4. Sweden

4 favourite dishes:

1. Grilled lobster.
2. Fresh fish - cod for example.
3. Many kinds of salted cod.
4. Lamb.

4 dishes I can not stand:

1. Bjúgu (Icelandic smoked salted, very fat sausage type of thing)
2. Hákarl (shark)
3. Lumpy chocolate soup
4. Lumpy rhubarb soup

4 hobbies:
4 pasje, hobby:

1. Reading
2. Photographie
3. Knitting
4. Designing

4 places I would go if I had a chance:


1. Paris
2. Bornholm
3. Japan
4. The Carribean

4 TV series, programs I like:

1. Matador
2. Little Britain
3.´Allo ´Allo!
4. British crime shows - Linda laPlante and such.

4 places of work:


1. Teaching the clarinet.
2. At the front desk in a posh hotel.
3. Assisting the elderly.
4. Teacher.

4 things I'd like to do:


1. Publish my next book with in a year or so.
2. Set up an exhibition of my embroidery works.
3. Get much better at designing clothes.
4. Buy a house.

4 favourite movies:


1. I really can´t answer that one. There are just too many.
2. --
3. --
4. --


4 favourite acts:

1.??
2.
3.
4.

4 things I do first when logging on online:


1. check mail
2. check my blog and friends blogs
3. look at some news
4. log onto Ravelry


4 people I invite to play*:


1. Fríða
2. Ev
3. Bea
4. Rani

* but really, anyone who wants to share ...

Today´s rock picture

Today´s rock picture, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

The weather is wonderful today - warm and sunny and no wind at all.

I took the unfinished shawl to the birthday festivities and my mother in law loved it. She knits herself, so she understand how much work it is and she doesn't mind waiting a bit for it. I'm still not done, although I work on it every day, and i have put everything else a side - even my lovely bowl - which is almost done by the way.

Purity

Purity, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Angelica archangelica - just starting to flower.

The shawl

A confession : I'm only half way with the lace shawl, and the birthday is tomorrow...

Afternoon Light

The Weather Today, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Summer

Flowers + backpackers = it's really summer.

The shawl

The shawl challenge is looking a tad overwhelming at the moment. I frogged the first one and changed the pattern - I am now making a birk type shawl I have made before. It starts with 299 stitches so the first rows are a bit time consuming. This is all I have got so far - but on the upside - I have a little more time than I thought - I won't meet her until Saturday so I have until then.

The birthday skirt

This is my birthday girl in her new birthday skirt I made for he. It's made of very old rests that had been sitting in my mothers stash for decades before she gave them to me. The tulle is a small rest I had laying a round and I found an old zipper I could reuse. I had the thread too so all in all - this did not cost me anything and it was very easy and quick too.

Almost

This side is almost done. It just needs a little more filling in the top section.


The inside is filled with small stitches like this, and the top section of this side is too (or will be) but with darker colours.

Challenge!

I just remembered, I had planned to knit a shawl for my mother in law for her birthday. That is not a problem per se - but her birthday is the 21. of May. So I have 5 1/2 days to knit and block it. And tomorrow is my daughters birthday party so I won´t get anything done then - and I'm baking today so that does not leave many days to knit it. But I'm not backing down - I'm casting on tonight - not a shawl but a lace scarf. She is much more a scarf person anyway. And then I just soldier on. Do you think I can do it?

Probably not

I was perhaps a bit optimistic when I said that i would finish the bowl this week. That won't happen - I can see that now. I have been a bit under the weather - and my daughters birthday party is on Saturday. Tonight however we are watching the second Eurovision finals. Mostly bad music, terrible presenters, tasteless costumes - it's an European thing.
The Icelandic entry has already qualified (and she is very good) - tonight's favourite is Norway.
I'm really not that interested but watching is a tradition - and my daughter loves it and I enjoy watching with her.

Almost

This side is almost done. I just have some almost invisible filling to do on the empty blue area. The other two sides have a little more work left - but not much. The inside is also well on the way so I should finish the bowl this week.

Gauge

Connie asked me about the gauge on my single ply plötulopi swatches.
Now the embarrassing thing is that I seem to have lost one of them - the 4mm/US6 one. Than one was quite loose, good for a shawl or a very light cardigan perhaps.


This one is knit on 3.25/US3 needles. It is still rather loose and light. It's very uneven, it's knit in the dark and it's unblocked. Gauge: 15 stitches and 21 rows = 10x10 cm/3,9x3,9 in














I like this one best. It's knit with needles nr 2.5/ US1. It's still very light but not as loose as the others. Perfect for the light cardigan I am planning. Gauge: 18 stitches and 24 rows = 10x10 cm/3,9x3,9 in

Lambs

Hold the line!

Swatching

I don't have anything to show you today. Not that I haven't been doing anything. - I have been working quite a bit on the bowl, adding vegetation, some small fish and such and a bit on the inside too. I have also been swatching (something I hardly ever too I must admit).

I'm planning to knit a very light cardigan out of single plötulopi for my daughter - to go with her new dress. I have not worked much with singe plötulopi before so I made two generous swatches on the round with different size needles. The plan is to include her name in the yoke pattern - so I have some calculating and drawing to doo, before I can start knitting.

My territory - Mine!

My territory - Mine!, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

These little guys are all over the village now claiming and defending their territories. But they sure look and sound nice.

The last one?

This might be the last one of the bigger fish.
I think I might add some jellyfish and probably some small fish but I think there are enough of the larger ones now.
I ripped out the small pink and purple fish and put a school of tiny blue ones instead.

European

I made a pattern for these - why you say - they don´t look like much. It's an Icelandic thing - a joke really - you see there is a hot debate going on whether Iceland should join the EU or not and the initials for EU in Icelandic are ESB.
So there is an option for those for and against and inside the pattern there is even one more for those who are undecided.
The pattern is in Icelandic - but it's here and also on ravelry