On my to-do list || November

I'm okay with it being November already. Totally cool and not at all panicking about having only 6 weeks left before the Christmas holidays. Really. 

Harharhar. If it'd help me get more shit done, I might even try to crochet with my toes too.

Commissions

I've got a huge deadline at the end of this month. I can't show you yet what it's for (although did you see my last two magazine features? I wrote about them here and here - it is so cool to finally see them appearing), but I can probably let you have a little sneaky peak at the yarn. 

Ulysse by de rerum natura. 100% European merino, but unlike any merino I've ever used before. It's ethically produced, using as few harmful chemicals as possible. It feels crunchy and sheepy and absolutely wonderful. The Thing I'm Making with it will be released in February, and you can be sure I'll be shouting about it everywhere. 

Emmy + LIEN designs

• Playing Catch-up - While we still have some natural daylight left, I'm snapping away with my camera like a woman possessed. Re-shooting old tutorials, prepping for new ones. The next one I have lined up is a re-release of the Anemone Square. It's gone a bit bonkers over on Pinterest lately so I really need to move it over from my old blog. 

• Death by ends - I've had a few enquiries about the Window into Winter shawl recently, and it's nearly finished. I just have a few ends to weave in (it will be worth it, it will!)... I've bought a lovely mustard yellow for the border, which I can't wait to get started on. The yarn is a 100% alpaca by iloyarn, another company that uses ethical production practices. They're right on my doorstep too, which I didn't even realise until this week! If you want to be in the know when it goes live, have a look at my facebook, twitter or instagram pages, or join the E+L Ravelry group.

Just me (and baby)

I remember how my first pregnancy seemed to take forever, but this time around I feel like we're on fast forward. Soon I'll be at 20 weeks. I guess I should be resting, but sleep is not working out all that well (heartburn/insomnia/freaked-out 3yo) and from next Monday I'll be going to Swedish class for 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Somehow, somewhere, if I'm not to get completely overwhelmed by general adulting duties, I will need to allow myself to just be me. Which does mean drooling over tiny baby patterns, I'll admit. And eating lots of cake without feeling guilty about it, going out for walks whenever I don't feel like death warmed up, and curling up under a blanket when I do.

Keep warm, lovely people - it was -3 on the school run this morning! - and have a cracking November. 

All the Knitted Things | a year of learning, mistakes and epiphanies

About a year ago, on a dark and wet autumn afternoon not dissimilar to today's, I decided to start knitting. I had "learned" at school as a child, but all I remember of the experience are the sweaty hands and the angry tears. Even then, crochet and sewing were much more my thing. 

And so it might have stayed, if I hadn't turned crocheting things into a job. Though I still adore crochet, I can't relax with it anymore. I feel guilty if I take time to make something that I won't release as a pattern. I also do get fed up with it when I've done nothing but pore over the maths behind it for an entire day. I needed something else to unwind with (I get too angry with the sewing machine for it be sewing). 

So I got a few supplies, took to YouTube (I like Very Pink's videos because they're short and clear), and started knitting. Four hours later I was surprised to find myself with a cracking headache and a sore neck - who knew you could grip a couple of sticks that hard? I didn't have much of a Knitted Thing to show for those four hours either, until a kind soul on my facebook page suggested I try circular needles. What a revelation! It turns out that my hands, used to short crochet hooks as they are, were much happier with those than with ordinary straight needles. I was off. 

I haven't really stopped since. I love it for so many reasons. It (eventually) became relaxing, I can make a wider range of wearables for my family. I have another excuse to buy yarn. It's done wonders for my otherwise insatiable drive for perfection - when there are no deadlines looming, no reputation at stake, I can just let little mistakes go.

And boy, have I made mistakes. I've really struggled with tension, I've unsuccessfully tried to combine yarns of different weights, I've failed to grasp the importance of a stretchy cast-on or a nice, tight rib, I've I've I've... and that's before we even talk about the dropped stitches or the wobbly edges "fixed" with a sneaky crochet slip stitch. There is nothing quite like learning an entirely new skill as adult to cure you of perfectionism, really. 

Also, I have learned so much about pattern writing and garment construction, which has in turn benefited my crochet design skills hugely. The simple truth is that the crochet garment pattern industry is really behind knitting, both in terms of quality and diversity. There are clear signs that things are changing though, and I like being able to contribute to that trend confidently. 

Above all though, knitting has just been fun. I thought it would be nice to show you some of the things I've made (three have flown the nest, so I couldn't photograph them. Note to self: photograph before gifting), and share the patterns and yarns for each. So here it is, my year in Knitted Things.

The Statement Scarf
Pattern: Mollie Makes issue 61
Yarn: Alpaca Tweed and Big Merino by Lanar Emporio
Skills Learned: increases and decreases, how to make really pommy pompoms (the answer: buy a pompom maker)

Thoughts: Great beginner pattern, don't try to mix yarn weights, oh how this is soft and warm! 

Rye Socks
Pattern: Tin Can Knits, The Simple Collection
Yarn: Vinnis Colours Bimbi (discontinued)
Skills Learned: how to sock! This patterns comes with a great step-by-step blog post. 

Thoughts: Really good collection of beginner patterns, DPNs are not that scary, whoever invented the Kitchener stitch must have been on crack at the time.

Another Plain Vest
Pattern: Pickles 
Yarn: Vinnis Colours Bimbi (discontinued)
Skills Learned: armhole shaping, stockinette stitch practice

Thoughts: Need to work on getting an even tension! 

Milo
Pattern: Georgie Nicholson at tiKKI
Yarn: Vinnis Colours Bimbi (discontinued)
Skills learned: top-down seamless construction

Thoughts: Interesting construction and fun to make. Comes up a little boxy for my skinny child so next time I need to go down a size but make it longer.

Clayoquot Toque
Pattern: Tin Can Knits, Road Trip
Yarn: Vinnis Colours Bimbi (discontinued)
Skills learned: fairisle

Thoughts: Oh my god I can do fairisle! Just. Need to work on getting a tighter rib, too. 

London Skies
Pattern: Clare Devine, The Travel Trio
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Skills learned: twisted rib

Thoughts: Actually, I love knitting socks (but the next pair will be in a kid's size because these took aaaaages)

Next up are many, many more socks to see us through the winter, and then hopefully I'll find time to make a stack of soft baby knits before the arrival of our Bug in the spring. If you want to have a look at what I've got my eye on, check out my knitwear pinterest board. I think I'd need a few lifetime to do all the cardigans, but still - Such fun!

V.I.P.

Finally, I can share news of a Very Important Project: my Very Important Little Person, still in progress. Baby no. 2. First a Bean and then... a Bug? We will have to think of another nickname. Ladybird, maybe, seeing as the Bean is absolutely convinced it's a girl. 

So, all being well, we will say hello to said VIP in the Spring. It's felt so odd, keeping this big news to myself for what feels like a very long time. It's just a blink of the eye, really, but as with my first pregnancy I've suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) and when every day has to be survived hour by hour, three months is loooooooong. I swore after last time that I wouldn't keep this strange 12-week vow of silence, not about the sickness and the way it completely blindsides any joy you might feel. Nor about any miscarriage, should it have turned out I'd spoken too soon. Why would I be silent about things that people should feel they can talk openly about?

But as it happened I couldn't stay upright at my computer for long enough to write about it. I will though, in another post. We do, really, need to talk about these things. 

First the good news, and I'm pleased to say I'm starting to feel like me again. Me, with added football roundness (it shows so quickly, the second time around!). 

I'm going through my lovely stash of soft yarns and organic fabrics. I'm thinking about tiny crocheted cardigans, itty-bitty knitted beanie hats and dinky leggings with matching bibs. I want to make ALL the baby things, once I'm able to stay awake beyond 7:30 PM. I'm eyeing up pretty muslins, in case we've produced another VVB: Very Vomity Baby. I'm wondering where on earth this ladybug will sleep in our one-bedroom flat. The Bean has decided on bunk beds (him on the top one, obviously), with that infallible confidence in immediacy and limitless potential that only almost-4-year-olds have. After three months of doing almost no work, I have a to-do list so long I can't actually decide where to start. I might just stick with the tiny cardigans. 

One thing is for sure though: having a baby in Sweden is already turning out to be quite a different experience from having a baby in Italy (where the Bean was born). There, I was constantly prodded and pricked, cajoled onto scales and into eating less (yes, less!). I was very much treated as a patient, a female patient with a medical condition, and the mostly male doctors knew best. Which didn't necessarily feel like a dreadful thing at the time, this hand-holding, what with a first pregnancy being such an overwhelming unknown. This time around though, I admit I'm pleased with the Swedish approach: you are not sick, you are growing a baby. We're here if you need us but otherwise, go and get on with it. 

I shall. 

I'm linking up with Chantelle for My Expat Family.

On my to-do list || June

I'll be brief this month, partly because we're already halfway through June (wud?!) and partly because I'm in the throes of the pre-holiday rush - 2 weeks to go! So during what remains of June I will be:

• Making all the jam - fresh produce is finally available locally and I intend to use up every last scrap of it
• Eating all the jam - such as this tongue-tinglingly good elderflower and apple jelly that I made last night. The recipe is by my friend Juliane at Notes from Björkåsa and I could have it, spread on toast, for breakfast, elevensen, and afternoon tea. and dinner. Every day. 

• Writing all the patterns - the rationale being that if I do all the thinking now, I'll be able to do all the making when the small person is around 24/7. Because I definitely haven't got a deadline scheduled smack-bang in the middle of the holidays and two for straight after... (I do maybe have a bunch of new commission freshly placed, yay!)

• Keeping all my marbles - I'll admit, I'm struggling with the juggling this month. Yesterday morning I managed to lock myself out of the flat, sans phone and avec pyjamas. Says it all, really, doesn't it. Also, I've been shouty mummy far too often lately. No matter how busy I am, I will need to set aside some time to calm down as well. I tend to take a lot of flowery pictures when I'm stressed, and in the evenings you'll find me knitting away furiously at something just for me: a Maeve shrug by Carie Bostick Hoge in the most beautiful organic cotton + merino yarn. I loves it and I can't wait to wear it. 

• Looking forward to all the squeezes - two weeks to go, and then the 3yo monkey is all mine!

Have a good month (or what remains of it, at least)! Also, don't get locked out in your PJs! 

On my to-do list || May

It suddenly dawned on me, at about the end of April, that there were two months left before the summer holidays. Two Months!!!?? In terms of scheduling and deadlines, I'm still kind of flapping about somewhere in mid-March. {Breathe...}

Balcony garden

Right, now I've got that off my chest, let's get on with the business of making in May. Spring took a little siesta last month, but it's back with a hop and skip. I've been putting my wee seedlings out every day, and bringing them back in with my very diligent little helper every evening. He is lethal - sorry, highly effective at drenching - when armed with the watering can. Which is, quite clearly, exclusively his. 

MeMadeMay 2016

May is also the month of all things handmade wardrobe, of course. I haven't taken the #MeMadeMay pledge of wearing a handmade item every day (because I don't have anywhere near enough of them to do so!) and I don't even aspire to an entirely handmade wardworbe. Supporting a sustainable model of consumerism, in which we - makers and buyers alike - value high quality, long-lasting and ethically-produced items is very important to me. Nevertheless, I do love the idea of a wardrobe made with love at least in part by me, as I've discussed before.

Hence, I've started a Pinterest board of what I think will be truly wearable wardrobe staples for me, inspired by Libby and Ioana's efforts to create a gallery of Great Wardrobe Basics on Instagram.There's WAY more on the board than I can make this May, or even in the next many Mays, but I've started. The first project I'm tackling is the Ruby Top, which I'm planning on doing two versions of: one with two contrasting Art Gallery fabrics, and one with a crochet lace yoke. I've never done crochet lace, so that'll be interesting...

I've also got a Milo vest for the Bean on my knitting needles after seeing lots of cute versions of it on Carie's blog, Space for the Butterflies. Finally, I'm making an effort to mend and maintain some of the items I've made in the past after reading about Jen's inspiring #MendItMay pledge on My Make, Do and Mend Life. If you've got a few lackluster woollies knocking about too, I wrote some tips on how to give them a little TLC. 

Emmy + LIEN designs

In terms of my own designs, there have been a couple of interesting developments. The first set of instructions for the Dally Dahlia Blanket is now live. I kind of surprised myself by managing to get that up within the time frame I'd set! 

The first test sample of the Bretonbone Top is finished and there's another in the making, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer for the pattern than I anticipated. This is due to a very exciting opportunity appearing for me, so I hope you won't mind too much. I'll reveal more as soon as I'm able to (think late summer)..

Everything else is still languishing at the planning stage, so for now I'm just squeezing lots of pretty yarn. My current favourite is the mint green, an organic cotton by MoYa. I'm hoping to publish a review of it soon, so watch out for that. And, eventually, find time to actually use it.

Are you taking part in MeMadeMay or MendItMay in any way? I'd love to hear what you're working on this month!

Maker's Maintenance

Finally, finally Spring has remembered its lines and the thickest of woollies can be put away for a few months. But first: a little maintenance. 

These days the three of us wear mostly handmade winter woollies. A lot. Especially the 3-year-old; This being Scandinavia, severe weather is not an excuse for staying indoors and so after a whole, long winter his woollies were looking pretty, well, worn. 

After a whole, long (did I mention it was long?) winter of being stuffed under bike helmets, dragged through rain and snow, and dipped (rubbed, probably) in wet sand, the pompoms weren't very pommy anymore. The brims had been stretched down their hu-LA-rious owner's chin a few too many times. Some straggly ends were poking out, what with weaving them in properly not being my strong point... 

So this morning, with the sunlight finally streaming in, I sat down to do some Maker's Maintenance. I picked the dry leaves out and snipped off the sad little poms. I made new, properly smooshy pompoms. I re-wove the ends. 

I added a couple of rows to the brims to bring them back in from their flappy state. This is so easy to do - just take a smaller hook than the pattern originally called for and work the same stitch (front and back post TC, in this case) into the foundation row or starting chain.

You're basically working upside down and changing the stitch direction, but I don't think it matters. Because, fast-moving 3-year-old.

Finally, I soaked them in some lukewarm soapy water to get rid of the worst of the grime, left them out to dry on the balcony, and attached the new pompoms. Smoosh.

They don't look fresh of the hook. It wouldn't have been a big deal to make a couple more hats, even - the pattern (details below) is really easy and fun. Also, maintenance is a bit boring compared to the excitement  of making something new. But that is not point, I think.

High quality, responsibly-produced yarn is expensive. As a natural resource, it is also finite. By giving these little hats an hour or so of TLC, they'll last another winter. I won't be sending anything to landfill. And I'll have a bit more money left over for good materials for another make (it turns out I've made hats for everyone but myself, so far!).

These little hats are ready to be stored away now, and over the next few weeks I'll be washing, darning, re-weaving and otherwise squeezing the rest of our handmade  woollies. 

What do you do to ensure your makes last longer? Any tips?

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The nitty-gritty
Pattern: Lake's Edge Hat by Kat Goldin
Yarn (bright stripes): Be Sweet Bamboo + DROPS Alpaca for the added brim
Yarn (neutral stripes): Lanar Big Merino & Maxi Soft