Small progresses

Here's where I've reached with my Flower Basket Shawl, soon finished with the third repeat (out of seven). It's slow therapeutic knitting!! I'm making sure I follow the pattern correctly through counting stitches every even row. I'm tending to miss YO:s in this pattern but I'm getting better at it! What I've accompolished so far looks beautiful already which makes me inspired to get going every possible minute I get. Though not when Anthea's around as my capacity to do many things simultaneously is limited and this project demands concentration...

Favourite aunt Anna, or "Nanna" as she's called by Anthea, came to see Anthea yesterday and they played together the whole afternoon. Here they are surfing google for various pictures of animals that Anthea loves to see. Here she expresses that she wants to see butterflies. She's so pretty when she scratches her head like this to illustrate butterflies, they haven't got any "name" yet. Other favourite animals are penguins (g g), especielly Pingu, dogs (vo vo), cats (mjau or ka) and birds (pi pi).

Knitting again

21st of April is approaching rapidly - it's only seven days left to the planned birth date of our son-to-come!!! I'm counting days - no longer weeks or months! Of course it's likely that I'll have to add up to fourteen days to this date, I did so with my first. But as I'm waiting my second and it's close between them (one and a half years) the chances are greater that this baby will come sooner.

I can visualise having our baby at home now! This positivism has spread also to other areas of my life: I've started to knit again!! Even though I shouldn't during this last period of my pregnancy due to the risk of getting "karpaltunnelsyndrom" again. But as it's so little time left I feel the potential problems can't develope into something serious.

So, yesterday I started my first Flower Basket Shawl. The picture to the right does unfortunately not represent the colour I've chosen correctly. It's a Garnstudio's Alpaca yarn in plum colour nr 4400. When starting up this shawl project I had great use of the FBS Cast on Tutorial. Now I've come to the point where I'll be doing my first repeats. I'm knitting while Anthea is asleep or out with her father, but in the evenings I'm too tired to go into advanced counting or pattern reading. However, it's fun knitting again even if a strange feeling of bubbling slowly is creeping up my right hand...

Knitting teacher

I wasn't slow to bite the bait when I was contacted by Folkuniversitetet last week regarding teaching English speaking beginners in knitting this autumn! I'm honestly not a proffessional teacher or knitter, but I truly enjoy supervising besides practicing my English which I had the opportynity to use more frequently when I was doing some IT consulting in UK and France a few years ago. And of course I enjoy knitting a lot. Already in the mid 80s I was hit the first time by knitting euphoria, I was knitting practicly every possible minute of my day including short breaks between school lessons. And ever since I've had more or less intensive periods of knitting and have tried everything from simple sweaters to more advanced lace and cable patterns. So, yesterday I met the people at Folkuniversitetet and we discussed the practicalities and agreed that I'll be holding a course in "How to knit a simple mohair shawl", assuming there will be enough interested participants, once a week over a three week period. The salary isn't high but it really doesn't matter as it's going to be more of a fun thing for me!

Getting ready

Now baby, you're really welcome to our family, any day you like! We've assembled the cradle, washed the baby clothes, bought a new strolley and so on. AND, now I've packed the bag I'll bring with me when it's time to go to the delivery using this Maternity Ward List:

• Mother healt center journal and a peronal ID card
• "How I wish to give birth list"; how I want to have alleviation of pain during the delivery,
  special monitoring of the baby during delivery etc.
• 2-3 sets of baby clothes and possibly a blanket.
  Warm clothes and baby safety arrangements for home transportation
• Comfortable clothes for me, including breast feeding bra, slippers and possibly a dressing gown
• Toilet bag
• Fruit, candy, energy drinks/coca cola, book, magazines.
• Mobile, camera, movie camera and battery chargers.

Still "the health care chrisis" is out there, somehwere. I know, I know ... I shouldn't worry about the problems with being forwarded to another hospital when it's time. But, it's difficult to avoid the facts! The newspapers constantly writes about the healt care chrisis when it comes to for example the limited amount of maternity ward rooms. Especially spring time according to my midwife... but what does it help me now?

And oh yes, there is really nothing I can do about it through worrying and actually I don't too much. But, I can't help but feeling a bit ironic about my situation when I for example read today, again, in one of our local Kungsholmens news papers about: the hospitals, among which my hospital was mentioned, who's sending out an alarm - they mean that the current situation involve jeaopardizing the mothers and childrens saftey! They say that in May there'll be 140 more mothers who will give birth than planned. Already in March 92 to-become-mothers where turned down (and assumingly forwarded somewhere else) from Karolinska (where I belong). E he he, what can one say? Always look on the bright side of life ... ta, dam, ta, dam, da, dam, da dam... perhaps?!

Eating and breathing

The web magazine Knitty's Spring issue was published today stuffed with free knitting patterns! I liked specially the mens pullover Jamesey and the scarf/necklace Nagano sacura, but I would likely not knit any of these, at least not in the nearest future.

I love all kinds of pirogues and tonight I tried to make Chilean Pirogues, Pitingas Empanadas, for the first time. They where each stuffed with minced lamb mix containing onions, red chili pepper etc, one olive, one wedge of a hard boiled egg and a few raisins, according to a recipe in Kärlek, oliver och timjan (Love, olives and thyme) by Anna Bergenström. I baked and served the ugliest ones tonight and freezed the rest unbaked, also according to the recipe. I've tried them before at different occasions, once at a Chilean familys place, and they turned out to be as good as I remembered them!!

Anna Wilsby writes about her popular propfylaxis method "Anna's prophylaxis" in the book Innan du föder (Before you give birth). Lately my husband has read loud to me from it almost every night. It is really fruitful reading and we feel much more comfortable in front of this delivery to come! It goes through mental goal focusing, relaxation, breathing, how the partner can coach through the delivery etc. I can warmly recommend this book!

Women and men

My finest came home with a bouquet of these and said he had enjoyed his day at town on his own! He visited a few shops at Hötorget and enjoyed a special oriental burger at Hötorgshallen, then took the tube to Södemalm visited some more shops and finally enjoyed a cappuchino at our favourite café ... but he didn't find anything for himself! We men and woman are so different. If I'd have had a day of my own at town (and had the energy for it...) I'd come home with a nice spring blouse, new make up, perhaps a new bag or some other accessories, chocolate, new toys and clothes for Anthea and the baby to come ... and oups forgotten bo buy something for my beloved one. Still he's the most important one to me!

Paternal presence

I truly admire my beloved husbands dedication being a father so wholeheartedly! Also I'm so happy for his sake, he'll be able to enjoy this precious first part of Antheas life being on parental leave with her for over half a year! This period that so many of us born in the 60:s and 70:s missed with our own fathers, as they "had to work so much" and so on and so forth. However, an additional bonus for intelligent fathers who decides to be with the kids from early age was presented on the headlines this week; fathers on parental leave actually live longer !! And, besides this my husband has a happy wife! So, this morning I sent my finest out to town so that he could have some leisure time on his own!!

Hanne Falkenberg

Check out this posh cardigan by Danish designer Hanne Falkenberg. It's as useful at work as at leisure time!! I think I must knit this sometimes very soon, either in Sand/Blue, Turquoise/Sea Blue, Apple Green/Turquoise or Coral/Tomato. My husband votes for the Sand/Blue since he believes it's really useful together with for example jeans or light coloured summer dresses. Which one is your favourite?

I'm still very hesitant about what colour choice to make. I know that marias garn at Södermalm sells this cardigan knitting kit so I'll most likely go there. If I have the energy to it hopefully already next week so that I can have a closer "in real life" look at the various colour combinations!

Once I get going with this project I might peek at Hanne Falkenberg Knitalong for inspiration and hints!

Drops for babies

Drops Design has finally come out with new baby knitting design patterns after consulting with their readers. As the participation was massive, they decided to go for two catalogues instead of one!! That's great, so all the ones that I voted for are included! The patterns are already available on the web in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish language: Babydrops nr.13 and Babydrops nr.14! Enjoy!

On valuable friendships

I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately. As a quite new mum with a one and a half year old daugther and another baby coming in a few weeks time the conditions of my life has changed radically. Despite basic priorities I might have, such as "my husband comes first", "I must never forget my friends since they'll be there for life" etc, it's difficult to aviod the fact that most of my time goes to my little daughter. I don't have time to cuddle with my husband, call/go out with my friends, take care of my other family as much as I'd like to. I sometimes have very little time for taking care of myself even, and things will surely not be less intensive when next kiddo comes!

As a new mum or dad it's of course therapeutic sharing what is mostly on our minds, namely our kids, with others who might be interested. If one is lucky one has a family who takes an active interest in the kids. But, sometimes this is not the case. We get older and older when we start producing our kids nowadays and thus many of our parents might have passed away. Also if living in big cities other family may not be present. I have friends who's parents aren't interested at all as they want to live their own lifes. And, friends with no kids who has an active couples/single life does naturally not have the time nor the interest to spend "bad quality" time with us homies. I find it understandable as it's frustrating trying to keep an conversation already with other parents... So sometimes we must find new people in order to be able to share this new interest of life!

But, how far should we stretch this need of sharing a common interest with equals? My life device is to always try to achieve balance in life - as was written on the ancient Delphi temple: "everything with moderation" - I believe we should try to avoid exaggering things too much. Our new life conditions, as parents and at the same time citizens in a big town with a thin family may call for radical new thinking. How much extra effort are we willing to make in trying to maintain our old friendships? Could we think of making an expensive move to come closer to friends with or without kids in order to facilite relations? Are we willing to put money on a car for the same reason? Can we think of alternative ways of living such as collective living?

There are of course other things to life such as our hobbies, our careers, our childrens futures, and taking care of our families when planning our future. But, I think it is wise to keep on thinking about what is important to us, and for me hanging out with people is high priority. So I will surely keep on having this hot topic in my mind and strive to try to make the best out my situation!

One topic that I don't discuss here but which is really interesting is how we relate to our families, especially those we have difficulties being friends with... perhaps I'll discuss this here some other time.

Baby boom and yummy food

After visiting my Mother Healt Center, husband, Anthea and I did some strolling around in Kungsholmen. In one of the many child friendly cafés, Art of Living, we had our lunch and good old cappuchino afterwards. By the way, I hope this fantastic coffe creation will survive in our Latte (adult gruel?) fanatic country... We probably have unusually many child friendly cafés here and one of my sister once gave me a reasonable explanation to this phenomenon. From her teacher in film science (?!) at the Stockholm University she heard last year that Kungsholmen is one of the places on earth with the highest density of newborn babies per capita. Actually many times nowadays it feels absurd to walk the streets of Kungsholmen as there are so many pregnant women and mothers walking with their baby strollers. WE are baiscally e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e!! And this baby boom is kind of recent in time. I know, since I lived here already when single, before I met my husband.

When back home, I made my favourite zucchini-egg "mixture", which my husband loved though not Anthea. My father used to make it to us. He brought this recipe from his childhood Cyprus. It's not an omelett since it shouldn't contain so much egg that it coagulates. My father used to serve it with Coca Cola and toasted bread, and this is how I still enjoy this full of vitamine dish. (Regarding the picture : how can something so enjoyable be so ugly?)

Here's how I made the mix tonight, if you'd like to try it sometimes.: You need 5 zucchinis, 4 eggs, olive oil, salt and white pepper. Divide the zucchinis alongside in two and slice them really really thin. Fry in olive oil for 5-10 minutes until they start to get a little soft and some colour. Now lower the temperature and cook, using a lid, in about 30-45 minutes and stir every 10 mintues. When the zucchinis are really soft, raise the temperature and fry away all water and give the mix some more colour. Put salt and peppar into the mix. Then stir really quickly in the eggs one by one and serve as soon as all are in. You shouldn't fry so that the egg gets hard! Serve with toasted white bread and cold Coca Cola. Yummy!

Baby preparations

Puhh ... home again after some serious baby things shopping at Babyplanet in Kungsholmen. We decided to go for the Baby Planet Easy Drive Duo budget stroller (see post below) in black, it was the only colour in their stock. They hadn't actually ordered any other colours for this drive they told us - they know their Stockholm customers, he, he. We love how the stroller's spinning so easily around its front wheels while holding the handle with only one hand! We felt confident about our choise, not at least because four customers had previously bought the same model this grey Monday and that we got the final copy. Also this is the slimmest duo stroller on the market today, great when travelling a lot by for example bus! We also went for a Baby Björn Carrier Active in black/red. We've had one Baby Björn Carrier Original before but it's not as supportive for the back as this new model, so with this we'll be able to carry our baby for much longer. While we where in a shopping mood we checked out lamps for the kids room at a nearby shop, and put a reservation on a glass lamp, Belid Pikant, in olive colour.

Spring signs

I managed to finish my little political science paper about EU:s external relations on time this Friday even though I didn't feel really well. On Saturday I was fully occupied as we arranged a birthday party at home for my husband. But on Sunday the whole family was in bed. We're all better off today, perhaps it was just some kind of stomache disorder light. This grey Monday it's hard to make oneself go out shopping stuff for our baby to come though we need to, as it's less than three weeks now before he might arrive. We'll make an effort to come out before lunch ... I'll let you know the result of our baby shopping tour when we're back home again, if we manage to get out!

Signs of spring:
This year we're growing tomatoes and violets, lobelia and dorothea flowers for our balcony and these small seeds have all started to sprout! They're streching their small necks towards the light - just like me, they need plenty of light!

Trolley strollying in Stockholm

Our first stroller was a traditional robust Emmaljunga - in baby transportation world Emmaljunga is what Volvo is in the car world! As first time parents we naturally wanted what we thought would be the best for our little miracle. Every thought of a fancy three wheel model was something we managed to surpress successfully.

As we strolled around the streets of Stockholm with our new black (this discrete low profile colour is Stockholmers absolute favourite) Emmaljunga we felt really mature and secure. Not that the strolley had been cheap - our daugther has a generous grandfather - but we considered us a bit wiser and down-to-earth than people with the flashy three weel strollers. Until something connecting the wheel broke the first time. We had it fixed but it happened a few more times besides some other annoying problems. Now we aren't as impressed about our stroller as we once where.

Besides our Emmaljunga we have a cheap light-weight easy travel stroller. It's a must-have especially when travelling by airplane as it's a complete suicide mission for strollers. I think I've heard that the airlines calculate that one out of ten strollers are damaged in the luggage handling and thus they adjust their insurances to this. But how fun is it dealing with these things after a beautiful vacation. So it's better having one that you don't really have to care about so much.

As if two strollers wheren't enough we now need a third one - a duo stroller! In one month we'll be a two-kids family and as both kids will be less than 1.5 years they'll both be needing to be transported around. This time we'll be considering also the fancier models in our stroller hunt. We're basically faced with two options - a budget or a luxury model! And the differences in price are quite impresseive. Here is a price example from a nearby shop which we've considered, it includes an extra carrycot for the baby to lie in:

One Tree Hills Urban Jungle Buggy Duo:

8.695 Skr + 1.895 Skr = 10.590 Skr

Baby Travel Jogger Easy Drive Duo:

3.495 Skr + 995 Skr = 4.490 Skr

The budget model is less than half price!! As there are more things in life than strolling around the streets with a luxury strolley, we think the decision should be easy! Let me add that the prices in the second hand market for the luxury models in Stockholm are really high, and the budget models are so cheap in the first place so second hand is not really an option for us.

Un-social democratic health care?

Again this morning I read in one of the major morning papers in Sweden about the huge problems around medical care in relations with childbirth. This time it's about Inadequate intensive care in Stockholm. The last half year the intensive divisions have been full at Karolinska University Hospital (which my family is belonging to), there's been no margins and the child intensive division hasn't been an exception. Patients in need have been denied intensive care due to a lack of hospital places and died as a consequense of this.

So, last week many chiefs and intensive care doctors at Karolinska University Hostpital (read: whos had enough) has presented the situation when it comes to intensive care in a report to the hospital board; If the patients get any care at all, many have to leave the nursing ward ahead of planned time with worsened possibility of supervision during the most critical period. The same patients must be moved back to the intensive care division or transferred to other hospitals with riskful transportations as a result. Also intensive care operations are postponed. Reasons for the hospital place shortage has according to the same report been unusually many infants this year who've been affected by the RS-virus with need of intensive care respiration as well as personnel shortage.

To me these reasons are just symptoms of a collapsing national medical care! I have discussed reasons for this in a previous post, read about Swedish GBS infection handling. However, I think it's a paradox that the Swedish medical care is so catastrophic when it has been built and maintained by a s-o-c-i-a-l d-e-m-o-c-r-a-t-i-c regime? Shouldn't social democratic policy be about social security to all the nations citizens, with issues such as childbirth as a top priority? I'm still hestitant about how to vote in the national election this year but I know at least one party who'll most definitely not get a vote from me!

Baby Boy Name Ponderings

It's not as we're panicing ... we still have plenty of time since there's up to three months after the baby's delivery to report a name to the Swedish Tax Autority (yes, these are the dudes handling our personal numbers, names etc besides tax issues). I don't know what people think when they repeatedly ask if we've found suitable names for the baby. I don't believe they expect us to have a long list still they seem to feel sorry for us when we say we have none. We realise it would be really comfortable to have made up ones mind about at least a few names before the baby's arrival, and that it'll probably not just "become clear as we see him". So we've tried really hard to come up with at least a couple of names but so far none has really felt evident. Most people seem to have come up with a few names on their baby name lists already from their chíldhood. We've no names like that. Instead we've gone through our family names on our Hungarian, Greek and Finnish sides and searched through Swedish name stastistics besides a wide range of other resources ! But as every name we consider need to be tested with questions such as: Will the name fit with the other names in our international family? Can it be used internationally? Do we loooove to use the name? Does the name reflect the baby's personality? and so on, most names have been abandoned. The few survivals are: Hugo, Marcus, Theodor and Leopold, but we're far from certain yet.

Wool quiz

It's always fun to be a bit introspective and objective about oneself. Perhaps one can learn something new? Here is a really serious personality test which reveals what type of yarn you are. Weeeell, let's try it out:

You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side.
Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies.
Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.
What kind of yarn are you?

What can one say? Though I don't have any shetland wool yarn in my stash it seems I'm like this traditional yarntype! And, my husband says the result isn't so bad after all!

Airy livingroom

Our TV has now been removed from our home and we've been rewarded with a more spacious and relaxing living room! This is the corner where the monstruous energy sucking machine (thank heaven there are flat screens nowadays) was piled up on an ungainly and ugly TV-furniture! Now it has instead become a light and airy one!

Anthea hasn't even noticed it's gone, instead she's become a much more relaxed and present little person. I think we understand her better now and what this TV thing was all about. She's recently developed into a much more social person who needs to be around other kids. As she's still home with her father who's on paternity leave we now need to think of more ways of giving her the opportunity to come together with kids her age.

Have I been able to leave my hands from knitting? Almost yes! Yesterday I couldn't resist making this really, really small project (promise!) though. And I don't think it made any greater harm to my hands. But yes I know, I must be careful not to provoke the stupid "karpaltunnelsyndrom" to reappear during this pregnancy. However, I made a hand puppet dog, size toddler ++, for my daughter. It was really quick and easy to make.

This weekend we had a few + degrees Celcius in Stockholm. Still it's icy and really cold outdoors and since my daughter is too small to enjoy playing on an icy ground our activities must still mostly be focused on things you can do indoors.

Yesterday when my mom was over to play with Anthea she brought some tulips. I think I've developed a crawing for them this spring. Not ever have I needed to be reminded of the coming spring as much as this year. And tulips really help me keep up the hope!!

On Individual Responsibility

Today I read in one of the largest swedish morning papers about Swedish GBS infection handling. Thirty per cent of all women carries the Group B Streptococcus bacteria and in fifty per cent of every delivery it is transferred to the baby. One out of five hundred gets ill, it's app ninty babies per year. Without treatment there is up to one hundred per cent mortality. GBS can easily be screened on pregnant women and if found treated successfully with antibiotics. This is normal procedure in many contries such as US, Australia, Spain and France. But not in Sweden, and the question is why?

WHY is Sweden not giving it's citizens best quality medical treatment when it comes to important areas such as childbirth as well as for example cancer, mental illness? Last ten-fifteen years most of us Swedes have experienced many examples from our immediate surroundings where we've seen that the system doesn't work satisfactory anymore. One of my sisters who's mentally ill does not get much more than pills though she needs so much more. I'm completely panicing when it comes to my coming delivery. Will there be a hospital room available at my nearest hospital or will I be directed to another hospital? I was directed to a hospital kind of far from where we live last time I gave birth and the prognoses are even worse this year. I don't want to travel far with the risk of giving birth on the motorway the day my baby boy wants to arrive! There are many more examples. As far as I can remember we've expected full medical care from our national medical service system as we've had a history of paying tons of taxes and thought of Sweden as being an exemplary welfare state. And, the taxes has not decreased the last thirty years rather constantly increased.

WHY has Sweden not managed to diverge tax money back to its citizens in an effective way? Shouldn't medical care be one top priority in a functioning welfare state? I believe the reason is a political system error which can be described with social democratic policy that we've had for more than seventy years. A policy based on values such as the collective rather than the individual. In order to maintain such a value system more and more money have needed to be diverged to areas handling for example unemployment, long-term illness etc. Today we have one million Swedes in working age (we have totally sligtly less than six million people in working age) who does not go to work everyday since they are unemplyed, long-term ill etc. Many of these are dependent on government subsidies and most likely will vote for the same system they're so dependent on all over again.

I believe Swedish government needs a change in its policy value basis. The focus should be on actions that would help individuals fulfill their dreams; most of all facilitate emplyment! The result would be happier and healthier people! I'm not sure though that the Swedish people is mature or strong enough to see its need of a more individual focused policy. We speak of ourselves as a people who care about the rejected, we want everyone to be treated equal and so forth. Many believe this is what is being "social democratic" and for many people social democratic policy is equivalent with what constitutes the Swedish national identity. Moving towards a more pure liberal democracy would for them mean abandoning these values not understanding that much of these ideas actually are liberal in it's origin.

However, my hope is that we all stop relying so much on the system and that we take our individual responsibilities for our lives, families, neighbourhood, community (geographical or virtual), nation, region and globally in the given order. This way there's some hope we'll see some changes that will be benefical for everyone - I'm sure!!

A peek at Baby collection 2006 - Drops Designs

I had a peek at Drops Designs 2006 baby collection and I really liked what I saw. Most Drops Design patterns are only written in Nordic languages though a few are translated into English every now and then. However, the models are made using Garnstudions yarns that are of fairly good quality for a reasonable price. The Drops Design team would like to have our input before they decide which of these models to include in the pattern collection. Thus I've voted for and commented on the top models that I hope will be included in the future catalogue. If youl'd like to influence the selection of models you shouldn't hesitate to participate too! Many models of the collection would be perfect for my baby boy to come, these are my favourites:

Truly qute kit and a bit grown-up type of cardi model for the little professor!

Simple and practical models and look at the elegant scarf.

I dig these multicoloured cardis and the trousers!

Fancy cardi and must-make blankets!

Give-away toys perhaps, and trendy kit with cardi and boots.

No more TV

- TV and DVD is a fantastic babysitter sometimes when we need some time and space for ourselves.
- We're aware about the warnings from psychologists about small children watching TV but we believe it's better with a happy parent than with an exhausted.

Most of the people around us who have small children use TV as a temporary babysitter. Doing so seems to be the most natural thing in the world for many worn-out parents, and we are not an exception. Lately I've observed some alarming tendencies though from my daugthers side which has to do with her Teletubbies and Pingu watching habits. Nowadays I find her wining about Pingu in front of the TV every time she feels a bit bored. Also I think she finds some strange kind of comfort from her TV-watching. When she's sad of some reason her first impulse is often to run to the TV, as if it could give her some happines. Besides this I'm sure she gets stressed up by this passive activity when she instead could be playing around or just chilling-out!

We've decided to do something concrete about this problem. We'll now get rid of our TV! Both me and my husband are used to not having TV for longer periods in our lives, so it is not a hard decision for us. Of course as a small childrens parent it is perfect with all kinds of home entertainment. But really, there are so many other creative things we'd prefer doing anyhow. And most of all, we'll feel much more confident that we are trying our best in giving our daughter the best possible upbringing!

ALSO, as a bonus we will get a much nicer spacier living room!

March mama therapy

- Everything about my beautiful husband
and daughter!
- Tulips on the kithchen table - wish I could speed spring to come pronto !!!
- Writing a small (University) paper about EU:s external policy
- Shopping, shopping - it's always the best instant gratification!
- Well made food!
- Sleep
BUT most of all
- I want baby nr two to "arrive" soon, I can't remember ever being this heavy with baby nr one and it's still nearly two months left.

A Linen Shawl, perhaps

When browsing through my list of "Other Knit Bloggers" I came across a super chich cardigan designed by the author of the blog My Fashionable Life. Not sure if I ever dare to go for this project, it seems a bit advanced for me but I would happily wear it if I had it in my possession!

Just gorgeous cardi fantastically designed!

I've come over a pattern of the extremely popular Flower Basket Shawl and have thus finally determined to create one for myself this summer. It will either be in wool/mohair/.. or in pure linnen. Linnen would be a bit more heavy but oh so beautiful and perfect to wear with my summer dresses! A woolish type of yarn would probably be as beautiful AND much more light weight BUT, not as useful during warm summer days. I cannot bear the itchy feeling of wool-materials against naked skin, especially during a warm summer day. So, linnen would perhaps be a more interesting choice for this summer. Also I have only wool shawls in my wardrobe at present. Yll & Tyll's tunt linne is a not too expensive linnen yarn and is made in various colours of which I would probably go for "ljus plommonlila", it means something like light plum-lilac.

Perhaps The Shawl for my summer dresses ...

... made in "ljus plommonlila" linnen!

Yesterday my sweet daughter Anthea, husband and I went to Odenplan in Stockholm for some shopping and "fika" at Coffehouse by George. Anthea had a "kanelbulle" which she succeeded to eat almost all of.

Nam, nam ...

The coffehouse is by the way next door with the knitting shop Ljungqvist Garn but we didn't even go for window shopping this day. I guess there's no point in shopping yarn when The Syndrome is awaiting around the corner, see more about this in the previous post.

Anti-cravings

I'm in a total knitting coma. I haven't touched a knitting project since this summer. And yet knitting has been on everyones lips this autumn/winter. I just feel aversion towards this whole handicraft. My husband sometimes asks me carefully how I'm doing with my knitting projects and says that I seemed so happy when I was involved in them. Where is my knitting joy?

I think that there is some correlation with the fact that I got pregnant this summer. Since then, when I've seen yarn or needles I've had to turn my face quickly in another direction. Thinkting about knitting has been completely impossible as it has made me feel sick. Can it be some kind of anti-craving?

However, now it starts to get a bit better. I've been browsing the net for knitting designs so the inspiration is slowly returning. BUT ... it's too late for me to start knitting before the baby arrives! The last two months of my last pregnancy I had something called karpaltunnelsyndrom, which affects a few pregnant women. Don't know the name in english. Symptom is that some of the fingers of the hands goes numb. The more the hands are used for repeated motions the more serious the problem gets. Sometimes even a surgical operations is necessary. After delivery the symptoms slowly vanishes. But for a long time the hands are weak and it's scary to carry a baby with this little strength. So, I do not want to evoke this syndrom again and have to wait with all kinds of knitting projects.

In the latest Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits I found a cool caftan pullover that I could think of knitting.

Perfect when breast feeding! I'd like one in green or plum perhaps.

I also found these sweet socks that I could have good use of when slipping into some high heels this summer. I've been using really comfortable shoes for ages when playing with my daugther and now during my pregnancy.

Aren't they cozy - with the right shoes though!

Knitty Winter 2005 has these gourgeous jeans for babies that I could think of knitting. I have loads of Rowan Denim yarn in dark blue from old abandoned and unfinished projects.

A unisex baby project for my dautgher and son to come!

Another highly interesting knitting project is this fabulous summer jacket for our not always so warm summers up here in the nordic country of Sweden. The recommendation is cashmere yarn but I would probably go for Drops Alpaca in colours 7300 or 3720.

Elegaaaance ... but in green or plum!

Loop-d-Loop

When browsing through the designs in Teva Durhams book Loop-d-Loop I found loads of favourites of which I present the ones I love the most:

Something cozy for the neck and shoulders.

A handy bag which is supposed to be carried around the shoulder.

A vest with a royal touch...

Bolero in an unusual way.

Very elegant and useful !!

Smart knitted lacy blouse.

Beautiful cables and shape, something I'd definitelly think of doing!

Sooo funky but way too difficult for me, I hate knitting with differrent colours...

Hooded poncho in gnome style.

I like Teva Durhams assymetric designs.

A fancy knitted handbag in Paisley pattern.
This bag could seriously make me reconsider knitting in more colours than one.

Cool books

Oooaahhh ... check out my new knitting books!! The Stich 'n Bitch books are must-haves with their crazy and fun projects, Loop-d-Loop on the other hand contains many smart but at the same time playful outfits and details and last byt not least Special Knits by Debbie Bliss has many patterns for really cute baby garnments. They are all sooo cool:

Many good reading hours this autumn!!

Teva Durham

I want, I want, I want to make myself the Lace Leaf Pullover in the greeenish color below.

So, I need to find a yarn in similar color at a affordable price! I dig Teva Durhams design and am so much looking forward to the Loop-D-loop book by her which I've ordered this week as well as a few other knitting books.

Drops autumn/winter

I've checked the latest Drops Designs in Drops autumn/winter 2005/2006 catalogues and found many favourites:

This grand shawl is the cosiest I've seen. I wish I possessed better crochet skills than I do...

This crocheted skirt is so cool, I reallly m-u-s-t train my crochet skills!

Bolero in Karisma Superwash that I'd definitely want to knit and I love the colours too!

A really nice crocheted sweater!!

Back to inspiration

Back from vacation in Greece; Athens and the cycladic islands Amorgos and Mykonos.

First two weeks where great but the third week we had to spend in a child hospital in Athens due to a minor disaster at a café in Mykonos town. The waitress who I'd asked for some hot water in order to make cream to my daugther put the cup with the hot water just in front of my daugther and so the accident was evident... five nights sleeping on hospital visitor chairs and spraying my daughters wounds every three hours made me want to sleep the first week back from vacation.

Now I'm starting to get back my knitting inspiration. This week I've been to the Rowan Yarn shop Wincent Garner in Norrtull in Stockholm. I bought yarn for the baby sweater pattern Trellis which will be for my daughter.

Sweet daughter curious about my whereabouts...

I also bargained some Rowan Cotton Wool yarn for her.

Not sure though what I'll do with it.

Zooming in the Beauties!