The first scarf I've worn out in public...

One day, I got this idea in my head that I needed a scarf. Strike that...I needed THE scarf. The scarf that would go with everything that I planned to make for myself this fall. So...off into my SUV I went, TMO in tow, to my friend Chris' shop.


There it was...THE yarn to make THE scarf....handpainted, handspun Manos del Uruguay in the Prairie (#104) colourway. This little ensemble is what I wore over to a friend's place for dinner the other week. I tried to do that whole "take your own picture in the bathroom mirror" thing...but couldn't get it to work. My dressform is more accommodating.

My Pink Sweater; or, Why The Knitting Guild May Think I'm Nuts...

I love free pattern sites, and last year I ran across the free site Garnstudio. At that time, all of their patterns (and there are HUNDREDS on this site) were offered in Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, which made sense, since it is a Scandinavian company. But I just loved this little tank top, that I have pictured. It was even the perfect colour to go with some Anna Sui silk that I had. So, I printed off the pattern, and thought, "I can knit this." Ordered some Endless Summer Collection Lara in a dusty rose colour (that they don't have any more), and got set to knit myself a tank top.

Did I mention the pattern was in Norwegian?

Did I mention that I am not Norwegian, nor have I ever studied the language?

But...all was not lost. I found a crib sheet of knitting terms translating Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish into English, so...how hard could that be?

And then I took my project to the monthly Knitting Guild meeting. Although everyone said I was very ambitious for taking on such a project...I got some funny looks. Especially when I took the almost-completed sweater back the next month, and new people saw it.

One woman commented, "Oh...So you know how to speak Norwegian?"

"Nope, not a word."

"Um...then how can you knit a Norwegian pattern?"

"Oh...see, I have this little knitting dictionary, and it's not really hard...you mostly go by the measurements that they give you..."

The woman looked at me like I was slightly off my nut.

Well, it sounds like TMO is finally asleep (I think she's going to be an insomniac like me), so I can safely take some pictures without her coming into the study asking, "Hiya Mommy...what you doing?" (her latest favourite question).

So this is one outfit that I had in mind when I saw the Great Norwegian Pattern. I got the Anna Sui silk for the skirt from Sawyerbrook. The pattern is Simplicity 5914. I underlined the upper portion (to where the flare starts) with silk organza, to reduce wrinkling, and lined it completely with silk habotai. I love this skirt pattern; it has such great movement when you walk. See...I DO actually sew...it just took a while to actually get to talking about it.