Sweden

Now, where was I???  My plans for an imaginary European vacation came to an abrupt halt in France ... Provence was really wonderful! ... not that many weeks into my trip.  I was knitting these "French Lavender" socks.

That was August.  Some health/medical kinda stuff happened.  Took a while to get moving again.  The French Lavender socks are currently UFOs in my knitting basket.  I hope to return to Provence (home of many beautiful lavender fields and historical lavender distilleries) next year ... and will finish these socks at that time!

It was difficult to choose a re-starting point, so I got out my trusty atlas, did the "close your eyes and point" routine, and my finger landed on Copenhagen.  However, I didn't have any suitable wool on hand to knit the socks from that location, so decided to hit the road.  And a long road it was too ... or at least a very long bridge ... check it out at http://www.copenhagen.com/thecity/the_bridge/welcome.asp?Menu=Tourism#
 (there's a "Virtual Tour" on this page so you can get a really good perspective of the structure).

That led me to the Swedish city of Malmo ... and a chance to catch up with a former roommate from university days!  (Go to www.youtube.com and check out "Discover Malmo" for a quick look at the city.)  Of course, I had to tackle some Swedish knitting, aided by this delightful book, "Swedish Handknits: a collection of heirloom designs" by Sue Flanders and Janine Kobel ... along with some cream and red Cascade Yarns Superwash Sport.

Since winter had arrived at home (it was minus 16 when I chose this yarn ... sometimes reality just won't stay out of my imaginary European vacation!), I decided to take a break from knitting socks and try some Swedish mittens.  In the photo below, the LEFT mitten shows the design on the front/top of hand, and the RIGHT mitten shows the design from the back or palm.

Have you ever used a yarn bowl?  What a great way to work with more than one colour!  There's a swirly hole on one side of the bowl for one yarn ...

... and a couple of holes on the other side of the bowl for one or two different yarns ...

The bowl is good sturdy pottery and heavy enough to stay where you put it, either on the table or on the floor beside you, while you work!  Brilliant idea!  (You can see the bottom of the thumb shaping in the photo above ... the row of yellow waste yarn will come out when I pick up the stitches to knit the thumb there.)

Shhhh!  Don't tell anyone ... we wouldn't want an international incident! ... I'm actually using a mitten pattern from this book ... "Norwegian Handknits: heirloom designs from Vesterheim Museum" by the same authors.

They tell me that Norway and Sweden (being next door neighbours and all) share many traditional weaving and knitting patterns, including flowers/roses and stars.  Perhaps the Swedish will forgive me when I point out the clearly Swedish Yule Goats on the cuffs of my mittens?

Of course, there are always distractions.  Miss Boots has been quite distracted by a new toy mouse ...

 ... and I have found myself distracted this past week by some luxurious hand-spun Angora that is hand-dyed a beautiful amethyst colour (this photo doesn't do the colour true justice)!

 But a quick scarf on size 6.0 mm knit needles is a very brief distraction ... before this evening is over, I will be back at the Swedish mittens as both are ready for thumbs ...

... and tomorrow, I shall be exploring the Swedish connection between yellow dried peas and coarse mustard.  Hmmm ... I wonder what that could be ......