All the good things knitting graffiti supports:

* Ensuring towns are soft, warm and fun places to be in

* It is reusable

* It takes control of the aesthetes without being intrusive

* Not expensive to remove (council can use the money on libraries…instead of removing painted tags)

* Of the moment (rain a couple of days and…)

I can only recommend reading “Yarn Bombing” by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain or watching this youtube video on the topic…

Knitting this sweater came as a surprise even to myself. When I first saw the Venezia Pullover pattern by Eunny Jang in the magazine Interweave Knits – Winter 2006. I was not tempted at all. Than one evening I was looking through my faves in Ravelry and guess what ?! I had faved the Venezia pattern twice – without noticing…. The trigger for me was that the pullover designs in Ravelry only used two colours. This I think makes the beautiful figurative pattern stand out.

Well having faved it twice in Ravelry had to be sign. I have really enjoyed knitting this sweater and I though that figurative pattern was really nice and easy to do.

The yarn I used for this version of the Venezia Pullover is Palino – soft merino wool Superwash from Hjertegarn. This is really nice yarn to knit with…But and there is a bit BUT the garment will grow after wash with this yarn – and blocking is not an option (so take this into consideration before starting out).

I have changed the neckline from the original pattern and waist is made by scaling down the needle size twice.

I followed the pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s – The Opinionated Knitter. I found the pattern was a little difficult to follow and I therefore had good help from Dawn Adcock’s notes.

When my dear mother in law saw my project – she gave me these lovely buttons. The yarn I used was Superwash Wool. The green wool: Lorna’s laces, color: 3507.

All that is needed now is a child to test the jacket on as I had no child to measure on while knitting… Does this make me an exploring knitter – just focusing on the pattern and not the use of the final product? Or just a knitter who also wants to be able to write Baby Surprise Jacket on her knitting CV…

This pattern is fun and truely surprising…

Not to happy about the book because:

• Knitting is playing a secondary role. The knitting activities ensure the protagonist is introduced to new friendships and furthermore has something to do. All very plausible, but any hobby could have resulted in this. What I am missing in the book is that knitting or the projects knitted were used to give the character or storyline more depth
• The protagonist’s happy ending = successful resumed dating activities
• I had just finished “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen and I acknowledge that is a difficult book to match

My search for knit-litterateur = enjoyable reading continues…

Knitting for people one cares for adds a quality to the whole process I think. Selecting the yarn type, deciding on the colour, trying out different stitches and determine which garment it is to be.

I wanted the garment to express our relation. It had to be warm; therefore a shawl of mohair silk haze was chosen. We have a history of travelling together and have known another for a long time. I therefore wanted the project to be long lasting both in the time the garment would last and the time it would take me to make. The yarn was bought while I was travelling (Artfibers in San Fransisco – I can only recommend this shop). Support future travelling: It had to take up very little space but at the same time be warm and elegant. The only thing I used no time on was the choice of colour – as I know blue is one of her favourite colours.

What did I acknowledge once more?
Amazing what blocking does to a garment like this.
Knitting for people I care for = greater enjoyment.
This stitch is really easy and nice to knit.

On the agenda was of course seeing all the sights, eating some nice food and as a knitter one that was non-negotiable – visiting Purl. I can only recommend visiting this shop.

The yarn and knitting accessories in stock was a true treasure, the atmosphere was friendly and the staff was very helpful – even though not all the knitting advice I received was the best. I would not hesitate to visit Purl again when I come back to New York.

Running makes me relax, biking makes me think, knitting makes me forget time.