Winning the lottery without playing

On a recent trip to NYC, I stayed with an old friend. At some point, she told me she had a sewing project that didn't fit her. Maybe it would fit me, so could I try it on? Well of course I could, and this is what it looked like:



Perfect. Like it was tailor-made for me. And as it turns out, it is. Several years ago, we made a jacket for me by mutual effort (well, mostly she made it), and in a moment of confusion, this was the pattern she reached for when she made this jacket. How lucky can you really be??

In NY, there was also time for a little bit of shopping. I have been wanting to go to the Habu showroom for a while, and this time I did. It is very small, but there are so many treasures packed there, all of the exquisite Japanese type. And I suppose it also helps that the place is so hidden. No signs outside. Just go into the camouflaged building, say "Habu" to the doorman, and take the elevator to the 8th floor:
Habu Textiles
135 West 29th St. Suite 804
New York, NY 10001

I've been eyeballing the Kusha Kusha scarf for a while, so I got the yarn for that (two right skeins). And, I ordered A-4 2/10 Kusaki Zome silk for another project on my shortlist, a 1932 blouse from "A Stitch in Time". The darkest color was not in stock, so it was sent from Japan, and here it is (on the left):

A gift, and some shopping...

In addition to the puke mill and winder, I got this fabulous gift for X-mas (I know, it's so long ago, but I haven't blogged much all winter in Denmark):As you can probably tell, it's a crochet hook case. It is beautifully made by my sister, who (of course) also put it on ravelry, where it has 39 hearts as of now :)

There was also time for a little bit of shopping. But I was very thrifty, I promise! In one second hand store (in the town of Christiansfeld, which was founded in the 18th century by a religious order from Herrnhut in Germany), I found these amazing bone needles. They are hand made, and not completely regular, but they are about 4 mm. I wonder how old they are. They were relatively expensive for a thrift store find (100 kr, about $20)
This find was much cheaper! 3 sets of double pointed needles and one standard set, plus 6 Norwegian style metal buttons. All together 25 kr or about $5. Well worth the time picking through all the other junk! The needles are all metal - hard to get your hands on nowadays. The dp's are 2, 3.5 and 4 mm, and the standard ones are 2.5 mm

Puke Mill

You may know of a type of Christmas decoration where hot air from candles make an angel-decorated propeller turn, and the motion rings some bells and makes the angels sick. Thus the name of this decoration according to ancient German tradition, puke mill (German: Kotzenmühle, Herr Dr. Maly please correct my spelling if I'm wrong - ahh: Kotzmühle is the correct spelling, thank you Herr Dr!!). This puke mill is indicated in the picture below as the old puke mill. You see, there's a new puke mill in town. The best puke mill!! Wheeee! The new puke mill was my Christmas present, and arrived along with its companion, the japanese winder. Winding is very addictive, and we are in the process of winding our stashes.

PS By some interesting coincidence, both the old and new puke mills are Swedish

Quickly, booties

A quick project as a gift for a baby that will be arriving shortly. The ubiquitous Saartje's booties pattern. It's popular for a reason. Very easy to follow, with a nice result, my only complaint is the vague sizing, since I myself am certainly no expert in baby foot sizes. How long is a baby's foot? I used a thicker yarn than called for (Mirasol Samp'a 50 g is 110 m), but tightly on quite small needles (2.5 mm), and knit the small size. The booties are 8 cm long. Probably bigger than a baby's foot?
Well, one thing babies can be trusted to do is grow, and they (the booties, don't know about babies) look cute:

Hat and mittens, done!

Finally! Hat and mittens are done:The mittens have a braided string (70 cm, hope it is long enough) between them, in theory rendering them impossible to loose. The hat has a picked-up edge around the face, picked up through both knitted layers and sown to the inside:
The verdict: the set turned out quite cute in the end. Very fluffy, warm, soft. I wish I had a (much) smaller head.