Saturday, December 31, 2011

A nice New Years Eve and a Happy New Year 2012!

After a beautiful white Christmas we are going to have a white Silvester this year.
It is snowing very much and looks beautiful outside.






A wonderful Silvester/New Years Eve to you and a great Year 2012!


I´ve first seen this youtube clip on facebook yesterday and just in case you haven´t seen it jet....I love it and hope you like it too.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Some knitting/crochet resolutions for the New Year 2012

Yesterday I was sorting my yarn and got a bit overwhelmed with the amount of wool that is living here. Although I was knitting a lot from stash this last year i still have quite a large stash. I know there are people out there with much more yarn but I think I have reached my limit now. I didn´t buy any yarn since October this year and I will not buy any yarn - sale or not sale - until my stashed yarn is reduced to about half its current size.
I have all my stashed yarn in my Ravelry notebook and so I have a really realistic overview of what I still have and how much I´ve used up.


I also had to overthink my joice of projects a bit. I´ve knitted quite a some shawls in the past. The lacy and triangle kind of. I think these are pretty BUT I nearly never every wear any of them. The only triangle shawls I really wear are the Boneyard (rowan felted tweed), the Azzu shawl (noro silk garden)  and for special events the Ishbel (Drops baby alpaca silk). Otherwise I only wear the Bactus scarfs and large cowls. So why keep knitting lace shawls if noone will wear them?


The knitted and crochet things that get really a lot of use in our house are crochet blankets, knitted socks, hats, mittens, scarfs (not shawls), cowls and some cardigan and sweaters. But mostly the "pure" ones. The ones with garter and stockinette stitch and not much more.

And last but not least the colours! I love buying colourful and bright yarn but prefer wearing grey, black, white and silent and dusty variations of colour. The bright and cheery ones I one like on the skein! So for the future - I will stop buying to "loud" yarn!

I really want to keep these resolutions in mind:

- work from stash until the whole stash fits in the yarn storage again (black and green)
- knit/crochet only garments and assessories which someone will really like to use
- knit only a lace scarf if you really want to use it together with a special dress NOT just because....
- if buying yarn again - Think first if you will really want to wear this colour or if it is just pretty. If only pretty
   on the skein leave it in the store. We are not decorating the house with yarn!
- if possible, buy only yarn  you really love.
- prefer Organic yarn


THE MOST IMPORTANT RESOLUTION FOR THE NEXT YEAR FOR ME IS

WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
The last knitted pieces to show you this year.

David with his Korrigan hat. This one is knitted with Dream in Colour Classy (Midnight Derby).
For David I´ve knitted the size D9. It is large enough but the pattern is very nice and strechy and this one would also fit an adult.

Pattern: Korrigan by SOLENN
Yarn: Dream in Colour Classy (colour Midnight Derby a varieted dark blue) ...receicled yarn from stash
Needles: 4mm



Philipp wearing his new black hat. Unfortunatly I wan´t able to make nice pics with my cell phone. It is heavy snowing and he is not really in modeling mood :) the hat was very easy and fast to knit. Knit in only one evening - the 23rd December. That´s why I call it the last minute hat and I think I´ll knit it again.


Pattern: Graham by Jennifer Adams (this is a free pattern!)
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted ( black, from stash)
Needles: 4mm





Now the cowls are coming. These are just simple garter scarfs joined with 3-needle Bind off. Very fast, simple, totally mindless and absolut winners.

For Teresas I´ve used one whole skein of Drops Vivaldi  (in light grey). I´ve cast on 50 sts, knitted all rows until I nearly run out of yarn. than I picked up the CO stitches with a seperate needle and joined with the last row by using the 3 needle bind off.

CO 50
6mm needles

She can wear it confortably twice around her head.

Mithril



garter love

Mine is knitted with 2 strands of yarn together. One strand of ITO Kinu (Silk) and one strand of ITO Sensai (Mohair/Silk). These 2 make a very fluffy and soft fabric. I´ve knitted until the Kinu was nearly finished, so I have a bit of the second Sensai skein leftover. I love it and wear it since it fell off the needles :)

CO 73
Needles: 6mm

All yarns have been in my stash already.


I wish you some nice and happy last hours of the year 2011.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Winter walk

Here we are, after a nice Christmas weekend, enjoying nice winterwalks in the sun.

Felix is wearing his new Korrigan hat I´ve knit for him the week before Christmas. he love it and the colour matches perfect his snowsuit.

The pattern is great and I loved knitting it. Easy but with a very nice result. And Malabrigo merino worsted is always a pleasure to knit for me.



Hat Pattern: Korrigan by SOLENN... here size D8
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in saphire green
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm DPN








He is also wearing a new pair of Mitred Mittens (after Elizabeth Zimmermann) out of Drops Alpaca (doubled) which makes very warm and nice mittens that keep kids hands warm even after some time in wet and cold snow.



And thats me wearing my new Calorimetry headband out of some purple leftovers from stash. I´ve made it a bit less wide than I would normally because i like it better this way. And the colour matches the Noro scarf :)


Maybe in the next days I´ll get a chance to take pics of the other knitted Christmas presents and latly finished stuff.

A wonderful day to you.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Only 5 days left

Only five days until Christmas. I can´t show you what I´ve knitted or crochet lately because one never knows who visits this blog :) So pics after Christmas.

David is on ski camp with his school for one 4 days and will come back 2 days before Christmas. It´s the first time he is away from home without any family around him and it´s not easy to stay away from home the first time and this before Christmas.

Preperations are going on, gifts are nearly all wrapped, dinner is planned but 100s of things are still to be done.

Here we are decorating the tree on 23rd in the evening or on 24th in the morning. The Christkind comes on 24th in the evening.

For now I wish you a nice and not to stressy week.


Monday, December 12, 2011

A little girly cardigan



Because it is just so much fun to knit for little girls ....



Pattern: in threes: a baby cardigan by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in colour Purple Magic (from stash)
Needles: 5mm



wood buttons with little trees on them (also from stash)

This cardigan was a pleasure to knit. I´ve knitted the size 18mon for my little niece. As I´m a loose knitter it turned out the right size I think. It will be a little present for her for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

First snow and a new hat

Last night winter finally arrived here and bought some snow with him. Felix and I spent the morning outside playing and shoveling away snow to get my car free again.




Just in time I´ve knitted a very useful kindergarden hat for Felix which was already in use the last two days. It turned out a bit large, but better a bit on the larger side than too small. Around the face I´ve added a row of crochet to make it a bit more tight.

Pattern: collard pixie by Trude
yarn: 100purewool 3ply merino Worsted in blue (from stash yeah)
needles: 4mm DPN



 I love this pattern and can highly recommend it for little ones to keep the neck and the head warm.


here with the added crochet border....kid all in wool :)