Evelyns Island

Schwarzer Loop

2012-02-12T17:19:00.000+01:00

Ich weiß ja nicht wie es euch geht, aber ich liebe Schlauchschals! Und ein schwarzer hat in unserer Sammlung einfach noch gefehlt.

Wolle in dk Stärke (so um die 22M/10cm) doppelt genommen 150 Maschen auf 6mm Rundstricknadel angeschlagen und 3 glatt/ 2 verkehrt Bündchen gestrickt bis die Wolle dem Ende zugeht. Abgekettet mit

dem sehr stretchingen Bo von Knitty.

Ich habe für diesen Schlauchschal 4 Knäudel Drops Merino extra fine in schwarz (aus meinem -scheinbar unerschöpflichen - Wollvorrat) verstrickt.

Warme Ringeljacke

2012-02-11T10:42:00.001+01:00

Aus den verschiedenen Farben und Knäudeln von Rowan Felted Tweed und Resten von Rowanspun DK die seit längerem in meinem Wollvorrat herumgeistern stricke ich jetzt eine dicke, gestreifte Jacke für mich.

Ich nehme die Wolle doppelt und 6mm Nadeln damit was weiter geht und es auch wirklich eine warme Jacke für draußen wird. Angefangen habe ich mit den Ärmeln und als Muster stricke ich nach dem Prozent System von Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Bei den Schultern bin ich mir noch nicht ganz sicher, aber ich tendiere zum "Seamless Hybrid" (wie hier Davids Pulli) und die Jacke rund gestrickt und dann aufgeschnitten. Bevor ich mit dem Körper anfangen kann, muß ich aber erst einen Schlauchschal fertig stricken, damit die 6er Rundnadel frei wird. Aber es ist sicher noch länger kalt bei uns und die Jacke wird noch genug Verwendung finden.

Felted Tweed , Nadeln und Ärmelkuddelmuddel

Einen schönen Samstag und bleibt schön warm!

Dieser Auftritt war wirklich weltklasse!

2012-02-11T10:27:00.001+01:00

Molly

2012-02-10T17:30:00.000+01:00

So zwischendurch habe ich wieder einmal etwas Gestricktes fotografiert und zwar meine Molly.

Das Muster ist nett, einfach und schnell zu stricken und kostenlos. Vor einiger Zeit habe ich für meine Schwester schon einmal diese Mütze gestrickt. Sie hat mir damals so gut gefallen, dass ich mir auch eine machen wollte, doch ist immer irgendwas dazwischen gekommen oder ich habe es wieder vergessen. Jetzt endlich habe ich es also doch geschafft mir eine schwarze Molly zu stricken :)

Muster: Molly von Erin Ruth ..... hier
Wolle: Garnstudio Drops Merino Extra Fine in schwarz (ca. 1,5 Knäudel)
Nadeln: 3.25mm für den Bund, 4mm für den Rest

2012-02-07T12:04:00.001+01:00

Die russische Kältewelle hat uns ja alle noch fest im Griff. Ich träume vom Frühling, wie ich den Garten heuer bepflanzen möchte, schaue mir Saatgutkataloge im Internet an und sammle Informationen über Hühner.

mein Lieblingshühnerblog: http://www.tillysnest.com/

viele Informationen und Hühnerställe zum Anschauen: http://www.backyardchickens.com/

auch sehr informativ: http://www.huehnerzucht.de und http://www.huehner-haltung.de/

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/dark-dozens-the-coop

Stallmäßig wird es was in dieser Größe und generellen Art werden. Die kleinen, niedlichen Hühnerhäuser die ich bei einem vorherigen Post gezeigt habe, sind denke ich, für unsere kalten Winter einfach nicht geeignet. Denn wenn die dann noch isoliert sind kleben die Hühner ja den ganzen Winter über aufeinander. Wen wunderts dann wenn die picken anfangen? Die sterben ja vor Langeweile. Also lieber weniger putzig und dafür hühnerfreundlicher.

So ich werde meine Auto wieder einmal ans Batterieladegerät anschließen, damit ich heute noch wegfahren kann. Haltet euch schön warm ♥

neue Socken

2012-01-30T12:19:00.000+01:00

Wieder sind 2 Paar Socken fertig geworden. Beide Paare für mich und nach bewährten Mustern gestrickt.

Muster: Inro von Judy Sumner aus Knitted Socks East and West: 30 Designs Inspired by Japanese Stitch Patterns
Wolle: Garnstudio Drops Lima in dunkelviolett
Nadeln: 3.5mm

Das sind etwas dickere und warme Kuschelsocken. Dieses Muster ist leicht und verständlich zu stricken und aufgrund der dickeren Wolle in nur 2 Fernsehabenden fertig. Da ich sehr locker stricke habe ich etwas dünnere Wolle und Nadeln als im Muster vorgeschlagen verwendet.

Auch das zweite Paar habe ich nach einem für mich schon sehr bewährten Muster gestrickt. Die Socken passen, das Muster ist sehr einfach und schaut doch nett aus. Außerdem weiß man immer wenn ich immer wenn ich nur schnell ein paar Reihen stricken möchte wo im Muster ich gerade bin.
Deshalb dauert es auch immer so lange bis diese Socken bei mir fertig sind, weil es "Zwischendurh Socken" sind :)

Muster: Waving Lace Socks aus Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave
Wolle: Lana Grossa Meilenweit 50 Seta/Cashmere in dunkelgrau
Nadeln: 2.25mm

Mein neues Lieblingsstrick(bilder-)buch

2012-01-28T12:49:00.000+01:00

gibt es hier

Das buch ist sehr nett und hübsch aufgemacht und hat einige wirklich nette und charmante Strickmuster zu bieten. Für Woll- und Strickfanatiker wie mich aber auch einfach hübsch zum Anschauen und Strickmuster studieren.

Cedar Shake....diese Handwärmer finde ich sehr hübsch.

Oak Knot....möchte ich auch gerne nachstricken und am Liebsten gleich haben :) Die Bluse ist aber auch nett.

Swoon ....heißt dieses Jäckchen. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, ob ich es auch "brauche2 aber das Foto ist einfach toll.

So das war ein kleiner Einblick. Übrigends hat meine Liebe Freundin Nicola mir das Büchlein bestellt und mich damit überrascht und mir eine außerordentlich große Freunde bereitet. Danke!

Davids neuer Pulli

2012-01-22T15:20:00.002+01:00

Diesen Pulli habe ich schon im November begonnen und wollte ihn eigentlich für Teresa stricken. Als sich dann aber kurz vor Weihnachten herausgestellt hat, dass er ihr leider nicht passen wird, habe ich den fast fertigen Pullover auf die Seite gelegt ... und vergessen. Letzte Woche ist er mir wieder unter gekommen. es haben auch nur noch die Ärmel und die Taschen gefehlt.

David fand den Pulli gleich gut, vorallem wegen der Taschen denke ich. Nachdem ich mich dann endlich wirklich auf die Fertigstellung konzentriert habe, waren die Ärmel auch schnell gestrickt. Für die Taschen habe ich ein Knäudel Drops Nepal gebraucht und sie mit 5mm Nadeln gestrickt.

Alles in allem ein netter einfacher Pullover, der durch die dicke Wolle auch recht schnell gestrickt ist.

Muster: Agnes von Melissa LaBarre

Wolle: Drops Andes in hellgrau (ca. 5,5 Knäudel) für die 2. Grösse

Nadeln: Körper 7mm, Ärmel 6.5mm (ich habe keine 7mm Sockennadeln), 5mm für die Taschen

Das ewige Nachdenken über Hühner...

2012-01-21T14:51:00.004+01:00

Da ich mitten im Winter langsam anfange wieder über den Frühling und die kommende Gartensaison nachzdenken kommen meine Gedanken immer wieder zu einem meiner "Lieblings-Ehemann-zu-Tode-nerven Thema" : Hühner! Ich würde gerne Hühner im Garten halten. Zumindest gefällt mir die Idee Hühner zu halten.

Also habe ich im Internet alles Mögliche (und unmögliche...wußtet ihr, dass es Windeln für Hühner gibt, damit man sie auch IM Haus halten kann?) gesucht und gefunden, sogar Hühnerblogs und Foren gelesen und mich überhaupt etwas mit dem Thema befasst. Ganz sicher bin ich mir immer noch nicht ob ich mir die Hühnerhaltung zutraue und mir das auch alles zumuten möchte. Und wie groß der Arbeitsaufwand wirklich ist.

Auf jeden Fall habe ich mir ein Buch über Hühnerhaltung bestellt. Und über den Bau von Hühnerställen :) Das müßte ich dann meinem Mann noch irgendwie schmackhaft machen. Aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.

Habt ihr Hühnen? Kennt ihr "Nicht-Bauern" die Hühner halten? Habt ihr Ratschlage für mich? Immer her damit.

Inzwischen ein paar wirklich hübsche Hühnerställe (damit der Post nicht ganz ohne Bilder ist).

sehr hübsch und würde auch gut in unserem Garten aussehen

einfach aber zweckmäßig, vielleicht weniger Hühner bei dem kleinen Auslauf?

klein aber fein

ein Hühnertraum

die supercoole Variante

auch recht spacig

Einen schönen Samstag noch.

Alle Bilder habe ich von Pinterest!

Cooles Cover

2012-01-17T09:07:00.001+01:00

Walk off the Earth covering "Someone I used to know" von Gotye. Ich finde sie einfach super!

Superweicher Kuschelschal die Dritte

2012-01-16T11:33:00.000+01:00

Und wieder habe ich einen Schlauchschal gestrickt. Ich nenne sie Mithril weil mich die Struktur des Garterstitches in diesem leicht silbrig grauen Farbton an Mithril von Herr der Ringe erinnert.

Diesmal habe ich mit 2 Fäden Drops Kid Silk gestrickt. Der Schal ist wirklich sehr weich und flauschig und ich liebe ihn. Meinen braunen habe ich schon so oft getragen, jetzt kann ich zwischen den beiden wechseln.

Muster: 48 Maschen locker auf 6mm Nadeln (Nadeln doppelt oder 9mm Nadel zum anschlagen nehmen) mit 2 Fäden Drops Kid Silk anschlagen und rechts stricken bis die Wolle fast aufgebraucht ist. Falls man nicht schon einen provisorischen Anschlag gemacht hat, jetzt 48 Maschen von der Anschlagkante aufnehmen (eventuell auf etwas dünnerer Nadel). Zum kreis schließen und 3-Nadel-Abnahme. Fertig :)

Selbstporträt mit Schal (im Bad)

doppelt um den Hals geschlungen...und noch Luft zum Atmen

etwas misslungene Patschen

2012-01-16T09:29:00.001+01:00

Am Wochenende habe ich die Slippers von Ysoldas neuem Buch gemacht. Sie waren recht einfach und schnell gestrickt. In meinem Wollvorrat hatte ich 3 Knäudel Drops Eskimo Wolle, die ich dafür genommen habe. Wahrscheinlich liegt es daran, dass meine Wollwahl nicht perfekt war und die Wolle etwas zu dick, jedenfalls sind die Slippers recht unförmig und riesig geworden. Ich hab dann auch nur einfache Knöpfe die ich noch hatte genommen. Wahrscheinlich werde ich versuchen sie etwas zu filzen, damit sie etwas kleiner werden.

Muster: Not-so-tiny Slippers from Whimsical Little Knits 3 by Ysolda
Wolle: Garnstudio Drops Eskimo in beige (von 3. Knäudel nur noch ein bißchen)
Nadeln: 6mm

Falls ich diese Schühchen noch einmal stricken sollte, dann mit dünnerer Wolle und Nadeln. Das Muster ist auf jedenfall recht interessant, schnell und recht einfach.

Whimsical Little Knits 3

2012-01-13T12:20:00.000+01:00

von Ysolda ist bereit zur Vorbestellung und download on Ravelry!

Ich liebe Ysoldas kluge Designs und ausführliche Muster und habe mir das neue Buch natürlich nicht entgehen lassen können.

Dann werde ich gleich mal für die Not-so-tiny slippers anschlagen.

Geldtäschchen

2012-01-12T09:13:00.000+01:00

Ein bißchen Nähen zwischendurch macht mir immer wieder viel Spaß. Auch wenn ich eine absolute Anfängerin bin. Letztes Jahr um diese Zeit habe ich angefangen zu Nähen und ich finde, dass ich mich schon recht gut verbessert habe.

In einer Ausgabe von Mollie Makes (Issue 5), die ich online über Zinio gekauft habe, habe ich die Anleitung für diese kleinen Täschchen gefunden.

Flirty Fabric Wallet

Aus Stoffresten, einem Haargummi, etwas Vliesline und einem Knopf entstand dann eine Stunde später das:

Am längsten hat das Zuschneiden bei mir gedauert. Die Anleitung ist gut bebildert und beschrieben, sodaß die einzelnen Nähschritte dann ganz einfach waren.

Das Täschchen ist ganz nett aber eindeutig verbesserungsfähig. Ein Fach für Kleingeld wäre ganz praktisch. Aber so gehts auch, halt nur für Karten und kleine Scheine.

Ishbel

2012-01-11T15:44:00.002+01:00

Schon seit langem, eigentlich seit ich den ersten Ishbel Schal von Ysolda gesehen habe, wollte ich eine rote Ishbel. Da ich ja derzeit nur aus meinem Wollvorrat stricke und mir auch vorgenommen habe, Sachen zu stricken die ich immer vor mir herschiebe, habe ich mir nun endlich meine rote Ishbel gestrickt.

Zum Muster muß wohl nichts mehr gesagt werden, außer vielleicht das es einfach und hübsch ist und durch die Aufnahmen auf den Vorder- und Hinterreihen auch ganz gut "auf den Schultern hält".
Das ist jetzt schon mein zweiter Schal den ich mit der Baby Alpaca Silk von Drops gestrickt habe und ich kann diese Wolle nur empfehlen. Weich und seidig und nach dem Waschen/Blocken sind etwaige unregelmäßige Maschen schön ausgeglichen und der Schal fällt wunderbar.

Strickmuster: Ishbel von Ysolda
Wolle: Garnstudio Drops Baby Alpaca Silk (Farbe 3609).. etwas über 2 Knäudel
Nadeln: 4mm

Eine schöne Woche noch!

Ohrwurm

2012-01-05T09:48:00.000+01:00

....diese Lied höre ich zur Zeit sehr gerne. Es hat sich in meinen Kopf geschlichen und bleibt als Ohrwurm drinnen :)

Welche Lieder bekommt ihr zur Zeit nicht aus dem Kopf? Geht es euch auch oft so, dass ihr ein Lied einfach dauernd hört wenn ihr den Radio einschaltet und euch selbst dann dabei ertappt es immer wieder vor euch hinzusummen?

Neues Jahr - neues Design

2012-01-05T09:46:00.000+01:00

Für all diejenigen, die sich eventuell wundern warum mein Blog jetzt nicht mehr grau sondern plötzlich weiß ist.

Mir hat das graue Design sehr gut gefallen, aber eine Leserin hat mich darauf hingewiesen, dass sowohl die Farbkombination als auch die schrift nicht leicht zu lesen war. Ich habe verschiedene Designs und Schriften ausprobiert und so ist es halt einfach am einfachsten und augenschonendsten - wenn vielleicht auch nicht am aufregendsten.

Außerdem habe ich ja schon länger darüber nachgedacht, meinen Blog in Deutsch zu schreiben. Obwohl ich auf Englisch vielleicht mehr Leser erreichen könnte, möchte ich doch versuchen in Zukunft in meiner Muttersprache zu schreiben. Es fällt mir einfach viel leichter mich auszudrücken und schließlich gibt es ja immer noch Übersetzungsprogramme, falls ein nicht deutsch sprechender Leser wirklich wissen will was ich geschrieben habe. Ich verfolge auch ein paar Blogs in Sprachen die ich absolut nicht lesen kann (schwedisch, niederländisch, finnisch), aber selbst mit dem sehr orginell übersetzenden Google Translator bekommt man schon ungefähr mit was die Leute schreiben.

In diesem Sinne, allen die wirklich lesen sollten was ich hier von mir gebe, einen wunderschönen Tag!

Wool People 2

2012-01-04T19:34:00.003+01:00

Jared Flood aka Brooklyn Tweed hat seit heute auf seiner Homepage Wool People 2, wirklich tolle Strickmuster von Gastdesignern.

Lookbook

Es sind wieder sehr tolle Muster dabei. Mehr als ich jemals stricken kann wahrscheinlich.

http://www.brooklyntweed.net/wp2lookbook.html

2012-01-04T18:16:00.000+01:00

Auf meinem Nachttisch befindet sich derzeit (wie meistens) ein bunter Mix aus Büchern, die mich momentan interessieren und die ich mir zu Weihnachten gewünscht habe.

....meine Weihnachtsgeschenke.

In Wunderbare Weihnachtsmorde erzählen verschiedene nordische Autoren mörderische Kurzgeschichten die in die Weihnachtszeit (und auch Winterzeit) passen. Da ich derzeit eine Vorliebe für nordische Autoren habe, passt dieses Taschenbuch gerade perfekt.

In Folk Knitting in Estonia beschreibt Nancy Bush was sie auf ihrer Reise alles über Estland gelernt hat. Sie schreibt dabei über historische Hintergründe und die reiche (Strick-)Tradition Estlands und erklärt verschiedene Stricktechniken die für die traditionellen nordischen Handschuhe gebraucht werden. Es sind nette Handschuh und auch Sockenmuster in der Buch, aber es ist auch einfach interessant zu lesen.

Die Weihnachtsmorde sind ja alles unabhängige Kurzgeschichten. Engelsstimme ist ein (Reihen-)Krimi von Arnaldur Indriðason mit seinem Kommissar Erlendur in der "Hauptrolle". Nachdem ich die meisten Bücher von Hakan Nesser gelesn hatte und nach nordischen Nachschub gesucht habe, bin ich zufällig über den Isländer Arnaldur gestolpert und ich kann nur sagen, ich bin begeistert.

Das letzte Buch, dass ich euch heute vorstellen möchte ist The Rhythm of family von Amanda Blake Soule. Das Buch ist auf englisch und Amanda Soule, auch bekannt als die Bloggerin Soulemama, schreibt über ihr Jahr mit der Familie und den Kindern. Zu jedem Monat schreibt sie ihre Gedanken auf und gibt Anregungen für Aktivitäten, die alle Familienmitglieder gemeinsam machen können. Ihr Mann Stephen schreibt auch zu jedem Kapitel seine Betrachtungen, so ergänzen sich die beiden sehr gut. Das Buch ist sicher Geschmacksache, aber für Leute wie mich, die Soulemamas Blog lesen und gerne mit den Kindern mehr Zeit in der Natur verbringen wollen und einen naturnahen Lebenstil interessant finden, bietet das Buch ein paar nette Anregungen.

Pixie

2012-01-03T15:54:00.000+01:00

Als letztes Strickprojekt 2011 habe ich für Felix noch eine Pixie Kappe gestrickt. Nicht dass er nicht genug Kopfbedeckungen hat, aber die letzte Pixie ist etwas zu groß geworden und für den Kindergarten sind sie einfach sehr praktisch, weil er dann keinen Schal braucht.

Die Anleitung ist immer die selbe und ich finde sie auch einfach am besten. Einfach, mit gutem Ergebnis. Was will frau mehr?
Gestrickt aus lauter Malabrigo Merino worsted Resten und einem blauen 100purewool Restknäudel.

Muster: collard pixie von Trudes Blog
Wolle: Verschiedenfarbige Malabrigo Reste
Nadeln: 4mm

Tauwetter

2012-01-03T15:30:00.000+01:00

Letzte Woche hatten wir ungefähr einen Meter Neuschnee und winterliche Temperaturen.

Heute ist es so war, dass ich sogar eine Weile auf dem Balkon sitzen konnte und die warmen Sonnenstrahlen genießen.

Starker Schneefall Ende Dezember

Hier ist zwar immer noch alles weiß, aber der eine Meter Schnee hat sich in ungefähr einen halben Meter Schneematsch verwandelt.

strahlender Sonnenschein und Tauwetter Anfang Jänner

der Garten heute

Der Garten schaut ja derzeit wirklich sehr verwahrlost und trostlos aus, aber dass wird wahrscheinlich bei den meisten Gärten im Winter so sein. Wenn es heute so warm und sonnig ist, kann ich es kaum mehr erwarten wenn wieder die Pflanzzeit losgeht. Obwohl das noch einige Monate dauert bis es bei uns hier frostsicher ist.

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

2011-12-31T11:05:00.001+01:00

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.

Some knitting/crochet resolutions for the New Year 2012

2011-12-30T15:35:00.002+01:00

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

2011-12-30T14:30:00.000+01:00

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.

Winter walk

2011-12-27T18:02:00.001+01:00

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.

2011-12-24T13:39:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Only 5 days left

2011-12-19T08:57:00.000+01:00

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.

A little girly cardigan

2011-12-12T14:57:00.000+01:00

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.

First snow and a new hat

2011-12-07T12:51:00.000+01:00

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 :)

2011-11-30T18:08:00.000+01:00

After seeing the baskets/buckets I´ve already made my sister asked me if I would sew something like the bread basket for Gretas books. My little niece loves to watch books on carrides and so the books wouldn´t have a nice place to store in beside her carseat.

Oh I love it when my sister likes the things I make and wants me to make something :)

I had some cute pink fabric in my stash and everything worked out fine.

Just for the pics I´ve stuffed it with diapers. This would be nice too I think.

And best of all, my sister likes it!

2011-11-27T11:40:00.000+01:00

Thank you for the nice comments to my last post. I very much appreciate
your feedback.

It is still sunny and very dry here (no snow in sight) but it is cold, so hat knitting is going on. One can never have to many hats :)

Because my daughter took the first Sirle hat I´ve knit I made another one, this time with one less pattern repeat, for me. As my hair is short these days the other one is a but too slouchy. This one has a little less coolness but fits nicer on my hat.

Pattern: Sirle by Suvi Simola
Yarn: Frankengarn Naturwolle 100% Merino (organic, nature grey yarn from Germany)
Needles: 3.5mm DPN

And again a Calorimetry headband. We already have some in different colours in our house. But no black one until now. I love this pattern. Simple and a nice result in one evening.

Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino worsted in black (I´ve used about a half skein)
Needles: 4.5mm

My mods: I´ve casted on 88sts only
                knitted with 4.5mm needles
                9 or 10 times row 5 (I´m not sure)
                row 7 as long as only 2 stitches on each side are left
                finish as pattern says

Yarn for both projects from stash and also the button.

This weekend I plan to sew a little. I´d like to sew a quilt again, but I don´t really have a plan. I´ve started cutting on Saturday and maybe start to sew today. Wish me luck.

A nice Sunday to you!

My motto for the next time

2011-11-25T09:27:00.005+01:00

will be :

Work with what you have

I know it sounds simple but it is not always so simple. Every day I receive new emails with yarn sales, book sales, "only today 20% off", fabric sale,.... and for me SALE is just a magic word. And ebay isn´t any better for me. But when I look around here, I already have lots of yarn, fabric, pattern,....I know there are always newer and shinier onces out there, but my plan for now is to work with what I have. Only buying crafting stuff for a special project or if needed to finish a project. Buying just because something is on sale ro in case I could use it one day is not planned.

Last weekends sewing projects and the stitching already were all "from stash". And I really plan to work on like this. To reduce the stashed things in my house and to reuse things I already have around.

I know, nothing new, but nevertheless a challenge for me.

Over the last weeks a lot of this crochet jar covers popped up on blogs. I wanted to try it out too and I think it looks cute.

pattern - my own - I love the little hearts :)
thats just a little trying and error crochet with mystery cotton yarn found in my stash
an empty (and clean) jam jar and a tea candle

here I´ve tried this pattern
I´ve made it for an other jar, but it became too loose and the yarn was finished
so now I´m using it to cover a bit of the clutter inside this glas

So two finished projects in no time. Cost 0 Euro as everything was at home already or reused and I´m happy.

What do you think about the "Work with what you have" plan and what type of person are you? The collecting and stashing type of or more the organised "only buy what you need" type of?

Enjoying the weekend

2011-11-20T16:03:00.000+01:00

...and sewing colourful and easy things.

The bucket is after the Nesting Burlap Bucket Pattern by Maya*made. I´ve purchased the pattern last week and already made 4 different buckets. It is a very nice and easy pattern with endless possibilities.

this one is going to be a "project-bag" for knitting and crochet project (currently filled with Drops Alpaca)

and this little bucket (without handles) is a little bread basket now

The pillow covers are from some IKEA fabric I had leftover from previous bag projects.

And because I needed to calm down a bit after all that sewing I´ve finished the little fairy. The motive is from "Rot" - kleine Stickereien.

Now I´m off to the kitchen to make a nice fire in the oven and prepair some homemade Pizza for tonight.

I wish you all a nice and calm Sunday :)

A little crafty update

2011-11-17T08:21:00.000+01:00

A little crafty update about some of the projects that got finished recently.

I loved knitting this hat. The pattern is free and wonderful. It is charted and very easy to work. Suvi Simola did a great job again in designing this little cute slouchy hat.

Pattern: Sirle by Suvi Simola
Yarn: Frankengarn Merino Naturwolle in lightgrey
Needles: 3,5mm and 3,75mm DPN mixed (couldn´t find 5 from one lot)

Teresa with her new "Sirle" hat

Back in July 2011 I´ve started this blanket and now I call it finished. It is 1.50m x 1.50m, colourful, bright, heavy and warm and crochet only with yarn from stash. It´s in the livingroom now and warms the members of the family while watching tv in the evenings.

just a large granny square out of stashed yarn, measures 1,50m x 1,50m

Some warm and heavy socks for me.

Pattern: Konnichiwa by Judi Sumner
Yarn: Drops Nepal in a really vibrant green

There are some other - secret - projects on the needles and hooks but one never knows who reads to blog so no pics until Christmas is over :)

I wish you all a nice rest of the week.

today I´m loving

2011-11-10T09:28:00.001+01:00

Adele

...and not only today. She is asolutly gorgeous I think.

2011-11-08T10:26:00.000+01:00

As some of you might know by now I´m a great fan of Pip of Meet me at Mikes. I just love her blog, her positiv style and some of the funny retro inspired stuff she makes.

She´s a really great woman I think and does 1000 of creative things. Now she has a supercool and totally free Holiday Guide you should really check out.

my Pip-book-collection :)

A hat for the husband

2011-11-07T10:01:00.000+01:00

How about your men? Do they like handknitted stuff? Mine does not. He doesn´t want me to knit him any scarfs, sweaters, cardigans, cowls or even socks.The only handknitted things he agrees to wear are hats.
And his hats have to be black or darkgrey.

I think I found a perfect hat pattern for men on ravelry. It´s the Arden hat. It is a free pattern by Mikka Tokuda-Hall.

The pattern is for two sizes (I´ve knitted the larger one) and comes with written and charted instructions!

Although it looks a bit complicated with all that cables it is really much easier than it looks and works up really fast in worsted/aran weight yarn.

Pattern: Arden hat
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed Aran in soot (dark grey). I´ve used about 1.5 skeins
Needles: 4mm DPN

On the pictures the hat is unblocked and I think I´ll leave it like this. It has the perfect size for my husbands head and will keep him warm this winter.

Busy days

2011-11-03T10:09:00.000+01:00

October was a busy month here for us. We had a lot to do in the garden and still are not finished.
Philipp renovated his room with help from us. So he has a youth room now and not a childrens room any more. He did a lot of work himself including painting his walls. The room looks cool boyish now and he likes his "new" room. We are proud of him :)

Than the boys had autumn holidays and today all are back to school. We had a lot of family meetings and nice days together but today Felix and me enjoy some quite hours in the morning.

Inbetween there was always a bit of crafting time.

I´ve started a ripple blanket for Teresa out of Drops Alpaca (doubled)

some simple mittens for Greta

On a weak moment I´ve casted on for some Kai-Mai for me....but I only knit on them from time to time

And with my wonderful Noro Silk garden I´ve bought on ebay I´ve knit an Azzu Shawl for myself

I´m totally in love with this autumn colours

Shawl pattern: Azzu bei Emma Fassio (this is a free pattern and very nice and fast to knit) thank you Emma Fassio. Iused heavier yarn and 6mm needles and knitted only garter stitch to make it fast and mindless. I love it:)

As I´m not doing very much Christmas knitting/crocheting I´ll soon have time to knit something nice for me again. I love the new Look Book from Brooklyn Tweed!

t o d a y . . . .

2011-10-18T16:51:00.000+02:00

climbing and working hard

helping Mama and searching for walnuts

drying in the sun

herbs and pears

the raised bed is empty now, waiting for next spring

the very last zucchini and one forgotten onion are the last ones this year from the raised bed

Beautiful autumn days

2011-10-17T13:46:00.001+02:00

Thats the few when I leave the front door....

Sunday afternoon walk

Farmers market

2011-10-16T14:45:00.004+02:00

Saturday we´ve spend on our regions largest farmers market. And it was really large and a great possibility to buy all kind of different food from the local farmers.

We´ve bought a lot of potatos, tomatos, apples, apple juice, cheese, eggs, different sausages, speck and lots of vegtables. Usually I visit the farmers market in our village once a week but this one is an event and only happening 2 days each autumn.

The weather was wonderful too. A really golden autumn day full of sunshine. I hope you are also having a nice weekend.

The austria artist Hubert von Goisern has a new CD out. Until now I only know this song. It is very critical and I think it a good match with this post. And I really like his kind of music very much!

His song is about waste. Waste of money, food, energy ....and that it can´t go on like that. (just my personal summery of the song)

A little vest

2011-10-14T14:53:00.000+02:00

The Noro Kureyon was just crying out to become something for the boys. I still had enough to knit a nice little vest for Felix. I´ve knitted this pattern before and I´m sure I´ll knit it again. It is very easy and adjustable and makes cute vests for babies and toddlers.

Pattern: Milo by Georgie Hallam

Yarn: receycled Noro Kureyon in a blue/green/purple/turquoise/brown colourway

Needle: 4.5mm

Pumpkin processing

2011-10-12T16:55:00.000+02:00

Felix idea of nice playing while Mama and his brothers do some autumn work in the garden.

Some small stuff inbetween

2011-10-11T12:23:00.002+02:00

Usually I´ve several projects on the needles and hooks at the same time. So some projects can take really long until they are finished. Sometimes I forget about them, lay them aside and can´t find them again, or just forget about them. From time to time I´ve periods when I finish up stuff just to get it out of the project basket and have room for new ones.

So I´ve finished a pair of Noro striped socks for me. The first one was done in a day but the second one.... ok you know what I mean. But now both are done, I love them and still have some silk garden sock yarn leftover.
Knitted on 2.75mm DPN and CO 48 sts. 3row stripes.

For Felix I´ve knitted some very easy and basic mittens. They are knitted with Drops Karisma Superwash wool in petrol. Once I´ve bought quite some of this yarn when it was on sale and I still have some. It is not the softest but wears very well.

Pattern: Basic Pattern for Children´s mittens

Yarn: Drops Karisma

Needles: 3.25mm DPN for cuff, 3.5mm for the rest

long cuffs for snow protection ;)

And finally I´ve got a shawl finished which I´ve started in early summer, than layed aside and forgot about. Than the purple yarn was used up and I needed the yellow one for an other project. I think this shawl is large enough and just added some rows of garter stitch (because the printed out pattern is somewhere......)

The pattern was easy, the yarn is nice to knit and softer after washing and I really like the finished shawl.

pattern: 3/4 hap shawl by Veera ....this seems to be my Veera week :)
yarn: New Zealand Lammeuld in light grey and curry, Jamiesons & Smith 2ply Jumper weight in purple
needles: 4mm

Gretas "bear" hat

2011-10-10T09:28:00.000+02:00

My little niece Greta needed a new hat for autumn. My sister found online some pics of cute baby hats with ears and asked me if I could make one for Greta too. And I´ve found some sweet pattern and made a mix out of two to make a hat that fits and looks cute. Or at least I think so ;)

The hat is a free pattern from Drops and the ears are from this website. I´ve knitted with Drops Merino Extra Fine. The yarn is DK weight, nice to knit with and very soft.

Doesn´t she look absolutly adorable in her new bear hat?

A little Fisherman Sweater

2011-10-08T15:44:00.000+02:00

...after the pattern from Veera Välimäki. I´ve used thinner yarn and therefore had to switch around abit. I´ve knitted the numbers for the largest size to get a 3 year size. The yarn was in my stash for some time now and I think I´m going to finally use it up this fall. It´s 3ply 100% merino wool in worsted weight which I´ve ordered from 100purewool.com directly some time ago. The colourway I´ve used is called blue marvelous and I think its not loger available. I´m sorry for this because it is a really love dark greyish blue. The yarn is very soft and not itchy at all and doesn´t pill as easily as the single ply ones.

here he is doing the "Wicky-pose"

The pattern was very easy to knit (totally tv-knitting project) and very easy to adapt to the needed size. I can totally recommand it and i think I´ll use it again.

Noro hats

2011-10-03T09:24:00.000+02:00

The hat madness goes on. Last week a friend gifted me some nice Noro Kureyon she had receycled from an old cardigan.

perfectly washed and wound ....thank you
again

For David and me I´ve knitted some simple beanies after the Turn a square pattern from jared Flood. The pattern is free, easy and makes nice fitted hats. As I´m a loose knitter I´ve cast on less stitches than the pattern said. For my hat I CO 88 sts and for Davids 80 sts. For both I´ve used 4.5mm DPN throughout.

For Felix I found the QUYNN hat by Wooly Wormhead on ravelry. The pattern is perfect for Noro Kureyon and Wooly Wormhead designs really nice hats.

For Felix I´ve knitted the largest size and it fits perfect. I think he looks like wearing a medieval helmet or such :)

I´ve still some Noro in this colourway leftover. Maybe mittens or a scarf? I´m unsure, but I love that yarn!

The hat knitting goes on....

2011-09-26T13:01:00.001+02:00

and recently I´ve knitted a bit fair isle knitting. And this is really funny but very hard for me. I´m really not good in knitting with more than one strands of yarn and my yarns always get tangeled. But I like the look of that colourful knitted projects and from time to time I give it a try.

Lovely Hearts

Teresa wanted me to knit her this hat. It was easy to make and a fast knit. I like the result and so does she - and thats the most important. The pattern is a free pattern and in case you don´t know the site from Anna and Heidi Pickles jet you really should check it out. They have some really nice yarn and pattern.

Pattern: From Norway with Love - hat by Anna and Heidi Pickles free pattern
Yarn: Rowan Felted tweed dk, Rowanspun dk, Drops Karisma, 100purewool worsted singles
Needles: 3.75mm for the brim and 4.5mm for the rest

Peerie Flooers

This one was a little more complicated. The knitting was not really hard, but there were 7 colours and a lot of tangeld yarns for me and TONS of loose ends to sew in (because of tangeld yarns).

Than it turned out too large and I shrank it in the dryer and I was soooo lucky that it worked out! I love how the hat turned out and plan to use it a lot this winter. It is very soft and light and warm. And the little flowers are really cute.

The pattern was gifted to me by a dear friend from ravelry who knitted a very pretty version of this hat too. Thank you Anne.

Pattern: Peerie Flooers by Kate Davies

Yarn: several different light fingering and fingering weight wools

Needles: 3mm

It was really nice and interesting knitting these both hats but for now I´m back to "normal" and knitting only with one colour at a time.
For this little trips out of my usual confort zone hats are perfect projects as they are easy to knit and not too large. One day I´d like to knit fair isle mittens. But not now :)

the new kids in the house

2011-09-21T19:38:00.000+02:00

Come in and meet our new family members Orio (blue) and Lola (yellow-green).

Budgies - yes or not?

2011-09-21T13:08:00.001+02:00

Today after seeing through the mail and advertisments a special one about a discount on bird cages cought my eye. It reminded me about the budgies we had at home when I was a child. We always had only one at a time (together with a plastic budgie dummie). These were nice, pretty and colourful guys.

Today I´ve googled a bit and learned that budgies need a partner and should be kept at least in pairs. And their cages should be quite large. I´ve really done some internet searching and understand that now.

Okay this means I can´t use the cage I already have - the vintage one. And I would need bit larger space for this little fellows.

What do you think will the cats and dog think about budgies?

But they are so pretty and funny and colourful and simple lovely :)

Little thing

2011-09-11T19:00:00.000+02:00

I´ve started the "hat knitting season" with this little cute hat for Felix. Its a free pattern and I could use up some of my Wollmeise.
The pattern is for a small adult so I had to adjust the size a bit. I´ve knitted the brim only 15sts wide and after the brim I picked up 100 sts only.

Pattern: Little Things by Veera
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 twin (Versuchskaninchen, looks like Neptun)
Needles: 2.75mm DPN for brim and 3,25mm for the rest

It´s not really warm but a nice inbetween seasons hat for chilly mornings and evenings. I didn´t weight the hat, but it used only very little yarn. I´ve still some Wollmeise from this skein leftover.

The colour is really lovely and so brilliant but I just don´t like to knit with the yarn. Only like it because of the great colours and because it is not itchy and superwash.

Warm feet again

2011-09-08T09:26:00.000+02:00

Two posts ago I´ve written that fall is near...now it arrived! They boys started with school again this week (Teresa´s school will start next week), the nights are getting colder, the grass is wet in the morning, and one needs to wear more knitted things again. Yeah!

Beside beeing busy with the school start and organising hunderts of things for the kids and generally getting back to normal business I´ve started some autumn knitting.

Only easy things these days as I need my mind focused on other stuff.

Hiking socks for Philipp for his size 43/44 feet (modelled by his sister)
Yarn: sockyarn from stash (Drops Fabel/Lanagrosse meilenweit) used doubled throughout
Needle: 3.5mm DPN
CO: 48 sts/basic sock pattern

And for Teresa some bed/couch slippers crochet with some leftover worsted weight yarn from stash.
Fast, easy and cute. The white crochet border is to make the fit better. I used a 4.5mm hook and followed (more or less) this pattern: Mary Jane Slippers

Some shawls are on still on the needles but I´m not really in shawl-finishing mood these days. One crochet blanket (the large granny square) will soon be ready to use and show you and another ripple blanket is planned.

I hope you are all having a great time and looking forward to coming crafting times again.

EZ Sweater

2011-08-29T14:27:00.000+02:00

pattern: Seamless Hybrid sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann (Knitting Without Tears)
yarn: Drops Garnstudio Nepal, colour 7238
needles: 4.5mm for body and arms, 4mm for ribbing

new sweater and new haircut

The sweater was knitted in only one week but it took me another 3 weeks to take it in my hands again to sew in the loose ends, kitchener stitch under the arms and knit the collar. This sweater was easy to knit and because of the heavy yarn and small size quite fast too. It was the first time I´ve knitted a larger (than baby) sweater after the percentage system and it worked out as I wanted it. I has to read the instructions for the seamless hybrid part several times until I finally understood it. But after that the "DOING" part was nice and easy.

shoulders are fitting nicely

David likes his new sweater and because it is a bit on the large side I think it will fit him this whole winter.

If I should knit this sweater style agaion I would maybe make the arms a bit shorter, but with growing boys longer arms are not a bad idea I think.

I love how the back part turned out

Autumn is near

2011-08-29T13:36:00.000+02:00

our first ever pumpkins! ....one is already in soup-form ....delicious

We are back from our summer holidays in Danmark since one week and it took nearly the whole week toget everything done and going again. There was a lot of laundry to do (and the washing machine which decided to float over), clearning, gardening, baking cake and having a great 3rd Birthday party for the little one and now slowly getting ready for school again.

last week the kids had an appointment with the dentist and this week with the hairdresser. And beleave me, it doesn´t really get much easier just because they are teenagers!

But I´ve also got some crafting done inbetween. The blueish ripple blanket is finially finished and Davids EZ style sweater. There where mostly loose ends to sew in and the collar to knit at the sweater. It always takes me so long to finally finish something. the main parts are mostly done quickly but the rest may take forever.

Blue Ripple Blanket - only stash yarn used

Davids sweater gets an extra post after the photo shooting of the recently finished objects.

Holiday knitting

2011-08-18T14:12:00.000+02:00

With the super soft yarn I´ve bought here in Danmark I´ve started to knit an endless scarf. Soft and yellow with 100s of cables .....

And finally I´ve finished the Baktus with the Shi Bui sock yarn in Bilberry. I love the colour and the Baktus/lacy baktus pattern is just great. It makes nice and easy scarfes and is suitable for every yarn.

Holidays in Danmark/part 1

2011-08-09T12:49:00.000+02:00

For the 3rd time we are spending our summer holidays in Denmark. This time in south Jutland. We love the Nordern Sea, the beach here, the relaxed lifestyle and the cute summer houses. The one we are renting this time is very nice and only 50m from the sea. PERFECT in every way.

What´s going on?

2011-08-01T15:25:00.000+02:00

...a friend asked me this some days ago. Not much I answered. But okay there are always some things going on don´t you think so? Although it should be the hottest time of the year it is not really warm here. The nights get really chilly and last Friday I had to lit a fire in the oven to make it nice and warm in the kitchen.

But today it is sunny again. And quite warm. I think it is the same with most families but here is a lot of coming and going. Someone is always going for a trip or a short (or longer) holiday. Family and friends step by for visits (because if the summer holidays), kids sleep at friends houses or other kids are here for sleepovers, there are barbeques and cake and mushroom searching in the woods, swimming and picknicking,... all that wonderful normal summer stuff.

Also some crafting is going on. But slowly as there is no real need for woolen things right now.

For david I´ve started to knit a sweater from the DROPS Nepal I´ve bought earlier this year. Originally I wanted to knit myself a cardigan but after knitting 2 balls of yarn I was sure I would not wear this colour outside the house very often. It´s a very pretty and vivid green. I wasn´t able to capture the colour on the pic below. It is much greener! So I´ve started a Seamless Hybrid after Elizabeth Zimmermann. I always wanted to try this sweater pattern out and now it the perfect time. No need to hurry, just knitting for pleasure and fun. And as the sweater is for a 11 year old it is coming along faster as I´ve thought.

Pattern: Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Drops Garnstudio Nepal
Needles: 4.5mm

Stephen West (westknits) started his first shawl KAL on August 1st 2011 and I had to participate. A little shawl knitting never hurts. And Mystery KALs are fun I think.
I´ve finally decided for the yarn and colours I´ll use and knitted the first clue. I don´t post pics of the knitted piece here until the KAL is over I think.

I use only yarn from my stash. Some Wollmeise twin I´ve bought last year and as the anchor some green Araucania ranco solid.

A nice week to to you a enjoy your summer :)

Some colourful granny again

2011-07-22T10:18:00.000+02:00

I´m haveing lots of projects on the needles (and hook) and really don´t need to start a new project....but... you know, it´s always nice to have something totally mindless to work on. Where no thinking at all is required and as a bonus, all those single skeins and unloved ones get a new purpose.

So here I´m crocheting along using up stashed leftovers, bits and pieces, colours I don´t like anymore. I think this is going to be a lovely blanket one day.

How are you using up your bits and pieces, leftovers, ball of yarn which became unloved (and you are asking yourself why did have ou bought it) ?

A wonderful Friday to you!

Cassis

2011-07-20T10:33:00.000+02:00

My Cassis cardigan is finished. It turned out nice and wearable and I´m really satisfied.

The yarn bloomed wonderfully after a hot soak in soapy water and now is wonderful soft. I really like Colourmart yarn and the price for the yarn was very good too.

Pattern: Cassis by Thea Colman

Yarn: Colourmart Cashmere/Merino 12/24 Aran weight in Dust (beige)

Needles: 5mm

Sara Ramirez

2011-07-11T15:14:00.000+02:00

After a really demanding day with the boys I found this beautiful clip on youtube. Isn´t she great. Although I´m not so much a fan of Greys Anatomy I know the series and have seen her there, but I didn´t know that she is such a nice singer. And she´s cute. Some people are really blessed with talent!

Currently on the needles....

2011-07-07T14:09:00.000+02:00

.....my first Inspira Cowl. I call it my first one, because i think these cowls look really nice and are a great way to play with colours and to learn stranded knitting. I´m absolutly NOT good in it but I´d like to improve it a bit.

I´ve learned the "Baltic Braid" with this cowl. It turned out ok I think. next time I´ll make it better :) It is not so hard to learn as it looks at the first sight.

So from time to time I´m knitting some stitches here and so it will be finish when the cold time comes again. I´m sure it will. Someday.

The pattern is really great and an amazing ebook with wonderful artwork from the generous and very talented "Celery Stalks".

Pattern: Inspira Cowl by Celery Stalks....free Ravelry download

The other "new" project is a cardigan (or vest) again. It is the Cassis vest by thea Colman. I´m knitting it with aran weight colourmart yarn from my stash so I had to do a lot of maths because my gauge is totally of.
So I´m knitting with "my" numbers now and hope to have (one day) a finished garment that fits. I´m still not sure if I want short or long sleeves but it is still time as I´m somewhere on the body now. And this is a long cardigan. So no need to hurry.

But most of my spare time I´m not knitting or crochet these days. I´m reading myself through Hakan Nessers books. At the moment I´m reading the Van Veeteren series. And I´m waiting for the 3rd season of True Blood come out on DVD (in german). So inbetween to refresh it a bit, I´m watching season 2 again. For me True Blood is one of the best series. But don´t watch it if you are under 18 please. Or if you are a bit sensitive.

Little red in the city

2011-06-29T08:54:00.000+02:00

I love cute books about crafting. And I love clever knitting books which are able to teach something and not only have pretty pics of yarn in it. Yesterday arrived a new favourite!

Little red in the city by Ysolda Teague

Ysoldas pattern are always very clear and detailed and everything is explained so well that really everyone can learn something from her.

When I´ve seen that she was going to publish a book about how to knit the perfect sweater/cardigan with detailed information about yarn choice, sizing etc. I HAD to pre-order it. Maybe not all the cardigan in the book are totally my style but they are all masterpieces in their construction and for me it is just a joy to read the patterns and learn how she made this and that. Also I think that her idea of showing each sweater on a supersize model and herself is really brilliant and brave. It is such a clever way to show that it is all about the little details like short rows, darts and other little tricks that make the big difference between a sweater that fits and a sloppy unloved thing noone loves to wear.

Amanda Jarvis is a great model and looks really cute in knitwear. I love Angostura, Cria and Chikadee on her very much and think that the Lauriel cardigan looks better on her because it´s a bit longer than Ysoldas.

Wie im Himmel/ As it is in Heaven

2011-06-28T17:13:00.001+02:00

One of my favourite films these days.

I get goose pimples on my arm.....so beautiful! The whole film is so intense. A real gem.

Sorry, but I have issus with Blogger again and I´m not able to write a comment (on my own blog!).

You are so right Leila. Just when everything seemed to be good now. But finally he reached the goal of his life and died happy. But the poor Lena has really bad luck with her boyfriends.
The only other film when the dying of the main charater was soooo unfair (in my opinion) is in "City of Angels" when Meg Ryan gets killed when driving home by bike .... OMG

These days of summer

2011-06-28T08:35:00.000+02:00

The last days have been "real" summer days here. Sunny and hot.

And these are the last weeks of school here. The kids have lot of fun in school and in the public swimming pool in the afternoons.

Our 13 year old son spends a week in Great britain with school. It the first time he left home alone for 8 day trip in a foreign country. I think I was more nervous than he :) But I´m happy he has the chance to practice english and to see new and interesting places.

There is not very much knitting happpening here the last days as it is just to warm to knit for me. But yesterday I did a bit of sewing and I plan to sew a beach bag for our summer holiday soon.

Do you also have issus with Blogger? My surface for blogging is different as usual. It is the old one and pictures are not shown on posts (while writing the post) as it was before the new stuff came. I think I didn´t change anything.

I´m off trying to get some housework done before it gets really warm here. I wish you all a nice day!

Soe Tolloy

2011-06-22T10:20:00.000+02:00

My beautiful and very talented cousin. She has her first CD out.

One of my favourites

She is great isn´t she? What do you think?

Colourful food today

2011-06-21T13:04:00.000+02:00

Today I was cooking lentil soup after Tessa Kiros cookbook. It looks great BEFORE the passata and water is added don´t you thing so?

Ok it doesn´t look so pretty after it is cooked but it tastes good and is easy to make. And I think there still will be some leftover for tonight or tomorrow.

2011-06-21T12:55:00.000+02:00

Hi again. recently I didn´t really blog very much. I often think "oh I could blog this" BUT...I forget to make pictures and when I´m back at the laptop I´ve long forgotten what I wanted to chat about on the blog. maybe I should start to blog over the cell phone ;)

Recently I found out that I´m able to upload picture from my cell phone directly to facebook. Which I think is really cool. But I don´t do this very often. And I know that most people already know about this feature, but for me who uses the phone mostly as a telephone and sometimes SMS this is something cool and new.

Ok back to the crafty stuff. I´ve started some socks again and frogged some others. The striped Noros had so ugly colour combinations and the heel turned out to be pink. I just don´t loved how they started to look and so i frogged them. Also the little stripy socks for Felix. I think I know know that toe up just isn´t my thing. I prefer from cuff to toe and with DPN and althought people keep telling me that it is easier with circulars I stay with my DPN. I don´t think that knitting with DPN is difficult at all, maybe because I´ve learned it this way and am used to it.

I´ve started some new socks...just because I like to have some unfinished socks around ;) I only knit some stitches here and then while the PC is loading (ok while I play SIMS3 and there something is loading).

Pattern : Kai-Mei by Cookie A.
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Holiday Stretch in green
Needles: 2mm Knit Picks harmony DPN

I´ve finished the Astrid scarf this weekend but only have crappy pictures until now.
The knitting was interesting. the bobbles took some time but were easy. the Body of the scarf was a fast and nice knit too. It took me some time because I had other things to do inbetween, but I think this scarf could be done in one weekend. My yarn is a bit heavy so this scarf goes to the gift box. It will be a nice gift next winter I think.

Pattern: Astrid by Joji
Yarn: Drops Garnstudio Nepal (2 skeins light greey/2 skeins jeansblue)
Needles: 5.5mm

I wish you a nice day. Have fun and make something pretty :)

A relaxing rainy weekend

2011-06-13T19:33:00.000+02:00

... full of crochet (I´ve made a pair of Pippy slippers for David and one for Felix), playing SIMS 3 on the laptop (while dear husband had his Sunday full of motorsports in tv), and today a nice and relaxing day with the family in the SPA.

We´ve ended the day with some home made pizza and looking forward to a nice and quiet evening infront of the tv or with a book. Live is so great sometimes!

Pizza picture and recipe comes from here.

Love at first sight

2011-06-07T14:24:00.000+02:00

Since the first time I´ve seem this shoes I totally love them. After eying them for weeks on the Swedish Hasbeens homepage I´ve finally decided it is time to make a first step and I´ve ordered them online. I don´t often buy soes online and now I´m totally exited. When will they come? Will they be as beautiful in natural as on the PC? Will they fit as I imagined it? I´m so looking forward wearing them.

How about you? Do you have special shoes (or stuff in general) that you loved at first sight? Anyone addicted to Swedish Hasbeens?

Some crafty stuff

2011-06-07T14:12:00.000+02:00

Lovely Joji asked me to testknit her new scarf/shawl design. And I sure will! I´ve started with Drops Nepal from stash. My plan is to make a greyish white booble border and the body in blue Nepal (also in stash).

having fun knitting some bobbles....

Inbetween I work on the crochet blanket. Still only using yarn from stash! I think it will be a nice one once finished.

rippleing along while watching tv in the evening....

Currently my Soay cardigan and I are in a different period in our relationship. I´ve started the first sleeve and don´t really like knitting it. I think the construction is very clever and I understand what I should do, I just don´t like the "doing". Hmmm. And as noone else will knit this sleeves I´ve put it aside a bit. Maybe in some weeks I like it again.

short row shaped sleeves

A nice week to you.

A Sunday afternoon walk/Ein Sonntagnachmittagsspaziergang

2011-06-05T19:05:00.000+02:00

small ways like from a fairytale/ märchenhafte Wege

colourful flowers/ bunte Blumenwiesen

clear green water/ sauberes glasklares Wasser

can you see the baby ducks/ eine Entenfamilie im Tümpel versteckt

beautiful and quiet/ wunderschön und ruhig

nosy swans/ neugierige Schwäne

ducks/ Enten

typical cows from Tyrol/ tiroler Grauvieh

wild roses/ Buschrosen am Wegesrand

And all this beauty only a 15min car drive from our home. I hope you too had a wonderful Sunday.
Take care and enjoy life :)

First harvests

2011-06-04T17:03:00.000+02:00

From the raised bed we´ve started this spring we have our first harvests now. The salad is growing like mad!
The herbs are also growing strong and in some days the first kohlrabi be ready too.

Cute stuff for little ones

2011-06-02T13:29:00.000+02:00

A little stylish inspiration for mamas of little kids. It might not be my price class but the have nice styles and nice ideas.

Smallabel have a nice ebook too.

Growing older and growing up ...

2011-06-02T11:08:00.000+02:00

Some of you might have noticed that I´ve changed my blog layout. I just didn´t like the cute owls anymore. Somehow I don´t like my blog very much these days. It is getting boring. I´m really considering either starting to write in german or just quit posting at all. Sometimes I have, in my opinion, nice ideas about stuff I could post but than it is getting to complicatat to translate it in english or just to find the right words. So I don´t post at all.

So these days I´m wondering if anything that comes in my mind is interesting enough at all to be postworthy? I think I write better in german than in english as I don´t have to search for words this much and it is easier to describe ones feelings and thoughts in ones motherlanguage isn´t it?

What do you think?

Let´s take the challenge

2011-06-02T10:38:00.003+02:00

Look here

As ALWAYS Pip is really inspiring and (I think you might know by now) I love her blog. My dear daughter and I take the challenge and try to stay vegetarien for the month ot June.

And while thinking a bit about the vegetarian cause and my place in it I jumped over to WIKIPEDIA and found some interesting information about Vegetarianism.

I think I´m this:

Semi-vegetarian diets consist largely of vegetarian foods, but may include fish or poultry, or other meats on an infrequent basis. Those with diets containing fish or poultry may define "meat" only as mammalian flesh and may identify with vegetarianism.[6][7][8] A pescetarian diet, for example, includes "fish but no meat".[9] The common use association between such diets and vegetarianism has led vegetarian groups such as the Vegetarian Society to state diets containing these ingredients are not vegetarian, due to fish and birds being animals.[10]

LINK

I like eating meal, exspecially Wiener Schnitzel, Schweinsbraten and delicious meals like these, but I also like animals and don´t think they should die because I want some special food. BUT I think it doesn´t hurt if I eat eggs, cheese, yoghurt and other products from animals. Also I can live with the thought of eating chicken or fish now and then.

So I´m trying to stop eating mammalian flesh only although this doesn´t make me a vegetarien. You can call me weak but for how I grew up this is a LARGE step beleave me.

What do you think? Are you vegetarien already or a meat eater? Are you thinking about the animal eating thing or doesn´t it interest you at all? Are you going to try to eat less meat?

Some weekend projects

2011-05-30T09:50:00.000+02:00

These days I´m very unfocused and have a lot of things around on the same time without finishing anything. Sometimes ´m like this. On other days I´m organized and finish up stuff, but not at the moment.

This weekend was a quiet one and we were staying at home relaxing and´(more or less) anyone did what he/she wanted to. So for me it was a bit of gardening, a bit of sewing, a bit of crochet and knitting and the other time just hanging around...

The bag I wanted to sew for my sister didn´t turn out how I wanted it. I think it is a bit to small and because both fabric I´ve use are quite thin ones it has not enough body to look nice. Something learned for future projects.

This little clutch turned out surprisingly good. It looks super neat and tidy and I´m a little proud of myself that I managed to sew it this way the first time. It is the "cute-as-a-button-clutch" from the book Meet me at Mikes by Pip Lincolne.

And because it needs not much attention to crochet on this ripple afghan, I´ve contuinued a bit while watching tv...

...started a new Lacy Baktus because I wanted to try out the ShiBui sockyarn that I´ve ordered from the U.S.......It is lovely sockyarn and it would be a shame to hide it boots. AND I think that the yarn pools too much on socks. The colour is mulberry (deep winered/purple) and I love it.

And finally I´ve picked up my Soay cardigan again and started with the first sleeve. But it needed to much attention so I´ve put it aside again. maybe an other day....

And an other one

2011-05-26T20:47:00.001+02:00

Because it is really easy and fast and I had some fabric in a matching size ....tataa a skirt and hairband for my daughter.

she is skinny so 1.10m wide fabric and 60cm long is more than enough for a skirt for her...

.....and still some cm leftover for a hairband

She was not in the mood for a photoshooting but beleave me, she looks terrible cute in her new stuff :)

Putting the sewing machine up again

2011-05-26T13:10:00.000+02:00

After some time without sewing here, I´ve put the machine up again. My sister would like me to sew a bag for her and so I get back to sewing again. I haven´t started with the bag at all. But I´ve looked through my fabrics and found a nice one for her future bag.

And I found the fabric I´ve bought for a skirt for me. I wanted to try out makíng easy skirts but never really started. You know situations like this? You buy something with a special project in mind but never really happen to start? It happens for me quite often. I have more projects in mind than time and get distracted by new and terrible exiting ideas ;)

So back to the topic. I found the fabric, searched the easy skirt pattern from the Meet Me at Mikes book and about a half hour later I had a skirt! Really supereasy even for an absolut beginner.

Simple and easy to wear. I think next time I´ll use a fabric tht has a nicer drape and is a bit smoother. This is simple thin cotton fabric from IKEA.

And because Pip suggests to listen to some favourite music while sewing......this is what is in my head today....

I used to hear rosenstolz a lot some years ago and nearly forgot about my CDs, but when they came back in my mind and I started to listen again....I still love them!

The pools are up again

2011-05-24T20:35:00.000+02:00

So not much knitting time these days, only inbetween or if his brother plays with him. But it is so sweet to watch him playing and exploring.

I hope you have nice weather and relaxing moments too.

New on the needles and hook

2011-05-20T12:47:00.000+02:00

After finishing some larger stuff this week I´ve immediatly started some new projcts. None of them are really urgent to make. All just nice things to get done someday eventually.

With blue, grey and green merino yarn and merino mixes from stash I´m going to crochet a second ripple blanket. This time I´ve chained 143 only to make it smaller, but I fear this might be really small. But okay, it will be weide enough for the kids anyway.

This will be another cardigan for me. It is planned (until now) to knit a Soay cardigan. The pattern is from Gudrun Johnston (Shetland Trader) and I´ve bought it on Ravelry.

I´m using Extra Fine merino yarn from Colourmart in winered mix. It is not really dk weight while knitting, it is thinner. But this is how Colourmart yarns are usually. I´ve made the experiance that they are not too lovely to knit while still oiled, but when the yarn is washed it bloomes wonderfully and makes beautiful garments. I´m knitting with the oiled yarn and I´m exited how the cardigan will be after washing. I keep my fingers crossed (virually - would be a bit tricky to knit with crossed fingers )

Do you remember I´ve told you about the Drops Supersale in May and that I´ve ordered some yarn? It arrived this week and as I´ve never knitted with Drops Andes (65% Wool, 35% Alpaca) before I HAD to cast on immediatly the cardigan I´ve planned.

As this is really warm and heavy wool and the cardigan is planned for fall outdoor use I´m not in a hurry. The yarn is nice and soft in the hand while knitting but not next to skin soft for me to wear (no problem for a warm outdoor garment anyway).

Pattern: Splash of Blue by Suvi Simola

This pattern is not easy for me as one has to look at the charts all the time. So no tv knitting with this. But I think I might have it down by September/October when it is getting cold.

I wish you a nice and relaxing weekend. Have fun!

Ripple Blanket

2011-05-17T13:20:00.000+02:00

Juhu! Yesterday I´ve finished my first Ripple Blanket. I´ve started at the end of February and always again crochet some stitches or even rows so it slowly grew larger and larger. I´ve decided it is enough now as it really got warm working on it :)

I´ve used several different yarns from stash, mostly with a bit acrylic in it and some (18 skeins) new ones (Acryl/Wool mix from Hofer/Aldi or Pagro). I´ve used a 5mm hook for the crochet. Only´for the casting on part, which was a bit chellenging for me, I used the 6mm hook.

The yarn weights were aran, worsted, dk (double), sport/fingering (double).

The pattern is easy and free and I´m sure I´ll make one of this blankets again.

Pattern: Neat Ripple Blanket by Lucy of Attic24

Thank you Lucy for this free and lovely pattern!

New stuff to play with

2011-05-16T14:22:00.000+02:00

Last week I´ve ordered this nice cookbook on Amazon. For some time I was looking for a cookbook with recipes I like, which are easy to understand and cook and tasty for children and adults alike.

Last week Pip from "Meet me at Mikes" wrote about the tomato Lasagne from this book (the english version). While reading the notes i thought this might be something my kids would eat too and which is written in easy terms. So after a bit of amazon searching I found the german verson. the cover is not so pretty but it is the same book.

After the postman brought it today I´ve started to read a bit and its nice and interesting. Cute pictures and nice storys together with easy and tasty recipes. I´ve already cooked the "Tomato risotto", chocolate cookies (easy and tasty, but I think the ones from Martha Steward are better ;) and now the chicken soup is simmering in the kitchen.....

A new live section

2011-05-16T12:28:00.000+02:00

For me and my family with today a new part of our life begins. After the last months of hard work my husband today finally opend his new office and showroom in Innsbruck. I´m so happy for him and wish him good luck and lots of customers.

For the last years he already was self-employed but with his office in our house. So he was always somewhere around. But now he has to leave the house in the early morning and comes home at about 7 pm. For most people out there this is something totally normal, but we are spoiled.

Now it is really quite here today. The kids are back in school, husband away for work and only Felix and me at home. It feels strange. I think it will take some time for us to get used to this new circumstances and in between I´m starting new projects, like gardening, baking, knitting, crochet,....

husbands brand new showroom and office

My Celery cardigan aka Kürbis

2011-05-15T11:00:00.000+02:00

Pattern: Celery Cardigan by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: Wollmeise Lace in colour Kürbis (knitted with 2 strands of yarn)
Needles: 4.5mm circular/DPN for sleeves

Unusual for me I´ve knitted this cardigan from start to finish without longer breaks or starting several other projects inbetween because of getting bored. The pattern is easy to understand and to follow but never gets boring! Thats really great. My gauge was totally off so I´ve knitted size XS to get size L and it worked out perfect. At the front which is shaped with short rows, I´ve only knitted only the first shortrow repeat and the beginning of the second one. Also my sleeves are a bit shorter because I was afraid of running out of yarn.

The cardigan grew a bit after washing (what I hoped for) and now has nice size. As a closure I use a shawl pin.

Zufällig darübergestolpert

2011-05-10T20:53:00.000+02:00

...und nicht mehr weggekommen. Beim Bloglesen und Links weiterverfolgen bin ich heute zufällig auf diese Seite gestossen. Leider weiß ich nicht mehr wo ich "hergekommen" bin. Auf jeden Fall bin ich einige Zeit hängengeblieben. Die Zeitschrift kann man online durchblättern und sogar abonnieren. ich finde sie ziemlich cool, bin aber mit meinen Nähfähigkeiten noch nicht weit genug denke ich.

Von den Stoffmarkt Holland habe ich schon öfter irgendwo glesen, aber gedacht, dass es die nur in Holland gibt. Aber die gehen ja auf Tour! Und dieses Wochenende sind sie in München. Da ist die Versuchung natürlich schon sehr groß. Ich habe mir ber vorgenommen standhaft zu bleiben und er zum nächsten Termin (16. Oktober 2011) nach München zum Holland Stoffmarkt zu fahren. Falls jemand von euch schon einmal einen besucht hat oder hinfährt wäre ich sehr interessiert was ihr alles erlebt (und gekauft) habt und ob die Stoffe wirklich so günstig sind.

While reading blogs and following links I´ve found this blog today. I nearly got lost there looking at the cool magazines and reading. The online viewing of the magazines is a really nice thing I think and one can also buy them. I think I´m not skilled enoughin sewing to make any of the garments jet. I need more practise.
And they showed me the Stoffmarkt Holland! I´ve heard/read about that Stoffmarkt before but thought these are only in the Netherlands and didn´t know that they also go "on tour". And they will be in Munich next weekend (which is the nearest largerman town from here). But this time I will stay home but in fall, when they come back, I maybe have more experiance and might be able to sew nice garments....we will see.

Have a nice evening.

Sunny days

2011-05-09T18:16:00.000+02:00

I hope you all had a nice mothers day, not only the mothers but also the daughters and all the other family members. My lovely girl wrote a post for me at her Blog. I love her but she doesn´t want me to mention her blog here. So....ok. She´s a private girl.

It is very warm and sunny here and it feels like summer during the days.

view from the parents bedroom

today it was about 30 degree Celsius on the terrace in the afternoon

I wish you a wonderful week.

For the books

2011-05-06T12:52:00.001+02:00

I love books. And I have quite some around. Mostly I read more than one book at a time and so I need quite a lot of bookmarks. This way a lot of postcards, recipes, fotos, dry and pressed flowers and lots of other pieces got lost over the years. Sometimes I received magnetic bookmarks or so, but I do´t really like them. The best ones are mostly colourful pieces of yarn. These days while browsing Ravelry I found a pattern that I´ve queued at the very beginning when I´ve joined there, but I never started it.

I´m sure a lot of you already know it and tried it out. For me it was a first time. It was much easier than I expected and took about one evening. Ant I think it turned out quite nice. I´ve used sport weight cotton from stash which turned out a bit too heavy for a bookmark. Next time I´ll use some thinner tread or lace yarn maybe.

Pattern: Fan bookmark by crochetroo (the pattern is free)

I´ve used a 3mm hook and sportweight yarn but I recommend using something thinner!

Thursday already

2011-05-05T20:17:00.000+02:00

Where has the time gone? It is flying by so fast.

This week I´ve done a bit of bag sewing, a bit of stash diving, some new wool ordering (ehhh...didn´t I say I´m on yarn diet eh?)...ok but these have been serious circumstances. Drops has a SUPERSALE again, at least here in my region. And I had to buy some yarn for planned projects. And no, I am not going to knit another shawl, I´ve started to knit a cardigan again. And ordered yarn for another 3 cardigan.

So until I´ve to wait for the pretty new (and SALE ) wool to arrive, I´ve started a cardigan for me with stashed yarn. I´ve bought it last fall at the fair in Benediktbeuern and hadn´t found a project for it until now.

Pattern: Celery by Veera
Yarn: Wollmeise Lace in Kürbis
Needles: 4.5mm circular needle

As I´m totally not going to knit a whole cardigan in my size (L) out of lace yarn, I use it double and therefore get a gauge from 20sts/10cm/4in. So I had to do some maths and if I´m not totally wrong I´m knitting a XS to get a size L.

knitting in the sun with pretty yarn and a nice new knitting bag....heavenly

today (day 3) I´ve seperated sleeves from body...and yes it is THIS orange!

A little gift

2011-05-02T19:27:00.000+02:00

....for our large sons saints-day tomorrow.

Pattern: Inro by Judy Sumner from the book "Knitted Socks East and West"
Needles: started with 4mm DPN and switched to 3.75mm DPN after the ribbing
Yarn: Wolle Rödel Rustikal Hauswolle - 1 ball/200m

It was the 2nd time I´ve knitted this pattern and I still like it. The pattern is easy understandable with a nice result and because of the heavier yarn a fast knitted pair of socks (theoretical, if one doesn´t loose interest inbetween...). I didn´t like the yarn but I had it in the stash and wanted to use it up. I really hope it gets nicer after some washes.

The perfect size

2011-05-02T09:21:00.000+02:00

Finally the perfect sized slouch bag! I love (nearly) everything about it. I would love the handles to be in one piece without the seam at the top but otherwise this bag is perfect for me. The outer fabric is very soft cotton from Alexander Henry "Farmville blossom in grey" and for a bit of shape I used a heavy white cotton from IKEA for the inside.

I´ve used the "Lickety Split Bag" pattern again, but cut out the body of the bag a bit wider to get a larger bag.

And finally I´ve managed to finish some socks.

Pattern: Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn Clark from the book "Favourite Socks"
Needles: 2.25mm DPN
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Fabel in grey

bags, bags, bags

2011-04-30T18:23:00.000+02:00

Today I´ve tried out 2 different pattern for sling bags. One is the Lickety Split Bag pattern and the other one is just made up. First I´ve sewed the yellow bag after the Lickety Split pattern, but it turned out too small and the handles are too short for me. So I´ve cut out (without pattern) an other bag and sewed along. The size of the brown bag is better I think, but the other one looks better with the boxed corners. So I think I´ll have to sew a 3rd one and hopefully this one will have the best of both.

I wish you a nice and relaxed weekend :)

A bit of sewing

2011-04-28T14:45:00.000+02:00

Now the easter holidays are over and the kids back to school. Slowly my crafting mojo is coming back :)

I´ve tried out a new bag design. Once I´ve bought this handles on ebay but until now I´ve never tried to use them on a project. I think it worked out okay, although this is not going to be my new favourite design. Its nice as a knitting/crochet project bag, but the handles are nothing I would like to carry around for longer. Maybe round ones would have been better.

And again a little pillow cover for Felix. Easy, fast and always cute with nice fabric.

he loves that animal fabric as he knows all the names of the animals now

Again a surprise

2011-04-26T13:45:00.000+02:00

Last week my dearest daughter surprised me with a sepecial visitor. In secret she invited my friend Nicola to come and visit us. This doesn´t sound so spectacular at first. BUT I "met" Nicola only online on ravelry before. We´ve talked over telephone and written on Ravelry but never met her in person as she lives near Vienna and I´m in the opposite part of Austria. So I think now you can imagine how big my surprise was when she stood on our terrace on Thursday morning.

We had a wonderful chatty, sunny and funny day and I´m grateful for this nice friend and my great daughter!

Clothilde

2011-04-20T21:03:00.000+02:00

It seems that lately I have a thing for shawls again. The Clothilde Shawl is a very nice, easy and interesting knit. The pattern has written instructions and charts and is much easier than one might think after the first sight. Mine is knitted with Rowan Cashcotton DK (in goose...a nice grey). I had this yarn in my stash for some time. It was nice to knit and is very soft but terrible shedding on my black clothes. I really hope this is getting better with time and wear.

I´ve used exctly 4 skeins and used 5.5mm circular needles (my new Latern moon harmony needles...I love them). the shawl turned out extra large and (I think) due to the cotton content in the yarn it didn´t really block well. But I love it anyway.

Pattern: Clothilde by Kristen Hanley Cardozo
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashcotton dk in goose, 4 skeins
Needle: 5.5mm circular needle

A wonderful surprise

2011-04-18T14:56:00.001+02:00

Today I received a wonderful surprise from the amazong Mary-Catharine form Warm in the North.

She is a great woman who makes beautiful knitted and sewed things. And she made some beautiful and perfect little pouches for me.

The smaller one has the perfect size for my new telephone!

Thank you very much Mary-Catherine!

Time for a haircut

2011-04-14T08:52:00.000+02:00

Lucky our Tibetien Terrier had really time to go to the hairdresser!

after the haircut

Now he looks fresh and like a puppy again :) Maybe it doesn´t look like he has a lot of fun an this pic, but it seems he really enjoys the loss of hair.

A new milestone for me

2011-04-12T15:06:00.000+02:00

and my sewing adventure. I´ve made the first wearable garment! As I wrote before, I´ve discovered Pip Lincolnes books. After becoming a fan of her blog, I´m now loving her books too. The books are cute and she has a way to chat about how to make the stuff that doesn´t make me nervous. As an absolut beginner (and NOT native english speaker) I understand her sewing pattern and what to do next. And as an Australien she uses metric measurements. So absolut perfect as I don´t have to convert the measurements first.

So tatataaaa....."Cute kids pants" from the book Sew la tea do (I love that title :)

They fit perfect and have pockets! The little one is not in the mood for modeling but I´ve managed to make at least these modeled shots.

A dangerous little boy...

2011-04-11T13:31:00.002+02:00

...he is. 2 and a half years old and always looking for a fight :) We love him with every piece of our hearts.

The gardening season started

2011-04-10T15:04:00.000+02:00

Last week they finished making the fence and we started to clean the place where the raised bed should once be.

And look how far we came this weekend! The raised bed is finished, the place cleaned, and already planted! And the fence is closed so neither Felix nor the dog run away while we our outside in the garden. It´s the first time I´ve planted vegtables in a larger style than some tomato plants in pots on the balcony. So verything is still very exiting. I hope and pray that it will work and that we have fresh salat and vegetable from our own garden soon.

some of the last tulips

rhubarb and rasberry plants are looking healty and nice too

We all are happy and looking forward to our newest family project :) ....ok the newest Mama project, but at least some of the kids are interested in helping and watching the growing.

Have a nice Sunday!

Terra

2011-04-08T13:33:00.001+02:00

Another shawl is off the needles and already in use.

From the Rowan Tweed DK I had 3 skeins in red in stash and wanted to knit a shawl for myself since I´ve found these in a yarn shop in Denmark last year. Finally I found the time and the pattern for it!

I´m knitting very loose and so this shawl turned out very large and the fabirc is quite open, but has a great drape. I run out of yarn many rows before the pattern ends and had to bind off with a different yarn, as I´m really too lazy to rip back some rows. So after 3 lace repeats of Lace A all 3 balls of yarn were nearly used up. I´ve added 3 rows of garter and BO in "surprisingly-stetchy-Bind-off" with 2 Ply Jumper Weight from Jamieson & Smith.

Pattern: Terra by Jared Flood

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK in rage (3 skeins)

Needle: 5.5mm circular needle