mama-of-purl

new life...

2006-10-17T23:58:44+02:00

Hey everyone,

it's been terribly quiet here- I'm working now, loving the job and although it's been easy adjusting to working at an office 6 hrs a day, the thing I really have to put a lot of effort into is keeping the refrigerator full and the dishes clean... Sometimes it'd be nice to be able to call someone to just pick up the groceries on the way back from work.

Anyhow, I'm so happy with the course my life's taking right now, and we've had a few busy and exciting weeks. Johanna turned two last Friday, and what was intended to be a quiet party with only four kids and their moms turned out to be a pretty huge thing. One after another, my friends let me know they'd planned to stop by our place for the party and we ended up having about 16-18 people over. Definitely more than on my last birthday;-) Johanna deserved getting some extra attention (more than she already gets;-)), she's been thrilled about her birthday for months and seemed to be able to grasp what was going on. She's awesome.

Things with D, the guy I'd fallen in love with in August have sorta picked up again, we just enjoy each other's friendly company and that feels good enough for now.

You see, my life is pretty full right now, and honestly, I have a bunch of finished projects I haven't even gotten around to photographing yet. Not mentioning the newly cast-on ones...

As for now, I think I can commit to posting periodically until I've managed to acquire some kind of daily/weekly routine. And I'm awfully sorry I haven't replied to most of your recent comments, I hope I get around to it soon!

I already miss you!

Julia

Oh, yeah, can't leave you without some yarn porn. Have you heard of Trekking Pro Natura yet? 75% new wool and 25% bamboo. Can't wait to get my hands on some of that! Just ordered some...

yummy!

2006-09-30T21:54:51+02:00

Woollywormhead's incredible hand-dyed hand-spun Wensleydale got here yesterday- it's so gorgeous! The softest shiniest fuzzy Wensleydale wool in yummy colors...

before I even got a chance to take a picture of the pretty hank, I'd already wound it into a ball and started knitting a swatch.

Cast on for the hat last night and finished it tonight, hooray! So there you go, the finished 'Runnin' Beanie', one of Woollywormhead's FREE patterns!

Talk about instant gratification:-)

You may call me a lucky ducky now.

2006-09-26T20:22:58+02:00

Well, winning a gorgeous skein of Wooly Wormhhead's handspun (I picked Fruit Twist, isn't it pretty?) was probably an omen...

I did get the job. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am! I'vehad my first day today and everyone's really nice and welcoming, and I'm looking forward to work with them and learning so many new things.

The past weeks have been so exciting and amazing. Not only the job working out, but I'm so grateful for the people around me. D, the guy I'd fallen in love with in August, has become a good friend (really!), an old friend and former room-mate has just moved to town, and I deeply appreciate spending time with my friends right now.

Last Sunday, D, a mama friend of mine, and another old friend sold some stuff at a local fleamarket, and we ended up not only making a decent amount of money, but really feeling this wave of cooperation and friendship- it was incredible. The other ones had only briefly met before we did the fleamarket, and at the end of the day, they all individually told me the others were such great people, and that they'd had a wonderful day.

Everything seems to be working out great all of a sudden. After such a long time of frustration and constant waiting for something to happen, not even knowing what that something was.

Oh, you wanted some more fiber content in this post? Well, there has been some overdyeing lately that turned out okay, I like how that's spinning up; I've attempted to spin sock yarn and started to knit a sock with that; Wavy is almost ready to be finished; and I've met up with two of my knitting buddies in the last 2 weeks, which has been great. We're planning spreading the word and starting a real S'nB this fall. We'll see how that goes. Now that I'm a working paying her own bills mom, it looks like we're going to meet up on the weekends:-)

Happy fall knitting, sweeties!

Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed:-)

2006-09-20T21:25:53+02:00

Yay, the trial work day went really well and the boss pretty much told me I had the job, but I won't find out 100% until Friday morning at the latest. It'll be such a cool, diversified and challenging job, I can't believe how lucky I am to even have found this kind of job AND to have gotten a chance to show my skills. Big changes ahead...

Another wonderful surprise was in the mail today- a 25$ gift certificate for Halcyon Yarns given to me by Paul as one of the prizes in the Bitchin' Mittens KAL! I won in the category 'best use of color' for the Squirrelly Mitten(s). Sweet, eh?

Now I'm having SUCH a hard time deciding what I'm going to order... Malabrigo, I think, some roving from Maine sheep, just because that's where the company's at and because that's one of the things I certainly won't get over here.

THANK YOU PAUL!

Let's say I'm in limbo...

2006-09-19T08:34:03+02:00

I'm in a weird space, folks... I'm trying to figure out if I can realistically finish my University degree. I need money and I have a possible opportunity for a job I'd really like to do. Had an interview there 10 days ago, it went really well, so I'm going to have a trial day on Wednesday, keep your fingers crossed it's working out. No matter how I'm going to decide on the University thing, I sure can use some new input/perspective/silver lining.

Anyhow, I've had some serious finishitis lately! There's so much to talk about, I've been making notes;-)

First of all, I had finished the cabled sweater for Johanna, which tuned out really cute, but getting it over her head was close to a second birth experience for her. Man, that collar turned out so tight! Here's her posing proudly and then there's the 'after' picture of her complaining about the collar.Okay, the hood has to be taken off again and I need to rip back the collar a few rows to make it wider. Good thing I decided on knitting the hood separately and doing a bottom-up raglan this time.

The next finished item on the other hand is so stretchy, it even fits ME! Wow, me and my toddler can share some of our clothes!;-)

Here's the hand-dyed, hand-spun, hand-knit sweater in action

Finished item Nr. 3 deserves a drumroll... the Pretty Petals socks are DONE!!!

These were actually supposed to get finished during the Trek-Along, but I've been terribly frustrated with them and had too much welcome distraction.

Some stats:

Pattern: Pretty Petals by Jeanie Townsend

Yarn: Trekking XXL 110

Needles: US 1/ 2.25mm Pony Pearl DPNs. What an annoyance. Those needles are so wiggly and wobbly and constantly snagged on the fiber. Terrible.

Pattern modifications: Since I used smaller needles, I ended up having to add one panel of the pretty petals pattern in order to get the right circumference. Therefore I have two panels going down the foot, which I really like. I could have just used 2.5 mm needles and stuck with the pattern but I liked the texture of the yarn being knit with the US1s.

After alreading wanting to throw out those crappy plastic Pony Pearl needles, I was up for an extra special surprise in the mail:

MY DYE-O-RAMA PACKAGE! It finally got here! THANK YOU SO MUCH, Katherine!

In it not only my luscious soft 100% superwash merino yarn in beautiful blues and greens, but also a set of wonderfully smooth bamboo US1 DPNs. Weeheee! But wait, there was a lot more.

I actually rummaged through the box extensively and wound the yarn into a ball before I realized I'd forgotten to take a picture of everything unopened. The chocolate was missing some chunks already;-) And, uh, there's almost half a Mata Hari sock there already that I've knitted Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning while waiting in line to get a spot at the local fleamarket next Sunday.

My wonderful, talented Dye-o-rama pal Katherine also sent me one of her awesome handprinted T-Shirt for which she carved the wooden block herself. Isn't it cool? She's planning on selling those on ebay some time soon.

Oh, and something curious about the tea filters Katherine included in the package to go along with the excellent Earl Grey tea- they're available here, too, so I was wondering where they were produced. Check this out: these are some crazy travellin' tea filters! Hamburg-Salt Lake City-Hamburg-Salt Lake City-Hamburg. What a trip:-)

Happy 13 months of blogging to me!

2006-09-05T14:04:51+02:00

My goodness, I just realized I completely spaced out on my blogiversary!

Well, today it's been 13 months exactly. Wow. I would've never thought this would turn out to be such a great experience.

My knitting skills and knowledge have improved a lot since I've discovered the online knitting community, not only because there are so many exciting and fun patterns and tutorials out there that many of you provide for free (!), but also because of the incredible encouragement and sweet comments from you all. I thoroughly enjoy the spirit of sharing knowledge and ideas with other like-minded knitters, and I'm so happy there are people out there who can get as excited about a certain colorway of a yarn as me.

It wouldn't be the same without you. Thanks for a truly enriching year, knit sibs!

Still here...

2006-09-04T21:37:37+02:00

Hey everyone,

yes, I'm still here, just quiet. Unfortunately not because I'm having too much fun. I feel like such a fool. Some things really are too good to be true.

So there you have it, the knitting world has me back. And I guess it's time to fess up what's on the needles. The sidebar with all the WIPs was way too short- I've been camouflaging my cast-on addiction. It's pathetic. That's when you know you're addicted- you're hiding new projects from others!

I secretly cast on for another Wavy in Noro Silk Garden. Those three balls in amazing fall colors(colorway 230) that I got on sale were just calling me...

Alright, I'm going to post a true account of what's on my needles, go and check out the sidebar (in case you're reading this in Bloglines...) Oh NO! I've just counted- EIGHT WIPs. How many do you have?

I'm pretty pleased with the name for those reddish Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch socks that I've started as a mindless stockinette project when I first started *mumble* falling in love. "The Thrill Is Gone Socks". Great song.

In other news, I'm such a loser knitalonger- both the Trek-Along as well as the Bitchin' Mittens just ended and I haven't finished either of my projects. At least I've been working on the Pretty 'Spring' (haha) Petals socks, so I can at least finish those for the Sock-A-Month KAL.

One item I've continuously been working on this month was the cabled sweater for Johanna. I'm in love with that yarn, it's wonderfully soft and those colors are just beautiful. I've picked up the stitches for the hood a little too tightly, so I'm going to have to frog back. I could've just done a crew neck, but Johanna insists on the hood:-D

New German Knitting Podcast!

2006-08-28T17:45:50+02:00

Yay! I just found out yesterday that there is a new German knitting podcast! I've listened to all three episodes (in German, of course) and I totally recommend it! Andrea has a nice voice and an entertaining narrative style. She's doing a great job reviewing patterns and sharing her knitting WIPs and UFOs- she's a cast-on addict just like me, that always ensures that there's plenty to talk about;-)

So all you German speaking knitters, check out Schneeschafs Podcast!

All the falling leaves...

2006-08-21T14:42:25+02:00

...filling up shopping bags.

Oooh, who figures out which song these lyrics come from?

Now really, check out what we collected yesterday. Turned freakin leaves. On August 20th.

So things are going well here at mama-of-purl's, I have an interview tomorrow for a job that I think I'd really enjoy, nothing big, just a few hours each week to pay the bills, but it sure helps finding something fun. Cross your fingers:-) I kind of hope I don't start working this week already, because the New Guy and I are planning to take a weekend trip to the Baltic Sea.(yay!)

My main reason is taking my Trekking socks for a spin, honestly;-) They have been shamefully neglected after I had to rip back a bunch of times, but after a trip to the local zoo, where I ~~knit a few rounds~~ posed with the sock while Johanna was watching the giraffes, I finally set up the stitches correctly and made some substantial progress. Whoo-hoo!

I hope I can finally contribute to the Trek-Along, which I love reading, but I just haven't had much luck with sock Nr.2.

My mindless stockinette sock project du jour, the passionate red socks, are doing okay as well. Knitting does help me deal with my current relationship impatience;-)

Oh yeah, I got some good news from my super-secret dye-o-rama pal! The package she mailed waaaaay back was returned to her, so my yarn didn't get lost. And she'll mail it again asap:-)

River Rapids off the Needles!

2006-08-11T11:57:10+02:00

Hey, there's a finished pair of socks despite all the crazy falling in love that's happening here. Let's just say I'm preeetty darn happy:-)

Anyhow, here are the wonderful River Rapid socks:

Stats:

Pattern: River Rapid Socks by Sockbug

Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Colortweed Color 1004

Needle size: 2.5 for ribbing on cuff, 3.0mm for the rest

Pattern modifications: NONE- this is a very well-written pattern, I have ZERO complaints or suggestions. Go sockbug! I enjoyed the alternating sl1 k1 on the heel especially.

Well, next time, I'd probably make the cuff one repeat longer, just because that'd make the cuff/foot proportion more suitable for my big feet. I'm still trying to figure out the perfect length for the cuff, I have a feeling it should be just as long as my foot. Unfortunately I'm always too impatient to get to the fun heel part;-)

This pair is the first pair for the Sock-A-Month KAL Part 2 I've been slacking on my sock knitting in the last 2 months because of major frustration with Pretty Petals, but I've cast on for a new pair of socks in a passionate red pink colorway. Funny how this yarn really spoke to me:-) I haven't decided on the pattern yet, but I think they're going to be mindless plain socks...