09/18/2006
Let's say I'm in limbo...
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:-)
21:15 Posted in Baby Stuff , dye-o-rama , Knitalongs , Socks , Sweaters | Permalink | Comments (8) | Email this
09/04/2006
Still here...
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
12:05 Posted in Baby Stuff , Blog , casting-on addiction , Knitalongs , Socks , Wavy | Permalink | Comments (9) | Email this
06/12/2006
Made the shrug...
...but Johanna could only wear it for the pictures! The weather was gorgeous for our friends' wedding, and the place they had the party at was an incredible turn-of-the-century villa out in the countryside. We had a great time!
I was pretty nervous before the wedding as the bride and groom had asked me to perform the Monty Python Song "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" at the end of the combined wedding and christening ceremony.
Is it safe to assume I'm one of only a handful of people who got to sing the words 'life's a piece of shit' and 'forget about your sin, give the audience a grin' in a Lutheran church? I'm sure a Catholic priest wouldn't have allowed that;-)
07:25 Posted in Baby Stuff | Permalink | Comments (10) | Email this
06/07/2006
I've been hiding!
Hey everyone,
sorry, I had to disappear for a while to get some university stuff done. I tend to get sucked into blogland too easily and I really need to get a lot of work done.
Anyhow, there has been a lot going on over here, I don't even know where to start! Knitting? Dyeing? SPINNING?
First of all, I think I need to confess new and not-so-new projects I've been working on.
There's this sock I kind of got tricked into starting when my knitting friend Elsa wanted to learn how to do fair-isle. It's the Peasant Sock from Knitting Marvelous Mittens (I HEART CHarlene Schurch!!) that I'm using Trekking XXL 110 and a skein of solid campari-orange red Opal yarn for. I love how these two yarns compliment each other. there's varying contrast in the pattern this way, but it has kind of a trippy effect;-)
I've also wanted to figure out how to properly weave in the ends while knitting and watched the video at Philosopher's Wool (unfortunately, the video only seems to play using Internet Explorer) a few times and took NOTES (!). In my previous fair-isle projects, I always dropped the needles, actually twisted the balls of yarn (how silly!), and ended up with a tangly mess. Not mentioning the inconvenience. But now I'm delighted with this technique! After a few attempts, I quickly learned the different hand movement when intertwining the yarns and I feel extremely accomplished now, LOL!
Check out the back of the fabric now- in the part right after the ribbing I was still carrying the yarn in the back, at the bottom I wove the yarn every 2 or 3 stitches. Lovely.
If there are any experienced fair-isle knitters out there, I'd love to get tips on how to improve the regularity of the stitches when weaving. As you can see in the picture above, the stitches come out a little bumpy.
Then here's a shot of the Blueberry Waffle Sock which is my mindless knitting object du jour, ready to turn heel No.1.
And this is what I've continuously been knitting on for the last 10 days or so, I cannot believe how freakin long it's taking me to finish this. It's a the Girlfriend Shrug (Knit and Tonic pdf) for Johanna. We're going to our friends' wedding this Saturday (yeah, the day of WWKIP day) and since it's incredibly cold in Germany this summer (okay, it warmed up a little today), she needs something to go with her beautiful white sleeveless dress. I'm using the compensatory Regia Crazy Colors for it with 2.75 mm needles. Ya think that's why it's taking so long?;-) Anyway, I 
still have more than half of the 2nd sleeve and the ribbing around the opening to knit, I gotta hurry!!
Okay, this was the knitting update, I'll chop up the entries for the other categories:-)
13:10 Posted in Baby Stuff , Socks | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
05/13/2006
Kool sweater!
I finished the little Kool-Aid dyed raglan v-neck sweater for Johanna last night- wove the ends in at midnight:-)
This knit up so quick, it didn't even make it into the sidebar...
Some specs:
- allegedly 100% wool yarn, but it has a compact acrylic feel to it. I suspect it to be a wool blend, but would it have taken on the dye as well if it were?
- dyed with Kool-Aid
- Super easy child's raglan pattern from 'The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns' by Ann Budd. The fit is good, but in proportion to the sleeves, the body seems a bit too short. Could be a problem with Johanna's little potbelly, though;-)
10:40 Posted in Baby Stuff | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
05/10/2006
Knitting for sanity
Hey there,
I've been a little quiet because I've had some extremely unpleasant family issues lately, essentially escalated silly arguments...
Anyhow, I've been distressed about some of the conversations I've had and knitting helped me focus and figure things out in my head. Picked up the Kool-Aid yarn again and loved seeing how the colors pooled on the body, but also enjoyed sniffing the yarn which still faintly smells of fruity drinks:-) More than half of a new sweater for Johanna is done, it's going to be a v-neck raglan sweater according to The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.
The first 'Fun' Nation sock is finished, I'm happy with the length as it is now, so the knot was not that big of a problem, although it really bothered me. No news from the people at Regia, I'm somehow hoping to receive some kind of compensation, but Carola said she'd sent a complaint to Opal before and not even got a reply, so I'm afraid it's not exactly German companies' practice to just send you some free yarn in return...
I met with Elsa, the other member of our mini-S'nB this morning, and she totally caught the sock bug now and is almost finished with her first pair. I'd brought my sock books and she loved the 2-color knitting stuff in the Simply Socks book, which I've been wanting to start a project of for a while now. Looks like we're having a little fair-isle workshop next week!:-) Another fair-isle project that is really striking my fancy is the Squirrely Mittens pattern over at http://www.elliphantom.com/ - I just saw another pair of them at helloyarn.com and I LOVE them!!
The real pick-me-up today was the package I received from Natalie: a copy of IK Knits spring 2004 with the amazing Waving Lace Socks that she hunted down for me, along with a cool knitters' card, the cutest little nail files in a matchbook and some extra goodies. Thanks, Natalie, I really enjoyed this mini-swap!
13:31 Posted in Baby Stuff , Socks | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
05/02/2006
I'm on a roll!
I've been making some great mileage lately:-)
The striped raglan sweater got finished Sunday night, just in time for the weather to warm up... I'm quite happy with how it turned out, although the sleeves are not as long as I'd thought.
Anyhow, they may be long enough to fit Johanna in the fall. I also realized she didn't have any pants to go with the sweater, so I gotta pick up some jeans for her now- great excuse to go clothes shopping, hooray!
Last night I also turned the heel on the 2nd Alberta sock and it's almost identical to the 1st, maybe 3/4 of a row off, but who's counting?
Here's a new shot of the 'Fun' (haha) Nation Socks. They're going to be plenty long if I bind off after the yellow stripe, but that knot incident really bugged me. I sent an e-mail with evidence pix to the Regia customer service, I'll keep you posted on what's going to become of that...
Did you see I signed up for the dye-o-rama swap? I've actually done quite a bit of secret dyeing that I have not yet blogged about, and I'm lovin' it! I got my swap partner's address today, and I actually know her:-) Well, not personally, but I've read her blog before and she's cool! What a nice change being able to check out my swapee's blog!
The sockapaloooza socks will be off to the US today, and I feel comfortable about sending them after all the lovely comments I've gotten on them. THANKS!
10:30 Posted in Baby Stuff , dyeing , Knitalongs , Sockapaloooza , Socks | Permalink | Comments (10) | Email this
04/24/2006
Ef-Ohs!
Waah! I already got an e-mail from Alison yesterday giving me my sockpal's mailing info! She's sending out the addresses for international sock exchanges a little earlier in case they're expected to travel longer. But boy, that really put some pressure on me dealing with the Mata Haris that have been spending some down time at the bottom of my socks in progress basket. So I finally drew them out again last night to see what was the problem with the different-length feet. It really wasn't a big deal at all. I think I remember doing something different on one of the places where one of the YO, k2tog spiral lines stopped on one side of the foot and I hadn't realized that left me one 4-row repeat short. Ripped the toe, put in another repeat, that's all there was to it. *sigh of relief*! 
And look: matching feet!
Then I steamed the picot edge and got the Mata Haris all set to be mailed. I think I'm going to send them off on May 2nd as everybody else, though- mail to the US usually takes only 4 days. What do you other international pals think?
Today I also sent off the squares for Warming Grace and I'm so looking forward to seeing what'll become of all those squares. Cynthia got such a great response for this project and I hope she can put together lots of blankies for the children. Those blankets are going to be so cool- squares coming from all over the place from all different kinds of knitters hoping to provide some sort of consolation during trips to the hospital.
Oh, and it's gotten a tad warmer here and I finished this little hat for Johanna. Looks great with her new spring coat. I actually knit this hat this time of year in 2004 when I was pregnant. Unfortunately, the hem was waaay too tight and so the hat was just lying around until now. I fiddled around and kind of undid the cast-on, picked up the stitches, knit a few more rows of ribbing and did a loose bind-off. The hem doesn't look too great now and I think I used smaller needles when I first knit the hat, but it doesn't bother me much. The colors are just great for Johanna and the yarn has some cotton in it, so it's perfect for spring.
12:05 Posted in Baby Stuff , Knitalongs , Sockapaloooza , Socks | Permalink | Comments (11) | Email this
04/18/2006
Some kool dyeing and nonsense knitting
Sorry for my absence, but I've been in kind of a bad mood because I'm not getting enough university stuff done and it's really bugging me. On top of that, my stomach has been bothering me and that makes it even easier to procrastinate some serious hard-core typing. WHINE, WHINE.
Nevertheless, I've had an amazing pick-me-up on Thursday when a completely unexpected package from Steph of craftoholic arrived:
KOOL-AID! YAY!! How sweet of her, eh? And check out the awesome hand-SEWN card with some incense-scented Indian silk on it- such a great idea! THANK YOU SO MUCH, STEPH!!
I'd won some Kool-Aid on ebay lately as well (not realizing it came with some 'invisible' varieties;-)) and I did my first experiments with it. Wowza, is that stuff ever so potent. The SMELL! And how incredibly bright those colors come out! 
I used some odd balls of wool my mother gave me which actually amounted to about 400g, so I can make a sweater for Johanna with it. I was going for longer strawberry red stripes with some turquoise/green variegation and it turned out quite well. At least there are no weird white spots. The yarn soaked up more dye than I'd expected so I had to dye the red part twice. This time I dipped the yarn in a big pot with the prepared dye, then threw it in a bowl which I put on a baking tray and painted the greenish tones. Off it went into the oven on 95ish degrees for an hour
.
I started knitting this cardigan for Johanna with it because I happened to stumble across this pattern and really liked it. After about 15 cm into the pattern I realized that making a cardigan with this yarn I dyed somewhat stripey and using a variegated and quite bright yarn with a structured pattern is not a great idea. Frogged it. Loved the pattern, though, I'm going to make one of those cardigans in the future...
Then I cast on again for a sweater knit in the round and it just occured to me at midnight last night that I'd forgotten to add extra stitches to get a similar width as the cardigan's which would've had a button band. Ripped it. Now the yarn and I need some space;-)
20:55 Posted in Baby Stuff , dyeing | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
03/25/2006
'insert witty title here'
hey there,
my head is a little empty right now, so I can't even produce a decent title...
Johanna's been sick again and stayed home for most of the week and I've been completely busy dealing with her and I didn't even feel like hanging in front of the screen at night reading blogs. There's a lot to catch up to!
Nevertheless, I've done my share of knitting, first of all trying to make some progress on the little striped raglan sweater. And once again, I was too eager to bind off the body in order to get to the collar and sleeves. When I had Miss J. try on the sweater, it fit her well, but I really need to add 3 more stripes at the bottom so she can wear it more than just a couple of months. (Sorry for all the crappy flash pix in this post!)
Oh, something cool happened last Friday when I took my once-monthly trip to the university library and went to get some coffee afterwards- I ran into this professor Christoph who'd ordered a knitted hat a while ago and who never got back to me. I'd already come up with a design, made a swatch and started the ribbed hem until I decided it'd all just been hot air and ripped it. Well, he said he'd had a major harddrive crash and had lost my e-mail address but still wanted the hat and gave me a little advance payment;-)
So I need some opinions on a little dilemma with my sockapaloooza socks: the second one is quite a bit smaller! 
I'm sure I stuck with the notes I took for the first sock and technically, they must be the same size...at least they should be! It's probably because I freakin' stretched the first one in an attempt to squeeze my foot in it. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGG!!!!!! I've washed them and dried them flat trying to get them both the same size, but they just went back into the old shape.
Maybe I did a few less rows on the toe... I haven't even counted them yet, as the socks are out of sight in my knitting basket- I need some 'space' before I can get into the problem again. But there's still so much time until we have to send them to our pals, I'm sure I'll figure out a way to make them proper twin socks;-)
19:55 Posted in Baby Stuff , Sockapaloooza | Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this
02/10/2006
Super sock progress:-)
Hello my darling fellow knitter- you're probably all excited about tonight (Europe)/this afternoon (US) already;-) Geez, it's the first time I've ever known exactly when the Olympics started! I used to figure out that they're on just when I turned on the TV to watch some show I watched regularly that's been 'eaten up' by the games.
I've started my sockapalooza socks! After much debate and a first try with a folded picot edge (I now knit it with 2.0mm needles and the rest with 2.5mms) that had to be frogged, I cast on again on Tuesday and man, do those socks knit up fast! At the end of the night (and a 6CD audiobook:-o), I was ready to turn the heel.
It's so hard to pick a pattern for someone you hardly know anything about! I'm pretty sure she'll like the colors, but I tried to be somewhat on the safe side with the pattern -it's really got a certain kick (or twist;-)) to it, but it's still classic and sophisticated...
When I recently did some online research on how to knit socks on two circulars, I watched a video at knitting help.com which included such a neat tip - knitting in the yarn end in the first few stitches of the first row of a sock. Of course! Such an easy solution, one less end to weave in:-) In the case of the picot edge, I didn't even have to cut the remaining end of the cast-on tail, because it elegantly hid in the folded up seam. Aaaah, the pristine beauty of knitting...
Then I did some more jaywalking last night, I really want to finish this pair until the end of the KAL next Tuesday.
The little raglan sweater I'm making for Johanna is also growing, although I've mis-designed the neck/button line. I meant to make a diagonal opening which would've had to be in between the raglan increases, but I was unsure about how to get it right, so I thought I'd place it left of the increases- umm, of course it's a vertical line now. Duh. Oh well, it'll just be 'different'. An off-center button line...
Oh, and my friend Jytte came over yesterday to pick up her hat- it fit! The merino and the cable made it quite stretchy. She really liked the colors& the pattern and spent the rest of the afternoon sneaking off every now and then to admire her new hat in the mirror:-)
10:20 Posted in Baby Stuff , Hats , Sockapaloooza , Socks | Permalink | Comments (10) | Email this
12/30/2005
Fun small winter items
Hey everyone, I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas! It was more peaceful than usual at our house, so that was nice;-) I finished the Noro hat when I was there, but it fits a little too snugly and see that weird bobble there at the top front? Well, it looks like that on my head, too. My sister's first comment: a bit smurfy, don't you think? I may need to redo the top, ahem. The pattern a modified version of is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Ganomy hat. I've had the Knitter's Almanac delivered just before the holidays and while I like the concept of the book, it could surely use a heck of a lot more pictures! It's hard to figure out which pattern belongs to which tiny b&w picture.
Speaking of books, I've been shopping for quite a few lately, and I need to mention one of them, 'Mein Lieblingspullover' by Amanda Griffiths. I had checked it out at a local bookstore, but ordered a copy online because the one they had was so shabby... Anyway, I must have been so occupied looking at the sweaters, I overlookedthat "model's" utter ugliness! Ewwww! It must be the writer's cousin or someone, there's no chance this woman is doing this professionally! Her pictures absolutely spoiled this somewhat neat book for me. I should have bought "The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns" instead anyway...
So, we've gotten a few centimeters of precious now here, which is rare in Hamburg. Since we've lost one of Johanna's store-bought mittens a while back,and the thrum mitten turned out to be a tad too small, I made her a super quick and simple pair that only took a few hours. And you know what? *drumroll* SHE LOVES THEM! She even 'told' me to put them back on when her hands got cold as she was eating some bread. Isn't that amazing? A toddler who likes to put on mittens? ;-) Another new item in the picture is the hat (remember I wanted to knit a new, more feminine hat for J?) It's a mini version of the Ganomy hat, sans the smurf factor, plus a little cable running up the front. I smuggled the two red merino yarns out of my mother's stash;-) There's also a matching scarf on the needles:
I can almost hear you saying: "Geez, that mama can't stop casting on again!", and you're right. My sister stopped by last night to drop off 3 balls of sock yarn and instead of making a sample swatch, I started a pair of socks from the aforementioned library book: 
the pattern is pretty neat and turned out to be quite meditative once I got the hang of it. Turned off the TV, listened to an audiobook, put my feet up, and got some post-Christmas relaxation.
Have a knitty 2006!!
19:45 Posted in Baby Stuff , Gloves and Mittens | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
12/19/2005
Alright folks, I'm back!
Sorry it's taken so long, but I've been in a weird space last week. Not sure if it was simply a bad case of PMS or end-of-the-year depression or what. But once again, getting crafty is a great source of distraction. Another great source: shopping. In my case it's been online shopping for knitting books.
Jess Hutchinson's lovely booklet got shipped super quick, which was a wonderful surprise after the latest annoyances with an amazon marketplace seller (after 2 months and several e-mails, they finally realized the package got lost and I'm hopefully getting my money reimbursed this week). It was totally worth the 9 € including shipping and these little creatures are so cute!
Tuesday we had the 3rd SnB at my place: (Corinna practicing stockinette and Milan hanging out) meanwhile, Johanna pushed her kids' chair to the kitchen, climbed on it and started wiping the sink.
Her great-grandmother is so proud that her cleaning genes have been handed down to the next generation after it obviously failed to be included in my DNA;-)
Before the crowd came over, though, I made a non-knitting present for my mother's birthday which was last week. Check out this cool keychain with her store's www address and a pair of knitting needles on the back:
Mmh, I just realized why I seem to be the only one NOT knitting for Christmas- it's because I'm too busy knitting 
everyone's birthday presents...here are some armwarmers for my friend Ulli- the basic pattern is the one from Hurry Up Spring armwarmers, but I did a spiral k4p4 pattern and crocheted the edges with intense pink wool. I bought that green Lang Yarns Tosca a few months back because I love those shades of green/aqua, never minding that those greens look terrible on me. Anyway, it was the perfect combination for Ulli and she absolutely loved her present.
OKay, the pair of seaweed socks mentioned previously are done, and I've knit a doll's hat last night. The only Christmas present so far;-)
I'm going to leave you with my personal 'Christmas spirit' story: a couple of days ago, we met one of our older neighbors (in his late 70s, I'd say) in the hall, and we just chatted about the weather for a minute as he was on his way out. He returned soon after when Johanna was climbing up and down the stairs, came up to us and passed me a 10 € bill with the words 'buy the little one a nice toy from me, I don't have any grandchildren myself, you see.' I was so surprised and touched, I thanked and hugged him. How sweet is that?!
PS: Just in case you're wondering: there has been no progress on my sweaters whatsoever, nada, zip, naught, gar keiner!
21:50 Posted in Baby Stuff , Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
12/11/2005
We're thrummin', thrummin', thrummin'
Okay, who guesses what famous Jamaican artist I've been listening to while knitting?;-)
(notice the umlauts on my German keyboard?) The pattern I used on the shaft is called 'seaweed', and while I enjoyed knitting it, it simply doesn't show on this self-striping yarn. Maybe I'm going to use the pattern again sometime, as I LOVE seaweed. Great color, great taste, great nutritional value:-)11:10 Posted in Baby Stuff , Gloves and Mittens , Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
12/07/2005
Just some lame updates...
13:10 Posted in Baby Stuff , Gloves and Mittens | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
11/29/2005
Under da hood
Hey there, just a short update on Crimson & Clover- it is finished and drying on the floor as of now! The hood has been a real problem and it took FOUR attempts to get a somewhat acceptable shape. It even turned out to get some kind of a little visor part where I had to deal with changing from garter stitch (which I stupidly used on the sides) to ribbing, which I figured came the closest in resembling garter stitch. Ugh, does anyone have a perfect hood pattern besides the binding off at the collar and sewing on a rectangle? Maybe next time I'll use the 'giant's heel' hood again, which I improvised on the 'GlaubeLiebeHoffnung' cardigan. Anyway, I'm still going to have to steam iron the hood to make the top look a little more even. And I'm not entirely happy with the upper part of the yoke, either- you can see it in the picture, it's a little to wide and too long. Nag, nag, nag. I may end up trying to get it right the 5th time...14:05 Posted in Baby Stuff | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this
11/23/2005
Crimson and clover, over and over....
13:55 Posted in Baby Stuff | Permalink | Comments (7) | Email this
11/22/2005
Sleeves Jeeves
Crimson and Clover is growing! My mother brought me 2 more skeins of the dark red wool so I started working on the sleeves. I decided not to put clovers on the sleeves, because a) the pattern didn't quite fit on the number of stitches, and b) I want to keep them more simple so they don't distract from the bottom border on the body. For the first time, I tried knitting the sleeves simultaneously, but it really confuses me. Perhaps it's because I'm using circulars, but I kept forgetting where I'd already made new stitches and which of them I'd already knitted... Too bad I don't have a set of straight 6.5 mm needles...
I'm contemplating wheter I should knit a hood on the sweater now that I have plenty of yarn, maybe with a little band of those diamonds?
11:20 Posted in Baby Stuff | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
11/20/2005
Crimson and Clover:-)
Wow, I've been knitting and thinking about this little sweater for two days now and it took until right now to come up with this oh so obvious name for it:-) Got to the part where I had to bind off for the armholes and ran out of red yarn, but I'm going to get a delivery tomorrow, thanks to mom, yay! I'm going to keep the yoke very simple on this sweater, otherwise the patterns would be a little overwhelming, I imagine.
Then I finished the cuff on mr. left hand fair-isle glove watching Tatort and just started adding some gusset stitches.
Alright, I'm spent for today, have a good week, all of you!
22:20 Posted in Baby Stuff , Gloves and Mittens | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
10/22/2005
My sister knits, too
Hey there,
I've got TWO FOs! YAY! The ribbed raglan for Johanna is done, blocked and dried and she already christened it with oatmeal at breakfast. She's such a chameleon in fron of my tapestry, isn't she?:-)
And the bright green bunny for Ian is also done, unfortunately, I thought I'd lost or misplaced my size 5mm needles and I've been searching the apartment for days. Last night I checked the last place I haven't checked intensively- my needle box. And there they were. Ugh. So I knit up another arm, two legs and a bunny tail last night.
So my sister was in town for a month, and she knitted a sweater while she was here. No pattern, really, she just made it up as she went along. I love the skull detail on the sleeve, she used a pattern I printed out from a skully scarf.
Oh yeah, and ignore the super bad posing;-) She hates having her picture taken, so she always goofs off...
09:25 Posted in Baby Stuff , Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
10/16/2005
This blog needs more color!
Okay,. this is going to need a LOT of rebuilding... I lost all of my pictures in an attack on blogspirit...
To make this page a little more colorful until I get a chance to upload some older stuff, here's what I've been working on lately:
This is a bright green still sadly one-armed bunny for Johanna's friend Ian who turned one last week:
And this is part of the ribbed sweater I'm working on for Johanna, the pattern is from the Rebecca special edition Baby&Kids, a great issue!
09:00 Posted in Baby Stuff , Blog | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this