mama-of-purl

08/27/2006

New German Knitting Podcast!

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! 

13:15 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this

08/02/2006

What makes you put down your pointy sticks?

Many of us knitters have been knitting away during the scorching heat this summer, so what makes you stop knitting (as much as ususal)?

I haven't knit for four days. Well, maybe 3 or 4 rounds on the socks I wanted to get finished Sunday night, but I just can't focus. I'm soooo fidgety and can't sit down, but I don't really know what to do with myself, either. And my stomach feels cramped. Recognize the symtoms? 

Yes, I have a crush on someone. We've sort of just met and nothing happened yet, but it's looking good (uh, so is he) and it's almost too exciting to handle. Ouch, my stomach hurts again!  

20:24 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this

04/19/2006

New recruits for the future Hamburg S'nB

I totally forgot to mention some new fellow knitters I've met recently-

one of my mother's employees passed on a woman's phone number who was looking for someone to teach her how to knit and when I called her she turned out to be a young-sounding teacher who knew the basic stitches but wanted to learn about knitting math and further techniques. We met up 2 weeks ago and she's this really nice MATH teacher (no calculator needed knitting with her;-)) who's the same age as me and we're going to meet up regularly now. We talked on the phone last night and she's making amazing progress on the sweater she's working on and has done some great studies on gauge since we've met. She's totally got it and came up with changing needle sizes for the striping in the pattern that she has two slightly differing yarns for. Woo-hoo!

Then today I had to go to the library again to freakin' pay my overdue fees again. Grrrr. I'm REALLY trying to remember to extend the books but I screwed up the dates again. *Sigh*

Anyhow, I got to the library early and decided to go to the 'Pony Bar' to get another latte and work on the Alberta sock. Their DJ played an entire Janis Joplin album and I was mouthing along the words getting great mileage on the Albertas:-)

When three girls sat down at the table next to me, the hippie chick among them said she really wanted to knit socks for herself but couldn't figure it out and, of course, I had to jump right into the conversation and offer to teach her.

Now the only thing we need to do is figure out a way to get the three of us together and start the Hamburg Stitch 'n Bitch:-)

Oh, and here's a shot of Johanna finally modeling the Crimson&Clover sweater I knit last year. The yoke is kind of puffy when she puts her arms up, but it's still cute.

13:25 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (9) | Email this

02/28/2006

Woo-hoo, one more on our side!

I'm so proud!

My good old friend and former room-mate Doroshi left an excited message on my answering machine this week-end that she'd just bought a pair of circular needles and some balls of yarn and she had already started with the cuff of a shrug. Woo-hoo! She hasn't knitted in years, as her last knitting experience turned out to be a bit of a disappointment (funny story, LOL!), but she's been complaining about having cold shoulders while she was writing her master's thesis, so I recommended she knit a shrug! I kept sending her online patterns assuring her it was a real easy knit and ummm, she is a master of procrastination like me, always willing to dive into a new distraction, so I finally succeeded!:-))

She underestimated the importance of gauge or rather, didn't know about it, and cast on the stitches by rule of thumb, so she said the sleeves were a little too wide. But I talked to her yesterday and she was more than half way done already, that's so cool!

So wanna hear the knitting related story? A few years back (TOO FEW years!), Doroshi had a little adolecent relapse and madly fell in love with Brandon Boyd, the admittedly cute and hot singer of Incubus. We'd been to a show just before the band got very popular and when we got tickets for a show in Cologne, she decided to make something for him to throw on stage. I was in my hat knitting frenzy and she wanted to make a had for Brandon as well. We designed a really cool surfer-style beanie together and kind of took turns knitting it;-)

At the show (of course she was in the first row), she managed to have one of the bouncers pull her across the bleachers so she got close enough to throw the beanie on stage. She was so excited about actually getting a chance to 'give' the hat to Brandon AND the little note with her name and e-mail address, LOL!!

At the end of the show, though, Brandon saw the hat, picked it up, took a quick look and then tossed it back off the stage into the crowd.

He probably thought someone had 'accidentally' thrown it there and wanted it back. You can imagine Doroshi's disappointment and resulting knitting aversion...

I love remembering that story. What a fun time that was... I just wish we had actually been teenagers at the time....

12:20 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

02/26/2006

You know you're too immersed in knitting when...

you go to the zoo, see the Alpacas and all you can think of is: 'mmmh, what a nice color! I wonder when they shear these animals!'

15:58 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

02/04/2006

Silence and pattern search...

Well, I'm glad nessienoodle and Carola commented on my non-participation and the button- I was getting nervous about the silence after that post!

It's definitely cool to hear that the Knitting Olympics have more participants than the actual Olympics and I'm going to be an online spectator- hopefully you're all going to have a spectacular casting-on parade as well. I want cheesy music & emotions!

Now the hard part: have you all found patterns for your sockapaloooza socks yet? I've had a few nights where I - kid you not- lay awake in the middle of night contemplating which pattern would be perfect for my pal, whom I know faaaar too little about. No blog, no further personal info besides foot measurements and color preferences. Deeeeep sigh!! So far, I've somewhat settled on Steph's Mata Hari Socks in a variegated teal yarn. I tried a folded picot edge for the first time last night and was very pleased with it, but I should've known better than to knit it with the same needle size I intended to use on the rest of the sock. Even after only a few rows of the cuff, I know the edge will be too bulky and loose and it will lean towards the outside... I'll try it again tomorrow (pix later & links later, okay?)

21:20 Posted in Blog , Knitting (general) , Sockapaloooza | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

01/27/2006

What a great day this was!

Aaah, what a beautiful sunny and chilly day we had today! I spent most of the morning outside, meeting an old friend, drinking coffee outside and enjoying the sunshine. I just had to take the day off:-)

Heading back home, I found this in the mail:
The Paton's pattern for the Savary Shores Sweater Ande knit. I'd seen it months ago and fell in love with it!! She also wore it a lot on the pictures she posted, so my mouth just kept watering:-) I actually picked up yarn back in November with this sweater in mind! So I couldn't help but asking her if she could somehow make the pattern available to me as I couldn't find an online store that'd ship it to Germany. She kindly agreed to send me the Paton's book:-) There's even another sweater in there that looks awesome! Uh, and I found out 'Savary Shores' is not the sweater's real name, it's only called 'Peruvian Yoke Pullover'... Ande's name for it is so much cooler:-)

Anyway, I was so excited about getting the pattern, I'd barely taken off my coat when I busted out the needles to knit a swatch!! My gauge is a little off, but I may simply knit the sweater in a size smaller (does that sound familiar, Ande?;-))

Well, this week I've been distracted from my projects by two little bunnies- the Professor's student I met on Monday asked me if I could help him modify some stuffed pets who will be starring in a movie they are going to make at his school. I added some lead weights to one bunny's paws and behind so Bertrand (the student) could make a string puppet out of if, and turned the other one into a hand puppet (I know, that is one KINKY weird picture!). Wasn't as big a deal as I thought, and he's paying $$ as well! That Monday was so fortunate, I should try to find out what my horoscope said that day;-)

I also finished one of the Jaywalker socks Monday night and did the cuff of Mr. Leftie. Grafting with the Kitchener Stitch is such a pain in the butt, ahhggrrrr! Didn't turn out that well... the sock fits perfectly, tho. 

19:25 Posted in Blog , Knitting (general) , Socks , Sweaters | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this

01/24/2006

Sockapalooooooooza!!

It's SIGN-UP DAY, people!! It's my first time, I'm so excited!!

11:06 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this

01/23/2006

Public Jaywalking and Pony Bar Hat

THE EXCITEMENT! I've been knitting in public again;-)

Took a trip to the library to drop off some books that were only 2 business days late and got charged an arm and a leg for it... scew them...

anyhow, I took my Jaywalker sock along to knit on the bus and when I went to this café/bar later on, I really felt like knitting despite the student/urban hipster crowd... So I got out the sock and having tried it on now, the needles were FLYING! I'm ready to start the tip! Well this professor (?) with a VERY colorful crocheted scarf and a student were discussing at the next table and I had to force myself to stop eavesdropping at times, as they were talking about students having to be extreme go-getters during the course of their studies in order to make it on the job market later on. My favorite topic! AHEM! THat always gets me into such a crappy mood.

Sure enough, the professor started asking me about my knitting at some point- if I was knitting a hat. It'd be a little too tight for a hat, I replied, but we had a conversation going. He was really interested, admired the jaywalker and also complained about his hat being too boring. He ended up ordering a striped hat for himself! I took his head measurements with yarn from the other end of the ball and gave him my e-mail address:-)

I hope he's going to contact me now, cause I've already got a design for the hat and knit a swatch:

also Christoph, wenn Du das liest, welche Farben möchtest Du- das grün mit blau, oder mit beige? (Bild zum Vergrößern anklicken) Ich würde die Streifenübergänge etwas auflockern mit den abgehobenen Maschen- gefällt Dir das? Klick auf das Bild, dann gibt's ne größere Ansicht. Ich meine die Maschen, die bei den Übergängen in die nächste Farbe übergehen.

Apart from today's progress on Jaywalker, I didn't get to do any knitting at all the past few days, as I was hit by a weird virus that gave me monsterous head-aches, joint pains and an upset stomach. It was awful! Luckily, my DD was kind enough to be very low-maintenance on Saturday, happily bringing me picture books to look at with her and entertaining herself quite a bit, which is so not like her most of the time;-)

19:25 Posted in Knitting (general) , Socks | Permalink | Comments (7) | Email this

01/08/2006

January is the time to get organized:-)

Look at this! My friend and I went to IKEA again on friday, and I found a little container to put most of my knitting tools in: 

aaah, I love how neat it looks right now. Neat according to my standards, that is;-) I wonder how long it takes until this baby is overflowing with other non-knitting related stuff.

When I moved all the needles from their old box into this container, I realized that I had 3 different types of lip balm and two different kinds of dental floss among my tools. Weird, huh? Not so much the lip balm, I guess, but the floss? But I simply like to do some teeth cleaning in between rows...

I should start a new meme... 

What kind of non-knitting related items do you always keep handy while you're knitting? Any pictures?

15:02 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this

12/23/2005

Last minute presents

Aaah, I'm almost done with the gift marathon... I made the wedding pillow last night, as well as some cute brooches for Johanna's daycare teachers. Despite the last minute presents stress, I couldn't keep myself from starting a much-needed new hat pour moi, when I had Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac in the mail yesterday. 

Alright, I gotta wrap some gifts and write a few cards now, then we're off for the holidays this afternoon.

Hope you all have a great time with your families, PEACE Julia

12:00 Posted in Knitting (general) , Sewing | Permalink | Comments (2) | 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?;-)

I've just read about this exciting method on the Yarn Harlot blog, so I asked my mother for a few fleece scraps, which were these:

I've been a little bored with the BIG projects lately, and curious about some new techniques. A new book I got at the library came in handy, which taught me how to do a short-row sock heel. Finally, a clear instruction on short rows. I've been so confused about how to wrap the yarn at the beginning of the rows! So here's the product of my first attempt, a little sock. (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

12/01/2005

I've been tagged!

12:50 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this

A little SnB at my place

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11/08/2005

My sister now stitches and bitches

aah, my sister is so lucky!

Last time she visited us in Germany a couple of months ago, I showed her my S'nB books and she wass excited to see the pictures of an SnB group in Bristol, England, where they currently parked the truck she lives in (in England that vehicle should be referred to as a 'lorry';-)). Anyway, she even recognized the yarn store in one of the pictures and went to meet the group two nights ago. She had so much fun! Lucky her...

Still, I haven't found any fellow knitting mamas I could meet up with on a regular basis. I know of one whose daughter is the same age as Johanna, but you know how it goes, tight schedules and it's a little hard to kick back and knit when there's always a baby pulling the yarn.

I met another single mom at a party the other night and when I mentioned that I liked to do some knitting at night, she was all excited and told me she'd just finished her first scarf proudly knitting whereever she went. On the bus, the subway, at lectures...:-) Pretty neat. That kind of takes guts to do that in Germany, as knitting is sooo passé here. You're instantly marked as a flaky granola birkenstock-wearing hippie if you knit anywhere. Ummm, which I am, a little;-) Not very flaky, though, hehe. But that chick sure wasn't. 

10:20 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this

11/03/2005

Simply Socks

I had Simply Socks in the mail yesterday, what a beautiful book. I just love those Turkish patterns! There's a Turkish pattern hat in Hats On! that I've knit a few years ago, and it was so much fun to knit. Since I've found that amazing pair of humongous socks/boots at the fleamarket, I've been wanting to knit some socks the same style and couldn't find a free generic pattern anywhere, so I had to order this book...

12:00 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

10/28/2005

A little disappointed...

I finished Wavy a couple of nights ago, I was soooo excited to rinse it a little and leave it to dry, but I'm not sure if the yarnturns out that way, or if it felted a little. Sigh... It's a good scarf, for sure, but it's a bit heavy and the waves don't come out like I was hoping they would. In my attempts not to think about it too much, I haven't even taken any pictures of the finished piece yet. tomorrow...

But I've been wanting to share a nice story with you, a few weeks back, I had one of those obnoxious people asking for donations at my door. Although I said I had no interest whatsoever, he somehow managed to let me know my upstairs neighbors were getting married the next day. We hardly even say our hellos in the hallway, but the woman seems to be a cool chick who has a celebrity magazine subscribtion;-) Anyway, I happened to have an idea for a nice card to give to them, so I knit up these two hearts using the heart pattern from S'nB Nation's Lil' Devil Pants and attaching them with a string. Then I wrote a short note wishing them well, taped the hearts to it and hung it out of their mailbox so they'd find it the next morning:

Unfortunately, they did not find them and the hearts just hung here for the weekend:-(

When they finally found the card, Johanna and I got a very cool children's book the next day, only a day before her birthday, that was so nice of them!

Now we talk when we meet each other in the hallway:-)

19:35 Posted in Knitting (general) , Wavy | Permalink | Comments (0) | 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

10/09/2005

SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP ME!!

I can't stop casting on for new projects!!

Went to the Oktoberfest at my MYS (mom's yarn store) and, of course, brought some yarn home... A nice ribbed sweater for Johanna is almost halfway done, then I had to try the Mermaid sock pattern with the perfect color yarn... and last night I had to start a new funny green bunny for little Ian's birthday today.

I'll post pictures later, gotta finish the bunny!

11:25 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this

10/05/2005

Finally: a major update!

Last Sunday, me and my sister went to another flea market and within 2 minutes I had THE score- a really lame boxy vest made of a beautiful hand-dyed, hand-spun self-striping wool in blues, teal, and aqua. LOVE-LEY! I checked the inside of the vest and it was knit in the round, no seams apart from the shoulder seam. And the yarn was in excellent shape, no felting, hardly any pilling, the woman who sold it to me must have worn it only a couple of times. Oh, and the price! 2 Euros.

09:50 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this

09/24/2005

Major fleamarket weekend!!

Hello there,

I'm in such a shopping frenzy! Since I use my car only about twice a month, I decided to finally sell it and Saskia needs a car right now, what a great coincidence. So in order not having to solely rely on public transportation, I bought a used bike yesterday. aah, I'm psyched! It was so much fun cruising around on it on such a beautiful fall day.

Of course I need all the gear for Johanna now- a seat and a helmet. Scanning a nice little neighborhood fleamarket this morning, there was no seat, but a copy of an oldschool German craft book. It's No 2 of a series of about 7 or 8 books, I have No 1 and 3 already, and from book 4 on, it's all crappy 80s patterns anyways...

Flipping through it, I've already found a new future project: a 'Lumberjack'! I've never heard of that term being used for a hoodie, but hey, I like the idea of being able to knit my own lumberjack:-)

The color in the pattern is pretty cool, but I think I'm going to go for a brown...that'll go great with that basket/handbag thing too;-)

21:15 Posted in Knitting (general) | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this