Parting Shots

Okay, I'm leaving for the land of the funky internet connection, aka my parents' house, this afternoon. I'm going for at least one update next week, but you never know with the delicate ecosystem that is my dad's computer.

I'm still torn how much of the sad stuff I want to put into this blog. It's about hooks and needles after all. I'm sure caregivers of terminal cancer patients have their own webrings. So I could blog about it all and join one of those communities, only I don't want to do that. I want my blog to be a place that is not all about the tragedy, I need it to be a place that is about the things that help me stay reasonably sane.
There are two things. Writing and yarn stuff - and I can't really blog about the writing, because ... uh ... what would I say? Had coffee while killing an obnoxious reporter totally dead with a shotgun? Now, that might be sorta entertaining, but waaaay too meta. Yeah. Meta is when the cool blog kids talk about blogging. On their blogs. Learned that. But in my opinion, a writer who talks about writing too much and in too much detail is not being meta, but foolish. Stop telling people how you are going to write the novel and how cool it's going to be and what great things will happen, just, you know, do it. Learned that, too. From my mistakes.

Which leaves me with the yarn stuff. Good thing, that, because I love all things yarn (really, I'm hoping I'll be done ranting soon, so I can show you Waterlily and my new felt swatch). Not a good thing, because for me the subject doesn't exactly lend itself naturally to tragedies bigger than not getting gauge. It will have to do though.

For the past two years and a bit, the fact that my mother is losing her decade-long battle with cancer has soaked through all layers of my life. And only now, in what her doctor solemnly calls "the last stages", the changes become apparent. Apart from the daily sadness and fear of yet another new way of suffering she may have to go through, I dare anyone to be plunged into the matters of fate, faith, mortality and the meaning of life and emerge unchanged. Doesn't happen. I know that underneath all the things I do, all the things I am every day, something else is emerging. Changes happen. I guess it's a little like test-driving a new car (talking out of my butt here, since I do not know how to operate an automobile), everything is sort of in its place, but it handles differently.
So far, this test-drive of the new me turns out to be a rather bumpy ride. We'll see where it takes me. And what it does with this blog.

Right now, all I know is that by tomorrow afternoon I will sit by my mom's bed in the living room. I'll show her what I've knitted this week and what I've cast on. She'll probably have cut out some magazine picture of a gorgeous model in an expensive handknit sweater, and she will tell me - with the loving blindness that is reserved for mothers - that this would look much prettier on me if I made it. Then it will be 3 p.m. and we will watch McLeod's Daughters and ... that other thing ... with Amy the judge and Tyne Daly ("Detective Lacey" to my mom). I'll knit and lose count, either of the stitches or the plot of the show, Mom will fill me in on whatever I'm missing. And we'll both collect another two hours of happiness. That's something.

Now with the knitting.

I may have found new cheap yarn for felting. Told you, it's not that easy here. What I can get is the handspun, hand-dyed wool of sheep with royal lineage. I may be enamoured with felting, but that seems like a waste.

This is Schoeller & Stahl Wonderwool, 51% wool, 49% acrylic, after a hurried, half-assed attempt at hand-felting (as in: I kinda kneaded it a few minutes in a bowl of hot water with the wrong kind of soap). The colour bled a little, but overall I think it has promise. Not too fond of the seed stitch felt, but that might change with proper felting.
For the bag I have in mind, I'll have to use double strands and smaller needles, I think, but I was amazed that it would felt at all, what with being half plastic and all. (Love the plastic, have I mentioned?)
Last week, on a whim, I bought two skeins of Schachenmayr Brazilia Fantasy Color in 392 ("Diana", I think), just because I liked the colourway. I've never worked with eyelash yarn, so I decided to start something simple to try it and to swatch some of my "WolleTempel" yarn as well (I do love it, but it comes without any information about yardage or anything). So, here's the Goof-Off Scawl.

On the non-eyelash parts, I'm doing a 2x1 rib, which gives it some shape and makes the eyelash parts look fluffier when it's not stretched out. The width is 15 inches, which is right between a scarf and a shawl for me. Planned length: until the eyelash yarn runs out (I have three skeins now, and the first is almost finished). This is as much "novelty" as I've ever done, but I like it. It's fun and light and fluffy. And SOFT!
The blue regular yarn stripe is smaller than the brown, because the yarn has a lurex thread in it. Since I'm planning on wearing it as a shawl, too, I don't want too much lurex on my skin.

The Waterlily, she is finished. And I have no idea what happened. I swatched. I washed. I swatched again. I calculated. I swatched in the round. I calculated. I knit. I measured. It's too small. Where did I go wrong? I have no idea. All I can say is that the whole Weight Watchers shebang better keep working, because I want to wear that thing.

The yarn is WolleTempel again. Pink on Olive. Much prettier in person. I haven't seamed or blocked it yet. When I realized that it would be too small, I wanted to stay away from blocking until I had calmed down enough to not try and stretch the crap out of it. I'll finish it when I return.
Hey, I still have enough yarn left over to do another, bigger one. I'm tempted, but while the top is really pretty, I'm not too much in love with the pattern. So, I left the Pink on Olive alone and cast on for Mariposa by Sarah Sumner-Eisenbraun (Knitty, gotta love the Knitty) in "Poppies in a Wheat Field". I'll post a picture when I have more than a couple of inches, because it doesn't show off the pretty colours yet.


Also, scary acts of mutilation have been perpetrated in this innocent household.


These are the remnants of a pair of old canvas Mary Janes (excuse the icky-looking parts, it's glue from the old lining).
I'm not quite sure what to do yet. But I know this. I adore shoes and handbags (and jewellery, but that would be a beadwork topic). I can already make handbags. Now, we'll see about the rest.


That's it for now. I'm off to pack and catch a train.

10 Crafty Things About Me

(Instead of a progress entry. There's progress, but my camera is half-broken, and I just didn't mess with it today.)

1. I used to sew a lot some years ago. Then I returned to knitting and crocheting, because it means making clothes without the big production sewing turns into (if you do it at the dining table). So, I think that there is basically no garment that can't or shouldn't be knit and crocheted. I very much embrace the notion of knit lingerie and crocheted tuxedos.

2. I'm not a fiber snob at all. I'll work with anything, as long as it's pretty and soft. I'm also not a tool snob. I'll work with anything, as long as it gives me gauge and doesn't snare the yarn.

3. I rarely knit for the people in my life. Unless they ask me for something - enthusiastically. If they do, I'll make them anything they want.

4. I don't think there is a craft I wouldn't love to try. I have tried many and loved them all. Some did not love me back. I am spectacularly talentless when it comes to silk painting, origami and everything involving wood.

5. I don't get the Noro craze. Shun me now.

6. I always have at least five "live" projects going, because I have one for every routine situation of my day. One small "to go" project for public knitting, one by the bed, one by the TV, one for work (the dictation sweater du jour) and one for concentrated escape knitting.

7. While it can take me a while to make the rounds and finish my projects (see above) I only have one abandoned UFO. It's a crochet cardigan that needs to have its sleeves frogged and redone.

8. I'm a part-time perfectionist. Sometimes I will frog the same rown three times until I get that one stitch under the armpit right, other times I call it creative license and thus good enough.

9. I have never bought the original yarn for a project. I like the "designer" patterns, but hell if I buy the € 15 per skein yarn for them. Also, I'm a plus-plus size. That's an awful lot of € 15 yarn. I'm really good at adjusting gauge and cast-on stitches.

10. Right now, knitting and crocheting are my life savers. I would recommend them to everybody in a crisis.

In other news: Waterlily is almost done. But I totally messed up the gauge despite excessive swatching (see above, the thing I'm really good at. Right.) I'll reserve judgement until blocking, but I don't have high hopes for it.

The one where I almost kill myself

Last night I was sittin' here knittin' (Waterlily, in case you are wondering), and suddenly my hair started to bother me. Baby blue hairbands and all, it had to go up up up - I'm like that sometimes. Since there were no scrunchies or barettes on my desk - an almost unheard of state of affairs - I decided to be all cool and casual and knitterly and secured the long heavy twisted sausage that is my hair with a pair of 2 mm dpns. What can I say, it worked. No more bother, and I did feel all cool and casual and knitterly.

Only, dumbassery, thy name is Kay, I forgot about my dpn updo until bedtime. After the usual nighttime rituals (maybe I should mention that I have body image issues at the moment, so I avoid looking in the mirror), I breathed a huge sigh of tired relief and plopped down on my bed. The 2 mm dpn? Went into the back of my head. Screams, blood, general carrying on. And when everything was cleaned up and band-aided, I started thinking about what could have happened, had the dpns be placed slightly differently or had I hit a harder spot on my bed. And fainted. Well, almost.

I strongly recommend you don't try this at home.

In less lethal dumbass news: We have feltage.












I think I mentioned that I read every felting tip and instructions available to me, but the blasted bag just wouldn't felt!!

Yeah. The one thing I didn't read? My washing machine instructions. I never use the really hot cycle, so apparently I had no idea how to set it. Once I figured it out - magic.
I love this bag so much! It's not perfect, and it pilled because I forgot the time and reached the machine when it had already started the spin cycle. But still. I love my bag. And I want to make more. Must find feltable wool. Now.

Still knitting

Sorry about the long pauses between posts right now, but I am still trying to adjust to my new schedule of spending a week with my parents and a week catching up with work. I can't say that I'll always keep the sad stuff out of this blog, since caring for my mom is such a big part of my life right now, but for the moment this is all I have to say:

"Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crisis."

Elizabeth Zimmermann

And there has been knitting. Lots of it. I only had time to take a picture of one project, but I'll try to do more tomorrow.

Better late than never I've started the Waterlily Top from IK Knits, spring issue. It's my current work knit, since the "Dictation Sweater" has reached a point where I have to pay attention to it. Unfortunately, Waterlily has almost reached that point, too.

I might be able to finish the second sleeve of the crocheted hoodie during tonight's episode of Little House on the Prairie (don't ask), so it might be done at the end of the week and I might be able to block it before I leave again.

For some instant gratification, I've been making hairbands. Hang on a sec ...


It's amazing how hard it is to take
a picture of the top of your own head. But you get the idea. It's a light blue cotton with three rows of twisted rib in the middle. I made a few more in other colours and patterns, but they still have to be seamed and blocked.

I've been looking for the right yarn for my first felting project for a while now, and I thought I found it at that great yarn store in my parents' town. Alas, it didn't work out, because after three washer runs and painstaking observation of felting tips everywhere, it still didn't felt properly.

It's not all bad though, because I have some embellishments in mind which will work better with a not too densely felted fabric.
I'll keep looking, but the problem is that whenever I ask whether or not the wool I want to buy will felt, the salesperson feels compelled to reply (indignantly), "Of course not!" Maybe felting needs to become more popular in these parts.

And now I'm off to some pasta and my hoodie.

Bedsocks

Well, here they are.


The Mom Bedsocks.
The yarn (Fabiani Micro-Plus) is totally wrong for socks, as you can see from the inconspicuously mitered toes and heels, but totally right for Mom's feet and Dad's laundry skills.
She loves them, that's all I care about.

I bought some Regia Silk in a lovely blue grey for the next sock experiment, The Sock 3.0 - Regular Version.

How pathetic is it that the highlight of my day is the fact that the new Sabrina is out? I can't wait to go get it and add more "things I'll knit one day" to my list.

Away

Not a lot of updating going on. I'm with my parents for the time being, helping with taking care of my mom, so there is not a lot of blogging time.
There has been knitting though!
First of all, The Sock 2.0 is getting close to completion (the pair, that is). Since the recipient - my mom - is monitoring the process, I knit them according to her specifications. Much shorter than I would have made them on my own (good to know) and with a bit of a ruffled edge.

Also, leave it to my parents' small town to have a fantastic yarn shop - The Red Thread. I got some lovely (discontinued - of course) wool there for a felted bag and the owner is going to get me a few more leftovers for a pair of slippers. The bag is about half done.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to get my dad's camera to work for some pitchers.

Suddenly Stash

You know, before yesterday my yarn stash consisted of a few balls of home-mixed, two skeins of sock yarn and the yarn already involved in current WIPs. I couldn't have flashed if my life depended on it.

Not anymore.

I give you "Da Stash".

The peach, pink, pistachio and indigo in front were free yarn (long story) and there's lots of each. The rest is my ebay order from the magical WolleTempel, also with tons of unexpected freebies.

Okay, I know it's a lot - but I don't care! :o) They are all natural fiber mixes, and I already know that they knit, wash and wear like a dream. The colours are a little off in my crappy photos (like the brownish yarn on the left - it's a rich chocolate bunny brown in person). The lovely extra surprises were "Pink and Olive" on the far right in both pictures on the left (you can only see the pink part, sorta) and "Green and Blue" next to it, both yarns I really wanted, too, but refrained from bidding on.

Sigh. I guess it's time to go to bed. No, Kay, you will NOT take the yarns with you!

Soccess!

Achievement #1: The Sock 2.0 is off to a good start. It's not perfect, but I resolved the toe issue and the holes issue - so after a little relaxation with some simple twisted rib, I'm quite optimistic that I can figure out the heel this time.

Achievement #2: The Sock 2.0 matches the colour of my Swiss ball exactly.

Sock Suck

Hooo boy!

What can I say?
I didn't rip it though, but saved it to serve as a warning for future new techniques. Never just pick instructions off the internet unless you found positive reviews of them on at least three blogs.
It's all for the best, anyway, because I just found out that my mom can't wear wool anymore. So, I'll start The Socks 2.0 in my beloved Micro-Plus. Don't be horrified, it's not like Mom will go on three day hiking trips in acrylics.
Gotta go cast on.

I heart artificial fiber

Yes, you heard me.

I know, it's all about the cashmerino and the angora and the silk and the wool from sheep who can trace their ancestry to the herd owned by King Charles (you pick which one). But I love me some good plastic :o).

I don't love them all equally. There is a lot of crap out there, and I think it depends a little on the natural fiber they are trying to "mimic". I don't like most of the acrylic stuff that poses as a wool substitute. Not a chance. The ones I know are scratchy and awkward - maybe I don't know the right ones.

My absolute favourite of the plastiques is Fabiani Micro-Plus. I think it's the home brand of one of the big department store chains here. It's soft like you wouldn't believe, has incredible stitch definition, washes well, doesn't lose shape and comes in all kinds of terriffic solid colours. And it wears well, too, all year round. (Maybe I should mention that our climate isn't really extreme. I don't know how it would wear in, say, Texas.)
Oh, yeah, it's also dirt cheap.

Next on the list of favourites is cotton/acrylic mix. I like it about 50-50. It wears and breathes like cotton, but it doesn't morph from a sweater to a tent after the second wash. I'm all about the progress, people. Embrace modern times, buy plastic!

Part of my love for artificials comes from the fact that I'm a scatterbrained klutz. I will spill coffee on my clothes, eventually I will throw handwash only stuff in the laundry basket and my sweaters will get pulls. Knowing this about myself, I can't imagine knitting something with yarn that's € 20 per skein. Not for myself, that is. I would probably buy the yarn and never work with it, because it's too precious. And if I ever worked up the nerve to actually knit with the good stuff, I wouldn't ever wear it. Because, you know, it's too precious. What's the point?

That doesn't mean that I don't lust after all that hand-dyed-cashmere-silk goodness. I'm as big a yarn addict as the next knitter. Sigh, but it's just no good.

In other news: gratuitious, blurry sock update:

Getting there. Slowly.

We've got a live one!

I think I mentioned recently that I have been knitting and crocheting for a long time. My grandma taught me when I was five, I did it for about six years and then I didn't do it consistently for about 20, except for the occasional quickly abandoned UFO.
Now I do it again.

After 30 years of knitting history, Kay In Stitches proudly presents:

My First Sock


This is an unusual development.
Normally, I only knit what I like. It doesn't necessarily have to be intended for me, but I have to like the item in general and see its justified place in the universe, or I'm not interested.
Me? I hate socks. I would (and did) go barefoot in winter boots. My feet are almost always warm to hot (yeah, I'm a very sought-after snuggle partner) and come April 1, I abandon all pretense and go sockless until people look at me funny in October.
Knitting socks never really occurred to me until I thought about new stuff to give to my mom the other day. I used to give her nice hand lotions, funky magazines, aromatherapy anything and the latest chocolate developments - all the things my dad wouldn't necessarily think of. Now, however, the time has come to think of other kinds of comfort, because Mom can't enjoy most of those things anymore.

A little explanation here: my mom is dying of cancer and has now entered the stage where she can't leave the bed anymore and takes meds that impair her mental clarity. She doesn't wear shrugs or shawls, because she has to turn frequently and gets tangled up and uncomfortable in anything but simple cotton PJs. (Mom would kill me dead for mentioning her PJs in public. :o) And after a total of six years of chemotherapy, she has about 27,000 chemo hats. She also has hair at the moment.

So, socks seemed to be a good idea. She wears them in bed all the time, and let's be honest here -my first pair of knit socks will be something only a mother could love. Perfect.
The yarn is Regia Color 5025, very cheery and springtime-y, and much prettier in person. You will note that I'm doing without any sort of sophisticated pattern, yet I still managed to mess up the "idiot rib" a few times.
I'm not sure that I'll fall in love with sock knitting, even though I do drool over all the cool patterns out there. On the other hand: if my mom actually likes them, this blog will turn into Sock-A-Gogo in no time.

I don't think it's an accident that knitting and crocheting play a big role in my life again. Lately, when I'm doing yarnstuff, I am overwhelmed with memories of the women in my family.
My grandma (dad's mother, we don't talk about mom's, for she was evil) was a wiz with needles. She'd look at you once and knit a sweater that fit you perfectly, no measurements, patterns optional. One Christmas, my dad made a wooden doll closet for me, complete with mirror inside the door (plastic, of course), shelves and all. And Grandma filled it with an entire collection of knitted clothes for my dolls in three different sizes. It was the best gift ever - and even today, people would be hard up to find something that could fill me with the same joy and amazement.

My mom knit her way through the 70s and 80s. I shudder to think of those creations from the original days of the bell-bottom and rainbow effect yarn, but she wore them with zeal, and so did I. Especially that grass green sweater made from bulky cotton that could have harbored me and three fugitives at the end of its life. She owned a business and had 70-hour weeks, then took care of assorted ailing family members on the weekend. Knitting was for sanity.

My grandma died when I was ten, but my memories of her are still vivid, and I don't think I'll ever lose my appreciation for the love and creativity that defined her life. Letting go of my mother is a long and hard process, and I'm not about to say that the craft is turning it all into a Lifetime TV movie. I wish. But the memory and appreciation of someone you love is never just about one thing, it is about the many connections between your life and that person's life, and you need to cherish as many of these connections as you can. In our family, wielding hooks and needles - like having big hips and boobs - is a tradition that connects at least three generations of women (I have photographic evidence of more, but I never knew these women personally). Compared to all the other gifts my mother and grandmother gave me, knitting is certainly a small thing (especially compared to those hips :o). On the other hand - a part of my soul remembers them every time I pick up a knitting needle. It's not always conscious, but it's always there. And so are they.

A matter of degree

This morning, I found my perfect dream translation project.

I had mentioned my interest in needles (hee) to one of my agencies a while back, and they were looking for knitting pattern translators, English to German, I'm assuming for a website (agencies don't tell you the specifics, because they don't want you to contact the customer yourself). I couldn't quite believe my luck, when the agency called, and I think my enthusiastic answer blew up the poor woman's eardrum.
So, I swatched, i.e. did a sample translation (of three lines), and all was right with the world. Until it came to the following phone exchange:

Agency: The customer wants to know if you have a degree.
Me: A degree in what?
Agency: That qualifies you for this project.
Me: What do they mean? Languages, fashion design, what?
Agency: I don't know, just something that qualifies you.
Me: Okay, you know my credentials, and as for this project, I have been knitting and crocheting in two languages for 30 years. (With a 20-year intermission, I didn't tell her that.)
Agency: That's not a degree though, they want a degree.
Me: Well, what kind of a degree?
Agency: I don't know. Something qualifying.
Me: Do you think you could just submit my sample and references and see what they say?
Agency: No, they want someone with a degree.
Me: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOMAN! WHAT DEGREE?!
Agency: Knitting?

People, I am not making this up. This conversation took place at 11:25 a.m. today. It took place in German, but I translated verbatim (although I'm not sure I'm qualified to translate knitting-related text).
So, kindly tell me where I can get a MKA or a KhD, because I'm baffled. What could these people possibly want? I've got the language part covered, so were they actually looking for a Fiber Arts major who happens to work as a translator? Good luck.

I am also really ticked off by this. It was the perfect job (sob)! I love patterns! I know what they mean (most of the time)! I am meticulous (snicker, I can say this here, because you can't see my kitchen). I've got five shelves of bilingual reference material!

What I haven't got is a knitting degree.

Yawn

This is going to be a no-entry entry. I spent the whole day with the satanic romance, so there was no time for taking pictures and posting a real entry. However, they eloped today, so that's a good sign. It won't be long now. And it has been a good day for my dictation sweater. Or it could have been, if I hadn't frogged the same ten rows 4 times. New rule: the next dictation project can't involve increases.

Good night!

Kiss the frog (the knitter's version of "jumping the shark"?)

Yeah, I had it all figured out.
Today is yet another day I'll spend with the romance novel from hell, but I had a quick post planned in which I would show off the half-finished DROPS cardigan.
Here it is.

I had six rows of the pattern left (20 inches, I'm making it a little longer), when I discovered that I had made a mistake counting the cable rows for the third! twist. I really, really tried to live with that one longer twist, but alas, I can't.

While frogging the whole thing I discovered one lone dark green strand of yarn just hanging out there, unattached to anything. Upon closer inspection I saw that the dark green had broken in several places. In the upper layers of ALL of the balls. Sob! What happened? Moths? Did DG get into a fight with the other strands? I don't even have a cat!

I don't have moths either. Which is a good thing.

It's the first yarn I ever mixed, so I guess I did something fundamentally wrong. Sigh. It's purty though.

Even after the frogging and rewinding of the balls o' doom, I still have enough for the cardigan. So I started over, because I'm nothing if not stubborn. Of course, I also thought about all the other things I could do sans balls o'doom, but that cardigan is exactly what I have been looking for. Once - the horror - I was even close to buying one like it. Didn't though.

Okay, one more latte, and then it's off to Regency England, where intrigue, corsets and bad metaphors await me. The fun never ends.

Is it me ...

... or are there an awful lot of errors in The Happy Hooker?

I kept trying to remember what was wrong with Yeehaw Lady, so I went to look for the errata list for S&B Happy Hooker (duh!). Uh, there are two errors listed for that pattern, but none of them is the one I'm thinking of, which had to do with the crown increases. On the other hand, I didn't notice the two errors mentioned, so I guess I'll make another hat with the corrections and see if "my" error still pops up.
Now, really, I love this book to death, but errors in 13 patterns? Of 40? I haven't made anything from the S&B knitting books, simply because I've got so many other things I want to knit (seems to happen with knitting more than crochet), so I don't know about them, but I keep hearing about errors there all the time, too.
Do you think that's normal? I've got a few pattern books which I've used a lot and never found a single thing wrong with them. How about a few (more?) test stitchers next time?

Anything except temptation

No, I didn't really think I would just buy two lots of yarn in that extra-special clearance sale at my favourite e-bay yarn store. You know, the sale with the EXTRA SPECIAL low prices.
(Ahem, just gearing up for the excuse here, people.)

So, I just bought 10 pounds of lovely natural fiber yarn in 4 colourways and a mixed bag. How's your week going?

I don't want to poach any more pictures from the store, so I'll take my own once the package gets here - for which the mail delivery facilitator person will hate me for all time. When you see the stuff, you'll understand. And that's without even feeling the lovely texture. Sigh.

In honor of the purchase - for which my bank account manager will kill me dead btw - I worked a couple rows of FrouFrou today. I dunno. I've seen it finished and lovely on a few blogs, but it still looks weird in the making. We'll see. In three rows, I get to tackle the dreaded collar. It seems simple enough, but for some reason I can't visualize it.

Speaking of Happy Hooker, there is an error in the Yeehaw Lady pattern. Somewhere in the crown shaping section - only I can't remember what it was exactly. But I wanted to start another one anyway, and this time I'll write it down.

I bought the April issue of "Sabrina" the other day. German knitting magazine for thin people. There was one pattern I fell in love with instantly, a long panelled skirt, one of the few truly lovely knit skirts I've seen. Yeah, took me a while to understand that it wasn't a knitting project, but just part of the models designer duds. I should have worn my glasses.
Behold the birth of a pattern project, because this skirt NEEDS to be knitted.
I made a few sketches so far, and I'm going to do the math right after the romance novel from hell is translated.

Speaking of which, my dictation sweater awaits.


PS: Thanks to Judy for welcoming me to the Knitting Blogs Group 2 ring. I've been doing some browsing (translate, Kay, translate!) and found me some new regular reads I think :o).

Make Up Handbag

It happened like this: I was sad last night, thinking about my mom a lot, and somehow I remembered that she loves handbags. Then I remembered this drift of Lana Grossa "Party" languishing in my drawer - not really enough for anything, but soooo pretty. I got out a 6.5 mm hook and made up a handbag. It was done really fast, I just weaved, blocked and decorated this morning. I thought about a flap or some kind of closure for a long time, but decided that I like it the way it is. I love the shape, too, only the handles weren't quite right. I'll definitely experiment with that shape in various sizes. I think if I made it bigger and wider (with lining), this would make a great knitting bag.

VIWIP

Here's what I'm working on right now.

That's Froufrou from The Happy Hooker, in one of my beloved WolleTempel yarns. I'm about halfway done, and my perception changes every other row. Too long, too short, too wide, too small. I have a feeling it will come out just about right. I've never crocheted a sweater all in one piece, so I'm a little wary of the shawl collar, because I can't quite figure out what it's supposed to look like. Guess I'll just have to trust the instructions ;o).

And another Happy Hooker creation (can you tell that I love that book?!), Yeehaw Lady, in black cotton ribbon. Ends are still sticking out and it is very much unblocked. Looks cute though, and it took about 3 hours to do it. I think I need to make some more before I go back to Texas. Pink, maybe?
I didn't have any floral wire for the brim, so I took a double length of 20 gauge jewelry wire. It worked just fine.


This is a hoodie from Cool Crochet. I've got one more sleeve and the hood to do. Again, this is cotton ribbon, which I love to work with. The color is somewhere between this and the detail shot.





I love this pattern, even though it does make for a somewhat bulky fabric. I want to try this with a small hook and some lace-weight yarn on a cami design I have in mind.





Here's a cardigan from DROPS. (Sorry about the blurry picture, it's not as blurry on the website.) It's number 88, pattern 4.
Since there is not much to see yet, I opted for the picture that shows the yarn colour best. I mixed the yarn myself in cotton/rayon. It's going to turn out a little sturdier than in the DROPS picture, but considering what spring is like in these parts that's a good thing. This is the first DROPS pattern I'm working. I don't know ... I keep checking the

Norwegian original (with the handy dictionary on the website). So far, so good, but being a translator and knowing that these website translations are usually done El Cheapo, I can't help being suspicious. On the other hand, I read a pattern instruction the other day (German original). There was a part I didn't understand, and my first thought was, "I wonder what that said in English?" I am most definitely Lost In Translation.

Sigh. That's all, folks, except for that "Dictating Sweater" I talked about yesterday. That needs to be a bit further along to photograph well (as well as I can manage, that is).

Up next: New things I want to make really bad, but won't even think about until at least two more projects are finished. Looong list that one.

Can you believe it?

Got lucky again! All that yarn goodness is mine, mine, MINE. Mwaahahahaha!
Uh, right. Sorry about that. I see socks and scarves in my future. And a dress with a multicolour chevron skirt from DROPS. Sigh. It's the little things in life - like buying 4 pounds of yarn in one day on e-bay.

A new high

I found the perfect combination of work and play:
I just dictated half a translation with voice recognition software while knitting a few rows of my "you mixed the yarn, so use it up, even though it's kinda crappy" sweater project. Unfortunately, I can only do stockinette without a) looking and b) thinking, so that sweater is not going to be very sophisticated.
But it didn't feel like work at all.

e-YAY!

It's mine!
Well, not quite yet, it will be once I've paid for it, which will happen as soon as the other auction is over. Not that I expect to get so lucky again. The yarn is called "Poppies in a wheat field", and I got two pounds of it.
Unfortunately, my gain is my loss, because the yarn comes from the designer's ebay clearance sale. She's giving up, because there are too many people who can't or won't distinguish between yarn made from high-quality natural fibers and acrylic garbage. Too bad, I love her stuff and still have a few of her yarns in my stash, one of them a brown cotton mix that looks so chocolatey I think it has calories.

I've got one DreamMix project on the hook right now, "Frou Frou" from The Happy Hooker, in lovely dark blues with a touch of emerald. I wanted to take a picture, but the weather is so grey today that it turned out black with a touch of greenish black. I'll try again tomorrow. Rumour has it that we'll get some sun.