Drumroll please

I finally did finish The Castle Sampler:


(Pattern: Castle Sampler by Teresa Wentzler)

I worked on it for quite a while, but with at least two larger (like several months long) interruptions. I did the center panel first, then worked my way left and up, only to discover that I'm pretty, damn close to the edge of the fabric. So I sewed a stripe of extra bit of fabric to the left side which helped a lot. Eventually I finished the outer border, though I did work a bit on the figures in the bottom part in between. The last two sections where the musicians and finally the lady on the right hand side.

I did write the year 2008, even though I did actually finish it in 2009. But, really, the major part was done in 2008, so I think this is okay.
The frame I've already picked out, but, as it will be custom made, I'll have to wait for it a little bit.

I've picked already my next project. It will be the Sample Game Board from The Drawn Tread. It is a bit more on the simple side than the Castle Sampler (but then, what isn't). I had to order the fabric though, so I will have to wait a bit before I can start.

On New Years Eve and New Year I was at a friend's place and didn't want to drag the big project with me, so I picked something small and simple.

Moon Dragon by Dragon Dreams. I've did this once already in August 2007, but then gave it away as a present. This one I plan to keep and make into a bookmark.

On the knitting front I've made a simple hat

(and if you believe it's easy to take a picture of yourself with pointing a camera over your shoulder at a mirror ... think again)
2x2 rip until I figured it's long enough, then degreesing for a bit, then bind of.

On the bird house front, the word (or is that the peep) is getting around.

I've noticed that the girls (I have to admit I'm sort of guessing here, but I do think those are female birds) are far more willing to share than the boys. I've been watching one bright colored bird to chase another one off not just once but several times.

A Little Bit Late

Wow, this is already my 150th post!!!

First off, some belated x-mas greetings:


I'm not one for much christmas decoration in my place (heck, I don't even have a tree), but every year I set up this little group on top of my TV (of all places). The cute thing about this is that this is part of a puzzle and all pieces fit together in a really small box.

We are not much into christmas presents either. I did get a lovely, home-made bird feeding station from my nephews, but the birds haven't shown any interest in it so far. If they ever do, I'll be ready with my camera.
However, as my sister mentioned that she wanted some wrist warmers (in black, if you please) I quickly whipped a pair up.


The pattern is inspired by Rose's wrist warmers, which I found on ravelery. I did a couple of modifications, mainly because the yarn I used was a bit thicker than the one the pattern called for. I ended up with one extra, so in case my sister should ever grow a third arm (left please) I'm prepared. This third one (or rather the first one) was for testing the pattern and I decided, based on it, to change a few more things.

Other than that I've indeed went back to the Castle Sample for one last push to finish the monster.

This is from before christmas, to mark the point when I finally finished the border - including all back stitches. Go me!

Since then I've finished the three musicians and the background around them (except at the bottom), but not the back stitching there. This will be my next task.


After then all left to do is the stitching lady on the right hand side and I'm done, done, DONE!!!!

Final Dash

Only a couple of days to Christmas. Even though we don't normally give presents among the adults in my family (which does reduce the pre-chrismas stress by quite a bit) I do have one for somebody in the family. Though I can't say who. And what. So the picture will come up after the holidays.

I did finish the Charade socks from last weekend, though. Now I'm not soooo sure about the colors anymore, but not enough unsure to say I hate them. I guess, they're still perfectly alright to wear in my boots and stop me from getting cold feet.

I also finished another project, which was a sort of made up on the spot - I have to wool - lets make something with it project.

The scarf is warm and fluffy and I have absolutely nothing I can wear it too. My blue/black jacket has velcro all over it, which is just Bad to a knitted scarf. And it doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination, match to my red winter coat (for which I do have a nice, home made scarf anyway)

Even though I've started one more project for knitting (a simple, plain hat - nothing exciting in any way) I switched tracks, and went back to my x-stitch for a change. For the last two days I've stitched tiny green stitches in the border, over one, until I've got the feeling I'm getting blind. I'll make a pic as soon as I'm done with the border.

Various disasters did strike last week, the most annoying one my phone, that simply stopped working. When I pick up the receiver I don't get a free line (well, I don't hear one) but when I try to call myself, it sounds like the line is free, only I don't hear a ring tone from the phone I'm calling and the answering machine doesn't pick up. I already checked the line, at it seems fine.
I hope I can get it fixed tomorrow, even if that means I'm going to brave the pre-christmas shopping frenzy.

The Importance Of Doing Backstitches

So, my Aunt's Duty is done, all that's left is to deliver the finished product into the arms of my sister.


The knitting was the easy part, the sewing and the stiching not so much. First I tried to use normal stitching floss for the letters, but this looked crap. Of course I had no wool in the correct color in my stash (and considering how much wool I have in my stash, this surprised even me), so I went and bought some more yarn. As I was able to return two balls of the original yarn that I didn't need, this wasn't so bad. However, my self-control was so weak that I bought more yarn for my next big project, a new cardigan (more of that one maybe next week)
(or, rather, if I have to drive all the way to the yarn store, I m ight as well buy more wool, right?)

I have a little in-between project going, from a wool I bought two years ago on the Isle of Skye in Scottland. 100% wool in natural white ... that's pretty much all I know about that wool.
It's perfect though for this project:


Wrist warmers (the link to the pattern is here; it's in German though...)
One wrist warmer is finished, the other is half way there.


Last week I've got back to the Castle Sampler. As I was a bit sick of all that border stitching, I've started with one of the figures in the lower part of the sampler.

See: Man in chair (without back stitches)



And see: Man in chair WITH back stitches
I might bitch and moan about doing bs, but in the end it's so much worth it.

An Aunt's Duty

End of August I've started a pair of socks in Noro Sock Wool. This wool is fairly new and as I've knitted with Noro before (and, man I do love my Lizard Ridge blanket, now that it gets colder) I wanted to give it try. I've heard a lot about the yarn - it varies in thickness drastically, it breaks easily, it's a pain to knit, it contains many knots, the yarn has no elasticity whatsoever ... and really, most of it is true. What makes is worth knitting though, is the amazing colors the yarn has and how they slowly change along the way.

(sorry about impossing my less than lovely calves on you ...)

Today, I finally finished the Ziggys (pattern can be found in the last summer edition of Knitty.com). It's been a while since I did fair isle knitting, and going back to it by using a new (well, new to me at least) knitting technic wasn't maybe the smartest move. The new technic (Magic Loop - knitting of a sock toe up on a circular needle) did work, sort of, but I don't think it will replace the 'classical' sock knitting with double pointed needles for me.
The yarn didn't cooperate for some parts and I had to break it in a few places as I just couldn't see the pattern. This in turn lead to going into panic mode that the yarn won't last, resulting in me knitting the socks shorter than I've intended. (and of course, there is plenty left and I could have added some length) And there IS truely no elasticity - I had to increase the number of stitches so I'm able to get them over my heel.

So, conclusion: Lovely colors, but no more socks with that yarn for me.

To get a bit more relaxing knitting in, I've turned to a project that I'm doing for my youngest nephew. While I was in Sweden, my sister pushed a magazine into my hands, and let me know that I should make that pullover in that size for my darling nephew.

(the blue one on the right, but with the size of the red one)
My local yarn store had the wool asked for (though they had to order the specific color) and on Friday I've started knitting.
So far I've finished the back, and going to start on the front as soon as may be.
Easy - almost mindless - knit, absolutely perfect for watching TV.

And another update on the Castle Sampler - progress slowed a bit last week, but all in all, not too bad.

Booties, Beads and Borders

The wife of a dear collegue of mine is pregrant. Though the baby was scheduled for November, it looks like the little lady is going to make a premature entrance to this world. I thought I'd get a bit more time, but when I heard the news I quickly got some yarn, a couple of patterns and wiped out a pair of baby booties.

I do refuse to knit in pink, but this yarn works well for boys and girls (and it was cheap too)
The bottie pattern I found on Ravelry (one of my very favorite sides on the internet)
They were super easy to knit, fast and turned out very, very cute.
I do almost feel sorry that I don't have so many oppertunies to knit for babies.

I also did knit a little baby hat, but didn't get a picture.


Then, another collegue of mine is leaving the company end of the months. As she made the mistake to admire my simple, little flower bracelet last week, I made a bracelet for her too.
The pattern I made up and it took me only two tries to get it the way I wanted it. Then I added Svarosky crystals to add some color and a bit of sparkle.
I think it turned out nicely, and I hope she's going to like it.

I broke another of my thin beading needles on this and I'm now down to two (out of the six I've bought in Sweden). Guess I'm going to beg my sister-dear to get me another set somehow, as I can't find the really thin ones here (as well as the thin thread, please. Thank you)





Other than that, I'm still working on the Castle Sampler (and will work for a while still, by the looks of it)


Top border almost done. The border's a fairly easy to do and once I've worked out the sequence I barely checked the pattern any more (though, it's a good thing I do check is once in a while, as between the letter 'M' and the letter 'N' is a four stitch gap, and not a three stitch - caught it ahead of time, luckily)

Castle Update

Vacation's over, I'm back to work *sigh*

I took the Castle Sample with me last week to Dresden and worked mostly on the outside border.

That's about it ...

Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

...but, as I can't really afford diamonds, Swarovski crystals will have to do.

Last week I've experimented a lot on beading and some related technics (like chain maille jewellery). As several of those experiments didn't yield satisfactory results, I've got only a little to show.

First is a bracelet in black and white with Swarovski crystals on top. In reality it's very sparkly and I do love it dearly. The picture doesn't do it justice in a the least.


Second is a set of bracelet and necklace. This is mostly normal beads with cheap glass crystals. The necklace should have three rows, like the bracelet, but I did run out of crystals. I'm thinking about adding a pendant, but don't have any real idea at the moment what.



Both pattern are from the magazine I've mentioned last time.

Other than beadwork, I've worked some more on the Castle Sampler.

The left side is a bit narrow, and I probably will add a strip of fabric to extend it a bit for better manageability. At least I now know there's enough fabric for the pattern (I'm still short about 4 stitches, but there's just enough room for them). I didn't center the pattern very well, but this way I've got a bit more wiggling room on the right hand side.

Sigh, my vacation is now over and it will be back to traveling most of the time.
While spending almost two weeks at home I used a guest account for World of Warcraft, and I had a lot of fun trying the game. If I had more time at home, this might turn into a problem (as I would probably continue and spend way too much time in the virtual world)

My character was a Taurus warrior, though I thought her to be quite cute. I thought it hilarious that when you type in the command "/muh", she actually moohed like a cow. Only, if anybody would have told her that face to face, she would have smashed him with her big hammer.
I will miss her ...