Something Really Scary

Happy Easter to everybody!!!

If there's one thing a knitter fears it's putting a scissor to your knitting. It's just not done. It's evil. It's really, really scary.

Now, the More Stripes Vest was asking me to do just that *shiver*
The idea is to keep the continuity of the stripes at the left and right hand side of the neck opening. As the stripes are coming naturally from the yarn and they have really long and fairly random repeats, there's no way to keep the symmetry if you knit the left and the right side separately. So, what you do is to knit the neck opening in one go and then *gasp* cut down the middle of the knitted piece in the end. This, by the way, is called steeking.

Before you cut, you sew two lines on either side of the intended cut with a sewing machine. To illustrate this I drew white lines (for the sewing lines) and one red line (where the cut is being made)
Some people recommend a strong drink before cutting, but I managed without.

(just after the first couple of snips - hmm, could be the picture is a bit out of focus because I'm still shaking so much ;))
Right now the front - with open neck hole is blocking, and then I'm ready to sew everything
together.



I'm also presenting to you the block number 18:
and block number 19 for my Aran Afghan

Spring's Here!

Finally!!!

In the last week, the temperatures have risen by a good 15deg C, there's sunshine and I spent some time on my balcony today and yesterday.


The trees are not really green yet, but they're working very, very hard on it.

On the knitting front I'm back to potholders. After trying to show my friends how the double knit technique works, I got back into the mood and did some more.

First pair is basically a repeat of the pair I made a few months ago (--> link), so only a detail picture this time to show off the colors.

Second pair in the works is the resurrection of the Transformer potholders I've tried to do a while ago, but found a bit confusing at this time.


First the Decepticon symbol and I'm in the middle of the Autobot symbol (doing it red on black). It certainly is fun to do and if I come up with a few more pattern, I will probably give it a try too. I've got a good set of colors now, though I might run low on a few eventually. Finding the black was pure luck last week, as I had not been successful before, but then discovered three skeins in the clear out bin at the Wolle Rödel in Frankfurt. Only, they are discontinuing that yarn, so there won't be any more.

Stripes

I finished the back of my vest, even though I gave it a second start after knitting 4 or 5 inches. It did look a little tight on me, hence the ripping and fresh start.


So far I used two full skeins of the black/brown/grey color and a little less than two skeins of the blue/green/purple one, so I should be set (I have four skeins of each color)
Knitting is fun, especially watching how the colors develop and which color combinations show up. I had a couple of knots though, very typical for Noro yarns. The Silk Garden does feel much nicer than the yarn I used for my Lizard Ridge blanket, though. It's more expensive as well.

All Socked Out

I bought this (Noro Silk Garden, colors 201 and 236):
And want to make this:


And the start to it is this:

I think I'm all socked out, so I decided to do something else for a change. I've had my eyes on that vest for a while and finally decided it's time to give it a shot. My gauge was off though (19 stitches to the 10cm instead of the 22 stitches in the pattern) but I didn't want to change the needle size to something smaller, as I really did like the tension as it is - anything tighter and it would have been too stiff. I did some math and hope it'll work out.

While I was waiting for my chance to get the yarn, I fell back to the Aran Afghan I started ... ehr, a while ago. The first square I tried I didn't like so I ripped it up and did this one instead.


It's the one by Ann McCauley and there are a few tiny mistakes in it, but I decided I don't care and won't rip it up (again!!!).

28 of 64

Last week a fanfic bunny attacked me viciously. I have those attacks once in awhile and usually I can resist. I know I'm a decent, but not a brilliant fanfiction writer (especially, because I write in English, which is, after all, not the language I've grew up with). Usually find the effort to hammer out a story, especially if it's a long one, too tedious to bother, and I'm not exactly a fast writer. I have a couple of rules when I write fiction and one is that I won't start posting a story, unless I've finished it and somebody has betaed it. I do love reviews - who doesn't - but I will not go and hold my readers hostage, by telling them I will only continue writing if I get at least x amount of reviews.

Well, I'm not going to break my rule this time, but that means I'll be spending a lot of my time the next few weeks behind the keyboard, writing. So not much knitting, not much stitching.
I've already written over 18.000 words and I think there will be about the same amount again before I'm done, which means this will be the longest story I've ever tackled. The fandom is Twilight, which is also not the fandom that I thought would get me back to the keyboard. But it happened, and I'm helpless, so I write on.

How does that quote go? "A true writer is somebody who write because he has to, not because he wants to."


At least I've now got 28 of the 64 squares of the Sampler Game Board finished. That's almost half.

And I also finished another pair of socks. The pattern is the 'Undulating Rib Sock' pattern from the Favorite Socks book, but I inversed it, as I like the inside better than the outside. As the shaft and the foot are knitted inversed from each other (that is, I knitted the shaft following the pattern, then turned it inside out, and then knitted the foot bit with all the purls as knits and all the knits as purls) the foot stitches look a little bit different then the rest. Not too noticeable I hope.


Jutta, if you like then, give me a shout and I put them aside for you. I think they meet your request that they have to match jeans. They're a bit scratchy though.

Another Place Holder

Just to let you know, there's nothing to show this week, really. I've made some progress on the Sampler Game Board, but that was it basically.
Sorry about that.

Wicked

Yesterday my family and I went to see the musical Wicked in Stuttgart.
It was the birthday present from my sister and I for my parents. Even though it was 'only' an afternoon show the theater was packed. I enjoyed it a lot (though I still prefer the English version ... but that's me *shrug*). The cast was fantastic, especially the actress who played Elphaba.



Other than that, I've finished one pair of sock (oh, what a surprise) and started the next already.

Finished pair: Yarn is from the sale at Aldi, the pattern simply plain socks with short row heel and toe.

I'm in a bit query with the second pair, though. The pattern is the 'Undulating Rib Sock' pattern from the 'Favorite Socks' book (which, in itself was a pretty good investment, as this is like the fifth pair or so I'm making from the book)
You see, this is the pattern's right side:

And this is the 'wrong' side:
And, well, I like the wrong side better, so it looks like I'm going to knit this one inside out for a change. I have to see how it works out.

Gloves

I finished a pair of fingerless gloves:

This is the same yarn I used for my hat a while back, so this was actually using up some left over yarn. The pattern is 'Knucks' from Knitty, though I left out the stitching. I do love them and they are surprisingly warm.

I did some more knitting (some simply socks, about 70% done) and also stitched some on the Game Board Sampler, but nothing too exciting, so no photos for now.

I also wrote a short story for the Twilight fandom, but fanfiction.net is acting up and I can't upload it at the moment. *grumpf*

The Castle is Framed

I finally got the frame back for the Castle Sampler. I had it custom ordered, but they never let me know that it was done. So much for customer service....


I wrangled it into the frame last Saturday and am fairly happy with it. It's maybe a smidgen too small, but considering that I don't exactly have fabric to spare on the left hand side, it's okay.
Now, I've already decided where it's going to be hanged, but that means a) I will have to take of the pic already there and b) I'll have to nail in two new nails.
Maybe next weekend.

I'm still fairly distracted by the Twilight saga. I've finished the last book last weekend (I think it's the weakest in the lot, but that's mostly because how some things developed. I still breezed through it) Now I've immersed myself into the fanfiction, giving my old e-book a good work out. Some really, really good stuff, some less so, but that's fanfiction for you. If the story is crap there's always the famous delete button.

Despite the distraction, my first pair of socks for 2009 has been finished.


Some cheapy yarn I've picked up in Dresden last year and the cross rib pattern from the favorite socks book. Love how the colors pool. The orange does pop, that's for sure.

I'm also back on the Sampler Game Board, after I've sorted out a little color problem I've had. The bobbin on the right is what I took of a new skein of 3787 and it should have been the same color as the border. Well, obviously something was incorrectly labeled, as the 'real' 3787 is the one on the left. My thanks goes to a very good friend, who helped me out quickly after I realized the problem, so I could work on.

Quilt

Last August, when I visited my sister in Sweden, I think I might have dropped a supple hint that I wouldn't mind too much if she would make me a quilt.

Yesterday, I did pick her up at the airport for a visit here, and look what she had in her luggage:


My very own quilt. All for me! Mine!
My precious!
Yeah!!!
This quilt is pretty damn cool. Size is 47 x 59 inches (120cm by 150cm) and the perfect size to snuggle in on my sofa and read a good book.
Which I'm going to do now.

Bye!

Distractions

There's not much to show this week. I knitted half a pot holder (second to the one I've already showed last week) and one single block in the Sampler Game Board.
That's it.
Nothing else.

Reason for the lack of progress is a distraction in form of a book - or rather a book series.
It's been a while I've read a good book I could sink me teeth in (sorry about the really, really bad bun) let alone a whole series. Last book I've read where I was really looking forward to pick up every evening and read on was 'The Unexpected Apprentice' by Jody Lynn Nye (and I'm still debating with myself if I should pick up the hardback for the sequel in April or wait until the paperback is coming out)
I have my favorite authors (I love almost every single book from Mercedes Lackey) and, of course, I've loved all the Harry Potter books.
But it has been a long while (I guess since HP7 came out) that I was almost incapable to put a book down (just one more chapter...) and last night I was up and reading until 2 am.
The series in question is the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyers, the tale of Bella (human) and the vampire Edward she falls in love with (and he with her). Romantic, downright sappy in places and riddled with oh so many obstacles to their love. Corny.
And I can't stop myself from reading and wanting more.
I blame it all on my friend Petra, by the way, who took me to see the movie two weeks ago. It's all your fault!

Just to have at least one picture in here (and, oh is it hard to look at ;)) a shot of Edward and his family.



On another note, I plan on winning the 35 Million Euro jackpot this weekend.
Just so you know.

More Pot Holders

I'm working on more pot holders.
First was an experiment in double knitting, which, if I may say so, turned out pretty good. The motive is the Tardis from the TV series Doctor Who.

On one side she's blue on black, on the back side she's black on blue.
This is a fun technique and my next project is done the same way.


I have a few more ideas for this, so I guess I'll end up with many, many pot holders, or my friends and family will end up getting a lot from me.
Better than socks - at least I don't need to care about them fitting any feet, right?

Too Heart To Handle

Before my mom had her stroke a couple of years back she made pot holders for me and my sister.
Now the pair she made for herself suffered a heat involving accident, so I offered to make her an new set.

The first one (the one in darker blue) is a bit bigger than the second one, because I knitted it on a smaller circular needle (less tension). Guess is doesn't matter too much.
I hope.

Other than that, I've been stitching and made some progress on the Sampler Game Board.


It's still a fun project and one where you can easily see some progress. 14 squares down, only 50 more to go.
(hmmm, putting it this way, maybe it does look a bit more depressing than before ...)
*grin*

They Really Did It

Friends of mine got married ... after 18 years they've been together.
I was a very nice, low-key wedding and we all witnessed how they said yes.

As they've got several Star Wars themed presents, I've thought a little Star Wars cake would be fun.
I did have the figures (and yes, I know, Merilyn Monroe is not exactly Star Wars, but really, I couldn't have Leia marry Luke, right?) so all I had to figure out is how to make the cake. I wanted something simple, but then I think that the whole idea got a bit away with me. In the end (after many changes in the plan) I've made a simple chocolate sponge cake with raspberries and a marzipan cover.


I think they liked it *grin*

Brrrrrr

It's cold!
Very cold!
At least cold for here. They say it hasn't been that cold in 22 years (which might be, but then I do remember it being pretty cold two years ago)
Proof:


The temp on the upper right side is the outside temperature (in Celcius) last Wednesday morning. I know, this is not even 0°F, but, hell, I think this is pretty, damn cold.
In some parts of Germany the temps dropped to below -25°C
*brrrrrr*

On the other hand, the weather is sunny and together with the snow that came down on Monday, it makes for good photo opportunities.


I did go on a two hour hike today, and beside some cold legs (which is really my fault, as I can't for the life of me find my long johns) it was really nice.

I did start a new project and already have to show some good progress. The fabric arrived on Tuesday and I had some good stitching time the last two days.


Compared to the castle sampler, this is EASY. But still interesting enough to not being boring. There are a total of 32 houses (64 fields) all in all, so I've already got about 10% done.

Short Interuption

...just to let you know (as you have probably already seen) I've played around a bit with the layout of my blog.

Not 100% there yet, but better. I think I'm going to fine tune the title picture a little bit more, maybe even make a new one where all the threads are properly lined up.

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.

Look, A Birdie

Happy New Year first off. I hope you all have a good start into the new year.

Yesterday, the bird house finally found some interest. And I have fotographic proof.

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.

Socks ... again

I know, it's getting boring, but I'm still knitting socks.


Pattern is called Charade, yarn is from Schoppel and called Admiral Flakes in a color way called 'After the Rain'
In the forefront is the first finished sock, in the back the start of the second.
A fairly simple sock, but I love, love, loooooove how the colors are pooling.

So much for this week's update.

Torchwood .... socks?

Torchwood is a British TV show with now two full seasons (13 episodes each) to its credit. The show is a spin off of the long lived SciFi TV show Doctor Who. It is set in Cardiff of all places and shows the adventures of a team fighting aliens and supernatural occurances which happen to come through a rift in time and space that happens to be in the middle of Cardiff.

Over the last four weeks or so, I did watch all Torchwood episodes there are and I quite enjoyed it (else I probably wouldn't talk about the show at all)

Now, last week was also a fairly slow week in the office, so I happened to doodle a bit, and one of the things I doodled was the Torchwood logo (you can take a look at it here if you want)
And as I was doodling, I thought it shouldn't be too hard to make a pattern out of it for knitting.

It wasn't (very hard, I mean) and here's the first of two Torchwood socks


I didn't get quite the 3D-ness the logo has, but for the resolution I had at my disposal (the pattern is 25 stitches wide) I'm not too unhappy.

The knitting technique was a bit of a challenge, though. I know I could have easily stitched the pattern on top of the sock, once finished knitting it plain, but what would have been the fun in that?
So I did a sort of intarsia in the round where in row 1 I did normal fair isle until I was a the other side of the the pattern (at this point the main and the contrasting color threads are hanging on this side of the pattern. If I continue on, I would have had a problem with the contrasting color, as it would be on the wrong side of the pattern when I came back to it). So I turned around, slipped all stitches of the main color according to the next row in the pattern, but purled (after all I was on the wrong - inside - side of the sock now) all the contrasting stitches. Now the contrasting color is again at the beginning of the pattern. I turned the work again, slipped everything back to the other side of the pattern and continued knitting. At the point I reached the pattern again (now in row 2) I knitted all the main color stitches and slipped the contrasting ones (they have already been knitted in the row before). Row 3 I worked like row 1 again and row 4 like row 2 and so on.

Sounds complicates and in a way it is, but main thing is, it works.

My cookie stash is already much reduced - my parents got some and I brought some to friends and collegues to quite positive comments.
The sock yarn stash, on the other side, has grown thanks to a little trip to the Schoppel Wool factory sale outlet in Rodenbach.

I only feel a little bit guilty about this ...

Once a Year

... I get the x-mas cookie itch. I mean, serious, I don't bake much over the year, and why should x-mas time be different? Besides, I do prefer a nice sandwich over a sweet cookie any day. And there are the calories ...

Usually, I have three standard recipes I do every year, which are coco macarones, cinnamon stars and ginger Heidesand (which is a buttery cookie to which I decided a couple of years ago candied ginger would go well ... and it does fabulously)

This year, I haven't made any of my standards (yet), though one is going to be close.

Jam filled cookie stars. I made them for my dad, who loves those (or at least a variation of them, my mum used to make)




I got some of the dough left and made puzzled cookies.

I did get the cookie cutter a couple of weeks back and sure I had to try something with it.

Nutty triangles with chocolate


Coco-choco spirals


And finally (though I have plans for two more kinds I want to try)
Ginger bars (with candies ginger, tried apricots and almonds)


Not a dud so far in the lot