Greenway

I hereby declare this afghan as finished.

The pattern is called Greenways, and is from the book 'Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghans'.

  I used stash yarn in DK weight (and a couple of times holding double fingering weight). The plan was to get rid of the DKs I've had, but I've still got a lot left (are they breeding somewhere? I don't know) I just decided that this is it, it's big enough. It's a good 160 by 140 cm.

 I quite enjoyed making this and I do love the end product. I still need to give it a bath, which will be a PITA, as a lot of the yarns I've used are handwash only, meaning I will need to do it in my bathtub.

Flowers and Butterflies

Last week I was in the mood for some paper piecing.
I started out with a couple of butterflies. I've found a free pattern here and started sewing.

Then I thought what to do with them, and decided on a smallish wall hanging, adding some New York Beauty flowers and a sun. I've made those patterns myself, as I couldn't find anything in the size I've wanted.
Finally, I taped off an area on my design wall and added background fabric until I've got to the size I wanted the wallhanging to be. The flower stems and the leaves are applique.

(sorry for the somewhat blurry pic)

My brilliant idea for hanging it was to use two safety pins and a knitting needle. It works!

What's on My Knitting Needle

Several project are currently ongoing.
Main focus project is the Blue Sands Cardigan.

 I'm using Wollmeise DK in Blue Curacao, QED and Dora. The yoke was tricky with a lot of stuff happening at the same time, but the instructions are super clear, so there was no issue and a careful fitting (so I don't pull out the needles) shows it's a pretty good fit. I'm about 10 cm into the main body and there are long, boring rows of stockinette. Perfect for TV knitting actually.

Second project is socks (because, well, socks can be knitted anywhere and anytime, so it's always good to have a pair going)

Again Wollmeise, this time in the twin quality. The yarn is leftover from other projects, and the colors are Wolke and Wasserratz.

Project numero 3 is a stole. The name of the pattern is actually 'Stole'

Nothing very exciting, really. Just 10 knit, 10 purl for 380 stitches each way. As I'm using lace yarn (picked up in Nuernberg last year) it's a light projct to carry around.

Finally, I've also got a crochet projct going (actually, already since October). 

I've been trying to get rid off some of my stash yarn. And looking through my stash I've found several skeins of blue, browns and neutrals. Searching through my books I found this pattern called 'Greenways' and I thought this might work well with what I've got. I'm working this as a stashbuster/scrappy project, using everything that's halfway to DK weight yarn. 

I really love the scrappy look. 

The width of the blanket/afghan is 140cm and I've already got 150cm in length. I guess I'm going until I'm at 170cm.

Braided Rug

Last year in February I made my first experiment with braiding fabric into cord and then sewing it up to make a rug. The result was okayish (the rug refused to lay flat), so I planed on a second attempt using not t-shirt yarn but cotton fabric (my thinking was that the reason the t-shirt rug didn't lay flat, was because the t-shirt yarn is a bit elastic, which may have contributed to the problem. It turns out that's only part of the problem. Even with non-elastic cotton, the tension you use for feeding the cord to the sewing machine is tricky to control)
So here's braided rug number 2.

It does lay perfectly flat, though some pulling and stretching has been required after washing it in the bathtub.
Hurray!
The final diameter is 70cm. If my math is correct, I've used circa 30m of braided cord.

I'm seriously in love with my new rug.
I put it in front of my bed, so when I get up in the morning my toessies don't land on the cold floor.

Halfway There

I'm currently working on two quilts. One is the Trellisquilt, which has reached 20 blocks so far, the other is a Double Star quilt, which also is at 20 Blocks.

If I go for a 6 by 7 layout (72" by 84") I'll need 42 blocks, which means I'm almost halfway there. I definitely need more reds, yellows and purple.
Long time, no socks, so here's a new pair I've knitted while I was in Dublin.

Pattern is called nine-to-five (a free pattern) and the yarn is some hand-dyed sock yarn I've picked up at the Wollfest in Leimen last year.

Doors of Dublin

Dublin has very pretty doors.
They come in yellow.

 Or in red.

 Some are blue.

 And others are black.

But all are beautiful.

The Rug (Or, It Used To Be A T-Shirt)

Last year in February, I cut up a couple of my old t-shirts and made them into a rug for the bathroom. As an experiment it was okay, but there were a few things I wasn't 100% happy with, so now for T-Shirt Rug No.2.

 This time I cut the t-shirts in 2 inch wide stripes and then crocheted around the stripes using old cotton yarn (using a 4.5mm hook)

I used about five t-shirts in total and 4 1/2 skeins of the cotton yarn (all from my stash).
I totally love the result (even if this one is ALSO not laying 100% flat). It's a bit more ... squishy than the first rug and it feels really good on my feet when I get out of the shower.
I've still got a couple of t-shirts I've already have cut up, so I guess I'll make a second one, maybe for the bedroom.

Pincushions

I've now finished 15 blocks for the trellis quilt, but have to take a break, as I've run out of the white fabric (I do need 2 inches WOF for each block, so I've ordered 2 more meters --> 20 more blocks, only, I think I will need 21)
In the search for more usable scraps I dumped out my crumbs scrap baskets (basically, everything I deem to be too small to be worth saving with the bigger scraps, but still big enough NOT to end up in the stuffing bag). There I found a lot of small triangle cut offs, which I then turned into small (1 1/4 inch) half square triangle blocks. And those HSTs I then turned into pincushions.
 First one was from the green scraps basket and turned out 3 x 3 3/4 inches (one of the HSTs is 3/4 of an inch after sewing)

Second one is from the blue basket and has a five by five grid (3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches)

 The third one in reds and neutrals is again 3 x 3 3/4 inches, but I made it into a tiny mattrass 1 inch high.

They are all stuffed with more scraps, those too small be be useful for anything sewn.
I'm quite pleased with the results and also that I found something useful to do with those tiny scraps.

Book Covers

During my my most recent trip to the fabric shop, I came across this great cork leather fabric/material. I bought a roll (roughly the size of a fat quarter) and following the pattern I bought with it, I made a book cover for a note book.
And because it was so damn simple to do, I made another book cover in leather (and a third one in black leather, but no picture as I've run out of note books to cover)

The cork material is made with natural cork which is bonded to a fabric backing and it's a pleasure a use and touch. So soft.
I also love the brilliant way for the closure of the book. Just stick a pen or pencil through the three loops and the book is held closed. And you never have to search for a writing utensil.

Scrappy Trellis

New Year, new quilting project(s).

This one is another attempt to manage all the scraps I've got.

I've searched through my scrap drawer and pulled out all the scraps that are at least 3 inches wide and between 1 and 2 1/2 inches wide and sorted them by color groups.

This here is only a part of what I've found, by the way.

Using adding machine paper I sewed the scraps into long stripes (I did cut the adding machine paper to 21 1/2 inch as this worked out best for me)

I then trimmed the stripes to 2 3/4 inch width (the adding machine paper is 2 1/4, so I added 1/4 inch to both sides)

To both sides of the stripes, I sewed a white stripe 1 inch wide (coming out as 1/2 inch) and two gray triangles.
After trimming that block down to 6 1/2 inches it looks like this.

 And after sewing a couple of them they look like this.

I've got now 8 blocks á 4 sub-blocks. I'm aiming for a total of 30 or 36 blocks, which should give me a 60 x 72 inch (or a 72 x 72 inch) wide quilt.

I'll have to see how far my scraps can get me.

Till's Quilt

Nephew Number 2 has now also turned 18 (... this starts to make me feel old). Like for nephew Number 1, I've made a large quilt as a birthday present. Nephew 2 wanted blue with batiks, so he got blue with batiks.

 I think the basic pattern is from a magazine (but I can't find it at the moment). I set the squares on point, though.
For the back I spelled his name in big letters, using scrappy fabric I've made using crazy mom quilts scrap vortex tutorial.

The i-dot. I went a bit crazy on the farbic selection. Basically I had no limit, so the result was pretty wild.

I did the quilting on my machine at home. On the background I quilted simple loop-de-loop, while on the batiks I made those 'orange peels'. All was done in free motion.

Christmas Menue

I've got the request to show this Christmas's menue (weird, I know)
Starters: We started out with a bit of rabbit pie I've made ahead. It's an older recipe, which we rediscoved a couple of years ago, and which I've been making for the last three years for Christmas.

 Main Course: The discussion on what to make for the main course starts in early November and the menue changes about five time before we finally settle on something. This year the winner was saddle of lamb with potato gratin, string beans and carottes.

 Dessert: This was prepared by my sister and is apple and puffy paste wrapped into a rose and backed in a muffin tin. Looks great and tastes even better.

Finally, nothing to eat, but a reminder on what Christmas is all about.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Just a couple of little things I've finished last week.
Dekoration/name cards for the Christmas table. The letters are all the first letters of my family (well, at least the family that is here for the Christmas meal tomorrow). I've used up the scraps left over from the last table runner I did.

 One pair of plain socks using Regia's Pairfection yarn. Basically, pretty cool idea, as you get two complete runs of the color changes starting with a bright yellow bit of yarn as a marker. Personally, the shaft is a bit on the long side, though this is problably better if you knit the socks in larger sizes (this is a 39)

 Then, I cut up one of my old blue jeans and made some useful stuff from it. Using the pockets and bit of one leg I came up with this utensilo for my remote contols (there are two pockets, one on each side of the arm rest)

Last, but not least, a new pair of slippers. This is the third pair I've made following this pattern. The first two pairs are fairly worn out by now,so it was time for a new pair.

I still got one leg plus a few scraps left, so I'm thinking about some more stuff to do.

Merry Christmas to all and a Great New Year.

The Force Awakens

Less than 2 weeks until the next part in the Star Wars saga is coming to the movies. I can hardly wait.
As the movie starts in winter time, and, well, because I found this (free) pattern, I've made Star Wars hats.

 I first made the gray on (with 'The Force Awakens'). I then had enough left over for a second hat, so I made one more with switched colors (with 'May the Force be with You')

Never 100% happy with working in intarsia, but after washing and a bit of blocking it's not too bad. For added warmth and to prevent snagging in the floats, I lined both hats.

They will both end up as small Christmas presents.

Christmas Cookies 2015

It's this season again and so, naturally, I've made a batch of cookies like every year.
No real surprises this year. I've basically just made my standards plus one test run of Spekulatius (speculoos)
I never can quite remember which exact recipe I use for the 'Gebabbte', so for next year to remember: Friesenringe (meine Familie & ich 12/2011)

 My dad loves them as they contain jam (you stick two parts together with jam), but I'd think they would be just fine, only the top parts.

Group picture:

 From top clockwise:
- Orangen-Spekulatius (I used my cookie stamp, but you can barely make out the little cookie man)
- Walnusskonfekt (favorite of my mom ... and my brother in law)
- Gebabbte (most of those will go to my dad)
- Ingwer Heidesand (used a slightly different recipe than normally, but I think it turned out good - also, only half a batch. From the last time, I pretty much had some left in April)
Center left:
- Zimtsterne (used some of the left over walnuts from the Walnusskonfekt. Maybe not such a great idea, as they are more fatty than almonds. The dough was somehow not 100% right)
- Orangenstäbchen (basically candied orange peel covered in chocolate)

I think that's enough calories for this year.

My Sewing Room

I used to have a guest room. The room had a bed couch, a dresser and some stuff that somehow ended up there and never left.
Over the last two years the guest room turned into a sewing room. One day the bed couch left (guest can sleep on the inflatable bed, right?), the content of the dresser was replaced by fabric and fabric related stuff, and eventually I moved the IKEA shelf and the table from the Dresden apartment in.

The transformation is now complete.

I'm currently quilting a large quilt for my nephew, but to get something finished quickly (once in a while I need the satisfaction of a finished project - even my knitting stuff is currently mostly long term) I made another x-mas table runner.

It's the same princible as the one I made in July, but bigger, with more fancy fabrics (I picked 8 matching fat eights at the Kreative Messe in Frankfurt beginning of the month), and wonky stars.

I machine quilted the runner with straight lines in the ditch, and hand quilted around the stars with golden thread. It ended up as 150 cm x 40 cm, which is way too big for my dining table. But then I already know where it's going to end up.