Knit Picks Harmony Straight Needles

I was lucky to be asked, if I wanted to give the new Knit Picks Harmony straight needles a try. Of course I did! Those needles are not just beautiful, but good to work with too. They make me happy just looking at them. Needles can be boring, or they can be fun like these colorful ones. I do realize it's just tools, but the better the tools, the better the work will be.

I was surprised how sharp the tips are, but not painfully so. I do have a pair of rosewood needles, but I always felt, yarn never glides well on them, especially with cotton. So I tested these Harmony needles with mercerized cotton, and they work fine. The yarn slips quite easily along.

Even my son was impressed on how they looked. He's so used to seeing all kinds of knitting material all over the place, that it must stand out for him to remark on any of it.

Now, don't feel left out. Angela, of Knit Picks, also asked me, if I would like to get some needles for giveaway. I was in a good and generous mood, so I said, yes, of course! That's why three lucky people are now getting a new pair of Knit Picks Harmony straight needles from me. All you have to do is leave a comment, letting me know which size you would prefer, if you are a winner. I have two pairs of US 6 (4mm) and one pair of US 8 (5mm) to give away. To be considered, you can leave a comment until Monday moring, when I'll announce the winners some time on Monday, September 22nd.

Now, I'd like to thank you all for your lovely comments on my Three Sisters Scarves. And also thanks for all your tips, and empathy for Sam, it's greatly appreciated.

I'm going to respond here, not individually this time. Some of you might already know those things about Sam. He's had knee surgery three times, surgery on both his elbows, he was neutered, which usually is no big deal, but with him it was. One of his testicles did not drop, so they had to cut him open and look for it, so he would not get cancer later on. Once he almost severed one of his toes, while playing, which resulted in a deformed nail (after surgery). He was born with weird front legs, they were never straight, but he always stood like a ballet dancer. It was clear from the beginning, that his front legs would give him trouble down the road, which is now, I guess.

As a puppy he fell into the pool twice, and now is deathly afraid of water. He wont even step into a puddle after the rain, if he can help it. The only way he likes water is to drink from a bowl, or when it's really, really hot, he bites the water coming out of the hose. So swimming is out of the question for him. We tried to get him into the pool, but it's just cruel, the way he acts when in it. So therapy with water is not likely going to happen.

And he's about 96lbs, he's a big dog. You just can't lug him around under your arms, like a toy dog. If he can't get in and out of the house on his own, we are in big trouble. If the problems where in his hind legs, we could see about some kind of wheels for him, but it's the front leg(s) right now.

I don't think surgery, like Biko had on her back, would help his elbows, if at all possible. I'm thinking we just have to find the right pain killer, to make him comfortable, paired with glucosamine supplements, green lipped mussel extract and what else I can find. In any case, the medication he's getting now, is not doing much for him.

Tomorrow he'll get his 4th injection for his joints, and we'll see how his anal gland is doing. He doesn't seem to be bothered much by it right now, which is good.

O.K. enough of that. I wish you all good luck! I'm going to finish my mosaic swatch now.

Mist

It's been a while, since I last posted some spinning. I haven't had time to spin lately. I finished the first skein in the middle of June, and the second skein at the beginning of August.

This is 8oz of 40% merino, 60% bamboo, dyed and sold by A Piece of Vermont. Oh how I loved this colorway, and still do.

It was hard for me in the beginning to work with this fiber. As I was starting to tear it into strips, it drifted apart in my hands, like clouds. Or did it melt like butter? It frustrated me at first, but I had to change my outlook on this one. Before I handled wool, fine, and rough ones, and it can stand rougher handling quite well, not so this fiber. Needless to say, I got used to it, but this fiber wanted to be spun very thin, unbelievable thin. That's why after I finished the first 4oz, there was some time between getting started on the second half. Spinning thin takes forever, and while I enjoy spinning, looking at the same color for such a long time, I needed to spin something else in between, before going back and finish it up.

It came out as lace weight yarn, both skeins together ~ 1,407yds, which will make a lovely shawl someday.

Sam update: Sorry about the blurry picture. If I had a better one, I would have chosen that. That's typical of Sam right now. Holding up his leg, trying not to put pressure on it. It's the one he has this darn arthritis in. He's limping everyday, always, nothing seems to help him. Just yesterday I was thinking, that I'm getting used to seeing him limping, that it seems normal.

I guess because of the prednisone, he's got an anal gland infection as well. (as I understand it, taking this medication makes it easier for infections to take hold) The left anal gland was full of blood, last week at the vet's. He's on antibiotics now as well. After the treatment last Thursday, Sam was fine until Saturday, when his bum started to bother him again.

I'm so tired of it all. I want a healthy puppy, with which I can go for walks etc. It's unbelievable how fast he adapts to his life, how he enjoys going outside (of course he did always enjoy that), playing in the backyard, which for him means, limping outside, finding his ball, taking a pee or two, and lay down to chew on his red ball, listening, and looking around, sniffing the air.

Poor guy, why has he got the short end of the stick? One of the Vet's said:"He's got all the personality, none of the legs." And that's true. He's the best dog we've ever had.

Three Sisters Scarves # Three

Knitted socks are out again, and worn with pleasure. I'm happy summer is over, even if it wasn't a bad summer at all. It's so much more fun to knit warm things like mittens and hats again. After knitting three scarves with Handmaiden Sea Silk, I've discovered that I like working with wool and wool blend yarn the best. I love the feeling of it in my hands, and sometimes when the yarn still smells a little bit of sheep, I'm in heaven. Silk yarn, and silk blend yarns are fine sometimes, but I'm not that kind of girl. That's why I have no trouble giving away those scarves. There you have them! All three in their glory! Puh, am I glad it's done! I need a break from this yarn for a while. It's wonderful to the touch, so luxurious. I hope my SIL's will appreciate them.

This last of the three scarves drowned in its own juices. I finished it late evening, and put it to soak, wanting to block it before I turned in later. I totally forgot about it, and it soaked until next morning. It felt a little stiff, from the water, which turned cold over night of course. But now that it's dry, it's as nice and soft as the other two. The water was dark green though.

pattern: my own

yarn: 1 skein Handmaiden Sea Silk, as the two others before, just a little left over

needle: 3.5mm this time, since I started this before I finished # 2 and didn't have a second 3.25mm

size after (careful) blocking: 10" x 66"

start-finish: August 30 - September 05

That's it! Have fun!

download

Please let me know if you find errors in the pattern! Thanks.

There was a mistake in Scarf #1 and 2, I put errata on the post with the download, as well as on ravelry. Please check before you start knittind it.

chant with me: I will never release a pattern without somebody test knitting it again!

Three Sisters Scarves # Two

Sharon V: I'd love to send you the pattern for scarf # 1, but I need to know your e-mail address first! :o)

This is promised scarf number two. People on ravelry might have seen all three patterns already. This stitch pattern was driving me crazy. It took me forever to memorize it, because of the decreases which go in both directions. I was glad when it was over, but I like the look of it. And I've already cut off the end, which is visible in the above picture. ;o)

pattern: my own

yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk, 70% silk, 30% sea cell, 1 skein

needle: 3.25mm

size after blocking: 9" x 68", (I had just a little left over)

start-finish: August 25-30

Have fun!

download

Errata:

rows 12 and 14 of chart should read : knit all stitches

Please let me know if you find other errors in the patterns! Thanks.

(This cartoon is Teresa's. You'll find it on her blog for download. I recognized myself in it. How did she know? :o))

And while we are at it, I'd like to turn your attention to a young desinger Teresa, who has a new lace scarf up for sale called Flora, which I just purchased. It's a wonderful piece. I've already knit another scarf desing of hers, the La Dentelle Belle scarf, which is a free design. I think she's very talented.

Three Sisters Scarves # One

In preparation of my upcoming trip I'm knitting some gifts. This week I'll share with you the "Three Sisters Scarves" and as it must be, I start with # One. All three of them are easy lace pattern, made with one skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk. I had several single skeins in my stash and thought now's the time to use them. The first one is knit with a simple, but elegant triangle lace pattern. The color (which is not quite right in the above photo) reminds me of old gold jewelry. And if you know Handmaiden Sea Silk, you know what I mean. It has a wonderful sheen to it. (this picture shows the color better)

(least likeness of actual color)

pattern: my own

yarn: Handmaiden sea silk, 70% silk, 30% sea cell

needles: 3.25mm

size after blocking: 9" x 56" + fringes (I had some left over yarn, I might have gotten another repeat out of it)

For your pleasure, I've written down the pattern. I hope you'll enjoy it!

download

Errata:

the first 2 stitches and the last 2 stitches of this pattern ARE charted

row 2 of chart should read: Knit all stitches.

Fuerstenfeld

Well, it's settled. I'm booked to fly to Austria at the end of October. I'm going to visit my parents. Haven't been there in three years! Unbelievable how time flies. I'm getting really excited about it. :o)

Crochet Star Blanket

I've been blog hopping, reading as many as I could. I'm visiting the ladies of Mason - Dixon frequently, and saw this picture from their upcoming, new book. I'm telling you, it will be a big hit! You can see a preview here, so far I'm liking everything I've seen. Just saying. :o)

At the beginning of the year I said to myself, this year I'd like to make at least ONE crochet project. Well I made more than that, but this star blanket will be the last one this year. Too much knitting needs to get done, but I've got the crochet bug satisfied for now.

pattern: Trinket's crochet 8-point star blanket

yarn: Butterfly super 10 multi color # 804,"Lipstick", mercerized cotton, 5 balls each 100g ` 1,090yds used

size: tip to tip = 39"; ditch to ditch = 32"

hook: 4mm (G)

start-finish: June 15 - July 20

My all time favorite, and inspiration is Mariella's star blanket. It's just wonderful in those colors.

I made a tiny modification. I did only 2 dc in the corners, instead of 3dc, and it worked out very well. The piece is not flaring, but lying flat as it should.

I don't like mercerized cotton, and yet, I have so much in my stash. I'll use it up by and by, but will not buy more of it. I know it works well for some projects, and it will hold up wear and tear quite well, but - of course there's a but, it's me, not the yarn. Anyway, I still have to finish my one and only UFO - the bliss blanket. I've put it aside for now. It's entrelac, which is O.K. but I WISH I'd worked this blanket with some other yarn, not mercerized cotton. But I'm too far into it, to rip it all out again.

Sam update: He had his left front leg x-rayed. The shoulder is fine, and the elbow has severe arthritis, which we suspected anyway. We stopped giving him Metacam, since it didn't do him any good. Last Sunday we started giving him Prednisone and Tramadol, and we started to see some improvement, or I should say he seemed in less pain. From today on, he'll only get Prednisone. But we also give him glucose supplements. A dear friend mentioned Mandragora D4, and green lipped mussel extract/tablets, and she sent us some. As soon as we'll get it, we'll start giving Sam these as well. Although with atrocities, he will not get better, I hope we can manage the pain, so that he can at least go for short walks, and enjoy being outside in the backyard.

Thank you for all your well wishes!

Gifted sock yarn socks # 5

This is the yarn Christiane sent me from Germany. I choose the colorway myself, wanting to get away (a little) from my orange phase. It's merino/linen blend, and let me tell you, it was wonderful to work with. The only negative thing I can say about it is, that it splits easily, but I forgave that immediately, because the knit fabric has a wonderful feel to it. I thought yarn with linen in it, must be a bit coarse, but it's not. Probably because it's a 80% merino 20% linen blend. They could use a higher % of linen and I would not mind. Can only make the yarn stronger. I always liked cotton blend yarns for my socks, and now I'm looking forward to wear these babies as soon as it gets cold enough to do so.

I cast on for socks three times before I was satisfied with the result. The yarn stood up bravely to this abuse. It's hard to find a stitch pattern for handpainted yarn, that will pool no matter what, other than good old stockinett stitch. I found two ways to make it a little bit more interesting, and one way you can see here for yourself. I like the result. I made the leg 7" long, and the foot is for size 10 1/4", and I still had left over yarn. I could have added 1" to each leg easily.

Well, there you have it! Another pair of socks, contesting to become favorite socks.

pattern: my own

yarn: Drachenwolle

needles: for cuff and 3" of the leg - 2.5mm, for the rest of the socks 2.25mm 5 DP

size: 10 1/4"

Cast on: 64 stitches

start-finish: August 23 - 25

Thank you, Christiane, for giving me the opportunity to experience this lovely yarn. I would love to try this for a scarf, even as heavier weight yarn, or for a sweater, this would be so great, with a nice drape I'm sure.

The Aran Island Mittens

I told you that I was knitting mittens, and that they didn't work out as well as they should. It's hard to see, but the yarn is a lovely heather, some elann Highland wool. It's not the yarn's fault at all, even though before I knit this half mitten, I've knit a hat with it, and ripped it too. It's not the yarn, really. The mittens are way too big, huge in fact. I've decided to rip them back to the cuff, use that and make up something else, without increases. In fact, there's only the cuff left right now, but I don't know when I will get back to them, since the Noro blanket is calling to me, and I still have two finish two more lace scarves.

This is the palm side, I don't like how it looks at all. I liked it well enough the way it looked in the book. The pattern is "Aran Islands" from the book "Folk Mittens" by Marcia Lewandowski.

SharonV asked in her comment if I thought Kauni would be good for the 10-stitch blanket. I would not use it myself, because a) the color changes are long ones, and b) the yarn is too thin for my liking, for a blanket.

Sam: My baby is not doing too well. He's not responding to the pain killers he's getting. He's clearly suffering, and I'm waiting for the Vet to return my call to discuss this further. We've started Cartrophen Vet injections, which he gets once for 4 weeks. This may help, but in the long run, or not at all. He's getting lots of glucosamine supplements as well. Metacam AND Tramadol for his pain, which clearly is NOT working. Last night, for the first time, I was thinking that my Sam might not be around as long as I thought he would. That's a terrible thought, a scary one. The most important thing right now is, that he'll not suffer. I hope we'll find a solution.

I'm a yarn junkie!

Ah, that's better!
You should have known, that it would not do, unless it's Noro yarn, right? (I will finish the SWS blanket as well, but later.)
As I was surfing the net for my fix, I stumbled upon this online store. My objective was to find some Noro Silk Garden in the color # 252, and in a certain quantity. Well I found it, and it went like this: Several e-mails to and fro (I found out that the online store has it's warehouse located just around the corner, and I wanted to save on shipping/handling/time by picking it up) later, I called ahead that I would come to pick up the yarn.

The house is located in a nice neighbourhood, but it looked abandoned. I double checked the address, and went to the door. I rang. Nothing. I rang again, with nothing I mean there was no ring tone or anything I could hear. Still ...

The door was opened a crack.

Y (yarn junkie): Hi, it's me.
D (yarn dealer): Hi. (wrestles with bag of yarn; wants to shove it in my hands)
Y: Let me just step inside. (don't want the neighbours to see exchange of money at the door)
D: You use a lot? (I'm pretty sure that's what he said, but he could have said "knit", I'm not certain.)
Y: Mmh. A l-o-t. ( with slightly shaking hands money/yarn was exchanged, premises left quickly. No need for niceties.)

Did I mention that I took a loan to buy my yarn? I'm not proud of myself.

Oh, well. Here's what's interesting to you. Some wanted to know how I did the ridge:

when you are at the point where you knit the pieces together:
* slip last stitch as if to KNIT
* knit one stitch from the bump of the to be attached piece
* knit those two stitches together
* turn
* slip first stitch as if to PURL
* knit to end of row

* repeat until you used up all the bumps on the piece to be attached.

There you go. Now you know my dark secret AND how to make a ridge in your knitting.

Spring Thaw Socks II

This is my variation on the Spring Thaw socks by Cat Bordhi. I left out the leaves, and made a plain stockinette stitch toe, but kept the ribbing for the gusset and onwards, as in the original socks. I also increased the number of stitches to fit my feet better. I loved knitting with this merino/bamboo blend sock yarn, and even think the pooling is very cool. I've already worn them, and the feeling of this blend is a slick one, and cool too. Granted it took my cold feet a little longer to get warmed up (it was around 15C at the time I finished them), but they are perfect for Spring/Fall socks. I love them.

pattern: Spring Thaw Socks, Knitter's Magazine Summer 2008, by Cat Bordhi
yarn: Sockpixie, Bambino, she changes the colorways frequently
needles: 2.5mm
size: 10 1/4 "
start-finish: July 31 - August 06

Even though I'm knitting socks with my Drachenwolle right now, my new passion is the 10 - stitch - blanket. Have a sneak peak. It's time for another blanket, and I'm loving it! I've got loads of Patons SWS in my stash (regrettable), but I think it's good enough to use for a blanket. I wish I'd had some Noro yarn for this, I still might do another one with Noro, that's how much I love this easy pattern. The original doesn't have this ridge, where you connect, but I tried different ways, and liked how this looked, so I stuck with it.

Right now, I've got so many projects I want to make, I don't know where to begin. So please don't tempt me with new and gorgeous patterns, O.K?

Spinning is a bit on the back burner right now, and just because I'm afraid, I don't get all the colors the same weight as I need them for my mittens. I should just get it over with and see how it goes.

No time to linger!

Edited: Before I have to answer everyone separately: Here's a ravelry link to a free shortrow-spiral pattern for this blanket, but I've used Frankie Browns pattern, which is pretty much the same.

None ravellers here's the link for you!

A Vacation I Was Not On ...

... but still have some pictures to show you, if you are interested. They benefit of being looked at as large as possible, so go click them, and choose the largest possible setting on flickr.

My DH and DS visited Sydney, Melbourne, and Cairns. I selected a few of the over 300 pictures they took. The following are some of my favorites:

Enjoy!

Even thought they saw many sheep while on a train ride, they did not find any yarn, but they found these wonderful note books and gorgeous greeting cards by Rachel Newling. I LOVE them! I have to share the note books and pencils though, but I get first pick.

Hm, I picked a bad picture, because the note books underneath are the special ones. They are individually made from bleeding heart leaves, coconut, Padang grass, and recycled paper. They look heavy, but are very light, with lots of pages to be filled with whatever. There was also some Australian tea, which I've already sampled.

Poor Sam

That sucks! We went to see the Vet today. Sam's been limping on and off the last week. Yesterday it was really bad, he didn't want to put weight on his left front leg. The Vet didn't even need to take an x-ray, we all kind of knew what's going on.
Arthritis finally caught up with Sam. Even though he's only six years old, but his elbows were bad from the beginning.
We've been giving him Synovi G3 Soft Chews for his joint health for six month or so. But now he'll need Metacam for his pain, I think on a long term basis. If that's not going to work in the future, there will be some injection available for him. It's too early for those as I understand it.

He also threw up in the early morning hours, and since we could not rush outside, on account of him limping like a champion, he did that in my bedroom! I almost added to it. Who knew that his food would stay that long in his stomach! He had dinner at 5PM and threw up at 1:30AM. I even found some red pepper, which he had much earlier, but he was never one for chewing much. Just catch and swallow. Anyway, it was disgusting, and smelly ....

Poor Sam!

And since that's not trouble enough, I just found out, that our pool is loosing water through the heater! Which I've never used. As I said before, that sucks! Just one of those days....

Look ...

what the dragon lady coughed up! It's Drachenwolle, and a beautiful skein at that! It was not a surprise to find this package in my mailbox, but it was a great surprise to be asked for my address by Christiane, the dragon lady. Usually you would expect fire and smoke coming out of a dragon, but Christiane is dealing with yarn. How was it, that I came to be able to give this merino/linen sock yarn a try? Well, one day I left a comment on Heike's post about her newest yarn purchase at Drachenwolle, where she mentioned this particular blend, which was new to me. That's what I said in my comment as well, and Christiane must have read it, and was so generous to send me this gorgeous sample! I got to select the colorway myself. I was thoroughly tempted to choose one of her wonderful orange colorways, but stopped myself. There's too much orange in my life already. I LOVE this colorway, and I'm looking forward to cast on some socks.

All I can say is, thank you, Christiane! I appreciate it very much.

Spring Thaw Socks

Thank you all, who left comments on my last post about my handspun yarn . It looks like this "sea" color is popular. :o)

As I mentioned before, I think Cat Bordhi is my favorite sock designer. She really brings a new direction to sock knitting. That's why, as soon as I saw her socks in Knitter's Magazine Summer 2008, I was looking for the magazine, and as soon as I had it, I cast on for the "Spring Thaw Socks".

Of course I managed to screw up the first sock, but managed to fake it through. I don't easily force myself to rip something out, when I see some way to get through it anyway. I was just wondering silently, when I will be able to knit something without a single mistake. That, of course, would be perfection, and who is that perfect? I made them for my DD, because 1. I have enough socks, and plan on knitting more for myself, and 2. I thought the cast on amount of stitches would be too tight for me (but I was wrong, this is a very stretchy sock!). She's got shorter feet, so that's why I couldn't change my mind halfway through.

Well, I didn't make the same mistakes with the second sock, but found new and other ones to make. Oh well. Who's going to look that closely? The yarn is also cotton stretch, and it was not too bad to knit with it, but it had three knots in it, and all of them in the second sock!

It was a little awkward to knit these, because I used 5 double point needles instead of circular needles, but it's doable.

I liked the way the ribbing started right from the beginning, and followed through for the gusset, up to the cast off. I did a different, and easier cast off as well. I trust Cat completely, that's why I followed the instructions blindly, even though it was not clear to me (after the gusset, before the heel), and it turned out well.

pattern: Spring Thaw socks, by Cat Bordhi, Knitter's Magazine Summer 2008

yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch, color red (8003), 41% cotton, 39% wool, 13% polyamid, 7% elite; machine washable

needles: 2.5mm % DP

size: 9"

start-finish: July 17-23

I've already made another pair, with slight variations, and to fit my feet.

My boys are home, and they brought over 300 photos with them and interesting stories to tell. I'd like to share some pictures I love most, but not today, have to get through them etc. Today I'll be ironing, since my DH is leaving for Europe tonight.

Wellington South Sea Handspun Yarn

I'm back! Thanks for all your comments on my last post. Sometimes it helps to let it out, whine a little, and get on with it. So I did some knitting the last two days (made a pair of mittens, but not the ones I wanted to make last time). I've also baked on Saturday, and of course read more books. I went outside, did some gardening too, and just hung out in the shade. It all felt very good. I didn't spin however, don't know why, or didn't have time to do it too, with all the other stuff going on. I barely started on the first colored fiber for my mittens, but I'd spun this wool/mohair blend at the beginning of August.



I absolutely LOVED spinning this fiber. It was dyed by Donna of Wellington Fibers, but I bought the fiber at Gemini Fibers last year. Not that they have it in store, but I happen to be there, when they talked on the phone, and I ordered several colorways of wool/mohair blend sight unseen. This one was wonderful. I love the color. Even though there was a lot of veggie matter, it didn't matter to me. It still was easy to spin. I wanted a little thicker yarn, and it's light worsted weight yarn I'd say. Haven't done the WPI yet. Will do so, when I actually knit something with it. But for now I just like to squeeze it and look at it.

fiber: color : Wellington South Sea, 50/50 wool/mohair , a little less than 250g, (used some before for a knit hat)

navajo plied, big skein is 224yds, and smaller skein is 135yds, together 359yds.

I still have a couple of other colorways left, but I don't like them as much as I liked this one.

Today there's cleaning and stuff on the agenda. First I have to go outside and let the dogs run (as if they'd run in this heat). But they wont take my word for it. Tomorrow my guys will be back from their vacation. Which one will I hug first? Maybe my camera...

What's the opposite of "exultant"?

Oh, yeah, that's me!

I've been feeling very uninspired lately. The past week has been unproductive. I've knit and ripped a hat. I've worked on a mitten, half done, and it's going to be ripped as well. It's too big! Nothing's going right at the moment, and nothing is really calling to me.

I've been reading Brooklyntweed's blog post, and must admit to feel a little stir of envy. He's so talented, and every project of Jared's is wonderful, in color, yarn, and design. Sigh. I'm glad he's sharing his talent though.

I'm just not feeling the love right now. I want to knit, but it's more like going through the motions, not much fun really.

Might this be the lost "mojo" so many refer to? I miss my camera, I've had several nice moments, I wanted to photograph, but couldn't. I think I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Pictures are of Biko (from my archive), when she's ready to go to bed, out in the hallway. She's off on her own, away from us, but has the entrance in her sight, so she knows what's going on, so she'll not miss anything.

Dutch Skies Socks

Reading a book a day for over a week now, is hazardess to my health! My bloodpressure is up, the last couple of days I woke up with a headache, and felt dizzy. I've got three more books to go, and than I'll be glad when my guys will be back from vacation, and everyday life will resume.





A while back I had a private swap with dear Hannah, where I've got this sock yarn called " Hollandse Luchten" - "Dutch Skies". It's been a while since I finished them, but here they are now:

Totally made for myself!

specifics:

yarn: Storm in Wolhalla, color "Hollandse Luchten", 75% wool, 25% nylon, 100g/460yds - wonderful yarn to work with

needles: 2.25m DP

size: 10.25"

pattern: stitch pattern from a Japanese stitch pattern book, "Knitting Pattern Book 300" page 17 # 40

start-finish: July 1 - July 4

Hannah got some fiber to spin from me, unfortunately it was not much, but look what she did with it. Not only did she a fine job spinning it into gorgeous yarn, but she used all of it to make this cute Carolus.

Thanks for the gorgeous yarn, Hannah. I loved knitting with both skeins, and I've already worn this pair.

I'm off to see the doctor in a bit. Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Where are my boys?

Do you know where my boys are?

Maybe you should look Down Under!?

(sorry couldn't help myself)

(cell phone picture taken by DH)

Yeah, while DH and DS are on vacation, I'm enjoying my time home alone. I've read 6 books so far, in addition to spinning and knitting, and playing with the dogs. Not doing much else, as I said, enjoying my time off too.

I took a picture before they left, of the fiber I'm planning on spinning. I'm still on the natural stuff. I found out that spinning for a specific project is not as easy, as spinning just for the heck of it. Getting the right yarn weight is harder than I thought. I wanted to do a 2-ply, but as it turned out, the singles were too thin, so I did a navajo plying with the first skein, and it looks like it's going to work. Now to achieve the same results with the colored fiber. If all goes well, these fibers will be mittens some day.

Since I don't have new and up to date pictures, I found this one. I got this for Mother's Day this year. O.K. I helped picking it out, this way I'm sure to love what I get. Isn't' this tea cup pouch adorable? It holds small stuff, which would otherwise disappear in my bags, never to be found again.

I saw a picture of a similar one on another blog and followed the link to here. There were some tea bags in the pouch as well as a hand made button. I love it!