Elfine

These socks were a very fast knit. I knit them with yarn from 'Het stookhok' hand dyed by my still secret swap partner. The pattern is fabulous to knit. I can certainly recommend the pattern.

Next pair I'll finish up is the pair for my Sockapalooza partner... Knitting with Sophie's toes is a dream. I've got the leg done of sock nr. 2. Love it.

green

In my last post I mentioned the Mystery Stole project I'll be starting with this Friday. Odette asked what this mystery stole is all about. Well...

Melanie from Pink lemon twist is a designer and three years ago she thought it would be nice to start a knit-a-long giving participants clues to knitting a lace shawl without knowing how it will look in the end. It was so much fun that she decided to do it again last year and this year again. The designs are gorgeous, by the way.

Eventhough I have no experience with lace I am going to give it a go with some nice green laceweight yarn. I'm not going for the beaded option. Don't like the look of beads on lace.

Now that I've mentioned green... I dyed some yarn today. Olive/forest green this time and I'm really curious as to how they will look when they are dry. I dyed one skein of sockyarn from 'het stookhok', one skein of Opal undyed and one skein of silk/wool from Het Stookhok. It'll take a while to dry though. They are drying in the bathroom because it might rain again.

I finished Elfine's socks and I'll be taking pictures tomorrow.

knitknitknitknitknitknitknitknitknit

Some days/weeks can be so stressfull that you actually get a lot of knitting done in your spare time. I have 7 birthdays spread over three days this week. The planning wears me out a little, but it has a great effect on my knitting speed:



Now, I hope nr. two will knit up just as fast so I get the presents out of that magic yarn ball. My secret pal hid most presents at the center of the ball. I did allready find a package of easter egg/ yarn dye and I'm anxious to see the rest!

Now, somewhere between all the obligations I'm starting the Mystery stole. The color I've chosen after carefull deliberation (thanks Trillian!) is the basil green. On 3,5mm needles the fabric is nice, soft and lovely. I'm so curious as to how will this lace project turn out? Will I like making the shawl? Will I like the result? Why can't it start today? ;)

fiddle fiddle fiddle Toe!

So, I thought it would be nice to try something new since The Summer of Socks has started yesterday. So I picked up some needles and the Magic Ball yarn and fiddled with Knitty's tutorial and here it is:


A toe!!!

I'm going to (try to) knit Elfine's socks by Anna Bell . I think the beautifull yarn (José?) and the pattern complement each other perfectly.

Now, to harder choices. I need to chose one of these two colors for the mystery stole that starts next week:



The one on the left is called bottle green, the one on the right is called basil. Aren't they awsome? How can I ever chose which color I'll use? (Hint: help me!)And the yarn is soooooo soft and shiny! It's too good to be true.

Another thing that's too good to be true:

I ordered some of the awsome undyed sockyarn at 'Het Stookhok' and this silk/wool blend as well. It is awsome and feels just like Lorna's Laces' Lion and Lamb. I'm such a lucky girl!

magic sockyarn

The mailman came to me this afternoon with a package! I love that guy, seriously, he allways brings me nice stuff ;)

It's a handddyed ball of yarn with green and blue and yellow. It smells really sweet!I also got a nice bag of licorice which I've allready opened up. I love licorice! I got to knit San's socks first before I can start on this ball, but it'll be lots of fun!

Crazy Regia socks

Pairs nr. 9 and 10 of the 52pair plunge are done! Both an adult sized pair and a toddler sized pair from just 100 grams of Regia 4ply.

The toddler socks were made with the Opal Kid's Sock pattern. I used about 30 grams total for these two socks and they look adorable. I might add some glue to the bottom to make them less slippery.

The grown-up socks were made with my own fantasy. I'm working out a pattern, but I'm not sure how to link it to blogger yet. Leave me a comment and I'll let you know when the pattern is ready to download. It's really easy and I think very nice for self-striping yarn but just a bit more challenging than stockinette.

about weird goodbyes and things to look forward to

Last weekend my brother told us and his girlfriend that he was not sure about his relationship with her any more. He's not sure if he wants to stay together or break up. They are talking today about what's on his mind. I'm not meddling. I'm not going to call and ask how things are going. I'm not going to interfere...

It's really hard though.

Last thursday, me and my parents went to a concert of her Orchestra (she plays the violin and is the concertmaster) and we realized that that might be the last time we'd see each other. And we said the weirdest goodbye after the beautifull concert with phrases like 'Hey, hope to see you again, soon.' I hope we will since she has become part of our family in the past four years.

To look forward to (for links, go to side-bar):

* Summer of socks: from july to september 21st knitting socks to prepare us for wintertime. There will be all kinds of contests and picture sharing and you know, I just really like making socks.

* Mystery lace stole 3: Lace is something relatively new to me. I made the Cherry leaf scarf with my Magic Ball yarn a while back and I'm still very happy with it, but now it's time for some real itty bitty lace weight yarn on big needles. I will need to get used to the difference in tightness of the fabric since socks are so much tighter. The KAL works as follows: every so often you get a clue to knit a part of a stole. You just knit every part and end up with a nice shawl you haven't seen up front. I'm really curious how this will end up! I've never worked with laceweight yarn before and I've ordered some very pretty Zephyr wool/silk laceweight yarn. I hope it'll be here soon so I can do some swatches! This circus will start June 29th.

The black purl is sailing to Dublin Bay

And they are done! I washed them with gentle woolwash and well, let's say SIL should wash them seperately the first couple of washes. The water turned quite purplish.



Now I'm going to concentrate on the other SIL's socks and her daughter's socks and the Jitterbug socks that I promised to a girlfriend who's birthday is in 1,5 weeks... Knit knit knit knit knit knit knit knit.

Found a new pattern today by the designer that designed the Embossed Leaves Socks. It's called Dream Twister Socks and can be found here. It looks totally awsome! I also found a new free pattern on the socktopia site. It's called Uzume and you can find it here. So many great patterns, so little time. Meanwhile, I'm deciding on a pattern for the socks I'm making for my fabulous knittyboard swap partner Stariel and I'm enjoying the company of my two little furbabies. Here's another picture of little dragon.

pretty pleased

Oh Regia, Regia, Regia... It retaills for about 6 euro's per 100 grams (at least one pair of socks) and I seriously think this is the best of the'work horse'-sock yarns. It is relatively soft - especially compared to Opal and Fortissima - , the colors are saturated - especially compared to Meilenweit-, it is not splitty at all so I can knit with my eyes closed and according to my dad it wears, washes and dries well. Seriously, this yarn is just perfect if you want to knit not-so-expensive socks. I'm having a great time with the crazy color pink, red, orange, purple, grey socks for SIL which is a good thing since I am allowing myself to finish other SIL's socks in the lovely Lorna's Laces after I finish one of the Regia socks.

Here it is:

I might write this pattern down if you'd like it. It's actually a lot like the Anastasia socks but then top-down and with only one 4 spirals of eyelets. Really easy and fast (just 60 stitches on 2,5mm needles with a gauge of 8SPI) but still entertaining enough to make a second (I think) and good for self-patterning yarn.

To conclude today a little picture of that kitty.

a visit from the frogpond

I don't know what happened this weekend. It might have been the warm, damp temperature or the thunderstorm friday night.It might have been just me having a brain fart. The frogs stopped by this weekend.

More on that later. I had a great birthday saturday night. For some reason I decided that it would be a great idea to cook for the guests. Sure it was a great idea and everybody had a nice plate of pasta but it did entail a considerable bit of stress to get all the groceries and get the house kid-proof and clean. The adrenaline kicked in just in time for the guests to arrive the pasta and I didn't feel any fatigue untill the next morning. pffff, you should have seen the mess. It took me 3 hours to get the place clean again. It's safe to say I did not get a lot of knitting time on Knit in Public day. Better luck next time.

On the knitting progress, I made a negative progress this weekend. First I frogged the Kool Aid sock. I loved the color and all was fine untill I reached half of the foot and I tried it on... I couldn't get it on. Rip-it rip-it rip-it on Sunday morning with a hangover and a house so full of mud. I sure wasn't going to start on them again right at that moment as the yarn was clearly jinxed (and I wanted to keep my first dyed yarn for me) I was going to start other socks for SIL. Boyfriend picked out a Regia 4ply crazy color in pink, orange, purple (too bright? Are you kidding me?) and I started in order of appearance:

* monkey socks... not a great idea for this yarn.
* Uptown boot socks.... not the right number of stitches
* stockinette socks (boring boring) too big
* my own pattern with a yarn-over and a k2tog.... fingers crossed.

So far the pattern + nr. of stitches (60 on 2,5mm needles) is working for me and the yarn held up really well considering it had been frogged four times. In Holland people say 'Op hoop van zegen', fingers crossed.

Too bright, he says...

This month two of my SIL's and a niece celebrate their birthdays so I've opened up a sweatshop here trying to finish socks for all of them (no more procrastination no more, no more). I know they'll all be happy with a book or a pair of store bought slippers, but I promissed myself to make everyone socks this year. So.

You've allready seen the Black Purl socks. Second sock is progressing in a steady pace. I'm halfway on the foot part. Not bad, eye? I could get it finished today - I could have finished them yesterday- if I weren't me and needed several projects at a time to keep my mind sane.

So I wondered what socks I would knit for my other SIL and then I remembered that I had dyed some sock yarn with Kool Aid, casted on a pair of stockinette socks and then put them aside because I was working on a couple of other projects as well. I was thinking, these Kool Aid bright colors (see picture below) would be perfect for SIL2. She wears a lot of bright colors. She has neon blue linen trousers and wears bright pink shirts.



I told BF when I showed my progress that these socks would be for his sister. He looked at them and said: 'Aren't they al little too bright?' Too bright, he says. 'You should tell that to her when she wears those hidious trousers.' Point taken.

Anyway, the Kool Aid yarn isn't even close to the softness of the Lorna's laces yarn so I've set myself the goal of finishing one of the Kool socks before finishing the second Lorna's Laces sock.

Yes, the Manos hat is about finished. I need to fit it on my friend's head first to see if it needs an edge. It's fine for my head size, though and I LOVE THIS HAT. It's perfect for him.

Drops Alpaca... I've got several options for the yarn I showed you in my last post. It's about a fine weight. They are all from Victorian Lace Today.

- Large rectangle with center diamond pattern (page 20)
- Dolphin Lace (p. 106)
- Melon pattern (p. 146)
- scarf with French trellis border (p. 98)

I don't know which one I like best... I think the Large rectangle is a good one. Not too complicated and probably suitable for a beginner like me. Any other ideas?

Man this is a long post and I have so much more to tell you... Oh, and it's my birthday tomorrow. It's World Wide Knit In Public Day on my birthday. Isn't that swell?

Manos del Uruguay

So the little picture worked as an incentive... Astrid and Tijm, I'm making a hat from the book One skein wonders. The pattern is actually available online here. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay. You might have heard about this yarn because there's a famous scarf pattern called 'my so called scarf' that uses this yarn. The yarn is awsome to work with. Soft, warm, in beautifull colors and the people who spin and dye this yarn (in Uruguay) make a decent living. It is rather expense though. 10 Euro's for a skein... totally worth it. And if you're just doing a hat or a scarf, you'd only need one or two skeins. If you're interested in getting manos yarn, there's this cute store in Amsterdam called Eggmercantile that sells some colorways and cute other stuff. It's near De Afstap in Amsterdam. If you're in Amsterdam, be sure to pay them a visit.

Now, the newest additions to my stash:

I am so addicted to Fleece Artist. This colorways are Mermaids and Blackberry and they are both SO pretty! I haven't knit anything with Fleece Artist yet. I'm just petting their skeins.


I went to Finlandia in Bergen (Noord-Holland) yesterday to check out that store. There aren't many good yarnstores in Holland and my friends at the SnB said this is a nice store with a great variety of yarns. And they were right. They have great collection of all kinds of yarns from Finland and England. A lot of laceweight too. I broke down and bought four skeins of Drops Alpaca to make a lace shawl from Victorian Lace Today. It is so soft... and the colour is just the right kind of green for me.

Eye, Captain!

The first half of the Black Purl pair is finished in Dublin Bay, Captain. I'll knit his mate immediately! I do have to make sure my little kitty doesn't run off with the yarn, though.



Or that I get tied up with this little piece of Manos del Prettyguay.

Loving Lorna

So I've started on another project. I know I have about 6 projects on the needles but I was watching Pirates of the Caribean (Is the stress supposed to be on the second or the third syllable?) and I just had to cast on with Lorna's Laces Black purl colorway. It's not just pretty. It is amazing!



The colors are pooling very nice and the little lacy part on the side... it's so simple and awsome. They are the dublin bay socks btw. I did have to mess with the number of stitches. I didn't like the fabric of 9,5SPI so I did 64 stitches with a gauge of 8,5SPI on 2,25 mm needles. Just perfect.

Downside of these socks is that they will not be mine. I'll give them for someone who has her birthday this month and loves the color purple.

I also made another pair of babysocks because there's someone pregnant (not me). This is actually pair nr 7 for the 52pair plunge.

Rise in arms!

Take your knitting needles and protest! The Dutch knitting and handcraft world needs your attention.

For quite a while there's been this great Dutch magazine on crafts like knitting, embroidering, weaving etc. There are great indepth interviews and stories on the history of different crafts. Now this great magazine called 'Handwerken zonder grenzen' (Crafting without borders) is in danger. The publisher went bankrupt and the beautiful magazine might ceaze to exist because of this.

So it's time to pick up your needles and protest. Leave a comment at this blog: http://tijm.blogspot.com/

Now, I've been tagged by Trillian to state 7 weird things about me... Okay. What's considered weird?

1. In my family we call my dad 'your father' because my mum used to tell us to 'cal your father'. So we called out 'your father'.

2. I don't like to drive. I'd rather take a 2 hour trainride instead of a 30 minute car drive.

3. I have a lot of old stitching UFO's. (I'll get to them, I swear!) I was heavely into stitching before te knitting bug kicked in.

4. I really want to start a podcast, but I'm not sure if I want to get myself into such a vulnerable position. I would do it in Dutch, though. I think there's a 'market' for a Dutch knitting podcast.

5. I can't handle rejection or hard critisism.

6. I cry a lot. I don't know why. Sometimes the tears won't go away. I can cry for a day.

7. I'm a listmaker. I love organizing chaos by putting things that belong together in the same bin and labelling files. I thrive in chaos because it leaves me space to organize :)