Carolina Crossroads Top

This is finally a picture of my finished Carolina Crossroads Top. I gave it a small pink border and a two block deep railroad fence border in the same dimension as the original railroad blocks but in a different color combination. MyGuy says it looks very green, but I told him spring is green. Now I need to dig out some stuff for a backing.

I have started the Orange Crush four patches for the next mystery. I found it hard to get started on this as I do not have 1,5 yards of most fabrics, I am more a fat quarter, half yard buyer. I am not sure if mine will work (contrast and one of them is fairly patternd), but this is stash, so I will go with it.

A bit of nuttiness....

You Are a Brazil Nut

To most people, you seem exotic, unusual, and even a bit scary. But you're really quite normal. You're just hard to get to know. If people leave you alone and let you do your thing, you really shine. But you tend to get lost in a crowd, especially if it's filled with big personalities.

What Nut Are You?

Fitness for last week

Not too bad, not too good. I went to the gym on Thursday, but only went walking on the treadmill for 45 min (my first time, not sure I did the programm stuff correctly). Didn't do any weights as I was plain worn out.
I went swimming on Sunday (the pool is a disgrace, but the people are nice) and swam 1000 meters.

Back to the gym today.

Mini Stricktreff

We had a mini knitters' meeting on Saturday and it was fun to get together. I was being destructive rather than constructive and started to frog a sweater in Rowan's All Season Cotton that I am not wearing because it looks like a sack. I managed one sleeve there, then needed to cast on another sock to numb the pain of taking out all my carefully hidden yarn ends and unraveling all those seams.

By now I have both sleeves ribbed and the body pieces seperated. So the unknitting can continue.

Reading rather than crafting

This days the pendulum has swung back to reading and I am using my commute to finally read some of my Mt. TBR books. I am currently making my way through Quicksilver and that will keep me busy for a bit longer as it is almost 1000 pages. I have read the first quarter by now. It is interesting and challenging and makes me want to dig out biographies on Newton and Leibnitz to see how historically correct the book is.

Some crafting will get done on Saturday when the Bodenseestricker meet at Eva (lakeside's) place. For more information find us on Strickspiration.

Sockenbilder

Finally I got around to taking some pictures of finished socks. First the choclate socks with the madder ribbing from Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.








Second the Caffee Lichen socks in caffee latte colorway and lichen patterning from the same book.










The third is the first of my finally started Jacobean Socks for the Sock Knitters Penthalon. Luckily we have until end of April to finish them so there is yet hope for me. I managed to do the magic cast on with DPNs and am knitting my second ever toe up socks.





These are slip stitch socks that remind me of Turkey for some reason.

Great Nature Photo

I found this wonderful photo with a bird and a bee on a czech blog:

Bird

What is in a name challenge

A pity I missed this challenge, it sounds like a lot of fun!

Back to the get fit part

I am back to the last bit on my blog description: trying to get fit. This week I was twice in the fitness studio, so at long last I am getting back to this. Now I have to keep up with it. Not always easy when I know MyGuy is home.

Spring Knitty

The new spring knitty is out and I have already one pattern that I will have to knit: Yosemite.

Caffee Lichen

Yesterday during the AS Roma vs Real Madrid game I was able to finish my Lichen Ribbing socks in Caffee Latte, Caffee Lichen. MyGuy said they were good looking, but we didn't take pics yet. I am pleases with them and with the fact, that they are off the needles as this means I can start the Sock Knitters Pentalon with the lovely Jacobean socks. Just need to decide if they should be Löwenzahn bei Wollmeise or Regia Silk in black...

Carolina Crossroads Center

And here we finally have a picture of my quilt center. It is currently about 156 cm square and was a bit of a challenge to take a photo of it. Luckily MyGuy rose to the occasion and took this one while standing on a chair. Now I have to get started on the border...

Sock Production

These are Nancy Bush's Madder Ribbing Socks with Hazelknits choclatier colorway (lovely yarn, found at etsy). This is knit for the Nancy Bush Vintage Socks group. Fun and easy.

Another Nancy Bush pattern: Canal Du Midi. This one is a lot more fiddly, done in Meilenweit Cotton Stretch, I think it will make great summer socks.

These are the socks I knit for a dear collegue who was leaving the company, now she is staying. What to do? I will likely give them to her anyway, as they do not fit anyone in this household. Done in Regia.
These are MyGuy's Country Socks, yet another Nancy Bush pattern, knit to use up the Wollmeise Zenzi I had. They look good with a little brown added.

And finally I have cast on for a pair of Lichen Ribbing Socks with Caffe Latte yarn as my next mindless project.

No Photos - sorry

While the center of my Carolina Crossroads has been sewn together for quite some time there is no photo as I can not find the card reader for the digicam. Grrr. I finally faced the fact that I will need to press the center before I can continue with the borders. I got wildly different measurements yesterday and think I might make things easier by pressing first. At least I have finally decided what I want to do. I will add a small pink (dark) border and then add two rows of railpatches in green and yellos (accent and light). I was thinking about only green borders, but felt that that would look to massive compared to the center. I will bind with pink, too, and think I might make corner stars.

I finished the socks for my collegue who has now decided to stay, yeah! So I have socks that will not fit anyone in my house, hmm, might just give them to her anyway.

I finished a pair of blue socks for MyGuy on Wednesday, too, they were one of the Stanfield patterns in Sensational Socks.

Yesterday I cast on for the second of the Country socks for MyGuy using some solid brown for heel, ribbing and toe and Wollmeise Zenzi leftover from earlier socks for the main part. This is the first time I did calf shaping, I am curious how that will fit.

So lots of projects, no photos. I plan on making Canal di Midi socks for myself next and have cast on for a pair of Madder Rib Socks in Choclatier yesterday. This is my first time using HazelKnits yarns, it seems a bit thicker than the normal yarn.

Step 5 done

As I was taking picures anyway I decided to add some of my step 4 halftriangles.

These are most of my step 5 hourglasses. Why only most? Because I could not resist trying at least one of the blocks in step 6. I was afraid the green hour glasses would not show up as star points, but I think they look okay. I am thinking of making another one with black red and yellow, we willl see. That culd finally be my patriotic quilt.

Step 3 and 4 finished

Well, is't it amazing what 2 sick days can do for you? I finished step 3 (pictured) and step 4 f the Carolina Crossrads mystery. Step 4 was a measly 40 units and deemed not photoworthy as there were too few stacks (excuse me, 40 blocks? This mystery is certainly changing the way I count blocks.). By the way is it me or are we missing counterparts for those? I have also started step 5 and almost boobood that one as I was getting ready to cut dark and light triangles rather than the needed accent and light ones, pooh, just caught that one in time. So back to green and yellow. I have all the unit cut and started on the sewing, but am not yet even done with joining the triangles. But almost caught up now!

Fillyjonk's Horsecrab Socks

I think I never showed my finished Horsecrab Socks, so I will do so now as I am wearing them today. Lovely pattern and fun to knit.

Spring Tree

This is my current project at home: cross stitching a Japanese Spring Tree. As it is a lot of confetti stitching with evenweave I need to count carefully. But at least with the addition of the trunk and a bit of grass it now looks like a tree. Hopefully when spring comes around I will have this finished.

Process on Carolina Crossroads

These are the step 1 and 2 units from the Carolina Crossroads. MyGuy says this makes him wuzzy, just looking at it. I guess I will need to get a photographer...

Christmas Socks

MIL socks: Go with the Flow in Wollmeise.


FIL socks:Spey Valley in Regia

MyGuy Socks: pattern from Sensational Socks in Wollmeise.

Guten Rutsch!

If I can not finally get our internet to work I want at least to wish all of you a happy new year! See you in 2008!

Carolina Crossroads - Step 1 done

I finished the railway blocks over christmas, they look very nice. No pictures yet as internet at home is still giving me the fits. I have sewn my strips together for step 2 and cut 200 bits off, another 100 and I can sew nine patches. I love using up the uglies in my stash. (Of course I also went and bought more fabric...)

Mystery Quilt - Carolina Crossroads

I have just joined the Carolina Crossroads Mystery from Quiltville. I have yesterday hunted down my fabrics and started cutting and sewing the Railroad Blocks for the first step. I will need to get more pink for the dark pieces, but had much more yellow than I thought. This might end up looking slightly different colorwise than I thought, but I am going with it as it looks to use up some "ugly" fabric.

Knitting meeting in Konstanz

Hi,

anyone near Konstanz wanting to join us, we plan on being at the MC Cafe (McDonald's) on the 10th of December from around 5 pm.

Karin

Socks and Sweaters

I finished my Embossed Leaves socks (and I really need to take some pictures) and have worn them. I am not in love with how the star toe feels, even if it does look rather nice. I had to frog the Spey Valleys because I left out a line of instructions that equals 12 rows of knitting. Sigh! But I am back and running and they are now going to be a christmas gift for MyGuy's father. I got some wonderful Wollmeise yarn for his mother's socks and now just need to decide between Mock wave cable, go with the flow and waving lace in Favorite Socks. Fun!

The sweater yarn I bought is really nice, but the sweater I want to make will be done in the new yarn I bought in a blueish purplish color. Interweave Fall 07 has this simple sweater with 3 cables at the front that I want to make. Not so sure about the neck, it seems huge. Might have to fiddle with those numbers a bit.

Socks Finished - still no pictures

I managed to finish MyGuy's socks in time for his birthday, puh, that was tight. Finished sewing in the yarn ends Tuesday evening, with his birthday on Wednesday.

I have also finished the Horsecrab Lace socks from Fillyonk's pattern, they look lovely. I have turned the heel of my embossed leaves second sock and of course I have cast on another pair of socks: Spey Valley in grey yarn, again form MyGuy. I have also cast on a scarf and after knitting with 2-2,5 mm needles sizes 6mm is gigantic. It took me a bit getting used to those "pencils" for knitting needles and the yarn is chenille and not easy to move.

Now I have a really hankering for knitting a sweater. And as my yarn is all stashed away, I will "have" to buy more yarn. Poor me...

Home Stretch - will I make it?

I am on the homestretch with MyGuy's socks, however his birthday is on Wednesday and I still need to finish the foot of the second sock. I knit all the cuff yesterday (seeing as it was Sunday) and turned the heel today. But now I need to knit another 56 rows to the toe and the toe and I still need to wrap them...

I was knitting those openly (I always have a sock going, nothing suspicious there)... and was sneaky: I told him the next ones I knit would be for him and he would get to choose the yarn... I hope he does not suspect the dark green ones on the needle are for him. The pattern is turning out nicely. I fear however that his choice will be boring stockinett in one colour, sigh. But such is love. And at least it will make good traveling knitting.

Ripit, Ripit

The socks for MyGuy were just too tight. After fooling myself for quite a while, I finally ripped them this morning before I got to the heel. I have cast on again with 6 more stitches and that will be fine. However I better get to it big time as Halloween is not that far away. Though right now I'd rather read in the train. Oh well, the poor dude has to put up with books, yarn, fabric and cross stitch stash, so he certainly deserves a pair of socks for his birthday.

Starteritis

Unlike Fillyjonk who is doing Start-ober to finish some of her WIPs I seem to have caught a bug of Starteritis. (along with a little cold and flue this is flying around).

I started a new pair of sox without having finished several others, but for this one there actually is a reason: Halloween and MyGuy's birthday are coming and he "needs" new socks. As you know handknit socks = love. At least he does appreciate them. The bamboo socks I made him were declared lucky socks...

I have also started a new cross stich picture without having anything finished that is floating around. Excuse here: if I finish the Gemini and the Scorpio they will make nice gifts for my parents.

No pics as the photo is dead, the cable to load it is still MIA in my boxes after the move.

Limited Return

I am back to work and moved into the new flat, but still without internet access at home. (Need to figure out the PCs place and get either a long cable or a wireless.)

I did not knit or stitch at all through my absence, but at least I read a bit: Curse of Arckady, Hunt Ball, Polysylibical Spree, Bear Island, Point of Honor, Among the Tibetans all finally got read. I have now started Bad Dirt. Currently I read what I can find since my books are mostly still packed up since we need to figure out where the bed we ordered will fit and the other room will default to library. It makes for fun reading if you just pick up what you find. But it is very bad for the challenges as I can not find the books I put aside for those.

Off for a While

I am preparing to move and am working like crazy at packing up all the books for that. I am looking forward to living with MyGuy, but am currently stressed out. However it is my birthday tomorrow, so I will take a break from packing and (but don't tell MyGuy) get myself at least one more book. I will likely not have internet in the new flat right away, so you will hear less from me, especially since we also will be on vacation as soon as the move is effected.

Ugly Socks = First Summer of Socks Pair

This is the first pair I finished during the Summer of Socks 2007. If I keep it up at that speed they will be the only ones, too. If they fit MyGuy's Nephew's Girlfriend will get them to wear them with her boots at the THW (technical assistance corp, they do all sorts of work with firemen and other assistance in natural or manmade crises). I am happy to be finally rid of that yarn as I am no longer fond of the Regia Jaquard yarns. I also felt like I knit with pencils using the 2,5 mm needles after all those socks knit on the short 2mm needles. I have also finished the first of the Horseshoe Crab socks from Fillyjonk, but I have no photo of that yet. They will however not be ugly at all.

My Sockapalooza Socks Landed

My sockapalooza socks arrived (finally) in Norway where Vigdis can now enjoy them. Look what other goodies she got the same day. Sometimes there is just a good mail day.

I had included Swiss goodies as I work there, but also a bit of German stuff because it is where I live.

RIP II Challenge

Of course I have not enough challenges for reading, do I? (Actually I do, but I still like them too much to miss one). I joined the RIP 2 challenge and plan to read:

Jomathan Norell& Mr.Strange, I am Legend, Woman in White and one of Jim Butchers books, thus qualifying for Peril 1.

Sockapalooza received

I received my lovely socks from Ammiryam aka Gromit yesterday. You can see the "loot" in the first photo. Thank you very much for all of it, Ammiryam!
This lovely card came with the package, the colors are great. You can also see the yarn she sent me peeking out from behind the card.
Here you have a better look at the lovely green yarn. It is from Ellen's Half Pint Farm and will make lovely spring socks.
And here the piece de resistance: my lovely socks. Monkeys were on my to do list and now I do not have to do any to own some. They are lovely in many different colors and I love them.



And here they are on my feet. so you can see they fit perfectly fine. The sneak peek preview are my horseshoe crab socks with Fillyonk's pattern. WhenI first opened the package I thought the colors were the same, but in comparison: not quite.

Again, thank you Ammiryam for the lovely socks! I love the color and the pattern very much.

Lilacs finished

These socks are my rendition of Jeanie Townsend's Lilac Socks. They turned out very nicely and despite the differences in material and pattern are likely to be worn with this sweater. Happily these are done now. So the Embossed Leaves and the Ugly Socks remain. The Ugly Socks are likely to be the next commute project and therefore likely to get done.

Finished Sockapaloozas

These are my finished sockapalooza socks worn by me to show how they will look "blocked". They could use a bit of blocking as you can see from the other picture, but I do not own sockblockers and did not come up with anything good, so unblocked they will remain, though I will give them a gentle swish in the sink to get rid of the dirt they might have collected on the train (and on my feet). The pattern on the leg is called Faces in the Crowd by Barbara Walker, but I kept thinking of Friendly Faces. The instep pattern is a chevron from a different Treasury book. The socks are bit big on my feet as my pal has slightly larger feet. I just hope she can get them over her heels, they are a bit thight there.
I am pleased that I am fairly on time with these socks and with how they turned out. The yarn is from Wollmeise and the blue and red are prominent in my pal's national flag. They will go out on Monday, hope she will like them!

A bit of fun

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Quick update

My parents visit went really well and they got along with MyGuy's parents so all was good. The wheather was ok and we went to Stein am Rhein to see the painted houses. Very nice.

Wednesday was the national holiday in Switzerland and I took the chance to catch up on my sockapalooza socks (almost done) and to photograph the bears and decorations I want to put on e-bay. Now I just have to find my account and get going.

No stitching or sewing recently, but the socks are getting done this week so early next week will go off.

Sockapalooza

I heard from my sock pal just after I had realized that I needed to get going with my sockapalooza socks again. I am now 6 rows away from the heel and expect to finish them next week.

Knitting these socks makes me wonder when a sock pattern is a new design. I have combined 2 patterns from different Treasuries from Barbara Walker and did something nice with the heel, but I am not sure if this could be put out as a pattern without infringing Barbara Walker's copyright. Possibly not.

It was nice to hear from my pal, but I had not been worried. (Waves to Pal!!!)

This Sunday my parents are coming for a visit, so tomorrow I need to do some cleaning and hope to combine it with a bit more decluttering. I am getting better at throwing things out, but there is still more than we can move.

Loot and Process

After more than 2 months I finally got the surface delivery of my Elann order. You can see my loot in the first photo.
This is the first of my ugly socks. Not much progress and you get a glimpse at my Mannheim tea cup (it lights the windows when you pour warm beverages in it, advertising the electricity company in Mannheim) and my PC table.
These look much less turquois than they do in real life, where they are more bluish. Those are blocks 5 and 6 of 12 for my current Jewel Box quilt. They are taking so far 3 fabrics from my stash so Judy's (Sunshine Quilts) July Stash Challenge is met. We will see what I do with those blocks once I have finished them. They would make a quilt of 120 cm by 160 cm on their own which is a size I do not like.

Along the brook

These two pictures were taken last Saturday when MyGuy and I went for an evening stroll. You can just make out one of the young swans in the first picture.

Time flies...

I have no pictures right now, but wanted to let you all know that I am still knitting, sewing and stitching. I have turned the heel on the first of the ugly socks and am almost at the heel of the second Lilac sock. I have sewn 20 Jewel Box blocks in turquois and black-brown and have made 5 sets a 4 blocks from them. I will add 7 more sets. This is my way of participating in the July stash challenge from Judy (Sunshine Quilts). And I have a bunch more ideas of what to do with Jewel Box blocks... This will be a series I think. Hope Mum does not get to put off when I bring her the "same" pattern to quilt again and again... I have done a few thread lengths on my cross stitch tree, but you can hardly tell. I am tempted to do some blue-/redwork, but the snowmen BOM I keep seeing, I can not track down...

Nine Patch and Leaves

Yesterday I finally finished this quilt, the binding was the only thing missing, I made the blogs at least 5 years ago and my wonderful Mom quilted it for me. While this quilt was not really a scrap quilt, more of a FQ quilt, it certainly could have been. I cut squares and put them in two bags: one light, one dark. Then I proceeded to sew nine patches 5 dark, 4 light, they are all the same. The last part made it a bit challenging when it came to sewing the blocks together, but the no sames touching proved workable, the similar ones not so much. The cross pattern that you see in the photo is not aparent in real life.
The quilt got the highest possible accolade: MyGuy said, he likes it and that this one I should keep. Wow! But I have to agree, it is a keeper.
This is the first of my embossed leaves socks in Farn by Wollmeise. I took 4 stitches out which I regret now, but they still fit. However all of the photos were blurry, this one least of all.

Armchair Traveler Booklist

Not being content with the many challenges I have already going I want to join another one. This one is the Armchair Traveler Challenge by A Life in Books.

The books I have chosen are:

English Passangers by Matthew Kneale ( a cross over from the Summer Reading Challenge)
Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry
Ladies Coupé by Anita Nair
Going after Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
Schmutzige Havanna Triologie by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez
Die Reisen des Herrn Baldassare by Amin Maalouf

Let's see how I will do with this. I need to read one of those each month which should be do able.

Summer of Socks Start

This is the sunspot sock with the first couple of rows. Not much progress, I know, but it is not a train sock, so it will be slow.


This on the other hand is my current commuter sock, a simple Nancy Bush Vintage Sock ribbing in an ugly yarn, that needed to leave my stash.
Since I am working on lots of things at the moment and have more WIPS than you want to count, here an old FO. I made this while I was at university. It only has two fabrics and it was quite a challenge to find enough sampler blocks for it. However I love it and think it turned out fairly balanced. I love the starkness of the two fabrics, made necessary by the fact that I could not find anything that would go with the purply-wine colored Jaquard. So plain muslin was used. I love two color quilts, but normally go with scrappy and different values.

No Photos - but knitting

I have cast on the yellow and orange Regia in the pattern sunspots from Barbara Walker, we will see how that goes in the long run. I have turned the heel on embossed leaves one and I have cast on for an extremly ugly sock in Regia Jaquard with one of Vintage Socks ribbing patterns. I love those, they are simple enough to do when your head swims, but entertaining enough to avoid throwing them in the corner out of pure boredom. I have out grown those Jaquard yarns, but since this was in the Stash and the only one to be knit with 2,5mm that is what got cast on. So I have 2 socks in progress for Summer of Socks and 3 that do not count.

I have also finally finished the Shell Collector for the TBR challenge, but think the book is fairly depressing. I have finished The Demon and the City which was much more entertaining. I am now undecided between the Mobile Library and starting Earthman's Burden, so I knit a bit.

We have found a flat and just need to sign the rental contract, so packing, sorting and tossing will ensue.

Summer of Socks - Start slightly off

This is the reason why my start of the summer of socks is postponed. The second sock for the Lilac Socks from the Townsend KAL, the second Sockapalooza sock and the first sock of my embossed leaves socks.






And this is the start going to be once I can get it started.

Ladder of Life finished

These are my ladder of life socks. They were originally intended for MyGuy, but were deemed to colorful and too patterned. Sigh! I have briefly considered giving them to MyGuy's nephew or nephew's girlfriend as they are both volunteers for the THW, but think the patterning might not be good in work boots. So they are mine. Much too hot for socks now, but at least the needles are free and I can borrow one for the sockapaloozas.

I finished sewing all the rows for my Bodensee quilt (calling a blue quilt Treehouse seems a bit ridiculous). Now the rows need to be joined and we will see if I add borders or just finish it like this which is what the book is showing.

Oh, man!

Just when I have reached the toe of my first sockapalooza 4 sock, I broke not only the yarn, but also the needle. Grr! So annoying. Now I have another set of 2.25 mm though not from the same company and I will borrow one of those needles, but to do so I have to finish my ladder of life socks where I am using those. Now that is not quite as bad as it sounds as I have just turned the heel on the second sock, but it threw a spanner in things and I did not need that grief!

On the other hand the sockapalooza socks look good and are a bit thight over the heel, but can be put on and off, so we are fine. My embossed leaves socks are a bit strippy which I did not expect, but do not mind and I am up to 1 1/2 pattern repeats. For something that only gets knit at MyGuy's that is not bad. I did sew the first 3 rows of my "Treehouse" quilt together and like it. I had to trim the blocks quite a bit, so it will be smaller than the original, but that is fine with me.

I have read Undead and Unpopular this weekend and have decided to stop reading the series, Betsy is too much of a selfish moron in this book. I am still reading my June TBR book, Shell Collector, but do not enjoy the story I am currently reading: Caretaker. I have started The Demon and the City this morning on the train, but can not say anything yet as I only read a couple of pages.

Red Scarf 2008

Since Project Spectrum is at red, black and metallics, this might be the perfect time to knit a red scarf for the Valentine's Scarves project for orphans in college. You can see more from the linked title of this post or via Norma (see side bar).

New Quilt started

I have wanted to do this quilt for ages and now that the drunkard's path and the jewel box quilts are both with my Mom to be quilted I felt I finally could start something new. This is following the pattern called Treehouse from the Modern Quilt workshop by Ringle and Kerr, but my inspiration is far from a tree and the light in it. Can you guess what this was inspired by? When I laid out the first blocks I was feeling sorry for myself because it was not a bit as I had envisioned it, but looking at it with more blocks and in this photo, I think it might actually work. The blocks are bit like potatoe chips, if you have made one, you want to keep going. I have finished almost half of the blocks I need. I have some lovely backing fabric, too.

Friday Check in

Just a quick post: i sewed Isabella together and she is wide enough, but the armhole shaping is off. Fortunatelly I will just need to sew it a bit tighter and then add the armhole edging. I am currently reading my TBR challenge book for June: Shell Collector. More short stories, which seem to be a theme just now. I have recently read Atwood's Tent and Gaiman's Fragile Things. I have joined two more challenges. My sockapalooza socks are tight, but should still work. I started embossed leafes with the Farn yarn from Wollmeise, because I could not not do it. I finished Moon Called and Blood Bound by Briggs and am looking forward to more of her books with Mercy.