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.