Sockapalooza start

This is the current state of my Isabella from Knitty. The shoulders were crocheted together, the V-neck looks good. The thing might be too tight however. But for a final diagnosis I have to sew it up. Then the hem and the armholes have to be done up and it can go back to being hot.

This is the start of my sockapalooza socks. It is a mocaic pattern from Barbara Walkers Treasuries (the green one). The socks are slightly tight due to the yarn carried behind the slipped stitches, but I think they will be okay unless my pal as an extraordinarily high instep.

Bamboo Socks finished

My Guy's bamboo socks are finally finished. As a matter of fact his mother asked about the pattern stitch as she likes them. The pattern is ringwood from Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. I am happy to have them of the needles. Because it gets me a good bit closer to my sockapalooza pal's socks.

This are all the skeins of Wollmeise yarn I own and some of it will end up on the needles above and eventually on my pal's feet. I have wound the first skein, but need a second one to get started. The other skeins will become more socks for me.
This is the quilt top finished (unironed as usual). I am trying two different fabrics for borders, but might just bind it without borders. Next Saturday we will visit my mom, so I will get more input.

I have finished reading The Golden Compass and have read Atwood's The Tent. The later is short stories which I seem to read currently. So I am looking forward to June's TBR book the Shell Seeker with more short stories. I have started Booked to Die by Dunning, but am not sure I will stick with it.

Quilty WIPs

This is my current project. A fairly old WIP that I started when I wanted to see how a Drunkard's Path would look. The colors are brighter in reality and the whole thing does not even get close to pretty, but I want to get the blocks and the rows sewn together by the 2nd of June when we plan to visit my mother. Mum does a lot of wonderful patchwork and on top of quitling her own tops, she does mine, too. I have bought a border fabric that I thought would be perfect at a quilt festival earlier this year, but now I do have some doubts. Well it can go to the back if it does not work for the borders.
This one was sewn during a a one day workshop based on Ricky Timms' book. I think I want to keep it in this orientation, but need to think about how to do this and what frames to use as I do not have most of the fabrics anymore. I think small black, small red, wide black might look good. What do you think?
This is Staufen in the Black Forest and just eye candy.

Sockapalooza 4

This is the first time I have joined the sockapalooza, and I certainly got a challenging pal. Not saying why that person is so challenging, that might spoil it. I am now waiting for my order from Wollmeise to arrive. I am considering stranded socks (which I have never done, so I may be in LaLa land here) with two varigated yarns. Maybe the dancing woman from Knitty, maybe something out of Barbara Walker. I really have to finish the socks on the needles to free selfsame needles, as obviously a lot of people are already knitting their pal socks.

Sightseeing near home

This weekend we did a bit of sightseeing not far from where I live. We went to Donaueschingen and saw the beginning of the Danub. Doesn't look like a big river that has made thousands of Romanians homeless last year? But that is what it will grow into.
The building you can see in the spring is a church but there is a palace with a nice park as well. Unfortunatelly they are currently closed as the palace is being renovated.


This is just a little eye candy and maybe an idea for a quilt some time in the future.

Some WIPs

As you can see I have the front of my Isabella cast on and am getting close to the armholes. I am not sure if I am going to do the split as written in the instructions as I have found that look not so great on me. I think I will modify it to a V-Neck.

This one is for Margaret who is still stitching on Federic. Instead of being a good SALer I am stitching the crab apple tree from Cross Stitch Collection 143. It is a very spring like pattern and I am stitching it on blue evenweave.

These are my current traveling socks, Ringwood pattern from Gentleman's Half Hose in Vintage Socks. They are for MyGuy.

This currently neglected sock is ladder of life, a free interweave pattern written to honor the helpers at 9/11. Originally they were intended for MyGuy too, but I think they will be mine, too busy for him.

Then we have a solitary Lilac Sock from the Townsend Socknitting Yahoo group. I have my needles in use for the current socks, so once those are finished this sock will get a partner.


I have come out of my reading slump a bit too and finished Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman and am currently reading Magyk, the first Septimus Heap book.

Reading Slump

I am currently in a total reading slump. I have started at least 5 books and none of them holds my attention: Book Borrower, Seekarte, Born in Death, Collapse, Bookmarked to Die, This Pen for Hire are all started, but have been put aside fairly early on. So, knitting and a bit of cross stitching. I need to take some pictures.

Until then I will leave you with the new picture of my profil, taken during Earth Day reforestation work.

Second "Anniversary"

Today marks the beginning of the third year that MyGuy and I are together. I am happy and looking forward to many more.

Just some picutres

This is a photo of me while we were on vacation. We had a lovely week at a wellness place and this picture was taken during one of our excursions to the ruins and sights in the area.






These socks were intended for February/March of Project Spectrum, but were only finished at the beginning of April when I really wanted to start lilac socks for the Townsend KAL yahoo group. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks book. I am slowly working my way through the ribbing patterns in there as they make wonderful train knitting.



This is my head start on PS for April/May. Started when snow hit again after our lovely WARM vacations this is going to be Isabella from Knitty. For once I am using the actual yarn the model was done in.






Another PS project, though this has been an UFO for ages. I have finally finished the curved units and am now in the process of putting them together in a Drunkard's Path. The first row is done, I hope to get some more done on it today.

Slow going

Not much news here. I have finished another pair of socks from another Nancy Bush pattern, these are for MyGuy, so they are a bit large for the feet in the photo - mine. I also finally finished shortening the very first socks I made for him.

I managed to read my March tbr book already, Bahrisons. I did not much care for it, though it was not a bad book. It was more of his childhood and less of the store than the title had let me to believe and I found it very superficial.
I got Crystal Soldier from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and reead it in one go. I am now looking forward to the second one of theses "early" Liaden books.

I have been to my parents last weekend, took a patchwork class, love what I did, but haven't taken a photo yet. More on this when I have a photo.

We are taking a week of vacation time which is much needed if the fraying of my nerves is any sort of indicator...

Classic Challenge

The goal was to read 5 classics in January and February. What did I read? Not a single one of the five I had listed. I thought I might at least make it through 2-3, but with a reading slump that was just not happening. So this challenge I failed completely.

New goal: read the five books in the remaining 10 months of 2007.

Reminder:
Silas Marner
Moby Dick
Day & Night
For whom the Bell Tolls
Walden

Gentleman's Simple Winter Socks

Another pair out of Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks book, these are the Gentleman's Winter Socks for the KAL from that book. While I had originally planned to make them for MyGuy they are now my socks. The yarn was a Regia and I knit them on 2mm bamboo needles. The heel construction was a bit weird, the sole part of the heel is rather thin. A first day of wearing showed them to be alright as far as the comfort went, however, so I will keep them this way.

White Socks finished

Over the last few days I sewed the 10 blocks that I had decided I needed to add when I first laid out the 70 existing blocks and sewed the top together. The pattern is Jewel Box and you can see that I once again chose to have two color scrappy quilt. This is one of my favorite types of quilt. I am thinking about adding a border, but the quilt already is 160x200 cm and I think just a red binding might be enoug.





I finished my white socks that were originally intended for the knit the classics for January. Though I had planned to use a simple eylet pattern, I could not resist when I found Gothic Lattice in one of Barbara Walker's Treasuries. After all Woman in White is a gothic novel. I am not sure if I would do the toe part like this again, but it's not bad enough for me to redo it. The socks are Regia Silk in white and very soft.

TBR Book 2

I have started book 2 for the tbr challenge this morning. Inspector Montalban will be my train reading for the moment. I have actually finished a book (The Ghost and Mrs. McClure) since posting about my reading funk, but am still starting book after book and not going through with any of them. Very bad when you consider that I should read 5 classics till the end of this month for the Classics Challenge. Guess that one I will not meet. But at least I am keeping up with the tbr.

African Socks

I knit these socks while I was home sick this week. I couldn't handle anything more complicated than stockinette and that was great for this yarn. It is Regia Africa and the redish color reminds me of the dirt roads in Ghana. I am happy how they turned out.

Also on the needles are the white gothic socks and I started the Simple Winter Socks for the Vintage Socks KAL. At first I was sorry those were the selected socks for the KAL, but I am still not completely recovered, so they make the perfect blog reading knitting. They will be for MyGuy, I think he will like the brown and natural colors.

Silent Poetry Day

BERT BRECHT
Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters


Wer baute das siebentorige Theben?
In den Büchern stehen die Namen von Königen.
Haben die Könige die Felsbrocken herbeigeschleppt?
Und das mehrmals zerstörte Babylon,
Wer baute es soviele Male wieder auf? In welchen Häusern
Des goldstrahlenden Lima wohnten die Bauleute?
Wohin gingen an dem Abend, wo die chinesische Mauer fertig war,
Die Maurer? Das große Rom
Ist voll von Triumphbögen. über wen
Triumphierten die Cäsaren? Hatte das vielbesungene Byzanz
Nur Paläste für seine Bewohner? Selbst in dem sagenhaften Atlantis
Brüllten doch in der Nacht, wo das Meer es verschlang,
Die Ersaufenden nach ihren Sklaven.
Der junge Alexander eroberte Indien.
Er allein?
Cäsar schlug die Gallier.
Hatte er nicht wenigstens einen Koch bei sich?
Philipp von Spanien weinte, als seine Flotte
Untergegangen war. Weinte sonst niemand?
Friedrich der Zweite siegte im Siebenjährigen Krieg. Wer
Siegte außer ihm?

Jede Seite ein Sieg.
Wer kochte den Siegesschmaus?
Alle zehn Jahre ein großer Mann.
Wer bezahlte die Spesen?

So viele Berichte,
So viele Fragen.

WIP Wednesday

First a finished object. These are my railway socks from Vintage Knitting, finished in time for the January challenge in the yahoo group. The pattern is not very visible with this yarn, but I do love them and am wearing them now.















This one is an older WIP with blocks inspired by Gwen Marston's wonderful book Liberated Quiltmaking. I am considering leaving it like this, adding a sawtooth border or adding a flying geese border (both borders liberated, naturally). Any input will be welcome. I do not have any of the grey left, but have a lighter grey that might work. I love the bright pinks, they cheer me up in dreary January.







I am quite sick this week (again!), but obviously, so are my knits. My red sweater will have to be ripped back to the joining of the body and the sleeves as the raglan looks bad and does not really fit well. Without photo, but also aiming for the frog pond are a Make Waves sock in blue (to tight) and a white sock (ladders! I can not remember having ladders in my socks. But then I normally do not do them in purl stitches. I think doing the offending stitch in combination knitting should solve the problem, but it means ripping back.) Then I really wanted to knit simple stockinett socks and I made a mess out of the yarn ball- I finally cut the offending part of to untangle seperately and started the sock. I normally have left overs, so hope this will be fine.

Reading Funk

Currently I do not feel like reading anything at all. I have a bunch of books to read for several challenges and am unsurprised that I do not want to read any of those. But I do not want to read anything else either and that is unusual. None of my new books or my favorite authors really tickle my fancy...

I guess that way at least I get my Railway Socks for the Vintage KAL finished. I started sock number 2 yesterday and it was my blog reading knitting.

My red sweater is almost finished, but I do not like the way the raglan looks, it is lumpy under the arms and along the raglan line. Likely I will rip it. Ugh. But with that sweaters karma not surprising, after all I needed three starts to get that right. At least the body looks good and the sleeves are fine, too, now I just need to get the yoke right.

WIPs

Railway Socks. These are for the January Challenge in the Vintage Socks Knit Along. The yarn is not ideal for this pattern, but I like both, so I just keep knitting. I will need a second one for the challenge, so I better keep going.



These are my broadway mitts. As you can see, not much is missing, but since it is warm enough to not consider wearing a jacket when going for lunch, I feel no need to hurry them along. Especially since they are on the 3mm needles I do not really need.



This is the first of my making waves socks. As it is not going well without cable needle, they are progressing really slowly. Finishing them is likely going to be part of the Project Spectrum Challenge for February/March.




This is the mitt for Sharfika, inspired by the pink scarf I am knitting from Grumperia's pattern Sharfik.



And this is the actualy Sharfika. Neither the Sharfika nor her mitts get much work done on them, because, you guessed it, it's too warm.

Atwood April

Since quite a few people have Atwood on their list for the TBR challenge I was thinking of having a month were we would read a book by Margret Atwood. April because of the alliteration and because just now I have to much must read books. I have three books in my piles that would work. Anyone else interested?

Widow for One Year finished

This is the third time I am writting this post, so I am going to keep it short.

This was the last of my winter stack challenge, so I successfully finished my first reading challenge. As usual I enjoyed Irving's disfunctional family and the way they dealt with life and each other. The last part of the book was actually quite a bit of a turn off as all the ends tied up too neatly and it was just too much happy end. Luckily I was in the mood for a happy end otherwise it would have pissed me of quite a lot.

I am happy to have this heavy hardcover out of my bag as carrying it to and from work weighted me down quite a bit. I will happily stay with my paperbacks. I have started Das Buch vom Salz, a ficitional report from Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas cook in Paris. Despite this being in my mother tongue it is not an easy read so far, I need to get the rythm of the writing that is quite different from Irving. This book was a christmas gift from MyGuy and I am sure he will be happy to see me read it. It always makes him unsure if he got the right thing if I do not read it right away. Besides it will be a nice change before I dive in the classics for the classics challenge as well as the Knit the Classics.

Blind Assassin

This was my fourth book for the Winter Stack Challenge and I finally finished it yesterday. This book was just what I have come to expect from Atwood: dark and multidimensional. This time there were 3 lines to follow plus some newspaper extracts. The present day line, the life line and the book line were interwoven. If you do not enjoy jumping back and forth you might find this book off putting, but I always enjoy it. I could sympathize with the main characters wish to see herself in a positive light as she is aware of it. Though on occasion I got upset with her for being such a "drifter" in life.

Quite a few people are reading a book by Atwood for the tbr challenge and I am wondering if anyone would be interested in reading her at the same time, for example in April? I have Edible Woman and Penelopeide to read and Handmaid to reread, I also want to read Surfacing.

I am now reading John Irving's Widow for one Year. The main reason this has been on my tbr stack for ages is that this is a hardcover and therefore not easily tugged in a purse or coat pocket. It was bought when I still lived in Giessen, so at the very latest in 1997. 10 years later I am finally reading it. So far it is a good read. Though Irving is not exactly a light weight either compared to Atwood it's less work (so far). I am considering to rebuy this in paperback as I want to keep it for my Irving collection and the hardcover has to go as it takes up too much room. So if anyone wants it in February, let me know.

Ann Granger - Mord ist aller Laster Anfang

This is the first book for my tbr challenge. When I got the flu I needed a light read, blind assassin is neither light in weight nor in content. While Say it with Poison was an interesting mystery, it left me curiously cold. I am not sure if that is the translation that is bugging me or if the original was as stiff, but the language was just not captivating me and as an introduction of a series it failed. I am a consumat reader of series, but here the main characters did not really interest me nor is their beginning relationship of much interest.

At least I am done with it and can now list it on Amazon. (If it will let me, those guys are maintaining the site right now.)

And another pair of socks...

This are the Child's First Sock Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks in Meilenweit Cotton. This socks have been WIPs ever since blue month in Project Spectrum and I got fed up with them hoging my needles and my sock bag, so while I had the flu the last 4 days I finally finished them while watching biathlon and skijumping.

In front of the blogs I knit on my red sweater, but that has not been photographed yet again. But I just measured it against my beloved Rosedale and I think it will work great. I have reconsidered the Hybrid approach as I am not sure I will like the saddles with the shaping and the yarn. I do however consider either a yoke with moss stitch patterns or a raglan with a polo-shirt collar. Hmmm. 6 more rows at the body I think and then the sleeves, that will give me some time to consider the options. It may depend on what patterns I can find. I am thinking chevrons.

I am also reading my first book for the tbr challange and am not enjoying it all that much. Nonetheless I managed this morning to ALMOST miss my train station not once but twice. I guess I needed a getaway. My flu was annoying enough spoiling 3 days of work, but this night My Guy's father had a stroke and went to hospital. Luckily the reports are very favorable. I have not been as I consider it unwise to spread viruses or bazilla in an intensive care unit. Sent good thoughts for him, there are more health issues there.

I hope everyone else is starting the new year on a more positive note. I have made only one resolution and that is to give up coke for all of 2007. I did it for a month in 2006, but have a hard time keeping the intake down, so I am kicking the can completely this year.

Gentleman's Fancy Socks finished

These are my finished socks. The yarn has been in my possession for ages and finally found socks to be in. Actually it was coincidence that the yarn and the pattern go together so well as I had completely forgotten how it would knit up. The socks turned out almost identical, much to my delight. I have AIMED for identical of course once I saw how great sock one looked, but as I had just started knitting with whatever yarnend there was, I am pleased how well I matched the place in the repeat for sock 2.

This is the beginning of my red sweater. Actually it is the third beginning of that sweater. First there was Mrs CB's Camp Jacket: much too busy yarn for the pattern (Chicknits). Then I cast on Park from NoroKnits: I liked the changes I had made, but decided I did not want a hoodie after all. So this is the third cast on and I am winging it with EZ. I thought I would make a Hybrid, but with the waist shaping I am not sure the saddle shoulders would look good. Any comments or ideas on this?

And then there is this. That is the view out of my office at work. Luckily neither the trains nor the buses are all that loud and at least it easily reachable by public transport (=knitting or reading time).

Looking for a book

I am looking for a book that I held in hand the other day and now of course can not remember the author or the title. It was about a family that for one year tried to go with all the RIGHT choices as far as environmental, social and ethical effects of their lives were concerned. Does anyone know the title of this?

Thanks in advance.

I really need to get a booklet and a pen for my purse to write these things down.

One year of blogging

I only realized today that I have been blogging for over a year already. Yeah me! I did not think I would stick with it when I started, but even with my usual changes of interest I am still blogging ones in a while about all sorts of things.

I had a goal list then, it might be a good idea to start that up again.

Share reading

Click on the title and you will end up at green man press' blog and a wonderful picture for fantasy loving readers.

Gentleman's Fancy Socks

I have finished the first of my blog reading socks this morning and have to say I like it a lot. I have cast on for sock 2 and it seems that I have managed to at least make them closely related, though so far I am only 7 rows in. I am happy with those and can imagine that I will do more with this pattern at another time. I still love my Thuja pattern even more, but this is great too.

I am thinking about casting on Eunny's Chucks Cable Socks. As a matter of fact I joined the KAL. But the cast on is 76st and I normally do about 56, so I need to read the whole pattern to see if I will decrease or if I need to switch to much smaller needles than my usual 2.5mm ones. I also need to decide what colors to use, I am thinking black and turquois.

Eragon - the film

You might remember that I read the book in a frenzy to have it finished before the movie started showing in Germany. I liked the book quite a bit, even with all the bad rep it got for being a rip off of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Dragonriders of Pern. After all how many original ideas do you get in romance for example? I'd rather read a well written retake than a bad original in this case. I am looking forward to reading Eldest as part of my chunkster challenge.

But the movie, oh boy, so bad. It is naturally a very shortened version of the book, but it was in some places hardly recognizable at all. Jeremy Irons was good and I liked the look of the guy who played Murtagh, but apart from that it was deciedely blah. MyGuy has only seen the movie and he thought it was more a fairy tale for kids than a decent fantasy for grown ups. So while the dragon animation is good for the most part, the movie fell flat of our expectations both for the reader and the non-reader. We spent a nice evening, but this is not going anywhere on our recommendation list.

Flush and away which we saw the week before however was funny and I am sure will end up in our DVD collection.

Lost and Finished

I lost my brown knitted hat last week when dozens of people behind me leaving the bus and walking to the train did not see it fit to mention that my backpack was open. When I noticed and turned around to go find my knitting some "kind" soul said "you lost something back there". I was ready to strangle the bitch and I fill the urge whenever I see her commuting on the same train with me every damn day.... Anyway, at that time I did not notice that I should have walked further back and retrieved my hat somewhere too. So I did what any sensible knitter does: I knit a new one. I had been itching to make an Odessa from Grumperia. It did turn out nice, though you can not see too much in the photo. I left the beads of and knit the YO through the back to prevent holes and am happy with the result.

Catch-22 done

I have finished the third book from my Winter Stack Challenge: Catch-22. This is a book that I meant to read for quite some time and I actually enjoyed most of it. I liked the catch that if you are asking not to fly you are sane and have to fly. The deaths were sometimes gruesome but made it all the more believeable that Yossarian would not want to fly.

I decided to read this book after reading Beginner's Luck where it is mentioned. I do this quite a bit, read a book that I came across in another one. Does anyone else do this?

Because both my other stack books are heavy, I have snuck in a small one, I got the new Daisy Dalrymple mystery Death of a Philanderer and am looking forward to see Daisy and gang at the seashore. This is a favorite series of mine.

Chunkster Challenge - my way

Since the rules for the challenge are incredibly flexible I have decided to read at least 6 books with more than 400 pages for the Chunkster Challenge, though not necessarily one each month as the classics take up January and February. As a matter of fact Moby Dick, Night&Day and For Whom The Bells Toll all qualify for chunksters in the editions that I have. But I am going to read 6 more of the following list:

Jonathan Stranger & Mr. Norell
Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince
Voyager (by Diana Gabaldon)
Fiery Cross (dito)
Eldest
The amazing Adventure of Kavalier & Clay
Winter in Madrid
Carter Beats the Devil
Emporer The Gates of Rome
Little, Big
The Salteron Triology (1 book for me)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom

I hope to get all of these done next year, but will settle for 6 till the end of June.

This was one I could not resist:

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Chunkster Challenge

As you can see from my side bar I plan on joining another challenge. It is fairly flexible, and I will have Moby Dick from the classics as one of my chunksters. I am thinking of adding one each months for the 6 months the challenge is on, but I have to have a look at my books first to see which ones are over 400 pages. I might smuggle Eldest in there as Eragon was 496 pages in my edition. But I have to have a look see.

Any other reading challenges out there? Do you challenge yourself? What sort of challenges do you put on yourselves?

Finished Objects

This is the first of the finished objects: yellow Opal socks in Twin Rib. Done! I have to admit that I just wanted to get the yarn out of my stash. I like yellow for socks, but I growing less and less fond of the pseudo fair isle self patterning yarns. I am not buying anymore of that, but I love stripes, tweeding and (almost) solids.

For some one who does not like the yarn I seem to have quite a few pairs. The orange ones are stockinett top down, the green ones are my only pair of toe ups as I need to learn a different bind off before attempting this again, the blue ones are 2 by 2 rib and the pink ones are my favorites: Conway from Nancy Bush. This pattern I will certainly do again.

The other Finished Object is Eragon which I finished with almost a week to go till the deadline of the movie start in Germany. I have picked up Catch 22 and hope to finish it this time as it is part of my Winter Stack challenge. I need to finish 3 books this months, so I can attempt the classic challenge as well as the tbr challenge in the new year. Pooh, that should reduce the piles at least a tiny bit.

TBR Challenge

And here the list for the tbr challenge:

Ann Granger - Mord ist aller Laster Anfang
Anne Chaplet - Caruso singt nicht mehr
Abigail Padgett - Blue
Anthony Doerr - Shell Collector
Alistair McLean - Bear Island
Andrea Camilleri - Die Form des Wassers
Antal Szerb - Reise im Mondlicht
Anju Bahri - Bahrisons Chronicle of a Bookshop
Aaron Elkins - Dark Place
Asne Seiershad - Bookseller in Kabul
Alan Hollinghurst - A Line of Beauty
Angie Sarge - Magyk

Classics Challenge

I have decided to accept the classics challenge. This should likely count to my TBR challenge as well, but let me try stretching myself and adding those on.

I chose the following:

Moby Dick
Walden
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Night & Day
Silas Marner

That is likely rather ambitious, but at least it should get me started.

Bits and pages

In addition to the seaming (see yesterdays post) I also did the heel on my yellow opal twin rib sock, that is sock #2. The knitting is past the gusset and I am looking forward to some stupid easy knitting till the toe is reached. As usual I could not quite remember how I had done the heel and I think I placed it slightly different, but that will not be noticable with the jaquard yarn and the rib pattern.

I also have switched books and started reading Eragon, because when we were in Casino Royal I noticed that the movie will be showing in mid December and I wanted to read it before that. So the challenge books went on hold and I started Eragon which actually was in my stacks too. I have joined www.bookswappers.de to try and curb my book buying. I also have books listed on amazon. Bookswappers will get "nice" books and amazon "get rid" books, though at the moment I have listed some of my star trek books in the swap rather than in the sell category.

On Saturday I was in Freiburg to visit a friend. We hit the bookstores and I bought some kid's books for christmas. Additionally some non-fiction for myself. We went to the christmas fair, ate mexican food, I got to meet the new love interest and we watched a DVD. Entirely enjoyable, apart from the fact that I missed MyGuy.

Lilac FO

I am sure you are wondering where this came from as you have never seen it as a WIP. That is because the knitting has been done ages ago and I only took the time to seam it up today. A couple of hours of skiing on TV gets all sorts of things done... I have tried it on, with some trepidation as I thought lilac fluffy would look horrible, and apart from the shoulders being a bit wide and therefore the sleeves hanging down a bit lower than I wanted them to it is fine. Picture of it on my as soon as I get a photographer around here... I still have some of this Lana Grossa Fumo left, but am not sure this should be a scarf or a hat. It seems slightly itchy and that makes it a no go for both of these left over users. Any ideas?

Red Thujas finished

I was away at for a business meeting and since they supplied us with playdoh and other toys to keep us awake and alert I figured I was going to take my knitting in the meetings. That created more attention then I thought, but non negative. And now my red Thujas are finished.

I have upon returning home also tried to take a picture of my Bob sweater before it goes into storage, but standing in my bath tub on my toes with a three section mirror does not make for great photos possible.


I have finished reading three books since I last posted. Letter from Home by Carolyn Hart, Im Westen nichts Neues by Erich Maria Remarque (one from my November and Stack Challange list) and Fatal Tide by Iris Johanson which I got from my boyfriend. All three were good reads and I am glad I finally read Im Westen nichts Neues. Sitting around in airports and on planes you get an awful lot read. I am now reading Blind Assassin by Margret Atwood so I guess book 3 for the November challange (Catch 22) will not actually be read in November, but as it also counts for my Stack Challange I will read it in December.

Norovember

Naturally I had no sooner put the Norovember pic up on my blog that I did anything but knit on my Noro cardigan. I cast on a vest. I knit socks, I started my Sharfika version of Fetching... But not a stitch on my Noro. And nothing will get done on it next week when I am out of town for a business trip. I guess I will need Norcember, too.

A three way Tie

You scored as XIX: The Sun. This is the happiest card in the deck. It is full of joy and optimism, everything is right with the world. We are as innocent children playing in the fields without care. The Sun brings success, well-being and happiness in all spheres - material, emotional, spiritual -wherever our desires lay.When this card appears in a Tarot spread it indicates success, joy and happiness. Obstacles will be overcome, goals achieved.When badly aspected, it can indicate a stagnation through over-indulgence, too much of a good thing.

XIX: The Sun 63%
XVI: The Tower 63%
XIII: Death 63%
II - The High Priestess 56%
IV - The Emperor 56%
III - The Empress 56%
VI: The Lovers 50%
XI: Justice 50%
X - Wheel of Fortune 50%
I - Magician 44%
0 - The Fool 38%
VIII - Strength 31%
XV: The Devil 25%

Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Book Meme

Meme Instructions : Look at the list of books below. Highlight in red the ones you’ve read, highlight in green the ones you might read, leave the ones you won’t read in black, italicize the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you’ve never even heard of.

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
The Cacther in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife by audry Niffenegger
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1984 by George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaba by J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Crytonomicon by Neal Stephenson
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Sadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zago
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Dune by Frank Herbert
The History of Love by Nichole Krauss

I have no idea who came up with the list originally, but it was sort of interesting to see how many I actually have and how many are TBR.

Pat Barker's Another World

This is the first of my books that I wanted to read in November to remember WWI and WWII. I had read Barker's Regeneration Triology, but while Another World is an interesting book it is not as intense as the triology.

Nick is a man with a patchwork family and a pregnant wife as well as a sick grandfather who is while approaching death relives the horrors of WWI. While I liked the basic story and the voice of the book, I feel it fell short of what it could have been. There was a bit about Nick and his family's disfunctionalities reflected in the earlier owners of their house and a bit of the horror of Somme reflected in Geordie's story, but it remained superficial and none of the stories really drew me in.

But at least it is out of my stack now.

Reading Challanges

Kailana’s November Reading Challenge: “It will soon be the month of November, and I have been thinking about it a lot lately. In Canada, November is the month that Remembrance Day falls in, being November 11th. So, I got to thinking, I might do a reading challenge where I read books set in World War I and World War II.”

I have decided to have a go at this too:

1. Pat Barker's Another World (which has a WWI surviver in it and I will count it)
2. Catch 22
3. Im Westen nichts Neues

These are all in my book stack and so can count towards my From the Stacks Winter Reading Challenge. I will add two more to that one:

4. Widow for one Year
5. Blind Assassin

The challange here is to read 5 books from the stack by end of January. I am cheating in having my books in both challanges, but they qualify for both.

I have read this weekend the last two books of the Spiderwick series. I have enjoyed them, though they were not the best children's fantasy that I have read.

Wee One Pumpkins

Heart in Hand Pumpkins
Originally uploaded by kucki68.

This is the cross stitch that I actually finished stitching at the beginning of November. The colors are different than the leaflet and I wonder what's up with that as mine have photographed close to reality. The pattern is by Heart in Hands and was a quick and fun fall project. Naturally I messed up three places, but I dare you to find them and so I am not frogging.

I am not sure what I will do with it, but am currently considering making a whole year and turning them in a quilt. Or having one for each month in a small frame and switch through the year. Do you have any ideas?

Jaywalkers

Jaywalkers
Originally uploaded by kucki68.

These are my rendition of Grumperia's Jaywalkers from MagKnits. I completely missed the craze when Cara at January One had everyone knitting this pattern in Socks That Rock yarn, but I did like what I saw. After a false start with an Opal yarn these socks were done in Regia Cotton. I don't remember the colorway. Despite them being fraternal and having made the ribbed section to long, I like my Jaywalkers. I made each of the pattern repeats 2 stitches less and they fit very nicely.

Cutaway

Cutaway
Originally uploaded by kucki68.

As you can see I got MyGuy to take a picture of me in my cutaway. Obviously the man who takes wonderful pictures of landscapes and the like and I need to discuss his attention to detail for fashion shots as the cutaway looks better in real live. I am not sure he understood why I wanted a picture of my cardigan. ;^)

Cutaway is a pattern by Chicknits and I enjoyed knitting it.. If I make it again (and that is not impossible) I will have to make the sleeves a bit shorter. The yarn is darker and heathier than the photo shows. It is made of Schachenmayr nomotta Extra, 100% wool.

The two and a half left over balls will at some point become a red scarf for the Orphan's project, though it might be for 2008 or even later.

Photos?

Well, I bought one of the doodas for uploading pics from the memory stick in MyGuy's old camera and uploaded pics in Flickr. (Yeah me!) Now let's see if I can get them to show up in the blog.

Let's try with the pic of the quilt for my friend Andrea that I finally sent out to her. Only one months late...

The pattern is called FlickFlack and I was trying to get an effect of flowers on a meadow. My mom did the quilting and has crated petals in the flickflacks and blades of grass in the green border. She is great at quilting for me and I love to challenge her.

Cross Stitch Threads

Today's SBQ was suggested by Jan and is:How many different brands of "complete" embroidery floss sets do you own? How do you keep track of it? (i.e., spread sheet program, index cards, palm pilot, etc.)

I have a good bunch of Anchor, but no where to complete and I have a couple of Gather Sampler Threads and would love to have all of that. A geew Weeks Works added in and that is it. Pityful, hm?

Looking for a tutorial

I am getting fed up with all that GREEN here. Does anyone know a tutorial for me (no idea about any of this at this moment) to help me change the color of my template?

Thanks in advance.

Finishes and Semi-finishes

This weekend I did some of the things that I had been dragging my feet about: added a button to CeCe (wearing it now over a black longsleeved shirt), sewed around the button hole on my cutaway so that finally the button would stay closed and while I was at it I added the button on my white summer trousers back on. Now CeCe and Cutaway are finally finished.

On Friday I have finished the toes on my first Child's First Sock and on my first Thuja for me. I have also cast on for the second "Child" sock and a new Make Waves sock. I worked on the yellow opal sock in Twin Rib some more and while I like the yarn quality I think I will not buy this sort of self patterning yarn anymore. The black sock that I started for Petra's Witch Sock contest will have to be ripped as I messed the spideer chart up several times and am now in a position to no longer manage to finagle things. So the sock is in time out until next weekend when it will get ripped. This are the semi finishes.

Last week I joined the Red Sweater KAL and obviously that was all it needed for me to finally finish my red summer sweater. Bob (from Knitty) was bound of at 9pm and thanks to my alterations (knitting a Raglan in the round instead of in pieces flat) it was sewn up and all ends woven in by 9:40. It looks good too, so I am happy. Unfortunatelly with around 5 degrees Celsius it is a bit cold for short sleeves.

I finally got the old digi cam from MyGuy and took some pictures, but to upload them I need a loading station/cable and that I have to buy first. So it will take a bit longer until this is a blog with pics.

Socktober already on it's last day?

I have a serious case of STARTERITIS. That is why I need to follow Sarah in extending Socktober (see this entry: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/6626188). I still have the blue socks (child's first socks) with sock one close to the toe; I have started the witch socks that are due today for Petra's contest but due to work and the need to concentrate on two charts simultaniously that is far from the heel, but will look cool, maybe for next years Halloween; the yellow socks have not been touched at all, but will make nice mindless commuter knitting once I get over my love affair with Thujas; red Thuja for myself was started and is on it's way to the toe for the first sock.

Cross Stitching is even worse. I had a bunch of WIPs already: Flight Show, Reading Dragon, Santa (only beads missing), Fall scene, Heart by M Designs, Name Sign for my friend Monika, seahorses were all in different states off unfinished. Now I have added a Michael Powell's Mini design and by Heart in Hand Pumpkins. The last one might actually get finished stitching as it is fairly straight forward with lovely space died threads. But then it will join my Plant Kindness design in the cue to be finished. May be My Guy's father could make a frame for the kindness design.

Sewing: I need to finish my pj top as it is getting colder again. I also want to add some stars for friends and family to my christmas giving.

Christmas shopping will need to be done within the next 4 weeks, because I am NOT going shopping after 1st of December. I go to christmas markets, but for the Gluehwein not for shopping. So this Santa will have to make a list and check it twice.

What season am I - fits

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

Stitcher's Question of the week

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Vash and is:

Which way do you stitch, i.e. do you stitch /// followed by \\\ on top, or the other way around \\\ followed by ///? Are you left- or right-handed and do you think that this affects the way that you stitch?

I stitch \\\ followed by /// and I am right-handed.

My Guy socks done

In a fit of very concentrated knitting I finished the My Guy socks yesterday evening. Now they just need a little bath and they are ready for his Halloween birthday. I actually liked them very much once I had them on my feet and already bought yarn for another pair of Thuja from http://www.knitty.com Mine will not be the worlds most boring tan, but red tweed like socks. But they have to wait a bit.

Yesterday I cast on for my witch socks for Petra's (Woll Normal) witch contest. I am not sure I can get the one required sock done in time as it will not be mindless, but it will be fun even if it takes a bit longer... I am starting of with picot which I have never tried with a provisional cast on, another thing I have not really mastered yet. At least the cast on came off so I am now ready to knit the two set of stitches together. Then a bit of lace and some twitsted stitches... Actually I have a second idea that would be great, but that would probably require double knitting and I have never tried that either.

Sharfika is on the second ball and growing nicely. This was my project in front of My Guy while I was knitting his socks. If you only required a short scarf you could stop already, but i plan to wear mine with my navy winter coat and want it longer. The other day I realized that I had accidently switched to cables every 8 rows instead of the 10 in the pattern, but since I have done this since the second crossing, I will just keep going and make the last one a ten row repeat for symmetry.

No stitching done lately even though my fingers itch after seeing the Just Cross Stitch Christmas 10th anniversary book and some recent magazines.

Sharfik in pink = Sharfika

In preperation of winter and considering it is October and therefore breast cancer awareness is heightened I have cast on a Sharfik in a lovely slightly blueish rose. It fought me from the start: the set up row went wrong, then I did the first and last stitch wrong on the right side row while correcting the miscounting in the set up row, the yarn does not like to be cabled with three stitches across and I can not count to ten for the pattern repeat. To add insult to injury I was very doubtful at the beginning about how that whole thing would look. But now I am fine with the look and the pattern and I have made peace. There will be a pink sharfik here, I call it sharfika, because it is so girly. I am not sure if Grumperia's dad will like his many scarf so transformed...

The My Guy socks were ripped to the ribbing and restarted with the pattern from Thuja in knitty.com. The first one is now past the heel and great commuter knitting.

Last Saturday I was at my parents and went with my mom to her patchwork groups UFO day. I finished sewing up the ship and kaleidoscope blocks, so they can make a baby quilt if a kid will show up. I got advise on what to use for the binding in my ninepatch quilt, but have not actually attached it. And I started a star for a table "runner" (I do not know what it is called, it is for decoration and to put stuff like tea pots on.). I finished the star on Sunday and added the backing yesterday, so at least I have one FO.

I am still knitting on Bob even though the weather is by now decidedly autumn and I will not need a short sleeved sweater for a long time. But the yarn and the color make me happy and I am approaching a finished project there as well.

Socktober 06

A bit late but here we go:

When did you start making socks? I have no idea, but it must have been in school during home ec as I am sure I knit the first pair before I graduated from high school.
Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class? My mom defenitly taught me as she was my home ec teacher and I learned all my early crafts from her. We still share a love for handicrafts, but mostly she does patchwork these days.
What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time? I have no idea as this is more than 20 years ago.
What would you have done differently? Probably nothing, but I can not say for sure.
What yarns have you particularly enjoyed? In Germany we do not have the wide varity of hand died and variegated luxuries, but I particularily enjoyed Regia Silk.
Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method? I have tried DNPs, 2 circs and the Magic Loop and have returned to my 5 DPNs. I love circs for other things, but not for socks.
Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?) I have only done one short row heel when I also tried toe-up, it was okay, but I prefer flaps as they are more mindless for me. However I like the flap with slipped stitches since I found them on the net.
How many pairs have you made? No idea, I think I have ten pairs in my drawers, 2 in My Guy's and I made a pair as a gift for a friend at some point.

My Guy sock started

I have started the socks for My Guy yesterday. I changed my mind about the pattern I would use, but am still unsure if I decided on the right one. The sock is much wider after the ribbing and I am not sure this will work out, but I will knit a bit more and then reevaluate them. Maybe instead of a knit purl pattern I should use something that is more like ribbing... I am not going to do cables with it though as I have already noticed that it splits and that is not good for cabling without cable needle.

Socktober has started

I am looking forward to doing some sock knitting this month in celebration of Lolly's socktober festival. I have two pairs on the needles that I want to get done and a third pair that I need to cast on and get done for My Guy's birthday on Halloween. I also want to rework the pair he got for last years b-day as they were too long (and possibly too wide, too). The ones on the needle are both on the first sock: blue cotton Child's First Socks that live at My Guy's place and yellow Opal socks in Twin Rib that I had to rib the heel back because I did not remember that I had more stitches on the fourth needle and needed to take some of those into the heel to get the requisite half of the numbers.

Unfortunatelly I am currently in love with my little cross stich project and the socks remain ignored. I need to cast on for My Guy's socks so that I can take them on the train. I dislike casting on there as I tend to have needles slip out when wrangling the dnp porcupine through the inital set up. Afterwards I love my DNPs.

Another new project

I could no longer resist and have started the Michael Powell Mini Spanish Cottages 6 from an old Just Cross Stitch. The pircture shown is the one from the magazine, I only have done a tiniy bit on the tree and the houses. I love Powell's work and this one reminds me of our vacation, even if we were in Italy and not in Spain, the feeling was pretty much the same. I have in a current WOCS another of his Minis, this time from Greece.

Jaywalkers done

Watching soccer I finished my Jaywalkers. I love them, they are cotton Regia and I am already wearing them. Let's see if I can get My Guy to take a photo of them at some point the next couple of days.

I had a rather annoying TV evening as the cable channels have changed and my TV does not adjust them automatically. I have now more channels, but it was hard work to find the ones I had before again and save them on their old places on my TV. And I am still missing the second Swiss channel. Grr. If I can not find it this winter will be BAD. They are my favorite channel for downhill skiing.

I had an okay day yesterday and then went swimming a 1000 meters with a former collegue. That was good and we plan to do it more often. After that I did not see a very low step and fell, skinned my knee and twisted my ankle. Then they had changed my TV channels and I could not find my fifth ebony DPN. I used a metal one to finish the Jaywalkers, but was seriously annoyed. I love those needles. Luckily that one took a turn to the better this morning as I found needle #5 stuck in my sweater vest. Yeah!

This is especially good as I want to use the ebony's for My Guy's socks. I think I know what I want to do for them. Diamond frames in purl stitches on a stockinette background. Now what ribbing to use with that...

Knitting History

I am one lucky girl: I won a wonderful Japanese book from Julia at Knitting History! It's already here and great. Not that I understand a word of the Japanese but the pictures are inspiring. I am really looking forward to trying one of the hats or shawls.

Knitting:
- the first pair of Jaywalkers is nearing completion during my daily train trips, this morning I reached the toe of sock number 2
- since the weather is turning cool, rainy and very fall like I am determined to finish my Bob sweater (from http://knitty.com ): short sleeved and cotton. Yes, I too think that that is weird, but I love the yarn and the color... I am knitting the sleeves: two in the round at the same time, not my favorite method, but it beats the alternatives hands down. Luckily they are only 2" until I will join them to the body. Yes, I am taking liberties with the construction of that sweater.
- coming up: boyfriend socks as it is his birthday at the end of October. I got some nice neutral tan Jawoll yarn. That will be my first time knitting with that brand, usually Regia is what I can lay hands on. Let's see if I can make them so boring that he will actually wear them...

Cold Weather but no progress

With August we got cold and rainy weather but instead of crafting a lot, I went back to reading for a while.

I read David Lodge's Think, The Giver, a book by Deirdre Martin, another book (a romance I think) that I already sold via amazon and am currently close to the end of Neil Gaiman's Anasi Boys. I had not read any Lodge for some time and therefore enjoyed it, even though it is the same old topics of affairs and academics. Gaiman's book is great and I had read American Gods earlier which gave me an idea of what to expect. I plan on finally finishing Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning next. Just a few chapters left...

I did knit a bit on my Jaywalkers and am up to the heel of the second sock. I also cast on once more with the tan cotton sock wool I have, but once again am not satisfied. I will have to go down a needle size with those, I think. I knit a bit on my Noro Cardigan, too, but am not satisfied with the instructions. They are vague and lacking a diagram. But I am past the armhole decreases, so the fronts should be finished soon and then I can guess how much yarn I will need to purchase to finish it.

I stitched not at all on my Frederic and very little on the Seahorses.

My quilt URGENTLY needs a border to then go to Mom for quilting, if I want to give it as a gift in October.

A row here a row there

that is the progress of my projects currently. Turned a heep on my blue Child's First Socks, turned a heel on my Jaywalker and did the increases on the fronts of my Noro cardigan. I still love all those projects, so they will go on. The blue socks at My Guy's place, the jaywalkers are my commuting project and the cardigan is my at home project when it is not too hot to knit wool.

We are planning on going to see Caveman, a comedy, on men and women. We had heard good things about it and are looking forward to it.

Summer of Stash rewards?

I have not yet gotten to the end of the Summer of Stash and already I am contmeplating getting more yarn: Noro Blossom for an Eloise and this Sock Club: http://www.poshyarn.co.uk/sockclub.html . But then I have not defined any rewards when I joined the summer of stash...

CeCe finished

My CeCe is finished and I have worn it already. It is just what I wanted. Now I need to get my photographer to snap a pic and I will finally try to post one.

Also finished is the first sleeve of my Noro cardigan. I have not cast on for the fronts yet.

Ripped: my yellow jaywalkers. Restarted with less stitches and a different sock yarn. Now I am afraid the fabric is too loose, but will keep it up for a bit.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

Summer Knitty Patterns

The summer knitty is out and I feel rather ambivalent about it. While the socks, hats and other accessoirs look great, I feel "cheated" that there are no short sleeved sweaters or tanks. I know it is free and the editors decision and I even can see that in summer you might need small stuff as it will not create the blanket effect of a large project, but still... That said, I like quite a few of the things and am sure they make great stash buster projects and I will refer back to this issue often.

Noro Silk Garden is yummy

I am currently knitting a cardigan in Silk Garden by Noro. In green purple colors: LOVELY. I did a sleeve as the gauge swatch and seem to have gotten lucky. This yarn was originally intended for Klaralund, but then got stashed and now I think I'd rather have a cardigan. I just hope there is enough yarn as the cables eat up yarn like crazy. But I can either knit a stockinett back or a uni one from a different yarn depending on how "bad" this gets. I am loving the sleeve, luckily I have taught myself after seeing this mentioned in the blogsphere how to cable with out a cable needle. Otherwise the love might not be all that great... Next to knit are the fronts as I want those to match as much as possible with Noro. The second sleeve will be next and then I should be able to tell what I can do with the back.

This is what I am making:

http://www.laughinghens.com/knitting-pattern-page.asp?patternpageid=2118

CeCe at neckband

I am sorry I doubted Bonne Marie as CeCe turns out just right. I just need to knit the neckband and sew the ends in. I am just trying to figure out if I can knit the neckband on instead of sewing it on. No help so far in my books, but if an applied i-cord works, this might work too. Any ideas?

The red socks are resting, but I did knit a bit on the blue ones.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

Quilt magazines in review process

I am reviewing the quilt mags that I kept after the date cut off declutter and am dumping some more. Not easy, but it gives me a good feeling.

See more progress on: de-clutter my apartment

Heel of the second red socks

I am in the process of turning the second of my red socks and so far no second sock syndrom.

I also took up CeCe again and am getting closer and closer to the neckline.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

I fell of the wagon

but I will try again

See more progress on: stop eating M&Ms for one month

Lakes Sweater finished

I have decided that I will not unravel Lakes, but keep it the way it is. Therefore I sewed up the sleeve seams and the sweater is now ready to be worn. I might need to loose a few pounds for it to look it’s best, but it does look okay and those pounds need to go anyway.

See more progress on: participate in Project Spectrum

Turned the heel

I have turned the heel on my first red sock and am doing the gusset now. I finally decided that I do like the pattern with that yarn and am happy about how they turn out.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

I have tried this...

... and while it is a nice way to avoid second socks syndrom, for a portable project I prefer my DPNs.

See more progress on: learn to knit 2 socks on 2 circular needles

Little Red Sox progress

May be I need to wait for baseball… Probably not, but with watching soccer with My Guy I did not make much progress with my socks. When I watch the world cup on my own, I knit and just look when the reporter gets really very excited. LOL.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

Red Socks started

I have started red socks with that diagonal rib pattern that I have ripped from the blue socks. Let’s see if I like that better. I have some doubts though.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

May Sweater finished and worn

I like the feel of it even if I still do not like the crab stitch crochet around the neckline. It fits and looks nice with my 7/8th Jeans.

I unraveled the blue socks as they were coming out too small and have started them again with a different pattern from Nancy Bush’s Vintage Socks.

See more progress on: participate in Project Spectrum

No stitching this weekend

I am never going to get anywhere at this speed, but the weather was great and we went to the Rhine Falls in Neuhausen, Switzerland. I believe they are the largest in Europe. In any case it was great.

See more progress on: do a Stitch Along

No M&Ms so far

It seems that I stay away from the M&Ms, but eat all sort of other choclate, I will have to do Weight Watcher routines again to lose those 10 pounds.

See more progress on: stop eating M&Ms for June

Finished my River Rapids

While watching soccer yesterday afternoon I finally finished my Rapid River socks. When counting out the repeats on the first sock I realized two things: I made two different heels and there is one mistake in decreasing that is hardly noticable. As they are for me I left it. They look good and I look forward to wearing them next fall.

So one goal for Blue month June has been reached.

My CeCe is up to the arms and I have to knit the sleeves before I can continue with the main piece.

I seamed up May’s sweater as well. It now only needs the crochet finish at the neckline and a wash and block. I want to wear it soon, so this should be done this week.

See more progress on: participate in Project Spectrum

Finished Nachtzug

and started a recently bought Amy Tan book: Saving Fish from Drowning. I love Amy Tan’s books and this one is good, too.

See more progress on: read all the books I own

Little Stitching done

I did stitch a bit, but as I am obsessed with my CeCe at the moment little progress was made. I did a bit of rust on the middle book though.

The fabric is black Aida and I am sure it will get softer, but right now I do not like it.

See more progress on: do a Stitch Along

Already gone to the frog pond

I have hardly stitched anything, but that was already too much… I had to frog quite a bit yesterday evening on my Freddy. I had miscounted on the rust. I have redone it, but then have returned to my trusty CeCe (not that trusty either as I messed up a yarnover, but I got it fixed with little swearing).

See more progress on: do a Stitch Along

Bought more yarn

I have bought turquois yarn for a CeCe from Chicknits. I have started it and despite initial doubts about the lace I am totaly loving it. I had confidence in BonneMarie as I have already made a Ribby Cardi and a Cutaway, but at first I was not sure. By now I have almost 20 cm done and it looks good. My Guy has already christened it the Swimming Pool cardi. LOL. I look forward to wearing it.

I have joined the Summer of Stash, so this is the last yarn purchase for this summer.

See more progress on: knit all the yarn I've bought

Walk on Wednesday

I had planned to go swimming, but the weather was so nice I went for a walk instead. Should have gone swimming as I had a bad cramp in my foot after just a quater of an hour. Ouch! Something did not work between my shoes, my orthodentics (?) and my walking/running. But I am proud that I can run more and more of my walking round. Yeah me!

See more progress on: walk regularly.

Official Start

Yesterday was the first official day of the SAL. I have put in some stitches, but nothing like an hour’s worth. I feel I should have washed the fabric, it’s incredibly stiff. On the other hand stitching on black was not as bad as I though it might be. I started with the shelf Frederic is lying on and did two threads worth of work. The threads are alright for the loop method so for the unblended colors I will use that to start.

See more progress on: do a Stitch Along