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June 29, 2005
Holiday
As usual, our holiday plans are a little bit delayed. We are trying to be relaxed about it though, and I'm sure we will leave some time tomorrow.
I haven't packed my knitting yet. I always leave this till last, because it's so difficult to choose. At least I know I will take the new Interweave Knits (autumn) which arrived yesterday. I really like the Union Square Market Pullover by Kate Gilbert, so I'm hoping to find some nice yarn for it in France. That's about all I like in this issue of IK, so I'm not renewing my subscription.
We'll see how much I get done!
Posted by saartje at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2005
Knitting the footlets
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I told you the footlets are boring, didn't I? I didn't even finish the first one today. Even though it was a bit cooler, my hands were still a bit sticky and this yarn (38% wool, 37% cotton and 25% polyamid) just doesn't feel nice with moist hands. Oh well, I'll keep going anyway....
Tomorrow, I will decide what to bring on our camping holiday. Always a difficult decision... I really want to take my whole stash and all my books, but somehow, that doesn't seem possible...
Posted by saartje at 9:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
Greetings from Terschelling
We spent the weekend on the island of Terschelling, visiting relatives. We had a great time, the weather was beautiful and it was the start of our four-week holiday! Terschelling is a lovely island, small but not too small. We always enjoy going there, and if you have the chance, do consider a visit.
I finished Branching Out and I took it to the dunes for a foto shoot.
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It's really too hot to wear it right now, but I even like looking at it, I think it turned out great.
I started the footlets and one is almost finished. That is some really boring knitting! If it wasn't for the fact that I need some footlets, I sure wouldn't be knitting them.....
And I'll end with this picture of a kokmeeuw (Black-headed Gull) I took in the harbour of West-Terschelling when we were waiting for the boat to take us back to the mainland.
Posted by saartje at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Sunset
Yesterday evening was beautiful. I went for a walk around the neighbourhood with my camera, trying to take pictures of the sunset.
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This one I took on the bicycle bridge across the canal near my house. The canal is full of house boats. It looks so peaceful at night.
I love this city!
On the knitting front: I finished Branching Out, but I still have to block it. I plan on doing this tonight. Hopefully there will be a picture tomorrow.
Posted by saartje at 7:24 AM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2005
Still Branching Out
I'm happily knitting away on Branching Out in the summer heat. My fingers do get a bit sweaty now and then, but I'm still enjoying it.
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I'll keep knitting untill I run out of yarn. I always find it difficult with scarfs to determine the right length. I like long scarfs, but they tend to get heavy and stretching themselves with wear to really narrow, very long, not nice to wear scarfs. Because Branching Out already is quite narrow, I hope it won't weigh itself down.
Posted by saartje at 7:35 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2005
Branching out
So I started Branching Out.
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So far it's looking good, I think. Of course, it will look much better after blocking. The pattern isn't difficult, but not easy to remember either. Usually, when knitting lace, I can rember the pattern after having done a couple of repeats, but not this one. It's a fun pattern anyway.
I want to start some cotton-wool footlets, because the weather has finally turned into summer over here! I have a box full of Regia and Lana Grossa Meilenweit cotton-wool, so I'm off to dig some out.
Posted by saartje at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2005
Weekend again
Somehow, I didn't do much knitting this week. I'm not sure why, it was a week like any other week. I guess I just didn't feel like it.
I did manage to finish the Fortissima Polycolon sock and on my way back to Nijmegen I started the second.
When I came home, the knitting bug bit me again (phew, I don't like those days when I don't feel like knitting!) and yesterday, I made the Baby hat with leaf edging from the 2000 Knitlist gift exchange. I always thought this hat looked really cute, and when I came across this lovely green wool yarn I knew it would be perfect.
I came across this yarn in my own stash, by the way. I bought it some years ago in France, at La Droguerie. Up untill now, I tried to make serveral things with it, but it didn't seem to be happy with any of them. I finally found its destination!
The pattern has you knit the leaf border first:
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Then you pick up stitches along the edge and start knitting the crown.
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I don't have any babies at hand to model, but I think it will look very nice. Like the pattern says: 'Makes baby look like tree elf'!
And what will I start next? Or should I pick up some neglected WIP? Naaaah...
I have some more of this yarn, in a light blue/purple with light green flecks. I going to see if it wants to be Branching Out from Knitty spring 2005. I feel like knitting lace!
Posted by saartje at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2005
Beautiful butterflies
We had a great weekend in the Eifel. Even though the weather wasn't what I was hoping for, we did see lots of butterflies. Because it was quite cold, they weren't very lively and flying around. Instead, they were sitting on flowers and leaves waiting for the sun to shine. Great opportunities for taking pictures!
Here's a couple:
I didn't get much knitting time, I had to pay attention to the road. I did knit a few rounds on my current socks in progress, made from Fortissima Socka with 40% polycolon. This is supposed to help the material breath. So far, I'm not really enthousiastic about this yarn. It is a bit thicker than the regular Fortissima (390m/100g) and I'm wondering if maybe the needles I'm using are too small because the fabric it a bit stiff. I get 9 spi on 2mm dpns.
Anyway, here is a picture of the sock in progress (taking somewhere on the trip in Germany, we don't have rocks like that in the Netherlands....):
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Posted by saartje at 7:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
Wrist warmers finished
Travelling back to Nijmegen yesterday afternoon I sat on the train fo 2.5 hours. Time to knit!
I finished knitting the wrist warmers and started grafting the seams. (How about those nice orange seats on the Dutch trains?)
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This nearly drove me crazy, because although it really isn't difficult, I kept making mistakes. It had something to do with concentration, I think.
Anyway, after taking it out serveral times and redoing it I finally decided I'm happy with them. Look:
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I made them a little bit longer than the ones I made earlier, and I think they will stay in place better and keep me even warmer.
This afternoon, we're off to the Eifel, Germany (a 3 hour drive) to spend the weekend looking for butterflies. I don't think we'll get to see many, because it is way too cold, but we'll have fun anyway!
Posted by saartje at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
June 6, 2005
At least my wrists will be warm
So I decided to make some wrist warmers. I could have used them today, it was terribly cold, inside as well as outside because of the uncontrolable air conditioning in my office.
I got the beads (only 66) strung on the train and got started, see?
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I'm using Regia Silk, which is a nice sock yarn that works great for wrist warmers. I really like the color and the beads match perfectly.
I'm still not completely well yet, but managed to get through the work day. I had a lot of catching up to do after a whole weeks absence! Now I'm going to rest, watch tv and knit.
Posted by saartje at 7:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2005
A rainy day
Even if I do feel much better than earlier this week, I'm still not quite 100% well again. I'm sure the wonderful weather in these parts has something to do with that as well:
At least the plants are thriving.... Tomorrow I'm leaving for Leeuwarden again and the forecast there is 12C, brrrrr. I could wear my winter coat again, but that I refuse!
On the bright side, I will get good use of the Estonian Socks I finished today.
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I'm happy with the way they turned out. I tried to steam block the tops so the garter stitch border wouldn't fall down. So far it seems to stay put.
What to knit next? I'm thinking about some beaded wrist warmers, or some more socks or.... I'm off to dive into my collection of knitting books for some inspiration!
Posted by saartje at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)
June 3, 2005
I'm back
I was ill all last week! It started with a bad cold, and I lay on the couch all day from tuesday. I didn't even feel like knitting....
Luckily, I feel a lot better now, so I spent the day on the couch knitting! This led to a fair amount of progress on Estonian sock #2, as you can see:
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The felted rabbit sitting against the window I made from a great pattern by schmeebot. I love the way she drew the schematics that make up this pattern, or maybe it's more like a recipe. I made serveral of these rabbits. Dropje and I play this game with them, where I put them all on the windowsill and she will scatter them through the house within a day. Then I gather them again and the game starts over!
Posted by saartje at 7:32 PM | Comments (1)
