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December 31, 2005
Estonian and Latvian mittens
Yesterday, I got some great advice from Pamela. She pointed me to the books of Aino Praakli, Kirikindad I and II, about Estonian mittens. I started googling them and one thing led to another and....
Well, first of all, I ordered the first book from an Estonian online bookshop. I can't wait for it to arrive!
Then I googled the Latvian word for mittens, 'cimdi'. This gave me many great links, especially when I did a google picture search. I really like this one, it has lots of pictures of colorful Latvian mittens. But this one really made my heart beat a little faster: charts for Latvian mittens and gloves! Go check it out!
In my search, I also came across some very nice stamps from the Latvian Postal Service:
And this one from the Estonian Postal Service:
Wow!
By the way, I think Ajoursteek when questioning the gauge given with the pattern for Baltic mittens in Handwerken zonder Grenzen. It does seem very tight in comparison with the amount of stitches you work with. I wrote an email to the editor with this questions, and I'll let you know when they get back to me.
Do I need another hobby?
Mmmm, I suppose you would get different answers to that question depending on who you're asking, but the fact is yesterday my balcony looked like this:
And that's only half of it. Yes, I got four fleeces from a colleague who also runs a farm. I love the colors of the wool. The other two fleeces which aren't in the picture are very dark brown. The ones you see here are from the same kind of sheep, but from older ones. They turn grey with age.
So now I have to learn how to spin. I borrowed a spinning wheel, so maybe next week I'll give it a try.
Just to show T. I *really* am going to use this stuff, I made some things with a felting needle (also my first try).
A little bird, inspired by this website.
What else could I make from this beautiful fleece?
Posted by saartje at 1:54 PM | Comments (24)
December 30, 2005
Home again
We're back on the mainland again. Terschelling is such a lovely island, we're so lucky to have relatives over there. This means we get to go there at least 3 times a year. In summer, there are many butterflies for us to look for and enjoy. This is a picture I took on Terschelling last summer:
Aaaaaahhh, summer....
Right now, I'm knitting to keep warm. Thanks to Knitty, I'm succeeding. Take a look at this:
It has a little bag filled with rice and lavender in its belly. You can take the bag out (through a very ingenious opening and closing system) and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. The rice will retain the heat for some time. You put the bag inside the creature, and put it in your coat pocket to keep your hands warm. Clever, isn't it?
Check out the pattern over here.
For all Dutch knitters, wanting to try knitting a pair of lovely Estonian mittens, take a look at the latest issue of Handwerken zonder Grenzen (on the website it says issue 132, but I'm talking about issue 133, which is in the shops at the moment). It has an interesting article about mittens from the Baltic countries, with a pattern for some great looking mittens.
If you are serious about knitting these kind of mittens and other small items, I would suggest taking a look at Folk knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush. This is a great book, one of my main sources of inspiration. Of course, it is in English, but that shouldn't be a big problem because of the pictures and charts. And if you do need some help, let me know, I'll give it a try!
Posted by saartje at 11:44 AM | Comments (8)
December 28, 2005
My knitting in a magazine
Thank you all for your nice comments on the article in Landleven! I'm glad you like it, it's hard for me to read it objectively.
To answer some of your questions: the interview is indeed about my knitting. It's not available in English, I'm afraid. If you want to read it, you have to buy the january/february edition of Landleven, a magazine about 'country life' (whatever that may be). The magazine is completely in Dutch. I cannot put the article up on my site because of copyright issues, of course. You can see some of the pictures on the Landleven website.
Knitting
I finished a pair of socks for my sweetheart:
It's the pair of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch Special (390 m, color no. 8830). He seems to like them, as they're nice and warm, which is good because at the moment we are at the beautiful island of Terschelling, and the weather is like this:
We almost had a white Christmas!
Posted by saartje at 12:21 AM | Comments (11)
December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas everyone!
By the way, there is an interview with me in the january/febuari edition of Landleven, which could be translated as 'Country Life'. Very strange to read about yourself like that!
Posted by saartje at 12:18 PM | Comments (15)
December 23, 2005
My knitting bag
Tina tagged me to show you what's in my knitting bag. Thanks!
Well, I don't have an official knitting bag. I do have an abnormal amount of some nice bags, and it depends on how many WIPs I want to take with me which one I pick. At the moment, this is my knitting bag:
I just bought a couple of weeks ago. I love it! It doesn't look like a knitting bag and it's not too big, but big enough.
It stands upright all by itself and it stays open if I want it to.
And what's in it?
First, it's my Mermaid in progress.
These are the Nutcracker slippers-to-be from Handknit Holidays, some beaded wristwarmers I finished on the train yesterday, and my little Canon Powershot A520, to take pictures when I don't have our large camera with me.
And of course, some stuff I may or may not need on the road. In the plastic zip baggy I have spare needles, scissors, wast yarn, safety pins, measuring tape, etc. The red wool yarn I use to make korknisser. Finally, some sewing thread, beads and candy.
Some magazines.
And the miscellaneous junk that is on the bottom of all of my bags.
So that's it. And now I would really like to see the contents of the knitting bags of Biba and Nanette!
Posted by saartje at 2:03 PM | Comments (4)
December 18, 2005
Mermaid progress
Work on Mermaid is going pretty well here. I'm almost finished with the first arm hole.
Here's a close-up picture, just for fun:
It's not going as slowly as I thought it would. Of course, I have yet to start the back, where the rows will be much longer than the point where I'm at now, so you can expect me to feel completely different about it soon.
Wrist warmers
Tatjana asked about a pattern for the wrist warmers I made. I don't have patterns for the ones I made, I just used a basic design from Håndplagg til bunader og folkedrakter and put my own beaded design on them. I'm thinking about putting up a kind of tutorial on my site, with pictures, if enough people are interested. Let me know!
In the mean time, here are two patterns by Fuzzy Noodle Knits:
"Stars" Wrist Warmers (I used the motif from this one on one of my wrist warmers)
and
"Checkers" Beaded Wrist Warmer
They're lovely, check them out!
If you want a totally different kind of wrist warmer, go to Knitty and take a look at the Mrs. Beeton wristwarmers. I really like those, I'll be making them someday.
Posted by saartje at 3:56 PM | Comments (7)
December 16, 2005
I must have been good this year
Sint really got crafty this year! Here's what I recieved last weekend.
A needle felting kit, brought back by the Sint all the way from Finland.
A lovely felted bag from Nepal, a little llama from Peru and pieces of felt for my crafting stash.
Three balls of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply, to make the Nutcracker Slippers from Handknit Holidays. I just had to start making these, and I finished the first sole last night.
Thank you so much, Sinterklaas!
Mermaid
Meanwhile, I also made some progress on Mermaid.
The pattern is kind of complicated, there is a lot of 'at the same time, do this and this' stuff going on. I have to read some parts a couple of times before I get it. I really like working on it, but it will take me some time to finish it!
Posted by saartje at 1:13 PM | Comments (4)
December 15, 2005
This Sinterklaas knits too...
I can't believe it has been more than a week since I last blogged! I've been very busy, with yet another Sinterklaas celebration, this time with my side of the family.
I got some really great gifts, knitting and crafting related things, which I'll show you tomorrow. Because now I can finally post about the things I have been knitting for the past two weeks.
click
I made my mother, sister and sister-in-law beaded wrist warmers out of Regia Silk. The dark blue ones are my mother's, the light blue ones are my sister's and finally the dark red ones are for my sister-in-law. I had to work quite hard to get them all finished in time. They're not big knits, but you have to take the stringing of the beads into the account as well! They liked them (thanks for the comment, Mariken!), which makes me very happy!
And now, of course I am working on Mermaid. Pictures tomorrow!
Posted by saartje at 7:59 PM | Comments (13)
December 5, 2005
Thank you Sinterklaas!
Sinterklaas dropped off some gifts at my inlaws place (no, I'm not married, but you know what I mean). Just look at what he got me:
Yes, it's a Mermaid kit! Sint certainly has got taste. I happen to know he ordered it from Ribbels in Leiden and I can assure you he was very happy with the quick and friendly service at this shop.
Now I can't wait to start it.... but it will have to wait for a few more days, until after Sinterklaas is hands out his final gifts for this year next weekend at my parents house...
Posted by saartje at 10:20 PM | Comments (13)
December 2, 2005
Yarn shops
Thanks for all your comments about yarn shops in Germany and the Netherlands. I do agree with Maartje and Tatjana about Germany being sock yarn paradise, but maybe not so great for the more 'special' yarns. I always check out the sock yarn section first when I enter a yarn shop, I'm totally a little obsessed with sock yarn. But I really do think Germany has to be the European country with the most yarn shops. I think the Scandinavian countries are good too, but in when you go south, yarn is difficult to find. I only have tried to look for yarn in France, Spain and Italy, but I'm always a little disappointed. Although France has La Droguerie, of course, a really great shop (without sock yarn, however...). The yarn I used for the purple gloves I showed you in my last entry came from La Droguerie, by the way.
Another shop I really enjoy is Modilaine in the center of Utrecht (in the Netherlands). Here is a picture I took yesterday:
Modilaine
Lijnmarkt 22
Utrecht
They don't have a website. They sell Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Lana Grossa, Regia and lots of other yarns. They also have a large collection of knitting needles, which can be difficult to find in the Netherlands. It's quite a small shop, but I can absolutely recommend it!
Knitting
Yes, I'm doing a lot of knitting every day, none of which I can show you until after the 11th of december, after the Sinterklaas celebrations are over for this year.
Here's one thing I can show you, because the intended recipient won't be surfing the internet [although you never know with a feline.....].
It's another little felted snake. My cat Dropje tried to steal it right after I took this picture, but I managed to save it. I'll make another one for her later. The idea for the snake came from this website. I usually use pure wool and felt them after knitting, to make them a bit sturdier. They're a big hit with all cats!
Posted by saartje at 6:14 PM | Comments (8)
