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June 26, 2006
France here I come
We had a great weekend watching butterflies in the northeastern part of the Netherlands, right next to the German border. In fact, the first two pictures where taken in Germany.
These are two Cranberry Fritillaries [Veenbesparelmoervlinder] spending some quality time together. These are very rare in the Netherlands, so we went to Germany to spot them.
This is a moth [nachtvlinder], an Elephant hawk moth [Groot avondrood] to be precise. A really beautiful one, it could be a source of inspiration for a pair of socks. Mmmm... I even think I have colors like these in my stash... maybe a bit of an odd combination though.
Tomorrow we are leaving for France. Thank you all so much for your holiday wishes. In an attempt to remove all the spam comments I got over the weekend, I managed to delete two real comments. Sorry about that, Saskia and Froukje!
I just found out about a new, very special knitalong. Carla found this beautiful knitting sampler [stekenlap] from the beginning of the 20th century, shown in this picture together with a stocking:
The sampler has 29 stitch patterns, which Carla is decyphering one by one and adding them to the Yahoogroup she created for the knitalong, which is starting on the 1st of July. There are already 190 members in the group! Everyone can knit use the stitch patterns to create their own sampler and discuss it in the Yahoogroup. Such a lovely idea! I won't be participating right now, but I wanted to pass on the information.
The Yahoogroup is called KnitalongSamplerM. You can also find out more about the project on the blog of the Dutch Stitch 'n Bitch groups over here (in Dutch).
Have a great time everyone!
Posted by saartje at 11:09 PM | Comments (7)
June 23, 2006
Holiday
Take a look at this:
This is the life, eh? Sitting by the pond with a cup of tea knitting away on Salina. Mind you, it isn't my pond, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to sit here every now and then.
Salina is getting more in shape each day. As I said, it does take some calculations and careful writing things down to keep track of it all, but as far as I can tell, it's looking good.
Here's a close up of the collar. I found out I made the back a bit too short, so the last couple of rows will have to be ripped, but that isn't a big deal.
This weekend, we're going butterfly watching. And thankfully, the weatherforecasts are good. And on Monday, we're leaving for a holiday in France. Three weeks of camping, yippeeee! I really hope to visit one of the Droguerie shops. Blogging will be difficult, but I will try to squeeze in a post before we leave, and possibly from an internet cafe in France.
Posted by saartje at 5:57 PM | Comments (6)
June 18, 2006
Weekend
It seems like the only time these days I can get around to blogging is in the weekend. Last week was very busy at work, and in the evenings I was just exhausted. When I have to choose between knitting and blogging about knitting, well, that's not a difficult choice to make. My blog did get some attention though, in the form of deleting *&!^% spam comments. It has gotten so bad that I get hundreds of spam comments each day. Removing them is a terrible job, and they just keep coming. I'm working on a solution, but for the mean time I'm sorry I am not getting back on your real and lovely comments as timely as I would like to...
Salina got all the energy I had left.
As you can see, I finished the back. I'm know starting the fun part: knitting the two front panels with the colar.
Froukje asked if knitting with yarn as thin as this isn't a bit boring. Well, my (limited) experience is that if I like a sweater or something else enough, it doesn't matter how thin the yarn is. Besides, the color of this particular yarn is so beautiful that it just keeps me going. And another thing: I'm knitting this on 3 mm needles, so it isn't even that thin compared to socks, which I knit on 2 mm needles. Of course, there are a lot more stitches in a sweater compared to socks, but still. And I also think it helps to knit it in the round (as far as possible) with interesting shaping going on.
Yuki, thank you for pointing out the target="new">third part of the sleeves article in Knitty. I had completely missed it. Let's hope this helps me tackle Salina's sleeves, since my row gauge is completely off (I'm getting 42 rows to 4 inches / 10 cm, while the pattern is for 32 rows to 4 inches).
Last week, I read the new entries on Whipup. Whipup, by the way, is an interesting blog about crafting. As it states on their 'about' page: This website has been created in order to bring the best original and exciting crafts to the attention of many.
To create a community of artists, crafters and makers and share ideas in a central space.
Anyway, last week there was an entry about a Dutch artist who does a lot of needle felting. Of course, I had to check out her site, MariekUniek. She has an English blog and a Dutch blog. And best of all: she is offering a free pattern for a small needle felted dog. Go check it out: she even took the time to write up an English version as well as a version in Dutch!
I gave it a try and this is the way my doggie turned out.
Adorable, isn't it? And not difficult to make. There are so many things you can make with this technique. Check out these examples from Kaisa in Finland: a bear, a green bunny and the cutest of all: a cat. Kaisa does lots of other crafts too, including knitting. She just made a scarf using a very interesting felting technique. And through her pictures, you get glimpses of what Finland looks like. So beautiful!
Here is a picture of what the Netherlands, or at least a small corner of my balcony, looks like. Some lovely pot marigolds [goudsbloemen], which I sowed myself.
Have a great Sunday everyone!
Edit: I added the link to the Dutch version of the needle felted dog.
Posted by saartje at 10:33 AM | Comments (7)
June 10, 2006
Overwhelming
Thank you all so much for your comments on Mermaid! I feel very flattered, knowing so many of you took the time to comment. I have been wearing Mermaid all week. It's wonderful to finally be able to wear it. Here's one more picture, of the front:
I'm not sure about the shirt together with Mermaid, but it was the only thing available (i.e. clean) I could find at the time. I'm sure Mermaid will get lots of wear. But not in the next week, because finally, the weather is starting to look like summer, yay!
We had a lovely time on Terschelling. I was a bit disappointed though, when I found out that the weekend before, it was the Day of the Sheep on the island. This event takes place every two years. Had I known this, I would have made sure we were there, of course. Oh well, maybe in two years....
Something else I found out about too late is a new yarn shop on the island! It's called Tante Lies (Lies is a common Dutch woman's name and 'tante' means 'aunt') and it is situated in the village called Lies. I found out about it on Saturday evening, and the shop was closed both Sunday and Monday (because of Pentecost). Aaaarghh...
Tante Lies
Lies 8 Terschelling
http://www.tante-lies.nl
I looked through the windows, and it looks like they offer quite a nice selection of yarn. If you're ever on Terschelling, do check it out. There aren't any other yarn shops there, as far as I know. The funny thing is, when I came home and checked my email, I got a message from Rina telling me about this shop. Thanks, Rina, I'll be sure to pay it visit next time.
On the boat to and from the island, I had lots of knitting time. This is what I did:
It's the start of Salina from Rowan's Vintage Style in Shetland wool yarn from Klazien's Kreatie. The gauge I'm getting is totally different from the pattern, so a lot of math will be involved in this project. So far, so good, but I'm dreading the sleeve caps... When I get there, I will study this article from Knitty, hoping it will help me to adjust Salina to my yarn. Let's hope for the best.
By the way, there is no connection between the great book in this picture and the project. It just happened to lie there.
Posted by saartje at 12:25 AM | Comments (9)
June 4, 2006
Can you believe it?
It. is. DONE.
In the end, it wasn't that bad, really. Just keep knitting and you'll get there, that's what I kept telling myself. I actually finished the sleeve on the train from Leeuwarden to Nijmegen last Thursday, and I even managed to sew in the sleeve during the train ride as well. Then all there was left to do was sewing in the ends and washing it. I was happy to see the sleeves grow almost 2 inches [5 cm] in length after washing, otherwise they would have been a bit too short. As you can see, it fits very well now. I'm even wearing it as we speak.
Here's a picture from the back:
It's nice and warm, I really like the Shetland yarn in the kit. Some people might find it scratchy, but I think it's just the right yarn for this jacket-like cardigan.
Dutch people who want to make their own Mermaid: I got the kit as a Sinterklaas present, but I know where he got it. It's from Ribbels in Leiden. They have lots of other Hanne Falkenberg kits too. I don't think I'll be making another one soon.... although I can imagine I would want to make another Mermaid some time. I'm not very fond of her other patterns (most of them are too shapeless for me).
I also finished the scarf in Noro Silk Garden #226. This was a very quick knit using 5 mm needles.
The color combinations (I used two balls, alternating 2 rows from one ball, and 2 rows from the other ball) didn't turn out very exciting in my opinion, but I like it anyway.
Of course, after finishing two projects in a row, I had to start something new. More about that later... By the way, can you tell where I am at the moment?
That's right, we're spending the Pentecost weekend on the beautiful island of Terschelling! Luckily, the weather is quite good, we haven't had any rain yet, just lots of sunshine. The pictures of Mermaid and the scarf where taken in the dunes on the nothern part of the island. The mother sheep and her child are walking on the dyke which closes off the south of the island. It's such a lovely place to be!
Posted by saartje at 9:33 PM | Comments (40)
