Who's doing the dishes tonight?

 Pattern : Ballband Dishcloth by Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc.
Seen in Mason-Dixon Knitting Book.

Yarn: Moda Vera Sombre,100% organic cotton
Needles: 4.5mm

Wanting to really work hard at recycling, and using what I have, I was inspired by the Mason-Dixon Knitting book (borrowed from the library), about dishcloths.
I am hoping to be able to use these until they are well worn, then cut them up and put into the compost heap or worm farm. (Not sure which option is better at this stage)

These are so not my colours, but the only colours available at Spotlight at the time when I wanted cotton “right now”

If these work well, I will try and source brighter colours to use next time.
I can knit one up in an evening watching some rubbish on TV…..now I am ready to try some different patterns (only first I must knit a few more until I use up all the cotton yarn from these 4 balls.
I am trying so hard not to end up with small left overs of anything!

The leftover ends of yarn that I am not using get rolled up into a ball...when the ball is big enough I will throw it in the washing machine with the next load of towels or bedding to felt...they make great balls for Eros the cat to play with (I just have to send it in a postpack to England)

Sock Blankets

Sock Blankets (patterns by Frankie Brown) are looking fantastic, but have run out of left over sock wool to continue these ones.
So they have been put on hold until I knit some more socks and have left over wool.

 Ohh, my poor boys, they are getting cold feet!!!!!  What to do????

Letzte Strickttreffung....fur jetzt

 It was with great sadness that I attended my last Berlin Knit meet up on a Friday.

I will miss you all, and hope that we will be able to meet up again in the near future, whether that is in Berlin, or hopefully you will come and visit me in Melbourne, Australia.

My wonderful friends surprised me with an adorable present, a game of memory, so I won't forget them, and our fun Friday's together!  There are 2 of each card!  You all made me teary! I love them and look at them often!

I miss you all already!

xxx

Tropical Breeze Socks, Toe Up...FAIL!

Pattern: Tropical Breeze, from Toe Up Techniques for Hand Knit Socks, by Janet Rehfeldt
Wool: Tausendschön Handgefärbte Sockenwolle
Needles: 2.5mm

URGH...TOTAL FAIL

too big (suit larger feet than mine)

colour, too lairy 

cast off. too tight!

I think they will be unravelled and turn into something else, it was worth a try.

We are back in Melbourne now, after flying out of Berlin and spending 2 weeks in Africa, and a week in Mauritus. We are now hanging out in self contained apartments waiting for our furniture to arrive.

Lacy Baktus for Mrs Keil

Pattern:  Lacy Baktus, by Terhi Montonen
Wool: Tausendschön Handgefärbte Sockenwolle Merino/Nylon
Needles: 4mm

Made for Mrs Keil, our school administrator who has put up with endless stupid requests and questions from me for the past 6 years.

This scarf should have been finished before the kids finished school, however the weather turned against me, and was +30 every day for 2 weeks...not great knitting weather when you do not have air conditioning or fans in our apartment!

So, the week before school started again, I managed to give this to Mrs Keil, hopefully she will get lots of wear out of this in the cool Autumns and freezing Winter months ahead....I think it will look fabulous with her gorgeous hair!

Thanks for putting up with me!!!

Trail Handwarmers

Trial Hand Warmers
Pattern: made up.
Wool: Zwerger Garn Opal Hundertwasser.
Needles: 2.5mm

An attempt at hand warmers, just to see how they work.

Cast on 60 stitches, knit 4, purl 1, and keep going.

Once you get to where you want to start your thumbs, go back and forth, to make an opening large enough for your thumb, then start knitting in the round again.

A bit small for my hands, so I gave them to Antje.

 Hopefully they will keep her hands warm in the Berlin Winter

Knotty Gloves, my first ever knitted gloves!

Pattern: Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller
Wool: Mondial Ciao
Needles: 2.5mm

I love these gloves!  I have put off trying gloves for awhile, but was determined to knit a pair before I left Berlin.  I finished them around Norway and Sweden.

2 Hats for Wimps.

Pattern: Cable & Lace Hat by Kirstie McLeod
From: Simply Knitting Magazine 63, February 2010
Needles: 5 mm
Wool: Wolle Rödel Soft-Merino

A great pattern for an easy hat that is simple to knit in the car around windy roads of Sweden and Norway.

Made for Kelli and Lisa who swear that it is cold enough in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to actually wear a beanie..

Personally I can't understand, but hope they will like them!

Adaption of the Wurm hat

Wurm by Katushika

3.0 mm needles
Yarn: Zitron Trekking Hand Art  - Karibik
This one has been done for awhile as well, but it had to wait to be shown as it is a gift for Cameron's teacher, Mr Shillitoe.  It is made from the same wool as his scarf that we gave him for Christmas.  Not to be worn at the moment in 35+ degrees, but the weather in Berlin will start to cool down soon.

Wavy Feathers Wimple

Wavy Feathers Wimple by Caryll McConnell

4.0 mm  needles

Yarn: Tausendschön Handgefärbte Sockenwolle Merino/Nylon 1 skein, 100 grams.

This wimple is a gift for Miss Beves, Alexander's teacher.  It's been finished for awhile, but had to hold on to it until the gift was given.

She won't be wearing it soon (currently tempretures over 35 degrees), but it won't be long before it starts to get cold again in Berlin.

Left over sock yarn blankets

Lots of things happening outside my crafty endeavours at the moment, so much going on, that doing anything that requires too much pattern reading or charts has had to be put aside for the time being.  At least until the end of May, then things will hopefully pick up again.

In the meantime, I have been working through the stash of left over sock wool and working on my 2 blankets.  These are now almost too big to take on the train and bus (well I could, but they won't fit into my handbag anymore).  Still they grow, and I am amazed at how big these blankets are getting, even though lots of this wool is left over from previous projects.

We have been watching the series of Underbelly 2, and now we are watching a BBC series called Hustle, which requires a lot of actual watching of the TV, otherwise you miss out on the fine details of the scam. It's a great show to watch in the evenings when the kids have gone to bed.  The blankets are slowly increasing, although they are taking longer to do each row.

Icelandic Knitting & a Sock Blanket

During our trip around Iceland I was amazed at how many supermarkets stocked wool, needles and patterns. I couldn't resist buying enough wool for a cardigan, and a great pattern. I will just have to learn a bit of Icelandic to read the pattern.

KnitPick needles are the chosen weapon of Icelandic, and you can buy then where ever you buy wool. Remarkably, they were a reasonable price in Iceland, cheaper than I can get in Germany, and I got a tax refund at the airport on the way out.

While I was in the shop choosing a pattern Cameron had the camera. So here a few of the appropriate photos he took. This is some of the colours of the Lopi wool. Me, looking through patterns books to find just the right souvenir. We found this pattern for a horse jumper. It gets cold in Iceland! However I am not knitting anyone a jumper for their horse!! I also bought wool for mittens as well, the patterns we saw in the stores were fantastic. A lovely lady in one of the wool stores gave me this link to Istex, and this pattern will find its way onto my needles in the very near future as well. I see on the website, the pattern book I bought comes in English, but where is the fun in that? The breadth of my Icelandic is Takk and Bless Bless...so I have a lot of work to do! Meanwhile, I have been using up left over sock wool to increase the size of this sock wool blanket. We have been watching a DVD series called Dead like Me. This show has been hilarious to watch and this blanket is easy knitting while we laugh! I am amazed at how these little balls of left over sock wool are making these 2 sock blankets! So, in the meantime, I will finish the 2 cardigans on the needles, add to the sock wool blankets, study, write as essay and then learn some Icelandic!

Multnomah

Multnomah by Kate Flagg
A gorgeous shawl, perfect for Spring, when it still is a little bit chilly!

Needles: 4.0 mm
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin

Left over yarn blankets & Tempest

a couple of progress pictures.... 5 stitch sock wool blanket (adpated from the ten stitch blanket by Frankie Brown, available from Ravelry) Ten Stitch Twist by Frankie Brown to use the left over left over sock wool...yes, I think I have lost the plot! But these are fun to do in front of the TV. Both the above blankets are available via Ravelry.com and Tempest

Rebecca's first quilt

I am teaching Rebecca to quilt every Friday. She finishes school at 1pm and comes over for a few hours! We are using scraps from the strip boxes and she is doing a great job, and more importantly enjoying the process. Next week, triangles!

How to make a fabric book cover.

The PTA at the kid's school have bought 6 sewing machines for the kids to learn how to sew.

One of the teachers is doing an after school club. I am there to pick the kids up that day as the boys have clubs, so I have offered to help if she needed it.

She asked me for any ideas for the kids to make things that they would enjoy, so I have been thinking about different things, and checking with Alexander and Cameron to see of they would enjoy making and using the projects.

I remember having a book cover like this when I was younger. I can't remember where it came from, but I remember the fabric was batik greens and blacks, and I loved it. So, I have tried to replicate it from memory.

As I attempted to make one of my own, I took photos of each stage. Alexander is a wizz at Power Point Presentations, so he did the slides for me. The classroom has an interactive white board, so we can put the slides up on there for everyone to see.

I sent my friend Steph, (a new addicted sewing fan), the file, and she made 3 in 1 1/2 hours, and was really pleased with the results.

The measurements for a book I covered was 13cm wide, 20cm high and 2 1/2cm thick. When I went through the kids bookshelves this was the standard size of most of their books. If you want to cover a different size book, measuure the width (double it for front and back), height and spine, and add seam allowances. For the inner flaps, measure width of cover and subtract 3cm from width.

(above photo...issues with my sewing machine tension, reason for double stitching...no need for 2 stitching lines)

Phil's Neck Warmer

Pattern: "Hubby Approved Scarf" by Danielle Landes Wool: Rico Design Baby Classic DK Needles: 4mm After seeing Alexander and Cameron's scarves, Phil wanted one as well. I had blue wool for Phil. This one took longer than the boys scarves for 2 reasons. 1. It was wider and longer than the kids scarves (took longer to make) 2. I was bored of the pattern 1/2 way though, and got sidetracked with my citron, handschuhe, and my doublemassa hat!

Alexander's Neck Warmer

Pattern: "Hubby Approved Scarf" by Danielle Landes
Wool: Rico Design Baby Classic DK
Needles: 4mm



Alexander is really happy with his scarf. It's his favourite shade of red. Cameron chose the buttons for it, he did a great job choosing these ones, a perfect match.

Knitting Bags for Knitting Club

I run a knitting club at school every Tuesday. The knitting is put back in a box, and every week it is a bit of a mess when they try and find their knitting. We have tried putting their knitting in plastic pockets, and labels on knitting needles, and still they can't find their knitting quickly. I have made these little knitting bags with a drawstring. Each bag is made from different novelty fabric. The kids chose which bag they wanted, and now their knitting is kept safe.....well, we will see what happens next week!

Doublemassa Hat

Doublemassa by Charlene Schurch, from "Hats On" book.

Wollmeise wool,
3.5mm needles.

Started this when the Olympic Flame was ignited for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Finished a few hours before the Flame was extinguished...
Just in Time!

GOLD MEDAL for me! :)

I thought I was pushing my luck in getting this finished, (with a week skiing in Zermatt) and thought I was heading for a DNF (did not finish).

I love this hat!

Pity I didn't start this one before Xmas for those -15 degree days.
This hat is fully lined, so when the cuff is turned over, it has 4 layers..really warm.

Now that the snow has melted, and the tempreture is over 5 degrees..I am not sure when I will wear this hat, but it won't stop me making another one!