Hey, I do knit... for reals!;-)

It's storming outside so I guess I'll all the day quits and get to bed early. I could use some sleep since hubby has been fighting with his teeth for a while now. He's been to the dentist... let me count... 5, no 6 times and still jumps up in the middle of the night because this aweful tooth hurts. And guess who jumps up too because she gets scared of the sudden movement? Yes, that would be me, thankyouverymuch. Not that I don't care for hubby (I love him dearly and he's the best husband a girl can have) but a complete night of uninterrupted sleep sounds great to. He's off for a company meeting tonight and tomorrow so I'll just update my blog and go to bed. Hmmm....sleeeeep... and why, yes, we still want children... and yes, I know that sleep is highly overrated when you are a parent... but until then ;-)

I've been quite busy knitting (well, at least a bit in the evening) so I thought I show off what I have so far:

My Mr. Maplejeans is still in progress. I love the yarn and the pattern but my new 5mm bamboo needles give me the creepies. I cannot touch them when my hands are even remotely dry so I still haven't finished this cardigan. But it looks good so far and is an easy knit.

I especially love the heather-y look of Cascade220. Just the perfect mixture of style and just a tad of country. By the way, you can see one of those horrible bamboo needles here:

I also finished Clue 1 of the Secret of the Stole II and started knitting on Clue 2, but I haven't found the time to sit and concentrate this week so I'm stuck at row 82. I had a bit of time yesterday but after a general anesthesia I'd prefer not to knit lace ;-)

I finally found out that Moni had ordered from 100%purewool. The yarn feels awesome and I love both colors I got :-)I ordered some handpainted yarn and started fetching. On the skein I loved the colors, also after winding the yarn to a ball... but knitted up it painfully reminds me of make-up disasters in the 80s *lol* Hey, I was a teenager then ;-)

I'm still unsure if I love or hate these 80s fetching. The colors are much more vibrant in reality, so use your imagination ;-)

I also got my doily finished but not blocked yet. I just shoved some needles down the fabric to stretch the doily for the picture. I love the fact that it looks as if sunrays are coming through leafs on a bright summer day. I wasn't to inclined with the edging that was added in the pattern so I left it off.

I'm also knitting on a plain stockinette sock in some handpainted sock yarn. It still lives in my bag (and has seen a couple of commute rides and met our dentist twice... ) so I haven't got a picture of it yet but I love the fallish colors (mustard yellow, muted terra and a knid of grey-green like a wet mossy stone) and the pooling. Yes, I love pooling socks, so sue me ;-) If it's handpainted the colors can behave like they want ;-)

I'm now off for the day, both cats are right in front of me.. it seems as if they do not love the storm as much as I do ;-) Gotta take care of them :-)

Decisions and confessions

I am on my way to be a true yarn-a-holic. I have to confess. Ever since I started signing up for all those mystery KALs I ordered yarn. You know, the only thing I didn't have in my stash is laceweight yarn. Sockyarn I have, sweater yarn too, but no laceweight. So I was happy to see that Moni (who hosts the "Dem Fischer sin Fru" and the "Secret of Bad Nauheim" KALs) offered laceweight yarn on preorder from her shop. I went through and through the options and decided on three skeins of (most likely oceanos or mare profundos from handpaintedyarn.com) blue handdyed merino lace and four skeins of peridoto (or as hubby says "wilted lettuce"... and to be honest, that's exactly the colour ;-)) But then: I signed up for the SpringShawlSurprise. I needed 1600m of laceweight yarn. Now! I ordered the two skeins of Jojoland Harmony that I already told you about. That sounds like a lot of laceweight already, doesn't it? But behold, there was another KAL to sign up to: the Secret of the Stole2. I needed yarn. When does it start? Today (it was friday)?! Oh woe... I cannot decide. So I went through the pages of beautiful malabrigo colours and finally placed an order. Emerald looks nice and feeds my need for colour in this grey time perfectly.
Meanwhile... the SSS went wrong. Very wrong. I love the colours of the jojoland harmony but the yarn itself is to thin, way out of my comfort zone. I kept knitting because I love the design but the yarn ruined it for me. It was so thin that it kept hooking up on my fingernails which are now as short as I haven't seen them for a long time because I kept cutting them. The needles were to fine, I made tons of mistakes and now I've had enough. I'll save this yarn for later when I am more experienced. Moni just sent an e-mail to tell us how much yarn we'll need for Bad Nauheim and I figured my Malabrigo will be enough. I took out some of the peridoto for the SotS2 and started knitting. It feels good! I am still a slow knitter but I'm already on row 27 without making a mistake. Hey, perfect :-) And I am going to use the additional skeins I have of that colour for the SSS. Or maybe the malabrigo lace in emerald (you know, there are a lot more colours that I'd love to have of that yarn... and Bad Nauheim will start in March, a lot of time to contemplate colour choices and options... sorry, I think I have to wipe away the drool ;-))
So, I wonder... am I the only one with a budding lace addiction or are there others around? What colours would you choose for all those KALs that are going on currently? I am still undecided when it comes to the SSS (peridoto? emerald?) and Bad Nauheim.
I'm off to put my nose back into my books. The earlier I start the earlier I can knit tonight ;-)

time flies...

Time flies indeed. I haven't posted for a whole two weeks although I promised too. I can't believe it's the 18th of January already. Where did the days go? Heck, where did I go?!
I've been knitting on and off on my Mr. Greenjeans but since the weather is so dark and rainy outside I never came around taking a progress picture. It's almost finished (just half a sleeve and the button band is missing) and after my first try-on hubby decided it looks good. Which he usually never says about my handknits. This means: Mr. Greenjeans is a winner ;-)
My Spring Shawl Surprise grows sloooowly... I am a fairly new lace knitter and oh boy, Lul didn't lie when she said that this stole is challenging. I'm still stuck on clue 1 (row 30), ripped it back twice already and noticed that I have 3 stitches more than I should have. Maybe I could offer them to those who are missing a few? ;-) I think I'll try to cheat and hide those stitches somewhere because the yarn, as beautiful as it is, is a mess to frog. It tangles, breaks and is extremely thin (again: what was I thinking?) so I guess my stole will have a lot of "personal flair" to it *cough**cough*
As it seems I cannot resist any lace currently so I signed up for the MysticalLightKAL, a lace shawl knitted with heavier yarn (yay!!!) I've seen the MysticalWaters-shawl in some blogs and love it. Maybe I should work out how to operate paypal ;-) and order the pattern :-)
In other news: I'll have to undergo a small dental surgery again on Jan.30. I visited my dentist two days ago to get my new crowns and the anesthesia didn't work. At all. It hurt awefully and the thought of going through this again in a few days almost made me faint. Luckily my dentist offers narcosis, so I'll sleep and he can finish his work without being scared that I scream all his other patients away ;-) Phew....
I have to work even harder now for university, the tests I have to take are harder than I thought. Amazon has to jump up and down because I ordered a couple of workbooks and primers so I'll be able to figure out if my calculations are ok.
Oh, and I just saw that the MIT offers older classes online. Perfect because I'm so dissatisfied with my university. Noone is interested in challenging us, especially in my main subject. Sometimes I feel as if I know less than someone who is just interested in this subject without studying it. That means, I'll need to study a lot more on my own. I just need to keep iz up, knitting and household eat up so much time (and both is easier accessible than the library, more than one hour away).
Ah, see, I didn't mean to blabber for so long. See you soon :-)

now its official...

... I am nuts! Completely, whalenuts, hazelnuts, whatever nuts you can think of ;-) I noticed that signups for the Spring Shawl Surprise were still open (until Jan. 8th, so what are you waiting for?) and decided that I use my jojoland Harmony yarn on this stole. I have enough yardage to finish this shawl but since this yarn is very fine I think it'll end up smaller than the others. Aww, well, at least I'll get quite the good value out of it ;-) 1600m for 15 Euro (2 skeins á 7€ something) will keep me busy a lot.
Now, I'm off to print the first clue and maybe I'll find some knitting time in the evening after finishing my work (studying for my upcoming tests in Feb.) and crocheting a few rows on my leaf doily. I'd like to have it finished and on the table next sunday ;-)
I'm off to stick my nose back into the pages, so see you:-)

(Oh, and before I forget: I finally got my memory card for my camera back, hubby used it to show his parents some pictures from our vacation on his Wii ;-) Pictures, here I come ;-)

Magknits 01/2008

I just noticed that the new Magknits is online. I am not sure what to think about it. There is nothing I would feel the urge to knit but some of the ideas are quite nice. And also: why on earth don't people publish their patterns over magknits? The issue is pretty small again (again: bummer) but I hope the next issues will be fuller.
Off to the patterns:
Bliss Blanket: I like the chosen colours and the idea of an entrelac baby blanket but since there are no babies around me (except for the one due in July) I won't knit it. Plus I also think that it could have been photographed better so people will see the whole potential that is in this blanket (granted: I am a notourious bad photographer too).
JD sweater: A great work for a highschool student. Well done girl :-) I think the colour choice could be more vibrant but the overall design is really nice. Plus: it's nicely adjustable thanks to the Raglan method :-) (I'd knit it topdown then). A fun and wearable design.
Lucy: Maybe I'll try knitting this sans the earflaps. But wait...kitchener stitch? Oh nooooo... ah, oh well, I need to learn that anyway ;-) I really love the hat as shown, the vibrant colour (nothing for me, but "appetizing") and the idea to wear it with earflaps (again: would drive me batty to wear them but I know a lot of people look fantastic with a hat like this) :-)
Evangeline: I like fingerless gloves, a lot. No messing around while knitting and always practical to have the fingers free to work :-) I'd do this pattern in a smaller gauge though knowing now that too much fabric on the inside of my hands annoys me. Alos: nice to see that they pictured both options, short and long :-)
Orno Abaci: Nice and simple with a great effect. Maybe hubby would wear it? Hmmm....
Stranded: Too fuzy in this yarn but a wonderful pattern :-) It's great that the designer wrote a pattern that can be easily adjusted for other sizes and gauges. Maybe a knit that I'll takle in fall for myself?!
Overall it's a nice issue and not as kids-heavy as others. Honestly, while trying to get pregnant and not being succesfull kids-knits are hard to stand :-/ when they come in large doses.
Comments? Go ahead :-)

Happy New Year 2008 :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and a beautiful jump into 2008. I know I haven't posted for a while now thanks to our internet (I wish it would start running stable again) but also because I was a busy little crafter ;-) I spent quite a bit of time working on Mr. Greenjeans. I'm currently working the cabled bottom part of the cardigan and just noticed that the company I bought the yarn from sent one skein less than I asked for. Arrrgh. But I am so late in noticing it that I feel silly asking them to send another skein. It was my fault then because when I got the yarn I just hurried it away so the cats didn't get into it. Now I only can hope that 6 skeins of Cascade 220 will be enough. Hmpf.
I also finished the socks for my father just in time to gift them, so I didn't have time to take a picture but believe me, they looked great. I love those slight colour variations of the yarn. At least for gift socks ;-) I prefer either handpainted yarn or solids because my main interest are lacey socks. I guess I also love cables but go nuts over them, so lace socks are in ;-)

But enough about my knitting, off to other things ;-)

My new year resolutions are more than boring:
We plan to save on energy (no wonder after our last bill), eat more local and being genereally speaking more green. Hey, hubby promised that we will be visiting our local farmers market on saturday. I just wonder how on earth I will be able to get him out of bed in time *lol* An additional plus is that it's in walking distance (about 20min away) so I will be able to get a bit fitter, save gas (well, maybe, I suppose we won't get everything we need there) and maybe save some Euros. I am actually a bit excited about that resolution and hope that hubby will be cooperative ;-)

What are your New Years Resolutions? Are you "traditional" and try to lose weight or quit smoking? Or do you try to turn into a locavore, plan to save or do you have really crazy plans like, I don't know, jumping off a sky scraper or diving with sharks? It'd be great to hear from you :-)