Continue On

I have to admit that I find it hard to simply go back to my knitting adventures after the last 2 months. I have received a pacemaker 2 weeks ago, and my left shoulder is still causing me some problems and knitting is still painfull at times. But as it is a very important part of my life, I will continue to draw strenght from it and I love making up patterns.
Such as this one, I am also writing this up and hope to publish this one soon. But there is still a lot of catching up to do, so give me some time...

I am currently working on a toy for my son Elijah. I have been inspired by all the cute Cuties that are being knitted all over, and so I've decided to follow suit. But my toy is a robot, something I had planned quite a while ago but so far I was not motivated. I am so excited to see this toy take shape, and I can't wait to present him. Yep, it's a boy so far...

I also finished my Heart Cardigan, but pictures are still outstanding. I am not so sure how to get good pictures, but I shall make my husband take some.
And I also received a wonderful present for Elijah, that I shall post next time too!

Ah, I forgot to tell: as Samira had given me permission to talk about her wherever I want to so I can tell you that today she was able to go (via ambulance) to the Parents Home where here mom lives during her ordeal. The plan of the day: grilling and french fries. Playing with other kids, and that on a green lawn. Getting a day out.

Something New To Play With

There is a new thing for us wool lovers out there. You should go and have a look at this new site called Ravelry , you can log your projects, patterns, there is a section to list all your needles and your yarn. You also get to browse other peoples patterns and more, more, more. While you are at it: check out frecklegirl's blog, she has more information available, and a very cute dog...

It is not open for the public as of yet, but the Ravelry team works hard on getting it opened up as soon as possible. There is a lot to get ready and the creators want to make sure that they can keep up with the increasing interest. You can however sign up to be a beta tester, more information will be on the website.

Now if this entry looks familiar to you: I actually copied Ysolda's blog with this, she advertised so well that I did not think there would be any harm in putting up a picture of the site myself. So go look at Ysolda's blog, she too has a lot to offer! (You might have seen some of her nice designs in knitty.com.)

How do YOU like to knit socks?

I am very happy that people did reply to my question! I love to learn more, and I am glad I'm not the only one a bit afraid of toe up socks or new things...

-To the Flaming Massage Sock: yes, the bottom is knitted in garder stitch. I just don't know how to express things easy as English is my second language and I lack the simple terms sometimes. (You might notice that I butcher things, and oh am I glad for spell check!)
-My dutch heel is the kind of dutch heel my Mom taught me in Germany. It would be no surprise to me if there is different versions out there, and I might be off and it's some other German idea of the dutch heel.
-A star toe is the way I like to decrease. Let's say I have 80 stitches total and want to decrease for the toes, I knit as follows:
Slip, slip knit (Slip one stitch, then slip the next. Insert left needle into the front loops of the slipped stitches and knit them together from this position through the back loops, also known as ssk), knit 9, ssk, knit 9, continue like that all the way around.
Knit 1 row.
Ssk, knit 8, ssk, knit 8, continue like that all the way around.
Knit 1 row.
Ssk, knit 7, ssk, knit 7 , continue that all the way around .... and so on until I have only 8 stitches total left. I cut the yarn and just pull it through the remaining loops, pull tight, done!
I don't know what this toe would be called officially, but I like it as it is very hard wearing.

I did master the Short Row Heel by now, but photographic proof and details follow at another time... I also started to update my blog roll. Started.

Some Inspiration For The Summer

While my husband is having a blast in Cairo (he is actually working 14 hour days, I should be fair....) he got to visit the area a bit and look at sights and smells. (I would have come with on this business trip, but at 5 1/2 months into this pregnancy that just did not seem a good idea... the flight, the heat, the stomach bugs and the need for naps...)
Besides the obvious places to visit he also thought of me and went to check out the Spice Bazaar. A whole marked dedicated to huge bags and sacks full of the most amazing fresh and crazy spices! I love cooking, and I generally use spice according to how it looks with my meal, and some common sense sometimes. I love all the different flavors and colors, honestly I'm not sure what appeals to me more.
All the descriptions my well worded husband gave me caused me to revisit my stash. It had been neglected for some time now (shame on me!) and it might just have needed some spice. So to speak.
To be totally truthful: you only get to see one of about 100 photos. There is so much amazing stuff he saw and send me pictures of, old mosques, the pyramid's, the papyrus museum among others, street life in Cairo, the desert... But the Spice Bazaar would have been the place with the most amazing colors and impressions to me. As a knitter.

More Knitting...

Well, I am still knitting. For Christmas... This time it is in some very untypical colors, pink and orange. (Thanks to Mrs. J...) I was not entirely sure what I wanted to do at first, but after playing with some ideas I remembered Chicago, Devan Avenue. There you will find a host of Indian and Pakistani Restaurants and shops and the whole place is buzzing with rather unusual color combinations and vibrancy. For the Midwest anyhow... The pattern I came up with reminds me of some of the designs in the beautiful saris and shawls I used to see there. So I can't wait to finish them, we shall see! Got to love the 3D effect one can get (intentionally or as previously seen unintentionally) with stranded color knitting. The possibilities are endless and quite exciting!

Summer inspirations.

Summer is over. How could we miss that, it is storming, raining, wet and very much late fall. (Fall: in itself a huge amount of inspiration, especially for me! I love the leaves, shapes, colors of fall.) But walking around in my Mothers very well kept garden last summer I found so much that made me want to knit in pinks, purples, light blues etc. So not my range usually...

The natural color wheel just seems very well balanced, full of beautiful creation and design. So it makes me think if I could broaden my horizon, find some purples I'd like to work with and get to it. Pink however won't be part of this rediscovery for some time, as beautiful as it looks on the rose.