1 trip to the shop later...

I'll be colour blocking the raspberry with the stripey and the raspberry with the print. Let's see how many shirts I'll get out of these, then maybe I'll go back and find other fabrics to team up the leftovers. Still want something green

Sewing plans for spring

Winter takes forever to bugger off this year (and there have been enough people complaining about that, so I will stop now) and like everyone else, I'm sick and tired of my winter pullovers and trousers.

High street shopping will not yield what I'm looking for either (colours or fabrics usually put me off), so during this Easter vacation I'll be spending some money at my local fabric store and some time behind the sewing machine.

First projects will be some long sleeve shirts (pattern courtesy of Allerlieblichst), circle skirts and hopefully a pair of a-line trousers.

So I'll actually have some clothes I'll look forward to wearing.

Caitlin Moran

Bruges SnB - Blog Update

How she manages to take such brilliant pictures with, as she calls it, "just the small camera" is beyond me.
Thanks for helping me select colours for a future project, everybody!

Read the blog

But now it's time to finish those front panels on my Stranger Cardigan...

Treppenviertel

I did it! Finished my socks and they're even wearable!

 

Pattern: Treppenviertel
Modifications: switched beg. of rounds and used yoyo-heel
Yarn: Hand-dyed 80% wool 20% ramie fibre sock yarn by Sirko Galz
Needles: 3mm - started with standard Prym, half-way down the foot switched to Kollage Square purchased at Zeven Katten

What's she doing now?

In the sock post, I mentioned I had a hard time knitting the same thing twice, so when a friend asked me to swatch three yarns of appoximately the same weight for her, I was compelled to do it like this.

Snapshots

   

Bunnies make the world go round

When I still worked in Ghent, I would walk past a patch of grass and some shrubs where a black bunny lived. I made a habit of greeting the bunny and would walk away from it softly singing to myself (and luckily no-one else), "Bunnies make the world go round, the world go round."

Then of course, there's my all time favourite episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once More with Feeling, where Anya sings:

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes.
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses. 
And what's with all the carrots? 
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway? 
Bunnies. Bunnies. It must be bunnies! 

Beware, you'll see more of this bunny as I'm taking it travelling today!

Ostend SnB - Blog Update

Helen wrote a sweet little blog update for the Ostend knitting group. Totally Tapis Plage
There's my banner again!

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And for those who are interested in charity knitting / crocheting or want to donate some yarn for several good causes, I'm providing the link to De Breimadammen. They managed to hand out 30 of their little flyers to visitors of Tapisplage, and I hope that at least 5 of them will start knitting or contact them for a yarn-transport. Fingers crossed!

Gloves, on the other hand...

While socks are not my go-to knitting projects, mittens, mitts, wristwarmers and gloves are much more 

entertaining.

 

My Waterloo - Sock knitting

What's a pleasure for some of my kitting friends, like Dominique and Rozemie, just doesn't come easy to me: sock knitting. Fun, small portable projects, fast or challenging knits, colourful (if for the ladies) and addictive - knitters say.

Me, I suffer from Second Sock Syndrome (2nd anything, really), but luckily there are ways to work around that - 2 socks on 2 circulars or even 2 socks on 1 circ (my preferred method).

First there was a pair of purple socks, which I actually finished one by one, but can't wear because they're too tight.

Then there was Nutkin, cute, but ultimately boring. Never knit its brother.

Then Platypus - I never got past the toes (which is bad in a toe-up).

Recently, the German pattern Treppenviertel has piqued my interest, and all bad experiences aside, I decided to give them a try. Not because I needed or even wanted a pair of socks, but because the pattern looked interesting enough to knit them despite being socks. Might not even wear them, but I swore to myself that I'll finish them.

Mystery Revealed

Our knitting group in Ostend has been attending events for four years now, and the one thing that was missing was - a flag!
So I went to my local fabric store, got some supplies, sat down for a couple of evenings and made one.

Today I took it to the event "Tapisplage", a yearly market place for (mostly) internet-shops, catering to young hip families. We're invited each year and have become somewhat part of the decor.

But who knows, maybe someone who talked to us today might pick up their needles and start enjoying our hobby.

Mystery project

This is a little preview of what I've been doing this week.

The project will be revealed tomorrow.