Draggins!

Somewhere on the intarwebs... a picture from an etsy shop got reposted.
As a knitter, my first thought was, "I can do this!". But I know myself, and at the moment, starting a project is easy, finishing is not. So I decided to knit four mittens at once, one pair for a friend, one pair for myself.

This is how it started out:

shot by Ameria for Naaldzang

This was almost finished (I had switched to my pointiest circs for ease of cabling):

shot by Ameria for Naaldzang

And this is the result:

shot by Ameria for ravelry

shot by Ameria for ravelry

shot by Ameria for ravelry

So glad I was able to finish them, so happy to have them off the needles. So green.

Ostend & Bruges SnB Blog Updates

Dagobert Superstar

Read the blog

Read the blog

When it's done, it's finished

He's finished!

Oddly, the pattern didn't include a tail, so I had to add one.

Pattern: Joris by Annita Wilschut
Yarn: Scheepjes Invicta Everest @ Stoffenhuys Paulette

I'm very happy to have finished Dagobert (there were moments when I didn't think I would). He'll be a great companion for knitting events. I love Annita's patterns for the fact that she works in a very organic way. Each feature grows naturally from the previous one, the knitter doesn't have to spend an afternoon attaching body parts. "When it's done, it's finished", as a famous Buddhist monk is sometimes quoted.

Sunday I'll help a knitting friend get started with another of Annita's patterns, Suusje the mouse, if I'm not mistaken.

And I'll cast on for yoga socks with the same yarn now. Not for yoga classes though, but for a four session introduction to meditation, taught in the lovely Begijnhof in Bruges:

I'm still standing

Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind

Updates have been few and far between in June, as I was struggling with some motivation-, inspiration- and energy issues. But I'm still crocheting and knitting, and hope to return to beading and needle felting soon.

These are my current WiPs:

A stash-busting project, using the pattern Apache Tears by Sarah London

An irrisistible little dragon by Zij Maakt Het (Dutch blog)

What is it with me and dragons?
First and foremost, the dragon is my Chinese zodiac. Not quite water, not quite air, not quite real, not quite there. If I ever get a second tattoo (and I do want one), it'll be dragon-related. Often, they're green, and green is one of my happy colours. Scales are sexy.

Lalupe

My most time-consuming critter so far is Lalupe, the little dragon.

I used the brown country sheep roving as core material. Normally I stick to my starter kit selection of merino for the top layer, but I had green "felting yarn" and thought I'd give it a try.

Learned:

- embellishing with contrasting fibre