Ribb-it!

Progress

2010-02-17T23:13:00.003+01:00

I´m on the front bands of my Olympic sweater with the neck band and a sleeve to go! I had to rip out the left front band again due to serious miscalculation on my part... see for yourself:

The body of the sweater is blocked already, some of the ends are woven in and I should be able to finish this till Sunday!

Pants galore

Here you see 6 of the original 8 fabrics. 2 have been used. The first pair of pants is a bit too small (no biggie, I´m losing weight anyways) but also a bit too high in the waist for my taste! Here are some pictures:

The second one is almost finished. I barely had enough fabric, because it wasn´t very wide. I only need to sew the waistband to the pants, finish the crotch seam and hem the pants. These brown pants are made from the same pattern as the grey ones, I just shortened the waist, hopefully enough.

Mass production
All 10 knits washed and dried, waiting to be ironed. I´ll try the pattern out next sunday!
I need to leave soon for a seminar lasting through saturday afternoon. So I won´t be getting much done sewing wise until Sunday. But I plan on doing lots of sewing then... finish my brown pants, start and finish the first of 10 knit tops to get the fit right and start the assembly line for the remaining 9!

Planning... and some FO´s

2010-02-11T10:54:00.003+01:00

Again, it´s been way too long and my resolution of blogging weekly has been shot to s***! I just can´t seem to get in the swing of things. But a lot of stuff has been floating around in my head and I need an outlet for that.
I thought about joining the Knitting Olympics with a huge challenge to myself: knit a cardigan that has been in my idea book for too long and which I will design on paper before the opening ceremonies on friday. I just joined the YarnHarlot´s Knitting Olympics and will try to cast on during the opening ceremonies, which will be on tv at 3 am on saturday morning due to the time difference. Frank and I both want to watch it so we´ll set the alarm, open a nice bottle of red and cuddle up in bed.
I´m not sure I can finish it, but I´ll try. The intended yarn is elann Superwash Bamboo in dark green. I swatched a couple of days ago on 4 and on 5mm needles, washed the swatches and decided to stick with the 4mm just like the ball band suggests.
Here a some pictures of my recent sewing fo´s and knitting wip´s. I´ve sewn two knit dresses (actually three, but the last one is pretty much a wadder), a woven sheath dress and a pants muslin ready to be taken apart again to copy the pieces.

This is dress 116 from BWOF 10/2006 in a grey knit with silver flowers and stars printed on it. I made this for the 40th birthday of Frank´s former roommate. Please excuse the bad pic. They were taken at 2 am after the party with a selftimer with awful lighting.

This is a gathered knit dress I made for the New Year´s Party we went to. It´s practically selfdrafted and I love it! The fabric is the most awesome charcoal sweater knit I bought from Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics. Here is a closeup of the gathering at the side seams. I covered the seams with black satin bias tape as a little detail on an otherwise plain but curvehugging dress.

This "beauty" is the wadder. The fabric is actually a very nice viscose/wool knit but I ruined the dress... More on that once I summon up the courage to rework this one. Luckily I´ve got enough of this fabric to try some things.

This is dress 117 from BWOF 09/2007 in a poly herringbone fabric that tends to wrinkle easily, as you can see in the pictures! Sorry for that, I just took the dress out of the suitcase...

The invisible handstitched hem.

Knittingwise I´ve got my purple Rosa´s Cardigan, my lavender Apres Surf Hoodie (back and front done, sleeves more than halfway) and some other wip´s I´ve been ignoring.

I´m going to rip back the sleeves and reknit them the way they are intended in the pattern (short sleeves). The yarn is elann Highland Donegal in a nice grapey purple.

This pile of lavender pieces are front, back and two halffinished sleeves of my Apres Surf Hoodie knit out of elann (are we sensing a theme here?)baby cashmere in dusky lavender.
Here is a peek at my very first finished weaving project woven out of 2 skeins Cascade 220 Superwash Paints.

I really like this scarf and have a second one a little wider and shorter and with two different colourways of the Cascade 220 in the warp and weft on the loom. It´s almost finished, maybe I should finish this up before the Olympics start to get it out of the way!
Sewingwise I´ve been doing lots of planning. I´m in sore need of pants, so that´s what I´m tackling now. I´ve been away on business for the last couple of weeks and in the evenings, in my hotel room, I traced two pants patterns (I´d wanted to trace three, but couldn´t find the third one): a Burda Designer pattern by Bogner and Vogue 1059, the latter of which I have muslined and worked out most of the fitting issues. The third is also a Vogue A+O pattern (V2907) which I desperately want to find because I think it will be a good one for my body type. With these three patterns I want to sew a series of pants. I´ve got three wool fabrics in black/grey, two brown cotton twills (one pinstripe, one solid), a white twill, a shiny grey poly woven and a beige/brown herringbone poly blend, which comes to a total of eight pairs of pants from three patterns. These will hopefully stuff huge gaps in my wardrobe.
Another project I´ve been thinking about is this:
10 yards of cotton interlock, pretty beefy and not flowing at all, in 10 colors. I plan on making a basic raglan v-neck shirt with 3/4 sleeves. In ten colors... :-)
This is what I plan to be sewing and knitting in the next couple of weeks. I cleaned up my office today and put everything I won´t be needing for the pants + top marathon and my knitting away.
Hopefully that will help me be productive…

Out with the old, in with the new...

2010-01-06T15:29:00.002+01:00

well maybe it´s only "in with the new". I have been buying yarn and fabric practically nonstop. I have stopped now because I have nowhere to put anymore of anything. Even after cleaning out my fibre room (which used to be called my office, but since I do more fibre related stuff in there than anything else I thought it best to rename it!) and buying more storage boxes for yarn and notions this room is overflowing.
I ordered from Webs the first time before Christmas:

Cascade 220 Paints and Superwash Paints, Cascade Heritage sock yarn, Artyarns sock yarn, Dream in Color "Smooshy" and Schafer Yarns "Anne".

Anne is for a lacy cardigan, the Artyarns for socks and the Cascade and Dream in Color yarns are all for weaving, I think. I´m really impressed with the 220. It is sooo soft and squishy and the colors are great!
I am thinking about taking my first weaving project off the loom unfinished.

There is no love for it in my heart at all and I´m too anxious to try out the Cascade 220. Still debating over whether to trash it or finish it just for the sake of it... It will doubtlessly never be worn or appreciated. I think, I just talked myself into trashing it and just warping the loom for a new and shiny project!

This is my most recent sewing project.

The variation on a sheath dress is a Burda WOF design made out of a tan/brown herringbone suiting. The skirt is lined and all of the seams are bound with bias binding because the fabric ravels a lot. To-do: sew skirt to bodice after binding the skirt side seams, insert zipper, line skirt, sew neckline facing and hem the skirt. I need to finish this because afterwards I am making my mom´s Christmas present: she has had a velvety stretch fabric for years now and was planning on making herself a dress, but she doesn´t really enjoy sewing. I made myself a dress before Christmas:
(excuse the bad lighting and my expression; it was late, I was alone and the tripod was very wobbly)
and after she saw this she wanted one. Since I didn´t have her measurements, I had to give her a "gift certificate". The fabric is washed, the pattern picked out and waiting to be traced once I get mom´s measurements.

I won´t be doing a recap of 2009 or making any resolutions for 2010. But I will try to finally be a better blogger... I hereby vow to blog once a week, let´s say fridays! Here goes!

Wardrobe Contest progress

2009-09-27T21:07:00.003+02:00

I´m done with knit tops 1, 2 and 3 (one more to go) and the blouse (needs buttons and buttonholes). They all need hems, I´ll probably do that last! Now I´m stalled on skirt #1 of 2 (the BWOF 08-05-130). I managed to sew the lining 1" smaller than the outer fabric. This is really bad... I´ll post pictures tomorrow.
I don´t feel like ripping out the french seams of the lining just now, so I started on the second skirt (Vogue pencil skirt). I been really tired lately and it´s now 9:30 p.m. and guess who´s already in bed? I need to sleep now. Maybe I can be more enthusiastic and interesting tomorrow...

Toodles!

New toy

2009-09-23T12:10:00.002+02:00

I treated myself to a new toy: the Canon 450D. With this lens. Been playing around with it a bit and I have to say, WOW! The difference to my old point and shoot is amazing.

This is a shot of our backyard pond with a waterfall, no post-production on the computer.

In other news, I just received the rest of my notions and fabric for the wardrobe contest. The black linen I wanted for a pair of pants was sold out but I have other options. Either a white cotton sateen or a grey suiting, I´ll have to think about it.
Here´s the load of new fabrics: click here and flip through to the end of the album.

SWAP Update

2009-09-20T23:27:00.002+02:00

Since my exam on friday, I´ve managed to sew a bit: the three knit tops of my wardrobe are done except for the hems. I need to take the twin needle for a little test drive as I have never used it on my new (6 months old) sewing machine. I am very happy with the twist-top and the turtleneck top, but the jury is still out on the silver sparkly knit top. I took pictures today but didn´t get a chance to upload them to flickr because it was my godchild´s birthday and I didn´t have time.
I already cut out the blouse and the fashion fabric for the red pencil skirt and the pinstripe skirt. The blouse is next on my list, because I´m still missing some stuff for the rest of the garments. Two fashion fabrics (5th top and 4th bottom), lining for 2 bottoms and the topper and some zippers, buttons and the likes. They should all be arriving in the next couple of days, so I´m not going to lose any time. I also bought some new fabrics (pics to come) and I can´t seem to keep my hands and mind off them, which could be really bad for the Wardrobe Contest. I´ll do my very best to stay focused, but I would really like a new fall jacket for October 10th (wine market in our town) and I just got a great brown and cream houndstooth faux fur, for which I have big plans! I´ll just see how far I can get this week with the SWAP and then I´ll decide whether I can fit the jacket in...
OK, tired as h***, gotta go!
Toodles!

yeah yeah...

2009-09-10T20:35:00.002+02:00

I really need to work on the regular blogging thing! Those tan pants? The wearable muslin? Not bad at all, the front part of the crotch seam is not the way it should be, need to take that in a bit. Then I need to hem it and add buttons (which I don´t have yet!)!
The third fabric in my last post (the one with the plastic dots on it)? Made a dress out of it. The pattern is McCalls 5752 and I actually like it, but I´ll have to change some things the next time. For one, the ruching over the stomach, which is really a good idea should actually cover your tummy! ;-)) The dress only needs a hem... I sense a theme here!

Aside from that, I haven´t been sewing much. I have been studying (not as much as I should have, given that my exam is September 18th) and just generally dealing with life!
As if I didn´t have enough on my plate right now, I joined the Wardrobe Contest over on PatternReview. I only did this because I noticed that I had aquired some fabrics recently that go really well with lots of stashed fabric. There were lots of different fabrics in greys, black, white and red. I tentatively started laying out a SWAP with everything (about 20 garments could be made as a corporate workwear collection) only to realize later that there was a contest running from September through November. 10 garments in 3 months, I thought, hmmm that would be possible, maybe... It´s going to be tough, especially since I will be in Australia for the last three weeks of November, which basically means that I need to finish everything the first week of November. We´ll see. If I don´t finish, I´ll finish later and have a great wardrobe to wear. Here is my storyboard for phase one:

According to the rules of the contest, every bottom has to match every top, so some of my favorite fabrics didn´t make the cut. But in phase 2 I´ll add every fabric and relax those rules so that not everything has to match, but I still have a fantastically versatile wardrobe. Here´s hoping! ;-)

Ok, I´m sleepy now, gotta go to bed!
Cheerio

Yes, I have been sewing (and knitting, a little)

2009-07-24T16:37:00.002+02:00

After the capri pants, I didn´t start on tops, like I said I would. I haven´t been in the mood to go through my stash of BWOF magazines looking for the right patterns. Instead I made a pair of shorts (easy fashion Fall 2006), navy, again. It´s time to get over the navy, methinks. Don´t have pics yet, maybe later! I have some gorgeous new additions to my fabric collection, all from Gorgeous Things:

A purple rayon knit (2 yards)

a purple and teal paisley knit (2 yards)

a purple and pink rayon knit with clear dots on it (2 yards)

a turquoise and pink knit panel (2 yards)

lipstick red 100% lightweight wool (6 yards)

I already cut into the first fabric and made a shirt from less than a yard of it. Pattern? Nope, just cut 2 rectangles as wide as my shoulders (a little wider actually, sort of a dolman sleeve) and as long as I wanted the top to be. Sew the shoulder seams with a 2" seam allowance to create a facing at the neck. This creates a bateau neckline, that you make as small or large as you want it. Measure how deep the sleeves need to be and sew the underarm and side seams in one go, creating as much waist as you want, or not. I didn´t hem the bottom, I just folded it under and tacked it to the side seams on the inside. And all that translates to:

I like it and see more of these in the future! ;-))
My next project is already cut out: a (hopefully) wearable muslin of this. Well, just the pants for now. I cut these out of a tan cotton stretch gabardine. I have about 5m of it, I don´t really like the color for my professional wardrobe, but I think this is a good fabric for some casual pants. I see another capri pants in my future! OK, gotta go see what the man is doing in the kitchen. He said something about cooking chinese, so we´ll see!

Cheerio

Progress!

2009-07-10T18:26:00.002+02:00

I have been busy: finished my crepe polka dot skirt (BWOF 08-2005-130)

and started and finished my next project, a pair of capripants (BWOF 07-2007-108A), which was surprisingly quick and easy! Check out some pics:

I have a faint idea of what´s next on my sewing list. I need some shirts and tops to go with those capri pants and I have plans for a pair of navy shorts from a crepe.
I have pulled some blue knits and a navy pique from the stash and will go pattern searching possibly tonight.
Knittingwise, I get a couple of rounds on my Pomatomus in every day and I´m almost to the heel on the second sock, but it´s slow going. I guess when it get´s cooler, I´ll get the knitting mojo back.
Cheerio

The cabinet hasn´t fallen down yet...

2009-07-07T20:25:00.002+02:00

it´s still hanging!
I managed to get some sewing done today: my polka dot crepe skirt has it´s lining attached, the buttonholes made and the buttons sewn on! All that´s left is the hem of the skirt and the lining. I´m going to do a chiffon hem on the crepe fabric and a "normal" turned up hem on the lining. Pics tomorrow.
I also finished taking the pictures of my fabrics. I rearranged them in my closet and uploaded the pics to flickr. Now, I´ll continue working on my storyboard. I need to decide on a matching top for the skirt.

After I finish my skirt, I´ll finish my green wrap dress (just needs a hem and the ties attached!).

For my vacation at the beginning of August I will be making a pair of shorts out of a navy blue polyester crepe and a pair of capri pants out of a navy blue stretch cotton with white polka dots. Then I need some tops to go with them. I have already found some suitable jerseys in my stash. I´ll be making some basic shirts, probably just one pattern with neckline variations (scoopneck, v-neck, boatneck). Tomorrow is my ma´s birthday, so I won´t be getting much done and after that, I really need to work on my presentation for the paper I have to present on July 17th...
But after that, there will be lots of holiday sewing!

Cheerio

No sewing of late

2009-07-06T22:20:00.002+02:00

Yeah, the title says it all! My birthday was on saturday (Independence Day), so happy birthday to me. I didn´t throw a huge party, instead just said that whoever wanted to come over was very much invited to do so. We ended up with about 15 people on the patio for hamburgers and beer, which was really nice and not as stressfull as my parties the last couple of years with 25-35 guests. Don´t get me wrong, that´s nice too, but this year I just wanted to go low key.
Anyway, I had planned on making sunday a sewing day, but the last guests left at 5am and we cleaned up after that, because we hate waking up to a messy house and patio! So we got to bed at 6am. To say I was a little sleep deprived and hung over the next day is the understatement of the year! There was no way at all I could have sewed a single straight seam!
Today, I got the shock of the century: I was working in my office (at home) and all of a sudden there was a loud crash followed by smashing sounds. I ran to the kitchen to find our big hanging cabinet (chock full with our everyday china and coffee mugs and glasses) hanging totally crooked because the hanger on one side had ripped out of the wood! It had fallen onto a little shelf we hung under that cabinet that holds potholders and seran wrap and such. So this huge heavy cabinet (as I mentioned before) full of breakables was basically held up by a tiny wooden shelf, not ment to hold up lots of weight! After I got my pulse back under control, I went about assessing the damage: this cabinet has a glass door in the middle and the sides are open. On the side that slipped down, there was a really nice and new tea set a flower pot filled with the usual cr*p like lighters, matches, rubber bands and the likes. This pot was basically the only thing that fell to the floor, all that cr*p was spread all over the kitchen floor, but the pot was only chipped a little! I couldn´t believe it!!! Nothing (!!) else was broken. I kept expecting the whole thing to just crash as soon as I started clearing the cabinet, but it held up and I was able to take everything out. My mom came by my kitchen window as I was doing this and after recovering from the shock, she helped me dismount the monster from the wall. We just stood there laughing our butts off, because I was so lucky...
Well, a girl has got to have some luck sometimes, right??? The only thing I forgot was to take a picture as this would have been great blog fodder!!!
Oh boy was the boyfriend in for a shock, when he came home from work! Having a man around who is handy with the tools really helps. In no time at all, he had fixed the problem and an hour later, the cabinet hung on the wall again, slightly less loaded! ;-))
There went my sewing time for today. What I did manage to do, is take pictures of a part of my fabric stash and upload them to flickr. Tomorrow, I´ll take more pictures. My goal is to catalogue all my fabrics on flickr with a description and how many metres I have of them. I also started a spreadsheet of my fabrics. Here, I want to be able to keep track of the money I spend on fabric and notions, as well as the amounts in stash and then used. Then, I started a storyboard, not of a particular SWAP, but just matching my fabric pictures with pattern pictures. These are subject to change, of course, but it was becoming necessary to write my ideas down, because I was starting to become overwhelmed by the possibilities!
Sewingwise, I´m still working on the red polka dot crepe skirt. Hope to get it done tomorrow! I have been trying to UWYH (use what you have) fabricwise, but just before my birthday I fell hard... an order from FFC, that the boyfriend gave me for my birthday, then a huge order from Stoffe.de and today an order from Gorgeous Fabrics. This is definitely the last order for a long time, but I needed some fabrics to match the new pair of shoes I just bought, a pair of purple suede platform lace up heels. Can´t find a picture of them on the net, so I´ll have to take one tomorrow. They are awesome, but I was in desperate need of some purple knits and shirting for tops to go with the shoes. These tops, worn with black or grey pantsuits, will be perfect for these shoes!
Anyway, now that I´ve got all my bases covered, I won´t be buying fabric for a while. Gotta give the wallet a rest now...
Whew, looong post, it´s late and I´m beat!
See ya!

Slow going

2009-07-01T22:48:00.002+02:00

Geez, I´m pathetic right now. Knitting consists of a couple of rounds on the couch in the evening and sewing my skirt (btw, it´s not chiffon, it´s a crepe, my bad) is taking forever. I´m doing french seams on it, because I´m afraid they are going to start unraveling and I really want to do this right.
It is so hot and stuffy here, I wish it would cool down a bit, but it doesn´t look like that´s going to happen any time soon.
More news tomorrow, I´m beat.

Just thinking...

2009-06-25T11:32:00.003+02:00

I have been thinking lately about trying to take my sewing to a higher level. Reading some great blogs like this or that have really gotten me thinking about high quality sewing and not just finishing for the sake of having something merely wearable and also vintage patterns. A while ago I bought these books, just sort of looked through them and put them away. Over at PR I saw that they were offering a Couture Hand Sewing Class and just for the heck of it, I signed up, not really into it all that much. The class and the books didn´t touch me until this morning over coffee. See, last night I cut out a new skirt (BWOF 130-08-2005). I´m using a red polka dot chiffon
(the top fabric) and I didn´t know what to for a hem. Stumped, I opened the aforementioned books and started reading.
I´m going to try doing this "right". And vow to sew higher quality garments and put more of an effort into it.

Time flies

2009-06-24T20:47:00.003+02:00

Geez, where do the days go??? It´s already been three weeks since my last post. I started getting back into knitting. I cast on and knit the first Pomatomus. I´m using Chewy Spaghetti - Spaghetti in Vintage (Can´t post a link to my Ravelry page because they´re down, maybe tomorrow) I´m past the ribbed cuff on the second one, but it´s slow going because of all the sewing I´ve been doing. I haven´t uploaded all of the pictures and I can´t find my camera right now, but I´ll do that tomorrow.
In other news, my "baby brother" has his "Abitur" (german high school diploma). He did pretty well considering that a mere two years ago I wouldn´t have bet anything on him finishing at all! So congrats little bro!

Some more positive news: I passed my paper! Yeah! Have to admit, I was a tad worried, because I didn´t put as much effort into it, as I should have. Now I just have to present it to the group in july. Sunday I´ll start work on the presentation. I´m not sure whether I should use the overhead projector or my notebook with Powerpoint. I´ll have to mull over that a bit more. We´ll see.

I´ve lost my knitting mojo

2009-06-02T23:27:00.003+02:00

but my sewing mojo is plowing ahead at full speed.
The zipper didn´t arrive in time, which wasn´t a problem, because I just put in a large and chunky one I had on hand. The look isn´t perfect, but not too bad!

Here´s a full view:

a closeup of the back belt:

and here we´ve got a closeup of the pleats:

I wore it last saturday to the party and got a couple of compliments. I felt good wearing it, so I´ll definitely wear it again!

Yesterday I started cutting my next fabric for the next project. I have cut the interfacing and the fabric and basted all of the interfacing to the fabric. Still need to cut the lining, but I´ll be doing that, when I need it. I want to go back to my new machine, which I love!!! I´ll be showing pictures tomorrow. I need to go to bed!

Done...

2009-05-29T20:39:00.002+02:00

I am so done...totally wiped out. I finished my paper and managed to send it to the TA in time. Now I just need to send it via snail mail too. I planned on doing that today also, but after going to the dentist and coming home sans one tooth and feeling totally woozy from the painkiller, I called the TA and asked her if I could send it tomorrow, because the dentist had told me not to drive for a couple of hours (I couldn´t have to save my life anyway, I could hardly talk straight ;-)). She said it was fine, so tomorrow it is.
After some minor crises at work, that we managed to solve in time, I called it a day. I am so wiped out. oops, already said that.
My weight loss is going well, considering I ate breakfast, had a tooth pulled and had a cup of soup and a joghurt after that!
I guess the missing tooth is not the problem, the problem is, that on the other side of my jaws I´ve got a toothache as well (this is just going to need a new filling, but it hurts like hell), so I can´t chew on either side and my head is killing me...

OK, end of rant!
No new knitting, some sewing. I hope the zipper I had to order for my dress gets here tomorrow, so that I can finish it in time for the party tomorrow night. It just needs the zipper, the underlay for the pleats and seaming on the skirt. Pictures tomorrow! Have I mentioned, I´m tired? No? Well I am.

Need sleep!

No knitting

2009-05-27T20:13:00.004+02:00

Been working, doing a little sewing and a little too little on my paper. I need to email it to the teaching assistant on friday. I know I can finish it. I just need to get crackin´... and concentrate.
That´s hard, because I would much rather be sewing or finishing some smaller projects for my patio and the garden.

Another thing I´m really going to concentrate on is losing those 30lbs. I really need and want to lose. I signed up for Weight Watchers online. I lost 20lbs. about 4 years ago with them, though I never joined anything back then. I just counted the points on my own. It works for me and starting next week, I´ll be adding exercise to the equation. I´m going to begin with swimming 3 times a week because the community pool is just a 2 minute walk from my house.

Sewingwise I´m working on the dress for the party on saturday, a little bit everyday to take the edge off of work and the stupid paper. It´s made of the navy gab with white dots and the white lining with red dots.

OK, gotta get back to work on the paper!

New FO no old ones

2009-05-23T18:04:00.006+02:00

I´m on the run, just wanted to present a new sewing FO. Haven´t gotten around to photographing my knitting FO´s of the recent past, because I´ve been busy writing a paper (due on May 29th). Still not done yet, but here´s hoping...

So anyway, this is my most recent FO:

I´ve already worn it yesterday out with the girls. Now I just need some cute shoes to go with, like red or purple heels. The problem is, that I can´t seem to find any that are even acceptable looking in my eyes. ;-)
The specs:
pattern: skirt from Burda magazine february 2007 model 110
fabric: 1,5 m cotton print from Buttinette

These are two lining fabrics. The white one is for a navy trench I´m planning to make real soon and the royal blue is to match a grey pinstripe wool fabric I have in my stash.

These two fabrics are a red chiffon for a dress and a navy stretch-gabardine for another dress and some capri pants or shorts.
For the navy dress I already have a pattern planned, because I want to wear it next Saturday for a 40th birthday party.

Ok that´s it, gotta go write my stupid paper!

Knitting FOs

2009-05-12T12:30:00.002+02:00

Here are some more FO pictures, details on my Ravelry project page:
Indigo Spring

Interlocking Cables

Tweedy raglan

Tudora

wristwarmers

Crusoe socks

Fetching (these were my oldest WIP, they just needed a thumb...)

Right now I have a couple of WIPs lying around but nothing is calling to me. The sewing machine´s call is louder! I have my three next projects all ready to go:

Blouse 108, Burda January 2008; black embroidered cotton similar to the blue cotton from the last blouse.
Skirt 110, Burda February 2007; flowered cotton print in reds, oranges and black
Coat 115, Burda November 2007; navy blue suit fabric

All I need is more plastic sheets to copy the patterns.

Latest sewing FOs

2009-05-11T20:03:00.003+02:00

Here they are, the blouse (Burda April 2007 Pattern 125) out of a light blue cotton fabric:

and a wrap dress (Burda easy fashion summer 2006 Pattern 6) out of a leaf print in green on creme:

I am pretty happy with both, although there are some things I´d like to do better and I need practice in. One things is that both collars are a bit fudged, meaning that the execution isn´t that good. The necklines on both are too revealing but I can wear a cami under the blouse and I´ve already ordered some green jersey to sew an insert in the dress. It´s a real wrap dress, but I´m going to sew the two fronts together and attach a wider belt also in green, because the fabric is pretty busy.

Can´t wait to get sewing again, I´m perusing my patterns to see what´s next. Probably a skirt, pleated possibly.

Long time no see!

2009-05-10T22:02:00.002+02:00

It´s been a while. I got discouraged by the fact that Blogger wouldn´t let me post pics, so I started slacking off on the whole blogging biz. I´ve finished lots and lots of knitting since my last post and I´ll have to try and show you everything.

First try for pics:

This is my Cashmmmmere Sweater (Ravelry link) made out of a cashmere, viscose and wool blend, really heavy and warm sweater perfect for the winter that has passed... ;-)) I still like it a bunch, though. More FO´s tomorrow since the pics are obviously working again!!! Yeah

For the last couple of weeks, I´ve been thinking a whole lot about sewing again and last week I got out all my old issues of Burda Fashion, ordered some fabric (which I needed like a whole in the wall, I already have a huge stash) and started mulling over what to sew. I finally picked out a cotton blouse, sleeveless, tied over the bust and buttoned beneath that. I copied the pattern, cut it out and started sewing on my cheapo, old sewing machine, when all of a sudden the damn thing started sending smoke signals from where the motor sits... totally shot.
Not that I was really sad about that: I´ve been waiting for that to happen so I could justify buying a new one. ;-) The timing was less than perfect though, because it wasn´t in the budget right now. I ignored that and ordered a new Brother Innov-ís 200. It arrived yesterday and I practically haven´t stopped sewing since. Finished the blouse this morning and started a wrap dress from an old Burda easy fashion (summer 2006). I am using a creme and dark green jersey for it that has a really nice drape. It has an allover leaf pattern in dark green on the creme background. The only thing left to do on it is seaming the skirt. I want to wear it at my uncle´s 70th birhtday party on friday.

Pictures will follow tomorrow, once I put the blouse and the dress on my dressmakers doll.

End of the year update

2008-12-31T16:18:00.003+01:00

At the beginning of the year I set up a few goals I wanted to achieve throughout the year. And what can I say, I made it!!! It was just in time, since I finished the last of my 5 goals on December 31 at 2 AM!!! I knit my first lace project, my first fair isle, cut my first steeks and a lot more.

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!Only grafting and a good soak left... should be just a matter of days! (ok, I just jinxed it, I bet!)Yeah, I jinxed it. It´s still lying there untouched. In a quiet moment, I´ll see to getting it done.Still lying untouched! This one will probably be done just barely in time!
And it was almost a photo finish at 2 AM on December 31st. It´s drying now and I hope to wear it tonight.

Finished!!!

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

Finished!!!

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks
Finished!!!!!

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)
Picked it up, but I can´t find my beads. I´ll be looking for them shortly!
Found´em and finished!!!

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks. This will be Eunny Jangs Deep V-necked Argyle Vest.
Finished!!!!!!!!

Another update

2008-11-29T09:53:00.000+01:00

Here´s an update on my goals:

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!

Only grafting and a good soak left... should be just a matter of days! (ok, I just jinxed it, I bet!)Yeah, I jinxed it. It´s still lying there untouched. In a quiet moment, I´ll see to getting it done.
Still lying untouched! This one will probably be done just barely in time!

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

Finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks

Finished!!!!!

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

Picked it up, but I can´t find my beads. I´ll be looking for them shortly!

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks. This will be Eunny Jangs Deep V-necked Argyle Vest.

Finished!!!!!!!!

Update

2008-10-26T17:21:00.000+01:00

Here´s an update on my goals:

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!

Only grafting and a good soak left... should be just a matter of days! (ok, I just jinxed it, I bet!)
Yeah, I jinxed it. It´s still lying there untouched. In a quiet moment, I´ll see to getting it done.

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

Finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks

Finished the fourth and the fifth pair of socks and if blogger would just let me post pics, I could show you! The last pair of socks is already, sort of, planned out.

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

Haven´t worked on this in a long time because I hadn´t bought beads (couldn´t decide on a color). I have some now and can finally continue.
Will be picking this up shortly

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks. This will be Eunny Jangs Deep V-necked Argyle Vest.

Started and I´m already more than halfway done.

I reckon I can still make it till the end of the year, don´t you?

2008-10-26T16:43:00.002+01:00

Ok, it´s been too long again... my excuse is that I just started my new job.
I could have stayed at home longer, but no work no money. And that I need to support my yarn habit...
The job is good so far, haven´t been able to do much but it was definitely the right decision to change jobs. The only problem is the major draft resulting from the central air vents right above my desk... I´m freezing and I needed me some fingerless mitts. So I took this:

And turned it into this:

in two nights.

There have also been some FOs here at Casa de Ribb-it!

ETA: Blogger won´t let me upload pics, so I´ll try again later! Check out my FOs on Ravelry (username: ribbit)

Panic!!

2008-09-13T20:45:00.000+02:00

That´s what I feel, when I think about my exams... next wednesday and friday! I really wanted to do all three of them, but I´m thinking it would be better on myself to skip the last one on friday. Wednesday is going to be tough enough. I guess I´ll give myself time until monday to sort things out and decide.

In happier news, I went to the gym three times and went swimming two times (1000 metres freestyle every time) this week. Last week I made it to the gym twice and went swimming once. I lost 4 lbs. and I´m feeling great. Finally, I´m getting back a little bit of that good, springy feeling for my body. There still is a long long way to go, but every little step counts.

At Juno´s blog I read about the 100pushup project. I´ve been thinking about this for a couple of days and I´ll have a go at it. Starting monday!

And there has been knitting. I still haven´t found a solution for my interlocking cables. It´s on hold until after my bloody exams. But my Spring Forward socks are really "springing forward"! (Pun intended!)

That´s one down and the other at the heel! I like the proportion of this sock. It looks so short and stubby. The leg really is a bit loose but not sagging loose and the length of the foot is perfect. The pattern is totally cool. I can really see it in a scarf! Well, it´ll be done some time next week and with it my fourth pair for 2008!

Ok, I´m dead tired and need some sleep! Good night!

Three´s a crowd, right?

2008-09-09T22:13:00.000+02:00

This is the new sock I am working on:

It´s a Spring forward sock out of Fortissima colori socka color (Mexiko Country Colors, Alaska). I really like the way the colors are developing. Better pictures tomorrow.
It´s grown since then but my camera batteries are dead! Tomorrow is another day, right?

Today is pretty shitty anyway. The man and I went to a funeral today. An old friend of the man, 44 years old just dropped dead. It was really really bad.

More about life in general tomorrow. Gotta go to bed now!

To make up, you get 2 posts in 1 day!

2008-09-09T22:04:00.000+02:00

Here´s an update on my goals:

Only grafting and a good soak left... should be just a matter of days! (ok, I just jinxed it, I bet!)

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

Finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks

(one is in the making)3 down, one in progress, 2 to go! This is what I wrote the last time, but it was wrong at the time I wrote it. Now, with the heelless sleeping socks done, it´s correct. I cast on a new pair directly after finishing the last! More on that later...

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

Haven´t worked on this in a long time because I hadn´t bought beads (couldn´t decide on a color). I have some now and can finally continue.

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks. This will be Eunny Jangs Deep V-necked Argyle Vest.

I have the yarn but haven´t started.

I reckon I can still make it till the end of the year, don´t you?

So much for daily posting...

2008-09-09T20:51:00.000+02:00

It´s been too long, again! Life just keeps interfering with blogging...
So since my last post, I´ve finished the collar of interlocking cables,

then, because the bottom end of the sweater looked like this:

all flared out (that happens when you cast on 360 stitches, realize you only need 340 but are too lazy to start over again so you eliminate 20 stitches by k2tog 20 times... fixing it now is taking far more time than if I had fixed it right away). Anyhow, I chopped off about 15 rows, put the stitches on a needle and cast on 340 stitches and knit the ribbing again, this time, a little longer because the body was a tad short to begin with. (Note to self: when you think something is long enough, add another 5 cm!)

So now, that the ribbing is long enough, I have to graft the cabled ribbing to the rest of the body... (knitting down from the top wasn´t an option because that is always half a stitch off!) I surfed the net and found this. It´s a great tutorial and I pretty much got the hang of it. What I didn´t realize is that the stitches on the body and the stitches on the added ribbing form, when grafted, 3 (!!!) rows. So I ended up with this:

So that didn´t turn out so well! Then I took the new ribbing off the thread, ripped out 2 rows (it was a guesstimate) and repeated the procedure. Turns out, 2 rows wasn´t enough. Last night at 11 p.m. I really wasn´t feeling the love for this thing anymore, so I put it aside. So in the next couple of days I will be ripping out another row, putting the 340 stitches back on thread so I can start grafting again.

Now, on to a different matter: apparently, this

is what you get after 7 1/2 hours of knitting on various trains. Compared to it´s mate:

you can see, that it´s not all that far from completion. Had I knit the first 2 hours of the train ride, it would have been finished by the time I got back home but I met an old school friend and we yakked all the way to where I had to get off the train. That was saturday and on sunday I had this:

Ok, that´s enough for one post!

2008-08-25T10:50:00.000+02:00

When we last heard from the heroine, she was working on the second sleeve of her interlocking cables sweater. Since, she has finished the sleeve, sewn the sleeve seams and the raglan seams...

...and started the collar. It is extremely large with the 240 stitches. I´ve got about 7 cm done but I need a total of 27 cm.

The pattern calls for increasing the needle size every couple of centimeters so now I need to go looking for my 4,5 mm circ. I know I have one, but I have no idea where...

Still feeling crummy...

2008-08-20T11:03:00.000+02:00

sorry, not much of an entertaining blog at the moment but I really can´t help it. Went to the gym this morning as I did on Monday which is helping (who would´ve thunk it!). I hope to finish the sleeve today and then join the sleeves to the body.

This is the neverending cone of 6-ply merino that I´m knitting the interlocking cables sweater with. I weighed the body and the finished sleeve and they weighed almost exactly 500gr. This cone is supposed to have 1200gr on it which means I will get another sweater out of it!

These are my tomato plants. I planted them very late so they don´t have any fruits yet but they´re coming!

And these are the zucchini plants. I have really enjoyed watching them grow and wish I had planted them earlier, because I´m getting kind of anxious about it becoming too cold in a couple of weeks. But we´ll just have to wait and see!

Now, it´s back to the books!

Knitting? Oh yeah!

2008-08-19T11:50:00.000+02:00

Studying? Not so much...

I´m in a rut regarding my exams. I know that if I sit down on my behind and just get to work, I won´t have to do as much next march to finish. But I´m tired. Tired of studying, tired of never really being able to relax totally because in my mind there´s always that picture of a huge mountain of information I need to absorb.

I´m so damn tired. I want to lock myself into my office/fiber room, sit on the couch, watch the Olympics, drink tea and knit. Just knit...

But that is not an option so I´m sitting at my desk with my books in front of me. Although, the tv is on!

When I´m only reading stuff and don´t need to write, I´m knitting. That´s how I managed to get almost half sleeve done in a day and a bit. This is what I did sunday evening:

This is what I had as of 11 p.m. last night (monday):

(I just noticed how wobbly this pictures is...ooops, sorry!)

And because a cabled sleeve in various stages of completion is not all that interesting, I´ll show you what I bought in Kenmare, Ireland:

It´s a bit absurd to buy alpaca in the land of sheep, but the only other local product was an extremely scratchy aran wool that I know I won´t knit with, so I bought the Kerry Alpaca. It´s 50gr. of a light fingering weight, I´d say (no yardage on the band). It´s undyed and I will definitely dye it. I have some ideas for this but it will take me a while to get to it.

I wrote a progress report yesterday. I´ve been thinking about my knitting goals for 2008 for quite a while and how serious I want to take them. I came to the conclusion that I really want to do everything on the list except the last one (the one about the WIPs, remember?). As a reward, I will buy myself a rigid heddle loom in January. Yes, I want to try weaving (as if I don´t have enough to do already!) and definitely spinning also, but that will have to wait until I get my degree.

OK, enough already, I need to get back to the books...

Progress report

2008-08-17T15:46:00.000+02:00

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!

I only need to knit the second sleeve, join everything and knit the collar!

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

Finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks (one is in the making)

3 down, one in progress, 2 to go!

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

Haven´t worked on this in a long time because I hadn´t bought beads (couldn´t decide on a color). I have some now and can finally continue.

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks

This will be Eunny Jangs Deep V-necked Argyle Vest. I have the yarn but haven´t started.

6. leave no UFOs at the end of each quarter of the year
-> if I accomplish this: I will allow myself to buy 3 skeins of sock yarn from the Loopy Ewe.
=> for the end of march this means I have to finish two sweaters, one pair of "fetching" and
a hat.

Haha! This is a complete disaster! Not even thinking about it.... ;-)

If I manage to accomplish the first 5 goals, I´ll be very happy! It will be extremely hard but I´ll do my best.
The Interlocking cables is the next project I want to finish with the heelless sleeping sock as my mindless knitting.

I´m back!

2008-08-17T15:01:00.000+02:00

Our vacation in Ireland was great. It´s such a beautiful country. I took lots of pictures but I just downloaded them to the computer. It´ll take me a while to work on them but sometime you´ll get to see them.
In knitting news I finished the first heelless sleeping sock

and I finished Starsky!!! I am totally in love with this cardigan!

Specs:

Yarn: 6 and a bit skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Frost Gray (606)

Needles: 5.5 mm circ and dpn

Size: Large

I can´t say it often enough: I love this cardi!

Normally I hate weaving ends in and generally all finishing stuff, but I just kept on going with this one because I loved it so much.

It could have been a smidge longer but I was concerned I wouldn´t have enough yarn. Now I have a full skein and about a third of another left over. I want to make a Tudora out of the left overs.

Oops

2008-07-31T07:14:00.000+02:00

So my first resolution is shot to you know what... The problem with posting everyday is that my notebook isn´t with me right now. I lent it to my mom, who is in rehab after a bad knee injury. Since she´s self-employed and needs it more than I do, it was the right decision. So now I have to use her computer in her office which really isn´t that far away, but still it´s more work than just blogging from wherever I feel like it!
She´ll be back in three weeks and on Sunday the man and I are going to Ireland for ten days so it´s actually not that long.

Went to the gym yesterday and it felt good. The Points counting is going very well, too. It´s pretty easy and I think this is the only way I´m ever going to lose weight because I can eat what I want, when I want it. All I have to do is count and make my portions smaller. But I´m not hungry, which just shows me that I have been eating too much. OK, I know, tell me something I didn´t know...

Guess what? I got myself a new tellie for my office. I know you´re thinking: What? For the office??? Well this room is actually everything. Office, second living room and fiber room. When the man and I moved in together we had 3 TVs, 2 stereos and 2 couches (among other things). So I put my stereo, couch and TV in the office. It´s for when either me or the man needs some peace and quiet, but don´t want to go to bed. The old TV in this room was 20 years old and had no remote and I used it solely for watching DVDs. Well the sockets where you connect the DVD-Player? Right, broken.
So this is my new baby:

It´s a Sony Bravia. Me likey!! Sorry, I´ve been watching too much Sex and the City!

The Mandarin collar cardie is finished except for the collar. Will finish it today, because we´re going to see the little guy it´s for!

My Starsky is coming along. I´ve got 3 pattern repeats on the back done. And I need 12... This will be my Ireland project. I´m also taking my Sockus Studiosus.
OK, gotta go so I can be there when the gym opens!

I hate parties...

2008-07-28T10:14:00.001+02:00

Well, not all parties but definitely teen parties that are held right above my bedroom windows on a sunday night.
I´m just glad I didn´t HAVE to get up this morning as my man did. Haven´t talked to him yet, but I bet his day at work is going to be hell!

Today is my brothers 17th birthday and the party yesterday seemed to have been a blast. I dumped my schedule today and slept in since I fell asleep at about 4 a.m., I think.

No gym for me today but I´m going to get started on my studying as soon as I finish this post.

I lost my first pound over the weekend and I´m hoping lots more will follow. I´ve adjusted pretty well to the WW points system and with going to the gym at least 4 times a week I think the first 15-20 lbs. should be quite easy.

Knitting? Yeah, done that:

This is the Mandarin Collar Cardigan for a friend´s baby boy born on July 22nd. Originally I was knitting him a blanket out of mitre squares but somewhere along the way I lost the love and once I found this cute pattern I never turned back!! I need to graft the two pieces together at the back, knit the collar and the border and I´m done and once the mama and baby come home, we´ll go see them!

Ok, gotta go study....

Damn it!

2008-07-25T07:40:00.000+02:00

I had a nice post about my day yesterday and how I´m off to the gym (which I really should be) and about sewing and and and...

Well, Blogger ate it!
I´ll try and get it together again tomorrow!

Here is some Eye Candy instead:

Wow

2008-07-24T08:02:00.001+02:00

This is my first day of about 9 weeks off work. I start my new job October 1st and had my last day at the old one yesterday. It was very weird to be cleaning out my desk and saying goodbye to everyone. My co-workers from my department even gave me a farewell gift: a Samsonite trolley and matching carry-on bag, since they knew, that in the job I will be traveling about 4 days a week! I was totally overwhelmed.

So now I´m home with a whole lotta stuff to do. I have to take 3 exams in September, so there will be tons of studying at Casa de Ribb-it! There will definitely be knitting and possibly sewing since that bug has rebitten me a couple of days ago. I desperately want to take up spinning and weaving, but I´m making myself wait... I promised myself, if I stick to my schedule of studying and getting things done around the house, I would be allowed to buy a weaving loom (thinking of an Ashford rigid heddle loom) in September. The spinning wheel will have to wait until I´m done with my economics diploma (which will be March 2009, if all goes as planned).

I really want to get blogging into my routine from now on, so I hereby resolve to blog every day until the end of September with the exception of August 3rd to August 14th, as we will be driving and wandering around Ireland during that time! Another resolution: no stash enhancement until I get to Ireland. There I will possibly fall for some wool, we´ll see!

On to my knitting:

This is my Interlocking cables or to be more precise, a sleeve and the body on stitch holders until the second sleeve is done so I can join it all and knit the huge collar. The second sleeve is cast on, but on the wrong size needle. This is just sitting on the couch in my office/fiber room waiting for attention but I´ve got other sirens calling louder...

This is Starsky or better two fronts and to sleeves plus a little tiny bit of the back. I also started the belt which is so boring that I can only work on it about ten minutes at a time... here´s a close up of the banana leaf pattern:

The yarn is Mmmmmalabrigo in frost grey bought here (excellent service and very nice: the owner sent me 8 skeins for the price of seven because he said each skein weighs a little less than 100gr.) I really like the yarn it´s soft but will probably pill like hell, but so far, it´s lookin´ good!

For the sensitive, please look away because here I show you the gory details of a fiber related accident I had at Blue Moon Fiber Arts:

These are (in order of appearance): Socks That Rock lightweight in the Knitters without Borders colorway, STR mediumweight in Chapman Springs, Firebird, Jade and Tanzanite (already half of this). I think I may have found my favourite sock yarn! I´m in love!!!

Oops, I´m late for my monthly allergies shot!

C ya tomorrow!

Ooooops

2008-05-14T20:32:00.001+02:00

Ok, this blogging thing has got to get back to being a regular here at casa de Ribb-it! It has been a very busy couple of months. First off, I received the grade of my thesis, which wasn´t great but acceptable. In march I had a big exam, which I also passed, but the grade definitely is NOT acceptable. I have the chance to try again in september, which is what I´ll do.

I am off work this week because I have a serious case of the sniffles complete with a stuffy head and all. I feel miserable and should be working on a 15 page paper due the end of may but brainy work is not an option at the moment. So I´ve been knitting instead. Well not 24/7 because I have to help my mom at the moment. She had knee surgery last week and is pretty slow on crutches and has lots of doctors appointments and stuff.

Anyways, back to the knitty:

in my last post, I set 6 goals for 2008. I am going to comment each one regarding it´s status.

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!

I did swatch and have gotten pretty far again. I´m almost finished with the body, leaving the two sleeves and the huge collar. This is my main project at the moment. Although all this cabling is getting a bit boring. So far, I´ve resisted the urge to cast on for a new sweater. All in all, I think I can finish it this year.

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

In the meantime, I couldn´t resist and bought my first batch of Malabrigo. I´ll post pics of my newest stash acquisitions in my next post. This is up as soon as I finish Interlocking Cables. I seriously want this for fall, so I´m very intent on finishing it.

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks (one is in the making)

As of now, one pair is finished and the second is just half a foot and the toe away. I think I can meet this goal, too.

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

I´m plugging away at this, slowly... Instead of the bobbles, I want to use beads but I haven´t gotten around to ordering them. I have plans to wear this in December at the Christmas party at my new employer. (Yes I have a new job which I will be starting on October 1st)

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks
6. leave no UFOs at the end of each quarter of the year-> if I accomplish this: I will allow myself to buy 3 skeins of sock yarn from the Loopy Ewe.=> for the end of march this means I have to finish two sweaters, one pair of "fetching" and a hat. (so far I´ve been working on the sweater that needed the most work, but more about that in another post)

Weeeeellll, this one is not going so well... At the end of the first quarter, I didn´t finish anything and I´m just not feeling the finishing urge just now, to do that for the second quarter. ;-) I have quite a bit of sock yarn anyway...

Now on to some things I´ve been working on:
here you see a little tiny Rudyard for a friends baby. I hope, I´ll get to see the little one soon!

Pattern: Rudyard
Size: 6 months
Yarn: Siena 100% merino in denim, light blue and red from Wolle Rödel (about 4 skeins)

In the next picture you see that the mitres bug has bitten me! These squares are destined to be a baby blanket for another friends´ baby boy due at the beginning of August.

Ok, that´s pretty much all. I´m dead tired and need some sleep!
Nightienight!

A very belated happy new year!

2008-01-14T20:36:00.000+01:00

Ooops, it´s been way too long!!!! I´ve been totally busy the last couple of weeks. First, I had a couple of days off between Christmas and New Year which the boy and I used to relax and see lots of friends. Then as soon as I had to go back to work, things got really hectic. I have been working my sorry little (well, ok not so little) butt off the last two weeks. Things are slowing down to normal now and now I´m getting the flu or something. It´s always the same: the stress wears off and I get sick...
Well I´m just going to wish for the best.

In this post I want to write down my goals for 2008. They aren´t all knitting related, because I want to accomplish some things this year that I had trouble with last year.

First of all: I want to lose weight. Not just 2 kg, but at least 15kg. I want to do this in a healthy way, which means making time for workouts and eating healthier. I´ve had trouble with my body weight for at least the last 10 years and it´s definitely not getting better. 6 weeks ago I tore the ligaments in my right foot, which didn´t really help!!! Last week the doc told me, I could start doing sports again, so I spent the last couple of days picking out a gym in the area. I found one and tomorrow I´m going to make an appointment.
Sooo, I´m going to be honest and tell you where I´m at and where I want to be: currently I weigh 80 kg at 168cm and I want to lose 15kg. I won´t turn this into a weight-loss blog but I will update it on a semi-regular basis. Wish me luck guys!

Next on my list of goals is to be more disciplined concerning my economics diploma. My goal is to get good marks on the two exams I have planned for this year. I started studying and hope to keep up the discipline!!! ;-)

Now to the most interesting things: my knitting goals for 2008!

1. Here I wrote "finish Interlocking Cables", but in the meantime I´ve ripped the damn thing! It was about three times too big!!! Next time I start this I promise to swatch... Yes, you heard right I will swatch!!!!! I still want to finish this thing this year and I will!

2. Knit Starsky ( I don´t have yarn for this yet, but more about this later)

3. Knit at least 6 pairs of socks (one is in the making)

4. Knit one big lace project (this is my Indigo Spring which can be seen on ravelry, username: ribbit)

5. Knit one fair isle project with steeks

6. leave no UFOs at the end of each quarter of the year
-> if I accomplish this: I will allow myself to buy 3 skeins of sock yarn from the Loopy Ewe.
=> for the end of march this means I have to finish two sweaters, one pair of "fetching" and
a hat. (so far I´ve been working on the sweater that needed the most work, but more
about that in another post)

Currently I have yarn for 5 sweater projects. I will only allow myself to buy yarn for Starsky if I finish my current UFOs and knit at least one sweater out of my stash!

Ok, I´ve been rambling and rambling, now I´m tired and need to go to bed!!

I´ll tell you tomorrow, what I´ve been working on lately!!! With pics, I promise!!!

Lace...

2007-12-30T21:31:00.000+01:00

In a serious case of big-headedness or hybris, I´ve always thought that I would do better knitting lace than all those knitters who say stuff like: "Knitting lace is something not suited for watching tv or bitching with your best friend!" or "I always have to start over at least 5 times because counting to 5 (or 3 or 15) is just so difficult" or "Lace looks like shit before it is blocked"...
Well, let me tell you I suddenly became very very small! All of those things are true and I am going through them (suffering actually). I have ripped and ripped and ripped and it looks really shitty, but I´m trying to endure and hope it blocks out!
Oh, btw I cast on for the Spring Things shawl in a cash/silk blend from colourmart in indigo! I like the pattern, the yarn but not my knitting but I´ll try to finish it and block it before judging...

Pics tomorrow, too lazy and too tired for the camera now!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-26T18:40:00.000+01:00

I have been meaning to post for some time, but there´s been so much going on these last couple of weeks...

Two packages found their way to my mailbox:

the first came from The Loopy Ewe. I ordered some sock yarn there, because I can´t seem to find sock yarn here that I like. So I ordered three different skeins. The service was great and the yarn came really quick. I had to cast on one of these skeins immediately. This is the Slippery sock from the new Knitty in Woolly Boully, colorway wisteria:

The color in the first pic is closer to reality but the pattern shows better in the second one. I love this sock yarn and I adore this pattern!! It´s amazing!

The other two sock yarns are: Colinette "Jitterbug" in "fruit coulis" (top) and Chewy Spaghetti in "vintage" (bottom)

This package came at exactly the right time, because I just finished my train socks ( I have to figure out a new name for them!):

Sorry, the pictures are crummy, but I accidentally deleted all of the pics on my camera right before transferring them to the computer... Yeah, I know, that was stupid! ;-)))

Anyway, I didn´t feel like repeating the photoshoot.

The second package came from colourmart. I had ordered these cones of laceweights (2-plys) just a couple of days ago.

They are, from left to right: a 100% silk in aqua (it´s a marl of a darker and a lighter blue and absolutely gorgeous!), a 100% cashmere in vermillion (bright red), a 55/45 cashmere silk blend in grasshopper (it´s really really bright!) and a 65/35 cash/silk blend in indigo. All of these are 150gr. cones with over 2000 yards each. I can´t wait to cast something on with one of them, but since I have no idea what I want to make, they will have to wait!

I hope all of you had a fantastic christmas, I sure know I did!

On the morning of the 24th, we met with all of our friends in our usual pub for a little christmas celebration, went home around 5. Then I went to church with my mom and my brother. During that time my boyfriend finished cooking and after church we all sat down and had a nice evening. After that, Frank and I went to a friend´s house for the rest of the night. This is a tradition and a lot of our friends always meet there. On Christmas Day, we went there again. This get-together is also a tradition. Everybody brings something, like salmon, cheese or ham. We drink too much wine, listen to really cool music or watch dvds and generally have a great time. I knit on my sock, which generated a lot of weird looks, because I don´t think the guys had ever seen someone knit except their grandmas or mothers...

Today, we did some work in the study. The last of the bookcase was organized and I reorganized my stash. Then we did some family visits to distribute the rest of the presents.

Now, we´re just laying on the couch watching stupid movies.

On my needles at the moment are the slippery socks and the fifth square of my blanket. I had to frog my interlocking cables sweater, because I could have fit in that thing twice! So next time I´m going to swatch!

I´m getting hungry now, so I better go warm up some leftovers! See ya!!!

Newsflash

2007-12-12T13:22:00.000+01:00

Since I´m home for the afternoon unexpectedly, I finally found the time to take some pictures of the stuff I´ve finished in the week since I sent off my thesis exactly one week ago!! *A big yeah for that!!* I´m so relieved to have that off my back and spent the last couple days cleaning out my office and the rest of the apartment. There has also been knitting:

I finished my little brothers christmas socks and they even match!!

Specs:

Yarn: Regia 6-ply

Size: 40

Pattern: my own; 3x3 rib on the leg and the top of the foot

These are three finished squares for my afghan. I just pick a different stitch pattern for each square. The fourth is about two thirds done!

My train socks are also coming along nicely, which is mostly due to the fact that I have been spending a hell of a lot of time in the waiting rooms of several doctors. I tore the ligaments in my right foot two weeks ago and for some reason I´m still in a huge amount of pain, which is not normal but the bloody doctor won´t do anything about it, so I´m going to have to find another one. The other doctor is treating my allergies which means I will be going there on a weekly basis to get shots the next 3 months and once a month for two and a half years!! Yikes, that makes me queasy just writing it!!

Yikes!!

2007-11-29T20:48:00.000+01:00

Ok, I´m really starting to freak out now: my thesis is due next wednesday! That means it has to be at the printers on tuesday! And I´m pretty far from being finished. Well the text is done, but there are still some touch-ups to do. And yesterday morning, on a business trip to Berlin, I slipped and fell not once, but twice in about 3 meters... Man that was embarassing and it hurt, too. So when I got home last night, my ankle was hurting really bad and it took me 15 minutes to get my boot off... So I had to go to see a doctor this morning and he tells me that I tore the ligaments in my foot.
Something weird happened today: as I was waiting for my two doctor´s appointments 2(!) people asked me about my knitting. I couldn´t believe it, I mean ever since I started knitting regularly again nobody has ever approached me about it! And now two in one day!

No pictures today because I´m too lazy to get the camera out but there has been knitting. I´m almost ready to start the toe on my train sock, the blue socks for my brother are getting a couple of rounds a day and the patchwork blanket now has two completed squares and a bit of the third.
Now I gotta do some more on my thesis.

Good night!

Ooops, it´s been a long time

2007-11-23T21:02:00.000+01:00

I´ve been meaning to post for a couple of days, but real life has me up to my elbows in stuff that comes before pleasure! Also, a couple of days ago I got my ravelry invite!!! Yeah!!! I have to say, that is some cool shit, what Jess and Casey pulled together there!!! So I´ve been busy snooping around ravelry and looking the beautiful stuff people are knitting.
In my little free time, there´s been knitting! And yarn buying...

Isn´t this a pretty still life? That´s 17 balls (one is already in use) of Siena 100% merino superwash from Wolle Rödel (6 each of off-white, tan and chocolate). They are intended for a nice comfy blanket for myself for the couch. It´s going to be a patchwork blanket out of a bunch of 10" solid colored squares each knit in a different stitch pattern. I already ordered 2 more balls of each color, because I´m thinking that those 18 balls won´t be enough.

Here´s the first square: 55 stitches, 5x5 rib, reverse every 7 rows.

This yarn is the big brother of Siena: Siena Big, also 100% superwash merino but a heavy worsted weight. The colors are really nice. A light lavender (pic is pretty accurate) and a dark purple. Each of these balls has a twin, but these are also already in use. They are destined to be a stripey hat. Pictures next time, I forgot... my bad!

My train sock is coming along nicely, I finished the heel today. I love how the diagonal line of the short row heel coincided with a color change.

The blue socks for my brother finally have two heels...Remember that I had to show my ma how to do a short-row heel, so this second sock got stuffed into the basket until last saturday. Now my mom is addicted to knitting again. She used to knit a whole bunch of stuff when I was little, but just picked up the needles again a couple of weeks ago. She´s already done with the first sock and almost to the heel on the second., making plans for a sweater...

When I showed her my Siena and Siena Big, all she could say was: "Siena Big, off-white, order, enough for big sweater". This stuff is so soft, it´s amazing!!

So my six balls of Siena are going to be accompanied by 16 balls of Siena Big. ;-))

It´s going to be really cool to stitch ´n bitch with my ma as soon as my damn thesis is finished. I´m on the homestretch and hoping to finish next week friday.

I´m sure I mentioned this before: I have been to Bonn twice in the last couple of weeks, talking to a company about a new job. They are very interested and the final meeting is in two weeks. Then I´ll know how much they´re offering. I haven´t made up my mind yet, but it would be interesting...

On the other hand, my boy and I have to lead a long-distance-relationship and I´m not sure if that´s an option right now. Well, actually I guess that´s really never an option, but we´ll have to talk it through, as soon as I have the contract from them. This is a big decision and I don´t know what to do... My head is so full of all of this stuff, I´m rambling and rambling... Sorry, if I´m boring you. I promise, things will get better in December!

Something old, something new...

2007-11-15T16:52:00.000+01:00

Here are my finished socks, autumn leaves:

Specs:
Yarn: Buttinette "Sydney" no color name
Pattern: Baudelaire from Cookie A.
Needles: 2,5 mm metal dpns
Size: 35 for my ma
She already received them and is very happy with them.

Here´s my little ebay score: 100 satchets of Kool-aid. I´m really looking forward to dying my sock wool.

This here is a new sock I´ve cast on using 2,5mm Pony Pearls. These Pearls are a bit weird to knit with. But once you get used to the flexibility, they´re cool. I have a feeling that they are better for my hands and wrists than the metal dpns since I tend to knit pretty tight, which kills bamboo dpns on a regular basis. The yarn is Opal sock wool and I´m trying a pattern of my own. The cuff is a 2x2 rib, the leg you´ll see once I worked out, if the idea I have works. Since I want to find out how long it´s going to take me to knit a pair of socks when I work on it only outside the house, meaning on the train or waiting at the doctors office or things like that. Because of this, I need to have something small to work on at home which is why I cast on for these:

out of this book:
The yarn is Opal "Smoke" sock wool. It´s knit on 2mm bamboo dpns.

Warning! Mostly non-knitting content!

2007-11-11T17:23:00.000+01:00

You should take the warning seriously!! My boyfriend and I went to a wine tasting here, with a couple of friends, yesterday. It felt really good to take two days off and just enjoy good wine, food and company. Was a nice change from being holed up in my office, writing my thesis. But now it´s back to normal and tomorrow, I even have to go to work again...
Knit-wise, it´s been slow. I wanted to use the drive to the vinyard to get some good progress done on the sock, but since I had to sit behind the driver, I started getting really car-sick. So that was not cool!!! But nonetheless, I only have 4 more 8-row-repeats to go on the leg and then about 15 rows of 1x1 ribbing. Since I´m going to have to commute again, starting tomorrow, I
bet I´ll get it done next week.

Today, on the drive back I tried knitting again and my friend Ute kept saying: "Wow, I wish I could do that, but I just can´t knit socks to save my life...You know what, I want handknit socks for my birthday. It´s March 5th, I wear size 40! ;-)"
I usually don´t like knitting for other people, besides my ma, because I had some bad experiences with people not appreciating handmade stuff, but she and her boyfriend make some of the most awesome jewellery I have ever seen. He made me a necklace for my birthday that my boyfriend gave me and Ute made me a really cool ring, which she made me. I´ll post pics as soon as I get around to taking them!!! So, if she really wants socks for her birthday, she gets them!!
That sounds like a deadline I can meet, so I can start scouring the net in search of a cool pattern and some cool sockwool. I know she likes it colorful, you should see her house, so I need to find or dye something really loud!
Well, my freetime is up, better get back to my thesis...

New Stuff

2007-11-10T11:42:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned earlier, I got a package full of cool stuff from Ewas Sockenwolle. Now I just have to wait for my Kool-aid to arrive. Anyway, here it is:

This is a measuring tape with sock sizes on it. It also tells you when to start with the toe! I thought that was pretty cool! We´ll see, how it works.

On the top of this picture are some metal hands that say handmade on them. I think they´re a great addition to a nice handknit sweater, aren´t they? The heart-shaped stitchmarker was a gift, that came with the purchase, along with a little packet of gummibears that didn´t survive the first five minutes in my possesion. I really love the frog stitchmarker. It´s adorable!

This is my sock wool, 100% merino, four 100gr. hanks. This is enough for at least 5 pairs of socks for me!!!

And last but not least: my new pony pearls! I don´t remember, where I read about them, but they seemed interesting. And I must say, they really are! I ordered them in 2.25, 2.5 and 2.75 mm, 15 cm long. They have a weird feel, but I can´t wait to try them on my next pair of socks.

Yeah!!

2007-11-08T20:40:00.000+01:00

I just scored 100 little satchets of Kool-aid (in 20 different flavors on ebay!!!! Can´t wait to get started with dyeing!!!

I also got my undyed merino sockwool along with some other cute stuff. I already took pictures but I don´t feel like posting them tonight.

Will do tomorrow, though!!

My sock is coming along nicely, I´m on the heel right now. Aside from that, I´m not feeling all that swell right now. Have the flu, which really helps my writing...

Well, gotta go! My mattress is calling!

Dyeing to dye!

2007-11-05T20:18:00.000+01:00

I just ordered some merino sock wool to dye. Yippieh!! I´ve been wanting to try dyeing my own wool for some time and now I´ve got an eye on a batch of Kool-aid on ebay, so I should be ready to go after I´m done with my thesis. Which I hope will be soon... I´m having some motivation problems, although I keep telling myself, that procrastination won´t get me very far and it would be a lot easier on my nerves if I got it done with time to spare instead of at the last minute. I promise to do better tomorrow!

Anyways, back to dyeing: I already have some cool ideas for color combinations. Also on it´s way to my mailbox is Selbuvotter and pony pearls dpns in assorted sizes. Can´t wait for either to arrive.

My plan is to make some fabulous mittens with hand-dyed yarn and cool colored dpns!
Have I mentioned that I can´t wait???

Oh, almost forgot:
ravelry is down to ONLY 8400 people ahead of me!! A big yeah for that!!!

Got Sock! (and a third)

2007-11-05T14:01:00.000+01:00

There´s not much going on around here, except me trying to work on my thesis, which is not going that well, but I´m workin´ on it...

I did make some progress on my socks though:

I´ve also been reading some knit blogs. Haven´t commented on any of them, because I want to wait until I get this one up to speed and have conquered html so that I can link my favorite blogs to the sidebar. That is not going to be anytime soon, because I have more important things right now.

Since there´s not much to tell ya guys (well actually, to tell me, since I don´t think anyone has found this blog yet...), here´s a picture of our dining room:

We just moved in to our apartment about 6 months ago and if I feel like it, I´ll post some more pictures every now and then. Especially when there´s not much knitting news...

I´m knitting...

2007-11-01T11:32:00.000+01:00

a little bit a day! I have the next one and a half weeks off from work to finish my thesis and I´m very determined to get it finished by wednesday so that I have a long weekend full of knitting and cleaning (yeah!)!
Still haven´t turned the heel on the blue socks, but the autumn socks are coming along nicely. I just finished the 8th repeat of the pattern and will be turning the heel shortly.
I´m almost down to a four digit number on the ravelry waitlist, so that´s coming along also
In other news, I had a job interview on tuesday in Bonn, which is about 250 kilometers from where I live right now. It´s already been the second interview and it went pretty well, but I´m not even sure I want to go there. They told me to call them after I slept over it and tell them whether I wanted to proceed or not. I´ll wait until tomorrow... I really don´t know what to do. More on this the next couple of days.

Not much...

2007-10-29T20:52:00.000+01:00

new stuff. Just another 3 pattern repeats on my Baudelaire socks. I am finally getting the hang of the pattern, although it´s not easy to memorize. I guess by the time I´m done with the socks, I´ll have it down pat!
Today I got the new book I ordered: A gathering of Lace. There are some really beautiful patterns in it, that make me wish I had more time to knit...

I keep checking on the status of my ravelry invite:

Found you!
You signed up on October 26, 2007
You are #49073 on the list.
12119 people are ahead of you in line.
1268 people are behind you in line.
69% of the list has been invited so far

I´m guessing it´ll take until the end of November until I receive the invite.
Have I mentioned that I can´t wait?!

Pictures

2007-10-28T20:46:00.000+01:00

Here are some pics of stuff I´ve been working on and some finished stuff:

This is my first sweater (still not finished). It´s plain stockinette stitch with 2x2 rib on the hems and the turtleneck and it´s 100% plastic!!! The only thing left to do is sew in the sleeves, but as I said before, I´m not sure I want to wear this thing, because it´s a bit scratchy...

Next is another sweater, this one is knit in a nice cable pattern in a maritime design. It´s 100% cotton from Lang yarns. I need to put it together and knit the collar.

This is my first pair of socks. Made out of 4-ply sock wool from a Buttinette surprise package called "Sydney". I don´t remember where I got the pattern from, it´s nothing special, just plain stockinette and a heel flap. It took me forever to finish them and to be honest: they still aren´t finished, but I love wearing them. I never got around to sewing in the loose ends, but I don´t really care! ;-)

I am making these socks for my little brother for Christmas (Regia 6-ply). The first one is almost finished, just need to close the stitches on the toes. This was my first try with the short-row heel and I have to say, I love it! The second one is on hold for the moment because my ma asked me to show her how to turn a heel, but we just can´t seem to find time for it. Until friday they were my commuter socks, but since I have to wait some more I cast on for a new pair today...

...These are Baudelaire from Knitty. The wool is "Sydney" from Buttinette again, the colors are really cool. This pair is for my mom (Christmas as well). I really like the pattern, it´s my first toe-up sock and I like being able to try it on as I go.

That´s it for now, I´ll post more pictures of other things I´m working on next week or so!

Please forgive my crappy pictures, I just can´t seem to gain control over my camera and my photo software.

EDIT: Pics don´t show, I´ll try again tomorrow, it´s getting late!

ANOTHER EDIT: I guess I´m not as stupid as I thought I was. I figured out how to add pictures to my blog!

A fresh start!

2007-10-26T18:06:00.000+02:00

Wow, it´s been quite a while since my last post here. Originally I started this blog as a sewing blog in german, since I live in Germany. After taking up knitting again and becoming addicted to a whole bunch of blogs (mostly in english) I decided to start posting here again. Since I used to live in the United States, I decided to write in english to keep my language skills up. Right now, I am writing my diploma thesis in economics parallel to my full time job at a bank, so my knitting time is pretty sparse. On the 30 minute train ride to work everyday I´m working on the second sock for my little bro.
It´ll probably take me a while to get this blog to do the things I want it to (like put buttons in the sidebar and make a gallery), so until then, you´ll have to bear with me. ;-)
One very cool thing I already did, was sign up for http://www.ravelry.com/ after reading so much about it in soooo many blogs and the waitlist is huuuuuuuuuuuge!

Found you!
You signed up on Today
You are #49073 on the list.
13853 people are ahead of you in line.
10 people are behind you in line.
71% of the list has been invited so far

It will probably take a while before I get an invite, but hey I can wait!

Aside from the sock I have a few more WIPs and some UFO´s waiting desperately for me to give them some of my time.

WIP:
- Interlocking cables from IWK out of a beautiful 2-stranded merino wool in camel from
Wolle-Halle (pictures will follow)

Ok, the rest of my unfinished stuff definitely qualifies as a UFO:
- fingerless mitts Fetching out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in red (I have already knit these
2 times for my best friend and my ma, the red ones are for me)
- a cable v-neck maritime sweater in red out of a cotton yarn from Lang yarns (the only thing
left is to sew the pieces together and knit the collar)
- a turtleneck out of ruby colored plastic ;-) (I just need to put the sleeves in but I am a little
reluctant since I am afraid that I won´t be wearing this acrylic monster...)

This post was a little crazy and unorganized, but I promise to do better next time!

Verpeilt!!!

2006-02-23T09:04:00.000+01:00

Irgendwie hatte ich gestern einen Knoten im Hirn!!
Was aber nach meinem Wochenanfang auch nicht verwunderlich war!! Bin morgens um 6:15 Uhr aus dem Haus und abends um 18:15 Uhr heimgekommen...Danach war dann noch von 20-24 Uhr lernen angesagt und jetzt bin ich mit den Nerven und überhaupt total am Ende! :-(
Gestern hab ich dann etwas früher Feierabend gemacht und wollte mich dann noch ein bis zwei Stündchen an die NäMa setzen, da ja meine Sommerhose zugeschnitten dort liegt!
Als ich dann nach Hause kam, sah ich, dass meine Mom Großwaschtag gemacht hatte und einige Stoffe bereits trocken waren, also hab ich erst mal 7,5m Stoff gebügelt...dann bin ich an die NäMa... die Nähanleitung für die Hose liegt bei meinem Freund und ich war zuhause...tolle Kombination!;-)
Naja, dachte ich mir: So schwer kann das ja nicht sein hat ja nur einen Punkt die Hose...ist allerdings meine erste Hose mit Taschen (Eingrifftaschen in diesem Fall)! Hab also keinen Gedanken an die Anleitung verschwendet, sondern hab direkt losgelegt und die Taschenbeutel gesteppt, dann die Seitennähte mit den Taschenbeuteln...hab sogar dran gedacht, die Seitennaht nicht ganz durchzusteppen, da muss noch der Eingriff offen bleiben... Zum Schluss sah es dann so aus, dass der Taschenbeutel aussen hing, als ich das Hosenbein rechts rum drehte...;-(
Also getrennt und liegengelassen, weil ich noch einkaufen musste.
Heut wollte ich aber weiter machen!!
Jetzt hoffe ich nur, dass ich morgen schon frei bekomme, statt erst ab Montag, sonst hab ich ein lerntechnisches Problem!!!
Das entscheidet sich aber erst heute nachmittag ganz kurzfristig...
Bitte, bitte, bitte!!!

Frage zu Leinen

2006-02-20T13:32:00.000+01:00

Ach so, hab noch was vergessen!
Sollte ich Leinen, der (das???) im Katalog als vorgewaschen angegeben ist, nochmal waschen????

Erfolgsmeldung

2006-02-20T13:30:00.000+01:00

Hab am WE weitere NANOs fertiggestellt, um weiter Stofflagerabbau zu betreiben!
Die schwarze Hose ist komplett fertig: ich habe sie heute im Büro schon zum zweiten Mal an! ;-)
Allerdings wird sie immer weiter... nicht, dass ich befürchten müsste, dass sie mir runterrutscht, aber sie ist doch ziemlich weit geworden!!!
Also muss ich mir für´s nächste Mal merken, dass ich solche Stretch-Gabardine einfach ne Nummer kleiner zuschneide.
Vermelden kann ich nun: hellblaues Top mit seitlicher Raffung: fertig! Rotes Top mit Bindeband: fertig! Sommerhose aus naturfarbenem Leinen mit olivgrünen Streifen: zugeschnitten! Dieser Schnitt ist aus der Burda 11/05 und ist das Modell 127 (eigentlich Nicki-Homewearhose). Vielleicht schaffe ich sie heute noch!
Meine Shirtstoffe sind alle noch nicht gewaschen, leider...übrigens waren es keine 6 sondern "nur" 5m von stoffe.de, da ein Stoff ausverkauft war! Und der "Jersey" der keiner war: das ist i.O. so, ich hatte irgendwie vergessen, dass das kein Jersey war...;-)
Nach einem Ausgang von 3,5m am WE hab ich aber immer noch 51,9m Stoff, da ich mich bei meinem grauen Nadelstreifen-Wollstoff verschätzt hatte. Es sind 5m statt 3,5m!!! D.h. neben der Onion-Uniformjacke und der Hose aus der HW Blusen, Röcke, Hosen kann ich mir noch nen Rock nähen!!!! Yippieh!!
Da meine Digicam mittlerweile aufgeladen und betriebsbereit ist, werde ich heute abend mal Modenschau veranstalten und meine Mom knipsen lassen!! Mittlerweile hat sich ja einiges angesammelt!!
Ich habe auch schon die neuemode-schnitte (einer mit 3 Variationen) und einen Burdaschnitt rauskopiert. Ausserdem den Hosenschnitt für den grauen Nadelstreifen. Sollten dann jetzt langsam mal die Stoffe gewaschen sein, kann ich loslegen!

Erster Punkt auf der Liste abgehakt

2006-02-17T09:04:00.000+01:00

Gestern war ich richtig erfolgreich: ich hab mein Lernpensum geschafft, war trainieren (jetzt bin ich gerade am sterben...), hab den blauen Jersey zugeschnitten und war zwischendrin sogar noch im Aldi einkaufen!
Wow, war das stressig, aber es tut gut, solche "Erfolge" melden zu können.
An der Hose hab ich nichts gemacht, das mache ich heute nachmittag, den Bund muss ich hinten noch mal anpassen, der ist zu tief. Aber dann muss ich nur noch säumen und den einen Knopf wieder annähen!
Dann kam gestern auch meine letzte Stofflieferung (ich schwör´s) von stoffe.de. Die Jerseys, die ich mir dort bestellt habe, sind toll!! 6m Shirtstoffe!!!!!! Klasse, jetzt kann ich mir richtig tolle Oberteile nähen!! Wobei ein "Jersey" ganz anders war, als die anderen, nämlich überhaupt nicht elastisch, da werde ich mir nen anderen Schnitt als geplant suchen müssen! Wahrscheinlich den neuemode Schnitt, den ich für die Viskosedrucke habe, da mach ich dann mit dem unelastischen Jersey das Teil mit kurzen Ärmchen!
Gestern abend wünschte ich mir allerdings, ich könnte dänisch, da ich aus den Bildern beim Onion 5022 Modell E (hellblauer Jersey) nicht so ganz schlau werde... werde mich heut abend dann mal etwas näher damit befassen müssen, damit ich schnalle, was es mit den Raffungen in den Seitennähten auf sich hat!!
Momentan sind alle Shirtstoffe in der Wäsche, bis auf den hellblauen und den roten (der muss noch gebügelt werden) und ich hoffe, dass bis Sonntag noch mehr gewaschen sind! Ansonsten hab ich noch genügend Schnitte zum rauskopieren...;-( wer macht das eigentlich gerne?
Wobei mir gerade auffällt, dass es nur 4 Grundschnitte sind: Onion 5022 (2x), neuemode (3x), einen eigenen Schnitt (von gekauften Teil abgenommen, aber schon fertig), 2 Burdaschnitte!
Jippiiiieh!! Ist ja gar nicht soooo viel...
Das macht mir Hoffnung, dass ich das bis Samstag schaffe!!!
Und sollte ich mal langeweile haben...hahaha, hätte genug zu lernen, dann hab ich hier noch ne Liste mit 7 konkreten NANOs, bei denen ich auch anfangen könnte, die Schnitte rauszukopieren!!!
Aber erstmal müsste ich Ordnung schaffen in meinem Schnittmusterchaos!!!

NANOs für die nächste Woche

2006-02-16T12:33:00.000+01:00

Da ich natürlich drauf brenne, mir neuen Stoff zu kaufen, mir aber geschworen habe, erst wieder welchen zu kaufen, wenn mein Lagerbestand DRASTISCH gesunken ist, muss ich mich wohl oder übel daran machen, selbiges zu tun!!!! ;-) (was für ein Satz!)
Also hab ich mir mal einen Plan gemacht: bis Freitag: die schwarze Hose fertig (so dass sie tragbar ist, sollte das Schrägband dann noch nicht da sein, kann ich das ja noch nachholen); am Samstag morgen aus hellblauem Jersey ein Top nach Onionschnitt (mit Bändern zum raffen in den Seitennähten); am Sonntag aus rotem Jersey nach demselben Schnitt aber mit Bindeband am Saum.
Das wären dann wieder knapp 2m weniger...

Danach kommen dann meine Viskosedrucke dran; nach nem neuemode-Schnitt, was dann wieder 2,5m weniger wären. Da muss ich aber zuerst mal schauen, ob ich überhaupt passende RV´s habe!!!
Ich werd halt schauen, dass ich immer abends bei meinem Freund die Schnitte rechtzeitig kopiere und zuschneide.
Heute abend steht also auf dem Programm: Hose säumen, einen fehlenden Knopf annähen, (wobei das auch auf Freitag verschoben werden kann, aber nur im Notfall) ;-) Onionschnitt für hellblaues Top kopieren und Stoff schneiden. Außerdem gehe ich heute zum ersten Mal seit langem wieder trainieren! Kann das alles also erst um halb neun anfangen...Dann wollte ich eigentlich noch lernen, werd ich auch tun: aber dann nur ne Stunde, den Rest jetzt gleich in der Mittagspause und im Zug!

Ihr seht, ich bin ein Planer, ich muss immer alles aufschreiben, was ich mir vornehme...was ich letzten Endes davon erledige steht auf einem anderen Blatt!!! ;-))
Ich berichte morgen früh, was ich alles geschafft habe!!

Keine Zeit zum konzentrierten Nähen

2006-02-16T08:29:00.000+01:00

Wie der Titel schon sagt, sehr viel weiter bin ich nicht gekommen...
Den RV hab ich jetzt doch dringelassen, der wird erst angepasst, wenn ich nochmal ein gutes Stück abgenommen habe.
Allerdings hab ich den Bund jetzt ein Stückchen tiefer gemacht, das sieht jetzt besser aus. Nun muss ich die Hose noch säumen und die Belege im Bund mit Vliesofix am Bund befestigen, die flattern nämlich sonst so blöd rum. Dann warte ich noch auf 20m schwarzes Schrägband, dass ich mir bei einer HS bestellt habe, damit ich die Hose noch ordentlich versäubern kann. Der Stoff franst nämlich tierisch!
Ich denke mal, dass ich das bis zum WE alles schaffe, dann kann sie nächste Woche im Büro Probe getragen werden...;-)
Meine Buttinettebestellung war gestern da! Bin also jetzt stolze Besitzerin von 3,5m rotem Reinleinen, 3,5m Stretchgabardine in zartgelb und 1,5m BW-Streifendruck in Pastell (sollen 2 Hosenanzüge und ne Bluse werden) für den Sommer!! (Jetzt hab ich nur das Problem, dass ich die Qualität der Stoffe kenne und meine Wunschliste auf weitere 30m bei Buttinette angewachsen ist...) Ausserdem hab ich jetzt 20 RV´s in allen Variationen, Farben und Längen und eine bunte Mischung Strickbündchen!!
Wenn ich jetzt noch irgendwo günstige Sweatstoffe bekommen könnte, könnte ich schöne Home- und Sportswear machen!! Die hab ich nämlich schon lange im Köpfchen...
Dann bin ich gestern mal noch mein "Stofflager" durchgegangen...Hab ich doch tatsächlich 4m von einem wunderschönen Chanelstoff (schwarzgründig mit rot und weiß) für einen Wintermantel bei meiner Liste vergessen!! Somit wächst mein Stofflager jetzt auf ca. 53m (incl. Strickbündchen)...
Ich habe mir jetzt vorgenommen, mein Lager erst mal auf unter 30m zu reduzieren, bevor ich wieder neue Stoffe kaufe. Das schaffe ich nicht ganz mit dem Oberteilnähmarathon, aber dann noch ne Hose und einen Blazer, und das ist geschafft!!!
Hab ja Anfang März ne Klausur und danach noch 1,5 Wochen frei, in der Zeit werde ich richtig loslegen, damit ich für das Frühjahr und den Sommer endlich mal ne schöne, farbenfrohe Garderobe habe!
Meine Mutter hat mich gestern ganz verzweifelt gefragt, wann ich denn gedenke, aufzuhören mit Stoffkaufen...ich konnte ihr dann weis machen, dass in dem Buttinettepaket (war ziemlich groß) "nur" die RV´s und die Strickbündchen drin sind, und dass ich sowas schließlich unbedingt brauche...
Morgen dürfte die Bestellung von stoffe.de kommen und bei www.kurzwarenmarkt.com hab ich auch noch Knöpfe, Futter und Garn bestellt...
Bin mal gespannt, ob sie dann ausrastet ;-)))

Tja, und was ich die ganze Zeit schon machen will, ist endlich die Bilder von meinen vollendeten Werken hier rein stellen! Gestern war dann der Akku meiner Digicam alle, und das Ladegerät war nicht dort, wo ich war ;-) Einen Teil der Bilder hatte ich ja schon gemacht, allerdings selbst und das geht halt schlecht, wenn man das Zeug trägt, also wollte ich gestern meine Mutter die Bilder machen lassen...Dumm jelaufen, würd ich sagen, heut ist aber auch noch ein Tag, spätestens am WE...

Stoff ist unterwegs

2006-02-15T08:57:00.000+01:00

Habe gerade bei Buttinette angerufen, die Ware ist gestern rausgegangen, also hoffe ich mal, dass die Stöffchen heute ankommen! Alle Aufregung umsonst!
Gestern bin ich nicht mehr zum nähen gekommen, hatte einen Friseurtermin, hab 2 Stunden dort gesessen, aber es hat sich gelohnt ;-)) und da ja Valentinstag war, wollte ich meinen Schatz nicht so lange warten lassen. Haben es uns dann gemütlich gemacht!!
Heute wollte ich die Hose mal fertig machen, wobei ich am überlegen bin, den RV doch rauszutrennen und die Hose dann in den Seitennähten ein gutes Stück enger zu machen!! So will ich sie nämlich nicht anziehen...mit dem hohen Bund konnte ich mich anfreunden, das muss ich aber irgendwo dazuschreiben, dass die Leibhöhe zu hoch ist, damit ich dasselbe Problem nicht schon wieder habe!!
Heut gibt´s die neue easy fashion!!! Die wird nachher am Bahnhof verhaftet!!!
Ich bin schon gespannt wie ein Flitzebogen...wenn die Hose fertig ist, kann ich endlich in die Oberteilproduktion gehen!!
Aber das Lernen darf ich auch nicht aus den Augen verlieren...noch bin ich ganz zuversichtlich, dass das im März klappt mit der Volkswirtschaftstheorie-Klausur!!! Noch...

Stoffmassen!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-02-14T10:19:00.000+01:00

Ich habe mal gerade eine Liste erstellt, um meine Stöffchen zu katalogisieren: rausgekommen sind dabei: 25 Stöffchen mit einer Länge von 45m!!! Das ist ein bisschen was!! OK, da sind schon die Stoffe mit eingerechnet, die ich mir letzte Woche bei Buttinette und gerade eben bei stoffe.de bestellt habe!! Jetzt ist aber mal wieder schluss mit Stoffkauf!!!! Das ist schlimm, wenn man die Stoffe sieht, das Teufelchen "habenwill" flüstert und das Engelchen "du hast doch schon genug!"...
Ich habe dann Stoffe für ca. 12 Tops für den Frühling bzw. Sommer!! ;-)))) Freue mich schon tierisch drauf, die jetzt in Angriff zu nehmen!!
A propos Buttinette, warum dauert das so lange bei denen?? *grübel*

nahtverdeckter RV

2006-02-14T08:33:00.000+01:00

Yippiiiiieeehh! Es hat geklappt!! Nachdem ich die Nachtzugaben ordentlich gebügelt habe, ging der RV richtig gut rein!
Gestern hab ich dann noch die Hose fertig genäht (es fehlt noch der Saum und versäubert werden muss sie auch noch) und mal an der Passform ein wenig rumgedoktort! Irgendwie sind Burdaschnitte ja echt komisch: Laut Maßtabelle hab ich OW: 46, T: 40/42 und HW: 44! Habe die Hose aber wohlwissend in 42 zugeschnitten, da es ja ne Hüfthose sein sollte, hab ich mich nicht um die Taillenmaße gekümmert!
Nun ist es ja total dämlich und umständlich noch die Passform anzupassen, wenn der RV schon drin ist...das passiert mir auch nicht mehr! In Zukunft werde ich Schnitte vorher ausmessen und die Folienschnitte auch anprobieren! Dann kann ich Änderungen gleich vornehmen!
Also zurück zu meinem Problem: ich scheine ein ziemliches Hohlkreuz zu haben...ich musste an der rückw. Mitte ca. 8 cm wegnehmen, das ist ne ganze Menge. Vorne miaut´s natürlich ;-) da muss ich aber auch noch Stoff wegnehmen, vielleicht wird´s dann besser!?
Ansonsten scheine ich kurz geraten zu sein (Abstand Hüfte-Taille), denn die Hose sollte doch (?) eher hüftig sitzen, aber bei mir endet sie grad 1cm unter dem Bauchnabel und das ist mir eindeutig zu hoch!! Aber ohne Aufwand ist das nicht zu ändern, da ich an der Hüftpasse ja schon Knopflöcher und Knöpfe dran habe...
Wenn ich jetzt wieder abnehmen sollte, was ja geplant ist, kann ich sie so nicht lange tragen, da sie mir dann runterfällt, also warte ich mit den großen Änderungen wie RV raustrennen und an den Seiten enger machen noch ein Weilchen!
Also werde ich mich jetzt mal um meine Jerseys und Viskosestoffe kümmern... da freu ich mich schon drauf, habe nämlich meine ganzen alten Oberteile sowas von satt!!!!
Ach ja, dann ist da noch was: ich habe einen Gewerbeschein (für was anderes, nichts nähtechnisches) und dachte mir, ich könnte ja mal versuchen bei www.stoffgrosshandel.de (scheint vom selben Betreiber wie www.stoffe.de zu sein) ein Benutzerkonto zu bekommen! Hat auch geklappt und ich muss sagen, die haben super Preise (z.T. andere Stoffe, als im öffentlichen Shop, aber nicht nur). Allerdings, gut das war mir klar, nur 2 Bestellmengen: Coupons (mal 10, mal 20 oder 25m) und Ballen (zw. 20-50m)! Von einem bestimmten, bunten Stoff wohl ein bisschen viel, aber für einem Basicstoff (BW oder Leinen), den man vielleicht selbst färbt durchaus ok, oder?
Stellt sich mir halt noch die Frage, inwieweit man Leinen selbst färben kann!?!?! Vielleicht findet sich ja jemand, der mir einen Teil abnimmt?!?
Soviel dazu mal. Muss mir das mal noch durch den Kopf gehen lassen...

Doch keine Zeit am WE gehabt!

2006-02-13T13:38:00.000+01:00

Schade eigentlich: die Zeit ist doch knapp geworden! Somit konnte ich mich nicht um mein Bilderproblem kümmern!
Vielleicht schaffe ich das ja heute!?!?!?
Aber ich habe am WE weiter mein Stofflager abgebaut!!
Ich nähe gerade eine Hose aus der letzten Burda (02/06). Mod. 105B, wenn mich nicht alles täuscht, aus schwarzer Stretch-Gabardine. Bis jetzt sind keine größeren Probleme aufgetreten, mal abgesehen davon, dass ich vergessen habe auf die Hüftpasse die Einlage zu bügeln...das war dann etwas knifflig, die da noch reinzufriemeln, nachdem die Besätze schon dran waren und alles schon gebügelt war, aber es ging! Jetzt habe ich das Vorderteil komplett und die zwei Hinterteile einzeln zuhause liegen und muss einen nahtverdeckten RV einnähen! mein erster Versuch ist schiefgegangen, was wohl an der Unverständlichkeit des "Gewusst wie"-Tipps aus der Burda (bzw. auch daran, dass ich nicht gebügelt hatte...) lag. Heute abend werd ich dann mal den zweiten Versuch starten und hoffen, dass das dann klappt!! Dann sind nur noch die Seitennähte, die Innennähte und die rückwärtige Mittelnaht zu schließen! Ok, und säumen, aber das ist immer ne gute Beschäftigung vorm Fernseher! ;-)
Bis jetzt schaut´s jedenfalls schon ganz gut aus.
Ansonsten warte ich auf meine Buttinettebestellung...auch wenn ich natürlich trotzdem ausreichend Stöffchen zur Verfügung habe!! Nach der Hose sind erst mal ein paar Jerseys (hab ich in rot, hellblau und wollweiß) fällig, ich habe nämlich einige schöne Oberteilschnitte (onion und neue mode) und vielleicht auch meine 2 Viskosedrucke, mal schaun!!
Meine Mom will außerdem auch einen Fleecepulli, wie ich ihn mir genäht habe! Und dann wollte ich mich mal an Kinderkleidung wagen, für mein Patenkind (1,5 Jahre alt) zu Ostern...da weiß ich aber echt noch nicht, was!

Bilder

2006-02-11T04:34:00.000+01:00

Sooooo, jetzt hab ich 2 meiner Werke photografiert (das 3. ist bei meinem Freund und ist auch noch nicht ganz fertig da fehlt mir noch ein orangefarbener Nicki). Die Qualität ist allerdings nicht wirklich berauschend!! Aber es wird schon gehen!

Hmmm, irgendwie klappt das nicht mit den Bildern. ich muss mich mal in aller Ruhe damit befassen! Das werd ich aber frühestens am Sonntag schaffen!! Also dann bis dann!!

Stoffkauf!!! Hilfe!!!!!!!

2006-02-10T13:56:00.000+01:00

Eigentlich wollte ich heute nur in der Mittagspause kurz was für meine Mom abholen gehen!! Von dort war es aber bis zum Karstadt nicht mehr weit...da nahm dann das elend seinen Lauf!!!
Erstanden hab ich letztenendes : 2 Viskosedrucke je à 2m, einen schönen Glanzjersey in rauchgrau à 3m und einen Blusenstoff weiß mit türkisen schrägen Streifen 2m und das alles für sage und schreibe: 18€!! Dazu kam dann noch ein Schnittmuster: neue mode 23244...
Wenn ich jetzt meinen Lagerbestand schätzen müsste, käm ich auf ca. 35m!! Oh Gott, sooo viel, das ist ja wahnsinn!!!!
Und bei Butinette hab ich letztens auch noch bestellt!!! Erstmal nur 3 Stoffe, die Wunschliste ist aber viiiieeel länger!!! Wenn ich dort alles bestellen würde, wie ich es gerne möchte, kämen nochmal über 30m dazu!!! HIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEE!
Ich werd heut abend mal ausmessen und neu ordnen!!! Momentan liegen die Stoffe nämlich alle in der großen blauen Tasche eines schwedischen Möbelhauses, das wird aber langsam eng!! Ich werde mal einen Teil meines Schrankes ausräumen müssen!!!
Aber ich bin ja schon fleißig dabei, Stoffabbau zu betreiben!!
Ich brauche nämlich dringendst neue Klamotten!! Im August hab ich nämlich angefangen abzunehmen, was mir in 4 Monaten 10kg weniger brachte. Davon hab ich jetzt wieder 1,5 drauf, aber da ich eh seit Dezember Abnehmpause mache, ist das OK.
Ab demnächst geht´s damit wieder weiter, schließlich sollen noch mindestens 10 weitere folgen!
Jedenfalls hab ich mir deshalb keine Klamotten mehr gekauft und langsam herrscht Ebbe im Kleiderschrank, entweder weil die Sachen zu groß sind oder weil ich noch nicht gut in die anderen reinpasse! Gerade was Hosen und Oberteile angeht, hab ich ein Riesendefizit!! Mit einigen Burdas, 4 Basicoberteilschnitten von Onion und neue mode und vielen Jersey und jetzt auch Viskosestoffen sollte dem aber schnell Abhilfe geschaffen werden!!

Vor den Viskosestoffen hab ich ewig rumgestanden, weil´s definitiv nicht mein bisheriger Stil ist!!! Ich brauche für die Arbeit Hosenanzüge, Blazer und feinere Hosen und hab halt darunter immer langweilige uni-Oberteile angezogen, wenn´s ganz "gewagt" war, mal ne gestreifte Bluse! ;-) Damit ist aber jetzt Schluss!! Aus den Viskosedrucken sollen Oberteile entstehen, die ich auch unter nen Blazer "für gut" anziehen kann!! Ab jetzt wird mit den Farben gespielt!!!

Mein erstes Posting

2006-02-10T11:36:00.000+01:00

Soooo, jetzt hab ich meinen eigenen Blog!!! Bin schon ganz aufgeregt!!

Vielleicht sollte ich erstmal ein wenig zu meiner Person schreiben:
Also, ich heiße Samira, bin 23 Jahre alt und eines meiner Hobbies ist das Nähen (seit ca. 7 Monaten)! Deshalb bin ich auch hier!! Über das Forum www.hobbyschneiderin.net hab ich von der Möglichkeit ein solchen Blog zu erstellen erfahren und möchte dies nun angehen, da mir ein wenig die Möglichkeit fehlt, meine Fort- und Rückschritte zu dokumentieren!!

Jedenfalls werde ich versuchen, hier meine Näharbeiten zu dokumentieren!! Sobald ich zuhause bin, werde ich mal meine fertigen Teile photografieren und hier einstellen!!
Außerdem hab ich zuhause auf meinem Rechner eine Liste mit UFOs (Unfertige Objekte) und NANOs (nicht angefangene Nähobjekte), die werde ich auch mal einstellen, um daran meine Fortschritte zu dokumentieren!!

So, für´s erste war´s das mal!!!