V wins!

I finally decided to finish my Ethnotop. It now has a V-neck out of pure lazyness. I just didn't felt like making something up on my own plus I was afraid that I would loose interest in this project.
Still need to make the straps, nut I think I weave in the ends(about a thillion) first!

And a pic of yesterdays fleamarket finds. An old simplicity sewing pattern and 450g cotton yarn for 2€!

Another "inbetween"

I'm still working on the Ethno-top, but I needed a quick inbetween project.
I'm at the point were I have to start the neck and armhole parts. Problem is I don't know what I want it to look like! The one-shoulder-thing seems to be not a soooooo good idea now.
Maybe a deeper V-neck? Haven't figured out yet.

But here's my inbetween shrug. I made that pattern up myself and will post it in the next few days when I have better pics.
The yarn I used is "Joker" from GGH. My mum brought 3(three!) packages with 10 skeins each via Ebay. Since there's just noway she' going to use it all I got one of the packages!
Sorry, for the non-meaningful pic, but it has been really hot today and I just don't feel in a self-picturing mood.

yes, I'm a shrug!

update: ethno top

On public demand(aka colleen ;-) ) here's a bit more on the yarns that I use. I thought I had wrote something about them before, but apparently I haven't!

The "solid" one is GGH "Cascade" in color #8. It's hard to discribe this yarn or take a photo of it's true color. I even tried searching the web for a better pic, but they also didn't match! Even the pic on GGH's own site is way of(and the numbers are wrong!). The yarn is a bit scratchy cause it is held together by metallic and transparend threads. It's really just a bit and doesn't bother, but if you want to purchase it I would recommend buying it at a LYS and see(feel) if you like it.

The multicolor yarn is from Online "Linie 87 Street" in color #1. If I'm not mistaking it's an discontinued yarn. This pic shows its colors best, but in reality it's a bit more vivid!

As for the knitting, I had to frog it once! I don't really know why, but it was to big at the beginning. Now I started with 10 sts less and more decreases-seems like I got a waist out of nowhere! As you can see in the pic I was pretty productive yesterday.

version2

psssst it's a secret!

Finally the SP5 is slowly starting! Yes, I received an email today with the name of my "recipient". This will involve some planning, specially because the person doesn't like the smell of smoke... Which means no knitting while smoking(or should it be no smoking while knitting?), every gift must be put in my brothers-smoke-free-room...
But that's not really a surprise to me with all these non-smokers around lately.

So, I'm now posting the questionnaire for my SP to read:


1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I use every yarn, I can get my hands on ;-) No, to be honest to you, love high quality wool, but just can't afford it.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Yes, I do crochet. I just started to spin or better to say I made my own drop spindle but lack the fiber to spin due to recent SEX expierinces

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I'm fine with pets, fibers and smoke(I'm a heavy smoker), but I don't like perfum or other scents much. They mostly give me a bad headache!

4. How long have you been knitting?
I've been knitting since last august/september and have since then never stoped

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I do have an Amazon wishlist:
amazon

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
As I stated above, I'm a bit allergic to scents. But I like light scents or natural ones.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Hmmm, yes yes yes! I love sweets from other country's! Have been to the US and Great Britain and Singapur etc. and always came back with loads of cutesy looking sweets!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I like to sew, which I started doing over a year ago...almost two years now! If your in the US: It's really hard to get Hello Kitty fabric around here due to trademark reasons and the ones I found would cost up to 16€ per meter...I saw people on craftster talking about buying fabric from the bargain bin for a few bucks, so if you spot any Hello Kitty, remember me!
As for other crafts, check out my craftster posts. My username is javede

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like ALL kinds of music except techno(urghh!). I'm known for my wide range of music taste. To give you an idea here's my current Playlist:
-System of a down
-Aretha franklin
-Johnny Lang
-Die Ärzte/Farin Urlaub [German "Punk", you can check them out here:
Ärzte]
-Gentleman [German reggae:
Gentleman]
-Korn
-Bryn Terfel[Classis,Opera]

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like all colors but I always come back to pink! Ok, maybe yellow isn't my thing...

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Still at home living and no pets either...

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
Earning money from something I like to do...

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Oh, I've got so many yarns I worked with and really liked, think I make it in a list:
-"coco" from Lang yarns [see a good photo for a finished sweater here:
pic]
-"Apart" from Ggh, there's nothing softer and more furrier out there!
pic

-"Point" from Lana Grossa

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
There are none that I hate, but I've had a little downfall with an angora shawl I knitted. It was probably some craby angora

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Summertops! And of course dyeing my own yarn.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Since I'm still a beginner this is hard to say. I enjoy most of my knits and try to expand. But I must admit I'm a bag-a-holic and just HAVE to knit bags!

17. What are you knitting right now?
You can see my current UFO's on the right.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
I like them and actually have knitted a bunch of Poncho/Capelets! Didn't had the chance to wear them though...

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular! I even knit most straight pieces on circulars.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Doesn't really matter. But I make my own DPNS out of wood, I swear they are much better than any other I tested, never accidently dropped a stitch!

21. Are you a sock knitter?
No, and I'll probably never be. I see the advantages of sock knitting and the reasons why people do so, but I prefer knitting things people can see and admire;-)

22. How did you learn to knit?
I mostly teached myself from books and online. My mum "wanted" to teach me, but couldn't remember.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
That must be my skully sweater from S'nB. I think I started it in october/november. I have recently decided though that it's no UFO, but a froggy-my mum recently showed some interest in it, so I'm probably passing it unto her to finish it-

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Does Hello Kitty count? I LOVE Hello Kitty!

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas!!! I love winter and the combination of gifts,family and winter is just great!

26. Is there anything that you collect?
I collect postcards and books. I have three big racks full of books and 2 boxes in the attic with my childhood treasures. I used to spent all my pocketmoney on books(that was during a time my friends brought barbies ;-) )

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't have any subscriptions, but I buy german magazines frequently.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands ?
see my amazon wish list!

29. Things I like, but have a difficult time finding around here:
Certainly dyeable yarn that is not 100% straight wool. I have actually looked into buying some Henry's Attic from the US, but sofar had not really have the chance, cause I'm in lack of a master card ;-)
Kool Aid, I've got some now, but it's fast disappearing!
For my bag addiction: purse handles, any kind! There are only two manufacturers here available, one beeing clover and the other one Prym.

Design it!

Yeah, I found something to knit! I swaped some yarn with my mum and got some green ribbon yarn!
I searched through my stash and found a coordinate multicolor-green yarn. The idea of a tank/top came right to my mind when holding both together.
But which pattern should I use?
After some help from the knittinghelp-forum folks I found this pattern. I liked the basic shape and the one-shoulder-thingy. But my gauge didn't match since I only had 17sts with the green yarn. Going down a needle size wasn't possible, cause I had already done that. Also I wanted to knit in the round(I really think this is the best way to knit garments-yes, I hate sewing!).
Therefore I'm now going to make up my own pattern. Yes, I'm trying it again after the summertop.

greenorso

scheme


I also had a little in between project: a felted bag! Unfortunately I forgot to take a before pic. The yarn I used was a very varied thick'n thin yarn. In parts it was as thick(thin) as sewing thread and in others worsted. I knitted on size 9mm needles which produced a very holey piece.
After I took it out of the washing machine it had shrinked a good amount, but I noticed the weird position of the handles...hmm...
...arghhh! I did them in the wrong place! I don't know how to fix it....

uups

unbridled knitting

I can't stop myself from knitting! This is becoming a real addiction!
I might have to join the anonym knitters....
Anyway, here's the finished honeymoon cami. I struggled a bit with the neck part, where you knit the four "strap" parts seperatly. I joined four skeins of yarn and it was quite an adventure from keeping them untangled!
I have only used 175g of the yarn I have, so I have pretty much "left-over". My mum and I decided to "swap" yarn since she also brought too much of one color via ebay.
I might offer some of mine to swap in the future, so stay tuned(or make me an offer ;-) )

fini


As you can see on the right, I don't really have a new project at the moment. The cardigan is now in a bucket filled with water and wool cleaning stuff to get it softer, the bags are not beeing handsewed in the near future due to my vampire needles(yes, they are vampirisitc and always want my blood, I swear!) and the head scarf is my on-the-way-to-campus-project...
So, what to do next? I saw some neat purses-both knitted and felted ones-, but since I hate sewing the lining in, I postponed any new bag projects.
I also don't feel in a lace mood, so no branching out or spiderweb shawl...
Plus, no more yarn buys for atleast this month if not also next month. Therefore new project have to involve the yarn I already own!

something is missing....

Did you notice it? Well, it took me quite sometime! My Kitty looked a bit weird and not much kitty-like...the whiskers are missing!
How could I forget them? Anyway, I can't find the black yarn I used for the eyes. It must be somewhere in this room, but where?

I also completed the difficult task of making a drop spindle yesterday with the help of my father(and yes, we threw away the broken vase!).
just


Today I wanted to order some roving for it, but fortunately I had the bright idea of going to the bank before to check my account...where has all my money gone?!!
I checked my account statement...hmm, brought some yarn, new shoes, yarn, yarn...
Argh, I have to stop buying yarn, really I have to. And I have to check my finances more often! Well I postponed the roving to next month. I like to have some money left on my account for unexpected situations...

On sunday I completed the knitting part on my cardigan. It's now a nice sweater. I'm a bit intimidated by this steeking process...
almost


My new project is this top, the modified version of the honeymoon cami from knitty. It knits up quite quickly.
beg


And last but not least sunday's fleamarket finds. Two sewing magazines and fabric. The fabric is a bit impregnated and is destined to become a waterproof bag.
(and no, my fleamarket trips are not to be blamed for the missing money, I only spent 2€ total for these!)
flea

Hello Kitty!

I've just finished the HelloKittyTote! That's the first time I did crochet a motive and I think it came out ok...could have been better, but for my first time...
Anyway, it was a really easy thing and was completed within three days. The last day(today) was just spent with weaving in all the ends and attaching handles and flowers.
I used two strands of cotton yarn, one strand plain pink and one multi-pink colors.
HKTote


HK-closer


And I also made some progress on my cardigan. I'm almost finished with the first sleeve:
progress


Unfortunately my dad had other plans for today and met some friend instead of searching with me for the drill. I refuse to search for it on my own!
But he promised to do so tomorrow.

Where's the drill?

I finally decided to make my own drop down spindle! I have all the material I need, but where's the drill? I asked my dad and he said: "I have three, they must be somewhere in the attic"...thanks dad, somewhere...duh, our attic is stuffed with things up to the ceilling! Therfore I postponed the search untill saturday, so my dad could "help" me aka I want to get him to throw away some of the stuff in the attic. There's no way on earth to repair the china vase my brother broke when he was 8(he has turned 16 last week!).
spindle


I also made myself some knitting needles. These are 10mm and 18mm needles. I haven't finished the 18mm needles since my mum just brought 20mm ones at ebay. And that's what I actually need.

myown


My mum and ebay...that's another story. I'm on a yarn diet at the moment, but somehow I always end up with more yarn. I was really strong this time and haven't looked into any online shops or ebay for a week. Guess what happens?
Yes, my mum enters the room saying: "have you seen this yarn at ebay? There's no bid so far and I have brought some other yarn from the seller. We could share the postage"
How could I resist?

mum'sfault


It will become a summer top. I don't know what to do with the "left-overs" yet(that are 26 balls!)

I finished the body part on my cardigan and began knitting the first sleeve. It's a really fast knit.

body


And I finally found some yarn for the HK-tote. I'll be using some test yarn but I have to buy more of it. I hope the yarn is still available!

HK

I forgot to...

...write that I joined another KAL, the HelloKitty Summer KAL!
I love Hello Kitty and was quite sad when I found out I was to late for the first HK-Kal. I'm going to make the tote bag first, but I have no yarn yet.

I also joined SP5 and can't wait till it begins. This will be so much fun!

And here's a pic of my cardigan. I'm now at the body part of it. I'm a bit concerned about the itchyness of the wool...I hope it goes away when properly washed *crosses fingers*
cardigan

fini

Some finished

I finished my second Lelah! I really like the yarn I used, it's soft and stretchy.
It looks a bit weird on the pic, but looks just perfect when worn! The ribbon is just a provisional solution untill I find a suitable one.
Unfortunately again there's nobody here to take a pic of me and I don't like my mirror pics.
Lelah vs2


And I finished my first project out of S'nB Nation the spiderweb Capelet! I made it out of some really fuzzy Mohair. Wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be with this pattern and yarn. I made one more repeat of the main motive than the pattern in the book, so it would be a bit longer. Since I have a LOT left-over from te Mohair I think I'll be making a shawl out of it using this lace pattern.

spiderweb


spiderwebcloser

busy week

I should have been learning, but instead I did the following this week:

Monday:
In the morning I went to the garage to get our car finally fixed.
I so miss driving! I hate to get to the department of computer science by bus+train+bus, cause it can take up to an hour to get there! I only need 20 minutes by car if the roads are clear. I hope we'll get the car back tomorrow and next week I'll be able to drive again to campus.
After that I did some shopping as you can read in my previous post.

Tuesday:
I began dyeing 1000g of wool wound into hanks(took me 3 hours to wind and cut it!).
I had some left over dye from another "secret" project and thought I would give it ago. While dyeing this other project I of course tested the dye with a piece of wool. No problem there, so I dyed the whole lot which I had to do in three parts because only 2-3 hanks fitted into the bucket a time. It came out a nice turquoise, but a little darker than I had intended....
I also finished my new university messenger bag! I noticed last semester, that if I really spent a whole day at campus(or even worse at both campus) I don't have enough room for everything in any of my bags except the backpacks(and I don't like them).
So I made this really roomy bag with a little pocket on the front for keys, cigarettes etc.

newbag


newbag2


And since I really just had to assemble the lining and straps on the purse I also sewed myself a pink linnen skirt! I lovelovelove pink!
This fabric was supposed to become a pants last year, but I didn't had enough fabric for the pattern I had chosen AFTER buying the fabric. I know better now.
It's just a really basic shape but it drapes nicely when woren(No, I swear it looks better on a human beeing! Not nearly as boxy!). And it will be fun to wear once the weather decides if it's spring(aka warm) or not.

big skirt


Wednesday:
Nothing spezial...learned a bit for uni...brought some needles for my second Lelah and withstood the urge to buy yarn...

Thursday:
Today is fathers day! It's really hard to find a gift for my hobbyless dad, so I had to fall back on a gimmick. I gave him a card with the "Miami Vice" cast and on the back I wrote that this card is a gift certificate for a sofar not defined gift he will receive once it has been found. This gives me the time to think about something;-)

Then I tried to get my dyeing idea working, with unexpected difficulties! Remember the test piece of yarn from the "secret" project? I had dropped it into my left-over KoolAid-dye from last week and when I checked it a day lated it had turned from turquoise to red. So I prepared all hanks and poured some grape unto one skein using the shot... well, it turned kind of grey-purple-something. NOT what I expected, but I liked it too and dyed the skeins in parts with it. Of course red and blue did NOT have any effect on my turquoise yarn. I used that dye to paint another skein.

bluepurple?


bluepurple?


colorfulyarn


As for knitting I began to knit my second Lelah today and I think I'm going to finish it this night. The color is a bit more teal than in the pic.


lelahvs2

write more!

Ok, I know one of my biggest flaws is that I always condense my writing. I have so many ideas of what I could write, but always end up with one concentrated paragraph which encompass all I want to say. My biggest strenghth and weekness!
It's sometimes quite handy to be able to reduce a large text or idea in order to talk about it. But on the other hand people might think you don't want to talk to them...
...or that your lazy(one of my teacher once said that to me and I told him he was right and that I didn't thought his class was worth the effort...needless to say I didn't liked him...got a 2(B) anyway!)

So, in short what I want to express is that from now on I will try to write more and not just state "Here's my FO; see pic".

I went to a fleamarket yesterday. Oh, how I love spring. Not because of the flowers and trees-they make me sneeze- but because of the fleamarkets! Is there anything better to do on sundays than to wake up early and go to a fleamarket browsing the stalls? I mean apart from going to church if your religious(which I'm not, but I liked the few services I attended in my life).

The fleamarket yesterday was part of a street festival on Osterstraße which is every year and lasts 3 days from friday to sunday. During this time the street is closed for cars and in the middle(on the street) are various stalls with food and commercial stuff. Even the shops are opened on sunday(NOT normall, even forbidden in Germany!) On saturday and sunday locals sell their own things on the sidewalk on both sides of the street. It's just wonderful and on my top list of fleamarkets.
Here are my finds:


That are three english books, two knitting magazines, one book on "ropecraft", 3 knitting needles. I could have brought so much more, but I restrained myself.

I recently received some more Kool Aid and of course had to test the new colors! This time I "painted" the yarn and used the oven. I really like the color scheme on the left yarn.
I brought 1050g of this yarn for a total of 10€ and I'm going to make some kind of cardigan out of it. Haven't decided on a pattern yet, so if you have any idea please share it with me!
I need somekind of basic pattern, cause I want to dye the whole yarn like the example in the pic-maybe with different colors.



And here's todays shopping pic:



Of course this is craft related and I left out my new white perfect shoes that I have been searching for since last years summer.
~some 55cent-store finds for a certain project I'm not allowed to tell you more about yet.
~wire for making stitch markers. Unfortunately my other wire ended up in a packet I'm going to get back in july.
~three shots for dyeing wool.
~three packages of textildye and salt for it

Karstadt