quick update

First of all last sunday's Amerikaner:

And as I said before, if they actually make it to the quarter finals I'm going to join the fun at the "Fan Fest" on the Heiligengeist-Feld. In a little more than an hour my friend is going to pick me up and we'll watch the game together with thousands of others!!!

You may have noticed I haven't blogged since sunday morning and this might even be my last post for the next week too. I've got much on my plate at the moment. No, it's not because of football, but I also study!
Anyway a quick thank you to all comments you made! I've finished the Ruby, but am planing to redo the whole front piece...but that actually deserves a post of it's own, so you'll have to wait...

pictures

Apart from watching football and knitting like a maniac, I was in Cuxhaven yesterday morning. We drove there to visit my grand-aunts and to go to a fleamarket. I didn't found much and totally forgot to take any pictures as I had planned.
Here's what I brought, three embroidery hoops and a cross stitch mag:

On our way back home(rather in a hurry cause it takes 2 hours from Cuxhaven to Hamburg, remember the football game!) we stopped by one of the many fish shops(it's a street block full of them and there are restaurants too). Here's what my dad and I got(can't understand my mum and bro don't like them, though that means more for dad and me ;-)):

And finally a knitting picture. This is the back of Ruby casted on friday late evening(others would probably call it night). The yarn is wonderfull to knit since it's a cotton acrylic mix. I had had some problems with 100% cotton lately especially if it's mercerized!
My gauge is slightly of so I casted on for a larger size and so far it goes well.

And these are my new wrist warmers! The yarn is so soft and cuddly it just screamed wrist hugger! I didn't follow any pattern here, but I'm sure there are already enough of these on the net, so I'm not going to post a pattern.(and yes, those really are my nails, not fake ones!)

Yay, quarter-final here we come!

Ok, I'll keep the football talk to a minimum:
WE WON AGAIN!
Plus this sweet thing, my mum got for us yesterday:

That's an "Amerikaner"(yep, that translates to American, see german is easy ;-)) with the final result of the thursdays match! We're planing on checking the bakery tomorrow!

Ok, back to knitting:
I guess the last post probably was a bit misleading. I haven't brought anything that's on the list(apart from the Ruby pattern, see below), I'm just very tempted to do so. But I'll resist...

Yes, I did buy the Jems pattern and began knitting Ruby with the Schoppel yarn. It's going along quite fast and the back is almost done! Picture tomorrow.

tempted

Why is it that every time I decide to not buy more yarn(and patterns btw.), there are suddenly a dozen sales and new stuff? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY???!!!!!!!!
Even if I don't visit any LYS(which I haven't done for the last two weeks), there are still the knitting forums and blogs who tempt me. And visiting online shops doen't help much either...

-Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK Pattern Book(I really like a lot of the designs in this book, though I would probably not knit them out of cashmerino)
-Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk(I've heard about it's softness so much now)
-Jamaica from Katia
-I got an elan.com newsletter with beautifull yarn, thank god shipping is so much and I don't live in the US. Btw. I signed up at elan some time ago and have never ever brought anything there, but apart from their e-mail newsletter I also got printed newsletter three times now(even one with a sample card)!
What I would buy from them? Maybe enough of the highland wool to make that circular jacket!
-there's also a sale on wolland and wollmaus
-Regia silk in uni to make a lace shawl as seen on yuvee's blog!
Oh, and for birthday I soooo would like a rowan subscription!

I've also almost decided to buy the Jems Collection this month. I have looked at my stash and patterns, but what I really want to knit right now is Ruby!

(Actual knitting content in the next post, everything still drying)

last purchase

Yes, I got more yarn, but I won that ebay auction before I decided to buy no more yarn!

It's "Miro 5fach" from Schoppel Wolle, a 50%cotton, 50% polyacryl mix with 120m/50g. I think I really want to knit with this yarn next, but what? I've got 500g of it...

Edit: maybe Ruby? The gauge is off, but I don't think recalculating would be much of a problem...though I would have to wait till next month to buy it...

Must not buy more yarn...

Really, I have to resist the urge to buy more even if it's reasonable priced and I have a project in mind. So the new goal is to stop buying yarn untill one of my yarn boxes is empty(ignoring the yarn stored in plastic bags spread around the room here)!

The problem is that for non of the projects I really want to knit I have suitable yarn in my stash. Unbelievable, but true.
Here's a lil list of what I would like to knit:
-Angelina
-Orangina
-Diamonique
-lace doily/table cloth for my mum's birthday(it's in august, but it will take a lot of time)
-SquirrellySwedishMittens
Wait, I have enough sock yarn now, I bet I could knit the mittens! Only, do I really want to knit mittens in summer?! And would I wear these mittens? Honestly, they are cool and would be great to get better at color knitting(remember, I'm planing an lopi sweater for winter!), but I couldn't smoke with them on...yes, it's sad. I'm an addict, what should I say?

Anyway, back to the real problem. What CAN I knit? I mean apart from socks, my sp's gift, finishing WIP's and the mystery shawl?

Hmm, thinking I have enough to knit already? But I don't even have the yarn for my SP yet(will be bought next month), socks are definately inbetween projects, the mystery shawl hasn't started yet(have to check when though...) and my Wip's are wip's for a reason:
-pink circular jacket needs 390+stitches picked up and I don't have a needle for it, plus I tried picking up stitches, but it looks horrible(have to pick up more than there were before)
-the yarn used on the somewhat cowl makes my wists hurt(it's cotton and likes to split)
-I forgot which needles I used for the shetland tea shawl and I can't find the note where I wrote down how I wanted to modify the edging(I think I wanted to use a different one)
-the other wips are more ufo's then wip's
-what is this black cardigan thing? I can't even remember it!

Oh well, good night to you all, I'll go back staring at stash yarn asking it what it wants to be...

KWC(Edit pics!), sewing, secret projects and of course future projects!

I scored! Yes, right, my Knitting World Cup team made it! It's finished and now blocking.
Project specs:
Pattern: from Schachenmayr Inspiration mag No. 85, mod 5891
Yarn: Schachenmayr Avior in 81
Needles: 4mm
Size: 34/36
No alternations made

(I know, bad mirror pics, even a better camera doesn't help then)
Fits great, don't you think? I may sew down the neck, but let's just see if I really need to do it.

I've been searching for a nice dress since last month, but wasn't very lucky. Sometimes it didn't fit, you couldn't wear a bra with it, the color was ugly or it was too expensive. What's a girl to do? Sew a dress of course!
So after a little search through my 20+ sewing mags(honestly, for someone barely sewing anything else then skirts and bags, that's a bit much!) and found a pattern I like in a Burda mag(burda easy fashion F/S 2006, Mod 6). Since I have never sewed a dress before and wasn't sure about the size and fit, I sewed a "test" dress out of some fabric I brought at a fleamarket. I didn't really liked the fabric first and it was just a test piece, right?
(ignore facial expression, this was the 10+ try of my mum taking a photo...)
I didn't had stabilizer for the front, so though you can't see it in this pic, it wrinkles a bit. But I bet people won't notice at all due to the black color. I've already worn it once and was glad I wore it over some pants cause it was windy! Thinking about adding some kind of button halfway so I can wear it alone. How come my test pieces never just end up as tests?
I already brought fabric for the next one!

Which leads for no reason at all to my secret projects. I guess in the next few weeks you won't be seeing much actual knitting photos on this blog except for maybe the mystery shawl 2(yes, I signed up!) and socks.

I've got two secret projects at the moment and can't show any pics. One is a lace shawl and the other is a self-designed sweater, that much I think I can tell you.
Here are some swatches I made. I really like the idea of a beaded hat or wrist warmer, but thought first to test beaded knitting. It's ok, but I don't think I'll prestring the beads.The other swatches I made is out of some 100% cotton, which at the price of 1,75€ is pretty soft. I'm thinking about making a tank for me out of it in the leave pattern(top of swatch).


Also planing on knitting Angelina from White Lies Designs(now available at getknitted). Only need to find a suitable yarn, wait till next months money and ask my dad if I can use his mastercard ;-)

SP alarm!

I received a wonderfull package from my Knitty SP today!!!
It's totally awesome!

Yes, your eyes don't trick you. You're really seeing Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks"(already read the beginning and can't wait to start knitting), a box full of beautifull postcards with butterflies(I LOVE butterflies, SP how did you know that?!), three balls of Knitpicks Dancing cotton sock yarn(great timing as my grand-aunt after seeing the sneaker socks I made for my mum asked if I could knit her some too) AND two skeins of gorgeous Lorna's in "Girly Stripe" in pink and purple(best combination ever if you ask me!)!!!!!
Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much SP! You're the best!

I'll leave you with a close-up:

No more sock yarn needed!

I've been stalking the postman yesterday and when he finally rang, I sprinted down the stairs to greet him ;-) (he was rather happy about it, we're living on the third/fourth floor!). I originally thought it might be my SP's package, but it was the sock yarn I had ordered from socken-wolle! Really fast shipping if you calculated into the time it took my bank to make a transfer to PayPal(arghhhh).
The yellow-orange on the left and the dark one are my mum's, the other is all mine, though I'm thinking about sending a skein or two to my downstream SP or my kh-swap partner...

I had the car last week for a few days and of course went to wolland and brought some yarn and a pin/brooch for shawls!

And finally my Knitting World Cup team, the Avior sweater! I already completed the front, back and one sleeve. The second sleeve is almost done too! It's not soo much a quick knit, I just knitted much more.

30 things about me

So Kerrie over at HipKnits holds this yarn-winning competition where all you have to do is post 20 things about you. Coincidently I tried to write a 100 things about me thingy when I began blogging, but never made it past 30(I changed a few stats, but it's mostly the one from 2 years ago)!
So here you go:

1. I'm half-indonesian, half-german; my parents met at a club

2. I LOVE spicey and hot food, like the tongue burning stuff.

3. I'm a long wished for child. My parents tried to have a child for three years and after they gave up and where looking into adoption, they received me(same happened when they wanted to have a second child, which is why my brother and I are 5 years apart from another)

4. I love to do crafts of any kind and get easily obsessed with it. This blog and my knitting outcome is a proof for this!

5. I like reggae music as does my mum. We're often going to concerts together.

6. I used to be very concerned about what others think about me. Nowadays I couldn't care less. Wish I had that attitude before!

7. People are mostly shocked, when they visit me for the first time, cause my room is all pink.

8. I don't get excited when seeing a little puppy or a baby.

9. I like horror movies and can't stand love stories.

10. I love to read! My english mark went up from a 3- to a 1- due to the fact that I read books in their original english version.

11. Most of my friends think that I have a weird music taste, cause I like literally everything apart from techno.

12. I refused to smoke when I was younger and kids in my class started smoking, in my senior year I was known to be the first in the smoking area even during 5 minutes breaks!

13. No, I don't want to quite smoking!

14. I like drinking water and hate anything coke etc.

15. Apart from water I love cocktails and vodka...pure...

16. I think I'm the last person in my former class when it comes to the first "real" drink. I just didn't want to drink alcohol ;-)

17. When I was in 6th grade people thought I was atleast 16 if not 18 years old. That was due to the fact that I was 1,65m and was dressed quite fashionable and always wore make-up! My typical outfit then? -black fabric pants, a black blazer, a colored blouse and boots with high heels. Mind you, I was 12-13 at that time!

18. When I was actually 16, I totally changed my clothing attitude and wore normal jeans and oversized sweaters untill two years later I realised while dressing for a party I didn't had one black pants!

19. I now wear what ever I want and I like to think that I dress different from others and any "trend". I think I finally found "my style", which allows me to wear anything I want.

20. My mum is one of my best friends, though we only get along for a few weeks/months, untill...

21. ...one of us goes overboard. Mostly I have to admit that it's me starting to scream and get into a horrible outburst of fury. Mostly it's over nothing...

22. Nobody believes that I'm capable of #21, cause I'm always so calm and reticent

23. I wanted to be the best in class when I first came to school. I had the best report card in third grade and stopped learning in fourth grade , cause I got bored.
When I changed school I had the same goal and achieved it in six grade. My marks were always good, but I never bothered to learn much, cause I knew for myself I was better then the other ones who were learning all day to get good marks while I was reading books and watching TV ;-))

24. Ok, I'm probably a bit arrogant!

25. I watch people a lot and also listen to what they say. I think that I can pretty much tell if someone is honest or not. My friends are sometimes surprised at what I remember from talks that we had weeks before.

26. I'm stuffed with information and knowledge that I did not acquire in school. If one of my friends or family has a question they ask me.

27. Eventhough I get along quite well with my parents I wish I could afford to live on my own, but alas apartment prices in Hamburg are high!

28. I'm studying computer science.

29. I haven't been on a scale since atleast 2002! I don't care about my actual weight anymore. The only thing that counts is whether my pants fit or not. I lost a lot of weight aka three clothing sizes since High school.

30. I'm an organized slob. I'm really great in organzing my things, but even better at restoring the natural order of my room.

54, 74, 90, 2006!!!

"1 und 2 und 3 und
'54, '74, '90, 2006, ja so stimmen wir alle ein.
Mit dem Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft im Bein
werden wir Weltmeister sein.
"...
...Yes, I love watching football, especially world cups! I watched yesterdays games at home with my dad, but I plan on going into town too(don't know when yet)...
...WE WON!!!...
...I also began knitting for the knitting World Cup. I'm knitting a sweater from an Inspiration mag out of Schachenmayr Avior. I've already finished the front and I might have...
...4:2!!!...
...to slow down my knitting if I want it to last for 4 weeks. I thought about only knitting while watching games(the front was completed this morning)...
...1 und 2 und 3 und
'54, '74, '90, 2006, ja so stimmen wir alle ein.
Mit dem Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft im Bein
werden wir Weltmeister sein...
...ok, I'll give up! This songs not going to get out of my head today. If you want to hear it: '54, '74, '90, 2006 (though I think you need a yahoo ID).
Today will be a game in Hamburg!

Sorry no knitting pics this weekend. No, not because of football, my mum took the camera with her vising my grand-aunts.

I'm back!

Back online that is. On tuesday while surfing the net and finding out that Wollknoll carries lamb wool(so going to buy some next month!), the internet connection broke! Hearing my mum on the phone calling her friends name("Hello XXX? Are you still there? Hello?!!...")and my brother cursing(sorry, I'm soooo not repeating what he said) I realized in slight shock it wasn't just my computer. The whole stuff was down!
What has happened you might ask? Well on Wednesday we should have changed to a new rate with our internet/phone company. Apparently they changed the connection a day before or better to say they disconnected us on tuesday afternoon and reconnected us on Wednesday morning!!! To say we were pissed doesn't really grasp it.
Wait, that's not the best part of it all. While we where without any connection on tuesday, my mum called the "service" center to find out a)that girl has no idea why we have no connection and b) we'll need a new modem and splitter in order to use there new service! "Upps, the modem hasn't been send to you already?" AARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
We got it yesterday evening, 18:00! The phone somehow functioned, but no internet for two days, almost three!
It really makes you think about your addiction/dependence of the net. Honestly, apart from not being able to check my mail and blogs and forums, I also couldn't check when my bus leaves, whether PayPal had received my money(did arrive this morning, another ARGH!-moment), get the next math homework etc.

Back to knitting tomorrow.

summer for real now!

Atleast that's what the radio weather guy said(he'll be REALLY sorry if it's not true!). Ok, the sun shines, temprature rose a bit and the dark cloudes disappear slowly. Maybe he is right...

On sunday I went to two fleamarkets alone. Yes, alone because my dad had to work and my mum didn't want to spend money for a train card. I've got one anyway and nothing better to do.
I got these three fabrics(as if I haven't enough) and a book with cute crochet animals for 4€! I don't think I'm going to crochet even one of the animals, but they give very clear instructions on how to create them from basic shapes, so I can create my own!


Next a picture of my mum's finished top. It fits her perfectly! I had to convince her that it's really long enough and that 5cm extra wouldn't make her look weighting 1g less, more the opposite is true. It was one of the most boring projects I ever knitted! The stripes were only frustrating as I couldn't figure out a nice way of carrying the strands up and only made two striped of each color anyway.



And finally the second and successull attempt at making my own shawl pins! This is only a test piece to see how it would look and hold up. So I only used Fimo from an old project. Surprisingly the fimo was still soft and easy to work with! I'm going to make a couple of more of these!

No more yarn for me

There, I wrote it. No more yarn purchases for me this month. I just placed an order for 1,5 kg sock yarn(200g for my mum) and that's it. No shady excuses like "oh,but it would be nice for my SP" or "but it's on sale".
I've got enough yarn and projects for the next 3 months and there are other things I really need to buy this month. Like a new pair of jeans. Yesterday I was standing in front of the big mirror in my brothers room and realized that my jeans suck. They don't fit tight at all, but look like baggy pants!
As for my SP, well I'm going to knit her something out of stash yarn. Really shouldn't be that hard with my stash!

Edit two hours later:
I found a jeans for 9.90€!!! At H&M they have this one day discounts and today it was 30€ off this jeans! It fits, is NOT low cut and reaches my ankles! That would mean more money for y...no, I stick to the no more yarn buying thing.
What I really need are some books to read. I refound my love for discworld novels and surprisingly only own about 5 of them in english! The other 5 are in german(brought more than 7 years ago when my english wasn't as good as it is now) and I don't like the translations at all. A lot of the funniness(is that even a word?) gets lost in these translations and though that isn't much of a problem for most books, it is for Pratchett!
I know that I read a lot more Pratchett books, but I guess I got them from the library back then. I'm aiming at having the full collecting till the end of this year. That's not too much since I only buy paperbacks(easier to read while traveling or taking a bath ;-) ).

Knitwise I've almost finished my mothers top and will post a pic once it's finished(my prediction is tomorrow). Next is my pink cardi and a secret project(so no pics of that). I'm thinking about joining the Knitting World Cup , but I don't know with which project. I wanted to knit the Schachenmayr sweater next and it's kind of a challenge with the lace pattern, but not much for me...
I want to try out beaded knitting, but I guess the new no-yarn-buying-thing(aka nybt) also includes not buying beads for knitting(and I don't thing there's yarn for bead knitting in my stash anyway). I also don't think it would take the whole time of the world cup to knit it.

Edit 2:
Speaking of Pratchett, check this out:
knitted DEATH of Rats with pattern! I'm sooooo going to make one!

knitting jewelry

You probably remember my post about the shawl pins and how I had a great idea to make my own...
Well, I should have known better! It's not as easy as I thought and I think that the woman who makes those markers either uses pins with thinner metal, has them made like that or has equipment I obviously don't have!
But I'm going to use the kilt pins I brought anyway and for 4,50€ incl. postage for 4 pins(the fifth was the test one that is now ruined...) it's a bargain nevertheless.
They are also great to hold stitch markers! I got one from purlpower when she was my SP.

But this little setback won't stop me making shawl pins. I already have another idea which includes wooden dowels and Fimo! More about that after the weekend.

I also went to the bead shop today where I spend aprox. 45min and chose a bunch of pretty beads to make stitch markers. Unfortunately they only had some rather expensive rings(what ever those are called) for 40cent. So I'll have to go to the other bead shop tomorrow where they only cost half. Yes, I know the difference of 20 cents doesn't seem much, but I need 30 and that makes a difference of 6€!!!
Can't show you the beads or the markers cause I'm going to send some to XXX and XXX and probably XXX ;-)

P.S.: Got a new computer mouse!