gifts, gifts and spinning

The christmas presents have been a success apart from one. Yes, you might have guessed it, the sweater for my older cousin is too small!(and she said it's scratchy, really kids these days etc...) But since she loved the scarf I'm not going to knit another scratchy sweater for her. But next time I decide to knit her something I'm going to measure her up. Kids are just too different to just pick a size according to age. She's not that tall, but rather roundish. Not fat at all, just the kind of roundishness common for kids.
What did I get for my brother in the end? A sweater. It was just too claustrophobic shopping a day before christmas eve that I decided against searching every shop for something.

I did get spoiled quite much this year too. Take a look:

There's:

~ 1kg of beautifull I guess you call it pencil roving(???)
~four Terry Pratchett books

~Spin to knit; which is a great book, but more later

~a wool winder; actually got that before christmas

~a cigarette etui from my mum cause it's pink, has bling-bling and "you have a very special place in my heart" written on it

~a brooch for the brooch-obsessed

~tons of choclate and other sweets; only one pictured here as example

mising in the pic:

~a little calendar from my brother which is pink too

~Gilmore Girls DVD second season

~an itunes card

I began flipping through the "Spin to knit" book on christmas eve before leaving for the concert and it's really well written. The first part tells you a lot about spinning, fiber etc and the second part are patterns. I haven't really read through the patterns yet, but the first part is nice.

Since I've been spinning quite much these past days I also had to ply some again. I had spun all of the blue-purple roving and after plying it had a bunch left over on one bobbin, so I spun up the red roving I brought from a fellow knit blogger and plyed them together. I rather like the effect.

And again I had left-overs, now from the red wool. I tried to Navajo ply it and it's ok, though not perfect either. It took some time to get a feeling about what exactly I should do in what order to get it to neatly ply and not produce wobbly yarn-though that would have made some nice designer yarn, if I were into that kind of yarn.

And this is the christmas roving spun. I like it, but it looks a lot different then the roving. The colors are less saturated and a bit greyish.

I guess this post is long enough already, so projects will be posted another time.

inbetween post

I have the post about christmas and gifts and projects already written, but it lacks the photos. I've got no time though to take those, because I will begin tidying up the attic alone. If I wait for my mum it will probably take till next year for her to find the time to do it and I need space up there to put some of my stuff in. My room looks horrible with sewing machine, boxes of yarn and spinning wheel, I just need more space!

Oh and it snowed softly this morning when I woke up! By the time I left the house to pick up a package for my mum it was icy rain though...

Has anybody ever had a flaker during a swap? My total is up to three now. I did get angels for two of them and they made up for it, but it does suck. I often wonder what kind of greedy, selfish, **** people do that. A totally different story is if somebody faces difficulties in his/her life so that he/she can't participate in the swap anymore. I had that too and she did even notify me and said she would send once she's well enough again...I didn't ever heard back from her and actually worried a great deal; not about not geting the package, but about her...I know found out that she's still alive and presumely well...

P.S.: you might have guessed that I'm not in the best of moods today, probably going to delete this post later when my mood is better...

Happy Christmas!

I hope you all have some nice and preferable relaxing holidays whether you celebrate christmas or not!
We surely did/do! Yesterday we went to my aunts house for dinner. It was nice gathering including the visit from santa, gift exchange and singing. Though one couldn't get my brother to sing ;-)
Afterward we headed home and my mum any I changed into more casual clothes and off we went to a concert. Now, it wasn't the kind of concert most people would expect on christmas, it was a reggae concert of course! It's a pretty traditional concert that takes place every christmas eve here in hamburg, but it's the first time I went with my mum. It was her second time and if my dad would have been here we wouldn't have gone cause after all christmas is not just about gifts, but also spending time with family. So we let my brother play his new computer games all night(he really was still playing when we came home!) and spend the night listening to reggae tunes.
The official beginning of the concert was 22.00, but we knew it would begin later so we were ther at 23.00, which was still a bit too early. It ended at about 3am!!! The main act was Jamaica Papa Curvin.
I have to go now and check on the fiber I'm dyeing and yes, I'm aware of the time, but I slept rather long today ;-)
Gifts, new projects etc to be posted tomorrow or later this week!

darn, it's raining

I'm ok now. It shouldn't be too hard to find a present for my brother and really I wanted to go to town anyway, but now I will just have to buy something. My last resort will be something wearable, a sweater perhaps. Cause my brother's closet is almost empty and he made a comment about it last week. It's not that my parents wouldn't give him money so that he can buy himself some clothes, it's that he never asks and doesn't like to go shopping much(typical, right?).
If I had some funky fabric, I would make him a mouse mat, but I only have girly or boring fabrics...

Anyway, here's a pic of the two Drive-thru sweaters for my cousins. They are washed and a bit blocked and I really hope they will fit. They look so tiny, but then my cousins are still little.



P.S.: If you mailed me lately but didn't get a reply, let me say that I'm sorry and that I will reply, but it's all a bit hectic over here at the moment.

How dare he!!!

*Panicmode on*
Arghhhhh!!!!
Remember I have a brother? One that didn't bothered to even get a chocolate bar for my birthday? Or any gift at all?
Well, he just came home from a shopping tour with his friends and...
...brought a little something for me for christmas!
HOW DARE HE!!!!!!!!!!
I originally intended to get him a birch and attaching preparation papers and mock tests for his final exams next year, but completly forgot about it!
Which means I have nothing, nada, nichts, rien for him!
What am I to do? Yes I could buy something tomorrow, I wanted to go into town anyway to have a look at all the crazy last minute shoppers, but what should I buy for him???

*Panicmode still on*

5 good things

So, kgoodrow posted "5 Good Things about Yesterday" and I thought I would give it a try too:

1. I didn't wash my hair and wasn't embarrassed to show up at campus at all! It has its ups to study computer science ;-)

2. I wasn't able to complete my homework, but at the end of the 2 hours lab work I almost had it right + I understood what the **** I was doing!(note: nobody had a working solution done and the instructor didn't really care)

3. It didn't rained...or did it? Well, atleast I can't remember that it rained!

4. I finished plying some yarn!

...Hmm, that's harder than I thought! Honestly I can't remember much about yesterday...

5. I had delicious ice cream.

Maybe I should have done a "5 Good Things about Today", not that so much more happened today, but I can remember today better than yesterday. Not a good sign for one so young...

P.S.: If your day so far hasn't been much on the bright side turn on your speakers and listen to number 7 here

christmas presents

Untill 5minutes ago the sun was shining and I actually had time to take photos of some of the christmas presents I made lately. The only missing things are the sweaters for my cousins*. My mum must have put them away after I washed them and I can't find them now, but I'll take a photo of them before they get gifted.

These are some easy-peasy fleece scarves for my aunt, her husband and kids. They were so easy and fast to make, it took way longer to find the fleece fabric up in the attic(which is still not cleaned up as my mum prefered to go partying all weekend...)

And here are my mum's gifts. You might remember the silk yarn I brought in summer? I was determined to knit her a doily for her birthday, but I never came past the first two rows..it was just too fiddly and the silk didn't help at all. For some time I thought about starting another try for christmas, but I had way too much to do for university, so I ended up buying cotton yarn and crocheting this doily with a 1.5mm hook! It's not been blocked yet and probably will be gifted unblocked as I won't be alone at home to do so. Oh, and this doily only took me a weekend to finish!

In addition she will also get these socks out of 6ply sock yarn to be worn on cold days at home.


*also missing are the felted coasters for my aunt...wish I would remember where I put them...

Tired

Why am I tired? Because I got a last minute ticket to a concert yesterday!!!
My mum's friend wanted to go with a co-worker to a concert, but he had to go on a business trip, which he found out on friday. So I got his ticket and what is even better is that I only have to pay half of the cost of the ticket!
Oh, what concert it was? Placebo! Now, I'm not a big fan and I haven't even listened to the new album, but I do like the music. The concert was great, not the best I ever went to, but not bad either.
I came home at 00:15 am and instead of going to bed I watched tv and knit lace till 2am...
Which is why I am now very tired. Nevertheless I went to a fleamarket today though much later than I would have usually gone(11am instead of 9am). There were a number of brooches I eyed for more than just a minute, but I passed them. Oh, in case you don't know, my newest obsession are brooches. Preferably older ones. At the moment I'm searching for a colorfull one to accent a black blousedress I brought recently.
But of course I did buy some things:

-two comics for 2€ each; the left is "lord of the rings"(I bet Tolkien would turn over in his grave over this one ;-)) and the other one is an "Aliens" comic.
-some pin/brooch things to make my own
-glass beads in the shape of what looks like cats

Well, I did promise some knitting content and here it is. I recently spun yarn and plied it and then I knitted a super quick scarf out of it on size 9mm needles. I love the colors and it's a really warm scarf, but unfortunately it's not cold enough outside to wear it yet :-(


More knitting content to come, next week or another...bad knitting blogger, no cookie for me!

teaser post

I finally found some time to blog, in the wee hours of the morning! But I only have a few minutes and just two photos :-( So this is more of a teaser post than a real one. I may have some time later or tomorrow to show some knitting content etc.

I have brought a lot of stuff recently and most of it is indeed craft related. The teaser for that is this:

It's "the Crafter's Companion" and I brought it during the Hipknits sale. I've been wanting to order it for some time, but resisted the temptation...untill the sale. I didn't brought anything else there though as I was too later for the silk and really, I don't need more yarn...
The second pic is a craft teaser:

Yes, that's Fira from Ikea! To the right you can see some Ikea boxes I brought and painted years ago and during my last trip to Ikea I thought I could use another one. I should have gotten suspicious when the package was so flat...
...you now have to assemble it yourself! That includes hammering nails into the wood, preferably straight and not bend. I've got no problem at all with drilling holes, using screwdrivers etc, but my weak point always have been nails. Let's just say it took me quite some time to put this one together though only two nails were waisted during the process.
Painting was so much easier and fun! I also painted the picture frame and inserted a postcard I brought along many other things at a dissolving of a household(that was 2 weeks ago in Cuxhaven...I really have a lot to blog about!).

a day lost...

I've got so much to show you, finished projects, brought things and funny links, but I don't have any time!
I already lost a whole day yesterday, which I mostly spend in bed with my hot-water bottle and herb tea...
Today I have to
~go to the recycling centrum to get rid of three big plastic bags full of junk including junk from the small room and my brothers room
~go to Ikea cause one board for the cd stand is kaputt(brought two cd stands, one billy for my brothers room last week and I put them together! Yes, I'm proud of that!)
~get rid of all the beer bottles that nobody ever brings back...
~write christmas cards and actually send them on time

See, no time left for blogging, actually I shouldn't write now, I should be on my way already!

maybe tomorrow...

...the words I use the most these days. May it be related to blogging, cleaning my room or going to the hairdresser. There's just so much to do in so little time and christmas is fastly approaching. I do really need my hair cut though and that's number one on the list for tomorrow!
Today I will begin cleaning up the small room we keep shoes, cleaning stuff etc. in. My mum has been talking about it for days, but has to work more than she usually does, so I thought I would atleast begin cleaning myself. Then when the room is finished we can finally move on to cleaning out the attic, which is full of stuff, nobody needs anymore.
Well, all that was just to tell you, that I probably won't be blogging again this week...
Till next week then!

Back...and fully stuffed!

Just a quick post as I've got a bunch of stuff to do for university.
The weekend was fine, though it rained on saturday:

I had taken the camera with me to finally play around with it some more and show you the city my mum was born in. I wanted to take advantage of the saturday afternoon when my mum and grandaunt make their "beauty sleep", but it was miserable weather and I just took a short walk to the little local yarn shop to buy some DPNs I had forgotten to take with me(finished the second sweater over the weekend!).

These are the only two other photos I took. They show the Weihnachtsmarkt in front of the "castle"-it's not really a castle, atleast not what you would normally think of as one, but it's over 600 years old(build 1340!).
The rest of the weekend activities were meeting relatives, going to a fleamarket(pics later) and eating, lots of eating!

KIP and swaps

Yesterday evening I kip'ed for the first time in a theater! We(mum+me) went to see

It was a preview, so tickets only cost about 22€ and you could chose where to sit. They opened the hall 1.5 hours before it began and we arrived 30 minutes prior to that. We had superb seats, fourth row right in the middle with a little table between us to put the drinks on! So, that left me with much time to knit the second christmas sweater, but more below. I loved the musical, the actors, the singing and all. My mum on the other hand had seen it before with a different cast a few years ago and said she liked the first one better, but this one wasn't bad either. Ok, I admit I think the music and accustic in general was a tiny bit too loud. And once one of the mikes went out, but the woman mastered this situation wonderfully and just continued to sing without. Well and the voices of the three ladies of course overshadowed everyone else. They probably should think about adjusting the mikes volume for them...
..anyway I think it was a great evening with standing ovations and clapping and a little dancing at the end(you really can't stand still with this kind of music, atleast I can't ;-)).

Knitwise, I brought some contrasting yarn, frogged part of the christmas sweater for my cousin and reknit the yoke. I like it this way much better and have, as written above, already started the second one for her sister in the same color(to avoid envy between them; am I glad I don't have a sister!).


I've also received two craftster swap packages lately. I wish I had the time to write a bit more about them and not just show the photos, but I have a bunch of things to do before we leave and I'm already running late. We're going to visit my grans-aunts again for the weekend, so no blogging for the next few days.
Hogfather swap; from Angry Angel; vote for Claudius, the Eater of socks:

My country doesn't have that; from ScotSkipper(US):