My very own...

Orchids and Fairylights!

Mom took the pale pink one, Mariska the bright red one and this one will be all mine Mwooohahahahaha!

Did one extra round of the stitch pattern and made a broader rim. This way the hat is a bit taller and can hold my hair when I wear it in a ponytail. And somehow I like my hats BIG this year. No, not so much big, but taller.

Pattern: Orchids and Fairylights by Tiny Owl Knits
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino worsted in "Pearl" colorway

I will wear this with pride trough all the Christmas cheer!

Bunny!!

I made me some warm slippers with a hugerouney cuteness factor :) Bunny slippers!!

Lookie lookie how cute! They make me smile each and every time I see them. And they have the nicest bums I have seen in a very long time:

Mika the resident cat however thinks they are intruders and keeps chasing my feet when I walk around, silly kitty. They are no threat to you what so ever. Come here and cuddle on the couch, let me stroke your furry belly for you.

Pattern: Hopsalots by Tiny Owl Knits
Yarn: Garnstudio drops Eskimo

Took me two evenings to make. Count one extra for letting them dry. I choose to sew the ears to the main body of the slippers since I have a tendency to fall over my own two feet and don't need big floppy ears to make me land on my teeth thank you very much.

Intercontinental owlie meet up?

My online knitting buddies and me are exploring the ideas of meeting :)

How great would it be to hug it out real time?! Too bad teleporters aren't invented yet.

So far the plan is:

Me going to Stockholm to meet up with Britta between Xmas and newyears.
Prairigirl coming to the Netherlands in March to meet up with me and see the place her dad came from.
All of us going to Scotland when Fiona is there (marchish), to drink and make glitters :)

And maybe do some knitting and for sure go on a yarn shopping spree!

Oh, I hope it will become reality! I could decide not to go very far this summer and spend that money on going places where owlie hugs can be had!
And tie up my hammock on a sunny place all summer long and think up new knitting patterns for you all to enjoy!

Sweater and color magic

I made a real yoked sweater with two different colors! Level up indeed! And I liked doing it!

My God, who would have thought... I hated doing color work, and I didn't do big projects because I tend to get bored. But this sweater rocked it all the way :)

It is Paper Dolls by Kate Davies. It is worked in the round and the body part is so easy it can be doing while in transit, in work meetings and while waiting. And then the dolls part comes, and it is so much fun I did it in three evenings!  The yarn is the uberpretty Dream in color starry, and yes it has glitter in it! Me likes glitter :p The color combo has a certain "delfts blauw" feeling to it, so I will wear it proudly, and the girls seem to have "klompen" (clogs) on their feet, I'm a proud Dutchie...

And look at the back: even that is pretty!

And I made one boy with huge feet. He doesn't know which one of the girls is his girlfriend, there are so many to choose from :) Maybe one day he will know, and then I will let you know okay?

And let me tell you.. this sweater is comfortable! Yum yum yum, worth every stitch in it.

Baby it's cold outside!

Whoowhee, it was COLD outside today. It was foggy and riding my bike trough that awefull cold fog wasn't very pleasurable at all!

So when I got home today I whipped out some lovely yarn I got in an "I love you parcel" from the US and made myself a SUPERDUPER warm hat:

It may look a wee bit silly, but that is the point and it feels so warm. And the loving yarn helps also. I be battling cold like a fairy hero from now on!

Pattern: Free Rapunzel by Tiny Owl Knits
Yarn: Thaki Yarn Ghost Print

Manga me!

A friend has made a picture of me as I would be if I were a Manga character! I love it!

I'm using the pic as a stamp to earmark my projects. And of course as my identification pic on Ravelry: my ravy.

Deeply, madly in LOVE ♥

I want you all to meet the new love of my life: Foxy

Isn't he the cutest thing EVER? When I wear him it feels like I'm being hugged all the time, and a girl can never, ever have enough hugs. I also keep stroking his ear which is very comforting indeed.
He makes me sigh and swoon over him all the time... I think it is real love! SIGH...


I also made a tiny pink one for Imani, she will have her fifth birthday next week and she is my mini-me. And I am her fairy godmother so lots of pink glittery spoiling is involved in that! She will get a pair of butterfly gloves and the pinkminx mini fox; good no?

He did look very disturbing while blocking. It reminds me of a chipmunk being stuffed in a horror movie... uck...

Pattern: Mr Fox stole my heart

Yarn: Jamiesons shetland spindrift

Butterflies!

Oh, I love butterflies, they are soooooo magical!

Last sunday I visited the zoo and was especially thrilled by the butterfly house. There were these big bleu and black flutters who were gorge! Standing there made feel tingly and glittery all over: pure joy!

But you can't touch butterflies, they will get damaged. So I made these: Catching Butterflies

These butterflies will stay where they are, just freshly caught in the palms of my hands. Some littlings decided to stay put on my fingers and wrists.
I keep flapping my hands around when I wear them.

Yarn: Rowan pure wool DK
Pattern: Catching butterflies

Halloween costume

This friday I have a halloween party at work. I've been pondering my costume for weeks. I did not want to go into the whole sexy superhero thing. Or the sexy witch thing, or the sexy fairy thing or anything like that... Pondering away I was when I bumped into this cartoon:

And then I knew! Crazy catlady! So today I made some tears into black clothing to make it look like I'm a human scratch post. And tonight Mika will have to take a long nap on them and roll all her white hairs on it! And I will put my hair into a big bun with a toy-cat sticking out, and a backpack full of these fake furry cats who miauw all the time; lolz! And lets go all the way smear my eye makeup and lipstick all over my face! Good times!

I know... not knitting related but so much fun! 

Invasion of the Gnomes!

Yesterday some Gnomes took up residence in my home! They will not leave, they like the place they tell me.

At first they were really nice and polite and said "miss" and things like that. But pretty soon they were having a party on my favorite spot on the couch, and when you look into their eyes you can see they were getting pretty drunk by then (they found my stash of rum in the cupboard.... Nuff said...).

When the party moved over to the bed the resident cat Mika decided it was enough and chased them of the premises.

One hid in the bird cage figuring he was safe from the big red beast there. I left the door open for him so he can leave in peace.






The small one is named "the young one" by the other gnomes. He is too young to realise they think he looks like Neil from the actual BBC show " the Young Ones" ; Neil looks like a long- haired hippy... I just think the older gnomes are jealous because he still did not have his "devils haircut" (dreaded gnome event where a gnome comes of age and loses all his hair in one single night)...

Pattern: Gnome Homes: you can stash you knitting needles in them :) Nifty no?
Yarn: Jamiesons spindrift

Baaaaaaaaah

Did you see that movie about killer sheep? I think it was called Black Sheep. Horror sheep harhar..

I made some mitts with colorwork sheep on them: they are called baaaah and sneeze.

Because either they are evil or they are about to sneeze... see the way their eyes are set? I'm not too sure if this a halloween/ horror version of sheep or plain sneezy lambies.

Did you know that sheep sneeze? Me, I did not know until I was walking among some sheep in a field and I heard a really loud sneeze. Looking around there wasn't anyone there... ghosts... creepy crawlies? And then I saw this sheep sneeze with all it's hart! lolz! Sneezy sheep...

These wristees are the Baby Lamb Cuffs by TOK, done in Jamiesons Shetland spindrift. It was my first succes in doing stranded fair-isle, so I'm having a serious proud. At first I thought the background color was too dark for the sheep to be seen, but they really grew on me, so they are staying to live with me. Always need more knits in the house.

Washed the finished mitts with some of my conditioner that I use on my own hair and they became a whole lot softer. Tok said it worked for her, and since wool is hair in a way it is quite logical that it works. And now they smell really nice as well.

Quickie...

Sometimes all girl needs is a quickie. No fussing around and doing difficult positions, just wham bam thank you man!

I found the perfect quickie pattern (you thought I was talking about something else? you have a dirty mind... snikkers...) for a hat: Capucine.

I made this with two strands of pure wool yarn that I bought in France held together. I don't know the thickness or anything about this yarn except that it is undyed and in the original sheep color. It still smells like sheep and there are bits of sticks in there here and there... I love it!

The hat was made in one afternoon and the pattern can be gotten from the designers blog for free! Instant gratification!

Did do some mods ofcourse... I'm a desperate modder.
Did seed stitch instead of garter stitch and added some rows here and there to compensate for the thinner yarn. This hat would be great in some Malabrigo Merino Worsted I guess... yumyumyum... may need to make that as well ♥

edit oct 18th: Mom made this great picture of me when we went on a hike yesterday:

Steph and me: kindred souls.

Went to London last weekend to visit the Knitting and Stitching show; it was hoots of fun! yes, pun was intended....

I flew in on friday with my bf Mariska, whom went to meet up with some study buddies on Saturday. 'Cos I went yarnaholic that day. The Knitting and Stitching show was in Alexandra Palace and it was hugeruny! And busy, very, very busy... I bought lots and lots of yarn and a cute little book with christmas knitting. And some gorge bee buttons.

But the best of all was.... meeting Stephanie! Her brilliant mind produce the Tiny Owl Knits patterns that I adore so much, yes, I do swoon over those knits... they make me very happy. We had sooooo much fun together going squeeee all over the place and doing hand flapping gestures and such. And we hugged a lot, I like hugging nice people, it feels good...

We had a few hours to spend together and we cooked up some plans and we had lots of laughs. We even were brave and did not buy all the yarn we could lay our hands on. Which is a huge feat for two yarnoholics.....

I was really sad when it was time for me to leave, but I feel really lucky to find such a kindred spirit. It makes me feel safe. And I am truly sure our paths will cross again. Gosh, I love her!


Then I went to see the Wicked show with Maris. It was superbalicious! The stage and the singing and most of all the costumes made me drool like a madwoman! Those costumes... eeeeeeeeeeeeek......
The actors were really good in my opinion. I had a wonderful time.

Sunday we spend sleeping in and shopping and I think I got home about eight in the evening. But happy and really content and my soul is in a really good place right now. I feel strong in my own self; this is who I want to be!

Productive I haz been (channeling Yoda there..)

As mentioned before, I love the woods. Especially this time of year! But last sunday I encountered the first stretch of woods that I did not like... It wasn't the trees, it wasn't the path... It was the massive amount of mosquitoes who have taken a bite out of me! They were so big they could not have been your garden variety of nastyness, they were like godzilla mosquitoes! ( Not my line, someone else thought that one up) And they ate me like I was a cream puff or something... And two days on I'm still covered in bumps!  

Why this mosquito rant on a knitting blog? I made another autumn inspired Ships and Seaside Cowl! So it is kinda related... cowl... autumn..woods... mosquitoes... that is what my brain did.

This time it was a commission piece. Gerry wanted a cowl inspired by autumn but weighing less than my original. She has some serious back problems, and it hurts her when it would be too heavy. No probs! So I went to work with some Colinette Jitterbug, Koigu kpppm, Cherry Tree Hill select sock and some bits and bobs of leftover niceness. 

I think it has become a great cowl! Warm and cosy, with a first fall side and turning into winter side. I adore it!

And since I have been dubbed the queen of these cowl in the TOK group I was asked to make one for a certain special someone in the group as a christmas present. Who will it be? Will it be you? 

ooooohlalalaaaaaaa... tgv knitting

A fellow raveller, Susan Ashcroft, asked me if I would like to test knit a pattern she was working on. The name of the project? TGV: tricot grande vitesse...

Oh, how can one resist such a wonderful name and proposal? I sure could not!
All along this project I dreamed about my lovely holiday in France and Paris, going about on the real TGV.

The yarn was horrible and splitty, I would never recommend anyone to work with the Zauberball crazy. But the effect it had on the shawl was to die for.

Mom came in, saw the shawl, put it around her neck and left the house with it, never to be seen again...
No... just joking, she actually asked if she could have it. And it looks much better on her than on me. It makes me look pale, it makes her look pretty. But then again, she is very pretty, that silly mom of mine.

I can really recommend this pattern, it is easy, fast and very satisfying. And we need to be satisfied, us knitters....
Don't doubt! Go for it... Get a move on!

My mom takes a LOT of my knits as soon as she sees them. I don't mind at all since I knit most of the stuff because I want to MAKE it... She will wear it:

Maris and her hat

Maris has this favorite hat she once bought at Noa Noa. She asked me to reproduce it in different colors.

So I did: ( in various luxury yarns)

I made one out of Manos del Urugauy:

I did one in Colinette Jitterbug in the great color Vatican Pie:

And I did one striped with Rowan pure Wool and Angora. I detest the Angora! It is yucky and tangly and sticky and meh! It got in my eyes, my ears.. everywhere and it itched like hell! If I never have to knit with angora again, it still would be too soon! 

But the hat came out really good and soft and I'm sure she will like it:

And to top it all off I made her an orchids and fairylights hat in Malabrigo Merino worsted, which she hasn't taken off since she got it:

You would think it would suffice for now...

And this is how I feel about working with the angora:

Eeety beety pumpkins

Autumn is coming and I adore autumn! The air smells nice and everything is showing their best colors. The abundance of this time of year is thrilling!

So when I saw this cute jack o' lantern pattern for felted pumpkins I HAD to make it! And it was done in 30 minutes, so quickie knit: highly satisfactory....

They are a bunch of cuties are they not? If you are wondering why the yellow one looks so mad, it is because he was made out of left over yarn and his hat doesn't fit him all that well. The orange one is simply happy and even enjoys his grumpy little yellow cousin. Oh yellow tells me to tell you all it is also because he is yellow and he thinks he isn't ripe yet and that surely pisses him off... okay, didn't know that you would get mad... sorry little fellow. 

Someone on ravelry commented that yellow looks like he is puking blood which is a great look for a little jackolantern. He is feeling much better about himself now, thank you very much.

This is a link to the lovely pattern, and the designer even has a photo tutorial on how to felt it!
Jack o' Lantern by Katie Starzman