Auction Haruni

When the city is too hot I escape to a camp site near here. My parents have a trailer there. It is an old apple tree orchard. It is a lovely place. And they have a pool. But that pool…. I can only enter it when it is a sweltering hot day, cos damn it’s cold.

One smart man got the idea to buy solar panels and use that energy to heat the pool. But the money had to come from somewhere. That is were this Haruni comes in. People will make stuff for an auction. The money raised will go to heating of pool in an ecofabulous way.

One hitch: I thought the auction would be in september… it is on the 16th of July…. But I got it right with time to spare. I think it is fabuloso ♥
Making it of a huge cone of 100% acrylic pink / lavender acrylicnastyness that I bought for a few euros on a market once…. But it looks good!

Ships and Seasides cowl

In the Tiny Owl knits group there sometimes is a KAL ( knit a long) for a certain pattern. This summer it is the ships and seaside cowl. I was gifted the pattern by my owlie friend winterfi. The yarn it is made in is the Rowan Kid classic. It is really soft and luxurious.

The knit was a nice one, really easy but enough color switches to keep me going (oh, let me just finish this color block... and another..) It knitted up really fast and I learned a new trick: kitchener stitch :) Superb way to finish things!

Video for kitchener stitch I used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jIzwO5Nv4

Video for provisional cast on I used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3J-sUx_whE

I'm not too sure if I like the pink/ purple side on me... maybe this cowl will be gifted so I can make another (Iwantzanodder) for myself.
There already is yarn waiting for a kidsilk haze version... :)

Pink blossoms

A while back I bought some lovely pink Malabrigo lace, it is gorgeous and soft and pretty and... swoon...

I decided I would do a simple Haruni with it. I started out following Ysolda Teague's Ishbel pattern (link upper left corner of screen) until I had 100 stitches on every "wing" of the shawl. I could have made it bigger and maybe I should have but at this point I was getting bored and wanted to start the Haruni border (ravelry link again on upper left corner of screen).



I did not do the V shape in the border, cos, well.. I don't find it that pretty.

I blocked the living hell out of it, stretching it way out before pinning down.

I think it turned out real pretty and I'm pleased I finally made a Haruni shawl for myself. Even as I type there is a new Haruni on my needles. It will have to be done before july 16th since it is my entry in an auction for a local benefit. Phew.....

And a random pretty flower pic I took:

Deer Antler hat Adventure

A few days back Nicole from Australia asked on a forum if someone could make her the Deer Antler Hat. I figured I could, and after sleeping on it for a night I decided I would do it for free. Mainly because I don't have the slightest clue on how to transfer money trough paypal and I don't feel like finding out.. But also because I love to knit and can't wear everything I make :)
And because I really think that what you put out into the world, that is what you will receive: Give love, receive love.

She mailed me the pattern (which I get to keep, nice..) and I bought yarn. Since Drops is on sale that is what I went with: Drops Eskimo for the main hat and ears, in a grey brownish color. I love that yarn btw. And I bought some Karisma for the antlers. That felted really fast: I soaked them in some luke warm water with some hand soap, took them out and while still wet rubbed them between my hands. The motion is somewhat like washing your hands. It took so little work I it blew me away! And I hardly had to mould afterwards.

For the pink in the ears I held some pink Arwetta together with a natural color Rowan Kidsilk Haze for some fluffyness.









I think the hat turned out lovely! It only took me one afternoon of knitting in the sun. I think I spend more time on positioning the ears and antlers and sewing them on than the actual knitting. I had a blast making it!







Now to send it to the land of Oz...
Dear antler hat, please behave at your new owners house, promise to keep her ears warm at all times and make sure she looks smashing while she wears you.

Blue Ishbel

Sometimes yarn wants to become a certain object. You can tempt it with other patterns you desire to make and the yarn will go "mwah...".

I had in my stash a gorgeous skein of Colinette Jitterbug in the colorway "heavens above". Prettiest blue you have ever seen.

I offered it sock patterns, but it wouldn't budge: I will be an Ishbel shawl!

Then there is nothing more to do but oblige...
At first I screwed up. The Ishbel shawl has a shifting lace pattern and I put stitch markers after every repeat! So it looked nothing like it should and out of sheer frustration I frogged the whole thing! (For all you non knitters: if you rip out a project it is called frogging: rip it, rip it, rippit, rippit, ribbit... get it?)

But still the yarn wanted to be the shawl, so after a few days and the luminating insight of the shifting pattern, I started again. Yesterday it was finished and I get why the yarn wanted to be that specific shawl: it looks heavenly!







No idea who will wear this, it's not really my color and I had no one in mind while making it: time will tell who will be the proud owner of the stubborn yarn shawl.  :)












Funny photo of me looking wonky, I like it anywayz:

Magic Treetop Bags

This weekend is easter weekend, which means a lot of free time. And the sun is shining and I was feeling brave enough to try something new: felting!

I got this really course yarn from a co worker, I think it was spun straight from the sheep because it even had twigs in it :)
Not really suited to wear on the skin...
So bags it will be, and then of course one designed by Tiny Owl Knits. Yes I do love her whimsical designs, I admit.

When I started with this big floppy bag and the warning on the interwebs that felting is really hard to achieve when you have a front-loader washing machine. But after a few good spins on the highest temp it became this really cute bag: Kawai! (cute in japanese..) ♥

And I had enough yarn left to make TWO, yes.... two, more!

I was laughing all the way, felting is quite an artsy and organic process. You never know what will be the end product. I was quite surprised to see that the yarn became darker in the process, but it looked really good :)

So this afternoon I went to the park and made some pics of the first two bags in my fav tree. Then I had lunch on a bench in the sun with a really good fish salad: good times ♥


PS: I love my new shoes, They're from El Naturalista, a shoe company which is completely eco friendly and recycles. I love the look and walking in them. LOVE

And a random pretty flower photo taken in the park:

Vision for Maris

A few weeks back Mariska was nice enough to come with me to the yarn store. While she was there she found the most perfect shrug in one of the Rowan books. Can you make this Mariek? Sure, no problem. And I was looking forward to working with the luxurious Rowan kid Silk haze. Which is like the lovechild of a silkworm and an angora bunny :) lols

But.... boy, oh boy, I detested making the thing every step of the way! Don't get me wrong it is a great design and I am absolutely in love with finished piece...
First off the big circle was so easy it was really BORING. I had to push myself each night to do another repeat.
And then I thought when the fun was coming, meaning lace, I love lace. Nohooo the lace was written and not charted! And Rowan uses other names for certain stitches! AAAAARGH!
I kept losing my way even though I have done the exact same lace pattern on socks like a month before :( Not a happy camper on that one.
By then I wanted to finish it so bad I pushed on, but if it had been for me it would have gotten a one way trip to the frog pond pretty fast, rippit rippit..

But as I said the finished thing is gorgeous and looks fantabulously good on Maris.

For me it was a lesson: I will not knit for other people unless I love them dearly, my bff got her shrug purely out of the love I feel for her.
Imagine finishing something you detest for someone you hardly know? I wouldn't, so I learned my lesson: yay for me!