Movin' on

Tonight I went to see my new room. There’s nothing wrong with the room I'm in now, in fact it’s near perfect, but unfortunately I’m just sub-letting it. Illegally. So when my friend E. called, telling me that there was going to be a free room at her place from May 1st, and asking me if I wanted to move in, I immediately said yes.
The funny thing is that I'm moving exactly 1 year after I moved into my current room; the first weekend of May.

I took a few crappy pics with my crappy Kodak to give you an idea. (It looks very sad and urban, but just believe me when I say it's really very nice!) The pics of the room itself were blurred, so they’ll follow.

Now I still don’t quite know what to think of Gorby, whose face covers an entire wall(!) in the shared living room. It’s a sad pic that makes me feel sorry for the poor fella every time I look at it. I liked Gorby.


The best thing about this room is: I'm getting my own bathroom, with a shower and a toilet, just for me to soil!

Oh, and the view? Another roundabout. I’m used to them by now, and I kinda like the sound of traffic at night. I find it very calming somehow.
I’m thinking of putting my desk at the window.
This is the room I’m going to write my thesis in. Wow.

Oh and, remember: I'm Flashing my Stash tomorrow, April 1st!

Best thing about Easter? Hunting eggs!

Don't know if I caught the Peterpandemonium virus, but this year I begged my Dad to hide some Easter eggs and get me a big chocolate bunny. (Ok, technically I said I wouldn't come if he didn't.)

So here you have me (27) and baby sis (25) hunting my dad's backyard for some self painted (ahem) hard boiled eggs. And chocolate bunnies..

Best Easter since I was 4!


Oh, and I also did some more knitting on Cinnamon; finished the second skein, and almost done with the back now.

Happy Technicolor Easter everybody!

Magnificent Mishaps in Mohair

Yowza, look what I came across today while cruising the Net for some nice mohair scarf patterns:

Why yes, that is what you think it is and hoped it wasn't:
A mohair bikini.
Now I feel bad for bashing someone's creativity, but this is just plain wrong...

(Worst still: the babe can pull it off. *Sigh* But barely!)

Stitch 'n glitch

Rowan's Cinnamon in daylight, as promised. Ain't she purdy?
Of course, I knew there had to be a punishment for the blatant smugness in my previous post. Turns out I accidentally increased until 71 stitches, for a size M, in stead of until 75, for a size L. How very lame.
And the worst thing is: I'm too chicken to frog it. (Tastes like chicken?) Tonight is SnB night, but I'm up to my ears in school work, so I'm not going.
Which means there's no-one (Bert!) to help me unravel it to 75 stitches.
Which means I have to do it myself.
Sweeet.

Is it true you have to make every single mistake at least once before you can work your way through a project without any glitches?

(Oh, and one more thing: lemme know if you think the ribbing looks like it's on the wrong side at the bottom. I'm not sure which is which, and I don't wanna frog the WHOLE thing!)

Bringing you: Redheaded knitting

Ooh, didn't really do many sensible things this weekend, but I did dye my hair: (Hey, that's what weekends are for!)
I'm very pleased with the result and it looks even better in bright daylight. I like to believe I'm a redhead at heart really, and that my follicles just never got the message.

So there, not much knitting. The weather was amazing and I actually spent some time in the front yard. It was almost 12°C/53F and I can't believe it's only two weeks ago that we made a snow man and were up to our knees in snow.

I did manage to poop out some rows of the Cinnamon though and I can't get over myself; it looks..., uhm, professional... Like I know what I'm doing? You have to understand this is my first actual "garment". Something that will be worn by someone other than moi. Something that NEEDS to be the right gauge.
Speaking of gauge, I'm also feeling pretty smug about getting the exact gauge described in the Summer Tweed book with my 5mms. I will post a picture of her -him? no, her- tomorrow; it's already too dark for pics now.

So I'll leave you with something else: an old and boxy, but 100% silk (!) H&M grandma cardi that I'm going to DESTROYYY in order to CREATE. Ain't that sweet? (And please disregard that silly critter sitting on it, will you?)

Hank-Me: 0-1

Notice the light change? This took me bloody ages! What a way to spend a free Saturday afternoon that was meant for some peaceful knitting. Luckily I'm babysitting my friends' baby girl tonight. Lots of quality knitting time!
(Hmmm. That sounds pretty pathetic. But I do have a life, honest..)


Oh and no, you've observed correctly, it's NOT a sexy center-pull ball. Throw me a friggin' bone here..

Purrrfect Kitty

Hee hee, I entered my little man Mingus in the Purrrfect Kitty contest.
(I must've been a pushy pageant mom in a previous life..)
Please vote, you know you want to. ;)

Hank?!

Had a bit of a false start with Rowan's Cinnamon today.
The yarn arrived yesterday, and I was so excited! Just looking at the romantic little Rowan labels made my hands all itchy. So I grabbed my pair of 4mm needles and carefully took one of the skeins out of the bag. I cast on, but wtf? My thread was stuck?! D'oh! I couldn't get it untangled to save my life.

Enter Hank. What I thought was a "skein" of Rowan Summer Tweed was actually something they apparently call a "hank", and demanded to be treated accordingly. (Yey for places like the Knitty Coffeeshop forum for all my newbie screw-ups.)

Anyway, Hank's in a tangled mess on my bed but I’m not touching him anymore tonight. Bleh. Not now honey, I have a headache.

It's SuperMiles!

Coming to save the world with his incredible sleeping powers...

Ring bling bling

As you can see in the bar on the right, I've added my humble little blog to three k(n)itty related web rings. I'm very excited about the possibilities!

Check out the progress of these puppies

Friggin Market Bag, part deux:

And the rainbow sock, that is not going to fit me in a million years, but hey, I think it looks spectacular:

Sweet anticipation

Ok, I chose. My mom's gettin a Rowan birthday present:
[If your name is Carla, and you also happen to be my mom, you're not allowed to click this link.]
To give you an idea of my current skill level: her birthday is in July... Rock on! ;)

Quel amateurisme...

It's been a few days, but I had to pull myself together after the tragic discovery that the wool I'd chosen to become The French Market Bag...wouldn't felt! Something I would've known, had I made a swatch beforehand, but nooo. Knitting. It's a total soap.

So yesterday, I gave in to the little devil on my left shoulder and went to my local yarn shop, where I spent € 24,- on some 2,5 mm sock needles, two skeins of a sexy purplish Regia sock wool, and... la pièce de résistance: One skein of amazing purple Rowan wool, Yorkshire Tweed to be exact, old chap. To save the Friggin' Market Bag. Looks like it's gonna become an international effort after all.

D'oh, almost forgot to mention the nasty part of my little shopping extravaganza: I picked up my very first Rowan book:

Every single item is as gorgeous as the next and I can't even decide which sweater, top or vest to knit first.
SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! (Or help me choose... ;)

Le progrès..

Voici, the progress of my French Market Bag. Please note the sophisticated stitch markers (paperclips and an old...er...nose ring) and the fact that my 50cm circular needle is barely holding everything together. (The pattern called for a 32", which is about 81 cms.)

I like to tell myself that if MacGyver would knit, this is the way he'd be doing it...

Who knew Elton John was this cool?

Candle in the wind, my a$$!
Gotta go, my air guitar solo is coming up...

Miles & Mingus

To do list:

sleepin'

snoozin'

relaxin'

chillin'

lookin' totally cute while doin' all of the above

Bastards...

Kneettiing le French Markettt Bagggue

Three hours of wrestling my dpns* and THIS is what I end up with:



No sir, I don't like it.

(For those of you who think: "Well, that doesn't look half bad, does it?" Check out this woman's little square. *Harrumph* Je suis très, très jaloux...)

* Double pointed needles, dahling!

SnB Utrecht

Just found out there already is a Stitch 'n Bitch in my beautiful home town.

Guess where I'll be hangin' out next Tuesday night? ; )

The last skein

I really need to show off what I made with this funky colored yarn. It was the last skein in the store, so I asked the lady what I could make out of it. Well, that would be a hat. So I made my before mentioned beanie.

But there was still some left, and I couldn't just leave it, could I? So now my cell phone has a warm winter coat. And it's gonna need it, 'cause half the country has been snowed in. We haven't seen this much snow here in 50 years, and I'm loving every minute of it.



P.s. Check out the little strand that's left! Now who's the Queen of Frugal?