pointy sticks of doom

yarrrrn and lace-preview

{ August 6, 2009 @ 11:12 } · { WIP, knitting, stash }
{ Tags: knitting, lace, photos, socks, stash, stole, work in progress, yarn } · { Comments (2) }

I bought yarn … well, that’s nothing new, but I bought the most beautiful sock-yarn I’ve ever seen! The photo doesn’t do it justice at all. One skein is blood red and the other is a rich deep purple.

sockyarn

I promised myself not to buy another skein of yarn before these two are knit into socks. We’ll see whether I can manage that. Honestly, I doubt it.

Last time I promised project pictures. There’s nothing ready at the moment, but I have a Hanami stole in the making (and some socks, naturally). So here’s a work in progress picture of my next stole.

hanami1

Unfortunately this picture really sucks. I’m really not good at this. The finished stole will be photographed by a professional again
The yarn is great, you can actually see the pattern without blocking. It’s a nice change for a lace knitter when your project does not look like noodles during the process of knitting.
So much for now, next time there’ll be an update on my new socks.

to dye or not to dye …

{ July 31, 2009 @ 15:49 } · { rant, stash }
{ Tags: dye, stash, yarn } · { Comments (5) }

During my recent sock obsession I found out that getting pretty yarn is kind of impossible. I adore semi-sold yarns with light changes of the tone. Multicolored yarns look great as skeins, but as soon as you turn them into a knitted garment the magic flees screaming.
So I found myself looking through dozens of yarn shops, clicking through 200 hand dyed yarns and nothing, really nothing caught my eye. No, that’s not true. Some colors are really great but I don’t want to pay 30 € for a skein of yarn! (Okay, I confess, I ordered some …)
After some research I found out that dyeing would be the perfect solution. So I bought myself a book on dyeing wool and as soon as my sock yarn stash is gone (or maybe a lot sooner) I’ll try out dyeing.

Sorry, no pictures today, although I have some projects in the making. Next time, next time

Photo shooting with Aeolian

{ July 22, 2009 @ 22:08 } · { knitting, projects }
{ Tags: finished projects, knitting, lace, photos, shawl } · { Comments (2) }

I promised, I’d post some pictures of my Aeolian. I got them yesterday, straight from the photographer.
I won’t post them all here, that would take up too much space I think, so I hope you forgive me, that I publish only two here. But these two are definitely my favorites.

aeolian_klein

And one with myself on it. I usually don’t like myself on pictures, but this one is really nice, I think.

IMGP3279

All pictures were taken by Gerd Krizek in a half ruin castle. It was beautiful and really spooky there! Definitely not my last photo shoot, had far too much fun

My first pair of hand-knit socks!

{ July 16, 2009 @ 14:42 } · { knitting, projects }
{ Tags: finished projects, knitting, lace, socks } · { Leave a Comment }

I’m done, they are finished and I’m sooooo happy! Pity it’s summer and over 30°C, but hey, I can wait.
Here are some pictures of my joy and pride:

Please ignore the mess on my desk! I really hate cleaning it up and as long as I find all my stuff, I don’t feel the need to tidy up my desk!

Okay, back to the socks and the technical details:
Pattern: Hedera
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential Bordeaux
Needle size: 2,25
Happiness: next time, I’d make them longer. But otherwise, I’m totally happy!
Modifications: none, except for the errors I made

All in all I’d say these were not my last pair of socks! I really enjoyed it. Socks are the perfect project between two huge lace shawls. Yeah, btw, die next lace is already being worked on!

second sock syndrome

{ July 10, 2009 @ 10:16 } · { WIP, knitting }
{ Tags: lace, socks, work in progress } · { Comments (3) }

My week without knitting is over. And guess what, I didn’t make it. 4 days were enough for me, my hand doesn’t hurt anymore and so I’m back knitting like a maniac. The first sock is done and now I’m suffering from second sock syndrome. A common disease among knitters. The first sock was very exciting, all new and fun. The second one is just boring and I really have to push myself to knit it. Even more when the thing I really want to knit is a stole. So for the next few days I’ll knit my stupid second sock.
Here’s a picture of my first sock ever:

hedera2

a week without knitting

{ July 1, 2009 @ 09:12 } · { knitting }
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My right hand (my knitting hand!!!) hurts like hell so I’ve decided to take a break from knitting. 3 things led to this unfortunate condition: working on the computer too much, playing the cello and of course knitting. I can’t stop working and I don’t play the cello very often as I don’t have much time at the moment so knitting was the obvious choice. A week seemed sufficient, let’s hope it is! So for a whole week there won’t be updates on my sock, I’m sorry. Only one note: I managed to knit the heel without screeming and pulling my hair out that makes me very proud. Some news: my Aeolian shawl had a little photo shoot yesterday, pictures will be posted here!
Wish me luck! I will try to not go crazy during my break.

knitting socks

{ June 28, 2009 @ 09:47 } · { WIP, knitting }
{ Tags: knitting, lace, socks, work in progress } · { Comments (1) }

Aeolian is finished, blocked and all. And I it really is huge! I love it and I even love the beads in it! I’ll post photos of the finished piece as soon as I have pretty ones

About the current project: I never made socks. It never made sense to sit for hours and hours knitting a boring sock. The worst thing is: when you are happy and done you have to knit another one. A week ago I decided to explore the joys of knitting socks anyway and here I am, no ordinary boring socks, no, fancy Hedera. I might lose some sanity in the process but every knitter takes risks. Here is a work in progress picture of my first sock ever:

hedera

As I’m a needle-snob I own a couple of knit pro dpns. The stitch marker is not so fancy, I didn’t carry one with me when I started the project.

You know you knit too much when …

{ June 22, 2009 @ 10:28 } · { knitting }
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“you cite the fact that knitting burns about 90 calories an hour, not allowing extra for style, conviction, and retrieving your ball of yarn from under the couch.”

A book was written, so true that it should be the bible of every knitter all around the world. “At Knit’s End – Meditations for women who knit to much” (ISBN: 1-58017-589-9). I found myself waiting for the tube today, laughing like a manic, people turning their heads, reading the title of the book, shaking their heads and looking irritated.

It made me think about being a knitter and how the fact that I spend my evenings cursing over a spiderweb of lace-yarn appears to other people. Sometimes, when I tell people that I’m a knitter, they just laugh. Others don’t believe it. And very very few are amazed. Not only once have I heard giggling girls when I was knitting at the University. Or the train. Or in the city, waiting for a friend. I don’t want to say that knitters are normal people – they are certainly not – but I think we are cool And hey, we burn calories! While watching TV! Or while sitting on a bench in the park! Isn’t that great?

Btw it was world-wide knit in public day on saturday. I missed it.

the Aeolian shawl

{ June 20, 2009 @ 11:35 } · { WIP, knitting }
{ Tags: knitting, lace, shawl, work in progress } · { Leave a Comment }

Okay, before you (two) kill me, here’s an update of my current project: the Aeolian shawl

I did 14 repeats of the yucca chart and none of the agave chart (unfortunately I don’t have enough yarn, though I love this pattern). There’s only the main edge chart to go, then I’m done. Hopefully I have enough yarn (I doubt that very much!). We’ll see. So, here are some work in progress pictures:

See, I’m using a lifeline! I don’t plan to frog it anyway (I’m far too lazy to reknit it), but I just wanted to be sure, that if I f* it up completely, I would be able to go back.

the yucca-repeats. No beads next time, looks so cheesy and takes forever to knit!

the sad remains of my yarn. The yarn is great btw, it’s merino lace and a real pleasure to work with. The needles are my limited edition gold platted knit picks </show off>

Well, I hope everyone’s happy now I’m posting pictures of the finished piece after blocking. I hope it’s going to be huuuuuuge!! Any tips on how to block such a monster? I was thinking about the bed, but have not yet asked if my sweetheart wants to have needles in his bed … why do I have the strong feeling that he will not like this idea?