Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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The first time I saw Allison LoCicero's Entrelac Scarf I've been ravished.

And as the best mom of all (mine) wanted a colorful scarf for Christmas which she could wear with her brown winter coat, I just went off to buy the yarn "Noro Silk Garden". Normally I would think twice before I spend 10€/50g but it's Christmas and it's for my mom (^.^)

The yarn itself was something that one needs to get used to because thickness and strength are unsteady.

I was curious how the pattern would work and it's really that one square is knitted after another. In the beginning I knitted stitch by stitch according to the directions as I was not able to imagine how the pattern will occur. After the secound row of squares everything was clear and the project nearly finished on it's own.

Oh yeah, when I picked my lables I couldn't decide which of my two favorite ones to choose so I ordered both and this ist the second variant - which one do you like more? (the other one is on the  Monster Chunks)

Projectdetails at a glance:

Pattern: Entrelac Scarf
Yarn: NORO Silk Garden; color 341
Needles: 5 mm jacket needles
No gauge required

Here you can finde the scarf on ravelry.com

I wish you all
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
read you 2012 (*_*)

Giant Monster Chunks, yes we rattle!!!!

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What do little boys need who have everything?

MONSTER CHUNKS!
Any Monster Chunks?
No - GIANT Monster Chunks!
Is there anything they need to be able to?
Yes - RATTLE \(^_^)/ 

The best friends of my little boy are celebrating their first birthday this week. For their great day they get as presents (one more time *g*)...

... GIANT RATTLE MONSTER CHUNKS \(^_^)/

According to the designer Rebecca Danger the chunks love to dance and are the perfect pets. In additon I gave them a rattle, so they can scare "monsters-under-the-bed" away.

The chunk twins have to seperate but I hope this is not too much of a problem for them as they will be living with really nice little boys and you never know, maybe they will meet some day at the playground again!

The chunks are a great project to try different yarns and needles. I had a lot of fun making them and I'm sure they are not the last ones.

I was really happy that my lables arrived in time, so the chunks are my first "branded" projekt (^_^)

Here you can find the chunks on ravelry.com

Do the loop, felt it and once it's empty it's x-mas

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I thought for some time about an advent calendar for a one year old, the only thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want to fill it with chocolate and that it shouldn't have windows.

Once I found the "Felted Basket" on raverly.com I had an epiphany!

Although the felted basket is an easy going project I had some "first times":

1. Magic Loop method
I read about this method but this was the first project I used it for. It has also been the first time I watched a knitting video because I didn't get the written explanation. Once I've seen this video on garnstudio.com I knew how to do it (♥_♥)

The beginning was hard, but once I've mastered the technique it is really cool to work with and I already look forward to my next Magic Loop project (reputedly this technique is capable of knitting two socks at once, maybe I will try this one time).

2. Felting
The second "first time" was felting. Another thing I also wanted to try but didn't have the opportunity so far. Thanks to my discount store of trust I got a big amount of felting yarn for a low price.

What should I say? My washing machine did an amazing job:

Now I'm looking forward to 1st of December. From this day on my little boy will take one little bag every day and once the basket is empty, it's Christmas (^_^)


Oh, I'm sure you want to know what is inside the little bags:

Let's hit the Christmas market

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My "Commuter Fingerless Mittens" are finished!

As I found the pattern from Stephanie Sun on knitty.com I fell in love and when I got the yarn Lana Grossa Chiara on sale I knew I would make my mittens with this yarn.

What I didn't think about at this point was that this yarn is much thinner than the one recommended in the directions. For a moment I thought about changing to a thicker yarn, but "Chiara" is so soft and cosy (^_^)
After this decision was made I started with the gauge and the calculation (stitches*1,5, rows*1,4).

My first cast on for knitting in rounds since 6 years and I was swearing like hell. I really hate it, there is nothing to work with except 5 needles, which block each other and by the way nothing should twist! As soon as the 2nd row was knitted I was fine again and the fun part started. \(^_^)/

The yarn is quite plain and so in the beginning it was a little bit hard to work with as it kept on slipping through my fingers. Once I wrapped the yarn an additional time around my left forefinger the viscous drag was enough, so that the stitches became not too loose.

My first time...
... knitting thumbs, was not as hard as expected - some things obviously should be done without
thinking too much about it!

... dropping stitches on purpose. Only thinking about dropped stitches makes me sweat (like Zombies (^_~)). That's why I nearly paranoiac keep my stitches together. While working on the mittens I made a mistake with the pattern and found out 3 rows later. Courageous I dropped the stitch above the wrong one and reworked it correctly - and it was no problem at all - another thing to do by the slogan "Just Do It"!

Now that the mittens are finished I find them even more gorgeous than I imagined them. There first trip will be to the Christmas market today - Cheers!

Details at a glance:

Pattern: Commuter Fingerless Mittens

Yarn: Lana Grossa Chiara; color 025
Needle: 1 set 3 mm double point needles
Gauge 4 inches in stockinette = 32 sts x 41 rows


Here you can find the Commuter fingerless mittens on raverly.com

Zombies don't knit - now in English too!

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I was very surprised that a lot of my visitors/readers are from non-German speaking countries. I'm very happy and honoured about this and therefore decided to translate my posts from now on to English.

Please be indulge with my English and I would be very thankful for your feedback especially on the knitting vocabulary, it's the best way to learn (^_^)

Thank you for reading my blog!