Sunday 27 November 2011

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

Zur deutschen Version

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:

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Let's hit the Christmas market

Zur deutsche Version

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!







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!

Zur deutsche Version

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!