Round-up part 1

And I don't mean weed control.

It is time for a bit of a round up of the last 3, nay 4 weeks. It will be in installments, as rather than overpower this post with photos this will be text only posting. If you have the time and inclination to go and look I'll be posting photos on Flickr later on.

Last time I wrote anything of substance I may have left you with the impression that I was looking forward to going to Germany for the weekend with my friend Andy. It was an accurate impression, possibly underplayed for the audiences (there is was LOT more internal squeeing than you can imagine. My parents often tried to give me away free with a bar of soap around the holidays because I became THAT unbearable). Nuernberg was fantastic. The hotel was just adorable, and very central to all the bits in the old town that we wanted to go to. Getting to and from the airport in Munich couldn't have been easier.

Nuernberg really knows how to throw a Christmas Market party! They market themselves as the Christmas Town, and they are pretty much right to (from a shopping and getting you into the secular spirit point of view, all other towns with claims to being the birthplace of Christmas aside...). I had forgotten how much I love German Christmas markets. The smells, the sounds, the sights, but mostly the smells. And the sounds. Oh, and the sights...

We arrived late afternoon on the Friday, and once we had dumped our stuff at the hotel we hit the main square in front of the cathedral where the bulk of the Christmas Market is. Andy, being roughly the width of a twig, was instantly freezing, so I felt it only fair that I kept him company with a steaming mug of Gluewein. If you ever got to any kind of holiday market, and you think there is a chance they won't be selling any mulled wine, take a hip flask. It is the utter way forward. When we lived in Germany I was a bit young to really appreciate how fabulous Gluewein is. I am now a convert.

Saturday we roamed the town itself. There is a Breuniger in Nuernberg. This is possibly only exciting to someone who was a teenager in Boeblingen in the 80's. As I was we had to go. Imagine my disappointment when it was just a clothes store. It is like going to Harrods and the food hall being absent. Or going to Liberty's and have them just selling scarves. Very odd. We also found the only vegan restaurant in town and had lunch there. Whilst it was run by some very earnest hippies, they were earnest hippies who made good food, and had a great deli.

Andy and I had made the decision on Friday that we were only window shopping to make sure that we had seen all that there was to see, so Saturday night we headed back down to the market with Euros in our pockets and empty shopping bags in hand. We have a history of giving Christmas tree ornaments in our family, and it is something that I have extended to my closest friends for the last 10 years. I found some lovely traditional wooden ornaments for my friends, which were just perfect to give, but I also got some fabulous painted tin ornaments for the family. Tin ornaments are such a traditional part of Christmas in Germany, often times they come in the guise of a little shop front or other tableau, and can either be hung from the tree, or against a plain wall, so that you can really see the detail. We have some from when we lived there, so it was good to be able to remind my Mum & Sarah of the good times we had in Germany, especially this Christmas. I also treated myself to a German Smoker, like the big soldier or prince nutcrackers that you see, another really traditional German decoration.

On a knitterly note I did manage to find 2 yarn shops in the town though. The first just sold Lana Grossa, so I needed to get some. I bought some New Cotton in a teal-y colour, and I bought some Merino Big in orange and variegated browns, blues and oranges. The latter for me to make mitts and a hat out of (and if there is enough left over then a neck warmer too). I am obsessed with hats and gloves at the moment. The New Cotton was for my sis. She has eczema and can't tolerate wool, and the yarn I had bought to make her hat and mitt set with wasn't working out on the mitt front. The bad mitts had formed part of my packing, so I frogged them as soon as we got back to the hotel, and cast on with the NC (which, as luck would have it needed the same 4.5mm needles as I had with me). I finished sewing the ends of the 2nd mitt on the plane on way home. The 2nd shop was more of a generalist shop, but they had some Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, so I snagged a couple of balls to turn into socks at some stage this year.

Nuernberg got a big 2 thumbs up from both Andy & me. It has set a high bar on the Christmas Market front for future trips, and I think we will be going back, as really, who can resist the sights, the sounds, the smells...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I wish you all a peaceful and happy time with your families.

TWO MORE SLEEPS

That's all!

Now I just have to decide what knitting to take with (other than Sarah's fingerless mitts and the foot of the 2nd Space Dust Monkey) as I'll have plenty of knitting time on the flight and the train from Munich. Especially as I finished SGIII last night - photos will have to wait for a couple of weeks.

'Cited

FOUR MORE SLEEPS, then I am off to Germany for the weekend with my lovely friend Andy. We are going to Nurnberg for a little pre-Christmas Christkindlesmarkt. We are staying in the old town, so we are that much closer to all the stalls and fun.

I spent 3 years in southern Germany when I was a teenager, and as a result Christmas Markets are like crack to me. Just bring on the mulled wine, the sausages, the caramelised almonds, the little wooden ornaments, the nutcrackers. JUST BRING IT! What is making this even better is the weather forecasters are predicting snow. Promising snow! SNOW!

I may explode with excitement.

I hope you have something fabulous to look forward to this week too.

Hello, radio silence is over.

How can it be nearly a month since I last posted. It isn't like nothing has happened. I can only put it down to year end at work. It is a horrible time to be there. My job involves keeping salespeople safe from themselves and helping the company do sensible, profitable business. This means that I get to spend the last 6 - 8 weeks of the year chasing other people's tails running after every conceivable sale so that people make their targets and bonuses. It totally sucks the spirit out of the time of year for me. You would think after 13 years of it I'd be resigned to it by now, but it still sneaks up and slaps me each time. Sigh.

Anyhoo, enough moaning and excuses. I have FOs. Including a Christmas FO at that.

I have finished, and worn the Soho Cowl and Mitts. They were a lovely quick knit. I used 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Soho, 2 on the cowl, and 1 each for the mitts, with very little left over. I have been surprised at just how warm the fingerless gloves have kept my hands. The cowl is based on the fpea Quickie Cowl again, and the mitts were taken from LMKGs.

Excuse the picture of me looking barely raised from the dead, and needing an indecent amount of moisturiser... The colours are great because my good winter coat is charcoal grey with a fuchsia lining, and my winter jacket is a lovely olive-y green.

I have also finished, sewn up, felted and created the inner for (i.e. totally done) the hot wheatie bottle for Ma for Christmas. More accurately speaking it is a hot pearl barley bottle, but as we are amongst friends I am sure you will let it pass. It has turned out ok. Better than hoped for. I had to put it through the machine twice to get it to felt much. I used the yarn specified and it hasn't felted as completely as other wools I have used. The flap has spread a little too. But, it was begun when I knew nothing about anything, and it will be toasty and cosy, which is the point of it all.

The knitted bit is from the Rowan Felted Collection. The inner is from my head; some left over linen from a skirt I made, doubled up to give the lining some body and made into a little envelope, with a bit of bias along the top to keep it all good and closed, and a little felt heart rustically (being the politest term for my hand sewing) sewn to the front.

This leaves Fred's jumper outstanding, and even that is making good progress. I have completed the front and am 2/3s done with the back. SG III is on the home stretch too (thank goodness). It has been a real test in the ability to go through the stocking stitch pain barrier, but is going to look fine and dandy when it is done. I have also added one more project to the list, which was to make something for my sis, so that everyone in the family gets to open a hand knit at Christmas. I wish to make myself universally unpopular with everyone sharing the need to be polite in the face of their handcrafted offerings :-D. The project added is a simple hat and fingerless glove set. I am looking forward to getting Christmas gifts done though. I have a bunch of things on the back burner that I want to do, in particular getting some more socks knitted so that I can wear handmade all the time.

Reveal

As it is Jenn's birthday today, and I know the parcel has made it safely across the Atlantic, I can reveal Surprise Gifts I & II.
They are a little kerchief scarf and mitt set. The kerchief is from LMKG, and is just right to give a little flash of colour under a coat, and to keep the neck warm without masses of ends hanging every where. The pair of fingerless mitts are of my own design (being a very grand word for figuring out how to knit a tube with a slit in it), although largely inspired by Alison's banner photo. Both in Noro Silk Garden Lite, Col 2017.

It is more of an autumn/spring set, or a looking sassy in the truck set, given it is for use in Ontario, and they get real weather there. Proper winters. With snow and everything.

The kerchief used an entire skein of yarn, and the mitts just under. I did a provisional cast on for the mitts and then did a 3 needle bind off, so that they can be worn seam in or seam out - depending on mood. To make the thumb opening I cast off 10 or so stitches and then did a backward loop cast on on the way back up again. I also did a couple of extra rows beneath the thumb to give a bit of extra room at the widest part of the hand. Other than that they are simple garter stitch squares made into a tube. But snuggly, fun ones.

It was the first time I had knit with the Noro, and was surprised at the amount of vegetable matter in the yarn. I was also surprised at how soft it felt on, given the "textured" nature of it when knitting up.

All in all though it was a satisfying gift to knit. I really enjoy making things for other people, and the combination of doing something new for someone else was a good one.

Happy Birthday Jenn. I hope the scarf and mitts keep the chill off you over the months to come.

Oh, in other news. Guess who's invite to Ravelry came through today, and really very quickly as well? Now to find the time to populate my queue & stash...

Satisfaction

This has been a really good weekend.

I have officially, at 34, joined the ranks of the middle aged, and I am absolutely delighted to have done so. Ihave joined said ranks as I have bought a caravan.

Most people I know will either laugh at me, or sit there shaking their heads in disbelief. The caravan is desperately uncool, but I really don't care. We got our first van when I was 3, and we had one until after my sister & I had both left home. They make for the best holidays; having your home on your back, being able to go where ever you want, and I decided it was time to get a little of that action for myself. So, come March, I shall be the completely overexcited owner of a caravan. Between now and the we have the small matter of finding somewhere for it to live, as I don't have a drive, oh, and getting a car which can tow it, as the current one doesn't have a tow bar, but these are details, and small ones at that. The point is. I. Have. A. Caravan. Yay for me! :-)

The other part of making this weekend lovely is that I have some FOs too. Having said, in the last post, that I love nearly finished things. I also really love finished things too.

May I present Baby Kimono II, with a little bonus hat which I whipped up on Thursday night. They are knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, col. Tomato. The hat is pattern-less. Using some 5mm DPNs, I just consulted the oracle for diameter, making the rim in moss stitch to match the cardi, and One Skein for the depth (3.5 inches before decreases), and then just divided the number of stitches into 8, and started decreasing from there. Voila, a baby hat.

The kimono is after the pattern in Mason Dixon Knitting knit on a 5mm Addi circ. I cast on the same number of stitches knowing that it would come up a little larger than the Baby Kimono pattern, included in which is the 6 stitch moss stitch border. The sleeves have been made a little deeper to compensate, 13cm rather than the called for 10cm. None of the seams are sewn at the borders to allow for a little wriggle room.

Baby Lyne is due any day now, so I may soon have update shots to show off.

C's Christmas jumper is also finished. I am pleased with how this has turned out. It is the first jumper I have knitted, and even though it is a very simple pattern, from the Debbie Bliss book Home it is satisfying to have completed. I am particularly pleased with how the neckline turned out too. Now I just need to make Fred's jumper and at least I know the boys will be getting their Christmas pressies. The curse of an aunt who likes to make stuff. If Sarah & Jonathan don't send those boys into therapy when they are older their aunt certainly will.



Next up is something that didn't even make the WIP list. I was completely inspired by Brainylady Alison on Wednesday, when I got to her post and instantly decided that I neeeeeeeeeded to make the fpea quickie cowl, so after a little stash-dive I came up with 50 metres of one zero in what I think is Ischia, a pair of 12 mm needles and went for it. I reduced the number of stitches by half, given I was using a super chunky and needles twice the size asked for, and after sewing it up I was left with 6 inches or so of yarn. Even while knitting it I realised I wasn't making it for me, but for my mate Sara. She is a green-aholic, and it will go with her eyes just brilliantly, also with 2 small children it means that she won't be trailing scarf everywhere.

I have started another one for me, this time in some Debbie Bliss Soho that I had originally bought to make a pair of felted slippers in, but I think I am going to have enough to make the cowl and a matching pair of mitts, and I have decided that I am ahead enough of the Christmas present curve that I can afford a couple of illegal knits for myself. Fiona has also commissioned one, so you'll be seeing more of this pattern.

One last peek at this week's FOs.

All in all a very satisfying weekend. I am off to knit more cowl and figure out what I am going to have for dinner.