Christine's baby booties

So, years ago I posted a free pattern for Christine's baby booties as a PDF download. As you've noticed I haven't been around my blog in quite a while - in the meantime the hosting platform of the download shut down and was replaced with some other site, but the PDF disappeared.

I've only just found out about that the link doesn't work. I'd like to put the PDF back up for download again because I believe that's most comfortable if you want to keep the pattern in your collection, but right now it's quicker to just enter it as a blog post. So, here you go (I'll hope to add photos at a later time):

Christine’s Baby Booties

Materials
1 skein of baby yarn
A set of DPN’s; metric size 2-3, or according to the yarn

Cast on 40 stitches, divide evenly on 4 needles. Make sure not to twist! If you use stitch markers, place one here.
Purl 3 rows, knit 3 rows, p 3 rows, k 3 rows, p 3 rows.
K 1 row; *k2tog, yo, k2*, repeat till end of row. K 1 row. The top part is now finished.

Continue with the middle 11 stitches. Leave 14 stitches on one side and 15 on the other on 2 needles on hold.
*P 1 row, k 1 row, p 1 row.* Repeat 8 times.
K over all stitches again; pick up and k 10 stitches from each side out of the edge stitches. 60 stitches altogether. (If you find that with 10 stitches there is a hole in the booties, then pick up an additional stitch on each side – 11 instead of 10 each – and decrease those two extra stitches in the next round. Furthermore, to avoid holes when picking up and knitting these stitches, knit them through the back loop of the stitch. This avoids a hole.)

Distribute the stitches evenly on the needles (10 stitches, then 20, then 10, then 20 again). Purl 3 rows, knit 3 rows, p 3 rows, k 3 rows, p 3 rows.

Now to the bottom of the booties:
- P 1 row. P5 and place marker.
- K 6 stitches, k2tog, k 15, k2tog, k 9, k2tog, k 16, k2tog, k 6. P 1 row.
- K 5, k2tog, k 15, k2tog, k 7, k2tog, k16, k2tog, k 5. P 1 row.
- K 4, k2tog, k 15, k2tog, k 5, k2tog, k 16, k2tog, k 4. P 1 row.
- K 3, k2tog, k 15, k2tog, k 3, k2tog, k 16, k2tog, k 3. P 1 row.
- K 2, k2tog, k 15, k2tog, k 1, k2tog, k 16, k2tog, k 2. 40 stitches remain.

Knit 1 row and then cast off all stitches. - Either cast off by turning the bootie inside out – including the needles, distributing the remaining stitches on 2 needles and knitting all the remaining stitches together. Or simply cast off and then seam the stitches. I prefer knitting the stitches together, that way I don’t have to seam.
Alternatively, the kitchener stitch can be used here. It might give the smoothest result.

Finishing:
Pull an i-cord / a cord / a band through the yarnover-holes.

Update to last post

Knitter #1 messaged me today, explaining why I hadn't heard from her in a while. Apparently, she was snowed under with work and other stuff. Seems like I jumped to a conclusion a little too early.

Ravelry = Schmavelry?

I'm a bit upset right now, and it's all Ravelry's fault. Well, not really Ravelry's fault, but it's sort of the cause for my anger. I had some yarn in the "trade/sell" section of my stash, and was contacted by another knitter who was interested in that particular yarn. I agreed to swap the yarn because I thought this would be easier than selling. Just before we exchanged postal addresses, another knitter wrote to me, willing to buy the very same yarn. But as I had promised it to the first knitter, I had to say no.

Anyways, knitter #1 and I exchanged addresses, and she said she'd mail the yarn she wanted to swap with me in the next couple of days. I myself, on the other hand, didn't get to mail the yarn she wanted only before Easter (even though I hadn't received anything in return yet). Because I had mailed a few things before that did not arrive at the addressee, I decided to go with a registered letter. The mail person gave me a receipt with a tracking number, so I could check where letter was. So, that's how I know that the yarn landed at the address I was given. However, I haven't heard a thing from knitter #1 since. Not even after I messaged her to ask if she had received the yarn she had wanted to swap. (Needless to say that my letter box remains pretty empty - no yarn)

I guess it's quite logic that I'm pretty pissed off right now. So far, I learned that knitters and the knitting community are very nice and generous; but now, knitters rip off other knitters. I'm not sure if I'm more upset or more disappointed.

Update

I found the article! (I knew I could do it!) It's in the Winter 2008 issue of Interweave Knits, and it's called "The Historian: (D)evolving Traditions In Faroe", written by Robin Hansen. Sadly, there are no book recommendations. But I think I'll do some research with the help of the article; let's see what I can find out about Faroese knitting!

Book(s) Wanted!

Friends from Australia are coming for a visit in summer. But before they are coming to Munich, they'll be stopping over at the Faroe Islands. Faroe Islands? Exactly - Knitter's Paradise! That's what I was thinking. I recall reading an article or blog post or something about Faroese Knitting, I just don't remember where I saw it.

Anyways, I asked my friends if they could bring some knitting books from the Faroe Islands with them. But then I thought I should make a preselection of books because my friends aren't knitters. Picking the right book for a knitter would be really unfair, wouldn't it? But, are there any knitting books from Faroe that would make a good souvenir? Or yarns or knitting accessories, are there any recommendations? And I'm going to think really hard about that article that I read... I think it was about the pros and cons of modern (aka machine) knitting on Faroe. If only I could remember where it was...

Yarn Sale!

Just recently I took stock of my yarn stash, and it really has grown out of proportion. I have quite a few yarns that I don't like any more (there's nothing wrong with them, I just realized that the colors aren't "me" anymore). That's why I'm putting them up for sale, together with a few books that I have hardly looked at since I bought them, so I figured I should get rid of them as well.

I will only charge pretty much what I paid for the stuff, or even less (because I don't remember how much a few things were). Prices exclude shipping! Please contact me (knitfreak[@]web[.]de), and I'll find out what the shipping will cost.

Schachenmayr Extra Merino, originally uploaded by d.knit.

14 balls of Schachenmayr Nomotta Extra Merino
40 Euros
Color: 56 (dark petrol)
Yardage: approx. 138 yards / 50gr
100% Merino
SOLD!

GGH Solitaire, originally uploaded by d.knit.

9 balls of GGH Solitaire (I knit a gauge swatch with one of the balls - the swatch is included)
25 Euros
Color: 34 (please also look at the color card on the GGH-website as this color is really hard to photograph!)
Yardage: approx. 143 yards / 50gr
44% wool, 43% acrylic, 13% Elité

Baby Soft, originally uploaded by d.knit.

2 skeins of Baby Soft by Wolle Rödel, a store brand of my LYS
4 Euros
Color: pale yellow
Yardage: approx. 115 yards / 50gr
50% rayon, 50% acrylic

Funny sock yarn, originally uploaded by d.knit.

2 balls of Funny Strumpf Color by Coats
5 Euros
Yardage: 409 yards / 100gr
75% superwash wool, 25% nylon
These balls came from a factory outlet, so there's only one ball band for all of them.
SOLD!

Regia Nation Colors, originally uploaded by d.knit.

3 balls of Regia Nation Color
7 Euros
Color: red/white or white/red
Yardage: 230 yards / 50gr
75% superwash wool, 25% nylon
These balls came from a factory outlet, so there's only one ball band for all of them.

rainbow sock yarn, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 ball of Sport&Strumpfwolle Color Extrastark sock yarn by Wolle Rödel, a store brand of my LYS - I knitted a gauge swatch already which is included
2 Euros
Yardage: 328 yards / 100gr
75% wool, 25% polyamide
SOLD!



The following sock yarns are a bit like "mystery" yarns. They all came from a small online yarn shop which produces only small amounts of colors at a time. Some of the yarns had all their information on the website only; I did write the details down but last year, my old laptop crashed and all the information got lost. So, I'll write down as much as I can remember. All skeins are enough for a decent pair of socks though (well, maybe not if you're Bigfoot). The yarns aren't plied, they knit up beautifully though - examples here and here.

Lotusblüte, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 skein of Lotusblüte (lotus blossom) by Ewas Sockenwolle
3,50 Euros
Yardage: 430 yards / 100gr
wool, polyamide, spandex
SOLD!

Godetia, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 skein of Godetia by Ewas Sockenwolle
3,50 Euros
unknown yardage, approx. 100gr
contains wool, polyamide
SOLD!

Park Princess, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 big skein of Park Princess by Ewas Sockenwolle
4,50 Euros
unknown yardage, skein weighs about 140gr
contains several strands of cotton/polyamide and one strand of viscose/cotton
SOLD!

Ringelblume, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 skein of Ringelblume (Calendula) by Ewas Sockenwolle
3,50 Euros
unknown yardage
contains mainly cotton
SOLD!

Doro, originally uploaded by d.knit.

1 skein of Doro (that's my name!) by Ewas Sockenwolle
3,50 Euros
Yardage: 394 yards / 100gr
wool, polyamide

Baeuerliches Stricken I, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Part I of the Bäuerliches Stricken-Trilogy by Lisl Fanderl, as reviewed in the Spring 08-issue of Interweave Knits. This is a used edition of 1976; it has a name written on the first page, the symbol explanation taped inside and a plastic jacket. Apart from that it is in a very good shape.
Hard cover
13,50 Euros
SOLD!

Hollywood Knits, originally uploaded by d.knit.

"Hollywood Knits" by Suss Cousins
2002 hard cover edition
7 Euros
-Reserved-

Modern Lace Knitting, originally uploaded by d.knit.

"Modern Lace Knitting" by Marianne Kinzel
1972 soft cover edition, has some sticker marks on front and back cover bottom
6 Euros
SOLD!

Shadow Knitting, originally uploaded by d.knit.

"Shadow Knitting" by Vivian Hoxbro
2004 soft cover edition - as new! I flicked through it about twice
10 Euros
SOLD!

Stitch'n Bitch Nation, originally uploaded by d.knit.

"Stitch'n Bitch Nation" by Debbie Stoller
2004 soft cover edition - as new! I flicked through it once
9 Euros
SOLD!



And, without a photo, "Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair" by Laurie Perry
2007 soft cover edition
6 Euros


And finally, I'd like to put my yarn swift for sale. I just bought it on ebay, and when I wanted to use it for the first time I found out that it was too small for the hank of yarn I wanted to use (Wollmeise sock yarn). The swift is old but works fine as far as I can tell; it can be fastened to a table and it is very easy to handle.

Yarn swift, originally uploaded by d.knit.

It comes in a small box, along with instructions in German. The instruction includes a picture of how the swift should look like when it's all set up, so you don't really need to speak the language. The swift is so simple, it's pretty much self-explanatory.

Yarn swift box, originally uploaded by d.knit.

8 Euros
SOLD!


Everything comes from a loving, smoke and pet free home.

Melbourne, Part II

I love walking through China town in Melbourne, especially because there's no such thing here in Munich. So, on our holiday, K and I had lots of Asian food - we really miss it here. There are Asian restaurants in Munich, some good (there's a lovely Thai place near our house, but it's quite pricey), but most of them are tacky take-away places.

Anyways, Melbourne - China town. It's a cool place to be, there's always something to discover like the bar next to the Asian dumpling place where there used to be a parking lot, and there was a game of bingo going on when we stopped by. (One guy had called out a false bingo and then was presented 3 options: 1. buy drinks for everyone, 2. strip naked in front of everyone, or 3. have a glass of ice cubes put in his underpants for 10 seconds. He chose the ice, in case you wondered.) On the way to the car, we walked past this place:

MaoTheRestaurant, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Mao Please!

Federation Square wasn't fully finished when I left almost 5 years ago, so it was really interesting to be there and see how it had changed. There's a bar there, Transport, where we met up with friends a couple of nights.

DowntownMelbourne, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I love the view of Flinders Street Station, the old building tucked in between well, not really skyscrapers, but tall, modern buildings is just the mix of times and cultures that represents Melbourne to me.

One day K and I hit the road to Torquay, to go to the surf shops (this is where pretty much all the big companies come from) and to go to Bells Beach, where there's a surf competition every year. This year, it was on the Easter weekend, so we missed it. When we were at Bells Beach, there was only one surfer in the water, and he didn't surf much. Tough luck.

BellsBeach1, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I like this beach anyway, there's always a chance to see some good surfing action and even though I'm not much of a beach person, I like coming here.

On the way home, we saw this:

HomeOfVegemite, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Did you ever try Vegemite? (Or Marmite if you're in Britain) It is very typical for Australia; my theory is that you have to grow up with it in order to like it.

The coffee K had at Macro:

Coffee!, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I once read that Melbourne had the best coffee outside Italy, a coffee loving nation par excellence. I have to agree - I never had a coffee in Melbourne that I didn't like (and I'm fussy about my coffee!).

Last but not least, some knitting content. Before the holiday I started knitting Stefanie Japel's Orangina with Rowan 4ply cotton.

OranginaPattern, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I like the yarn, I've made the Victoria Tank with it before and the pattern repeat is actually exactly the same. Because the Victoria Tank is a bit tight (especially under the arms) I really want Orangina to fit but I have a very hard time measuring the gauge. Actually, the measuring part is the easy part, I just can't seem to count the stitches. I started knitting with the recommended needles but it looked like I didn't have enough stitches. So, I ripped it and went up a needle size, but I'm already dreading the moment when I have to count the stitches again. Is there a trick to count stitches in a lace pattern? How do you do that? Oh well... I'm not looking forward to that one.

Holiday... celebrate...

Warning: picture-heavy post ahead, the photos might take a while to load!

The vacation was perfect. It was the first time in 2.5 years that I got to get away from home and relax (going to my parents' place for a weekend - while it's nice - doesn't really count). I got to breathe through, leave everything behind me and relax. We actually stayed all the time - 3 weeks - in Melbourne, despite having planned on going to Byron Bay for a couple of days. But in the end we scraped that, as there were too many friends to catch up with and too much to see; and we really didn't want a completely planned out holiday where we had to stick to a schedule.

We had to leave Munich early in the morning, the plane left at 7am so we got a taxi at 4.15am. On the way to the airport, I turned on my mobile phone and received a message that our flight to London (our route was London-Hong Kong-Melbourne) had been cancelled and that I should either go online or call the service number. Okay, online I couldn't do, and I knew that calling the service number wouldn't help because no one was working there until 8am. So we went to the airline's service counter at the airport and waited there with a bunch of soccer fans - Bayern Munich had played Aberdeen FC the night before, and Aberdeen had lost. Many of the fans seemed to have stayed the night at the airport, and now they were told that their flight was cancelled... you can imagine how pissed off they were. Fortunately, an airline employee found a batch of like 30 seats on a different plane for them, so most of them left and the line got visibly shorter. Then, however, travelers to the US got taken care of first (apparently, it didn't matter much to the airline that we had a plane to catch as well), so we had to wait in line until we got to the counter. They ended up putting us on a plane to Cologne, and then from Cologne to London, cutting our stay in London just about 1 hour short (we should have had 4 hours, so it wasn't too bad).

Sunrise_on_a_plane, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I took this picture on the flight to Cologne because the sight was so beautiful... it really marks the start of our holiday!! Then in Cologne we had to rush because we had to get our boarding passes and only about 1 hour time. The lady at the airline counter was really sweet to us, and while we waited we saw 2 TV-celebrities (we only waited about 20 minutes)! This can only happen in Cologne as quite a few TV channels are headquartered here. Then, after security (the guy there even made me take off my hooded cardigan! I was about to ask him if he wanted me to take off more of my clothes), off we went to London Heathrow and caught our plane to Melbourne without any problems. Even our luggage arrived in Melbourne with us, I was really happy about that because I feared that our stuff would get lost somewhere in transit.

And before you might wonder, no, I did not knit on the various flights; I didn't even pack any knitting! Now stop looking at me like this, I knew I wasn't allowed to take knitting needles on board and I didn't feel like trying to bring wooden needles. Plus I knew that I probably wouldn't feel like knitting because the flight was so long (about 12 hours to Hong Kong, 2 hours at the airport there, then about 8 hours to Melbourne), and I was right about it. After about 2 hours on the way to Melbourne I just wanted to get off the plane and lie in a real bed. So, no knitting on the plane, and no knitting for me in 3 weeks. To be honest, I didn't even miss it. But then again, we were so busy and hardly stayed a night in; over here, I usually knit in front of the TV (which I didn't watch in Melbourne). And I only went to a yarn shop once, but only because K took the initiative and made me go. It was the same shop he took me to when I lived with him 5 years ago, so it was kind of a nostalgic visit.

It was so good to be back in Melbourne! I hadn't been back in 4.5 years, and it was a bit weird because it felt so normal. So... right, like I was meant to be back. Anyways, even though we were there for 3 weeks, time was too short to see everything we wanted to, but we did get to see lots of new places. I noticed a lot of graffiti (like the one below), probably because there's hardly any in Munich.

StKildaGraffiti, originally uploaded by d.knit.

The graffiti is in a side street in St. Kilda, an inner city suburb of Melbourne at the beach. Not too far from the graffiti is Luna Park, an amusement park with roller coasters and stuff. The entrance is just beautiful:

LunaPark2, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Right next to Luna Park is the Palais Theatre, (sorry, no link!) a very beautiful building but I think it's empty now after the neighboring Palace nightclub burned down just a few years ago. I hope they renovate the place and reopen it, it's just a very nice place.

PalaisTheatre, originally uploaded by d.knit.

And finally, a photo with knitting content! It's a close up of the cardigan I've been making all fall and winter, and it won't be finished until spring is in full bloom. Talk about perfect timing... I really like the pattern and the yarn (100% alpaca...), but I'm starting to hate the cardigan. I had to rip the first sleeve to the cuff because all of a sudden, the tension wasn't right any more and the sleeve would have fit an orang-utan; I made a mistake with the cabling of the second front-half, so I had to rip most of that too; I didn't get the waist shaping right of the first front-half and some of the back, so I had to rip some there as well. I'm now knitting the second sleeve, and I can't wait when I'm done with that! Hopefully without ripping it. Then, there's "just" the button band left and sewing it together and all that stuff. And hopefully, it'll fit after all that!

GlamCardiganPattern, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Coming up soon: more vacation photos, and a stash sale including a couple of books! My stash is just too big for my apartment and I have quite a few mispurchases that I'd like to get rid of. There's nothing wrong with those yarns, I just don't like them any more or wouldn't knit with them... you know how it goes, sometimes you just have to have a certain yarn, then it sits in your stash and when you look at it again it's suddenly not as nice any more. So, stay tuned for more!

Winding balls

...must hurt. (Okay, that's my really bad joke for today. I'll be more serious now)
I have more and more yarn in hanks, and recently, I received a hell lot of cashmere yarn on cones (and I'm talking serious hell... like almost a kilo (that's more than 2 pounds!) per cone on 3 cones and more than half a kilo on 2 more cones. So, I reckon it's time to get a ball winder (or to have K give me one for Christmas). Now this is where YOU guys come in - can you recommend any brand? Anything that I (or K) should pay attention to when buying? Do you know any good places to buy them (well, obviously this would be done over the internet, as the local yarn shops don't sell anything like a ball winder because they don't sell yarn in hanks), or is amazon.com sufficient enough? Is a swift absolutely necessary, or can I do without, at least for a while? Any comment is appreciated, thanks! (well, unless it's spam)

Coffee packet arrived!

Ever since my Coffee Swap 3 packet arrived I thought I'd really install the camera software and upload some photos... but as my written exam is only 2 weeks away and the workload is killing me... well, some other time.

Anyways, my pal Tigerduck spoiled me rotten! She sent me

• 2 packets of gorgeous coffee beans from Whole Foods (Espresso Sierra and French Roast) - those beans are almost too perfect and beautiful to grind
• 2 hanks of wonderful Blue Skyes Alpaca in a 50% alpaca, 50% silk mix which is incredibly soft, in a rich emerald green
• beautiful stitch markers in a matching green
• 2 little packets of white beads (after all, I'm planning on making Grumperina's Odessa some time)
  
• a coffee mug
• shortbread cookies
• chocolate chunks
• scented candles
• a postcard with a sheep

Thank you so much Tigerduck, you're the bestest pal ever! I hope to post pictures some time, you might have to wait till my (next) exam is over. Hope you received my packet by now!

On the knitting front, I started the left front of my alpaca cardigan (the one that I didn't show you yet... like so many other things) and I just turned the heel on the first sock for my Dad for Christmas (I started that last week or so). I probably won't get much knitting done over the next few weeks (due to the e-word) and definitely none or not much tonight as K and I are going out to a fancy restaurant (Thai) for dinner because today's my birthday. Happy birthday me!

No news is good news...

...or so they say. My foot, or my feet and knees as I should rather say, are indeed getting better. My physiotherapist is very happy with and surprised by the progress I've made so far. Thanks for all your comments and well-wishes!

In knitting news, I (finally!) finished the Sockapaloooza socks for my pal. Now all I have left to do is weave in the ends, give the socks a wash and get some goodies for my pal as apology for the socks being late. I did start something new in between though... I saw a gorgeous cardigan in a German knitting magazine, and I just had to cast on! It's the same incredibly soft alpaca yarn as the K_sweater (ahem... the K_sweater is sitting on top of a box, waiting to be put together... but the turtle neck is too tight, so I'll have to reknit it), so knitting it will be a joy! And I will have to squeeze in some baby knitting, so many people I know are having babies this year and next year. Something must have been in the air somewhere...

I'm writing this post on K's laptop today because the screen of my own laptop died last week. Fortunately, my thesis is saved on a usb-stick, but the past 4 years of my life in files are on this laptop. This means I don't know when I'll be posting my next pictures, as the camera software is - you guessed it - on the other computer where I normally saved my photos. All of them. So I'll have to do some sweet-talking to K to let me install the software on his laptop and save my photos here...
Now, back to work. The deadline is approaching waaaay too fast!

Sale

No, not here. HERE! Please go there and have a look, Christine wants to get rid of all her knitting stuff. If you don't find anything you like please check back again after a few days, as she puts on more stuff as she goes.

Hello again

I didn't blog for quite a while, even missing my blogiversary. What should I say, life has got in between me and my blog, and honestly, after this post I don't know when the next post will follow. I feel I just can't do it right now. I'm still knitting, reading blogs, following the knitting scene, just not blogging. Some of the reasons for this I don't feel like talking about, and another major reason was that I was sick the past weeks. Basically from the end of June onwards.

One day my right heel started to hurt, just like a sore muscle. Two days later, the pain got stronger, and my ankle was swollen - so much that I could not see the ankle bones any more. Well, off to the doctor I went, and I was diagnosed with Achilles tendinitis. Ouch! Anyone who ever had this knows it is tedious and painful... and I learned that I'm not as patient as I thought I was.

Well, about a week or two into the tendinitis, my left heel started off like the right one. Only this time I went to the doctor straight away. Diagnosis: Achilles tendinitis. Fortunately, not as bad as the other one. Soon after this though, my left knee started hurting when I bent it (like you do when getting up from a chair, or sitting down, or when walking stairs - I live on the third floor (fourth floor for my American readers) without an elevator), followed by the right one. The good thing with my knees was that nothing major was affected. The bad thing: due to my tendinitis, I was moving my body differently which caused my knee pain - the knees were overexcited. I was, too. Especially as other joints like my shoulders, elbows and wrists, even one of my thumbs, were giving me trouble, too. On top of that, I couldn't walk a) fast and b) far. I pretty much spent July in the streets around my house, walking to the doctor was the furthest I'd go. I didn't work much either because of the pain I was in: sometimes, I'd wake in the middle of the night because my ankle or knee hurt so much. Getting up in the mornings wasn't much better either, because apparently what's typical for a tendinitis is that it hurts most in the morning and in the evening. Yay me. (And I didn't even tell you about the edema in my feet... they made my feet look like I weighed 200 kilos. Fortunately, the edema are gone, but now the skin is very stressed and wrinkly.)

So, why did I get an Achilles tendinitis in the first place, you might ask? Well, I don't do much sports, especially not lately. I didn't twist my ankle, I didn't wear shoes that were too tight for the Achilles tendon, I didn't suddenly do workout, nothing like that. In fact, I didn't do anything exceptional. Turns out that my pelvis is lopsided, or something like that (I have to ask my physiotherapist again, I didn't quite understand it yet), and it probably was for a long time, eventually causing all this crap. And while I'm better now (though still not back to normal, not even close), it's going to take me quite a while until it's going to be good. I reckon another few months until I can seriously think about starting to work out. Until then... wish me luck!

Guess what arrived..?

sock parcel, originally uploaded by d.knit.

My sock pal's parcel! Ruth did an amazing job:

sockpal_sock, originally uploaded by d.knit.

The pattern is called Dublin Bay, the yarn is Lorna's Laces Uptown, colorway No mods. The fit is just perfect! The picture doesn't do the color justice though, but I couldn't make a better one. Modeling socks is kinda hard right now, with all the tendinitis stuff going on... makes the feet pretty immobile.

Ruth didn't stop here though. She sent me this gorgeous yarn:

LL Swirl DK, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Lorna's Laces Swirl DK in Argyle. Swirl DK is 85% merino and 15% silk. Lucky me!

knit xmas ornament, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Then, Ruth sent me this cute little knitting Christmas ornament. She actually handmade it herself! It will definitely get a special spot on my Christmas fir branches (my place is way too small for an actual tree, but I buy some fir branches and decorate them for a seasonal feeling).
Ruth didn't stop here though: she sent me a cute little monkey purse and a local specialty: Jelly Beans! I can't believe I still have some left... I'm trying to eat less sweets, but the Jelly Beans are going to be savored this weekend!

Ruth, I was very lucky to be your pal. I couldn't have had a better one! Thank you so much!

My sock pal, on the other hand, (the one I'm knitting for) is slightly worse off. I still haven't finished her socks (I told her that they'll be late though) and I'm afraid they might be a little large for her. She's almost my foot size, only 0.5cm smaller (0.2in), and the sock fits me well. Oh well... I hope she likes the pattern!

sockapaloooza sock1, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Here's a detailed shot:

sock detail, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I'm approaching the heel of sock #2, and I hope not to take much longer.

In the meantime I did get to finish my Baudelaire socks, the larger version with larger cables:

BaudelaireSock, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Pic with my messy apartment in the background... don't know why the Baudelaire photos are so small; if I'm up to it, I might post larger ones, but don't set your hopes high.

Here's a detailed shot of the heel view:

Baudelaire_detail, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Alrightey, what else was on my "To-Blog" list..? Oh yeah, I received my Ravelry invite a while ago (you might have noticed the Ravelry button in the sidebar). My name there is dknit, pop in and say hello!
I wanted to thank Erica for sending me this gorgeous book (sorry, no pics, I was too eager to open the parcel!), some yummy Tofutsies yarn in color "Sweep you off your feet" and a sock blocker keychain sock. Or is it keychain sock blocker sock thingy? I guess you know what I mean. The packet arrived already on Tuesday, mea culpa for not thanking earlier! Thanks Erica! In case you are wondering how I deserved such a great parcel, I promised Erica to help her with the translation of these books.

I think that's it for today - see you next time! Whenever that may be...

Yarn + Pattern = Socks

Finally, finally, I received the yarn I wanted for my sock pal! Getting the yarn was quite an experience, because I wanted this specific bamboo yarn by Zitron as it has a very good reputation. Plus, it had to be a solid color, as I'm planning on knitting a pattern, and I think the more complicated the pattern, the better it gets with solid colors.

The only problem was... this yarn is not sold in Munich. Nowhere. And I found only 1 online-store that sells this yarn in solids. Shipping is 5€ (almost 7US$). I only needed 1 (one) skein, and didn't see why I should pay more than half of what the skein costs for shipping, on top of the yarn price. So I asked the company which shop in Munich sold this particular bamboo yarn. They sent me a few addresses, only one in Munich, and off I went. Turns out that this particular shop sells Zitron yarns, but not the sock range. Damn! But: the owner, a very nice lady, offered that if I know the color I want, she could make a few phone calls and try to get the yarn for me. (Did I mention I *heart* this store?) So, that's what we did. Granted, it took a little while, but I was in no hurry and 2 weeks after I ordered the yarn through this lady, I came to pick it up. Happy me! It was totally worth the wait.

My sock pal didn't leave me any (!) color preferences, so I just took a wild guess what colors she might like after looking at her blog. This is what I came up with:

pronatura_moss, originally uploaded by d.knit.

The colorway is moss. I quite like it, but I don't think I'd wear it. I don't mean this in a degrading way; there are just colors that I like, but they wouldn't suit me much (yeah, like this one here!) The yarn is really lovely, nice and soft and squishy. And it has a nice shimmer to it, not too shiny, just right. The bamboo part is 25% and is supposed to make the yarn lighter and a bit less warming; the wool share is 75% which guarantees elasticity and stuff, just like in other regular sock yarns.

As for the pattern, I chose this one:


It's called "Dancing into May", and it's a pattern of the Socken-Kreativ-Liste (Creative Socks List), a yahoo group that I recently joined. If you're interested in the group, don't let the language scare you off. There's tons of members (over 1,000), many of them are English speakers themselves, and most of the patterns are offered in English as well.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to how the socks turn out! I already started them the other day, but didn't get past a few rows on the cuff - I just turned the heel on my second Baudelaire sock, so I'm kinda into that right now. But the Sockapalooza Sock should take over soon!

Finally...

...I get to pick up the yarn for my Sockapalooza pal! I wanted a certain yarn (Zitron Trekking Pro Natura, with 25% real bamboo fiber) which I couldn't find in any yarn shop in Munich. Plus, I didn't want the variegated stuff because I'm planning on knitting a (lace) pattern, and in my opinion many nice patterns suck if they are knitted with variegated yarn as they become almost invisible. And only one online shop seemed to have single-colored skeins of the Pro Natura stuff, but their shipping fees drove me away. After all, I just wanted ONE skein of yarn!

Anyways, a few weeks ago I found Munich's best yarn shop (love it! More about the shop later), and even though the owner didn't stock the Pro Natura yarn (not even Zitron's sock yarn, although she stocks other yarns of this company), she offered to try and order some from some other shop. If she had to order from the yarn company directly, she would have to get a whole kilo (aka 10 skeins), which would be too much for her. But, in the past she "swapped" yarn with some other shop owner if her customers wanted yarn she didn't have in stock. Lucky me!
So, I'm going to pick up my yarn later; unfortunately, I can't take any pictures until the weekend is over as the camera is with K on the way to a friend's wedding. I have to stay home and work on my thesis (bloody thing), even though I would have loved to go to the wedding. Oh well... maybe this gives me time for some Saturday Night blogging.

Knitting on TV

I just found this video on YouTube - it's in German only though. It's a report on a local public TV station on a knitting group in Cologne, saying that knitting was en vogue again. I'm just wondering who was convinced by this statement...

More news some time soon, I'm trying to stay focused on my thesis (not that that would happen much). I'd have lots to post about, but not the time. Oh well... some day!

Surprise, surprise

...the new Summer '07 Interweave Knits arrived yesterday! Wow, they're actually (almost) on time, I can't believe it. Seems like the nagging has finally paid off. I still have to take a closer look though. The patterns in the preview weren't so great, but who knows?

One thing that confused me a bit though were the two-color (or so) hats. They look really warm, and the models in the pictures wear warm jackets as well. So, why publish such a pattern in the summer issue?

Stolen List

You've probably seen this list somewhere before, as it's doing its round on the interweb... but my last post was kinda meh and I don't really find the time to write a real, knitting-related post, so I thought I'd post this instead. As close to knitting as I can get these days! (I've been seaming the second sleeve on the K_sweater lately, and that doesn't really count as knitting). But I've decided to add comments to the list, I think that's a tad more interesting to read than just the list.

Anyways, I stole this list from the knitty professor; bold is for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing and red underneath you'll find my two cents. Here we go!

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
I-cord rocks!
Garter stitch
oh come on, who hasn't done this?
Knitting with metal wire
sounds painful to me...
Shawl (wrap?)
where's the difference anyway?
Stockinette stitch
yeah, and next you'll ask me if I ever made a knit and a purl stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
just doing so
Knitting with camel yarn
I once smoked a Camel, does this count?
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Baby you can leave your hat on...
Knitting with silk
mmh... silk!
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
I guess I did a few of those unintentionally when I learned to knit
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
I prefer eating bananas
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
I already forgot what this is, but it sounds interesting!
Charity knitting
I have to put it in the mail... should do that soon.
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
yeah right... and then it didn't fit me. Gauge matters!
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
I don't spin. My head does sometimes, though
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
this is how we do it here
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
love it... the more complicated, the better!
Lace patterns
see above
Publishing a knitting book
come on, who doesn't want to do this?!
Scarf
that's how I started
Teaching a child to knit
depends on the kid, I guess
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
nah... not really. (sorry guys!) Continental is way faster
Knitting to make money
sort of - I knitted some hats and got some money for it, but it wasn't much
Button holes
the cardigan had buttons
Knitting with alpaca
this is heaven! If I could afford it, I would always knit with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
I have to be careful with my tension
Norwegian knitting
the first things I made after scarves and hats were Norwegian mittens
Dying with plant colors
dying in general, yes; doesn't HAVE to be plant colors though
Knitting items for a wedding
maybe for my own... but as this is still a long time from now, I'll have plenty of time
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
I'd like to make a tea cozy, but I don't have a tea pot (yet)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
reminds me that I should get some more circulars
Olympic knitting
yes, I was one of the - how many people took part?
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
like Christmas-themed knitting???
Teaching a male how to knit
K was the lucky one... but I don't know how much he remembers
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
I'm not THAT crazy!
Knitting with cotton
That's nice in summer!
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
I already have the yarn for this, hehe!
Steeks
that would be too much for my nerves!
Knitting art
isn't all knitting art?
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
the basics
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
me likey!
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Yeah! Gauge matters!
Long Tail CO
... also called German CO...
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backward
tink, tink, tink...
Machine knitting
I've been told that my knitted stuff looks like from a machine... but I'm not sure if this is a compliment
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
who hasn't?
Stuffed toys
Baby items
instant gratification - they're so tiny!
Knitting with cashmere
does a cashmere mix count?
Darning
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
isn't this the same as designing knitted garments?
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
definitely!
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
pulse warmers rock for cold hands!
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
I love knitty!
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
...almost always...
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
???
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Yep! Once or twice a week

Film and Books

K and I are going to see this film tonight... should be interesting. There's a documentary film festival going on in Munich right now until Thursday, maybe we'll find the time to see a few more. Even though we have lived here for a couple of years now, we never went to see a film of that festival. It's not that we don't like documentaries; I don't even know why we never went so far.

Yesterday, I spent half the afternoon hunting down a couple of knitting books on the internet. One is a series of 3 books called "Bäuerliches Stricken" (= rural knitting), and it shows patterns and socks and vests and and and of rural Bavaria and Austria. It's been out of print for a while now, since it had been first published in the 1970s. I heard a lot of great things about these books and almost bought them while they were still in regular bookshops (as opposed to second hand bookshops), as they were (actually, they still are) among the best knitting books in German.
The other book I've been searching is called "Omas Strickgeheimnisse" (= Nana's knitting secrets), and it's also out of print. But I found a bookshop (in Munich!) that apparently can order this one from the publisher. I'm going there on monday, so keep your fingers crossed they told me the truth! And if you can get hold on one of those books, grab one! They're supposed to be really really good; and even though there's rumors every now and then (like last summer) that a new edition is coming out, so far there isnt.

Baudelaire is coming along quite well, I pretty much finished the foot part and am into the heel now. Sorry, no pic, I'm knitting it on dpn's and it's getting harder to try it on.
Baudelaire is also something I might consider making for my sock pal. As for colors, I'm still not decided, but I gave contacting her another thought. I guess that she didn't give me much specifications so that I had some freedom regarding color and pattern, so that's what I'm doing. As for the yarn I still have no idea, but I've only been to one yarn shop (inside a department store) so far. I'll definitely take a look at wool/bamboo and wool/cotton mixes; if I can find a nice color, then I'll go for a mix. If not, then I'll take a look at a 3- or 4-ply wool yarn. Thanks for all your comments, they really helped me! And just in case I'm not making Baudelaire, it's definitely going to be a lace pattern.

Do you still remember this sweater? In this color?


I finally came to sense again and decided it's not a color for me. I like it because it's bright, but I have a pale complexion (sometimes in school, my teachers would ask me if I was sick because I was so pale. But I wasn't sick.) and blonde hair. So, there you go, and now I have 9 balls (I'm pretty sure it's 9) of GGH Solitaire in color #34 sitting around. One ball has been touched as I made a gauge swatch, but the others are just like when the shop mailed them to me. If there's anyone out there wanting to give the yarn a new home and take them off my hands in exchange for a few $$, then email me at knitfreak@web.de.

Summer IK

I just found out that the preview for the Summer issue of Interweave Knits is online. And I have to say... meh. At the first glance, it doesn't strike me as that great; but then again, I sometimes need some time to let something grow on me. Maybe I'm still angry at IK for always arriving late in my post box; even the replacements they send take ages (there should be one on the way, supposedly mailed on March 10. Still not here.)

It's May next week, and I somehow doubt that the Summer issue is going to be here in time. Last time when I complained to IK Customer Services, the lady there told me to find out the postal service and ask them why it's taking so long. Hello? I'm used to bad customer service here in Germany, but not in the US!

Apparently, the mailing issue is not a single phenomenon restricted to Germany. I've heard from the same problems going on in Sweden, and in Australia (they seem to have sorted them out, though). So, why doesn't IK go and solve the problem with the postal service? After all, I'm a paying customer and I don't see the point in sorting out a problem for IK in my own time. But, what really bugs me is that IK is able to send out subscription renewal letters fairly quickly - however, if the magazine continues to arrive late I might unsubscribe. Being late combined with bad customer services is going to save me some money.