FOA*FOA*FOA *Finished object alert*

I can’t believe I actually finished my Business Casual socks (pattern) in time for the KAL that has been hosted at the Celtic Cast On. Just in time. Where are the times when I had enough knitting time to take part in two sock KALs at once and there was even time to knit on something else. Now I just manage to squeeze in enough time to get a pair of super short socks off the needles in two months…
No, I don’t whine, 'cause I do know where the time has gone. Things change, that’s how it is and I accept it. Am even happy with it!

Back to my Business Casual socks – as the yarn is rather thin I made them short, just two pattern repeats before I started the heel flap. I love how they came out, and I love the soft warm grey colour of this yarn. But to be honest, the yarn split like hell and it was no fun to do all those crossed  stitches. But that’s history, the socks are done, the yarn is used up, the socks will make me happy in the coming weeks as it is still cold in our neck of the woods, around 0°C, a few snow flakes coming down now and then, and a cold cold wind that makes everything worse. And the next fall/winter will come for sure.

Check some of the other socks from the KAL over at Kelly’s blog, there are some great colourways. Some people even knit more than one pair…

You can click on the photos to enlarge them but I promise to take better pics as soon as a few sun rays will hit our backyard while I am at home :-)

Business Casual Socks progress

Thanks for visiting!

 Tina

Yarn for the Business Casual Socks

Business Casual Socks Knitalong

After a really long time not having taken part in a kal I felt the urge to join in when I saw on Kelly’s blog that she is hosting a sock knitalong. There were different patterns to choose from and the majority of future participants voted for the Business Casual socks and so it is this pattern we are going to knit.

Start is on Feb 4th. Which is great as I have another week to finish my socks in progress aaaaand it looks as I am going to have some time to knit right on the fourth as I am going to pick up a foster dog at the airport, so there should be some waiting time… And I will be off work next week and even if I will do a lot with the dogs, there definitely will be some knitting time!!!

I have already chosen some yarn from my stash, it will be a soft, warm grey, without any ballband on it... But in a week I might also change my decision ;-) I'll keep you updated.

Thanks for visiting! Tina

Breakfast - Petit déjeuner

This was my breakfast this morning, French style with a bowl of milk coffee (un bol de café crème) and a piece of baguette (une tartine) with lemon marmalade, that needs to be dipped into the coffee each time before taking a bite. Tried to make my coffee smile :-)

What's the reason for wanting a breakfast like this?
Well... se do have tickets for the concerts of two French ladys - one of them will be Nolwenn Leroy, taking place next spring in France close to the German border. She was born in Britanny and has a lovely voice and sings beautiful songs, in French, in Breton, in English and even in Irish.
And then there is ZAZ coming to our town and this will even be sooner, in November. She has two hits in Germany, that I knew from the radio and liked, but since I have seen her on TV performing live I am totally hooked. She has such an energy!

So this morning, I just felt like doing a bit more for the French part of my soul...

Oh and while I was sitting there with the camera in my hand I thought I might also show you the view from the chair at the dining table I usually sit on, with my favourite cross stitch in sight and Josy looking down on me:

Thanks for coming over!
Tina

Budgie Key Chain

I think I have never posted about the key chain I have made a few months ago...
Made from a "Schleich" budgie in which I drilled a hole from back to belly (the Schleich company makes maaaaany little animals in different sizes), a few wooden beads, some stitching threads and a little hook. Love it. It holds the key for our garden door.

Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Knitting place in the shade

As long as the sun hasn't come around
the house yet it is lovely to sit on the patio in the cool shade, chair pulled back to the wall, knit or crochet, watch the birds or the doggies in the garden and be happy that I just can do that! Later in the day I do need the parasol otherwise it is too hot and bright. With much wind no parasol - so staying inside is the alternative, that's why I love to sit outside on my weekend a.m.'s

Wanna see some details? Here's the pale yellow hollyhock and one of the iron lizards. I love both.

Oh and here's little ol' me having grabbed the knitting and thrown myself into the chair :-)

Off now to exactly this special place!
Thanks for coming over!

Tina

Time for some pictures

I have finally found the time to sit down and get the pictures from my little camera to the pc and up here!

First the knitting:

The beginning of the first sleeve of Aberlady. Have changed to dpn, even thinner (1.75 mm) so it goes smoother to knit.

A pair of tiny socks for my friend S's baby boy.

My first Zigzag sock, the second is just past the heel, they will be ready for spring, as they are short and a cottonblend.

The dishcloths:

Then lets go over to see the pets. The gerbil cage, two different shots, a week inbetween to document their digging activity. In the meantime they have a second tank connected with this one. Sorry no picture of the ladys themselves yet...

The birds without the latest addition (Heli the cockateel):

And finally the doggies of course

As always click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Thanks for passing by!

This and that

It seems I fell off the Olympic wagon. But I didn't . Was just too busy/tired/hit with computer probs to post.
I did finish a few small things and I got on with my Aberlady sweater. And what is best: I finally found a solution so that knitting the sleeves is more fun, not so stressing to my hands/wrists, faster. I changed from the 2 mm circular that was ok for the body but I had to knit very tight to 1.75 dpn. So I can knit more relaxed which feels so much better. I love knitting that sweater again!

On the weather front: after one really warm and springlike weekend and a bad strom we had snow again last saturday, a cold north east wind and temperatures down to -5° C this morning.

And on the birdy-front: the cockateel has a mate of his own species. Couldn't leave him alone among 12 budgies... Now it's enough! No more additions.

Cuddy and Cameron the gerbils are so cute and smart little creatures, they got a new tank with dirt/wood chips to dig holes/search for their food in. I keep asking myself why I haven't gotten around to get gerbils again a whole lot sooner...

Thanks for passing by!

Cowl knit from my first handspun

This is it, just hot from the needles, not blocked which it needs. I used all the yarn, had an inch to weave from the cast on and about half an inch after the cast off. No waste here!
What can I say - objectively it might be ugly -but being my baby I just love it and think it is wonderful! So uneven but real yarn that I was able to knit from. I think you must be a spinner to understand what I am just going through at the moment. I could just carry it around everywhere I go and look at it all the time, just like a little kid with its favourite teddy... :-)))))

Harvest

This is what happened on Monday and Tuesday this week. The winter wheat is gone... It is seeded in fall and when we moved in in December it was little plants already soaking in all winter's rain water (and that of that one inch of snow we had for a few hours...) and growing on warm sunny days.

Kerbihan

Kerbihan, as we named our house, meaning "Little home" in Brezhoneg, the old language (with celtic roots) of Britanny. This is the view from craft room over the field to that orchard. It is nothing big, just a strip of meadow with a row of different fruit trees on it. Like cherries, pears, apples - more about those later in the year :-) , and definitely walnuts.

Sewing

Something else got accomplished over the weekend: I cut and seamed the curtains for the bedroom windows. Am very pleased with my work, though it seemed to take me ages – not the actual sewing but the preparations. I’ve never been much of a sewing girl, have a machine but that’s it… Have used it once or twice, for not more than straight seams on ordinary cotton fabric and this must have been nearly 10 years ago…
Want to use it more from now on, try to knit clothing and have that dream of a quilted bedspread (with our house’s name in the middle)…

Chrochet curtains in my mind

More projects in my head – want to make some curtains inspired by the traditional ones they have on the islands in Britanny. For the glass door. For the house door. For the kitchen maybe a small one. For the guest toilet to complete the Britanny decorations.

Getting on with walk-in closet instead of knitting

Ready to fill it with the clothes! Will have to buy a lamp on my way home from work today an put it up to the ceiling first.
Re knitting - a few rows on Clapotis during my lunch break is all I get done.

Weekend knitting???

Had things to do that were more important! Like get my hair cut. Like buy the wardrobes for our walk-in-closet. Like get them inside the house, heaviest package was heavier than me with its 52 kgs. Like get the pieces upstairs. Like setting the wardrobes up in the bedroom. I love to put together furniture bought at that Swedish store!
We also left some work for today and tomorrow: arranging the old mirror doors at the wall between the wardrobes, attach the wardrobes to each other and to the wall, put the "insides" inside and then finally empty the boxes and fill the closet...

Craft room progress

Found a desk in the nearest furniture store. Metal and glass. Nice looking. Good price. Wanted to buy it immediately. Not delivered to the magazine yet. Should be there already. Argh. Got the article number and their phone number - will check daily...

Went home and fixed the shelves to each other and the middle one to the wall. Ready to be fully loaded now. But only unpacked one small box of books. The knitting books. Had a short look at Aberlady in the Celtic Collection. Which I had planned to knit after Cromarty. And still plan! In my WIP (or better UFO?) box I found the three balls of yarn I bought to knit swatches with. Two in greyish greens that I really like but they will probabely be to bulky. Wouldn't mind a little math on the pattern to get them fitting, but I think it would totally change the look and the style of the sweater. The third one is a skein of Regia silk sock yarn. That is SO soft. I think that will do the trick. I know I just wrote the other day that I wouldn't buy any new yarn before using what I have - that is still right but what's wrong with swatching and making decicions???

But I do have something to talk about!

Last night we finished putting up the baseboards in the craft room. Nearly did the night before after we were done with those on the landing (same laminate flooring everywhere upstairs except the bathroom). But there was just one baseboard missing and we also needed two more corner pieces... Bought them yesterday and got everything done. Put the lamp up. Pushed all the boxes and the bird cage to the place where the future indoor aviary (two metres long, two high, one deep) will be and carried the shelves around to see how we'd get the most out of the room. Carried the two armchairs that formerly lived in our living room and that will now be my knitting-spinning-crocheting-birdwatching-podcastlistening- and his reading-and-birdwatching- chairs up from the basement and placed them at the wall across the birds and the shelves. Next to them and next to the window will go a desk or working table for sewing and painting and... and I could need a tiny coffee table or something for inbetween the two chairs.
THEN (after a dog walk and dinner and cleaning up the kitchen) I carefully opened the box with my sock yarn. Put the precious skeins and balls in the CD shelves, carefully thinking about in which order to place them. I love how this came out. Realised that I have to get some balls of solid colours to go with all those yarns I have already made a pair of socks with and that now are just a bit short for another one. Then I opened some more boxes. With more yarn. The big ball of white roving. The small bits of so beatifully coloured rovings. My spindle. The tiny ball of yarn I plyed from the singles that were on the spinning wheel when Sweetheart bought it. Added everything onto the shelf. Looks really great, just need to replace those blue covered plastic bins with some baskets or wood boxes.
Could nearly not stop my self from opening the box with the knitting books but it was late and I definitely couldn't keep my eyes open any more. So I took a shower and went to bed. First thing today on my way to the bathroom was to have a look inside the craft room. But not (only) to check if the birds are ok but to see how pretty my yarn looks! Will open the other boxes with the books today! Also with the binder with the printed patterns and the box with the magazines. And have a short look at them...
Oh and perhaps today I should really really really rip open all boxes to finally find that battery charger!!!!!!!!!!!! Some pics here would be so nice.