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Showing posts from 2014

Birth of a cardigan - De geboorte van een vest

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This Summer has been mostly spent working on ' Pumpkin Ale ' by Ysolda Teague, or 'Guinness Froth', as the cardi was soon re-baptized. It has been quite a project! From sorting the yarn, to washing and carding, spinning and knitting, and then inserting sewn pockets (wah), it all took just over 4 months. And yes, it was fun, although I did have quite a few 'This is never gonna get done' moments! Especially at the start of the knitting, there was a lot of doubt... Is this going to be soft enough? Is my gauge not horrifically off? How am I going to adjust the pattern to this yarn? In the end, all was well... Deze zomer heb ik vooral gewerkt aan ' Pumpkin Ale ' van Ysolda Teague, of 'Guinness Froth', zoals het vest al snel werd gedoopt. Het was echt een groot project! Van het sorteren van de wol tot wassen, kaarden, spinnen en breien, oh, en dan de zakken er nog in (ah), duurde het net iets meer dan vier maanden. En ja, het was leuk! Hoewel ik we

Spindle tripping - Toch tollen op vakantie

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Of course, I just had to stash the spindle into my craft bag... Guinness Froth is coming along nicely. I finished the back, front side panels and am working on the first sleeve. Knitting short rows for a sleeve head in a dimly lit tent, however, is not something I'd recommend. The spindle had fun watching the world pass by when we were on the Rhine, got a bit dizzy watching Mermaid going round and round in Moviepark Germany and enjoyed a few relaxed hours on the campsite and next to the pool. I also packed  4 extra (small) knitting projects. Which I didn't knit, but hey, it's better to bring too much than too little! In Mainz we passed a fun yarn shop. And no, not this one  (grrrr, which I only find about now!) but  this one . Also fun, but not very exciting. I did buy a few skeins of German yarn, of course! Natuurlijk moest de tol toch ook mee op vakantie... Guinness Froth schiet lekker op. Ik heb het rugpand en de zijpanelen klaar en ben nu aan de eerste mouw begonne

Recap or restart? - Terugblikken of vooruitkijken?

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The last few months have been hectic. The ease of use of Facebook and Twitter almost made me forget there was something called a blog, so both the craft and family blog were grossly neglected. I could recap about everything I have done, made, experienced and been through, but that would take me forever. So, instead, a glance back over my shoulder at last weekend. We were in Orvelte, where we enjoyed a sunbaked day among the sheep and other crafty folk. With great music and a great atmosphere. Lovely people and lovely yarn, wool and other things. Me and the Mermaid suffered from bad sleep deprivation (it was the morning after the night before - World Cup quarter finals, with a penalty shoot-out way way way past our bedtime), and I was glad that I had been so smart to sort everything out for the fair on the Friday and loaded the car up on the Saturday afternoon. Me and Mermaid picked up Judith on the way. She had a bag full of fleece to card, so she spent a lot of time demonstrating