Summer 2012 Family Time!

I don't know bout you, but my parents live a good 3 hours from Hamburg. They don't get to see us every weekend. But last week saw the visit of my brother and a trip (by train!) to my parents! Enjoy:

I know it's hard to believe, but this is her favorite!

coolest kid on the monkey bars

on the seesaw with her uncle Sören

taking the train to my parents' place

enjoying family and a family BBQ! (And I started to practice taking pictures in widescreen... feels weird, but it's kinda cool, you can get so many people in one picture!)

Ahhh, it was so good to be away from home for those couple of days... and I promise: next time my husband gets to take a few pictures, too so I can be in them... ;-) psst, I think he's still intimidated by the new camera...

Free Pattern: Granny Sleeves

I made this beautiful wrap for my Mother's birthday

and the yarn was just soooooo yielding I figured I could make something for myself! And because I just love the look of the cluster stitches on the wrap I went for something with granny squares. I was going to come up with my own pattern but then I realized that I was combining two patterns: Nina Leon's Ribbed Sleevo Scarf and Suzetta Williams' Granny Scarf.

But I'll still give you a pattern for what I did, I call them my Granny Sleeves!

And you can also wear them as a scarf if it's too hot for long sleeves! So, here's the pattern:


Yarn: dk weight (I used just under 400 yards, but I'm tiny...)
Hook: 4mm (G)


Gauge is not important, you'll be working with the actual measurements


Colors: A = beige, B=pink, C=green (Just letting you know what I used, pick whatever you like!)


(1) 
In color A chain multiples of 4 for the length of you scarf. Keep in mind to subtract quite a bit since you'll keep adding to the length with each round. My foundation chain hung a little lower than my elbows and produced a full length sleeve. Guesswork, no formula, sorry...
Add 2ch and then 3ch for turning chain


(2)
dc into 4th chain from hook
dc in next 3ch
[ch1, skip 1ch, dc in next 3dc] repeat along scarf
dc into last 4ch
fasten off color A


(3)
attach color B in space between last two dc
ch3, 2dc,ch1
[3dc, ch1] 3 times into same space you attached B
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along scarf
[3dc, ch1] 4 times into space between last two dc
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along other side of scarf
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color B


(4)
attach color C in next ch-space
ch3, 2dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1 into same space
3dc, ch1 into next ch-space
[3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1] into corner space
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] along the side of your scarf
work corners as described
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color C


(5)
Continue to add rounds as in (4) until the scarf is wide enough to wrap around the very top of your arm. If your yarn stretches take that into account, you'll want the sleeves to be pretty tight fitting at the top of your arms so you won't loose them!
Leave a long tail to sew first arm.


(6)
Fold scarf lengthwise and sew arms closed from the ends to the middle. Mine are 17" long, but again, I'm tiny...


(7)
Weave in all ends. Wear it!


Btw, I'd love to hear your opinion on how you like your patterns written. This is only the first one I'm actually writing down. Do you prefer brackets over asterisks? Do you like more line breaks and paragraphs? How easily can you follow the instruction?... Things like that...

Thank you so much for reading and your feedback!

WIP Wednesday

And it's Wednesday again!
I'm kinda between projects and I need my husband to take some pictures for me...


I have been working on a shrug that is mostly just sleeves and can also be worn as a scarf. Here's a brief glimpse:

Did you recognize the yarn? Yes, those are the leftovers from the wrap I made for my Mom's birthday! I loved the way the yarn looked in the cluster stitches, so I decided to make something with granny squares. This not entirely my own pattern, though; but I typed it up anyway. I'll be uploading it as a free pattern soon. (At least I hope it's going to be soon...)


And guess what? There's still some yarn left over! I'll try to make a matching hat for this little thingy...


Alright, now head in over to Kristine's and see what everyone else is doing:

Father's Day 2012!

It's Father's Day! In the United States at least...


However, I'm German and me husband, my beautiful daughter and I live in Germany. Here, Father's Day has been attached to ascension day and was a couple of weeks after Mother's Day. (Yes, that's actually on the same day here!)
Also, Father's Day is celebrated... differently here: men usually take bike trips in large groups, none of them fathers, of course, with a couple of crates of beer in tow and get wasted. I know, it sounds really stupid and doesn't honor fatherhood in the least. But that's what I was used to.


I didn't realize that in the States Father's Day is the true equivalent to Mother's Day until last year. It was our second year as parents (no, I don't remember how the first time went...) and I got all cranky, because I didn't get anything for Mother's Day. My husband asked: "Oh, and do you have any plans for Father's Day?" I was confused. In my experience that was just an excuse to get drunk. 


So, after I got an awesome card, breakfast and cute little gift for Mother's Day this time around, I had to make it up to my husband! And I made sure we had a great Father's Day together! The first of many to come!


I'm not the cook in this family, so no cool breakfast for him, hah! Oh well, he got his card and cute, very personal gift after our regular breakfast:

The printable for the card can be found all over the internet, I found it on the Holiday Snob blog and had Zoë color on it. Yeah, I guess she wasn't really in the mood. :-)
I glued it to a piece of scrapbook paper to improvise a card and Zoë and discussed what we were going to write to Daddy. Finally I had her trace her name and she did an awesome job!


And this was our gift:

Very cute, but also not my original idea. I stole it from Shannon... and since I only have one child I had to get myself in the picture...
Zoë and I had so much fun doing that! And she was great. The perfect model. Lay still on the bed for almost half an hour!


And then we went out for some fun on the playground:

I know, it's still pretty cold for June. Yikes, I'm sooooo ready for summer to finally make it to Hamburg!


Finally, I also made these awesome Cookies and Cream Cupcakes for dessert! Super yummy! Too sweet for most German taste buds, I might add...

My frosting wasn't quite as fluffy as I wanted it, but the cream cheese kind never turns out the way I want it. Anyway, they're still veeeeery tasty.

So, this was our first successful Father's Day and we all enjoyed it a great deal. There will repeat performances over the years to come!

WIP Wednesday

Current WIP: Slippers!

Well, this is just the toe cap of the first slipper, so... it's not really far along.

Soft slippers are just sooo comfortable around the house, love them! I used to wear a pair some "friend's friend" of my mother's had knit for me but they had become just too tattered to wear. So now I'm making me own! It's my first try at crochet footwear and no matter how much I like it, I solemnly swear I'll never start making sock! Maybe when I have grandkids...

Anyway this a free pattern by Calypso Gray, so give it a try!


BTW, have you noticed? The colors in the picture are the actual color I can see with me eyes! We caved and bought a new camera and it's sooooooo awesome!


Linking to  Kristine: :)

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday AGAIN!?
Time flies, I seem to have very little time to crochet and even less time to blog...


Also, I'm spending some time at my parent's place and I'm not sure I have my camera with me. I have lots of yarn, though and more time than at home. On the other hand, my daughter's with me and I'm currently alone with her. Same old, same old... let's check on the camera...


Got it!


This is my newest project: A Shawl, my Mom's birthday present!

I want to keep you in suspense as to what it's going to look like when it's finished... (Actually, I was going to provide a pattern link, but I've had trouble accessing Ravelry for a while, soooooo... screw that.

I also made a little progress on the doggy, but it's too little to show off.

But I also made a cute little munchkin hat for the same baby that's going to receive the dog and I'm in love with it!

And I had to make a quick last minute gift for a second birthday:

When I opened my camera to get the card out, a tiny little thing fell into my hand. Turns out it's the thingy that holds the battery in... I guess I'll be spending the better part of today trying to get it back in... this camera is starting to go... need to save up for a new one!

Work in Progress Wednesday: Doggy

After finishing TWO lambs for Easter (check out my  projects page on Ravelry, if you're curious), I'm working on a cute doggy for a friend's new baby. As usual, I don't know the sex yet or even when it'll be born. (He's my husband's friend and I asked him to find out, but... I mean, guys...) So I'm doing it now, just in case.


I fell in love with this pattern just after I learned how to crochet. I purchased it but didn't really know if I could handle something like this. Well, I'm still not sure it'll be as cute as I imagine it to be, but at least I know I crochet well enough. 


So this is how far I've come as of today:

That's the head with the nose already attached, the eye patch thingy, the ears and about two thirds of the body. On the left ear you can see how much the yarn splits but I'm getting used to it... it's a sport weight yarn and the pattern calls for a 1.5mm hook. Not too good for my eyes (the black nose was terrible to work on!) and even my fingers start to cramp up after a while.


I also find it strange to work in rounds AND turn my work. I guess that's to keep the seam straight in the back, but it's also a more noticeable seam... oh well...


I think I gotta start working on something else in between, this is just too hard to do while watching TV!


And now head on over to see what everyone else is working on: