Wooden Rose Baby Cardigan

The date of our final departure from Germany seems to be way too soon. With so much left to do -> anyone looking for used furniture in the Hamburg area? Drop me a line, we have pretty much everything...

I still hope to keep posting regularly, I'll just use less words and more pictures. This is the Cardigan I finished as a gift for a new baby.

Sorry for being so lazy, but please see my Ravelry project page for details.
In case you were wondering, my other project are creeping along slowly but I need to keep crocheting to stay sane these days!

And now, head on over to these ladies:

A Classic Baby Cardigan... and some big news

You'll have to read to the end for the big news, I'm afraid...

I can't believe it: Again I'm forced to put my WIPs aside for a cute little personal handmade new baby gift! What a shame... ;-)

I was NOT going to make another hat, sooooo boring after a while. I love making baby blankets, but the little girl is already here, so I compromised for a cardigan!

(The pattern is Lisa van Klaren's Classic Baby Cardigan)
I just love the softness that ensues when using a 4mm hook on fingering weight yarn! It'll be perfect for a baby.

I'm also still working on the striped skirt. Can't wait to wear it!

AND: The knitted scarf is coming along, too. And I think I can see fewer and fewer mistakes in the more recently knitted rows...

And now for the big news: We are currently preparing for our biggest move yet. We'll be leaving the cold of Germany for Raleigh, North Carolina! So all these projects are actually just to keep me sane during the completely insane process of getting my visa...
But by now it's almost completed and my husband has finally been able to tell his boss, so it's not secret anymore as this topic used to be. What a relief!

And now, head on over to Kristine's and see what everyone else is doing!

WIP Wednesday

So I rethought the colors of my skirt again. I did end up switching from horizontal to vertical stripes and I it seems to harmonize with the pattern much better. I guess it was kind of against the pattern's nature to try and force horizontal stripes on it!

And while I was thinking about the whole matter and waiting for people to voice their opinion (in the end, I listened to my husband, who thought the vertical stripes would be more flattering...), I needed a small project to give my mind some rest. So I started making this cute little needle case. The crocheting was done quickly and I blocked the acrylic to help it lie flat. Now I "just" need to sew in some fabric and get felt for the part that holds the needles...

And I finally caved and dabbled a bit in knitting... The (Danish and very cool!) dollar store had bamboo knitting needles for 1€, it's all theirs fault. They also had a hook size I didn't have yet for 2€... and some bulky acrylic in an awesome color! Well, it's really low quality, you can pull it apart with your bare hands and it wasn't as cheap as the needles. After painstakingly casting on some stitches for the first time and twisting my fingers until midnight, this was the result:

But I have to admit, it wasn't half as hard as teaching myself the first steps of crochet. I guess that's because this time I know how to hold yarn, control the tension of it, know what all those number on the yarn and needles mean... it helped a lot to know a somewhat related craft when starting a new one!

And now, head on over to Kristine's and see what everyone else is up to! Also stop by Sara's!

WIP Wednesday - again!

Wow, looks like I finished a lot of projects and gifts! The first one was a cute shirt for my daughter with matching bracelet and scrunchy:

Next up was a little package for a cute new baby boy:

And I had cool new idea (everybody probably does this, but for me it was an epiphany): Instead of writing some washing instructions on a tag, as I used to, I just put part of the yarn label on it! Love this idea, looks so much more professional.

The next package was for my Papa, whose birthday we forgot...

and, of course, the whole ordeal with Zoe's slipper... read about that in the slipper post!

And yesterday I finally got started on a bigger project again: my winter skirt! It is crocheted from side to side, but I want a horizontal color blending effect... so I planned the color changes very carefully:

I'm using four different shades of blue and they kind of create an ombre effect, what I was going for. I recently found a better method for that, but now that I have the yarn...

So, this is how far I've gotten. Sooooo many strands of yarn everywhere... it's a hassle and I'm still undecided, if I'll just switch to vertical stripes.

Okay, and now head on over, see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

I think I mentioned last week that one of my husband's old friends had a baby without giving us prior notice of the event... How dare he... ;-) Now the little guy is already two weeks old and hasn't yet received his gift! I'm almost done, though. Part one of his gift is this awesome Aviator Hat, designed by Bailee Wellisch (available via Ravelry).

By the way, this is Jolanda modeling the hat for us. Her head is more of a preemie size and yes, she does have some clothes... Well, they would only distract from the cute hat, right?


Part two of the gift are these Boy Striders by CrochetDreamz and they are almost finished, just need to sew on three more buttons. 

 The soft wool (it's a wool-alpaca blend) makes it hard to see the shape, but I'll stuff them with newspaper for the final pictures.

Once these are on their way, I'll make some much needed slippers for my daughter. I even bought the latex for the soles! These are going to be the colors:

And after that I'll make a quick gift for my Dad, whose birthday I forgot... But I have lots of red cotton and likes to relax in the tub, so it'll be something bath-related.

But what I'm really truly itching to get started on is my new woolen skirt for the coming fall/winter! More on that next time, but here are the colors:

Visit Kristine's WIP post and check out what everyone else is working on:

WIP Wednesday

Feels like I haven't done this in ages!

But I've been busy... soooooo busy... and even crochet busy!

I've been working on a short sleeved sweater for Zoë.















It's pretty much done, except for the crown I'm embroidering on the front. I found a free image and traced it with a children's felt tip pen. Comes off in warm wash, absolutely perfect! The yarn is superwash merino wool, so I'm not concerned. Yeah, and I'll block it after washing to add some length (I was stingy on the yarn...). But I think I'll have to stitch around the crown again, it's not as visible as I'd like it to be... oh, but the matching scrunchy and bracelet are done:

Also, I am crazy busy designing my own patterns. My head is full of ideas and I plan staring selling my patterns by January... The first one is pretty much finished, just working on the photography and getting it written up all nice and proper. Here's a little peak:

AND: An old friend of my husband's just became a father and we only found out today, after the baby boy has already been born. So I'e absolutely got to up with something really quickly! And make it a bit bigger, probably...

So, I'm too lazy to link to all the places I can think of. This means I'm just linking to my favorite crochet-person in the world: Kristine! ;-)

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:

Sweater and I are back!

After that nasty sinus infection stole about two weeks my life, I'm finally crocheting (and posting) again! I have a new smallish project, a padded sleeve for my beloved Kindle:

This is the pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/padded-kindle-sleeve
The colors are kinda dull in the picture, sorry...
I'm still thinking about embellishments, but I want it to keep a simple look, so... maybe nothing at all.


Also, I have made made some progress on my blue sweater! I crocheted one long sleeve, even though I new I didn't have enough yarn to make long sleeves. But the sleeves are crocheted from the bottom up because of the pattern. So I kinda had to make the whole thing to find out how to alter it. Finished it, put it together with safety pins and "put it on". And I was thrilled to see how well it fit! It would have been too long for me to wear that way anyway, but I decided to go with short short sleeves, I don't do 3/4 length on anything, I think it makes me look fat! So the yarn needle marks where I would have my new starting chain:

And then I spent an evening ripping the whole thing and turning it into neat new balls of yarn... Using those, I learned something: The yarn unwinds much better from a handmade ball than from the store bought skein! Makes my awesome yarn bowl much easier to use, too. Still, I think I'm just lazy enough not to wind my own balls... 

Oh, well, so I made the short sleeves and wet blocked (100% cotton) all the pieces on my super fancy blocking board, also known as our mattress for overnight guests...

This is my first blocking experience and I'm so excited to find out how it'll turn out! I was impressed with how much you can shape the wet fabric (and how tight my crocheting had become by the time I made the sleeves...) Can't wait to sew it together! I don't sew well, so I'm kind of nervous about that, too.


So far from my end of the world, visit Kristine's blog and check out what everyone else is up to: