A new cardigan in progress

When I lay eyes on this yarn at Zeeman, I just had to buy it. The colours are gorgeous. According to the ball band, I would need 500 grams for a sweater. So I bought 8 balls (800 grams), to be sure I had enough for a cardigan.

OK, it isn't wool, it's acrylic, but I like the colours and it is soft enough for me.


I choose to make a top-down raglan, mostly in garter stitch to ensure speedy knitting. The sleeves are knit in the round and will therefore be in stockinette stitch. For a nice flow I started with stockinette already at the yoke-part of the shoulders and made some ridges that are a little wider apart to liven up the transition from garter to stockinette.

Bayerische Socks

Somewhere at the end of last year I started the Bayerische Socks from the site of Eunny Jang. In the meantime I worked on other things and these were left in the "to be finished some day" pile.

During our summer holiday I took the socks with me (and some other things too, just to make sure I would not be without knitting) and made some progress on them. I made the heels and decreased the extra gusset stitches.

The pattern does not really stand out in this yarn, but I like the colour.

Freehand Parrot

This parrot was made from scratch. I only had a sketch I made beforehand, from which I worked. I made it for a pirate activity. I thought this would be a nice accessory for an outfit.


I started at the tip of the beak, made a short-row head and belly. The beak, head, neck, body and tail together are one piece. The wings and feet were made seperately and later sewn on.

The feet were the most fiddly parts. There are pipe cleaners/chenille wire inside for some sturdiness.

Finished a bag

I've finished a bag for my youngest, in which he can carry his clothes for gymnastics. First I started with a seed stitch base, 40 stitches wide, 30 rows high. Then I picked up stitches around the edges, 15 on each side and another 40 on the bottom, and knit upwards in the round in stockinette stitch until I thought it would be high enough.
Eight eyelets evenly devided around the bag, some more stockinette rounds and some seed stitch round before I bound of.
An I-cord draw string of 3 stitches to close it. Simple and very fast.

Squares all over

This is the shawl I knit in the Secret of the Shawl Knit-A-Long hosted by Vicky Mikulak from Simple Knits. This Shawl now has a name: crystal garden.
Every week part of the pattern was released and it was real fun to knit. The pattern flows nicely. Once the lines were set out, the pattern works quite logical with a bit of surprise in the weekly released part of the pattern.
I followed the pattern until row 195. I wanted the diamond shapes along the edge of the shawl to be complete. It took me some thinking before I figured out how I could make it work. It took a lot of short rows to comlete the squares on the edge and then I ended with four rows of garter stitch.


It was the first time I blocked such a big shawl and it is a very laborious process pinning it out as best as I could. I did not have T-pins and used the pins I had.
The result is a very beautiful shawl. Further details on my project page on Ravelry.

A round felt bag

This bag is started at the middle of the round base and worked upwards. After the increases were finished, I worked stockinette stitch in the round over 96 stitches. That was enough for 3 pattern repeats of the damask pattern.

The bag was felted in the washing machine at 40 degrees Celcius. While drying, I put felt tip markers in the holes, so they would stay open nicely. The holes are very circular now!
I also felted a piece of I-cord in blue, which will serve as a closure.


I am very pleased with how this bag turned out.

The little bag project

This year in the month of May, we are having a family outing. For the children that will also be there, I am making little bags that they can wear around their neck. I'm planning to put a pencil and a little blocknote in them.

The pattern is quite easy and the little bags are very versatile. They can be used for a variety of things, such as a cell phone, i-pod, photo camera, keys, marbles or a deck of cards.

I used 3 mm double pointed needles, because that geve me a nice fabric with my cotton yarn. I used the long-tail cast on, but on two dpn's. One stitch ont the back needle, one stitch on the front needle, and so on until I had 18 stitches on each needle, 36 stitches in total.

Using dpn's I knitted 30 rows of stockinette stitch in the round. After about 7 rows, I let the cast on end come to the outside in between the stitches, so I know where my rows start. Then 7 rows of K1, P1 ribbing. Then a bind off row, but I left the first stitch and the last two stitches of my row on the needle.

With these 3 stitches I continued, making about 55 cm (or the lenth you desire) of I-cord. Cut the yarn, use the end to attach the I-cord to the bag.

The I-cord will make a loop with which you can wear the bag around your neck. Weave in ends, and a little bag is finished.

Started the second skein

I made a 2x2 rib along the neckline, with a sewn bind-off, which is a bit loose. I am thinking about undoing this bind-off and replacing it with my usual bind-off method. That will be a bit tighter.

I also started on the second ball of yarn. I am quite pleased with the length of yarn that is on each skein. I can knit a lot of shirt with it! Hopefully the three skeins will have enough yarn to make short sleeves. Otherwise it will have no sleeves.

Handwerkbeurs Zwolle

Last Friday I was at the "Handwerkbeurs" in Zwolle. It was the first knitting and craft show that I attended. A lot of stands, and many were beautifully adorned.


I met many fellow ravelers and have my own Ravelry button now.


It was really fun to see so many knitters in real life, knit some, talk some and buy some.


I got some yarn, some needles, some books and knitted a little sock. When I got home I was tired, but it was a lovely day.


How strange it is that when you are knitting, a lot of (usually) elderly women come to fondle your work, without even asking. I know they want to admire it and only mean well, but it can be a little intimidating.

Last ends woven in

I completed this top somewhere in the summer of 2008, but have only woven in the last ends today.


This picture shows the lace design better, but the top picture comes closer to the actual colour.

Bedside knitting

I usually have a knitting project by the side of my bed, so I can knit a little before going to sleep or getting up. I finished one project: the Prosperous Plum Tank (ravelry link). I changed the pattern section into something simpler, so I did not need to consult the pattern for that. And I changed the crab stitch crochet edging into two rows of single crochet, because I could not get the crab stitch nice and even.


This is my new bedside knitting project. A top-down raglan sweater with a fold-down collar and a polo neck closure with two buttonholes. The top part will be knitted in stockinette stitch and the bottom part will have a mistake rib pattern. At least, that is what I have in mind at the moment.

Baby booties

A collegue of mine asked me if I could make baby booties for her twin baby girls. I thought up the pattern as I went along, taking care that each two booties would be identical. The two pairs are a little bit different.

I used a little hair band as an elastic band which I knit into the booties. I also added two I-cords to replace the hair bands if they would be too tight. It took me a week to finish the booties and the I-cords.