missingstitch

random stitch: how to hide your stash!

This one is for my cousin! They are renovating/extending the house and getting a new living room. She wants to have her stash nearby but not freak out her husband. What to do?

Well I have always had my stash and knitting stuff close to where we spend the evenings (mainly because I just had one room ...). It had to look good and add to the space. Here are my stash boxes:

The bottom one my mother gave me for Christmas once for exactly this purpose. It is just right. It's lined with leather so that the wool doesn't stick to the weaving. If I don't pile up other things on top of it (like I used to) I can quickly get to my stash.

The red box is actually a little picnic basket thing which I once found on a fleamarket.

The blue box I bought in a shop with no purpose because I liked the colours. When I got home it was just right for some more stash!

The red box contains a paper bag with enough blue wool for a sweater at the moment. The blue box has random skeins of wool in it but is not full at all.

The big box is being used the most with yarn going in and out all the time.

The big box lives on the floor, the other two in the bookshelve. The man has never asked or looked what was in them. My strategy here is to be decorative instead of filling up a cupboard or wardrobe (we have plenty in this house). Which is cool because I like to shop for nice boxes as well as buying stash! :)

Whereas all other supplies are living in a shelve in my "crafting" wardrobe (it also contains my sewing machine and supplies). All the circular needles are in a big mess in the orange box. I saw a great solution for this at knit night the other day. Pretty much just a folder with ziplock bags (a bit more stylish) for each needle size.

The white box is actually too pretty to be in this wardrobe! It contains little bits and bobs like stitch markers and crochet hooks. Then there is the ball winder (the swift is in another corner), some unused project bags, my folder with printed patterns and my Denise needles.

 
For my DPNs I once bought this handy little pouch on Dawanda (German Etsy). I bet you can find this on Etsy as well. Or make yourself. It's pretty much the same as a pencil pouch.

And last there is this little thing to hold the things I need all the time and need to take with me: scissors, stitch markers, tape measure, pencil, cable needle, sewing needles. And bits of cut off yarn ... and pieces of paper with notes ...

Ah yes, let's not forget the project basket which lives beside the sofa in the living room. It's my public display and ever changing. I'm not sure what is hiding at the bottom at the moment and I can tell you that I'm not working on anything that is visible here. The current projects are spread around the house. Somehow my button glass is in there. How did that get there?

I think to incorporate your stash in your living room you want to shop for pretty boxes or bowls or things that match your style and which appear pretty normal to the man who is just interested in the big black box anyway. I think a whole chest of drawers or similar is too overwhelming and obvious. And leaving it all on display to be seen (like in a transparent plastic box) is not as pretty and distracting and drawing attention to it. I like to look into my boxes every once in while and rediscover what is in there!

project stitch: Bramble Beret!

Question: how many needles can you see?

How scary is this? It is dangerous. If not poking yourself or anybody else in the room then you might end up loosing your mind.

This is what I did today. It is: sl 2 st onto 1st cn + hold in front, sl 1 st onto 2nd cn + hold in back, k2, p1 from 2nd cn, k2 from 1st cn ... puh!

I have to say the bramble beret is a hell of a project. But I have been doing really good with trying to continuously working on it since proposing here about two weeks ago. I can report that I am close to finishing. And I have managed to not loose all my nerves.

Unfortunately the colour is not coming out properly in the pictures. I really really like it.

So hopefully a FO post soon! :)

project stitch: in the basket!

At the moment there seems to be a lot of knitting going on! On the needles and finished. I have two more finished projects to be washed and photogephed but also a basket full of WIPs.

Last week for knit night at Tangled Yarns I picked up the seaside top again because it is mainly stockinette. I can't knit much else when chatting. Then I picked it up on Sunday night for the F1 racing. Now I'm into the cables and the fourth ball and not sure if I have enough green for the whole top :| Oh dear! I think I have to try it on and think about it a bit.

Last Saturday I was a bit bored (yes! really happend! I won't tell why) and rumaged through the basket and dug out the Bramble beret. I posted before how difficult I find this project. So the first thing I did was transfer from the dpns to a circular. It is quite stretched now but much easier to knit. Then I decided to leave it out and knit a row or two every day. So far I've knit more then that. The real time killer are the bobbles. I think it will look awesome finished though. That keeps me going!

And then I'm working on this. Two more skeins from my stash that have been sitting there for ages. I thought they go well together. And I've been wanting a striped shawl. one with less body. This is the test project. I'm using the Azzu pattern as a guide.

It is coming along quickly and the yarns go well together. I think the pink might be a bit itchy though. I already have some more ideas for the perfect shawl shape. Looks like I have to make some more ;)

There is more in the basket but I'm not working on that - and I think some things are just there in there. For Bine: can't find any mermaids yet ...

Finished Object: Honey Bunny!

I totally forgot to blog this one! I noticed when I updated my ravelry projects the other day.

A cute littel bunny toy for my friends baby that was gifted in March!

Tha pattern is the free pattern Cuddly (ravelry link) by Tora Haggvik. It is clever and simple. Although at the head I had to stop thinking and just do as written in the pattern. :) Very quick as well, made in one evening.

I'm not so sure about my eye stitching skills but hopefully baby will not care.

I think I forgot to blog because it was supposed to be a missed stitch post. This is what it was supposed to be:

The bunny from Last Minutes Knitted Gifts, and there is the weird thing I knit. Somehow I got the feeling that something got lost in the German translation at the point where to start the neck and head. It just didn't seem right.

Finished Object: Tosh!

Knitting this was a pleasure! And the finished knit is also very nice!

The pattern is Multnomah, a free pattern. I wanted a shawl with a wave motif to remind me of the sea. I really like this pattern apart from what I have not been liking about many shawls: too much body and not quite long enough to wrap around my neck. (I might have found a solution to that, test knitting something at the moment.)

I added two more pattern repeats because my skein wasn't used up and I wanted to use every inch of this beauty. The yarn is Madlintosh Tosh Sock in the colourway citrus. I bought it last summer at Loop in London. My eyes fell upon it as I walked in the door. I tried to resist because a skein of this is quite expensive but it came home with me anyway. :)

I'm happy it did because this is MY colour! Everyone has been commenting on it as well. Even shopgirls! It is lovely to wear, not too hot for the warm days but also warm on the cool nights we are having now.

This is the difference it makes to use a flash on a sunny day! I just remembered that trick the other day. It came in handy when I did this self-photo-shoot in Byron Bay. I had to stay out off the water due to a cold and this shawl came in handy to keep my neck covered.

And yesterday night was the first time I got one of my really woolly pullovers out! Houses here are not insulated so that when it is 15 degrees outside it feels even colder inside. And the nights are getting a bit nippy now. Which doesn't mean that the days are not very lovely right now :)

project stitch: Indigo!

My current WIP is another skein stash buster using up this one:

I picked this one up at Loop in London last summer. It is a natural dyed Indigo. And this is what it does when you knit it:

I did wonder last night what that was and today while knitting I realized that the colour is wearing off. I hope that it will wash out once I wash it to block. I don't want a blue neck.

I'm not too sure about this yarn. The skein ended up in two balls and while knitting I noticed a few sections where the strand is rather thin.

I do like the blue. I haven't made anything blue lately.

I''m knitting a scroll lace scarf by Ysolda. I wanted to take this along to the beach so it had to be a pattern from a book (no printer in my home). And I also wanted a scarf a bit like a shawl but without the volume. The lace repeat is quite simple to memorize so I haven't looked into the book much.

I did some beach knitting but on a different beach than I thought because it rained last week-end. This is the "beach" in the city.

Today I finished the 28 lace repeats for the edge while reading and I think I might actually finish this soon! Talk about quick knits!

I have another finished object to show but no pics yet. That was another plan for the beach and didn't happen in the rain.

missed stitch: seaside top!

My last week was not such a great knitting week with the slippers and this one not turning out as great as expected.

This one is not about the pattern but the yarn:

I started knitting this top with the cotton yarn my mother send me to find out how the colours work. Since I could already see that I would have to swatch more then usual to get to the blue section of the ball I decided to cast on something I would want to knit from it anyway.

I'm just not into multicoloured yarns very much. And this one would end up being a striped top. I don't mind a striped top but not in coulours fading into each other.

My first thought was to make something completely different. Like a baby blanket where I don't mind the colours (maybe one square per ball?). I started doing some maths. And then I thought that I do like the colours seprately. I could make two tops! I have eight balls and each colour should be just enough.

I unraveled to where the green was just stopping being green, snipped it and wound the blue into a new ball. Then I got the second ball, unwound to where it matched and knitted with that.

Here are the two balls.

I'm not really enjoying this at the moment so maybe it will cuddle the other projects in the basket for a bit and I cast on something else?

stashed stitch: swifting fun!

Last night I got some of my skeins out that weren't wound yet to cheer me up and inspire me to start new projects. Then I put up the swift and winder and got to work:

Our kitchen bench is perfect for this!

I turned this

into this

I was surprised how many turned into two or more balls! Look at the four green balls. Why is that?

That was good fun and now I think I start with this

and turn it into a shawl. Still thinking about patterns but I lean towards Ysoldas Sherilyn just because I've got the book.

And this:

Also a shawl - with stripes I think. I have to consult ravelry on this one.

Now I have these wound and can just pick them up when inspiration strikes. I wanted to do that for ages. And I admit there is more that needs winding. Next time I need to cheer me up with wool I do this again! :)

missed stitch: silly slippers!

You want to see something funny?

Here you go:

These is the first of my Ysolda slippers.

Mmmh, either I choose totally the wrong yarn or I'm not so sure about her pattern. Look at that heel! The overall length is right but the heel is sticking out.

The whole thing looks weird. Now I'm wondering if I should knit the second one without the heel shaping and maybe a bit less room for the toes. Or just buy a nice pair of house shoes. They do feel very nice on the feet ...

I have a feeling I quit this project. Someone in this house told me from the beginning that that wouldn't be successfull.

Actually I saw a pair at Tangled Yarns on Friday and it looked exactly like in the book. But it was on wooden shoe things not on a real foot.

project stitch: in the basket!

This was my project basket last Friday and it hasn't changed much:
pink: my long-term project the pink shawl that arrived with the big parcel and is being worked on every once in a while

mustard: I started the Not-So-Tiny slippers by Ysolda because I really need some slippers for around the house, it has got cold enough that I get cold feet. So far I think might have choosen the wrong wool from my stash. We'll see.

blueish: the bramble beret that also came back with the big parcel and will keep hibernating until I feel like it again

green: another summer top out if the cotton my mother send me, post to follow on this soon I hope

I do like the colors in that basket but somehow my heart is not in any of these. I might cast on more ...