| Sunday, February 26, 2006 |
| no, 2 projects is NOT enough! |
you know when you working on something that you just have to put down? well, right now i have 2 of them. a while ago i started knitting a scarf in a pretty pink/white/grey mix so that i would finally have a scarf that matches my parka. yes, i have a pink parka. with white 'fur' trim around the hood, and a polar bear and little inuit people embroidered on the front. but that's another story.
anyway, i thought it would be nice to make this scarf in berry stitch. for a while, it was ok. i mean, it wasn't terribly hard or anything, and i really liked how it looked. but i had planned on making a really long scarf, not really thinking that endless berry stitch is just not the most fun in the world. so of course i put it down and started something else.
now i'm working on the Mary Jane cardigan from KnitPicks, using the gorgeous Shadow yarn that Kim sent me. you can't see it too well in the picture, but the colour is Vineyard, an absolutely heavenly heathered eggplant. i love it. but i've been really cranky and stressy lately, and not having so much patience with the laceweight yarn and the 3mm needles. it doesn't help that i tried useing stitchmarkers for the first time and discovered that they drive me crazy. so of course i dove in marker free, and had to frog it and start again after about an inch and a half because it just didn't look right. it's going ok now, but i still wish i had something else to work on when i just don't feel like looking at little needles.
but what? that's the problem. unlike most knitters, who have years worth of projects waiting in the queue, i haven't the foggiest clue what to make next. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME!?! i've got 2 really pretty yarns that i want to make something out of, but in spite of going through all my mags and all the patterns on DROPS twice i still just can't decide. one is a single ply wool in magenta, worsted weight i guess, and the darker purple one is a mohair mix that is a light worsted? they are both so pretty, and i've been obsessing over purple shades, so seeing them just sit there is making me nutty. and to make matters worse, i even knit a swatch using both yarns together, and now i don't know if i want to knit them that way, or keep them apart. HELP!!
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posted by tatjana @ 6:39 p.m.   |
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| WOOHOO! |
yay! i think my blog is behaving again! the last entry i posted has stayed put, as well as my new blog template, so i am one happy girl. and just in time, too, because i really need to gush about the preparations for our trip to Canada!!! the flight was booked a long time ago, but it's just been in the last couple weeks that we've been planning and booking everything else. the plan is to spend 8 or 9 days with my folks, and then we're driving east. we've rented the car, and have already settled on the first stop, in Montreal to visit my friend Anne-Marie. the 2 of us met the summer after my 2nd year of university as part of a work exchange programme with Germany. there were about 40 of us Canadians, and we all flew over to Germany together. we had 2 days to meet and get to know eachother, and then were sent to all parts of Germany to work for the summer. Anne-Marie and i got sent to the same cuckoo clock store in the middle of the Black Forest. it was the funniest job ever. there were about 200 clocks mounted on the walls of the store, and about every 5 minutes or so, someone would ask us 'what does this one sound like?' so we would have to make it cuckoo for them! lol!
Anne-Marie not only worked together, but also shared a room, and made sure to get all our days off together, so we were basically joined at the hip for 3 months. it was possible the best summer i've ever had. i've only seen her once since, because she lives in Montreal, which was 5 or 6 hourse away from my hometown, Toronto, but we've kept in touch over email and are still downright gushy with eachother. when we were in Germany, everyone compared us to a newlywed couple, and even after 5 years, that zealous affection is still there. Friends like her are hard to find, and i could not be more excited that i will finally get to see her again. and to make things even better, i will get to meet the love of her life, and she'll meet mine! if that's not cause for some serious drinkin' i don't know what is! LOL :D
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| posted by tatjana @ 12:12 p.m. |
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| Monday, February 20, 2006 |
| afraid to post... |
ok, so here i was all impressed with myself for figuring out how to customize my blog, and now for some mysterious reason the whole darn thing just keeps disappearing. all the changes i made. the new blog. everytime i log into blogger, the old template is there again, and the only post i've made since the changes is gone too. what the hell is going on!?!?
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| posted by tatjana @ 7:08 p.m. |
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| Thursday, February 16, 2006 |
| Cable Sweater |
I've been meaning to post a picture since last week, but things have been a little crazy in our little kitten filled home. Most evenings for both of us has been getting home late from work, cleaning up whatever mess the cats have made during the day, and collapsing on the sofa. But I finally manage to snap a quick shot of the long awaited (for Matthias anyway) cable sweater! I really like the way the alpaca in the yarn gave it a soft fluffiness. I'm glad I didn't put the cables all over, like the Verena (German mag) pattern I based it on. And I can't begin to express my relief that I had enough yarn! This was a mystery blend from German eBay, so there was no getting anymore, and since it was a very lightweight yarn, I was knitting it doubled. But it was just enough, with a tiny ball leftover that I can stash somewhere in case there should ever be an injury that needs repairing. I'll need to find a good hiding place tho, because one of the kittens' favourite games is 'Alpaca treasure hunt'.....
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| posted by tatjana @ 8:31 p.m. |
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| Thursday, February 09, 2006 |
| so tired.....must finish.... |
ok, so the last couple weeks have been kinda rough. or is it the last month? i can't remember anymore. all i know is January disappeared somewhere, and this caused some kind of immunal disaster in me, because i got sicker than i've been in years. a nasty case of bronchitis that kept me in bed for 4 whole days, to say nothing of the extra days on either side where i got to be all proud of myself for sitting upright or even, lord-ha-mercy! getting my own tea. and just when i was feeling up to draggin my sorry butt back to work, i got taken along on a trip to Switzerland to attend a meeting about the project proposal i'm helping with. this did not help. it was all kind of hurried and stressful, and involved a long train ride both ways with several change-overs, so i couldn't really get some more much needed rest like i was hoping. and for whatever reason i slept really poorly the night we stayed there, so what happened? yup, sick again. yippee!
and, um....knitting? that's the kicker. all that time on my hands, and i felt too awful to even knit! at least the first time around. but now that i'm at least in better knitting form, i am determined to finish the 2 projects i once hoped to have done shortly after christmas (yeah right!), the cable sweater for Matthias, and the shawl for my Oma. i have to admit the sweater was just sitting around for a while only because i really didn't feel like sewing the darn thing together and picking up the stitches for the neckline, but now it's finally done!!! WOOHOO! and it looks so darn purdy! i admit the neckline is a bit funky, but i've never done a separate neckline before, so it's not bad for a first try :) and i'm not done the shawl, but it's close, even though it weighs about a TON and i can't work on it for too long or my hands and wrists start to hurt :P otherwise i'm sure it would have been done a while ago.
at any rate, tomorrow the Knitting Olypmics start and i was hoping to join in, but only if i had my other projects taken care of. and, you know, if i could decide what to knit.
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| posted by tatjana @ 11:22 a.m. |
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