Work in progress

We are changing our garage (attached) into a new kitchen. A builder did the construction work but we decided to do all the rest. Unfortunately we are not making a lot of progress. Sometimes we can't seem to find the time to do as much as we would/should but we will get there in the end! I always dreamed about an Aga cooker and I finally got one. He is standing there all by himself, covered in dust (you poor thing) but he's already working and keeping the whole annex quite warm and he cookes like a dream!




We layed bluestone tiles, recently made a ceiling and now we are sanding and painting and sanding and painting and......... We are using only classic colors of Farrow & Ball. The kitchen will be in oak and the working tops and sink are in bluestone. It will be gorgeous, in the end........I can hardly wait to decorate the kitchen with my collection of bowls and pottery. This is only a small part of my collection :)






I had a lovely day off. I did all the cleaning in the morning and took some me-time in the afternoon to listen to some music, knit a little bit, read some magazines etc. It was one of those days that I don't mind the pouring rain and dark skies.

Happy knitting and enjoy your weekend!

x0x0x

Project bag

This is my project bag and I am in desperate need of some little project bags to separate all my projects. This bag is quite big (the picture doesn't show) and it feels like some kind of black hole! It contains about 7 different projects, all my knitpick needles, a box of nicknacks and some books. Any suggestion for a nifty pattern for little projectbags that also looks nice?



Enjoy your day and happy knitting!

xxx

Mad Max

Not really so mad at all, actually, he is the funniest, most cudly and cutest cat I ever had. Max had a surgery last week. I don't know how to explain it exactly in English but I'll give it a try. He had a herpes virus that caused a problem with his eyes. The eyelid somehow was suddenly to wide and his hair was constantly in contact with his eyeball and caused a lot of damage. So they removed a little skin beneath his eye and the problem is completely solved. The eye itself is already fully cured. He wasn't supposed to scratch at the stitches so I stayed on the couch for two nights to make sure that he wouldn't. Who is the mad one here? :D




I almost finished my second Gail I showed earlier and started a new sock, the Twinkelberry but I'm still not sure about this pattern and the yarn or the combination yarn/pattern. I have about all the free patterns available on Ravelry but still can't seem to find my perfect pattern.



Only one more workingday left and then my weekend starts! Yoohoo!


Happy knitting!

xxx

Still alive

At last, I’m back. I’m absorbing of all your blogs but can’t seem to find a little time to write something. I also asked myself some questions; who is interested in reading about my life, the things I do and the things I care about? But, today I had a 30-minute session with an aura-reader at work (this week is ‘the week of your career’ and we can have sessions with aura-readers, coaches etc.) and the things she said gave me some food for thought and I discovered that I really don’t mind if there is only 1 person who reads my blog. Even if no one reads it, I just like to write about all things I care about whenever I feel the need. In the first place I’m writing this for me. I also love to read your blogs to taste a little of all of your lives all over the world. The similarities and differences in live, the way you live and love, about your jobs, what you eat etc. Sometimes so different, sometimes so much the same……

In October my very best friend Wilma and me visited the ‘Handwerkbeurs’ (handicrafts fair) in Rotterdam. We loved it! We had enough time to catch up during our trip by train and did some knitting too. I met so many lovely people who are so devoted to their jobs (dying, spinning or just selling yarn). Even met some ravelry friends from abroad. My stash almost reaches ceiling but I’m happy with everyting I bought. I bought some handdyed mohair and already knitted 4 tams and 1 cowl. I felted the tams and they are so soft. I’m making 2 out of each color (a total of 6) so I can add some tams to my stash of birthday/Christmas presents.

I bought a little book about knitting toe up and started my first pair of toe up socks ever. Still feels strange...........

Some lovely Colinette sock yarn (you can never have to much sock yarn :D)

The most exquisite lace yarn (a blend of baby alpaca, cashmir and tussah silk. So soft! Bought by 'Storm op zolder' (Storm in the attic).

I also bought a new skein of Evilla lace yarn




Finished my Tesserae socks



And started another Gail for my sisters birthday which is on november the 18th so I what to do for the next two weeks.


I'm in a good mood because my weekend starts in about 3 hours and I'm longing for some me time!

Have a nice weekend and happy knitting!!!

xxx

They arrived!!!

Friday afternoon I found a note in my mailbox from the mailman telling me to pick up something from our local postoffice. I drove as fast as my little car allows to pick it up, what else could it be than this package I was waiting for!!! It was a very small box, hmm but I took it to my car and ripped of the wrapping immediately and when I opened it, it was like Pandora's box. I found 6 skeins of the smoothest merino I have ever touched before. They are so tremendously soft and the colours, although a little different than shown on the pictures, are so beautiful. I love them big time and I'm definitively gonna buy more. They were also delivered 2 weeks earlier than expected. No problem to me :D. I bought them at 100 pure wool in Uruguay.

May I present?! (not the best picture ever, taken in a hurry but you can still see the beautiful colours). The first four are a single-ply lace yarn and the last two are single-ply fingering. I bought the fingering for socks but they are way to beautiful to end up in my boots! Don't know what to make of them now, any suggestions?




Last week, as soon it was available, I bought the beautiful new pattern of Anne Hansen for a splendid shawl, the Nightingale wing. I'm using the following skein for it and it knits like a dream!



A few weeks ago I bought myself an Interchangeable Nickel plated circular needle set, Knitpicks of course! I know use them all the time, superb!!! Last week I made a little yarn trip with my friend Wilma. We visited Petra again at 't Kluwenest, I bought another handdyed sock yarn.....



...... also some extra needles for my interchangeable set. It's always a pleasure to visit Petra, looking around over a nice cup of tea (coffee), talking yarn.

After that we went to Rosa (pottery and woolfarm de klosse). It's so much fun to see my future skein walking in the fields near the farm :D...



She dyed some beautiful single-ply mohair (lace weight) in a nice grayish black.




And now the only thing I need is time to knit! Please tell me where I can buy that!

---

Happy knitting!

Yarn from Uruguay

Today I ordered some yarn from Uruguay. It feels a bit risky but I love the yarn so much and it so cheap that I decided to give it a try. This is what I bought........

A sock yarn.........



Some lace weight yarn







It's a 100% Merino and the price is only $8,50 a skein of 3,5 oz and 950 yards (lace weight). That is amazingly cheap I suppose. I bought it here http://www.100purewool.com/servlet/Categories. And now I'm waiting, and waiting and ..............................

Happy knitting!

Back home, back to work

The days of laziness are over, the days of doing whatever I want, whenever I wanted to or doing nothing at all. Back to real life and back to work. But, I enjoyed this summer, the five weeks of travelling, knitting, reading, drinking wine with friends (lots of wine :D ), the murderous heat in the south of France.

The view from our campsite..........


Beautiful little villages...........


The cutest little shops................




We visited the 'Pont du Gard' ...............



So typically French, a beautiful and very old olive tree.........



And of course I did some knitting! For example, the Gail I made for myself. I used a beautiful mohair I bought from Rosa Hultink . The yarn is made from the wool of their own angora goats. It is so soft and warm!



A pair of socks for my very best friend Wilma who looked after my cats while we were in France! The yarn is a Trekking hand art and she loved it so much when she saw it a few weeks ago that I immediately decided that this one should be hers. These where made during the 4000 km drive whe made! The pattern I found in a very old knitting book.



Knitted another pair, Osnabrücker muster socks, for myself . A lovely handdyed yarn in lilac I bought by Petra




Yesterday I started a pair of Leaf remains. I loved the pattern so much I almost started immediately after the pattern was added on ravelry. They will take a while because of all the back loop knits etc. but they are worth every hour!




And I also started a pair of quite simple socks, the Tesserae, to have something to knit while I watch tv......This yarn is also a handdyed of Petra.



And now, after five beautiful weeks it's back to normal life. Tomorrow it's back to school, reading loads of emails, catching up with colleagues (some I haven't seen for about 8 weeks!). Although it's still very warm, it feels like the end of summer........

Happy knitting!!!

xoxox