Love my new hat!

Wanted to share some pics of my new winter hat with you. I happy with the way it turned out and it is definitely something else than the regular beanie or beret :)
I m still working on the pattern for this one and the slouchy beanie and I hope to finish it soon.

My new summer sweater!

I still owed you some photos of my finished lacy summer sweater. I finished it some weeks ago, and I've actually worn it already a few times. I'm very happy with the color and the fit, and I'm considering to knit another one with long sleeves. I didn't really keep track of the pattern but I should be able to manage I think :).

It was the first time I used the picot edging technique, and I absolutely love it, especially on the neck line. I'll definitely use it again on my new projects.

New FO: Glitter cardi

I just wanted to share an update on the glitter cardigan that i showed you earlier. It's finished! I chose to use a zipper instead of buttons, and I like the end result. I've worn the cardi a few times now, and i really like it. It still have the same type of yarn in my stash (blue) and i'm planning to knit a plain garter stitch winter sweater with it. I'll keep you posted!

Blocking my new beret!

A little sneak preview of my new, almost finished beret! I want to add two little pompons, if I find some time to make them... But for now, I'm just blocking the beret to give it its nice circular shape. The beret is made out of acrylic yarn, so I decided to steam block it, which is very easy if you have a steam iron. Just remember to never touch the fabric with the iron!

Button it up

I finished the hat I showed you last week. The idea was that I would like to have a hat that I could wear even if I'm wearing my hair in a low bun. Therefore, I knit the bottom part of the hat in flat, so there is a gap in the back where my hair can go through. But I'll show you that in more detail later. Anyway, I wanted to close the gap with buttons and crocheted loops, but I couldn't find buttons to match my knit work. So I decided to make my own in the same color as the hat itself. It took me about an hour to find a good way on how to make button covers from yarn, and crocheting small circles to fit around the button worked best. I'm very pleased with the end result, and I will certainly use this technique again.

Sorry about the enormous text on the pictures, I have a new app on my tablet to edit my photos, but I'm still figuring it out :P.

Proudly presenting...My 2012 Winter Set!

Just some photos of the winter set I made... As usual a beret, no girl should go without a beret :P. And a regular scarf with a nice, but not to showy lace and chevron pattern. I knitted the scarf when we were on holiday,... Great times, sitting in the sun near the pool and knitting :D. I guess that makes my a real knitting addict :). 

So, I have some new projects to add to my pattern writing to do list. 

(Sorry for the photo layout in this post, I'm just not very compatible with blogger).

Berry Dream Socks!

Finally finished my Berry Dream Socks, after starting over a few times, as usual ;). I based them on a standard (free!) pattern that comes with the Drops Fabel Yarn. The pattern was really nice, although I had to read some parts twice or trice, because it was all written in full sentences. You can find the pattern here.
I'm so excited to have a finished project, especially since I have so less time to knit lately...

Another finished project :D

Quickly showing you the finished tablet sleeve. I sewed the i-cord to the knitwork and a few points to keep it in place. Just a picture for now, but I'll try to write a (short) pattern as soon as possibe.

Lace, lace and lace!

I haven't been around a lot lately... My job kept me quite busy, but I did manage to develop a new knitting passion :D. I'm really into lace now! I made this cotton lace summer top (which I showed you when it was still a WIP):

I used recycled yarn from an old sweater. Although there were more loose ends that had to be weaved in, I didn't have any problems with the yarn. I really like the way it turned out with the girly puffy sleeves... Luckily I like it now, because I frogged the upper part at least 3 times before I was satisfied :) And now I'm waiting for some decent sunshine to be able to wear this :).

And, my lace love grew, as I started knitting a lacy cardigan. I based the pattern on the pattern of the top (stitch count for the trunk, ect) but I altered the sleeves and the sleeve/trunk seams... And...I finally used some of those great buttons I bought quite a while ago from Shop4Crafts.

 I'm working on a pattern for the summer top at the moment, and I want to make one for the cardigan as well, if I ever can find the time for that ;). But, I also have to come up with a nice name for my patterns... I already thought about Cherry Blossom, and Summer Breeze... But those seemed to be so cliche that everyone is using those already. So, suggestions are very welcome!

New FO: Winter Lace Gloves

My new winter set is complete! I finished the gloves which I frogged over and over again. I'm very pleased with them now. The pattern is not done yet, but it will be finished soon, as it is not a lot of work, and then I'll put it up for testing on ravelry. If your interested in testing, just leave a comment.

And as you might have noticed already, I'm changing the look of the weblog a little. I'm learning how to write HTML now and how to use photoshop, so I can do all the design myself. Although I do sometimes think that I'm doing more other things involved in the weblog/webshop than knitting, haha. But if you have any suggestions for the layout etc, please let me know!

New Pattern!

I took me a while, but finally I published a new pattern! I still have to add it to the webshop, but it is available through ravelry already.

You can grab it here (ravelry).

The Winter Twist Skirt is an elegant yet modern self made item. It is great for cold winter days. It doesn’t only look good, it also keeps you warm al day.
The pattern for this skirt is quite easy. If you know how to knit, purl, and make an easy cable, then you almost there already! This is a very suitable “TV-knitting” project. It doesn’t require continuous attention, and the skirt is done in no-time.

The skirt pattern comes in 4 waist sizes:
65-70-75-80 cm or 25.5-27.5-29.5-31.5 in.

Busy life and new scarf

Wow, I haven't posted for a while. I got very busy. Two weeks ago, I started working at my first 'real' job. And besides that, I'm still supervising the pattern testing of my Maya's Cardigan. Most testers have knit the front and back panel and they are working on the sleeves. Did did however find some mistakes that slipped into the pattern... Mostly because of the complicated honeycomb pattern, it is very easy to make a maths mistake if you don't write down each stitch at the time your knitting.

Meanwhile, I did knit a scarf for next winter. It's a triangular scarf, knitted in DK weight acrylic yarn. It is a little lacy, but not too much, making sure it is warm enough to wear in winter. I'm planning to make a pattern for it if there is interest in it. Might take me a while though...

This is supposed to be a piece of my new winter set... I want to knit a pair of lacy gloves and a beret. Must love berets!

So, let me known in the comments what you think about the scarf!

Test knitting starting from NOW

I opened a request for test knitting of the Honeycomb Cardigan (which I named Maya's Favorite, after Maya the Bee) on ravelry.
I currently only have the pattern for US sizes 32-40. If you like to join the testing, do not hesitate and go here to join. Below are some new photo's of the finished project.

I still need some more of these...

Together with the yarn package that arrived last week, I got these 2.5mm sock needles. I really needed to make a needle case for these, because I was afraid they might snap in my bag. So I made another - two actually - needle case in the same one as the checkered one I showed you earlier. I really like the soft purple outside fabric and the way it goes with the purple flower lining. I just need to sew on a button to close it. I just   put a sewing pin in it for now.

This is the older one I made earlier:

My first etsy products!

A couple of days ago, I decided to try a small crochet project. I don't crochet a lot, but I like to once in a while. I bought small hair clips and I made flower applications on them. I wrote down something like a pattern. I'm going to try to bundle all these small project patterns, but I'll need them to go trough some serious testing, since I'm not used to writing crochet patterns.

I put the FOs up for sale on a free Dutch handcrafting website, but I was reading on their forum, and they stated that they got 20 buyers a MONTH (in total). That doesn't seem a great website to list my items, I guess. I'm going to go with etst.com right away, and just pay the small fee ;). And I also want to integrate paypal in my weblog/shop for the FOs, but I'm still for away from fingering that out. (If you have done this already yourself and have tips for me, please let me know!)

Finished at last!

After collecting dust for a while, the cloche is finished now. I only needed to sew on the strap, but even that took me for a month. I already started some new projects, and therefore I completely forgot about this one.

I took a quick picture of the hat, but I'll provide you with some nice pictures when I'm making the pattern.

I need some more of these...

I made a quick needle holder today. I used a left over pieces of denim and the new fabric fabric I bought last week. This one fits my 2 mm double pointed needles. I need more of these needle holders to keep at least my 4 mm, 5mm, 7mm, 8mm double pointed needles. Sounds like a lot of work :). But for the moment I'm happy with this one.

The book beneath stitch holder is my new knitting note book :). Hopefully I can make some more patterns now, because I have more notes.

New Pin Cushion

Last week I wrote about making the pin cushion from Tatiana's tutorial. And I finished it. I made some modifications to it, but the look of it remains quite the same.

I first made the pin cushion itself as described in the tutorial.

I filled it with material from an old sponge because I didn't have any filling left. I was very nice to use, because I could sculpt it into the round form with only a pair of scissors. 

I also made a detachable wrist strap:

I haven't used it yet, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Floral Skirt!

This weekend I made a dress with the floral fabric I bought a little while ago. I'm very pleased with it :). I never thought it would be actually wearable :). I already wore it, and it I love the way the wind plays with the light fabric.

It was a very quick sewing project. I started on Saturday and it was already finished by Sunday morning! Great when it al works out!

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