WIP Wednesday

today with two projects:

first of, my baltic blanket grows :) and the testers have started as well :)

right now I'm starting to hope my yarn will last me long enough. I hope to at least triple the length I have so far and I do think my yarn might last, but I'm not sure. when I've finished this color repeat I will weigh my blanket and the yarn I have left and hope for the best. I mean in case my yarn won't last I have two options, another trip to Hamburg and hope they still carry both colors or finding an alternative (I can think of adding "grass" and "beach" colors in wave shapes, but I'm not there yet. I just hope I can finish this in the pattern and yarn I have)

the second project has had its appearance before. Although it's been wordless and I frogged everything, I wanted to make a short sleeved shirt with stripes and then I came across a finished Coachella on my instagram stream. And I remembered I always wanted to make one for myself.

and now here I go, starting over. I doubled the yarn I have so now I can use 3mm needle (before I used 2.25mm) and now look at the pattern and wonder which size to choose. I have a different gauge as I'm working with significantly smaller needles and normally I would just calculate all the measurements but this shirt gives me headaches. The construction is so different I don't really know where to start. If you ever made this maybe you can give me a tip?

now let's "enjoy" the heatwave together, Diana

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heute gibt's gleich zwei Projekte im WIP Mittwoch

zum einen wächst meine Ostseewellendecke immer weiter :) und die Tester haben auch angefangen :)

ich bin grade sehr zufrieden mit ihr und hoffe grade nur, dass mir das Garn nicht vorher ausgeht. Ich glaube schon, dass die Wolle reichen wird, bin mir aber nicht sicher. ich möchte die Decke gern etwa dreimal so lang machen, wie sie jetzt ist. Naja da werde ich wohl einfach mal wiegen wenn ich den aktuellen Farbwechsel fertig hab und mal grob ausrechnen wie weit ich noch kommen könnte.
Plan B wären entweder Strandsandwellen oder gar Graswellen am Rand, aber auch nur falls ich die Wolle nicht nochmal nachkaufen kann, FALLS sie tatsächllich nicht reichen sollte.

und als zweites Projekt ist oben Wolle zu sehen. Sie war hier schon mal zu sehen, aber ich hab wieder aufgeribbelt. Eigentlich sollte es ein selbstentworfenes Shirt werden, aber ich bin vor kurzem in meinem instagram Feed über einen fertigen Coachella getsolpert. Nunja, das wollte ich schon ewig machen und nun fang ich an.
Maschenprobe ist gemacht und ich grübel grade welche Größe ich machen soll, da ich ne andere Nadel nehme als im Muster (ne 3mm statt 4.5mm). Normalerweise würde ichs mir einfach ausrechnen, aber die eigenwillige Kontruktion dieses Shirts lässt mich etwas stottern. Falls ihr es schon mal gemacht habt, vielleicht habt ihr ja einen Tip für mich?

und jetzt "juchu" Hitze und bald Wochenende, Diana

a late WIP Wednesday on a Friday

:)

Hey you guys

I know you've been waiting for this, my blanket grew!

it took a while and even ripped it out again (yeah I knew stupid thing of being a virgo, we always wanna have things done perfectly) - I eyeballed my border stitches now that I decided to go for a "all waves face the same direction" version of my blanket. I also choose to crochet 4 rows on each color.
the thing that made me start over (again) was a new phenomena to me, now that all waves go the same way, they tend to flow out of the blanket. which means I need to consider this in my side border stitches. On first try I eyeballed these and on last Sunday night (after the fantabulous worldcup win of our team, #germanyWC2014) I looked at my little masterpiece and was like 'duh' no, it's wonky' and I spent the following day with making the side stitches perfectly even, I crocheted a test piece (you will see it in my framed - july soon :)

and then I ripped out 14 rows , fourteen rows . just let that sink in, it took me a while to get over this as well.
now I'm back on track, reworked that 14 rows, wrote the stitches down in the pattern, sent out to the lovely testers and spend some time crocheting on my sofa every night.

and what can I say? I'm so glad I did, I love how the waves perform now, how they even shape individual waves all by themselves when lying on the sofa. it's love, I tell you people :)

how do you spend the evenings? and what will you do this weekend?
hugs and kisses, Diana

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ja, ein WIP Mittwoch an einem Freitag, ich weiß doch dass ihr drauf wartet ^__^

ich hab meine Decke wieder aufgeribbelt, ja nochmal..
Sonntag abend beim Weltmeisterspiel sitz ich auf der Couch, gucke mir so mein Werk an, ich hatte mich dafür entschieden alle Wellen in die gleiche Richtung gehen zu lassen und was sehe ich? der Rand ist doof!
bei genauerer Betrachtung, er ist dann doch schief geworden, ich hatte mir gedacht ich bekomm das schon während des häkelns hin aber NEIN, 14 Reihen durften nochmal aufgemacht werden, NoCHMAL, *fügegrimmigesGesichthierein*

naja aber gesagt getan und am nächsten Tag ein Probestück für den Rand gemacht, diesmal sollte es dann doch klappen.

und was soll ich sagen? ich bin ganz verliebt, es klappt, es sieht toll aus, ich bin total entzückt wie sich die Wellen auch schon im Stück selbst formen, also wie es sich so wellig ausbeult und ich bin wieder dran, Stück für Stück.

die Anleitung ist inzwischen auch an die Tester raus und ich bin gespannt was sie sagen werden

bis dahin wünsche ich euch ein schönes Wochenende, eure Diana

wordless WIP Wednesday

wordless WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday 5

Just a very quick hello and update. I'm currently very busy with work and some exciting news for the blog.

Ginkgo is bound off and blocking in my shower.

Also I've made some progress on Klara, she's got hair now :-)

And for the exciting news for the blog, I'm sure you'll love it and I'll post details in the next few days. So long have a wonderful day or night (whatever you're up to) ^__^ hugs, Diana

WIP Wednesday

Ginkgo grows on and on. I finished the first half and bound off, now I'm working on the second part of my shawl. So far I really like it. Unblocked as it is right now I think it could be a bit longer, but nonetheless I like it a lot. Progress percentage I'd say is 60%.

On other news, I didn't start any new WIPs. Yeah me! But, I'm pretty excited. Just a few hours ago I had the idea for my next hat. A few posts back I was wondering whether I needed a new winter hat or not. Whether a new rusty red hat would fit my life, and you probably guessed it right .. OFCOURSE I will need a new hat, winter will come and it will be cold, my ears would want warmth. But the exciting idea I'm having is a "Sylvi Pixie" hat. You might remember my sylvi cardigan and this hat will match it perfectly. The seed stitch and cable pattern I was wondering to add to my hat turned into vines and leaves I'm happy ^__^

WIP Wedn ... uhm Friday?

no. don't judge me, don't laugh at me. I found another one.

Yesterday night while cleaning I found a bag, a bag which said "hi, I include knitting" and grinned at me. I hide this stuff from myself. I swear. I wonder if hiding these from myself is some form of self protection? do I not want to finish these things deep down in my soul? Why am I hiding them from myself? is it the ever existing wish to always have something left to do? like some sort of goal in life to always look forward? deep thoughts..

anyways I found a stole. it's not bound off yet and I always intended to sew some fancy fabric to the wrong side. The fabric is there too, but no sewing. Now I don't see any event to wear a stole like this and think about frogging and re-use the yarn. Maybe knit some sort of blanket? A small one maybe for a baby or I could use it to schmancy up some of my amigurumis. I guess I will see, so far it might keep sleeping in its bag

have a lovely weekend y'all

WIP Wednesday 2

shame on me! I need to admit something. I found even more WIPs. Do you believe me when I say I wasn't aware these things even existed? Please do so, I hid them so well I couldn't remember they were there. But the minute I posted my last WIP Wednesday I saw them. Sleeping in one of my boxes. In a project bag. A project bag which you could call a WIP by it self - I never finished the seams:

And this bag I found:

the victim of sss - second sock syndrome. Green Fishnet stockings almost finished, but only almost. Pattern was from vogue knitting. I remember I liked the knit but didn't liked the non-ease of the resulting fabric. Maybe that's why I never finished my very first pair of socks. Started in August 2007. whoosh that's so much time that passed.

a summer top that never happened to be. Started in 2008. Left to be forgotten. Makes me sad. The pattern was lovely. I made some changes to this as I wanted real straps instead of the i-cord ones that the pattern came with. One important modification was knitting the pattern back and forth instead of in the round which was giving me severe headaches back in the days. I guess nowadays changing a simple stitch pattern such as this one would be so much easier for me. I've learned so much during the last years.

and then there is something I don't even remember what it was intended to be. I believe I wanted to make gaiters to wear during winter as I never could find proper boots but obviously these were never finished.

And already frogged as well. And a little magic happened while frogging, I found a needle I've been searching for for ages. Literally ages!

In another box I stored the front of a vest. Blossom. It was my first really big fair-isle knit and one that was making me practice weaving in the strands as I go, even when knitting on the wrong side. I don't like steeking and never ever ever will do so. Cutting knitting equals killing it for me, so I found a way to knit fair-isle both ways. I knew there was a way and I found one. I still like the pattern I created back then but the color combination and even more important the need for a vest just disappeared. I don't wear vests and guess I won't in the future.

All of the WIPs above will be frogged sooner or later so I guess they don't count as WIPs per se but I wanted to give a little credit to them anyways.

_______

now let's move on to the WIPs I wrote about last time.

Ginkgo grew quite a bit. I'm almost done with the first half and love the yarn/color/stitch combination so far. This will be a well loved shawl/cowl when done.

Also I made some progress on Klara. The mermaid got a new head. A smaller - better fitting/proportioned one. And a new nose too! The first one was reminding me of a witch and mermaids are too cute to have witch noses. Now I'm thinking about ears or no ears and the idea for her hair that I have in my mind is a little challenging.

hugs, Diana

oh, and even worse I have a hat in my head that wants to be knitted. Do I need a new hat? a rusty red one? with a cable and some seed stitch?

WIP Wednesday

Today I will start a new feature on my blog. The WIP Wednesday. I'm sure you all know what a WIP is, a work in progress, most of mine sleep in boxes or on the back/armrests of my couch.

I've originally found this feature on Amy's blog called threadpanda (which is pretty cool, btw, you SHOULD check it out). And I loved the thing the minute I first saw it. Keeping track of what you have lying around. Actually getting aware (!) of how many projects I have going on at one moment. And as I'm about to cast on two (not only one, no, two) new cowls this very moment I figured it was about time to start my own WIP Wednesday, just to remind me to not cast on even more...

Icarus: So I guess I will start at the beginning, with my oldest WIP around. When I redesigned my blog a few weeks ago I also checked on all the labels flying around here and came across one that was called "icarus". I couldn't remember what it was, so I took a look and was surprised. I just didn't remember it at all. Icarus is also very present on my ravelry page but I stopped recognizing it. It's one of those things, that once they look like furniture/background, you just stop seeing them at all. I started this sock/stocking design in May 2009 and it seems like I forgot about it in October that year..

Snailigan: a cardigan I started in September 2009. I was very enthusiastic about this baby when I started and always regret that the move to Berlin in 2010 made me stop working on this (and looking back on most other crafty things for that year). I don't have a unique label for snailigan, where you can find all the single posts about it here on this blog, but you can search for it.

Petrol Gable: another cardigan. I don't use patterns by other designers without adding quite a few changes to them very often. And this time I wasn't as well -- although I believe changing a hooded pullover into a stand-up collar cardigan isn't that much of a modification. I like Mari's designs very very much and my favorite still is my Sylvie cardi I made a few years ago. Still wear it a lot. Anyways Gable was started in July 2010 and as mentioned above 2010 wasn't a good knitting year for me, I just was too busy finding myself in a new job and a new home and a big city such as Berlin.

Eichenlaub: is an afghan made from a "doily" pattern. I love love love Herbert Niebling's designs. They are so pretty and delicate and unique. And I loved the idea of having such a pretty design on my couch to cuddle and snuggle in. But a lace pattern such as this one takes a lot of attention. And I just don't have that much attention every evening. Started in June 2011 I made pretty good progress meanwhile, earlier this summer I worked quite a few rows on it. A single row also takes about 30-45 minutes meanwhile so I guess and hope that I will finish it this winter. Maybe one row an evening isn't too much to ask for?

Klara: is my latest amigurumi design. Started only two weeks ago I already made some neat progress. If you follow me on instagram you saw my progress so far, as I posted some pictures. (and even a video, just click the picture)

and now my new cast ons: it's getting colder and winter is approaching quickly. Last year I've turned the famous Laminaria pattern into a cowl. Seems like I never made a proper blog post on it, as the modification is quite interesting, but you can find my project page here and a picture below. Since I made this colw I wasn't wearing anything else. It's just perfect. What I never liked about classic cowls or bigger shawls is all the bulk at the neck and sometimes not enough fabric at the front. Changing a triangular shawl into a cowl solved this problem immediately and now I'm about to do this again with two other patterns.

Ginkgo Cowl: I've chosen a pretty honey colored merino yarn and won't change much about the pattern at all, maybe add a row of ginkgo leaves, but I'll see how it turns out once I get there.

Pretty as a peacock cowl: I've drooled over this pattern forever and ever (or as long as it's been around) and finally decided to buy the pattern and start on it. I'm pretty sure I'll skip a few of the rows to make it a little shorter but I will see when it's time to decide. I chose a very light bamboo yarn to try this and will work with several balls at once because I want the beautiful color changes to take a little longer. I've used this yarn before (tried to work it into a vest, but frogged already) and will use pretty small needles. The yarn doesn't hold shape very good and using smaller needles did help a lot here.

that's it, I guess seven WIPs isn't as bad as I thought. But keeping track of them will help, maybe even help with some of the older ones.
how about you? do you have tons of WIPs lying around or are you one of those (very rare ^__^) one project people?

♥ Diana