operation sock yarn // catching up

Since I started this project, I completed one pair of scrap socks every month: March & April. I forgot to post the socks for May, but here's a picture:

There are more pictures and information on the ravelry project page, if you're curious.

Here is the June edition: they are more neutral than the last pairs of socks. I used seven different kinds of fingering weight yarn yet only managed to use up one skein. Oh well, I guess there will be many more blue-ish #operationsockyarn socks in the future.

My two sock yarn boxes are still pretty full but at least I'm able to close them again. The worst part of using up scrap yarns is this:

So many ends to weave in!

Are you also working on diminishing your (scrap) stash?

wiwo wednesday vol. 7

This post is a day late but yesterday was a busy day so I had no time to write this post. Anyway, enough excuses, here's this week's wiwo edition.
My stripe obsession will probably be featured here for the rest of the year (at least!). I love working on it but at the same time I love working on projects that produce scraps so I have more colours to choose from for this scarf.

I went on a road trip to Cologne to visit my dad (he works there and commutes every week) and had lots of time to knit on my buttercup. Sadly, the hours of knitting spent on the stockinette section is hardly visible. I have two full skeins left and I have to finish the body, knit both sleeves and the neck edge. Originally I wanted to knit 3/4 sleeves but if I have to choose between a belly top and short sleeves I'll pick short sleeves any time. We'll see how far I get but I'd also love to add at least a thin stripe of this beautiful color to my stripe obsession.

Another ongoing project around here is organizing my yarn stash. So far I sorted everything by weight and took photos of most of my yarn and uploaded everything to ravelry. Right now my stash lives in plastic containers from IKEA. It is practical but not pretty; I'd love to find a glass cabinet on craigslist so I can see all my pretty yarn. Yet I don't want the sun to suck all the color out of my pretty fibers...
I'll write a more elaborate blog post about it when I find a solution that works for me.

bolt statement

This shawl was a knit-along that I did with Grace. The bolt shawl is a fun pattern to knit, although the designer's specific note NOT to pick up the wrapped stitch on the short rows really bothered me. I followed the instructions although I somewhat doubted the sense of it. And voilà, every single short row is visible. I was optimistic that it wouldn't be visible anymore after blocking but nope - still easily spottable.
Anyway, I still like the design of the shawl - and I'm super glad I chose neutral colours for this one. I love having one shawl that goes with pretty much every outfit I wear.

My dad was nice enough to model for me because wrapping it around a tree doesn't really show what it'll look like once worn. Also, I think men can totally pull this shawl design off.

I took these pictures on a short weekend trip to Belgium. Taking pictures outside in the countryside is so much more fun than having to rely on your own backyard.

brooklyn tweed kids

Yay, my all-time favorite knitwear design team published a new collection. I love that all the pieces are classic yet have modern cuts and are all wearable out in public - unlike many knitwear designs you'll find in fancy magazines. Have a look yourself:


It's hard to pick favourites because there isn't a single piece in the collection that I don't like, but I can imagine knitting the following patterns eventually:
Winslow pillow, Atlas sweater,  Arlo cardigan, Humphrey teddy bear, Spore hat and scarf and all the other patterns.

I can't wait for the time when my friends start having kids. But it's never too early to start knitting cute kids' clothes for potential future kids, right??

wiwo wednesday vol. 6

I'm done piecing the Summer in the Park quilt blocks together. Next up is figuring out how to make this quilt much bigger (especially in width) than it is right now so it fits my bed. Also visible in these pictures is my new bright green (I like to call it frog green as) carpet! I got it from one of my mom's friends and it makes my basement studio SO much brighter and more comfy. I'm gonna post a couple of pictures of the room soon.

My bolt statement only grew one wedge. I plan to finish it by next week's wiwo post. Crazy? Probably. But I'm anxious to finish something and the shawl seems to be the most realistic project to finish within a week.

I did knit a couple of rows but you can't see any progress on my buttercup sweater from last week. Oh endless stockinette...

I knitted a couple of alibi rows on my current #operationsockyarn socks in the car a couple days ago. But they are faaar from finished.

Also, I added three new colors to to the stripe obsession. I love this project - I hope to finish it this year so I can wear it in the winter. Which also means I have to knit some more projects using drops alpaca yarn so I have enough scrap yarns to make this a fun and colorful scarf :)

romy cardigan

According to ravelry, I finished knitting this cardigan February 2nd. It's embarrassing that it took me over four months to finally share it here on the blog. My only excuse is that it took me about 3.5 months to find and sew on buttons...

It's way too hot to wear the cardigan now but I'm already looking forward to spring.

The sleeves turned out to be a little bit too long but I wanted the cardigan to be slightly oversized anyway. The yarn (100% alpaca) is very warm but it leaves a trail of fluff everywhere.

Leather book necklace by nicopapergoods // photos by Julia

wiwo wednesday vol. 5

The last week flew - I feel like I blinked and a whole week is over. I was busy with school and had a friend from the states over (hey, Sam!). Being busy also means that I didn't get a lot of time to work on my current projects.
I made some (visible) progress on my buttercup sweater. It feels like I knit and knit and knit and there's no progress whatsoever. But comparing this week's photo with last week's shows a huge difference. It finally starts to look like something that could end up being wearable.

There's a new project in the making: I got my favorite flea market find out again and started spinning yesterday. My tension isn't perfect but oh man I'm having fun. I just love how relaxing spinning is. Hopefully I'll have a 2-ply skein ready by next week's wiwo post.

There has been some progress on my latest #operationsockyarn project. I bought another set of DPNs so I can knit two socks simultaneously. Yay!

Unfortunately, neither my bolt statement nor my stripe obsession got any attention this past week. Also, I'm totally using my Christmas themed knitting bag all year round because that's how I roll.