Handmade/Homemade gifts

Today is my Dad's birthday and here's what I've made for him:

A mini book/gift card.

It's a gift card for a trip to IKEA to buy CD shelves and expedit shelves to store his vinyls. His CDs and LPs are all over the house and we wanna change that. We'll put them all into one room, neatly organized. I've been thinking about organizing them by artists. How to you store your CDs?

My sister made these delicious cupcakes. They taste like triple-chocolate cupcakes (I don't wanna know how many calories one has :D) and the topping is perfect!!

My mom sew this project bag for him. He loves orange (every time he sees orange shoes he wants to buy them. We always tell him not to. He usually listens to us :D) and as nobody in our family looks good in orange clothes, he has to be content with owning orange accessories. Did I mention that my dad knits, too? I love being part of a creative family :)

And handmade/homemade gifts are the best, aren't they?

These days...

Yesterday we've had a knitting picnic with our local ravelry group. Although we were only six+1 people, we've had lots of fun. The weather was beautiful and I can't wait for the next occasion to knit outside in the park. Let's all hope for a great summer :D

These past weeks I have realized that I can go several weeks without washing clothes. And still have a full closet. I think it's time to get rid off some clothes... and do some laundry.

Now I'm off to read Je l'aimais by Anna Gavalda. Isn't it nice to read a book you've wanted to read in a long time in preparation for an exam and not feel guilty? I love exams that you can't really study for like e.g. French finals :)

Biology related knitting patterns (aka procrastination)

As I have my biology finals in less than 24 hours I'Ve been looking for creative ways of procrastination. Searching 'biology' on ravelry has made my day. Just look at these, I really have to stop myself from grabbing my needles + some yarns and knitting the awesome lab rat (did I mention that I hate biology? and that I'm a vegetarian? and that I had to dissect a rat myself in bio class in Canada and that's been the point in my life when I not only disliked but very strongly disliked bio class?)

(credit: click on the images)

Nooow I really should stop procrastinating and try to not fail my bio exams tomorrow...

Happy knitting!

Spiritful Spring

 

I love quiet evenings outside on the lawn, watching the sunset and observing the cat. We've had the most gorgeous spring one could imagine so far. But I'm ready for summer with lots of heat and sitting outside in a t-shirt until it's dark. I'm ready to leave school behind and have a carefree, adventurous summer before I'll move to Vancouver in late August. I'm ready for quiet evenings at home with paper and glue. I'm ready for adventures with friends and vacation.

I'm working on a list of things to do in summer. Can't wait to share all my plans with you :)

What's In My Bag? // Volume 2: Knitting Edition

Here's a 'What's In My Bag?' special edition ;)

Here's what is in my knitting utilities bag.



Scissors, pens, highlighter, crochet hook,needles, markers and the clover frog (row counter). There should be a measuring tape in there, but I always lose mine (or my mom steals them? haha. not sure)



I made this wristlet last summer. I intended to use it 'as a normal wristlet' but I hardly ever used it as I normally carry quite a lot with me. So it got a second life as a knitting bag :)

It has little pockets on the inside and the size is just about perfect as I sometimes put more crochet hooks or yarn leftovers or patterns in there.



Here's my 'knitting bag collection'. The apple purse is my 'crochet project bag'. Currently I'm working on a granny square project so there are two skeins of wool and a crochet hook in there.

The pig bag(looove the fabric!) is my 'sock bag'. I always have cold feet and knitting socks was the reason I started knitting, haha. So I always have a pair of socks in progress. One skein of sock wool + needles fits perfectly in there.

The wristlet is my accessories bag.

All bags are handmade by me :)

I plan to sew a bigger project bag soon for larger projects such as shawls etc. And I also gotta make a cute, compact storage system for knitting needles and crochet hooks.

Any suggestions for patterns / tutorials?

Knit-A-Bit // Mylys

I recently went to Hamburg with two friends from my local Ravelry Group and my mom. As we are all somewhat addicted to everything soft and plushy, we headed straight to Mylys. Mylys is a wonderful LYS in Hamburg. She also has an online shop :)

 

Naima, the shop owner, is really nice and helpful. What's best about Mylys is that Naima's brother has a coffee shop with tasty homemade cake and cupcakes next door.

If you live in/near Hamburg or if you happen to get there... a visit at Mylys is really worth it :)

Of course I couldn't resist all the beautiful yarns so here is what I bought:

Sock wool for lace socks :)

As well as two skeins of Filigran lace yarn.

I love the colors!! I plan to knit the Haruni Shawl using this yarn.

But before I can start the Haruni and some cute lace socks I have to finish my current projects:

The Calais Shawl (fun to knit! I love the pattern but I gotta concentrate when knitting this as it is my first lace shawl.)

And socks.In Germany we call them 'stinos: stinknormale socken' (= ordinary socks)

Update

I'm still alive, just very busy studying for my finals.

Look at what my mom gave me for my birthday last week:

A camera strap cover!! It's so cute, with owls on it and fresh colors. I'm in looove.

For my last camera strap, I made this camera strap but it didn't fit my new camera strap so I sold it. I'm soo happy to have a new one now. It makes me love my camera even more :)

I've been listening to the Across the Universe soundtrack quite a lot lately. Always reminds me of my high school year in Canada, where we watched the movie in English class.

Have a lovely week!