It's A Cowl!

pattern: Burberry Inspired Cowl by Julianne Smith

yarn used: Garnstudio Drops Andes color 519, almost two skeins

Needles: 7mm

my ravelry project page

When I was in Victoria last weekend I went to the Beehive Wool Shop and couldn't resist buying the drops Andes yarn. It is bulky and soft so I figured I could whip up a quick poject with it. When I bought it I didn't have a specific project in mind but I had to buy it anyway.

The same evening I browsed through my favorite projects on ravelry and came across a pattern for a cowl. As it's getting colder here and I couldn't bring many clothes and accessories from Germany I had a good excuse to make one :)



The cowl turned out to be pretty big and warm. I love it! It took me two evenings to knit it; the cowl itself was a quick knit but stitching it together took hours (at least it felt like hours); I used the kitchener stitch as suggested in the pattern. It was my first time using it  and I used an instructoral video (thank you for being patient and re-playing the video 20x for me, youtube!). It didn't turn out to be perfect but I probably just need a little more practice. This cowl would also make a perfect christmas gift! As soon as I buy some more wool I'll knit another one for a friend :)

I have one skein left so I'm thinking about making a matching hat or fingerless gloves? Have you finished any knitting projects lately?

Christmas Gift Inspiration

One of the many reasons why I love fall is that I love looking for cute Christmas gift ideas and when is a better time to start planning christmas gifts than in fall, when the days get shorter and you spend more evenings with a cup of hot tea on your couch chair?

One of my favorite resources for finding Christmas gift ideas is ravelry. There are thousands of projects you can browse through and print out the pattern right away and get started! I've decided to share some projects that would make great chirtsmas gifts on here :)

I've been in love with the Stockholm Scarf by KnittedBliss for a looong time. As soon as I find the perfect yarn for it I'll knit one (or maybe a couple more and give them away for christmas.)

The Quick Cable Slouch hat by Azure seems like a cute christmas gift for friends; one can never have enough hats and this one looks so cute!

The Fresco Basket Whip Cowl by Laura Patterson is adorable and I'm sure most of my friends would love to get one :)

Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault are probably the fastest mittens I've ever knitted. You can easily finish one mitten in one evening. Also, they are super warm and the cables make them unique yet versatile enough to wear them every day :D You can get the pattern on Marielle's blog.

I also love the Milanese Lace Topper by Tante Ehm and think it would make a great present :)

Did you start your christmas gift production yet? Am I the only one who gets excited about Christmas already?

Victoria!

On Saturday I went to BC's capital with my friends Angela and Katja.

We had to leave our residence ar 5:30 to catch an early bus to the ferry. The ferry ride was nice and clam though there were many people considering that it left at 8am. Watching the sunrise from the ferry was pretty sweet though and totally worth getting up early.

There were a couple of touristy photos taken (come on, who can resist a big, fluffy moose?!). We basically just walked around and explored the hundreds of cute little boutiques, restaurants and cafés. We had lunch at a really cute café and bakery called Willie's. It's the oldest bakery in BC(according to their homepage) and it's sooo lovely!

They mainly use local and organic ingredients, serve the best hot chocolate I've had for a looong time and the staff is super friendly. Not to mention the cute blackboards, the fireplace on the patio and the all the cute details. 

The cakes and tartes they serve are delicious. They taste lke homemade :D

Victoria in general looks very European with lots of old buldings and cute signs everywhere.

We also walked through chinatown which was pretty big compared to the one in Vancouver!

Of course we also did some shopping. Did I mention that the Canadians interpret dollar stores quite differently? This sign pretty much sums everything up you need to know about Canadian prices. Everything in BC is ridiciously overpriced. We went to two thrift stores - a huuuge value village and a Salvation Army store. I got some cute old sewing patterns, craft supplies and a banana hanger :)

On the bus ride back to the ferry we saw a pumpkin patch! I'd love to go to one, but unfortunately I seem to be the only one who gets excited about hayrides, corn mazes and pumpkin picking. Okay, I admit that pumpkin + dorm = :( because you can't cook, carve, decorate here but I still imagine having fun at a pumpkin patch :)

Wreck Beach

My friend Katja and I went to Wreck Beach to capture the sunset. We've been planning to go there for quite a while but today was the first day that wasn't cloudy. We grabbed our cameras and headed down there. It's really nice to have a beach on campus that's only a ten minute walk away.

Unfortunately, there are 374 stairs between the lovely beach and the street. The stairs really wear me down everytime I go there. But I guess it's a good exercise.

We weren't the only ones who came to watch the sunset. This cute sea gull stayed there for about 5 minutes and enjoyed the view. Adorable!

There are always people at Wrack Beach so it's really hard to get a shot without people in it. But I really liked the texture of the drift wood!

Also, the drift wood is perfect for taking interesting shoe pictures.

And a silly portrait I took of Katja :)

And I started to teach her how my camera works so she can take pictures of me from time to time. Hopefully there won't be many awkward self-portraits in the future anymore.

I hope you had a great weekend and happy thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! I'll edit some photos I took in Victoria and blog about our adventures in BC's capital tomorrow :)

[insert name of drink here] cozy pattern

As it's finally getting colder, I can walk around with a hot drink in my hand in public all day. As I am a poor student now, buying drinks at starbucks three times a day isn't within my budget. So I had to get a tumblr (0.99$ thrift store find) and make my own chai tea latte. I decided my tumblr needed a fall outfit (did I just write outfit!?) so I knitted a quick cozy.

And before I get weird comments, yes, hat is bubble tea. Although I love drinking it, I hate holding it as it's freeezing! So I had a bubbletea cozy today :)

Here's how I made the [insert name of drink here] cozy:

Please note: this cozy fits a Starbucks tumblr or a medium bubbletea. If you want a cozy for a regular take out coffee, cast on 43 stitches and follow the pattern, leaving out one cable repeat(=11 stitches).

Time: approximately one episode of House MD (~40 minutes)

Yarn used: a small amount of Lion Brand Yarn Fishermen's Wool.

Needles: DPN size 8 (5mm) + one extra needle or cable needle

Abbreviations:

CF: put two stitches on cable needle and hold in front, knit the next two stitches, knit stitches from cable needle

CB: put two stitches on cable needle and hold in the back, knit the next two stitches, knit stitches from cable needle

Directions:

Cast on 54 stitches and join in the round. Work in a K2, P2 rib for 5 rounds. In the last round of 2x2 rib, pick up one stitch.

Cables:

    Rows 1-2: *P3, K8* around

    Row 3: *P3, CF, CB*, repeat four more times

    Rows 4-9: *P3, K8* around

    Row 10: *P3, CF, CB*, repeat four more times

    Rows 11-16: *P3, K8* around

    Row 17: *P3, CF, CB*, repeat four more times

    Rows 18-19: *P3, K8* around

Row 20: work in a K2, P2 rib around and decrease one stitch.

Continue to work in the 2x2 rib for 4 more rounds. Cast off and weave in ends.

And you're done! Super easy and quick :)

Please note: I do not claim to have invented the pattern. I simply share how I like to make my cozies. As many cozy patterns are rather similiar, I reckon there are others out there that look about the same.

Shades of Grey

The weather has been cloudy, grey and rainy in the past couple of days. I miss the rustling of the leaves as I walk to class. But I'm positive that the lovely fall weather from last week will be back soon. In the meantime, I'll stay inside and study for my midterms. Who would've thought that it's possible to cover over 200 pages within three weeks of lectures? Memorizing the 200 pages + the 500 that will follow for the finals in December will be interesting.

In other news, I'll go to Victoria with some friends on Saturday. I can't wait for the ferry rides :D I'll share some pictures. Other than that I'm looking forward to a relaxed, long weekend. It's (Canadian) Thanksgiving on monday so we don't have classes :) Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures of this beautiful city (fingers crossed that it won't be raining all weekend long!).

Also, I've ordered one of Elise's Autumn minibooks. It will probably take about two weeks for it to arrive but I'll definitely start collecting stuff for it :) Seeing all the beautiful pages she made reminds me how much I miss having a sewing machine, lots of scrapbooking supplies and a color printer available. But I managed for the 30 Days of Lists book so I should be able to come up with some ideas for my fall minibook :)

Hope you're enjoying the beginning of fall :)

ps: I've updated the about me section. If you have any questions you'd like to ask me, simply drop me an e-mail or leave a comment.

30 Days of Lists - completed journal

Yesterday evening I completed my 30 Days of Lists September 2011 journal!

List 21: TV shows I wish would come back

(I need to add '24' to the list. Can't believe I forgot Jack...)

List 22: Ways to avoid housework

List 23: If I won the lottery...

List 24: Things I like to do when I am sick

List 25: to do list

List 26: Things to do before my next birthday

List 27: my overused words & phrases

List 28: if I ruled the world...

List 29: Things that were awesome about September

List 30: I'm proud of myself for...

I'm really glad I completed this project. It is great to see how you can complete an entire art journal within 30 days. I admit that there were days when I felt really uninspired and simply jotted down a list on a piece of paper and journalled about it the next day. Also, working with a very limited amount of supplies was a real challenge. Here's a pictures of all the supplies I used for this porject:

I'm looking forward to the next round of 30 Lists already :)