wiwo wednesday vol. 4

I made some progress on my buttercup sweater. I'm almost done with the first skein and I hope to finish the lace border today and separate for the body.

So far it looks a little... messy? but I hope am sure that it'll look lovely once it's blocked.

I'm done with part A of the bolt statement and started part B. There are some holes where I picked up stitches for part B which I don't like too much. Hopefully they won't be noticeable once blocked!

Since I didn't make any progress on my current sock project I thought I'd share a home decor project I'm working on. After living in this apartment for almost two years I finally started hanging some art and photos. It's still far from perfect / done but it's nice to to stare at an empty wall when I wake up in the morning. The wall is gonna be yarn/knitting inspired. I plan on adding a weaving project, too! (once I built myself a loom...)

How are your wips coming along?

rock island shawl

Yet another project off the needles? You probably think I don't do anything but knit all day. But to be honest, I finished this shawl almost two months ago. I know, that makes me a terrible blogger. But to my defence it was quite difficult to take proper pictures. The color of the yarn is almost impossible to capture on film.

The yarn is called 'Ruby Thursday' by Wollmeise. I love the color but I'm not too fond of knitting the yarn because it split all the time. Maybe it's just me but I'm very talented in poking the needle into the yarn itself instead of the stitch.

Nonetheless, I love the shawl. Brooklyn Tweed patterns never disappoint and with the rock island shawl Jared Flood nailed it again. If it wasn't for the tedious lace border that's knitted first I would've cast on another one already. As always, you can find all the important information on the ravelry project page.

little wave cardigan

You probably recognise this cardigan from the previous wiwo wednesday posts. I'm happy to share it here as a finished object! Click here to get to the project page.

I got the yarn in Florida in March and had originally intended to use it for the Levenwick cardigan. Well turns out a very soft alpaca/wool blend isn't ideal if you want a stand-up collar. So I decided to use it for the little wave cardigan, which has been on my to-knit list since the pattern was published.

I think the yarn is perfect for the cardigan. I love the color and how soft yet warm it is. Oh and have I mentioned the gorgeous ocean blue/green mix color? I love having a cardigan that I can combine with pretty much all my clothes yet it's not grey. My roomie would be proud of me if she read this.

I ran out of yarn right before the finish line so I had to buy an additional skein to knit the pockets. Luckily I found someone in GB who sold a skein via ravelry. Apparently berroco yarn is impossible to find in Germany. Too bad because it's one of my favorite yarns to knit with.

The cardigan also matches my new book necklace perfectly. I've had the necklace in a gorgeous yellow for over two years so I finally gave in and bought another one to reward myself for reaching the halfway point of my undergraduate studies.

Also a huge THANK YOU to my roomie Julia for snapping these pictures. Taking pictures of yourself with a tripod in public isn't exactly my favorite activity so I'm really thankful for having a friend who makes taking pictures fun. Also, she forced me to exercise with her in exchange for the photos. Double win.

wiwo wednesday vol. 3

On Monday I started a new project. It's a KAL with Grace from the Knitting Goddess with her cat. We're knitting the Bolt shawl by Veera Välimäki. So far it's a fun and mindless in class knitting project. That's probably gonna change once the short rows begin but I'm enjoying knitting something other than socks in class while I can. Feel free to join in #boltKAL

I also made some progress on the buttercup. So far it's been a rather mindless knit as well. I'm excited to finish the raglan increase section so I can try it on. I was too lazy excited to get started to check my gauge. Let's hope that it's about the right size.

I started a new pair of scrap socks. I'm not sure which colours to use so I didn't get very far yet.

I knitted about one row on the stripe obsession scarf. Nothing to be proud of but one row is better than nothing... right?

an explosion of green

Yesterday, my roommate Julia and I spent the 'golden hour' outside taking pictures. We had so much fun and spending a Friday evening outside in the fields is great to unwind after a long and stressful week.
This weekend I have all kinds of fun things planned - organizing my craft room, cleaning and decorating my bedroom and spending quality time with friends, family and my sewing machine. I also have some not-so-tiny-anymore zucchini and pumpkin plants sitting on my windowsill that are aching to be planted outside.

Happy weekend!

a typical morning

Mornings are my favorite time of the day. The love the quietness, the beginning of something new, getting a fresh start and having all the possibilities of an awesome day. I usually get up at around 7am although my alarm clock doesn't ring until 7:15.

Lina is always the first to have breakfast. Sometimes she wakes me up at around 6:30 because she's hungry but I don't mind an early start.

After getting ready I make or reheat a cup of black tea. I usually make a pot and save a cup for the next day. I know that it's not 'the proper way' but it works for me.

Depending on when my first class starts, I either have breakfast on my couch (while catching up on mails/readings the news online/writing a blog post) or in the kitchen while simultaneously preparing my lunch. I definitely prefer slow mornings on the couch. Another essential routine is writing my daily to do list. Without it I often feel unorganized and since my daily planner is also where I write down my to do lists I also see my appointments for the day.

After breakfast I often make a pot of tea (rooibos or in this case white tea) that I either take to school in a tumbler or enjoy while studying at home.

Are you a morning person, too?

wiwo wednesday vol. 2

I'm almost done with my little wave cardigan. I was determined to finish it last weekend but then I ran out of yarn. Unfortunately the yarn isn't sold in Germany so I got a little panic attack before remembering that there's this great community called ravelry.com out there. I looked through the stash option and found someone in the UK who was willing to sell one skein of the exact color I need(Thanks, Hilary!). I hope that I'll get to knit the pockets and sew on the buttons (which I need to buy first) before next week's wiwo post.

I tried the cardigan on the other day and it fits perfectly. A super cute pattern that I'll probably knit again one day :)

The next project isn't technically a wip yet but I'm listing it here anyway. My knitting group and I placed a huge yarn order(you think I'm exaggerating? Click & stare.) because our favorite drops yarn is currently on sale. Naturally I got a couple skeins for future projects, one of which will be the buttercup. The color is a perfect mix of fray, blue and red. Kind of hard to describe but really beautiful.

The scrap scarf only got a tiny gray stripe added this week.

Since I currently don't have any socks on my needles gasp! I thought I'd share a quick update of my sock yarn stash. #operationsockyarn left quite a dent in my stash but there are still a lot of scraps for future projects.

What are you working on?