project planning

When I moved to Munich last month, I had to leave most of my stash in storage (aka my old apartment's basement) because I have very limited storing capacities at my new apartment. So when I moved I basically had to plan all my sewing and knitting projects for the next half year. Crazy, right?

Here are the knitting projects I have planned for the near future:

An exploration station shawl out of Wollmeise fingering weight yarn. After knitting this one for my mom I knew I'd knit one for myself eventually. When I saw these gorgeous colors of Wollmeise yarn at the spring sale I just couldn't resist buying them.

When I saw the dark pearl cardigan at the Baa Ram Ewe booth at the h+h Cologne in March it was love at first sight. I was lucky enough to buy the yarn right there at a discounted price. The cardigan will be perfect for summer days at the office when it's still cold in the morning on my way to work.

After knitting scrap socks for over a year I rewarded myself with a skein of Wollmeise 80/20 twin yarn to knit a pair of socks for myself. I love the bright colors ('pitahaya' for all those Wollmeise nerds who know each colorway by heart) and it will be nice to only knit from one skein for a change. Having to juggle a dozen small yarn scraps in the subway is no fun.

This beautiful Wollmeise was another spontaneous splurge. I bought enough to knit a sweater but I'm not quite set on the pattern, yet. I'm considering James and Gable. But there are a hundred other patterns I can imagine knitting with this gorgeous yarn so we'll see what I end up using it for.

Last but not least, the only yarn I brought from home: Wollmeise lace yarn that I've had sitting in my stash for over three years. What a shame, right? I'm planning to knit a simple pullover to wear in the summer. I'll probably just come up with my own design because I haven't found anything I really loved online.

Well it's gonna be a pretty busy (knit-wise) summer around here.
Do you have any specific projects planned for the summer?

operation sock yarn // the finale

A little over a year ago I started #operationsockyarn to motivate myself to use up all those bits of fingering weight yarn I had. Today I'm sharing my (for now) last pair of scrap socks.
Is my scrap stash completely used up? Nope. But I turned all those small bits and pieces into scrap socks which only leaves me with 'big' leftovers (we're talking 50 grams plus...) which I'll turn into small toys eventually.
But for now I'm calling this project done because I have other things I want to focus on right now. Of course that doesn't mean I won't be knitting any scrap socks in the future. But I'm focusing my knitting energy on other projects.

So here's the last pair of scrappy socks. You might notice that they are not quite symmetrical. That's because I was working with very, very small scraps and didn't want to throw away any yarn simply because I'd have two more rows than on the other socks.

Is this my favorite pair of socks I made for this challenge? Definitely not. But it's a happy pair nonetheless because a) it got me my creative mojo back and b) it means I get to cast on a new pair of socks using one single skein - this will make knitting in the subway SO much easier.

Check back tomorrow for a 'project planning post' - I have lots of awesome projects in the pipeline that I can't wait to get started on. But first, let's get some sleep.

twenty four

I’m 24 today. An age that seemed to be so far away just years ago. It’s crazy to look back through this blog and see all the different birthday posts and feel like a different person every year.

Since it's been awhile since the last blog post here is a quick summary of what happened in the past 6 weeks: I moved to Munich, got to explore a lot of this beautiful city, spent every weekend traveling (moving, going home for the weekend, going to the h+h Cologne...), started my internship which meant a lot of late nights at the office and making new friends.

As I'm enjoying big city life I'm finding it hard to make time for personal craft projects. But now that days are getting longer and I’m finally settled in that is about to change.

I have several blog posts scheduled for the next couple of days to get back into blogging and making (so I have something to blog about). Check back soon to see my latest FO and a h+h Cologne (the German equivalent of CHA) recap. Should I mention that I met Stephen West and Ysolda? Maybe that will motivate you to check back soon... ;)

wiwo wednesday vol. 19

On Wednesdays I like to share 'What I'm Working On' to give you a sneak peak of upcoming projects and stuff that kept me busy. Click here to browse previous wiwo posts or check out what my talented friend Sam is working on. Would you like to join in on the fun? Awesome, leave a link to your wiwo post in the comment section and I'll add you to the list.

As I'm preparing my move to Munich, I'm trying to wrap up some WIPs. But of course I couldn't resist starting at least one new project, so I cast on a Norby hat for Julia. I just finished the brim and I'm curious to see if it fits - for some funny reason my 3.5mm needles are always either in use or broken so I'm knitting the hat with 4mm needles.

The Levenwick cardigan is still in the making - I chose some buttons from my mom's extensive button collection and I'm about to knit the button band. I should be able to finish this on the 4-hour trip to Munich on Saturday :)

This is mini quilt I designed two(?) years ago but never got around to finish. Please remind me to sew on the binding by machine next time I'm making something that requires a binding. Hand sewing is my worst enemy. Closely followed by sewing on buttons. Which also requires hand sewing so maybe it's just one giant beast...

What would a wiwo post be without a pair of socks?
I'm working on a pair of scrap socks. The color combination is not gonna be pretty because there are only a handful of fingering weight scraps left but hand knitted socks are awesome no matter what, right?

Several projects that I'm technically also working on are already in Munich, so not pictures of those. Let's just say there are a couple more than just the four projects pictured above...

What are you working on this week?

getting back into making

A bunch of finals and essays kept me from creating much these past few weeks.
Good news: I'm done for the semester!
Which means I had to celebrate by finishing a pair of socks that have been on my needles for an embarrassingly long time.

They were started early in December to be my '2014 Christmas socks'. Well, that did not happen. So I call them my 'very early 2015 Christmas socks'. Finishing a pair of simple socks is not a big achievement, but it's exactly what I needed to get my creative energy back.

I got to knit on some other projects that have been on my needles since last year. I hope to finish all my UFOs by the end of March so I can knit myself a pretty spring cardigan as a reward :)

What have you been up to?

exploration station shawl

I'm happy to finally share a finished project. I gave this shawl to my mom for Christmas(though I only finished it  for New Year's... oops!) so you haven't seen this one in any of the 'what I'm working on' posts, yet.

The pattern is called "exploration station" by Stephen West. You can find yarn information etc. on the ravelry project page.

It was a fun pattern to knit. There is one brioche section in there; I've been wanting to give the technique a try for quite some time so I was happy to have such an awesome teacher. (The pattern includes video tutorials that shows special techniques for the different sections.)

The only mod I made is the bind off. I switched to a lighter color for the i-cord bind off so it wouldn't look too dark with a big, dark red/purple/pinkish border.

I finished knitting the shawl during our vacation to Denmark so I had lots of space to blog this beauty. Thankfully because it wouldn't have fit into my small student-sized apartment :D

wiwo wednesday vol. 18

Welcome to this year's first edition of 'What I'm Working On'. January used to be my most productive month of the year; there weren't any exams when I was in high school and it was the beginning of a new term when I studied in Vancouver. Also, January is usually dreadful weather-wise so I didn't feel guilty when I stayed inside to knit instead of spending time outside.
Unfortunately, January is the most stressful month for German university students, because all the research paper deadlines are in January and exams start at the end of January, so the whole month is basically spent in the library studying / paper writing.

There won't be much progress in the next couple of months, but I wanted to share with you what's on my needles (& on my nightstand) anyway.

First, let's talk books. I used to read a lot and I miss it. So I'm determined to start a new habit that involves banning my phone from my nightstand so I can't browse instagram before I go to sleep. Alas, I'm more likely to read in the evening. Depending on my mood I either read in Mindy Kaling's book or the first volume of Rita Falk's Bavarian crime novel series.

I never thought I'd be much of an audiobook person but I started listening to Fall of Giants last year and loved it. So I started listening to Winter of the World the other day and I'm loving it. I especially love listening to it while sewing. Also, John Lee is an amazing narrator.

I spun a roving of alpaca finer. I bought the fiber at a small local store in Idaho and it's so soft and squishy. For now it's still on the bobbin because I can't decide whether to attempt a Navajo ply or to ply it with a commercial yarn. Any thoughts?

Eventually this will be a sleeve for a sweater for my dad. But somehow the yarn doesn't seem to like my style of knitting. The gauge is either off, the stitch definition is awful, or the fabric is too dense. Sigh... Once I'm done with all my finals I'll frog it and re-knit it beautifully, no matter how many attempts it might take!

These 'Christmas socks' have been mocking me for... well, since before Christmas. I'm gonna get them done eventually. Maybe in time for this year's Christmas?

Finally my Elfreide scarf. It's gonna take me approximately two more years if I keep going at the same speed. Maybe I should write 'knit one Elfreide repeat' on my weekly to do list until it's done. If I'd be disciplined it might only take me one more year to finish it...

I have one exciting FO to share on Friday. So until then why don't you tell/show me what you're working on? I'd love to see!