wiwo wednesday vol. 21

I've been busy these past two weeks with a super secret project that I'm gonna share soon - hopefully. But in the meantime, I have a couple of in-progress shots for you of the major craft projects I have on/under the needle.

Last weekend I finished sewing the quilt top of a triangle quilt. I bought the fabrics in Canada last August so it's been on my to-do list for quite a while. Last Thursday was a public holiday in Germany so I had a four-day weekend to work on this. I finished the entire quilt top - including cutting all the triangles, going to a local quilt shop to buy more fabrics because I needed like 60 more triangles, sewing everything together (quite a challenge in a tiny apartment!) and flooding my IG feed (@froggeddesigns) with pretty pictures of it. Sunday evening I rearranged the furniture in my boyfriend's apartment to baste it. After I was done I realised the backing looked terrible - wrinkles all over! - so I undid everything and I'm sending it off to my mom so she can baste it on her longarm machine.

Over the past 4 years I have accumulated quite a lot of pants that I need to shorten (#shortpeopleproblems). My mom helped me pin them to the correct length three weeks ago when my parents were in town and they've been occupying one of my chairs since then. I'm determined to shorten ALL of them next weekend (another three-day weekend - yay!). Wish me luck.

Good thing I discovered the serial podcast to keep me company. If you haven't listened to the first season yet you totally should; it's been accompanying me on my daily walks and it's so addictive. I can't wait for season two to launch in the fall :)

This wouldn't be a wiwo post if I didn't share my progress on at least one knitting project, right?
Here's the current state of the pair of socks that's on my needles. I'm knitting them using Wollmeise twin yarn and 2.5mm needles. It's hilarious that the second sock looks SO DIFFERENT from the first although I'm using the same skein of yarn and I'm knitting from the same end. I might actually knit another pair after this using the same skeins of yarn so I can match up the two socks that look alike the most. I'm sure my mom won't mind taking a pair off my hands :)
I'm not gonna finish them until the beginning of stash dash though - which is in only two days! I'm so excited. There are lots of WIPs in my project bags that are begging for attention which they shell get.

So what have you been working on? Are you participating in stash dash this year?

wiwo wednesday vol. 20

As always I have a bunch of projects in the making but not enough time to finish them. I have about 15 craft projects that are waiting to be completed but instead I dream about new projects. The fabrics above are gonna be turned into a triangle quilt as soon as I can decide what kind of triangles and what size I want :)
They're Kona cotton fabrics that I bought in Canada last summer.

Knit-wise I still have have lots of project bags filled with various projects; hats, sweaters, a shawl, socks... I probably have too many projects on my needles but I enjoy having a variety of stuff to work on. Plus, May 22nd - August 14th is Stash Dash so I'm saving some big WIPs to finish them then so I might have a chance at finishing a 3k or maybe even the 5k!
Anyone else who plans on joining?

Sewing-wise I'm trying out some new designs and fabric/leather combinations like the one above. I'm gonna have a biggish shop update at the end of the month but I'll share more details once the date is set.

Last but not least, I have a new apartment to decorate! I'm planning to share a tour of my tiny apartment here in Munich. All my furniture and 95% of my stuff is still in my old apartment so I don't plan to invest too much into this temporary housing. But some cute Swedish pillows (like the one above) and some homemade decor won't hurt, right?

So what are you working on?
You might also want to check this rad wiwo post my talented friend Sam posted last Wednesday, featuring a day in the life of a table!

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?