Category: life lately
Writing
Oh, I have so many plans… I want to start cooking more than the things I’ve been making over and over again for months now, I want to dust off my sewing machine (to use it), clean the house thoroughly, plan the garden (this year I will grow vegetables again)… the list goes on and on.
But.
There’s this deadline that has been bugging me. I’ve been working on this new (10th!) novel for almost a year now and I really, really wanted to finish it before 2016 started. I even promised my publisher I would.
Well, I didn’t (luckily my publisher is very understanding about the health issues around here).
Then last week I thought I was finally getting there. I was on a roll, actually. But than I got sick again (just a normal case of the flu this time)…
So I guess this will be all (well, most) what I do for a few days (weeks?) more.
(luckily I like this story and the people in it – I just wish they would be more clear about where they’re going)
An even warmer neck
The receiver of the white cowl (4th picture in this post) was pleased with the design, but she stated she would use a scarf when it was really cold, since it was rather wide and therefor not suitable for colder weather.
Hmn. Okay…
So I took the challenge and used the same yarn (two threads Sparkle byZeeman and 1 thread Royal by Zeeman held together) to knit another cowl, that would be closer to her neck. My first trial involved flaps and splits, but it looked awful, so I frogged that and knit this simple ribbed one.
Mission accomplished.
She doesn’t really like how it looks though (I don’t either, but it’s practical and warm). Yesterday I saw that she solved that problem herself , by wearing the first, wider, cowl over this one, creating an even warmer cowl that looks great as well. I think she may be on to something…
366 :: 8-14
Lazy again
Some Dutch readers told me that “drop stitch” is called “lazy wife’s stitch” in Dutch. So what does that say about me and my cowls? Hmn.
Oh well. I did it again.
This time I used another pattern that I saw at Soulemama. It’s different because it creates waves by doing double and triple yo’s. I love how that looks.
I used one skein of Julia yarn by Zeeman on 7 mm needles. That was all I had and it makes a scarf long enough to wear under a coat.
366 :: 1-7
One of the things I really want to pick up again this year is taking pictures with my DSLR (most of the recent pictures on my blog were made with a pocketcamera, convenient, but I love my DSLR).
So I challlenged myself to take at least a picture a day with it. The first week was a bit bumpy, but I actually did it (never mind the quality, I’m a bit rusty).
Since I don’t want to post on Flickr, Instagram or Facebook and it’s not really a great option to post single photos each day, I’m thinking it would be fun to do a (sort of) weekly summary on the blog.
So here it goes…
Hats again
Yep, hats again. I’m working through the remains of my epic cowl knitting and if you’ve been reading here before you know I love knitting hats to get rid of scraps. This was the Julia yarn (from Zeeman) that I used to knit two cowls (third picture).
To avoid running out of the yarn I kept it simple: a rib band and a round top. I could have done something more, since there is still a little bit left, but I do like these simple hats. I’m going to ask the receivers of those cowls if they’d like a matching hat. If not… well, I guess hats are like cowls. You can’t really have too many, right?
Leftovers hat
After knitting all those cowls I didn’t really feel like knitting for a few days, but on New Year’s Eve, my fingers started itching again. Seven of the cowls and the grey hat for my husband were knit from the same type of yarn (Marl Wool from Zeeman) and I guessed the leftovers were enough to make a hat.
So I cast on and started knitting. I kind of knit myself into the new year and finished it on the first of January.
I guessed right; there was enough to make a nice slouchy hat. The very last pieces of the yarn became a pompom to finish it off.
I don’t know if I like the way it looks on me though… (it is nice and warm)