This weekend, I set myself the goal to finish the mittens. I’m still not fully back into my knitting mojo, but I succeeded. At least they’re ready to take with me to The Netherlands when we go (only 10 days from now)
I know, these are very, very basic. But that’s what I wanted them to be in the first place. I like exploring how to shape something and then, when I feel comfortable with it, add (some) more details to the pattern. I think I got these down, so who knows what’s next?*
Also, they make a good set with the balaclava. Rustic, but warm.
*Ha, who am I kidding? More basic stuff, probably. That’s all my mind can handle these days…
I’m sorry, no pictures of the inside this time (there is one in this post if you’re curious). Maybe later, it’s really messy right now. But I’ve been playing with decorating those open shelves and the top of the cupboard. I had all kinds of little knickknacks on those shelves, but I’ve been moving and removing things constantly the past few weeks. And eventually, it ended here, just very simple and functional. But I do love it!
For those of you who, like me, have been around the blogging scene a long long time: yes, this sounds familiar. This post (and hopefully this series of posts) was inspired by Soulemama’s Corners of my Home from way back when. I decided to challenge myself to take nice pictures of the parts of my home that I love in an attempt to rekindle both the enthusiasm I used to have for this house, and my love for photography.
After finishing the hat balaclava for my grandson, I thought it would be fun to make it into a set. So I decided to knit him some mittens.
Even though these are my first mittens, I thought I’d wing it. You know… how hard can it be?
Well, actually, not that hard. I’ve always been scared of the thumb, but it’s just making a few stitches and putting them on hold when there are enough. I am having some doubts about the sizing again, but I’m going to roll with the sizes on this really helpful chart.
Such a nice picture to start this post with, isn’t it? But to be honest, this is what my whole garden looks like right now. Lots of rain, combined with the gardener (that would be me) being sick all the time makes a very good combinations for all the weeds.
Of course, as an (aspiring) herbalist and a nature lover, I really don’t see any plant as a weed.
I mean… how beautiful are these?
Look at that beautiful leaf!
But this little square space is more or less our front garden. We have a weird layout, but if you walk up the steps to the front door, this will be what you have to look at. So I really wanted to clean it up a bit and I thought this was the perfect little project to start with now that I’m feeling a bit better. You know, small steps.
Don’t worry, I made sure there were other specimen of the same species growing somewhere else in my garden and I replanted some of the ones I pulled out somewhere else.
So this is what it looks like now. I (re)planted (dug them up from elsewhere in the garden) two bromelias and some lemongrass to add a little bit of green. I am very happy with it!
Oh, for those of you who have been here a long time: yes, that’s the little palm tree we planted four years ago.
I finished it yesterday, after redoing the ribbing around the face. The first try was way too tight, I picked up too little stitches. The instructions were a bit vague and warned about not making it to wide, but the second time I ended up picking up one stitch for every row at the sides, and all ten stitches that I had to cast off under the chin and that looks perfect.
After folding the ribbing inwards and sewing it down, I was done!
It looks (too?) small to me, but I don’t really have a clue about baby heads anymore. Normal hats are much more flexible than this, so it worries me a bit. But then again, I did the math.
Well, I sort of did. For the height I followed what the pattern adviced for two year olds. They don’t really give measurements other than stitches for the width and I used thinner yarn, so I had to do a bit of guesswork*, but I think it will be okay. Unstretched the hat covers 32 cm (12″) and I guestimated that the face is about 1/3 of the total head circumference, so that would make 48 (18″) cm, which is what they state as the right size for a two year old.
R. is only one year old, but Dutch babys tend to be a little bit bigger than American babys. Oh wait, this is a British pattern… Gosh, so confusing.
But Dutch people are among the tallest people of the world, so I think our 1 year old Dutch boy should fit perfectly in this size. And if it’s too big, they can always save it for next year.
I will be demanding a try-on the moment I gifted this though. I usually don’t, but the suspense is killing me! (only one month before we go)
p.s. I will also try to take pictures of him wearing it and post some on the blog.
*Yes, I know: gauge! But somehow guessing works better for me. I’ve never gotten things right with gauging.
:: realizing that I needed these weeks of rest so, so much. I am getting a bit bored (my balance is off due to the ear infections, so I really can’t do much), but I feel I’m healing, both physically and mentally.
:: rain (perfectly timed yesterday around noon, when my husband needed to fill up the pool after cleaning it)
:: the explosion of green caused by all this rain
:: (almost) finishing a knitting project, especially after a knitting hiatus
:: phone calls with my girls (had a two hour call with the bride-to-be this Saturday)
:: a good night’s sleep after a night not being able to fall asleep (well, good sleep in general makes me a happier person, of course, but sleepless nights remind me not to take it for granted)
:: these cats and their siblings (we have these two brothers, a sister (you can see pictures of her here) and an older half brother – their mother sadly died)
:: yesterday’s Sunday bbq with T.
:: clean sheet day (well, I had to find a number ten, but don’t clean sheets feel -and smell- wonderful?)
Over the weekend I cast on for that balaclava and slowly made my way through the neck piece. Slowly, because I was doubting the size with every stitch I made. I had to tweak the pattern a bit because my yarn is thinner than the yarn they worked with (I cast on stitches for a bigger size and use measurements for the smaller size). I’ve done that before and it usually works out, but I found myself wondering how big our grandson actually is right now. I don’t have a clue… So weird. We’ve seen him two months ago, but that’s a long time for a baby.
Anyway, I kept going. The shaping was interesting and even kind of fun once I worked out what they meant (the pattern is not written row by row). I messed up a little bit (I was two stitches short), but fixed it without unraveling the whole thing. Now I need to knit a few more centimeters straight up and then there’s another lengthy explanation on how to work the top, but I think I understand what they want me to do, so it should go smoothly from here (famous last words?).
NOT A STATION 