Tag: knitting

Crafty goals

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Though it feels more logical to post to-do lists at the start of the week, I’m going to try to post my crafty goals on Friday. Always the one going against logic… Well, actually not. This morning I realized that I do most of my crafting at the weekends (because I try not to work and to stay away from the computer on Saturday and Sunday), so it would actually make sense to think about what I’d like to do on Fridays. And it would be fun, looking forward to the weekend (and the weekdays after the weekend) like that.

So here it goes.

Knitting:

– I’m still working on that cowl. It’s going rather slowly, but I changed the needles I was using and I think that makes a difference. The ones I was using weren’t slippery enough for acrylic yarn and the thread was twisted too much. I won’t say I want to finish it this week since I think that would be too much, but I really would like to get a lot further than I am right now. I used one of the three skeins I had and I think I need to use one and a half more to make it the size I’d like. And I would really like it to be finished in time for me to use it when we’re in The Netherlands next month.

– The cowl is actually the only project I have on the needles right now. I finished a hat last week and haven’t cast on for a new one yet. Because of the above, I’m not planning to start another project. But well… you never know. I want to make my mother a beret since she told me she’s wearing them every day now to cover her balding head. She says she likes the berets better than fitting hats these days because she feels her head is so small now (she lost a lot of weight). But I keep worrying about the yarn (good quality not available here) and the pattern (no headspace for intricate cables or things like that). Which is silly, since she’s my number one knitting fan and she’s been wearing and saving every single hat I ever made for her.

Sewing:

I don’t know if I’ll be able to sew, but I’d love to. On my list of things I’d like to make:
– purse for daily use
– quilt (or maybe start small and make a table runner?)
– drawstring bags to use in my suitcase while traveling (I love the packing cubes like these that I see all over the internet and ofcourse I could either order them or try to make them, but I think simple drawstring bags could help with the packing chaos too, so I’m trying that first).

A Christmas hat for T.

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

I never really talk that much to T. about things related to crafting. He doesn’t really care apart from the fact that it makes me happy.
But sometimes he does take an interest in it. A few months ago, we were running a bunch of errands and he stopped at the Welcome Shop, just for me to browse around. I had been talking about wanting to go there, but in the midst of our moving, renovating and things like that, I never got the chance to do that.
“Go in, buy some yarn,” he said. Now, the Welcome Shop is not what you’d imagine if I say they sell yarn and fabric and notions. The Chinese people that own it also sell whatever they can lay their hands on and it’s quite messy. But they always have a bit of yarn (Red Heart yarn mostly).
So I found the yarn and stood there hesitating. I would have loved to just buy, buy, buy, but the paint, wood, concrete etc. we had bought and still needed to buy weighed heavily on my mind. So I tried to choose just one.
“That’s a fun color,” T. pointed at the Christmas (red, white, green) variegated I was holding in my hands at that moment. So I decided to buy that one and be done with it.

Then it sat in my bin for weeks and weeks, because I had no idea what to do with it. But after I finished all my other projects, I was talking out loud about how I liked that yarn, but I shouldn’t buy variegated anymore, because I never know what to do with it (I don’t like the color pooling).
And then T. said: “You can make a hat for me.”
I was really surprised because usually, he likes muted colors. But he explained: “I could wear it inside when we’re in Holland and I could say it’s to celebrate Christmas. But it would keep my head warm too.”
He was very specific about how it should look. Slouchy (he said that he wanted it to be too big and hang down a bit) and with a pompom on top. Okay. Well then. Why not?

It was actually really fun to make this hat. I kind of liked how the colors spiraled (not enough to buy more variegated yarn though) and T. loves his new hat. I bet we’ll see it a lot on family pictures this Christmas 😉

Oh, you expected a picture of T. modeling his new hat? Nope, that’s not how things work around here. He doesn’t mind me doing blogs and social media, but he likes to keep his face off the internet as much as possible. So another one of my awkward hat wearing selfies will have to do…

Knitting and reading (yarn along)

~ Maggie ~ 5 Comments

I’m linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along today and I thought it would be fun to look back on what I’ve been reading and knitting last month. Not that I plan to post extensive reading lists and ratings, I tried that for a while on my Dutch blog, but it took all the fun out of reading. A bit of rambling about whatever books I’ve read will have to do 😉

Knitting:
I’m so happy to be back to knitting full force! This month I finished some projects I started earlier this year (some dishcloths and the sleeveless sweaterdress). I finished a hat and worked on a cowl.
I don’t think I’ll be able to do 20 hats before 2020 (a plan I made a few months ago), but I am working on hats for my whole family. That comes very close to 20 hats, actually. Oh well, as long as I’m having fun with it…

Reading
My reading has been all over the place last month, but mostly books that made me happy.
I reread some of my favorite Nora Roberts novels, enjoyed reading two of the Little House on the Prairie books I found at the thrift store last week, spent a whole Sunday (and part of Monday morning) reading another Nora Roberts (Come Sundown – a real pageturner) and right now I’m reading a simple whodunnit that I’ve probably read before (I used to get these from the library).
When life is hard for me to handle, I love returning to books like these. Comforting, simple books that help me escape reality for a while.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention I read Wuthering Heights too, a few weeks ago. So that’s my one serious book this month. But it was so depressing that I hurried back to cozy mysteries (The psychic café series by April Fernsby, not really masterpieces of writing, but so much fun to read).

I still have lots of treasures to be read in my haul from the thrift store that Saturday…
(I’m saving the Christmas books for later this month)

Goals for the week

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Good morning! Hope you all had a great weekend. We did. I decided to shake things up a bit and move the weekly goals list to Monday (easier to prepare ahead, I’m all about making my blogging easier and more fun these days).
I did pretty well last week. I did underestimate the time it would take to shorten T.’s pants and resize my skirts, so I didn’t get to make a purse. I did make a bag for my knitting. Posts about the hats and the bag will follow later.

Last week’s list

✔ finish Christmas yarn hat
✔ finish dark gray hat
✔ work on cowl/showl (not finished yet, but I moved on to the shoulder part)
✔ make three skirts I bought at thrift shop smaller to fit into them (I liked them, but they are XXL – I’m S)
✔ shorten T.’s pants (three)
✔ make a bag/basket for my knitting (to hold current projects and bring them outside)
X make purse to use daily (bigger than the one I’m using now, smaller than the other one I have)
✔ organize fabric and yarn (The yarn wasn’t much to begin with, but I’ll show you the fabric tomorrow)

This week’s list:

Knitting
– cast on hat
– work on cowl/showl

Sewing
– make purse to use daily (bigger than the one I’m using now, smaller than the other one I have)

– start quilt? (I like this one – I have a lot of blue cotton and could use a sheet for the white)

Since these lists work so well for my knitting and sewing, I thought I’d add work, house, garden and life goals too.

Work
– work on novella (23.000 words, have to finish it this month, I am at 2.500 right now, hope to get to 10.000 this week)
– edit a new novel (just got that one in the mail – oh my, it’s going to be a busy month)
– monthly taxes

House
– declutter and organize entry room (it’s a mess!)

– paint (part of the) bigger bathroom (someone painted red over some graffiti, I have to paint it white before we can hang our medicine cupboard there).

Garden
– prepare chosen spots to plant shrubs and trees that are in containers now, but need to be planted
– work on clearing the part that one day will be my orchard/garden
– “sow” avocado (prepare the pit and hope for the best)
– sow kalbas (I hope the partly dried fruit I found has the right seeds)

Life
– stay away from sugar (had a hard time with that lately, even though I know I can’t handle it. Went through the whole detoxing thing last week -didn’t have any sugar since Tuesday-, not willing to do that again soon, oy!)
– go for a swim often (daily would be ideal, but at least a two times this week)
– limit screentime (both computer and phone)

Let’s see if I can get this list checked off. I try to remember that these are just goals, ideas, and plans. Fun to write them out, nothing lost if I don’t get them all done. What are your goals for this week?

Wishing you all a bon siman, a great week!

Just a fun little hat

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

I had so much fun knitting this little hat! It was a step up from the plain knitting I had done for the past few months, but not too hard for my brain to handle right now.
I did the ribbing* as a 1×1 rib with a twisted knit stitch to make it look a bit more interesting and then broke up the plain stockinette top with single purl rows to make those little lines. I really like how it turned out. It looks interesting but is simple enough to actually be wearable, even for men.

* is that the right word? I used to call it the brim, but it seems I was wrong about that. Ravelry made a note on one of my patterns because I said it was a brimmed hat, but it just had large ribbing. What is the word I should have used for that part that fits around your ears?

Crafty goals

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

So, last week was mildly successful. I did enjoy a bit of knitting daily, but it went kind of slowly, because I wasn’t feeling so well. Still, I had fun, that’s what counts. I did get to sewing last Saturday and that felt so so good! Since T. will be away again this Saturday, I’m planning a whole day of sewing.

Last week’s list:

X- finish Christmas yarn hat – so close, but not done
X- finish dark gray hat – also close, but not done either
… – work on cowl – I did, but it’s far from finished
✔- sew?- Yes! Just a little bit, but yes! I made three drawstring project bags for my knitting (see picture). I will probably also write a whole post about this simple project though.

This week’s list

– finish Christmas yarn hat
– finish dark gray hat
– work on cowl
– make skirts I bought smaller to fit into them (I liked them, but they are XL – I’m S)
– shorten T.’s pants
– make a bag/basket for my knitting (to hold current projects and bring them outside)
– make purse to use daily (bigger than the one I’m using now, smaller than the other one I have)
– organize fabric and yarn

What’s on your list this week?

A very plain sweaterdress

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

Yes, plain. That’s what it is if you’re honest about it. No embellishments, no special pattern, just the most simple construction. But that’s also exactly what I wanted. I was hoping to find myself a basic pattern that I can build on in time.
And that’s just what I got. It fits perfectly, and I’m already contemplating stitch patterns around the collar and things like that. I could also make it a lot shorter and have a cute sweater to wear with a skirt or jeans (or shorts).

In the next picture, you have to imagine me wearing leggings and a long-sleeved shirt underneath. (Also, feel free to imagine my hips are thinner in reality than they look in this picture – I do). It’s 100% wool, so it was hot enough to wear just the sweater for a few short minutes to take these pictures. I couldn’t get myself motivated to dress up for the full look.
I think it does look great as a dress without them too, but I can’t wear it here. Too hot. It will be one of my ‘when in Holland’ outfits.

On a side note: it took me incredibly long to take this picture of myself wearing the dress. I almost gave up, but then I found out that I could lean my camera on the books in the (still mostly empty) guest room, just before my battery died. So this will have to do, bad lighting, blurry, cut off feet and all. It’s the best I can do.
I need a tripod. Or a big mirror.
Okay, I could also ask T. to take these shots, but he hates that fake smile, so he’ll wait for me to really laugh and get all wrinkly. And he doesn’t have the patience, or the time, to help me find a pose that doesn’t make me look fat, so that would leave me with pictures that I wouldn’t want to post on the internet and then he would say ‘but that’s how you look’ and I would… Never mind. Not going to ask him.
Goodness. Being a blogger isn’t easy 😉

Second side note: I have never knit larger garments with real wool, so I didn’t get the whole blocking thing. Blocking synthetic yarn doesn’t really make a difference (though I sometimes wash my knitting on a quick cycle to even out stitches).
But this was real wool. There were a few stains on it, so I soaked the sweater to get those out before taking pictures of it. And then I laid it out flat on a towel to dry, which is basically what blocking is.
Well… wow! It was like magic. The whole thing looked so much better after blocking.
People, if you knit with wool you really need to block!

This Saturday (Three Things)

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

This Saturday T. will be off the island for a day (for work). I’ll have to bring him to the airport early in the morning and pick him up in the evening. And then I have the whole day for myself.
There are so many things I could do. Sleep all day for instance. I’ve been a bit under the weather this week, so if I need to, that’s what I’ll do. But there are three other things I’m planning to do and I’m really looking forward to that.

1. Visit thrift shops. We’ve got three of them on the island. One of them is only open on Tuesday afternoons and on the last Saturday of the month. We’ve never been there because it’s on the other side of the island. But I figure I’m already halfway there when I’m at the airport, so I’m really looking forward to going. I heard it’s mostly books, but books are good. I also really want to visit the one in Otrobanda, because that’s a real one. You know, furniture, books, clothes, houseware, the lot. I will sort of pass that one on my way back, so it’s only logical to go there, don’t you think? I’m not sure I’ll go to the third one though, it’s rather expensive and far from the other two. We’ll see.
It’s not that T. doesn’t like thrift shops, by the way. He does. But he’s mostly looking at the bigger stuff and then he’s done, while I like browsing everything. And he hates when I look for clothes in thrift shops, but I want to see what they have here. In Holland, I found a lot of good things in the clothing sections.

2. Visit craft shops. Again, he doesn’t mind to go with me if I ask him to make a stop there (since we live out in the country, we tend to make lists of errands and run them all on the same day), but well, you know. Men don’t browse. Men want you to decide and go on. I want to think things through before I buy anything. But I “need” more yarn if I want to make everyone hats for Christmas and I really need some sewing stuff. Pattern paper, interfacing, things like that. There’s a shop I’ve never visited that advertised on Instagram that they have quilting cotton now. Oh my, I think I need to establish a budget before I go there!

3. And then, after a morning of fun shopping, I want to get my sewing machine out and sew. I need to hem some pants and curtains, but I really hope that I’ll also get to making something fun. A bag maybe.

There may not be enough hours in that day…

Linking up with Carole’s Three on Thursday

(unrelated picture – can’t have a blog post without a picture 😉 )

Crafty goals

~ Maggie ~ 5 Comments

Friends, I’ve been knitting up a storm this past week! I don’t know if it was the list I made last week that kept me motivated or that I suddenly and unrelated got my mojo back, but I’m really, really happy about it. I feel a lot more like myself this way.

Last week’s list:

✔- finish sleeveless sweater/tunic. Done!
✔- figure out what to do with green yarn and Christmas yarn. Done!
✔- start a new hat. Done!

Sneak peek of the sweater (it will get its own post):

The green yarn will be one of those cowls that grow wider to cover your shoulders (showl?) and the Christmas yarn will be a hat for my husband. There’s a story I could tell you about that, but I’ll share that when it’s finished (got to spread my content).
I started and finished a hat with the dark gray yarn, but that will get it’s own post too and I already started a new one. I’m not committing to it yet, but maybe I will do some hat giving to family for Christmas after all.
The only thing I still didn’t do (but I suspected as much, so it wasn’t really on the list) was sewing, but I will get to it one of these days, I promise!

This week’s list:

– finish Christmas yarn hat
– finish dark gray hat
– work on cowl
– sew? (need to shorten three of T.’s pants, want to sew bags, pouches, dresses, skirts… So many ideas)

What’s on your list this week?

When perfectionism gets in the way of creativity

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

A few months ago I started knitting potholders from cotton scraps. Great idea, isn’t it? Yeah, I thought so too. But after I finished the first two squares (the ones on the left in this picture), I found out I didn’t have enough scraps to continue the color choices I had made.
I know. That’s what you get when you’re working with scraps. So I finished the other two squares with scraps in other colors.
That does sound easier and quicker than it actually was. I didn’t like the color combinations I had to make and these squares lingered around for a long time.
When I picked up knitting a few weeks ago, I forced myself to finish them. But I still didn’t like the color combinations. And I couldn’t get myself to sewing them together as potholders, because I would have either two with nice fronts and ugly backs, or one nice potholder and one ugly.

In the end, I decided to crochet borders on the individual squares, to make them into dishcloths. Now I can leave the nice ones on the counter and use the other ones for incidental cleaning.

Phew. Saved my scraps and my knitting. But man! Perfectionism can be difficult to deal with sometimes…