Monday, July 10, 2006

Easypeasy Cozywozy


I have a brand new phone, shiny, flashy and very, very scratch-sensitive.
And since cables were next on the 'to learn' list, I whipped up this Mini Cable Phone Cozywozy.

You need: Sockyarn, ány sockyarn, cable needle or small dp needle, tapestry needle, size 3 dpn's.

Easypeasy:

co 23 st on dpn's

1st row: s1, *p 3, k 6*, repeat from * till *; p 3, k1.
2nd, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th & 8th row: knit as stitches appear
7th row: s1, * p 3, k 6, cross to the left (3 & 3: place 3 st on a cable needle in front of the knitted item, knit the next 3 st, then knit the remaining 3 st off the kableneedle)*; repeat * to *; p 3, k1.
Keep repeating these 8 (!) rows until, when flipped double, the needed length is achieved.

Then cast off but leave 4 stitches. Make an i-cord by knitting in stockinette stitch until desired length. Then cast off the 4 stitches.

Finishing: attach the end of the i-cord to the bag with a tapestry needle and a piece of scrap yarn. Crochet a small loop and attach it to the bag. Sew on a matching (or non-matching if you like) button, Get your phone snugly, loop around the button; é presto!

Cosywosysnozywozy!
;-)

(I translated the cable pattern from Dutch so I hope it works for you, please let me know if I forgot something or made a mistake! It's my first pattern, I didn't do a swatch, next time I will, promise! If you knit this bag, do, do, dó send me a picture, it would boost my ego more than a good fitting jeans would!)


I can recommend beachknitting, fantastic in the evenings especially when followed by a yummy BBQ!


Always grabbing around your purse/ bag to find your phone? Not with the Cozywozy! Pull the bag trough the loop and you'll never miss-grab again!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Jump into your car? You whish.... freak!

A short non-knitting post... very short, but extremely fun, promise!

I came across
this beauty today...

O.M.G.!!

About the only thing that's remotely ok about this new David Hasselhoff video is that you can actually hear what he's singing... oh wait, no... that's bad...
Ok, so that leaves only one thing ok about it... it's hilariously absurd! This piece of 'art' deserves a cult-status.

I'll leave you with one of my fav cars, the Lada Niva, I l.o.v.e. it! I've got one word for this car; 'unpretentious'. Is that even a word? It is in Dutch... It's cute, bold and hot withouth knowing it! I imagine it's the Mini Cooper's though cousin, with a heart of gold, who lives in eastern Europe. Every day he works hard to keep the humans safe, asking only for some gas once in a while. You've gotta love this baby!



ánd they come in my fav color; 50's green!

This is actually the Slovakian bomb squad.... how cute!!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

It's Too Friggin' Hot Dude!

Gosh, It's so hot that I woke up with curls in my hair.

The day after Miriam's birthday, she treated her friends and mum to a special city walk. We stopped by a bunch of her fav adresses and buildings and hotspots and with the help of a lot of water and shadow stops, it was very cool!
Of course at a certain point knitting entered the conversation (as it always does) and after the compulsary 'no, it's not just for grannies' and 'you cán make modern and cool stuff' and 'ok, you've got me... I'm a nerd', someone told me about a farm in the city.

A farm in the city? No way! Yes way! Apparently it's at the edge of the city and behind the dyke of the bank of the river Maas. She told me she was there on a open door day and she saw hand spinned and dyed yarn hanging from the bannisters.

My jaw dropped.
Hére?
In Rotterdam? Hanspun and handdyed?
On a farm?

(Ok,we get it, you were surprised...)

Time to go on an adventure. And who better ask along for the ride than my SIL who likes knitting, but would like to learn felting and spinning even more. So off we went. On our bikes, in the burning sun. It took us about a good 15/20 minutes to get there. To our surprise there were indeed a couple of farms... but which one could it be?

Beeeeeeeh, Beeeeeeeeeeeh.... duh... maybe the one with the trazillion sheep to each side of it?? We walked down the dyke and onto the path and noticed the farm was also the office for an organisation that preserves the natural landscape around here. So we entered the office and asked at the desk. 'Ehm, rather silly question we have... do you by any chance know anything about handspun yarn?' We got a glazed look at first but then someone came in and said. 'Hmm, I think you might want to ask the sheep herder, he's right outside I believe.

A friggin'g sheep herder... in Rotterdam... Crazy *ss sh*t!

A little shy and apprehensive we told the herder our story. His face turned into a big questionmark and then, like any good man would do, he said: 'You might want to ask the wife over there.' A few meters on, in the field, handnursing tree lams, was 'the missus'. I kid you not. It was like a picture from a schoolbook.
Even more shy now and slightly embarrassed we told the story again, while she screamed out loud because of little hooves trampeling her toes. We found out that spinning and dyeing was just a hobby for her and the stuff wasn't officially for sale. (although her eyes sparkeled for a second by the thought of it...).

And guess what? She offered to teach us how to spin!! Private lessons in the farm!! Yeah dude! I'll keep you posted on that one. Seems like SIL has already lost her phonenumber, but I'm sure we'll be able to get it again, adventurours as we are.




This here, is my first Fair Isle project. Using my first hand-dyed yarn. I have to say I think I'm missing a few braincells to do this techinique right. Oh my gosh, it's like first driving a car, you have to think of everything at the same time... crazy! Try doing this while it's 35 degrees (celcius) and your hands are sweaty. So, as you can see, it's not completely flat and there's a few mistakes in the pattern. (I partly made it up myself!! ;-) I'm felting it into this needlecase so I can take some extra needles with me on holiday. Hoping the loose threads in the back will felt well too. And hoping the mistakes will 'felt away'...

Fingers crossed!