FO Parade

Gosh, I wouldn't have guessed that being pregnant could mess up my social (and digital) life so much... I haven't been to the Stich 'n Bitch-group in about a month. My pregnancy yoga is also on tuesday nights and combining it seems harder than I thought. Also when your FIL has a birthday and one of your favorite artists is finally playing in town again... well, let's just say that I feel like a half knit sweater, not really complete and not really 'not there'.

The artist I'm talking about is Andrew Bird, I really really love his work, totally original and beautiful. I promised myself I'd go, I've been living a less rock and roll lifestyle than I'm used to and haven't really been missing it, but there's been a few shows that I just couldn't get myself to go to on the night itself, simply because a lack of energy.

I have to face it, I'm really preggy, It turned out to be a too long period to stand so I didn't make it trough the whole concert and my hips and back have been hurting ever since, but it was so good and I got the new CD to listen too at home. And to know that those tunes are amongst the first things my baby hears is very cool, it's a good start.

I'll get to the knitting soon, let me just get this of my chest, it may look like I'm complaining, but I'm not, I've never been happier and when today we saw the little sprout on the scan (ultrasound), bouncing around like a rubber ball, sucking his/her hand and yawning and when we heard that everything looked fine and healthy, who cares about anything else? Anything at all. So... knitting...

Well, I won't disappoint you, although I haven't been blogging or seeing my S'nB buddies much, I really have been knitting. I've been really productive I might add. So here it is, the FO Parade, the update of what I've been upto.

Of course there's Tempting II, I've finished this baby a while ago but didn't find the time to post. The neckline was about as easy as learning to speak Chinese (I imagine) and about as fun as waiting in line at the post office while sweaty and loud people surround you (no fun...). I followed the pattern and after about 2 creative solutions, or more like -attempts-, my head bulb lighted up and I checked for errata online. Turns out this baby has a neckline problem. Who knew... I couldn't find any solutions though and so I K2TOG and K-ed en P-ed with all the creativeness I could harvest and it worked. Well, it worked partly, I really wanted a low neckline (to show off my cleavage 'show 'em if you've got 'em') but it turned out too high. By this point I was so frustrated with it that I left it like that.

Oh I need to remind you, I knit Tempting I in a cotton that was so droopy that even if I was pregnant of quadruplets it would still be too big. This time I made a wiser choice and went with Phildar's Legende, a tweed/alpaca mix. It was great, maybe a wee bit scratchy but overall a good choice. I knit a swatch and knit it just a little too small since it's a stretchy design and the pattern warned me about it. And still... too big... it's starting to become a serious problem, I'm knitting everything too big and I can't figure out what goes wrong. So now, to end all the drama, I've decided to clear away from big projects for now and stick with smaller patters or projects that may vary in size like bags and blankets. There's noting as frustrating as trying on a piece that you've been working at for months (that lóóked ok) that's too big (agaín...).

Luckily baby's are small.
This is me with my 21 week big belly, the fact that the sweater's too big has it upsides too, I'll be able to wear it while carrying Sprout.

Onto the next FO. These are the socks that I've knit from the Magic Ball Swap. The pattern came with it They were my first socks that weren't your basic K/P socks and I needed to adjust the pattern. That wasn't easy, but with help (thank you Constance and Ajour) I figured a lot of stuff out while learning about sock logic in general. I'm really happy with the result and I only wear them at special occasions. Read: when I can brag with them... More socks, but smaller. These are from the latest Phildar baby catalogue. I've knit them for my colleague Anne. She's expecting a baby one week later than I am. I used Phildar Bamboo, great stuff to touch, not so great to knit with because of all the different threads. But then again, great looking when finished! And yes, yes, yes, finally I finished the lace scarf that has been eating dust and growing live things in a corner for the last months. I don't know what came over me, I just had had enough, it had to get finished. I'm wearing it with pride while ignoring the obvious mistake in row 10...
And here's a quickie I did last weekend for my MIL. It started out as a cushion but because of the lack of yarn turned quickly into a handbag. I knit it with a cheap acrylic yarn (don't tell anyone) on 10mm needles and it took me about a day. It's my own design, brutally stolen from the beret from the winter issue of Interweave Knits (the beret that turned out way too big as well...) and very simple I'll write out the pattern for a following post.

And onto the baby-stuff. Here's one other bamboo sock from the Phildar catalogue and a vintage soaker (don't know the real word). Very rewarding projects, each done in a night.

And? Productive or what? Right now I'm working on a stole that might work as a baby blanket too, it's my own design and made with yarn my SIL gave me last weekend; a pink, fluffy kid mohair/wool-mix. I'm working on some ideas for embroidery with little pearls to jazz it up.

And there's the baby blanket from Handknits for Kids that I'm still working on and looks like I will be for the next 5 years... it's fun to knit but I have to be able to concentrate and that's where the problem lies...

Half Sock Syndrome

As a knitter you've probably heard of Second Sock Syndrome. If you're not a knitter; it's the weird but very much real syndrome of finishing one sock but then never getting round to do the next one which for knitters is frustrating as F%*# since, well you want to wear them to show them off, but you're bored with the knitting because you've done it all before. 'Been there, Knit that...' It's actually a very arrogant syndrome, come to think of it...

Well, I have discovered a new syndrome, my name will be in all the knitting lexicons, I'll go into history as the inventor of ...

HALF SOCK SYNDROME

Yup, I'm not kidding you, it's a re-occurring thing, it's haunting me I tell ya. I can't seem to finish a sock. Not even one, let alone move on to the next.

I've had 4 half socks on the needles until today. Because today I got a little antidote consisting of sun and a cozy roof terrace so I actually finished one! Yay!!

Next up: choose:
1. finish the second sock to make a pair
2. finish one of the other half socks

I'm guessing it'll be 1.

The finished sock is actually the first sock;
- I've made for myself
- that's knitted with small needles
- that has more to it than y'r basic sock (oh no, not true, you can see half of a 'one-toe-sock' on the picture, that wasn't even clóse to basic...)
- that's knitted from the fab yarn from my magic ball

So, even though it's just the one, I'm proud! And here it is again, in a show off match with one of my new Birkenstock slippers.

I'll probably won't wear the socks for a while, the weather is great and it looks like it will stay like this for a while. I think they're so pretty, I'll think save them for giving birth. My pregnancy-yoga teacher taught me that cold feet are a bad thing when it comes to relaxation. So there, my delivery socks! (try not to picture me giving birth to a bayby, wearing the socks... I don't want to do that to you!)

Meanwhile, the first socks I've ever knitted are now officially ragged. Boyfriend Dear used them as slippers for about a year. I'm thinking should I learn how to mend the hole or just make sure the hole doesn't get any bigger and find some soles to stick 'em to? (I'm not ready to say goodbye...) (bad picture of the hole, it just hurts too much to focus on it...)

the last to gifts to come out of the magic ball; great tea and lovely hand cream (and NO, it won't get you stoned...neither the tea nor the cream) Thanks again Magic Pall, I promise I'll knit the second sock!!

In between sock adventures I'm knitting my first baby item, a blanket from Lucinda Guy's Book, Handknits for Kids. It's a fun knit but it'll take me ages to finish, probably just in time before my third baby will be born...

There's Magic in the Air

This Thursday I was at home, not my usual thing, but they were going to deliver our new bookcase and I needed some focusing time to write a marketing plan, so... 1+1= working at home.

What fabulous timing indeed! The bell rang, and it wasn't the bookcase, that came later, it was the postman and he handed over a big white bulky envelope. My heart jumped; it couldn't be, so soon...

Yes, it was! My Magic Ball had arrived!

I few weeks ago I signed up for the second Magic Ball Swap that my knitting friends Storm Op Zolder and Knitting Ajour host. It's like Christmas, your birthday and Sinterklaas (Dutch holiday) all into one. You fill in a form that asks you about you, your knitting habits and some other favorite stuff. You upload the form and wait. The host will then do a big mix-em-up-dance-of-sorts and then sends you a the name of the person that's linked to you. You then make a Magic Ball for this person. Some other person will do the same for you. The good things are so simple...

The Magic Ball itself is a bomb of pleasure, you wrap chosen yarn around all sorts of (knitting related) small gifts, add a pattern and send the ball on it's way.

The receiver then knits the pattern (or another one) and while knitting away discovers the presents one by one.

How good can life get? I ask you! There's a little baby in my belly, our new bookcase -which is the start of the whole switcheroo we need to do to make space for the Wee One- has arrived ánd I have a Magic Ball! *happy dance*

a first peek inside...
goody, goody, it's Blue Faced Leicester Sock yarn from The Natural Dye Studio in a sweet and lovely purple/lavender/pink colorway! Also a very pretty dragonfly stitch marker attached to the yarn and two patterns to choose from. *happy dance continues*
Here we go!
I decided on the pattern for cabled socks using the Magic Loop Method. With my trusted Knittinghelp.com to guide me through this new endeavour.

liquorice, jum!

I couldn't resist the puppy dog eyes Boyfriend Dear gave me, so I gave him one. Ok... I took one too. Ok... maybe two...

And ehm... well, I switched to dpns, the Magic Loop thing, wasn't really my thing...

Another present!! Small rubber bands, great, they're perfect for stitch marking!

Aaah, so cute! A small sock.

The loot so far. The sock is actually a pin. It's just flew onto my jacket.

They're good friends now. And the candy... well, let's say it's in a better place...

What's that a-peepin'?
MORE CANDY!! My favorite and I didn't even mention them on the list. Lucky me!

Explanation of the wound ball:

Well, I started knitting the cabled socks and I knitted them as ankle socks in a girl size, just to be sure I had enough yarn to finish the project. But as soon as I found out there were actually two skeins instead of one, I just took a deep breath and frogged the small sock. If there's enough yarn, I'd love to knit some socks for myself. It wás a gift for me right?

To be able to start over I had to wind the first skein into a ball. It may look like cheating, but technically it really isn't. Of course I am totally cheating now by starting on the second skein just to be able to find the other presents sooner... Ha!

SECRET PALL, THANK YOU! I'm loving every single part of all the magic!

The Tiger Re-appears

I'm still here...!

I've been struck by a serious cold and haven't felt up to a lot of things. The energy had just gone and left for a vacation or something.

The fact that the Tiger Sock Diaries was a complete failure didn't help my mood either.

Turns out that when you're feeling like a warm wet towel but are determent not to let it ruin your film festival, it still just leaves 15 minutes before each film to knit. Which 'doesn't fill up the dike much' (litteraly translated from the Dutch saying: Dat zet geen zoden aan de dijk.) which means: it doesn't help much...

this is what I knit during the 14 day festival....

this is my only knitting spot in between two films where the break was long enough to even start knitting...

In the off-time that I had some energy left, I choose to use it for knitting small red squares, to turn into small bags and the odd blue one. It's for a very interesting project in Delft. Knitting Ajour was asked if she could get some of the knitters in her S'nB group to knit in public at the presentation of a new cultural and local discount card for the city of Delft. The bags are card holders. Guess who thought that might be fun?

I still do... but I have to knit twentysomething little red bags before saturday and I'm really not believing in myself when it comes to this particular thing.

So just to let you know I'm still here, this is what happened in my knitting world recently. I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about after the knitting in public on a knitted Delft Blue blanket.... ;-)

Introducing: The Tiger Sock Diaries

It's striped, it has a tail (yes it has), it's in brown and yellow....
IT'S A TIGER SWATCH!!

And may I add that the tail isn't entirely coincidental, it was meant to be, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I cast on way to much for the swatch.

I love tigers, I'm crazy about tigers

of course, before anything else, REAL tigers, the most majestic, powerful, beautiful and amazing animals on earth...

RRRRRRRRWRRRRWRRRRR!But then there's also uber feminist, lesbian, punk-pop-electro band Le Tigre. And although I might not be in their direct target group, they freackin' kick arrrrrrrrrs and I love them! Great stuff to dance to!

And the amazingly funny and cute Hobbes of Calvin & Hobbes, the best comic in the world! My favorite 'sick lit'.

But this is the tiger of the hour, the tiger it's all about from today until the 3rd of February. It's the mascot/ logo for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. I work in the event industry, so I guess you can safely say I've seen it all. Or at least, I've sean a lot. The IFFR is special, it's the event I long for as soon as it's over. I would never want to work for them just because that might spoil all the magic. The Film Festival brings out the best and worst in me; I'm on a trip around the world in my own city, I get to experience loads and loads of emotions and I generally get really inspired by it and start feeling like I'm in my own film. But on the other hand it's all about me, I'm a total selfish nerd. I figure out schedules as soon as the programme is out. I don't care about anything but getting the tickets that I want as soon as possible. I generally visit about 20 films (more when I was a student...) and go to all of them by myself. I will send my schedule to my friends so they can see if they have the same films and meet up, but it's all about ME first. I totally understand why they picked a tiger for their logo. This stuff brings out the beast in you!

The story of how I got my tickets this year needs a whole separate post and since I couldn't wait to kick start the festival on my blog I had to do it before work. So with a limited amount of time I'll quickly get back to the tiger swatch.

It's sock yarn from Storm op Zolder (Storm in the Attic). I bought it at the Stitch 'n Bitch day and this seemed like the perfect sit-and-wait-for-my-film-to-start-project. So here it starts: The Tiger Sock Diaries, I'll be keeping you up to date on their adventures at the festival for the next two weeks or so in true Yarn Harlot style shamelessly copying her 'Travelling Socks'.

Today I've been invited to go to the opening of the festival. Which is like beeing invited to sit in the VIP section of Wimbledon or I dunno... like meeting the writer of your favorite book. It's really not all that special for most people, but to me it is. Today I'm officially kicking off my 2007 International Film Festival Rotterdam adventure.

Together with my tiger socks!

On How to Embarrass Yourself

I hardly ever take the subway. Only when the weather's really bad or when my bike's broken. The latter was the reason to go underground today.
It can be quite convenient this small world underground, if you need to fix your shoes or get a quick juice, for a time management freak like me anything that needs to be done that's on the route and for the grabs is a big plus!

The downside of taking the metro (I'm using as much synonyms as I can here...) is that I really don't know the way very well. Even after living here for about 9 years I still fuck it up. As long as I have a steady A and a steady B (as in: from A to B), it's fine, but as soon as they change on me I'm Alice in 'I'm Wondering where the hell this train goes to Land'.

Since I've got the new job, I've taken the subway 3 times (the weather's been really bad...)and I got on the wrong train 2 times!! Today wasn't the exception.

The funny thing is, that thís time I actually took time to think about my failures in the past and promised myself I'd get it right this time. So I drew an imaginary map of the roads on top of the tracks in my head. I distinguished the North from the South, the East from the West and made my decision.

THE WRONG ONE!!

The general direction was good, the line wasn't.

So when I got out at the next stop, crossed the tracks to go back and waited for the return train to come... I took some work out of my bag and started reading it. Might as well make myself useful while waiting, right?

After a few seconds some guy came towards me and stopped just a little bit to close in my 'comfort zone'.
(Hold your arms as a ballerina in front of you, your fingers touching each other. That's the general comfort zone of a Dutch person in the city, anyone that gets closer than that is considered either a very, very dear friend, or a freak.)
So I shuffled to the left. But about half a minute later another guy moved in 'the zone' on the other side (the side that I just shuffled to to get some more space).

All this zone-clogging wasn't necessary, there was plenty of room, but I returned to my reading and hoped the train would arrive fast.

Then, suddenly, I smelled a foul odour. Gosh, it was nasty... No way, they wouldn't... NO WAY!!
From underneath my eyelids and over the edge of my glasses I threw a quick look to one guy, nothing... and then to the next, nothing... I couldn't bélieve it, how can you let one pass and keep such a poker face... It's should be illegal!

That was the drop, I had enough.
I moved 6 big steps away and didn't care if it was obvious that I was walking away from them specifically. I was not going to take this. Whatéver!

The train came, I got in and it took about 4 seconds before I smelled that stanch again... 'Oh my god, what's going on here?!' It didn't make sense, the two guys were in another part of the train. It drifted off and I arrived at 'B'.

On the way up, to the light, to the fresh air, it hit me...
In my bag was a microwave steam diner with salmon and broccoli that had been there (unrefrigerated) for most of the day...

I was the skunk!
/////////////////////////////////////////

I've finished my dark green simple slippersocks (pictures soon but they will be boring) and I'm working on the shrug made out of the Texel handspun and handdyed wool, a bit scratchy but be-au-ti-full!

Blown To Bits And Pieces

A storm raged over the Netherlands yesterday and this is what it did to our -what in the summer is a pretty- balcony...

The wind is blowing stuff to bits and pieces and it's a perfect theme for this post which is really about nothing and about all kinds of things at the same time. I'm feeling a little chaotic like the weather...

I'm worried about the climate, it changes really really fast it seems. The only winter I've seen so far is this morning when I found I'd left the freezer door open. Pretty snowflakes huh?
These babies were brought from the island of Texel, in the North of our wee country. Last year my friend Zita bought a white skein of handspun there with all kinds of different colours spun into it. I completely fell in love with it and when she visited Texel again this 'winter' she called me up and -together with boyfriend Henri- described the available colours through the phone. You should have been there, Henri could be heard in the distance; "No Zita, it's more of an army green and a sea blue!', really funny stuff. I couldn't help myself and ordered more than my bank would alow me if it had anything to say about me. Luckily it hasn't... so now this beautiful handspun and hand dyed Texeler yarn is mine, MINE, MINE!!
With the help of Constance in my S'nB group, I've figured out what to make with it. It's really rather scratchy so a hat or scarf won't be my first choice. And it seems this particular fleece doesn't felt well, so I've decided on this perty thang. Can't wait to cast on!

Last year I knit a monster. Yes, I did. It was a sock, a sock monster. Totally clueless I just started knitting a big sock pattern, disregarding all swatch rules and knitting common sense, resulting in the biggest most monstrous sock you've ever seen! This creature was intended for my friend Steve. Well, not the monster version, but two fitting slipper socks in his size. I wrapped it anyhow and gave it to him, we had a big laugh about it and I promised him that I'd make him some real slipper socks as soon as I got the hang of it. I waited for his birthday to come around again and designed and knit these for him. They have cables on the sides. The cables are knit so close that it looks like diagonal knitting. The pictures aren't great, sorry about that.

So, what else....?


Ever seen these cuties?
Please ignore the incredibly clever marketing scheme that goes with them and focus on the cuteness of them handmade squeez'ems. They seem to have something in common with us...Check this out!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

And seeing this on someones blog, I couldn't resist...
I really just don't believe it, there must be some Dutch people in the US with my name... The Dutch freakin' build New York...right? There are a gazillion people with my name in the Netherlands and not one in the US where people have weird names like Porche, Shaneequa and Kip....(means 'chicken' in Dutch...) I just don't buy it.

This is me with my friend Valesca last weekend on our way to the Noorderslag festival in Groningen. It's thé weekend for(pop)music professionals. There's a two day festival called Eurosonic all over town showcasing the hippest, the newest, the best in new European bands. The third day of the weekend there's a festival at the largest venue showcasing only Dutch bands and musicians. The whole weekend, during the daytime, there are workshops and seminars to go to. And of course a-lot-of networking to do.

Every year it's a blast. For people that work at pop venues it's their one yearly treat since their employers mostly can't afford other trips and christmas gifts. It's basicly a lot of bonding and partying with coworkers. The seminars get attended mostly out of guilt and with a huge hangover. (Or is that just me?)

This has probably been my last year as a professional visitor since I've finished the assignment to make the communication more efficient at the last venue I worked at. With my new job I'm probably not going to have these kinds of getaways, but I ám invited to the opening of the International Film Festival Rotterdam which happens to be my all time favorite event! So I'll still get to go to some cool events, festivals and openings they'll all just be a little less rock 'n roll.

I'll definitely miss that part of it but I'll never miss the lack of money and the horrendously outdated hard & software we were supposed to work with. I'm in love with my new work computer and the fact that the office gets cleaned every day (!), there's people that do stuff for you and multiple work trips and a Christmas gift. What luxury!!

Morning light in Rotterdam @ Hofplein