Two-Faced Sorceress

The knitting frenzy is still going on and I finished something else - the Sorceress hood I already mentioned. Is is worked in two flat pieces which are sewn together in the end. The pattern was easy to follow, but I must have made a mistake at some point because I ended up with two identical pieces instead of them mirroring each other. I wondered whether to frog part of the second half, but I had no idea where I had made a mistake (and thus, how to fix it), and I didn't feel like unravelling so much work. So I was very frustrated until my husband suggested for me to finish the thing and call it Twoface. Somehow that made it better and I decided to go with it.

As I'm writing this I suddenly think I know where I must have made the mistake (I must have increased for the hood part on the wrong side), but now it's done and finished, and I like it. I think it's not even visible in this photo, but the rib pattern on one side differs a little from the one on the other side. Well, it's still a beautiful piece :-)

In other news, my days have been busy with writing several job applications, some of which are more important to me, and much more difficult to write than others. There hasn't been much time for spinning and tending the shop, but I hope I will be able to offer some new yarns next week. Until then, please wish me luck with my applications, there are two fantastic, interesting jobs I'd love to get (well, one of them, anyway).

I Kept the Pirate!

A few months ago I wrote about an art yarn I had spun, inspired by a black female badass pirate captain - Zamira Drakasha. I prepared to list it in the shop: I took photos, I calculated the price, as usual - and then thought the price seemed too low. In fact, every price seemed too low. And at that point I realized I just couldn't part with this yarn.

Shortly after, when I received yet another letter of refusal (from a job I really wanted) and was sad and frustrated, I finally decided to indeed keep the yarn - as a kind of consolation gift to myself.

It took me a few months to decide what to make from it, though - until then I kept looking at it and petting it. First I tried out the Bandana Cowl pattern by Purlbee, but I didn't like the broad stripes and I also realized it was too much yarn for the pattern and it seemed a waste not to use the whole skein for one project.

So I frogged it, but I'm keeping the pattern in mind as it was fun to knit and I'm sure it would be fantastic with another yarn. I then went looking for a pattern with longer rows or rounds, to make the stripes longer and narrower. I decided on the Purl Ridge Scarf by Stephen West in the end, and I love the outcome very much.

I really hoped my yardage would be enough, as the pattern called for around 300 and I only had 228 yards (and different yarn weight), but it worked out fine. The cowl could be a little broader still, but it's also great as it is. And I love how the stripes turned out, and all the add-ins and the red silk strips <3 br="">

Knitting Frenzy

So, I've been knitting. A lot. Somehow, after months of barely touching a needle, I kind of went into a knitting frenzy and haven't really stopped yet. It started with my wanting to finally finish my Delirious Diva shawl and starting two other projects (see here), and then there were Christmas presents and more projects. I took some time off in December, and I hadn't had this much free time in a long while - and I spent nearly all of it knitting, or so it feels :-D

Now, brace yourself, here come a lot of photos! ;-)

I finished the Sea Dragon Shawl within six weeks or so. Once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed the pattern, but weaving in all the ends was a challenge! (I hate weaving in ends - and there were so many...) I'm glad I decided to do it one night and then didn't pause until I was finished - or I might have never looked at it again ;-)
The shawl is not only nice when draped around the shoulders, but makes a really gorgeous scarf which fits twice around my neck, then looks like some elaborate layered piece and covers the top of my shoulders for extra warmth.

I did indeed start Verdant after that, as I said I might, and have made quite some progress, but it seems the yarn won't be enough. For spinning more, I need to order some fibre first, so I put the project on hold. I like how it turned out so far, though.

Then I started (and finished) a quick project in between which I called Modern Stoneage, after the yarn. I had this skein lying around for quite some time, I remember casting on several times in the summer, but somehow no pattern seemed right. When I tried out the Asymmetric Rib Scarf, I was very pleased and I really like the outcome.

I also made three pairs of wrist warmers kind of in between - my husband seemed to have lost a pair (which turned up after I finished the new ones, which are now his favourites), and his sisters both wanted new ones for Christmas, so I spun some yarns and made some gifts :-)

Somewhere in between I decided to make a pair of yoga socks as a quick gift for a friend. I turned out not to be quick enough, though, and didn't finish them before meeting her. But I decided I wanted some for myself, and while I made the ones for my friend from commercial sock yarn I dyed myself, I made my own yoga socks from handspun as I realized once more how much more fun knitting is when the yarn is interesting.
I absolutely love these yoga socks! They keep my feet and ankles warm without hindering me, and the pattern is also very simple.

As my husband has lost a scarf I made for him years ago and has been quite sad about this, I decided to make him another one. He loved the Diagon Alley yarns I had spun, so I used the same colours for the yarn, though I added dark grey and black and called it Night Over Diagon Alley. This was a very spontaneous thing, I spun the yarn when he was out of town for a few days, started knitting on the train when I went to visit my sister in law, where I could only work on this project for one evening as my husband then joined me there, and then had to try and knit secretly when we were back home. It worked, though, I finished on the morning of December 21st, just before our traditional Jul with friends celebration where I then presented the scarf :-)

Just before Christmas I decided to spin a yarn suitable for the Unleaving pattern which I had fallen in love with, and I spun it shortly after Christmas, started knitting shortly after that and finished it within a week, which is enormously fast by my standards. I did knit through our new years party ;-)

Oh, and I nearly forgot I started knitting Sorceress - another pattern I'd been eyeing for a while.

Omi's Aubergine is also finished, but I don't have any new photos. And I still haven't given the scarf to her, I really have to go to Hamburg one of these days... I started even more new projects, but I will present them here some other time :-)


I also had a look around the google store for some helpful knitting apps. I discovered the knitting help app which seems fantastic, but haven't bought it yet (I don't think there's space for that on my phone at the time), I found a German Ravelry app which works well enough, but which isn't that nice to look at, and I found a simple row counting app called Knit Tink which I liked.

Are there any knitting apps you use and would recommend?