New post

Well, it's been almost 7 months since my last post! :-/ I'm still knitting but have been so busy with work that I've had no time to blog. Also, I had my right hand broken whilst I was on my bike (by a lady opening her car door on me as I cycled passed, every Amsterdamer's worst nightmare). The cast is now off but the movement in my fingers is very small but hopefully over time this will come back.

So at the moment I'm knitting myself some swimming trunks. I bought the yarn from my favourite yarn shop (Schouten's Handiwerk in Hoorn). The front and gusset are made, just need to finish the back now and then I'll upload some pictures. I'm trying to get them ready to wear in Italy by the pool :-))

Also, this weekend I have a knitting/crafting event (at Treehouse Voetboogstraat, Amsterdam) and will be running the knitting circle. I will try and do some knitting but the pain in the wrist sometimes gets a bit too much so will be mainly there to give advice to others and new comers.

Tot volgende keer!

balls up

Knitting doesn't seem to be going right at the moment. After making one (of a pair) of beautiful checkered socks in alpaca and red wool only to find that it was too tight... I've decided to go back to crochet for a month...

Men's lace scarf challenge

As you saw in my previous post I have finished a lace triangular scarf in a simple repeat pattern. This is for a friend's wife. But I love the look of lace and have got to wondering if there are lace scarf patterns for men out there. I searched through Ravelry and there are the regular wrap scarfs that are unisex but I'm talking about an open-work lace piece, something that is delicate, that could be worn by a man (namely me, as I have a really nice red 2ply lace yarn that I would like to use for myself).

So the challenge is to find a repeat pattern that could be made in to a rectangular scarf that would be considered "masculine" enough. I'm thinking at the moment of a 'drooping elm leaf' pattern or 'christmas trees' as shown in B. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting.

Let's see what happens...

Besides this idea I'm still working on Edgar. Having to adjust the arms to meet the tension of modern yarn, and the first sock is almost finished.

Keep knitting!!!

Nanny's Buttons

I spent weekend with my family in England - got to see my nephew and have a play in the garden with him :-D Anyway... whilst I was there I thought I would ask my Mum for some buttons for the "Edgar" cardigan I am working on. I could just go and buy 6 buttons from the sewing shop but since I like vintage things (being raised in a family of antique restorers) I thought that some old, used buttons would age the cardigan nicely.

There was always a tin of buttons hanging when we were younger and I used to love looking at them - all those colours and forgotten clothes that they had come from - and it was also where old Scout and Girl Guide badges ended up too. Unfortunetly Mum had given her tin of buttons away (to a local knitting group), but she had a collection that belonged to my Nan Eva that they hadn't given away.

So out came the old tea tin, battered. Dad took the lid off, and we poured out the "gems" on to a tray. Wow! what a nice collection. A real mix of ages - from early 1930s-present. There was pearl buttons, and green glass buttons, and red plastic buttons. And I found 6 cream, cracked buttons that will work great on "Edgar" giving me the finish I desire.

I've taken some pictures for you to see the few that I brought home with me for future projects or just to keep in my sewing draw to make me think of my Nan. Enjoy!

I'm decorating

Almost finished decorating our living room - so clean and fresh (ready for winter...). I even hired a carpet cleaner yesterday, the filth that was lifted. The previous owner had a really old gas heater which when we had replaced was informed it wasn't actually connected to the chimney as the flue was blocked with rubbish and it had probably been like this for ten years!! That would explain why the carbon-monoxide alarm kept going off, I just got annoyed with it and removed the batteries. All around the previous owners furniture was left a shadow of carbon - lekker!

But we have a new heater now so all is safe in Casa Miller-Rouse.

And once the apartment is tidy again I can get back to my knitting...

Fresh beginnings with fibre

I've started many a blog, posted a couple of times and then decline to pursue it any further. I've reached the conclusion that may be combining my passion for knitting (and the odd bit of crochet) with blogging will ensure that I keep this going for a bit longer.

Aims, aims - I like to have aims, achievements that I want to fulfil with this task (and which inevitably I will look back upon and realise I never reached). Firstly, I use Ravelry and though it is a great site I would like to create a diary of my projects that is a bit more in depth and able to reach a wider audience. Secondly, this may be a way to kick-start myself in to making knitwear that people will think "Oh, that's nice - I would like that nice young man to make me a one off piece that I can wear too"... and then pay me for my work. It's a dream and whether there is any money in it waits to be seen. But I do have a lot of people asking me if I sell my work and this might be a way of reaching those people

Oh dear, this is turning in to a bit of a desperate first post ("Give us ya bloody money" in the vein of Geldof)