Winter Gloves

Finished knitting my gloves for winter. Here is two pictures of the finished item, knitted on UK14 (2mm) two needles using Katia Olé Socks "condor".

New yarn!

This Thursday I took a little trip out of Amsterdam to my favourite yarn shop in Hoorn: Schouten Handwerken. Marjan, Claartje and myself had been trying for the past two months to find a date when we were all free or not held up in bed with a cold... and this Thursday was the day!

Despite the 75km wind and the driving rain (and the mix up at the train station - leaving Claartje behind on the platform as the train pulled away!) we had a wonderful time in Wilbert's family shop. As always Wilbert (and his father and medewerkers) were there to help us with our purchases, offering advice on yarn for patterns and colour combinations, and having a chat. And to warm us up a lovely cup of tea and a local cake tasting of aniseed literally called "chew chew" (something like kauw kauw in Nederlandse taal).

We finished our trip by having a nice cup of tea in the english tea rooms along the same street as Wilbert's shop: Gumbleton's.

And this is the yarn I decided to use for a sleeveless pullover I want to make for Christmas:

I am using the same brand of yarn at the moment to make a pair of gloves (wool/alpaca mix) and I find it so soft and easy to knit with. It holds its shape really well and the yarn doesn't split and copes well with being frogged.

I also bought some more Trekking sock yarn as I have used this before and find it a good strong brand for making socks (but this ball might be for more winter gloves):

And here is our friendly host Wilbert winding some yarn for Claartje:

And one of me knitting in public:

Happy Knitting guys!

Crafty Crafters

Last nights meeting was fun (as always!). Here are some pictures of the crafters getting crafty:


New member Afra brought along her sewing machine that she had bought on Marktplaats to get some advice on the tension and to help get the thing working (job done!).

Megan has only been knitting for 4 weeks but she's already buying yarn and knitting up to a good tension a nice blue scarf.


Donna working on a nice scarf in pink and blue stripes using a drop stitch pattern that she's 'mixing up' as she goes, freestyle scarfing!

Jose has some beautiful yarn that he bought in Scotland and is making a vertical stripped scarf and teaching himself the 'Intarsia' technique;

And Afra, once machine was seen to be working, picked up her needles and worked on her two-pin winter gloves for her boyfriend. Doubled yarn for extra Dutch winter warmth.

A gezellig evening as always, with biscuits, tea, bit of whisky as the night draws to a close.

Come join us!

2 new vintage patterns

Here are two new vintage patterns that I have bought to add to my collection. They are both from around 1940's - one is a fair isle sleeveless jumper and the other is a fun cowboy themed long sleeved jumpe! Which one to make first?

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!!!

New Piece - Lace Shawl

Over the last couple of weeks I've been working on a triangular shawl project and here is the finished article. Knitted on UK9 (3.75mm) straight bamboo needles using Zitron Filigran Lace no.1 (which was from Schouten Handwerken, Hoorn):

Edgar: 2

So the back, left and right front of the cardigan are now complete (just all those ends still to sew in). I've begun working on the first arm. I'm having to adjust the pattern slightly to fit the yarn that I am using but I'm happy with how it is going at the moment.

It's beginning to get colder in Amsterdam now and this top will be perfect for winter, and especially Christmas with it's greens and reds!

I can't wait :D