The best out of it

 
Two weeks ago I stopped working for good, well, at least for the next year. I counted the days in the end. There was just no more space for working matters on my mind, baby thoughts occupying it all. Due date is only by the end of March, but somehow time passes so fast and there are still so many open projects, plans and dreams I have for the baby, for me and this family, so, so much and at the same time there is the need to just sit down, relax, keep breeding and let the waves of early labor preparations pass.
In Cologne its the busy, crazy season of carneval but being rather pregnant I felt the need to escape all of that this year. We found refuge at my parents place in the quiet parts of northern Germany where such things as carnevals are almost unknown. By the time we arrived at my parents Aarons temperatur was up and a flue had taken over his small body. So the last days we tried to calm things down even more. There is a lot of knitting, sleeping and cuddling, some playing, some spinning, a visit to the hospital just to make sure he is still ok and a few short but wonderful walks in the cold. A little bit of everything...

 

 

 

Winter is still ruling this part of the world, but if you look closer you can find the first signs of spring:

I hope your days are peaceful.

Wundertüte

When Aaron was a newborn baby someone gave me a cotton kicking bag for him which was open at the feet. I really liked it. Aaron could enjoy his naked feet, feel snuggled up and diaper changes were a quick thing.

For his sister I wanted to knit something simular, but with a hood, for the very first weeks and so I came up with my own first knittig pattern I called Wundertüte. A Wundertüte in Germany is like a surprise bag, filled with candy and small toys.

I want to share the notes with you but I am not sure I wrote them very correctly yet. If you tried the pattern and have any questions or suggestions, please help me to improve the pattern so it will help others too.

Since the baby is only due in March I asked Charly, Aarons doll, to help me out as a model. He is doing a fine job don't you think?

Pattern notes: 

Use any yarn you like that is fine for needle size 5mm/ US 8. I used some handspun goodness my sister gave me, because it was quite thin I knitted it double stranded.

Cast on 82sts, join in round, k1, p1 for 6 rounds, circumference of cuff appr. 22".

In the next round increase sts to 98 sts by kfb every 5 sts (increase 16 sts in total)

Continue in rounds until piece messures 14". 

For collar and hood start working in stockinett rows back and forth (knit one row, purl one row) for another 3".

Decrease row 1: k2, k2tg, continue til end of row, purl row

Decrease row 2: k3, *k2tg, k1, continue from * till las 3 sts, k3. You should have 47 sts in total now.

Continue Stockinett for another 4,5".

Use stitchmarker to mark next purl round: p5, pm, p22, pm, p22, pm, p5.

Next knit row decrease like this: k5, ssk, k until 2sts before marker, k2tg, k3, ssk, knit until 2 sts before marker, k2tg, k5. Purl next row.

Repeat the last two rows until the 22 sts between each marker have decreased to 3 sts. Decrease these 3 sts to one sts by slipping two sts together as if knitting, k1, lift last two slipped sts over that knitted sts. 15 sts remaining in total. Pull yarn through last 15 sts and close top tightly.

Pick up 74 sts around the hood starting and ending at the collar opening. Do not join them in round. K1P1 back and forth for 4 rounds, Cast off loosely.

Pick up two sts for i-cord each side of the collar, Knit i-cord depending on how long you want it to be. I didn't want to use a button so it is really safe for the baby and nothing can be swallowed.

Ravelry link here.

This is a copywritten pattern, please do not sell this pattern, you may sell items knitted from this pattern providing that I, Gesche Ahlers@Kirschenzeit  am credited and linked as the designer.

Not so neutral

I must admit I am not a very safe secret keeper. At least when it comes to my own secrets, as long as they only content good news.  I basically want to shout it out! And it so happend as soon as I knew I was pregnant. A few days later, most of my friends and familiy knew it too. Even at work I didn't manage to wait the full twelve weeks, impossible to me. I really admire people who are able to do so but I don't understand at all how they survive.
So, today at the ultra sound, my wee little baby decided to reveal its gender and I want to tell the whole wide world: It's a girl!!! Honestly, I am so, so happy. I know, I shouldn't mind so much and I do feel sorry for the little boy it could have been also, wondering if I really would have been as happy about him, as I am now.  And I was very sure to get another boy, a brother for Aaron, who would probably have prefered that long term. I should have looked at my knittings of the last month to know better...

I used my best of stash for the first baby projects. The Aviatrix helmet and baby legs are knit with the softest angora wool, hand spun by my lovely sister. The Pebble and the Saartje Booties are from some of the yarn we dyed at the fiber-festival in July and the Puerperium was knit with delicious Noro Silk. If only I remembered where I put the buttons for it...

Now that I know I will start on some dresses and tunics like this one,  my fingers are itching...

I am still confused about my strong feelings towards a girl though. I have always considered myself being rather gender neutral, as in I want my boy to get all the chances there are to learn about football as much as about ballet, to play with dolls and his wooden kitchen as much as with his cars and so on. I am very interested in gender neutral education. There is a kindergarten in Sweden where they take that very serious and talk about the kids not as he or she but using a third, neutral pronoun adopted from the Finish. I read about this kid, Charly, who is raised without the mum anouncing the gender to anyone.  And I am still thinking how much of gender behavior is really genetic. Still, this girl inside of me, knowing I am having the most wonderful boy, made me so very happy. Why does it matter so much to me? I am still looking for answers.

Yarn Along - Knitted Landscapes

Knitting and reading - my favorite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joing Ginny for Yarn Along today to share my passion with you. Come and join in if you like!

Last week I had around five lucky minutes at the liberary. One of my favourite founds was this inspiring read about Yarn Bombing. I posted some yarn bombing pictures that I had found in Colognes streets a while back and I always feel lucky when I find another piece somewhere in the streets. It hadn' really crossed my mind though to create my own piece of knitted streetart. Not until I picked up that book. But the chapter that inspired me most was the one about knitted landscapes by two dutch artists . That's what I feel like I want to try myself. I have been in love with the land art by Andy Goldsworthy for a long time now. Adding knitting to a landscape just seems to make sence for me.

And what better use could there be for all those small amounts of experimentally colored handspun yarn that I have, than transforming it into knitted land art? So far I only knitted up one simple square and sewed it around a stone I had at home.  It was funny, how that knitted square fitted around that unusal shaped stone very smoothly.

I can think of a great spot for my knitted stone, but I didn't manage to go there yet. Next time we'll spend at the shores of our river I will take it along and place it in the landscape. Hopefully this weekend the weather will be ok as we want to go and celebrate St. John's  and a little belated Solsitice with a bonfire on Sunday. I know, Solstice is today, but it is raining badly around here and I have to work late so we postphoned it to the weekend. But, of course happy Solstice to all of you! I hope we will at least see a little bit of the sun today at one point...

Good to be a little weird!

Knitting and reading - my favorite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joing Ginny for Yarn Along today to share my passion with you. Come and join in if you like!

I finished the crazy colored socks and started some plain grey sneaker socks that my man will get for his birthday next week. he wished to have some knitted sneaker socks, so nothing can go wrong here...
Sometimes I feel weird to knit woolen socks in summer. People seem to give you weird looks when you knit in public (i knit on trains, in parks, in cafes etc)  but usually I just don't care. Most of the time I think there is nothing wrong with people thinking I am weird. Cause I might just be weird, I don't like being very normal anyway. I guess that's why I like the book I am reading this week: "Irre". It could be translated "Insane" and is written by a psychiatrist who explains, why we should not be afraid of psychologicaly sick people (most of them at least) but of those being very healthy, but crazy. (Like some politicians, finance managers and other people who would like to run the world etc.) We can only treat and help people who feel sick and suffer. Most of them are all worried about their own being. Those who are crazy but don't suffer they are the dangerous potential. The book also gives very well written and simple explainations of most of the main psychological problems like addiction, depression, fear, schizophrenia etc. There are so many statements in this book that I find very, very, helpful to learn about for my work and privat affairs.
I think this strawberry has also developed some sort of personal disfunction. It seems like it would rather be a shrimp... But, and that's what I have learned from the book: there is no need for treatment as long as this strawberry feels very happy looking like a shrimp...

Yarn Along

Knittin and reading. My favourite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joining Ginny on Wednesdays for Yarn Along to share my passions with you. Come and join in if you like!

Oh how I wish my days had more then 24 hours. There are so many things I want to do, so many projects in line, books to read, posts to post, people to love, hours to spend in the sun and than there is work that wants to be done, meetings to attend etc. And I just absolutly love to sleep, I need a minimum of 8 hours to really make it through my day without downs.  So just a short post today to yarn along a little. My latest project on the needles (with my second sock from last week still not finished!) is this vest for Aaron. I wanted a simple, smart looking pattern, to show off the yarn, some handspun gotland sheep wool I got at the sheep festival last week. I plied it with some blue but over twisted single my sister gave me to free use. Mixed with the grey it is so lovely. Knitted up it reminds me of a forest lake shimmering in the moonlight. The ball is almost finished though so there needs to be a lot more spinning...

Suiting my rather limited reading hours I have got these days, I found this 40 pages book (The man who planted trees) in the library. Such a wonderful treasure! Its a bit like a fairy tale about a shepherd in the french alps who planted trees for many decades and by that rebuild a complete, dying landscape. A story about sustainability, believe, the strength of men power and simplicity. The story has been illustrated by one of my favourite illustrators, Quint Buchholt but that edition only excists in German. But there are some other nice editions available in English. This book also make a wonderful present!

Happy Knitting!

Yarn Along - Cover up your needles!

Knittin and reading. My favourite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joining Ginny on Wednesdays for Yarn Along to share my passions with you. Come and join in if you like!

Last week there has not been too much knitting but I finished the first sock that I showed you last time. The one here is the second one but I forgot to take a picture of the finished sock although the colorway is very interesting and worth showing... Sorry about that. I will show you the finished pair soon, hopefully... 

Today I want to show you something else though, I prepared a little tutorial for you, because yesterday I got tired. Tired of loosing the stitches off my needles all the time. That happens because I carry my knitting with me all day in a small bag that is getting draged in and out of my backpack constantly. And at home there is this very vital toddler... 

I needed something to cover my needles. And I needed it soon. It was night and there was no way I way going to do any shopping to solve the problem. So some upcycling it was:

I needed some material that would be strong enough to stop the needles from poking through it yet flexible enough to cover them and keep them together. That's when I remembered the broken tire from my last bike repare. Lucky me... But you can basically use any strong flexible material such as leather, tarpaulin etc.

I cut two 5" (12 cm) from the tire and opend them on one side.

Then I used a round item to draw a circle of 3" (7,5 cm) onto the tire and cut it. Repeat with the second piece.

I marked twelve spots (like a clock) and pinched holes through the tire pieces.

For the next step I used two strong elastic strapes (the blue one in the first picture turned out to not be strong enough but I found some brown left overs) and pulled each of them halfway through the holes as shown in the picture. Repeat the same with the second circle.

I fixed the elastic with a knot at both ends pulling the circles together as good as I could.

Last I tied the two pieces together. The length of the elastic should depend on the size of your needles. The elastic should be under tension when on the needles. Done! Such a fun way to upcycle!

I hope my tutorial was helpful for you.

 Oh, and I almost forgot, of course there has been some reading, even a lately rather rare visit to library in fact with some good outcome. A book about dying with natural colors, a knitting book for women of weight which I was very, very happy to find in the library as it has been on my waiting list at Amazon for month now and an easy reading murder mystery (only available in German) located in Brittany/ France which I read on my train ride to work these days. All of them make me happy on different levels, just like knitting different projects at the same time for different ocassions. You know what I mean, right?

But for now, I will hop over to Ginny and see what you have been up to last week. I see you around!

Happy Knitting!

Yarn Along - color freaking me...

Knittin and reading. My favourite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joining Ginny on Wednesdays for Yarn Along to share my passions with you. Come and join in if you like!

Somehow color just seams to happen to me, it comes and goes in turns. Right now color is boosting! My newest sock yarn is kind of crazy but its such fun to knit. The yarn is a single Zauberball from Schoppel. I hope the unplied yarn will be strong enough...

This is my third pair of socks since I conquered my fear of kntting socks and I must say, it is becoming fun! But, there has to be a good colorfull yarn. The second pair I made for a college who gives me a ride in his car from time to time. The color was rather boring, some sprinkled almost plain blue, but his choice. This one will be for me!

Do you know the book I have been reading to Aaron lately? Its the same one my mum used to read to us and I am still in love with it. The good thing, I know it by heart and can "read" it even when Aaron turns the pages too fast or flips the book (which he does often). And, are you surprised, there is a page about colors in it :). The story is about a mice family who work very hard to gather food for the coming winter. One of them doesn't help out though. Fredericks excuse is that he gathers sun shine, colors and words, for the long, cold and gray days of winter. A wonderful story! 

Amongst all those colors, did you discover the green smoothie? I am totally into green smoothies these days. Not just because of the color. They are (can be) so delicious when made with the right simple choices: Spinach, apple, banana and some salad leaves work great, even Aaron likes it and he is not into vegetables at all...

The baby bunting from last week was finished this weekend and passed over to sweet three month old Liana. What a cutie pie she is! 

The dandelion syrup from last week got me started on the syrup, and what else could I be making, than rhubarb syrup? I only had enough rhubarb for one bottle though which I toke to my friends birthday, added by some bottles of sparkling water so mix a great soda. Soooo yummy! There is more rhubarb syrup to come these days! :)

Of course there is not only color in my life, work has been stressfull the last days, Aaron and me are still sick with some exhausting cold and money is as short as it has never been before. Enough to freak me out...  That makes it even more important to me to enjoy the exploding nature, spinning, music, knitting and all the colors around me as much as I can.

Here is a song I want to share with you that lifts up my spirits so much, not just this song, all the music by the wonderful Senegalese artist Habib Koite. Enjoy!

Happy Knitting!

Yarn long - A Baby Bunting

Knittin and reading. My favourite things to complete a perfect day. So I am joining Ginny on Wednesdays for Yarn Along to share my passions with you. Come and join in if you like!

Oops, is it Wednesday again? I almost missed it! But, no Wednesday without knitting and reading, right?! Since I started spinning I am on the lookout for small projects to knit with the spun yarn which still is rather individuel to put it nicely... Not so many things can be made with it. Especially nothing to wear, the yarn is still too thick and a bit itchy. But, I am positive I will solve that issue in the near future. Until I am able to spin my own fine sock yarn I will just have to be creative with my projects... and there comes in the baby bunting. I am going to meet my friends baby Liana for the first time next Sunday and I want to welcome her with a little bunting, possibly with her name stitch or sewed on with some fabric, I don't know yet, any ideas?
A bunting is a great project for hand spun yarn because you only need very small amounts of yarn and can show off with all colors and mix them wildly if desired. I found helpful instructions for buntings with hand spun yarn here. Only I cast on with 20 sts and finished a few rows earlier. Some more colors to go now... Btw, did you see Loris buntings she knitted for different seasons, for example the summer bunting? Soooo fantastic!
Well, besides the knitting there is still lots and lots of spinning and dyeing, lots of purple, lilac, lavender shades lately, with a special person on mind... ;-)
Which brings me to the reading... what else could it be, spinning books of course! The lady who sold me the wheel had sent her old spinning books too. They are not on the market any more, so lucky me...
And I also found some interesting books in our library. So much input..
Now I can't wait to check out what you have been up to last week, yarn wise. See you at Ginny's!

Happy Knitting!