Posted in knitting, pattern, personal, self made..., Whatever on April 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Here is another short post to show off my newly finished Lambton Top!
Lambton Top
I just love how it turned out. The pattern is great and the top actually fits. Well it’s a tiny bit too big around the shoulders and it tends slip down. Maybe I’ll add another couple of rows to the neckline to make it tighter.
Lambton Top
More pictures and all needle/yarn details are on my ravelry page: http://ravel.me/aravis83/ew1ku
Posted in knitting, pattern, personal, self made... on February 17, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Time to finally show y’all the stuff I’ve knit over the past few weeks, I guess. Some of the things were Christmas presents and so I couldn’t post them earlier. 
The first is the Zerg hat I knit for K. Zerg is something from the video game Starcraft. I used duplicate stitches to get the logo onto the hat… to be honest, it was real pain to create the logo and it took me about twice as long as it took me to knit the hat itself. 
Zerg Hat
And here is the hat I knit for myself. I love how it turned out and it matches my green winter coat perfectly. Knitting it was quite a challenge, but after a few mistakes everything went smoothly and I just love how fancy the pattern looks.
The only thing I’m not too happy about is that it fits quite snuggly (a lot like a beanie), instead of being slouchy as it was supposed to be. Oh well…
To match the hat, I worked a pair of really lovely red mittens with the same yarn. The pattern is simply great and the mittens are supereasy and fast to do… and they look just awesome.
Reading Mittens
I loved the pattern so much, that I knit a pair in white and green as a Christmas present for H. and a pair of black ones for N. (Pics are on ravelry or on flickr)
After all those mittens, which I knit before Christmas I needed a bit of change and so I knit a lovely dress for my cousin’s baby girl. The pattern is also from ravelry and I really enjoyed it, though it required about a million of purl stitches.
Gaia Dress
It’s a bit hard to see in the pic, but there are actually cute leaves all over the skirt of the dress and the edging is crocheted white lace.
And for the other baby in my family, which is due in a couple of weeks, I knit a blanket. The pattern is from rav., but I modified it quite a bit. For one I used a thinner yarn and smaller needles. The main part of the blanket is also quite different. I started by casting on 1 stitch and then increasing by knitting front to back (kfb) into the second stitch in every row. This creates a lovely garter stitch blanket.
Hap Blanket
The ediging I worked according to pattern with the only difference that I of course had a lot more stitches to knit.
And finally here is the project I’m working on at the moment… just a pair of simple socks for one of my uncles.
basic socks
All the patterns can be found on ravelry along with more pics, yarn and needle details. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aravis83
Posted in knitting, pattern, personal, self made..., video, Whatever on October 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
At the moment I’m down with a rather nasty cold and after finishing up all the socks and stuff I started to knit over the past few months – except of course for my crazy sock yarn blanket – I decided to again work a couple of tiny hats for this year’s “Innocent Smoothie Hat Knitting”. Underneath you can admire the first 3:
So far I’ve I have 3 hats completely finished and another 2 are in progress and if I don’t run out of ideas and left-over yarn I’ll do a couple more soon… so be prepared for more smoothie hats posts in the future.
In case you are wondering, why anybody would be crazy enough to knit a hat for a smoothie…the whole thing is basically a charity stunt. For every smoothie that is sold wearing a self knit hat 30 Cents are donated to help elderly people through the winter. Besides of that it’s a lot of fun!
While knitting I watched a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones, which is amazingly good…. and that’s high praise from me. I’m usually VERY picky when it comes to movies about books I’ve read before, especially when it’s a book I loved. But they didn’t spoil it and even the choice of characters is pretty good, though the Eddard Stark of my imagination was way more handsome than the actor.
The only thing about the series, that is really annoying is that they did an awful job with the German translation. It would have been better, if they’d left a couple of words untouched, especially the names…. even Casterly Rock got turned into Casterly Stein, which is just plain stupid. Oh well… it’s a good thing Dvds let you switch to English.
Anyway, back to those smoothie hats. Here is my ravelry page with the usual yarn/needle details. No patttern details this time, as I made everything up while knitting. http://ravel.me/aravis83/b6ikq
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on September 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Omg, it’s been ages since I last posted. Sorry! Life has been very busy here lately…. work, several congresses, lovely long visit from N. and lots of other stuff. Anyway it’s past time for a new post and there also is a lot I need to show y’all. First of all here is an update on my crazy huge sock yarn blanket:
Sock yarn blanket
I’ve been working on it a lot lately and it’s growing nicely. The last time I counted I already had 250 squares but that was a couple of weeks ago and now I’m probably closer to 300. That does sound a lot, doesn’t it? Still it is a long time before it will be finished, but so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s just such an easy project that doesn’t require a lot of thinking.
To give myself a bit of a break from the blanket I’m also working on another pair of socks. I started them on a rather long train ride to K. this summer. It’s a mosaic pattern, which looks rather complicated, but is actually quite easy to do.
Like the blanket pic, this pic also is already a couple of weeks old and so I’ve completed the first sock by now. Right now I’m working on the second one… though for some reason it’s rather slow going at the moment. But I guess that’s pretty normal for second socks…. they never seem to knit up as fast the first ones.
Lately I’ve also worked on a couple of baby projects for a friend, who is expecting twin girls. Here is a pic of one of the cardigan-hat-bootie-sets I knit…. of course there also is such a set in a lovely white-pink-orange yarn for the second girl:
As I had some yarn left over from the projects I’m working on matching toy bunnies at the moment. Actually the bunny pattern is supposed to be a blanket, but as I didn’t have enough yarn left for blankets I’ve turned them into toy bunnies instead. Here is the one, which is already done:
The pattern for the bunny (as well as for all my other projects) can be found on ravelry. For the bunny I modified the pattern a little. That is I shaped the head differently for I didn’t like it that square. Here is what I did:
I followed it closely up to row 63 (including that row). This is the increase row and there should be 28 stitches on the needle. I then switched to DPNs. For that I alternately slipped one stitch from the circular needle on the DPNs (f.ex.: 1. stitch on 1. needle, 2, stitch on 2. needle, 3. stitch on 1. needle, 4. stitch on 2. needle etc.) and started working in the round. For the head I increased to 40 stitches:
1. round: k all stitches
2. round: k1, kfb, k12, kfb, k2, kfb, k12, kfb, k1
3. round: k all stitches
4. round: k1, kfb, k14, kfb, k2, kfb, k14, kfb, k1
5. round: k all stitches
6. round: k1, kfb, k16, kfb, k2, kfb, k16, kfb, k1
After that I worked a couple of round in plain knitting till the head was long enough. Oh and I also embroidered the eyes and mouth before started the decreases:
1. round: k1 k2tog, k16, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k16, k2tog, k1
2. round: k all stitches
3, round: k1 k2tog, k14, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k14, k2tog, k1
4. round: k all stitches
5. round: k2tog, k12, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k12, k2tog, k1
Slip about half the stitches back onto one needle (alternating as before), stuff the head and then slip the rest of the stitches back onto the one needle. You should again have 28 stitches now. Work the ears according to pattern.
As usual all patterns, yarn details and a lot more pic can be found on ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aravis83
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on July 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Today I finished my Eyelet-Cable Socks. It is a simply sock with an off-center cable at the side of the sock. It is hard to see in the pics, but there are eyelets in the cable itself. For the socks I used size 2,5 needles (US size 1 I think) and a very stretchy sock yarn called Lana Grossa Meilenweit Point Stretch.
Finished Eyelet-Cable Socks
Cast on 60 stitches and work about 10 rounds of k2, p1 for the ribbing.
1.-6. round: k3, p3, k6, p3, k to end of round
7. round (cable round): k3, p3, slip 3 stitches onto cable needle, hold cable needle at the back of work, knit 3 stitches from the left needle, now knit 3 stitches off the cable needle, p3 and k to end of round
8.-14. round: k3, p3, k6, p3, k to end of round
15. round (cable round): k3, p3, slip 3 stitches onto cable needle, hold cable needle at the back of work, knit 3 stitches from the left needle, now knit 3 stitches off the cable needle, p3 and k to end of round
16.-17. round: k3, p3, k6, p3, k to end of round
18. round (eyelet round): k3, p3, k1, Yo, k2tog, k 3, p3, k to end of round
19. round: k3, p3, k6, p3, k to end of round
20-23. round: repeat rounds 18 and 19 twice more
24.-27. round: k3, p3, k6, p3, k to end of round
Repeat the pattern starting with the first cable round (7.round). Work your favorite heel and toe, block to open up the eyelets, wear! Happy Knitting!
More pictures as well as yarn details can be found on my ravelry page: http://ravel.me/aravis83/kfew
Posted in knitting, pattern, personal, self made... on July 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
My Elphaba pullover is finally finished and it turned out great!!!
Finished Elphaba pullover
Unfortunately it’s too warm here at the moment to comfortably wear a knit pullover for more than a few minutes at a time. But I of course tried it on and it actually fits. Well it’s maybe a tiny bit too big, but that doesn’t really matter as I usually wear something underneath anyway.
The pattern I used is from ravely and was really great! All instructions were very clear and I followed them closely. The only thing I modified is the main part of the body…. I added a couple of rows, as I like my pullovers a little longer. (I did about 40 rows.)
More pictures and all needle/yarn details are on my ravelry page: http://ravel.me/aravis83/l6fya
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on May 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
It’s really been ages since I last blogged. Sorry! Lately things have been quite busy here, but not too busy to do some knitting, especially socks and now I need to show all of them off.
Here are my lovely Laurelhurst socks in purple and black with always 2 rows per stripe. The pattern is from ravelry and I followed it closely except for the heel and the toe decreases.
Purple Laurelhurst socks
….and here is my second pair of Laurelhurst socks. This one I modified a lot more. I didn’t do the slipped stitches along the sides and also used a different pattern for the heel and toe.
Colorful Laurelhurst socks
Below is my pair of crazy stripes socks. I used two different multicolores yarns – one with different shades of blue and the other with various shades of pink, yellow, orange, lilac and blue – and worked 4 rounds before switching to the next color. I just love how they turned out and they are supercomfy to wear.
My crazy stripes socks 
At the moment I’m working on the green and black-white-gray striped socks for K. Basically it’s the same pattern as my crazy stripes socks, only in this case I’m switching colors after only 3 rounds. And I’ll probably start the second sock with the black-white-gray yarn and also do the heel and toes in this color.
First sock for K.
And finally here is my sock yarn blanket, which of course is still very much in progress. At the moment I’m working on the 6. row of squares and it’s still a lot of fun…. though I need an occasional break from doing them, as you can see by the amount of socks I’ve done lately.
Sock yarn blanket in progress…
Oh and there is one small thing I changed about the blanket. What I at first intended to be the broad side of the blanket is now the long one… I got a little carried away when doing the initial squares and it got WAY too long for a broad side.
Posted in Drawings, knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on April 13, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Finished another pair of beaded socks today. They were fun and really easy to knit and are also quite comfy to wear. As usual I used 2,5mm (US1 I think) needles. The yarn is a stretchy sock yarn in pure white called Lana grossa Meilenweit 100 Cotton Stretch. The beads are Rayher Rocailles transp. gelüstert 2,6mm. (It doesn’t really matter which beads you use as long as they can be washed without loosing their color.)
For info on how to get the beads onto the yarn and which method I used to position the beads, see my earlier post.
Here is what I did:
CO 60 stitches and distribute them evenly on DPN (there should be 15 stitches on every needle)
Ribbing: k2,p1 for about 10 rows (or till you’ve reached the desired length)
Bead Pattern: knit 3 rounds before working the chart below. Click the image for a bigger picture. (I’ll eventually redo the chart to make it easier to read) Only work the chart for every other round. The rounds inbetween (or even numbered rounds which arent shown on my chart) are knit.
To position the beads I used the method of bringing the yarn to the front of the work, bringing the bead into position and just slipping (purlwise) the according stitch. For me it works best if I position the bead close to the last knit stitch before slipping the stitch.
The pattern itself is worked over 13 stitches with 1 stitch as margin on each side. That puts the whole pattern on just one DPN and makes it quite comfy to knit. Start working your favorite heel after row 55 and continue with the pattern after the heel is done. At the end of the pattern knit another 3 rows before starting the toe decrease.
The pattern is designed for medium sized feet (European size 38). So if you are working it for bigger feet, just add a few extra rows of plain knitting before working the toe decrease or just continue by drawing your own pattern. When doing your own drawing just make sure that no more than 2 beads are directly next to each other. Happy Knitting!
Here is how the pattern looks once it is done:
Finally, here is my project on rav. with a couple more pics.: http://ravel.me/aravis83/mp104
Posted in audio, Books, knitting, LibriVox, personal, self made..., Whatever on April 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Today I finally cataloged the group recording of “Heimatlos - Geschichten fuer Kinder und auch fuer solche, welche die Kinder lieb haben” (roughly translated: Homeless – Stories for kids and also for those, who love them) by Johanna Spyri. She probably is best known for “Heidi”, but I love her other books too and will surely do a couple more for LibriVox in the future.
The book consists of two wonderful stories – “Am Silser – und am Gardasee” and “Wie Wiseli’s Weg gefunden wird” for kids. Both stories are about orphaned children. In the first it’s a little Italian boy, who goes out into the world because of a song his father used to sing and in the second one a little girl has to go and live with a relative after her mother dies… and though both stories are very sad at times they both have a happy ending.
Here is one of the chapters I read:
The whole project can be found here: http://librivox.org/heimatlos-geschichten-fuer-kinder-und-auch-fuer-solche-welche-die-kinder-lieb-haben-by-johanna-spyri/
Now something totally different. I’m down with a rather nasty cold at the moment and so I had quite a bit of time for knitting. So here is another sock to show off:
Acutally the first sock is almost finished by now, I just haven’t had time to take new pics. But there will be a couple soon.
After knitting those black beaded socks I blogged about last time, I wanted to try something a little more complicated. I didn’t find good pattern for working with beads online, so I’m kinda making it up as I go. It’s superfun and I think the socks will look wonderful when they are done.
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on April 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
As promised here is the pattern for my bead socks. For the socks I used 2,5 needles (US1 I think), my fav. sock yarn (Lana grossa Meilenweit 100 Cotton Stretch) and of course matching beads (Rocailles 2,6 mm opak gelüstert gemischt.)
Bead Socks
Before starting to knit put the beads on your yarn. If you do it with the same number of cast on stitches I used, each stripe requires 20 beads, so that makes 120 beads per sock. That’s quite a lot and working becomes quite tedious because you have to move all those beads along the yarn as you go. So after doing the first sock with all the beads on the yarn from the beginning, I only put half of them on the yarn for the second sock and just cut the yarn and added the rest after finishing the 3. stripe.
Also to get the beads on the yarn I found it easiest to use a piece of very thin wire. I created a kind of needle by bending it in the middle and twisting the long ends together. By slipping the yarn through the tiny “eye” of the needle and by picking up the beads with the other end, it only takes a couple of mins to get a huge amount of beads on the yarn. Here is a pic of it… not a very good one though:
So here is what I did exactly:
Co 60 stitches and distribute evenly on DPN (15 stitches per needle)
Ribbing: k2,p1 for about 10 rows (or till you’ve reached the desired length)
Bead Pattern: knit 5 rows before starting with the stripes
1. stripe: *k2, bring the yarn to the front of the work, bring bead into position and slip 1 stitch (for me it works best if I position the bead as close as possible to the last knit stitch before slipping the next stitch)* repeat to end of row
k 3 rows
2. stripe: *k1, bring the yarn to the front of the work, bring bead into position and slip 1 stitch, k1* repeat to end of row
k8 rows before repeating the bead pattern 2 more times (or till you have as many stripes as you like), work another 15 rows before working you fav. heel/rest of sock.
Bead socks (close up)
Oh and here is my project page on rav. with a couple more pics: http://ravel.me/aravis83/uqbpu
Happy Knitting!!!
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