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Archive for the ‘personal’ Category

Happy Halloween!!!

Posted in personal, rant, self made..., Whatever on October 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I know it’s a couple of days early, but as I probably won’t have time to post on Halloween itself, here is the beauty I carved this afternoon. Also, though it’s a little early, but…. Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

As you can see I didn’t carve the usual ugly face, but a cute little fairy instead. (At any rate I hope it’s recognizeable as a fairy!). In case you are interested in how I did it, here are a couple more pics of how the fairy ended up on the pumpkin. 😉

For the fairy I just googled for a suitable pic, which I printed out. You can also see a couple of different sized knitting needles and pins in the pic. They are for the fairy dust, which surrounds all fairies. 😉

Tinkerbell 1Here is the beheading and de-gutting: … in case you are wondering, why there is a second pumpkin in the pic, that one got turned into a proper scary Halloween face. (I’ll probably blog about him another time.)

Tinkerbell 2To keep the fairy pic in place I simply pinned it to the pumpking…..

Tinkerbell 3….and then I just used a pin to copy the fairy outlines directly onto the pumpkin:

Tinkerbell 4Here is the fairy already cut out:

Tinkerbell 5And here she finally is all cut out and ready for a candle:

Tinkerbell 6As a finishing touch I added a bit of fairy dust using different sized knitting needles:

Tinkerbell 7We don’t actually celebrate Halloween here, which is a real pity for that way we miss out on all the fun. No witches, zombies, ghosts, trick or treating and other fun stuff. Still I always have a great time creating at least some decorations. Anyway… Happy Halloween!

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Pikmin, Firefly & Co – Smoothie Hats

Posted in knitting, personal, self made..., Whatever on October 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Due to a rather nasty cold I had plenty of time to knit a couple more smoothie hats last week. Those first few you’ve already seen in my last post, but now I’ve finally managed to take a pic along with the game – Pikmin for Wii – that gave me the inspiration for those hats:

Pikmin Hats

Pikmin Hats

Here are  a couple the new hats I knit last week… mostly with left over yarn:

Just some more Smoothie Hats

Just some more Smoothie Hats

The Firefly fans among you, will probably have recognzied the hat in the middle. It’s the one Jayne wears in one of the last episodes, only a lot smaller of course. 😉 Here is a close-up pic of the Jayne hat:

Jayne Hat (Firefly)

Jayne Hat (Firefly)

And finally here are just a couple more of my smoothie hats:

Just some more Smoothie Hats

Just some more Smoothie Hats

In case you’d like to see more pic or read up on yarn/needle details, just have a look at my ravelry page. I think I already linked it in my previous post. Maybe there’ll be a couple more hats eventually… there is still a bit of time before I need to mail them to Innocent Smoothies. 😀

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My Innocent Smoothie Hats 2013

Posted in knitting, pattern, personal, Whatever on October 13, 2013| 2 Comments »

Summer is slowly turning into autum… well actually there was nothing slow about it this year… and so it’s time to start knitting Smoothie Hats again. I just love knitting those tiny hats. They make such fast and fun projects with the added benefit of using up a lot of left over yarn. Also they give me the perfect opportunity to try out new techniques or just repeat patterns I previously enjoyed. This year I’m totally into flowers and leaves:

Smoothie 2013

Smoothie 2013

In case you are wondering those flowers are crocheted. I’m normally not very good at crocheting and so I’m rather proud of how the flowers turned out, especially as I made them up entirely. This is what I did:

With yellow chain up 6 stitched and then join up into a ring with a slip stitch. Then single crochet into that ring 7 times, slip stitch into the first stitch and then cut the yarn.

Switch to the white yarn (or whatever color you like) and chain 1 and them work into the same stitch *1 double crochet, chain 1, 1 double crochet and 1 slip stitch* Repeat that into the other 6 single crochets. Cut yarn and sew in the loose ends.

(I hope this makes sense… as I said before I’m not really familiar with crocheting techniques.)

Smoothie 2013

Smoothie 2013

As usual I’m using my fav. Lana grossa Merino superfein yarn and 2,5mm DPN’s. Here is what I do, when I knit a basic hat:

CO: 40 stitches and join in the round distributing the stitches evenly on the DPN’s.

Then just knit or work whatever pattern you feel like till the hat is about 4-5 cms long before starting the decrease rounds.

For a rounded top (like the green hat above) decrease 8 evenly spaced stitches in every other round and for a pointy one (like the red one below) only decrease 4 evenly spaced stitches in every other round. When only 4 stitched remain either bind off or work an icord. 🙂

Smoothie 2013

Smoothie 2013

In case you are wondering why somebody would actually bother to knit hats for a smoothie, the whole thing is basically a charity thing. (And also lots of fun.) For every smoothie that is sold wearing a self knit hat 30 Cents are donated to help elderly people through the winter.

Smoothie 2013

Smoothie 2013

As usual here is the link to my ravelry page. More pics, all yarn and needle detail can be found there: http://ravel.me/aravis83/hveoz

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Emilia Strikkedukker

Posted in knitting, personal, Whatever on June 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

I had a couple of days off last week and so I had finally time to knit a “Strikkedukker” doll. The pattern is out of a book called “Strikkedukker” by Arne and Carlos. The book is really well written and detailed and so knitting was a pleasure… though all those small parts are quite fiddly to knit. Anyway, may I introduce you to Emilia Strikkedukker:

Emilia3

Emilia

Emilia actually is quite a big doll. I’d say she’s about 40-45 cm tall and very slender… that’s also the reason she is so fiddly to knit. Still I just love how she turned out. All she needs now are some pretty dresses and skirts.

Emilia4

Emilia

I gave Emilia quite a LOT of hair (almost 1 1/2 balls of yarn). She looks really awesome with all that hair and you can do all kinds of different hairstyles without having to worry that the skin of her head will show through. The only downside is that all that hair is so heavy that she has troubles keeping her head up. So she has an entire crochet hook in her body at the moment to stabilize the head.

 

Anyway, here is a closeup of her face… and the hair: 😉

Emilia

Emilia

On my ravelry page are all the yarn and needle details… and you can also watch her grow from just being one foot into a pretty fully grown doll: http://ravel.me/aravis83/7t8qn

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Finished Lambton Top

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

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

Lambton Top

More pictures and all needle/yarn details are on my ravelry page: http://ravel.me/aravis83/ew1ku

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Happy Easter!

Posted in personal, self made..., Whatever on March 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Just a short post to wish y’all a very Happy Easter!

Here is proof that the Easter bunny came by in spite of all the snow and bad weather. 😉

Snow bunny mine

Our second Easter bunny (created by mum) also brought a couple of Easter eggs… and Kitty the cat had a good long look at them. 😉

Snow bunny mum

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Knitting update :)

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

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.

spaceout3

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.

spaceout

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

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

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

basic socks

All the patterns can be found on ravelry along with more pics, yarn and needle details. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aravis83 😀

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Books I’ve read in 2012

Posted in audio, Books, personal, self made... on January 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Like in 2011, I kept track of all my reading last year too and I have to say it has been a very busy year. All in all I’ve read and listened to 132 books. Of those 26 were commercial/non LV audiobooks, 75 LV recordings and 31 actual books. (not including the vast number of comic books and all the job related stuff I had to read). Quite a lot, eh?

Of all the books I read, the one I liked best probably was “A Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin (and all the sequels of course) closely followed by “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. Both A Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games were re-reads, but I liked them almost better the second time. 😀

The book I hated most was “Als ich unsichtbar war” by Martin Pistorious. I only made it about halfway through for though the book is very touching at the beginning, it gets tedious and whiny towards the middle… and also very confusing. There is no real story that is told, just bits and pieces mixed together totally at random. Apart from that the writing style is awful and the book is just plain boring, boring, boring.

Here is the list of books I’ve read:

Finished books (including non LV audiobooks):
1. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
2. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (audiobook)
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (audiobook)
4. Mercy by Jussi Adler Olsen
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (audiobook)
6. Als ich unsichtbar war by Martin Pistorious: only got halfway through… at first it’s really interesting but then it gets boring, boring, boring
7. Deenie by Judy Blume (commercial audiobook)
8. Achtung Baby by Michael Mittermeier (commercial audiobook)
9. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
10. All unsere Liebe für Kate by Ben Harrington
11. Double Fudge by Judy Blume (commercial audiobook)
12. Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben
13. Ich habe den Todesengel überlebt by Eva Mozes Kor
14. Bed by David Whitehouse
15. Storm Front by Jim Butcher (audiobook)
16. Ugly by Constance Briscoe
17. Sing you home by Jodi Picoult
18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (audiobook)
19. Otherwise known as Shiela the Great by Judy Blume (commercial audiobook)
20. Mit der Liebe einer Löwin by Christina Hachfeld-Tapukai
21. Die weisse Massai by Corinne Hofmann
22. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (audiobook)
23. Zurück aus Afrika by Corinne Hofmann
24. Wiedersehen in Barsaloi by Corinne Hofmann
25. Geschichten für den allerliebsten Liebling by Rudyard Kipling
26. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (audiobook)
27. The house of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah
28. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
29. Ziemlich beste Freunde: Ein zweites Leben by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo (commercial audiobook)
30. The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne
31. Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
32. Das fliegende Klassenzimmer by Erich Kästner (commercial audiobook)
33. Till Eulenspiegel by Erich Kästner (commercial audiobook)
34. Die Schildbürger by Erich Kästner (commercial audiobook)
35. Zerbrechlich by Jodi Picoult (commercial audiobook)
36. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher (audiobook)
37. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (commercial audiobook)
38. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (commercial audiobook)
39. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
40. Die purpurnen Flüsse by Jean Christophe Grange (audiobook)
41. Der Flug der Störche by Jean Christophe Grange (audiobook)
42. World without End by Ken Follett (audiobook)
43. Du fehlst mit, du fehlst mit by Kinna Gieth und Peter Pohl
44. Der Streik der Dienstmädchen by Gudrun Pausewang
45. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
46. Madeleine by Kate Mc Cann
47. House Rules by Jodi Picoult (audiobook)
48. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (audiobook)
49. Der Weihnachtsabend by Charles Dickens
50. Weihnachtsmärchen für Kinder by Luise Büchner (LV solo)
51. Deine Schritte im Sand by Anne-Dauphine Julliand
52. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (audiobook)
53. Ein falscher Traum von Liebe by Christine Birkoff
54. Mundtot – Wie ich lernte meine Stimme zu erheben by Maria Langstroff
55. The Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud (audiobook)
56. The Snow Queen and Other Stories by Hans Christian Andersen (for LV)
57. Wie der Grinch Weihnachten gestohlen hat by Dr. Seuss

Those are just the dead tree copies and commercial/non LibriVox audiobook. The full list including all LV recording I listened to can be found here: https://forum.librivox.org/viewtopic.php?p=686149#p686149

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Happy New Year!

Posted in audio, Books, LibriVox, personal, Whatever on January 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Just a tiny post to wish you all a Happy New Year!

And as the weekly poem at LV fits so nicely, here it is too. It is called A Song for a New Years Eve by William Cullen Bryant:

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay‚—
Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
For his familiar sake.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away….

The full text can be found here: http://archive.org/stream/thirtypoems01brya#page/34/mode/2up

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Happy December – German Adventskalender 2012

Posted in audio, Books, LibriVox, personal, Whatever on December 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’m a day late in posting, but like last year there is a wonderful brand- new LibriVox Adventskalender full of German short stories, poems, song texts, fairy tales, etc. All stories are centered around Christmas, snow, the Christkind, winter itself and everything even remotely related to it.

Here is one of the poems I read for the collection. It’s called Weihnacht by Ernst von Wildenbruch:

Die Welt wird kalt, die Welt wird stumm,
der Winter-Tod zieht schweigend um;
er zieht das Leilach weiß und dicht
der Erde übers Angesicht –
Schlafe – schlafe

Du breitgewölbte Erdenbrust,
du Stätte aller Lebenslust,
hast Duft genug im Lenz gesprüht,
im Sommer heiß genug geglüht,
nun komme ich, nun bist du mein,
gefesselt nun im engen Schrein –
Schlafe – schlafe…..

The full text of the poem can be found here: http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/190/3

And here are all the other poems, stories and fairy tales for all the days leading up to Christmas: http://librivox.org/adventskalender-2012-by-various/

Happy 1. December and have fun listening!

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