I know Halloween is over, but I just need to show off the second pumpkin I made. Here he is:
Happy Halloween!
Here is just a pic of Kitty with Mr. Pumpkin:
…and here is one of the making-of of Mr. Pumpkin:
Archive for the ‘self made…’ Category
Just another pumpkin
Posted in self made..., Whatever on November 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »
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!
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. 😉
Here 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.)
To keep the fairy pic in place I simply pinned it to the pumpking…..
….and then I just used a pin to copy the fairy outlines directly onto the pumpkin:
Here is the fairy already cut out:
And here she finally is all cut out and ready for a candle:
As a finishing touch I added a bit of fairy dust using different sized knitting needles:
We 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!
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
Here are a couple the new hats I knit last week… mostly with left over yarn:
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)
And finally here are just a couple more of my 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. 😀
Anna hat
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made... on August 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »
A couple of weeks ago my little cousin Anna was christened and that gave me a wonderful opportunity to knit a couple of baby things. I love to knit baby stuff. Here is a hat I invented just for Anna.
Anna hat
Material: Lana Grossa Merino Superfein in 2 different colors, DPN’s size 3mm
CO: 80 stitches (the size of the hat is for a 6-9 months old baby)
Ribbing: k2p2 for about 3-4 cms or till you’ve reached the desired length.
Anna Hat
Pattern:
Optional Increase round: increase by 8 stitces, evenly spaced during this round
k 2 rounds in the main color before starting the actual pattern, switch color
1.-3. round: k all stitches (for the pink stripe)
Switch to main color
4.-5. round: k all stitches
6. round: p all stitches
7.-8. round: k all stitches
Switch back to color for stripe
Repeat those 8 rounds 2 more times or till you’ve reached the desired length before starting to decreases. For the decreases place 8 evenly spaced stitch markers. Continue working the pattern while decreasing as follows:
1. round: *k till 2 st before stitch marker, k2tog, slip marker* repeat to end of round (or p if it’s the purl round)
2. round: k all stitches (or p all stitches if it’s the purl round)
Repeat those 2 rounds till only 4 stitches remain. You can now either just bind off or do a short icord before binding off. Sew in all loose ends and block gently. Happy knitting! 😀
Apart from the hat I also knit a dress for baby Anna. Well, acutally I started out with the dress and then found that I still had so much left over yarn, that I also made two hats and socks…
Matching Dress and Socks for Anna
…and a Knubbelchen, which Anna absolutely loves.
Anna’s Knubbelchen
More pics and all the pattern details for the dress, the Knubbelchen and the other hat can be found on my ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aravis83
The socks are my own pattern. They turned out really cute only she’ll need to grow a lot before they’ll actually fit her. 😉
Böckstein Socks :)
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on August 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »
A couple of weeks ago during a rather long (and also very tedious) train ride to V. I knit a pair of socks, which turned out quite cute. Orignally I just wanted to do simple striped ones with 4 rounds in blue and 4 rounds in white. But due to a very long delay in Böckstein I had quite a bit of time to create a more interesting pattern and so here it is:
Böckstein Sock
Material: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Stretch (but I guess any sock yarn will work), size 2,5mm DPN’s
CO: 60 stitches (the pattern works with a multiple of 12 stitches)
If you are unsure about the size, it’s better to go for a bit more stitches than usual, for the socks get rather tight. That’s also the reason, why I prefer a stretchy sock yarn.
Böckstein Socks (close up)
Ribbing: k1p1
Work 4 rounds in each color till desired length (I worked 3 stripes)
Pattern:
Set-up stripe:
1. Round: k all st
2. Round: k all st
3. Round: 2 x (k2tog), 4x (YO, k1), 2x (k2tog) repeat till end of round
4. Round: k all st
All other stripes:
1. Round: k all st
2. Round: p all st
3. Round: k all st
4. Round: 2 x (k2tog), 4x (YO, k1), 2x (k2tog) repeat till end of round
5. Round: k all st
Switch colors after every stripe.
For the blue stripes with the white lines: (I’m working every 2. blue stripe like that 🙂
1. Round: p all st
2. Round: k all st
3. Round: 2 x (k2tog), 4x (YO, k1), 2x (k2tog) repeat till end of round
4. Round: k all st
For the heel and toe just use your prefered method. Once you’ve finished your sock, sew in all the loose ends and then block gently to open up all the eyelets.
Oh and here is a pic of the station in Böckstein, where I spent over an hour sitting on my suitcase, knitting my sock and listening to Hokuspokus read two awesome short stories by Guy De Maupassant to me. (Btw. check out Hok’s Blog. It’s pretty cool! 😀 )
Station in Böckstein
Socks, Socks, Socks and even more socks
Posted in knitting, pattern, self made..., Whatever on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Omg, it’s been ages since I’ve had time to write a proper blog post. May always is a really busy month for me… lots of birthdays, congresses and other stuff. Anyway, I’ve also been really busy knitting-wise. As I need some new colors for my sock yarn blanket I’ve been knitting socks, socks, socks and even more socks lately. 😉
First of all here is the pair of plain socks, I knit for my brother K. For those socks I cast on 66 stitches (He had BIG feet!). The ribbing is k1p1. The pattern for the “main” sock is:
- round: k5 slip 1 stitch purlwise
- round: k all stitches
Repeat those two rounds till you’ve the desired length and then just work your fav. heel.
Socks for K.
The second pair I’d like to show off is called “Froschkönig” socks. Froschkönig translates as “Frog King” and I guess it probably relates to the famous fairy tale by the brothers Grimm. Anyway I just love how they turned out. Those off-center cables combined with the lacy edges are simply beautiful. Also I really love the coloring!
Froschkönig socks
The third pair I knit are called Monkey socks. They are a birthday surprise for Hanna and I just love how they turned out. The yarn reminds me a bit of flames with that yellow, red and orange. Anyway, I hope she’ll like them.
Monkey Socks
And finally here is my latest pair of finished socks. They are called “Spring Forward” and are simply beautiful. The pattern was super-easy and fast and still the socks look really fancy! I just love such patterns. Maybe I’ll do another pair some time soon with different colors of course.
Spring Forward Socks
Oh and I almost forgot. Here is the pair I’m currently working on. The pattern like all the others is from ravelry and it’s called Hermione’s Everyday Socks. It’s supereasy and fast… more or less just plain knitting with an occasional purl stitch here and there. The socks not only look comfy, they are!!!
Hermione’s Everyday Socks
As usual all yarn, needle and pattern details along with a lot more pics can be found on my ravelry page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/aravis83
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
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
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. 😉
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. 😉
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
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 😀
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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