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Books I’ve read in 2013

Posted in Whatever on January 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Like during the previous years, I again kept track of all – well almost all – my reading in 2013 and I have to say it has been another rather busy year. If I counted correctly I’ve read or well listened to 103 books. Of those 24 were commercial/non LV audiobooks, 41 were LV recordings and 38 were actual books. I of course didn’t include the vast number of work related papers, comic books and other stuff.

Anyway, of the books I’ve read during the past year, I liked “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee best. That one is one of my all time favs and I can’t seem to read it often enough! I also enjoyed re-reading part of George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire”. Currently I’m somewhere in the middle of book 4.

The book I hated most probably was “The Ugly Sister” by Jane Fallon. The book starts out quite ok, but soon turns into a lot of whining. I guess the author didn’t have enough of a story and so she just filled the gaps with pointless waffle to create enough pages for an actual book.

Anyway here is the list of books I’ve read in 2013:

1. The Philosophers Stone by J. K. Rowling (audiobook)
2. Tränenmond by Ouarda Saillo
3. Hilfe die Herdmanns kommen by Barbara Robinson
4. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
5. Ptolemy’s Gate by Jonathan Stroud (audiobook)
6. The Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (audiobook)
7. The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donell
8. Mich hat keiner gefragt by Ayse
9. Der Schleier der Angst by Samia Shariff
10. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
11. Hardliner by Django Asül (audiobook)
12. The Last Child by John Hart
13. Bleib bei uns, Gulla! by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
14. Gulla hält ihr Wort by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
15. Gulla auf dem Herrenhof by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
16. Gulla benimm dich by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
17. Schwere Zeit für Gulla by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
18. Gulla am Ziel by Martha Sandwall-Bergström
19. Gefangen in Deutschland by Katja Schmidt
20. Aladdin und die Wunderlampe von Ludwig Fulda
21. So weit die Füsse tragen by Josef Martin Bauer
22. Miranda- Das Geheimnis der Perlenkette by Kerstin Sundh
23. Miranda – Ein ganz besonderes Geschenk by Kerstin Sundh
24. Miranda – Das wundersame Bild by Kerstin Sundh
25. Miranda – Ersehnte Briefe by Kerstin Sundh
26. Miranda – Wiedersehen am Meer by Kersin Sundh
27. Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying by Barbara Park (audiobook)
28. Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren by Barbara Park (audiobook)
29. Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy by Barbara Park (audiobook)
30. Junie B. Jones Is (Almost) a Flower Girl by Barbara Park (audiobook)
31. Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Day by Barbara Park (audiobook)
32. Homeland – The Dark Elf Triology by R. A Salvatore (audiobook)
33. Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy by Barbara Park (audiobook)
34. By the Great Hornspoon by Sid Fleischman (audiobook)
35. Der Junge der Träume schenkte by Lucca di Fulvio
36. The best Halloween ever by Barbara Robinson
37. Nacht über Wassern by Ken Follett
38. Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch by Barbara Park (audiobook)
39. Junie B., First Grader (at last!) by Barbara Park (audiobook)
40. Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation Girl by Barbara Park (audiobook)
41. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (audiobook)
42. Saphire Blue by Kerstin Gier (audiobook)
43. Darkness by Douglas Preston, Lincolm Child (audiobook)
44. Old Before my time by Hayley Okines
45. Death Masks by Jim Butcher
46. Riptide by Douglas Preston, Lincolm Child (audiobook)
47. Mount Dragon by Douglas Preson, Lincolm Child (audiobook)
48. Thunderhead by Douglad Preson, Lincolm Child (audiobook)
49. Smaragdgrün by Kerstin Gier
50. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
51. Requiem by Lauren Oliver
52. Iceship by Douglad Preson, Lincolm Child (audiobook)
53. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
54. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
55. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier (audiobook)
56. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
57. The Ugly Sister by Jane Fallon
58. Sommer des Schweigens by Anna Maria Scarfo
59. Disgrace by Jussi Adler Olsen
60. Der Weihnachtsabend by Charles Dickens
61. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
62. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (audiobook)

As usual I’ve left out the LibriVox recording’s I’ve listened to, but if you want to see the whole list here it is: https://forum.librivox.org/viewtopic.php?p=822933#p822933

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Just another pumpkin

Posted in self made..., Whatever on November 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I know Halloween is over, but I just need to show off the second pumpkin I made. Here he is:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Here is just a pic of Kitty with Mr. Pumpkin:

vampire…and here is one of the making-of of Mr. Pumpkin:

vampire 2

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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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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

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)

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

Station in Böckstein

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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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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Der Zauberlehrling

Posted in audio, LibriVox, Whatever on June 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I finally had time to record a short poem for the new German poetry collection at LibriVox. The poem I chose is the famous poem called “Der Zauberlehrling” (= The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It’s about a young apprentice, who the moment his master leaves, enchants a broom to help him with his chores. But well things don’t work out the way the young apprentice wants and the broom, which got the task of fetching water, doesn’t stop and everything gets flooded. Eventually the master comes back and fixes everything again.

Ok, I’m no good with summaries, but I guess all of you probably know the poem anyway. So here is my recording:

Der Zauberlehring

Der Zauberlehring

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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:

  1. round: k5 slip 1 stitch purlwise
  2. round: k all stitches

Repeat those two rounds till you’ve the desired length and then just work your fav. heel.

Socks for K.

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

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

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

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

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

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Aladdin und die Wunderlampe – my newest LibriVox Solo

Posted in audio, LibriVox, Whatever on April 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I finally finished “Aladdin und die Wunderlampe”, one of my German LibriVox Solos. The book was written by Ludwig Fulda and it’s a re-telling of the famous story of Aladdin and the magical lamp only in rhymes.

Aladdin im Zaubergarten

Aladdin im Zaubergarten

I really enjoyed the book, only the rhymes where sometimes rather difficult to read, for the lines occasionally don’t work out the way the should. Still I hope I managed to read it in a way that makes listening enjoyable.

As a short preview, here is my reading of the first chapter:

All the other chapters as well as the link to the text and everything else can be found on project’s catalog page: http://librivox.org/aladdin-und-die-wunderlampe-by-ludwig-fulda/

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