Ideas Abound

With my new 'Retirement' status a bulk of available time appeared. For a knitter that means more time for KNITTING.
I had planned way ahead, a few yaers before I retired, to make sure I had enough money to support my knitting habit. At least, that was the plan when I started writing a few patterns from my knitting projects.

What I did not know was if my plan actually works. If I could succeed or not, I tried not to think about it or worry about it. All I tried was to create from ideas, I had.

My husband would say the plan is working, since he had to assemble and place in the house several cabinets already that now all contain yarn, and will hold more yarn in the future. I must agree, I don't think I had ever seen that much yarn in one place, other than a yarn store.

I am now making plans about future projects to knit from the yarn in the cabinets.
A yoke sweater,
at least 2 hats,
some child dress or poncho,
a brioche-fade-wrap project,
a long cardigan (duster) with pockets,
an alpaca shawl.                                   Those are just a few.

Alpaca shawl Idea

Yoke sweater - optional short or long sleeve

 My Ideas, just looking at the yarn are endless......

Until I have the ideas sold, the samples knitted, and the projects published so I can share the pattern with you, I will just sit and knit, anywhere.

Today, I am waiting for more yarn and Santa Claus, or Nikolaus, as we call him in Germany.

Rueckblick auf den Herbst - Teil 2

Wie versprochen, hier sind die Bilder mit den anderen Muetzen die ich im Herbst gestrickt (gehaekelt) habe.

Paula hatte ich genau in Erinnerung. Die Farben stehen ihr besonders gut.

Pia ist so richtig typisch 3.

Nein, die Muetze ist nicht zo klein, der Kopf vom Opa Sepp ist zu gross.
Die Muetze war ja fuer den Roman gedacht.

Rueckblick auf den Herbst 2014

Diesen Herbst war es mir besonders wichtig meiner Kinderverwandtschaft in Deutschland Weihnachtsgeschenke zu machen. Es war nur so eine Idee, am Anfang. Ich Weiss nicht genau warum, aber ich muss ja nicht alles so genau wissen, oder?

 Nun schaut Euch doch mal das Ergebnis an. Sehen die Meadels nicht toll aus mit ihren neuen Muetzen.

 

Folgende Prachtstuecke einzeln vorgestellt:



Tuerkis fuer Charlotte

Gelb fuer Marlene

Dunkelblau fuer Sophie

Blau fuer Marietta

Natuerlich musste ich auch fuer die Trischinger Kinder Muetzen machen. Dass waere ja nicht schoen wenn die Tante aus Amerika nicht alle beschenken wuerde. Undenkbar!
Wenn ich demnaechst Bilder become werden ich die auch hier einfuegen.

Die rote Muetze ist fuer Pia

Diese extra weiche lila Muetze ist fuer Paula

Die gruene Muetze ist fuer Roman.
Und weil er der einzige Bube ist
habe ich diese einzige Muetze gehaekelt. Alle anderen sind gestrickt.

 Jetzt muss ich mich aber wieder mit meinen anderen Sachen beschaeftigen und mich wieder meinen Anleitungen widmen.
Bis zum naechsten mal, Ihr Lieben.
Eure Tante wird sich schon mal wieder etwas einfallen lassen.
Bis dann, ein schones Neues Jahr 2015 wuensche ich Euch allen.



More knitting - more rewards

Rewards as in smiling faces. Friendly thank yous and returned favors.
I just came from my mother-in-law with three pairs of pants on my arm, I had knitted her a hat.
She was mentioning a few weeks ago that it was time for her, now in her middle 80ies, to give up driving. It was important to her to keep up her daily walks though. She goes early in the morning, but San Diego is cold now. I showed her some yarn in a color she liked and last weekend I started knitting a hat. It was finished today and I had the pleasure to deliver it.

It is made out of yarn from Zen Yarn Garden, named Serenity Silk+, 75% superwash merino / 25% cashmere / 10% silk. What a combo! It is soft, warm and silky. And with all the Zen and serenity words in the name of the yarn, her walks should be just like that.

Aztec Beanie Hat

When my husband Ruben saw a picture of a square beanie he asked me: Can you make one like this with the Alpaca yarn that we bought from the Alpaca farm?

during the San Diego Yarn Crawl we went to visit an Alpaca Farm

The Alpacas are so soft and well behaved

We even were allowed to feed them

Sure, I said. I can even put a little Aztec design in the headband.
I first went on-line searching for the right Aztec symbols, see my entry on November 29, Aztec design

Well, as you can see, the hat is done and at first glance don't look so good

After the miserable picture, I went outside to make another picture and propped the hat on a bowl. Well, that looks much better.


The hat is now blocked and to my surprise, Ruben wears the hat. He has had this morning activity on weekends, where he takes our dog Maxie to the dog park. This warm beanie is perfect for those cold mornings.



designer doodling

All my knitting and crochet projects are complete, today! Hard to believe, but true. In order for me to catch-up on the writing portion of my design adventure, I made the statement:
NO NEW PROJCTS GO ON A NEEDLE UNTIL ALL THE PAST PATTERNS ARE WRITTEN.
That means completed and published.
I am the procrastinator when it comes to writing, so I had to make that statement out loud.

That does not mean I can't create. While gong through my e-mails this morning and making a Christmas shopping list for later today, I was doodling.
Look! Ruben's Alpaca Hat will have Aztec Designs! After designing the x's and o's, I have colored the paper just to get the real impression.

I think this will be a Great Hat!
He wants the hat to be a square beret with ear flops. I know this is probably hard to imagine but trust me, this hat will be truly original, warm and beautiful.

repeat 12 stitches

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repeat 16 stitches

knitting in the round requires both designs to be compatible

144 can be divided by 16 = 9 and 12 = 12

192 can be divided by 16 = 12 and 12 = 16