Oops! I knitted again...

I think I've got the knitting fever! Let me rephrase that, I know I have the knitting fever! I haven't been crocheting much recently, since there have been so many things I wanted to learn about knitting! Don't worry, I still love to crochet, and I will keep on crocheting!

My latest project is again a Stephen West pattern, it's called Earth & Sky.

The yarn I used for this project is Golden Eagle Alpaca, which is a 100% Alpaca, fingering weight. I love how vibrant the turquoise is next to the black and gray! I've only recently discovered how much I love turquoise! I think it works great in this color combination! 

It was a little bit scary to start such a big project (I started with 3 stitches and ended up with almost 500) especially since the yarn is so very very thin! I worked the shawl with size 4mm knitting needles.
I loved working on this project, but I did put it aside sometimes. I'm not the best 'purler' and it really slows me down! I'm telling you, rows of 500 purl stitches aren't that much fun! I'm chuffed with the results though!

Because of the fingering weight yarn, and a bit bigger needles, there is a lot of drape! It's incredibly soft (I love alpaca) and even though it looks very thin, when wrapped around my neck, it keeps me perfectly warm! 

The colorwork is very clever in this pattern. It's called 'Intarsia knitting' which scared me when I first heard it. However, I love a good challenge! It turned out very easy, you just twist the working yarn over the new color of yarn before you start knitting with that new color, and on your way back you do the same. This way you don't have to carry the colors at the backside of your work (which wouldn't have looked so nice on this scarf). In the picture below you can see the intarsia quite clear, but I think it looks very neat!

I couldn't help taking my scarf out for a little photo shoot at a lovely location around the corner! It is such a beautiful and sunny day today!

Here's a shot of the same place but from a distance. I walk past this everyday on my way to work, and always love how pretty it looks! In winter it was even more beautiful, everything was covered in snow and ice! 

It's a lovely day here in Hamburg! I'm very lucky because I have two days off now. I can enjoy the beautiful weather and spend time doing the things I love! These two days were very welcome because my head is overloaded with information with all the rehearsals I'm doing. I only started less than 2 weeks ago and we've already learned 5 shows. I will elaborate a little bit more about my job in another post and when I'm a little less busy ;-)

Have a beautiful day everybody!

Dennis xxx

This post has moved!
You can read an updated and revised version on our new blog.

Click here to read this post in full at it's new home!

Yummy Yarnberries

I love strawberries. I love the color, the taste and the beauty of them! They're not always in season though, and can be quite expensive! So I found my own little solution to always have some at home throughout the year! They might not be as tasty, but they sure are just as beautiful and full of color!

 It was the first time I've tried to knit something tiny and 'amigurumi' style. They are tiny tiny tiny but somehow took almost an hour to knit individually. It's funny how much you can learn from these little beauties. I've used the 'Magic Loop' technique to knit these, which was really interesting and so much easier than knitting with a lot of double pointed needles! I also had to use some 'fair isle' which was fun!

The pattern can be found here: Knitted Strawberries. Mine are not as neat as hers, but I love them anyway!

Have yourselves a lovely week!

Dennis xxx

This post has moved!
You can read an updated and revised version on our new blog.

Click here to read this post in full at it's new home!

Hospital Knitting and Model for a day!

I'm back! I'm home!

I'm very excited to be out of the hospital. As you might have read, I was in the hospital for a tonsillectomy, and stayed for 6 days. The operation itself was a breeze as I was completely under, but I think nobody could have really warned me enough about the post-op pain. I won't go into too much detail, but I didn't know it was going to be this bad. I knew that having this surgery would come with a lot more pain as an adult, but I had no other choice, they had to go!

It's been 10 days now, and I'm finally able to enjoy most foods again. I'm still on top of my pain meds, but it's all very manageable by now! What really surprised me, was how very painful it was to have ice cream in the days after surgery. Everybody always says that that's the only good thing about having this procedure. The endless supply of ice cream! The first day after surgery I asked the nurses for an ice pop to relieve some of the pain, but boy was I wrong. It was stinging like crazy and making everything worse! I managed to finish it somehow, but only because I knew it could help recovery.

The only thing that made me forget the pain a little, besides my meds, was knitting!
Yes that's right, I took all my knitting needles and a lot of yarn with me. It was the perfect opportunity to finish some projects, and start new ones!

I would have my laptop positioned on my bed, watching my favorite TV Series (Will & Grace), and I would knit for hours and hours. I really gave my head as much distraction as possible! I had to follow the pattern, make my stitches, give some attention to the series I was watching, and all this together really made me less aware of the pain! It might sound crazy, but I knitted about 8-10 hours a day!

Like I mentioned in my other post about knitting, I'm very much enjoying the patterns of Stephen West. In the hospital I finally had some time to finish the Loxley hooded scarf I'd been working on.

So this is a little scary now, I've never really modeled any of my projects, but here we go. Matt & I had a good laugh shooting these shots. To pose or not pose? To smile or not to smile? We had a lot of fun and shot about a 100 pictures, but only these made the cut!  So here goes:

Here I'm wearing the Loxley (Hooded Scarf). Pattern can be found here: Loxley by Stephen West.

Here's a clear shot of the back of the hood! This one wasn't so hard to model ;-)

 Of course we needed a crazy one as well! 

This is the Windschief Hat. Pattern can be found here: Windschief by Stephen West
I feel like I should have chosen a yarn that's a little more sturdy, because it shapes a little too well around my ears, making them stand out a little. But it was still a very interesting pattern, and I love the textures in this hat!

Trying to look seriously at the ground. That's how it's done right?

This is the Botanic Hat. Pattern can be found here: Botanic Hat by Stephen West.
It's a very nice pattern, and the great thing about this hat is: It's reversible! There's no wrong side with this hat! The pattern is very clever, especially because both sides have a very different look! Judge for yourselves!

 

I do love black & white!

And this is what it looks like if you wear it inside out, or ouside in, or...?

 

And a again, randomly looking to the side.

I've had so much fun knitting these patterns and can recommend them to everyone! They're fun to make, very wearable, and look amazing! I guess staying in the hospital wasn't such a bad thing after all!

It's been really nice reading all the lovely and warm messages from all of you! It really made me happy whilst being in the hospital. Thank you all very much!

Dennis xxx

This post has moved!
You can read an updated and revised version on our new blog.

Click here to read this post in full at it's new home!

New Projects (and fake Tulips)

It may have been very rainy in Hamburg, but that hasn't kept us from having a very productive day!
We've received a lot of positive messages about the new design of our blog, which has not only made us crazy happy, but it's also fueling our creativity and encouraging our work here on the blog.
A big THANKS for all the lovely comments and support! We really appreciate it.

We've both been off from work today, and ventured into the city for a hardcore gym session. With the depressing weather it seems that much harder to push ourselves to get to the gym! However, once we were there with our headphones on and our favorite music playing, it didn't seem all that bad.

After the gym we've had a lovely afternoon at home, finishing old projects and starting new ones.

Dennis finished a blanket. It's actually the 'neat ripple' pattern from Lucy at Attic24 but with a little alteration. It's worked through the back loops only, making the waves pop! Another thing you might notice is that's it's in one color. Not very common for a ripple, but I believe it works just lovely and makes it a very calm and 'neat ripple' ;-) The measurements are about 1,80 by 1,20 meters which doesn't really show on this picture. This ripple actually worked up very fast, using quite a thick pure merino yarn, and an 8mm hook!

 And here is a new addition to our apartment, some lovely Dutch tulips...

 ...which are as fake as they could be, but we still love them.

Don't they fit perfectly in our new milk jug?
Notice the little brown boxes full of Matt's current work in progress?
Wanna see what's inside?

A million trillion gazillion granny squares! Made with the fabulous wool received at Christmas.
More on this project as it continues to grow...

Here's a little something Dennis has been trying out. It's not very often he pulls out the knitting needles, but once he gets an idea in his head!

Another thing we're both VERY excited about, and that's an understatement, is the announcement of Sophie Kinsella's new novel! We've both been obsessed with her books from day 1 and we're always the first in line to buy her newest additions. If you haven't read any of her books, we really recommend them. They are one hilarious read and can't wait until next month when this one is released!

Hope you all had a lovely Monday?

and Dennis xxx

This post has moved!
You can read an updated and revised version on our new blog.

Click here to read this post in full at it's new home!