Knitting challenges!

Hello everyone!

I'm home! After 4 months on board I'm back in Hamburg with Matt!
It's been a great time but I'm happy to have a little break! And little it is, I have 3 and a half weeks holiday before I start rehearsals again for my next ship! I'll be leaving the 1st of September, and will be going to the USA and Caribbean on my next contract!

I have never sailed this route so I'm very curious! We'll be visiting New York, Baltimore, Port Canaveral, Miami, Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada, Isla Margarita, Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba!

But enough ship talk, time for some projects!

Before I left for the ship I did some major knitting again! Well, it was pretty major for me, because I made my first ever sweater! I decided on a pattern by Jared Flood called Cobblestone.
It's a pretty basic sweater, but I really liked the way it looks and it didn't look too hard, all though I was a little bit scared...

So, I bought some lovely yarn from Cascade Yarns: Heathers, in a very muted blue color. Off I went to knit, knit knit! I knitted hours and hours in a row because I was so excited, and I have literally no patience at the beginning of a project! I got most of it done within a couple of days, but than I got a little bit lazy again. I find it hard to do something twice, for example the arms. After making one arm, I could get myself to make the other one, which is quite essential ;-) But I pushed through and got it all done!

The receiver was of course Matt! So I really hoped it would fit! And it did! A little bit of pulling it in shape on his body and all was good! He wore it for days in a row! I was so proud having finished my first sweater, and having Matt wearing it as well!

Another project I've made is a shawl. Another pattern I chose by Stephen West: Vulpix. I was so excited after seeing the pictures of this scarf, that I had to make it! I bought some yarn from Malabrigo: Arroyo. It's a little bit heavier weight than sock, but comes close. The feeling of the yarn is just amazing, and the stitch definition is beautiful! And than there's the rich and warm color of the red/brown!

The challenge of this scarf was working with Japanese short rows! I had safety pins hanging everywhere on my work, but somehow it all came together! The color work also wasn't as hard as it looked!

I started my Vulpix about a week before going on board, continued on the long bus ride to the ship and finished it in the first week on board! What a pleasure! Too bad that I had no room to block it on board, so I had to wait till I got back home! Yesterday evening I did my little blocking process and today it was already dry in the morning because of the sun shining through our windows!

It was a little bit hard to photograph since it's a very big big big scarf!

I actually did some more knitting and crocheting on board but I sadly have no pictures of my finished projects since I gave them away! I already asked one of the girls to send me some pictures of the product I made for her! The other girl I will see again on my next contract and will take some pictures of her wearing her new scarf then!

I'm going to enjoy my free time now and look forward to our holiday in Barcelona!
Have a lovely sunday everybody!

Dennis xxx

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