Frisian Frillies

In a not too distant past (well... say, about 13 years ago), a certain guy cast me in a play called Fireraisers by Max Frisch. I only had a small part in the play, but we all had a blast and the director and I ended up getting married two years later. I'm in the process of getting his fourth (I think?) pair of socks finished in time for our 11th wedding anniversary in October (which should be feasible), but I want to show you now what my Firestarters/Fireraisers look like that I knit over the last few months - and finished in the place where we met: Belfast. I have called them Biedermanns, after the main characters in the play... I had to reknit the second sock twice from the heel, as I had just forgotten that the leg was ribbed until I pulled the first sock out to see how many repeats I had to knit. I was on the plane at the time, so the guy next to me was introduced to a few Dutch expletives, after which I carefully started ripping out the sock (the yarn does not like being fro...

We're still buzzing, people. Totally loved it! It was mint! After what had felt like way too long we finally were able to hug our friends Damien, Katrina, Mark, Orla, and Alistair, have granny Mary-Ann spoil the kids rotten, and just enjoy being 'back'. Because that is how it felt. We stayed in a beautiful apartment in Portrush, with enough bedrooms to accommodate us and granny Mary-Ann, a massive kitchen where I actually cooked as well, next to a train stop, which made travelling a breeze, and five minutes from the West Strand. Heaven! We went to the Giant's Causeway, explored Portrush, enjoyed the beach and many of the cafés and playgrounds around town, and travelled to Coleraine and Portstewart. The kids absolutely loved it, and we were all in tears when the plane took off and we flew home again... But, we're making plans to relocate! The feeling had been nagging for a while, but we're sure about it now. Coleraine it will be! It's all sooo exciting, b...

I can really notice I'm on holiday... Even though I'm (still) running around like a headless chicken, I am doing stuff I want to do, like painting, clearing the house, pottering about in the garden, shopping, and knitting! Last week I spent most nights knitting these, a little testknit for her . She was looking for knitters to test-knit some winter mittens and as I thought they were super cute, I couldn't say no. After a false start (yarn was too thin, so didn't get proper gauge), they just ran off my needles. And despite the bobbliness of the mittens (hey, I'm crap at blocking and once you wear them, this sorts itself out quick enough) they are beautiful! The figurines are mirrorred on the mittens, and I just love the little hearts on the back. Again: cute! I know winter is still a long way off, but they will go in my drawer and wait patiently... Yarn: no idea, stash, but sock weight (DK) Needles: 2.5 mm circs Pattern: Boy meets girl , by Michelle Kelly, av...

While my yoke top was drying, I also blocked my Saskia this week. And I fixed the hole, which had indeed been the result of a dropped stitch in a double decrease. Invisible now! I really adore this little scarf, and it will be in my suitcase in 10 days' time (yikes) when we jet of to Northern Ireland's favourite holiday destination: Portrush! We can't wait to see our mates again, and Steves mom is probably also going to come up to see us. And if this all isn't nice enough, from tomorrow I will be 'officially' on holiday for a month. Well, take the 'official' bit with a large chunk of salt, but still. No books to translate! I just need to finish an extraordinarily tight deadline (when will I learn) for tomorrow, and then that's me. Off! More time to knit stuff! To sew stuff! To get the house ready to sell! Yeah!