Frisian Frillies

Nearly everyone starts with this stitch, it's the first one in any stitch dictionary and it's a stitch that forms the basis of many intricate Shetland pattern: the garter stitch. Bijna iedereen begint ermee, het is de eerste steek in elk stekenboek en het is een steek die de basis vormt van heel wat ingewikkelde kantpatronen uit Shetland: de ribbelsteek. It's busy in Casa Moss. So busy that the thought of having to knit complicated patterns is slightly too much. The triangular shawl I knit in stockinette for the National Spinning Weekend, with a crocheted border, was complicated enough, as were the Hermione socks (knit 3, purl 1), and to make sure that I have a few more options than just spin white Shetland wool every night (totally no stimuli and difficult decisions, great to clear the brain at the end of the day), I went back to garter stitch. Het is druk in Casa Moss. Zo druk dat de gedachte aan het breien van ingewikkelde patronen momenteel even iets te veel is....

For some strange reason, I've decided that I'm going to knit less pink this year. If you look through my projects over the last year or two, the colour pink is just slightly over-represented, and that needs to change! I'm noticing a shift towards greans and blues, especially petrol, as this is a colour which seems to suit me very well, so that's good. But on the needles at the moment are: - Saskia, in pink - Lapwing, in pink - Sokkenpad, in pink - Scarf and hat from Garnstudio , in pink. That's a lot of pink! Hmmm.... I decided to undo this wrong by finishing off this last project. It's a gift for Elayah, who's turning two today (a big hoera!!!!). I could not decide on what to buy her as a gift, and as the wintry weather is here to stay for a little while longer, I decided to knit her as nice hat and scarf. Unfortunately, because of my quite last-minute decision, I did not have time to knit mittens, but I might do that later this week and then send ...

The Travelling roses scarf will be frogged. However nice, this is one I definitely will not be wearing. Shame though... I think the yarn will be perfect for Saskia . What do you think? De Travelling roses-sjaal haal ik uit. Hoe mooi ook, dit is zo'n sjaaltje wat ik nooit ga dragen. Wel jammer... Maar ik denk dat het garen zich perfect leent voor een Saskia . Wat denken jullie? Bye bye....

Between working, sowing, cooking, wii-ing and weeding, I've been doing some knitting. Some, not a lot, and definitely not as much as I'd wanted. For the last week, I've been working on a Garnstudio baby surprise jacket. The first half is done now, and I'm hoping and praying I've enough yarn to finish the other half. Although, I do think the sleeve is a bit long, so there is still some yarn to be salvaged and reused if needs be.... Tussen het werken, zaaien, koken, wii-en en onkruid wieden door, ben ik ook nog aan het breien. Een beetje, niet veel, en zeker niet zoveel als ik zou willen. De afgelopen week was ik bezig met een baby surprise-truitje van Garnstudio. De eerste helft is nu klaar en ik hoop en bid dat ik genoeg garen heb voor de andere helft. Hoewel, ik vind de mouw wel wat lang, dus er is nog wat garen te redden als dat nodig is... Blip... 69 grams used for left half, 61 grams left for right half... What to do... (I decided to shorten the sleeve) Verdorie...

Linda, are you getting nervous yet??? I know, knitting is not a competition... LOL... This afternoon, wee H is going for her A swimming diploma... Let's say mum is as nervous as daughter ;) She should be fine, the teacher was very happy yesterday, and they hardly ever let them go for the exam before they're ready. So, fingers crossed! We're going to have a swimmer without wings iin a few hours!!!

Told you it is addictive to knit with slowly colour-changing yarn... I keep telling myself: 'Oh, I'm just going to knit until the next colour change... and the next... ach what the heck, until the next drop stitch then...' 'What? Half 1 already? Where did the time go????' By the way, the orange isn't as orange as in the photo, for some reasons it's creating an odd glare... In fact, it's not orange at all... ;) I really want to knit another Clapotis after this one, to surprise Hannah or Steve, but then with the really crazy colour Zauberball: Tropical Fish. What do you think, will a guy wear a crazy coloured scarf like this? Hooked, me is... By the way, the new issue of Knotions is out! I love the fact that they have some projects with both knitting and sewing, which look very cool. I am probably going to knit Rubina for Hannah...

With a bloke with a cool scarf. If he loses it, he's a dead man... ;) We're so looking forward to this trip, and are even more excited about coming back. It is freezing here, and will do for at least another week. The word 'Elfstedentocht' creeps up in conversations everywhere, the local radio station has already dusted off their scenarios, and we're making arrangements to fit as many mattresses on our living room floor... See you next week, in 2009!

When she asked me if I had the pattern book with Uncle Argyle in it, I also thought: I should knit that! So, I dug out my cream and brown yarns (nice acrylics, baby soft) and got stuck in. The first few rows were quite a chore, but now I've got the technique down to a T and the pattern in my head. Still not too happy about the end stitches, but hey, can't have it all... And I started these, Hourglass from Knitty, for myself, with the Malabrigo sock yarn, Stonechat, I got from her .

Well, I didn't lose it, but I did finish it! Last night at SnB I started weaving in the ends and I was finished at about 1-ish. Result: we overslept this morning and had to rush the kids to school and kindergarten ;) I'm very pleased with the result. I did have to jiggy the pattern a bit, I started with L and needles 7, ended up knitting it as an M with needles 6. See, I ain't fat! I also made the body a bit shorting, just coming over my hips now, as I'm only a tiny midget compared to the lovely model on the Garnstudio site. ;0 Excuse the flash-o effect on my tits, they have that effect on men (one of whom took the photograph). Onwards and upwards! The rest of the yarn will be used for titbits, haha, no really, for a bolero, but not for me, for Dear Daughter. Also from Garnstudio, and I think I've figured out how to knit it. If I have some left after that, I might knit wee S some socks... And the scarf, here it is, being used and loved, as intended. It's nice an...