Frisian Frillies

At the moment, I'm finishing off some translation jobs, doing some admin while watching some women's football, relaxing my fingers - insofar as that is possible while typing - because squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I'm a Sock Madness Finalist!!! I will be representing Team MM tomorrow in the final Sock Face-Off. At 7am local time, the pattern will drop and 26 knitters will battle it out for eternal glory. I was such a happy bunny when I finished my Round 6 socks, and also Rounds 5 and 4, which I hadn't posted here. So, a quick recap: Round 6 was the Swirlagon socks by Kirsten Hall . A super fun and challenging knit. It consists of pentagons on the heels and varying hexagons for the rest of the sock. Using provisional cast-ons for all the hexes and ending with a tubular bind-off, these don't have any ridges on the inside - but plenty of ends to work away! Even though it took me almost 4 days to knit these, I was first of the team! Me and the Round 5 socks d...

While I am watching the Australian Grand Prix on Replay, other knitters are eyeing the Sock Madness Countdown Clock and frantically knitting on their qualifier socks... Today is the final day to either qualify for a team (you then have to finish a pair of socks according to specifications) or as a cheerleader (finish either one sock or two socks past the heel turn). This qualification period lasted 2 weeks, which is a good period to get properly warmed up for the competition. To qualify, you also make a few specific pictures of the socks, and in this case, for the Smock Madness socks by Elizabeth White, it had to be clear how many 'big smocks' we knit on the leg, heel and foot. Hence the white contrasting yarn. In the Dutch 'shadow' group, someone started with posting pictures of socks on the kitchen top . And of course, like the Stroopwafels, it took off across the board, and I also (cleaned my counter tops and) hoisted myself on top to take a picture. I to...

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....

Happy New Year everyone! I hope yous survived the festive season without too much trouble and are looking forward to filling the pages of this New Year! We had a great last few weeks, fun and busy, which explains the silence on the blogside of things... Add a few deadlines, a bit of Noro, kids at home... and you have a busy mommy who still does lots of crafting, but doesn't really have the time and energy to blog about it! I started with a day at Midwinterwol, where I manned the stand for the National Spinning Group with Hetty and Titia. We gained a few more members and I had great fun spinning and carding all day. Good thing we wrapped up warm, because it was quite chilly in the riding school where the event was held. Hetty with her spindle Titia behind her lovely Country wheel We all brought lots of homespun yarn and roving to show what you can do with wool The batts I carded at Midwinterwol. All little packages of soft goodness Of course, I didn't just...

Last weekend, I came across a bag. A bag with socks in it. They were socks I had completely forgotten about, so I was very happy to have found them again. And when I took them out, I realized why they were there. Darn... Yes... holes and more holes... As is quite normal with socks, if they fit well and they look nice, you wear them a lot. And when you wear them, they wear as well. Resulting in holes. Unlike some people who get holes on the heels of the feet, which for me always stay nice, I get them under the ball of my feet and under my toes. Like this... See how this one has already had the darn treatment before? The part on the left (with the purple thread) has been darned, while the part on the right, under the 'new' hole, has been re-knit. I took up the stitches, and just knit an extra patch, picking up a stitch every row on the sides. The last row is then grafted in. Easy peasy. Here's the sock with the toe hole fixed and a small worn patch regrafted. It's bas...

Christmas started early this year... On Ravelry, I was part of a 'Glitter & glamour' exchange, which meant a whole group of grown-up women decided to send each other fun, useful or just plain beautiful gifts, simply because we want to ;) This was what hit my doormat one afternoon (well, actually, the postman had to ring the doorbell...) And inside? A whole pile of packages, and chocolate coins. My own little helper was on hand to help... See that look on his face? That's him begging if he can please, please, please have one of the chocolate coins... And after we unwrapped all the gifts... I had a desk full of yummies, a soft scarf, black soft yarn, a new circular needle and glittery body lotion... And as luck would have it, we drew each other, so while I was unwrapping (blogless) Cloudhead's package, she opened mine... She got some of the snowflakes I crocheted over the last few weeks... Snowflakes were crocheted galore over the last few weeks, as some were also ...