Frisian Frillies

Yeah, the second instalment in the series! I got a lot of knitting done this weekend. And a lot of housework. Because, however much I love knitting, whenever there's jobs to be done around the house, it always feels like I'm playing hookie if I just sit on the sofa all day. So I cleaned the fridge and defrosted the freezer. Did 5 loads of laundry. Cleared out and rearranged three drawers in the kitchen. Removed the last beetroots from the garden. And looked at the garden helplessly, as there was nothing to do (especially with a week of severe frost coming up). And then I got back to knitting. It started out quite innocently, my knitting efforts, with only a few rows done on Monday, then finishing off the ribbing. Which I had to knit twice, as apparently me and reading don't go together. I had read (I thought) 3 rows each of each colour, where it said 5. And if you find that out after you've finished? ... Not nice. So rip rip rip I went, and back to the start... And h...

The sewing machine has been whirring like mad in the Moss house over the last few weeks. Little Mister Man decided that he wanted a Ninja outfit, and when we arrived in the store, he immediately ran to the most flashy red and gold fabric they had. The girls at sewing class had a laugh last Monday when I showed the fabric to them, but I persisted, cut the pattern and then yesterday evening put the serger and sewing machines to work and three hours of work, two broken needles and a few 'comments' at silly stitch dropping later: voila, our own little Ninja - Hugh Hefner - Iron Man in pj's. He was deliriously happy with it when he saw it this morning! Unfortunately, he was NOT allowed to wear it to school (he will on Friday, I'll better warn the teacher in advance... ), but he has been running around in it all afternoon. Strike a pose, Mister Ninjaaaaaa! Little Mermaid has also finally got her coat: Happiness all-round :) Also a quick peak inside, as the lining is almost a...

I know it's not Sunday today, but I've been planning to write and upload this post sinds Sunday, so it sort of counts... Look! We booked our trip! Next October, for the Shetland Wool Week , me and my friend Monique  will be off on a plane to the beautiful Shetland Islands. We have been jumping around like little girls ever since. Just the two of us, no kids, no husbands, just us and an entire archipelago filled with yarn... The cottage has been booked, the car has been reserved and we also decided that for our trip we just had to bring something Shetland-knit. And my eye fell on the Autumn Rose sweater by Eunny Yang. I am adjusting the colours slightly, with blue and green as main colours, and after some fiddling with numbers and colours, placing my order for Shetland yarn with Tissien , this arrived in the post... Lots, and lots and lots of yarn! I immediately cast on a swatch (despite my over-full diary...), and got gauge (sort of). This meant I could sort out my colour...

Yes, there is knitting being done. But also a lot of work, which means there's not that much time for extensive blogging at the moment. Soon! But, this I just HAD to blog about... This afternoon, I got the pictures of a cape we 'yarnbombed' last week. It was great fun helping out Janny , and we hope become a very successful designer! The cape was her idea, the knits and crocheted decorations are made by some of Janny's friends and a few fellow SnB-girls... Enjoy the pics!

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 ...

Sometimes when you make something, you can't wait to give it. This was one of those situations. A while ago , I won some yarn spun by Annita, with a pattern for her Suusje mouse. I had knit this pattern before, so my hands were just itching to get started! The cuddly toy was knit up quickly and last week I gave it some eyes and put in the stuffing, to bring it to life. Suus, or Foppe, was then wrapped in Sinterklaas paper.... And put into the bag with presents... Big Sister Famke got to unwrap it. See it on the floor next to Batman? It's the yellow oblong one... Now we all just have to wait (a looooong time) before her wee brother decides to make his entrance into the world... And guess who we ran into yesterday? We actually got to say thankyou for delivering our presents in person!

I had enough of the yarn used for Mermaids gloves left to knit hubby a pair of man gloves as well. This time held double with some purple Drops alpaca. And yes, the fingers could have been a bit longer (one will never learn...), but they're warm, they're funky and they're going to be nice and handy on the bike. The combination of the purple alpaca and the stripey homespun gives a fun effect. Although, hubby did say he'd have preferred matching gloves... Tssss... These are BOTH one of a kind! Onward with other things... such as sewing... After trying on my dress, it turns out to be too WIDE in the waist, so there's some work to be done there... And Mermaid's coat is coming on leaps and bounds. I finished off the pockets yesterday, sewed on buttons and sewed the sleeves and collar. The sleeves can be put in next, then it's time for lining! Ten of these shiny buttons for only a Euro. That was a bargain! There were similar buttons in the shop, which cost 1....