Happy Easter

What a fun day it was !

Looking for eggs in the garden

Chocolate eggs, candle eggs,
and even eggs made of sidewalk chalk !

After that we had yummy brownies
(home baked by Man)
and a gourmet dinner.

(tomorrow will be a rainy day ...
but this one was sunny and good !)
*

Yesterday I went to the St'nB
and could show there
my flat "Peteals"

Mmmmmmm !

BUT

it seems like I don't have enough
for a long (140 cm) scarf
.....
and they
 DON'T  HAVE  THAT  COLOUR  ANYMORE !!!

Is there anyone out there who has a bit left ?????

Crystal Palace Yarn 

"Mini Mochi"

colour 102

another knitting challenge

Now that I succeeded

making the "petal cowl" with the Noro yarn

I wanted to tackle the other challenge :

restyling this pattern for flat knitting.

Quite a puzzle

when I reached the stacked decreases !!!

But YIPPEEEEEE 

I managed to solve the problem !

So I have another project in the making.

Last Saturday I went with daughter

and some of the "Alpaca" ladies to Tilburg

with the train to a knitting fair.

Lots of wonderful stuff !

It was a fun day 

(and of course we purchased some stuff)

(thanks for the company, Gitte)

a finished cowl

When I began,

not two weeks ago,

I thought it would take ages

or I wouldn't succeed at all

.....

But

I finished my tiny petal cowl today !

HAPPY !!!

I didn't have too many more weak spots in the thread

so I didn't have to "mend" the thread.

It's 64 cm (in the round)

and 25 cm high.

I did 16 times the 12 stitch repeat of the pattern

(could have done the 15 I wanted to do originally)

and did the 4 repeats high

(could have done 3 for this smaller cowl)

Despite everything about the quality

of the thread :

I  LOVE  THE  COLOURS !!!

A wonderful pattern !

*

I received my March felting exchange piece

Thanks very much Margriet !!!

The colours go well with my cloths  ;-)

*

And Wednesday a week ago

we had our mandala group again :

Sedna

(mother of the sea in Inuit mythology)

* 

to the "Stitch"

Almost every fortnight

I go to Rotterdam

for the Stitch'n Bitch group meeting

in an old pub in the city

(we are sitting on the second level that we can have all to ourselves :

there are few customers early Saturday morning

and the ones there are downstairs, don't hear our busy talking !)

My trip is by bike and boat :

a wonderful trip on this crisp sunny morning !

Nearly there

A little detour to do some early shopping

(Do you recognize some of it Nat ???)

The flower stalls on the market with their colourful display

ready for spring !

*

Then to the pub

for some coffee, tea and show and tell

What a lovely morning !

mixed feelings

At the moment

it's all knitting over here ...

The "petal cowl" is steadily growing.

Though I was "fighting" with the pattern in the beginning,

now I really know hów it all works !

In fact : 

I know the most rows by heart !

(but I don't forget to insert a "life line"

through the stitches from time to time !)

The fact that this pattern looks so well

is because I use a gradient yarn

(Noro Kureyon Sock, which is out of production now)

The switch from one colour to another

takes several metres.

The fun thing about NORO is the random

colour scheme,

that's why I  LOVE  this yarn.

BUT

Noro Kureyon Sock is a one ply yarn

that means that it's not very strong.

There is also sometimes very thin sections.

That means I have to do some needed repair :

I break the thread,

(sometimes even get a too thin section out !)

and "weave" the to thin parts in each other with a needle

NOT  FUNNY !

So that's why I have these mixed feelings about this yarn !

a winner ! (and more)

On this

International Women's Day

I have drawn a winner for the "leap day mandala"

Delia

you're the lucky one this time !

(it will soon come to you in Germany)

*

For a long time

there was a knitting project that I wanted to make

the Petal Cowl by Xandy Peters

(on Ravelry .... of course)

But after I studied the pattern a bit

I knew it would be

a difficult task !

There are videos to explain

the ingenious "stacked in and decreases"

But that's doable with a few stitches ...

but with 300 on your needle

.....

But after talking about it with someone

in the Alpaca-on-tour group this Saturday

I really started with a tiny try-out

with only 60 stitches

(the wool is Katia "Darling" and was a gift

from my dear friend "Stins" )

And because it was fun ...

(AFTER  I did a LOT of things WRONG !)

I had finally enough courage

to start with a real petal cowl !

(though mine will be a lot smaller than the original pattern !)

NORO Kureyon Sock from my stash !

When I'm really fed up

with aaaaaaaall this "stacking"

then I still have my wonderful

sock-yarn-leftovers scarf !

;-)

*

Finally I received another envelope of my felting exchange !

A card, a beautiful homemade envelope

and a fun little lizard brooch !

Thank you, Anneke !