knitting

Though there is still a lot

of other projects in progress

there was a lot of knitting the last week !

I found a pattern on Ravelry

the Kindness KAL Shawl by Jaala Spiro

and if you knitted the shawl before March 1

money would be donated to a good cause.

Now that is kindness !

I was a bit late to start

but the pattern isn't too difficult

and well written !

It was just the right project for

e lovely soft skein of indigo dyed alpaca

that I got from Birgit

In my stash was also a bit of 

Drops Kid mohair,

just a fine combination !

Because I used a Knitpro with changeble points

I easily could use a "life line" now and then ...

(you can see it in the right picture)

Using Judi's Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off 

so nearly there ...

And here she is after blocking !

I love how the two yarns work together !!!

*

In the meanwhile

in the garden

...

SPRING

(though today, it's raining all day long !)

Canadian connection

Sometimes there are small miracles

that appear out of the blue !

You might remember

that I posted about a scarf I was knitting

with an intricate pattern.

(the "petalcowl")

Originally it was knit in the round

(which I managed to do)

but I wanted to do it again, but now flat.

I had this wonderful yarn for a long time in my stash
and started right away,

thinking I would have enough

to finish the scarf.

But oh dear ...

I soon realized 2 balls weren't nearly enough !!!

I found out right away 

that this particular colour was discontinued !

So WHO could help me ?

I tried several people on "RAVELRY"

who said they had this yarn in their stash .....

After a few days, and negative answers .....

there was this sweet lady, all the way in Canada,

who said I could have her yarn !!!

She posted it right away !

Very special was that she remembered her father telling

he loved Holland, which he (as a young soldier)

had helped liberate in WW II

(I made her a sweet return package 

with some postcards and other goodies)

Last Wednesday Janie's package finally arrived YIPPIIIIIEEEE

(she was already worried and had told me

the Canadian post was slow ...)

YES ! two balls wonderful Mini Mochi  !!!

Mmmmmm knitting again !

Lucky me

THANK  YOU  SOOOOO  MUCH  JANIE !

*

For the market I finished the two new

necklaces

"Droplets"

One side of the "drops" is blue,

the other side purple

(I stitched the edge with cotton perlé)

"Rainbow"

*

And ohhhh ....

what this little naked guy is doing in my garden ...

I will explain later

;-)

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 !