Grateful

No, this post is not about Thanksgiving, ah well, maybe just a bit, but mainly I want to thank all my sweet, kind and wonderful friends! Your encouragement, your time and last but not least your support by shopping at the studio tour means so much to me! You blew me away - thank you from the bottom of my heart!

 The truth is that just a few days ago I have sold the last pair of my circle of fingerless gloves, would you believe that? And we are still two weeks away from Christmas! That's a first! 

And that is not all, because I will be busy until January with several fun custom orders, among them three adult cardigans!

For the Thanksgiving Holiday we went to Tucson, Arizona and that meant quite a drive and quite some knitting time. Fiona had asked for a new pair of fingerless gloves and since the hand dyed and hand spun alpaca yarn she had picked was so yummy and the color way so much fun, I used the rest for a pair for myself.

Back home I finished a third pair, similar color way... present for a friend, sssshhh! Don't tell!

Seeing the saguaros was amazing...

All together a great vacation!

I wish you all a very happy and very stress free holiday season, are you all on elves duty? 

I know I am still working on some Christmas presents. 

No peeking!

Woah!

Wow, another year has passed and I am participating for the third time in our community Studio Tour. Very excited about this, you may remember, it is one of my dreams come true.. *sigh*

Ah well. 

And have I been busy! 

I have dyed yarn.

I have been knitting.

 A lot.

There will be fingerless gloves galore, made from wool yarn, the above hand dyed alpaca yarn and for the first time a significant amount of  what I call "the Sheep's Finest"- those gloves, that are made from hand spun yarn from hand dyed fibers.

I have made a few shorty shrugs, since everyone seems to love them.

This one the tiniest version, possibly for a 3 year old.

You'll see vintage buttons, where they work, sometimes adding that perfect something to a piece.

Grown-up size shorty shrug and my personal favorite...

Have I ever mentioned that I love my button collection? Believe me, you have not seen the half of it!

For the makers themselves there will be hand spun yarns

and - even more basic - hand dyed roving for a discounted price at this one event.

Last but not least another crowd pleaser - zippered pouches!

 If you need more info, addresses and such, they are available on the community website.

 I sure hope I will see you on Saturday! Do stop by!

you and me

What a busy summer it was! It feels good to be getting back to normal life and to slow down!

School is in full swing, thank you very much, and after three years that I have not seen her, my dear friend Doris is visiting - yeah! 

 One highlight of her visit has been the hook-in of our guild in Belen.

A day spent with friends, meeting nice fiber folks who share the same passion, you get the picture...!

Doris even started working on a little hooking project, a heart, and did very well!

 I badly wanted a special project for this special day and finally started my large rug after drawings by my kids. Hopefully I will soon be able to show more.

I started with one of Fiona's butterflies.

 I so fell in love with this rug, pattern designed by Darlene, one of my local guild friends.

Bought the pattern, yeah!!

memories

While our annual summer visit in Germany was most of the time too chilly, making me wish for my woolen sweaters and sox, there were still some fun outings, involving barbecue and adventure.

Oh boy, we went zip lining!

 After taking off the gear/when we were done we felt great and were all relaxed. That's when a friend took these special pictures of the boy and me and I am grateful! Rare photos that I will treasure!

Barbecue at my brother's house. Yum.

This one blew me away, the mobile coffee bar at a garden fair! Good stuff!

Surprise, surprise, there is a wonderful new little yarn shop, Wollzauberei, in the small town where I was born!

As usual I bought way too much yarn. But I knitted a lot, too. This is my favorite new summer shirt, finished while I was there, though I could only wear it once thanks to the crappy weather.

What do you know, now it seems that the Albuquerque weather is trying to make up and fries us.
I take it any time, just please no more wild fires!

Life happens

Where oh where to start.....

Well, since the last post was about Rudi, let's continue with my after-Valentine's Day rug hooking project!

Once there was a little heart, which was hooked for a little girl...

The little heart was made just after Valentine's Day and the little girl loves it very much, because she collects hearts. She put it right on the little cabinet, where she keeps all her other little hearts.

Not the end!

I made another heart, this time a small mat measuring about 7 x 7 inches. I added a little bit of mohair and sparkle, but still - not my typical colors, can you tell? I think it turned out great!

My teacher-guru Cathy named it heart of my hearts.

The little loveliness will travel with us to Germany in May. A perfect little Mother's Day present for Oma!

As you may remember, I have been teaching some knitting classes. One of them for this lacy shrug made of Be Sweet bamboo:

Gorgeous, right? - No, I am not just talking about the shrug. Lisa is my favorite model, she is fabulous!

Another class coming up is for this ballet wrap, but finally ladies' size! It is not quite finished, but it will look just like this! It is knitted from softest alpaca silk and I cannot wait to wear mine!

If you are in Albuquerque and you are interested in this class get in touch with me! There will be two sessions of at least 2 1/2 hours on Tuesdays, May 8th (11.30) and 22nd (11.00) at the Yarn Store at Nob Hill.

Happy knitting and happy spring!

Rudi

He landed in the snow this morning!

There is still quite a bit of snow in our shady backyard, so this was the perfect backdrop.

Hooked in mainly #8 strips he rises to the occasion, measuring glorious 21 x 18" and thus being the largest mat I have hooked so far.

He will be a Christmas wall hanging and I will probably get him out of storage in September and keep him up until pool season, LOL.

But... isn't he adorable?

coming in for landing

Can you imagine my delight when on Sunday I went out to the garage to check the yarn stash for a suitable match for the binding and found this little treasure?

It almost looks as if it was dyed in the same dye bath with the wool for the antlers!

Took me about three hours to do my stitching all the way around, but now Rudi is blocking! I'll give him until tomorrow to rest, then you'll get to see him in all his off-seasonal glory.

Until then, just one more shot with sweet Ikie, okay?!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

for the love of wool

Does this ever happen to you, that you have to laugh about yourself? It sure is what I am doing right now!

I knew this was going to happen... I should have been working on Rudi's edge. My teacher-guru-mentor-hero-friend Cathy showed me a new-to-me technique, beading, and it was coming along nicely. The girlie was very approving, too!

But then there was Valentine's Day and the day after that I took a class with Cathy and started...well, I bet you guessed it - a heart!

I am still learning, so this was again an interesting process, seeing what the red checkered fabric would look like once it is hooked.

What will it be? It's a surprise for a certain girl in this household, who has a small collection of hearts. So, psssst! I will show you soon.

I have also been knitting. This has been a bit of a procrastinated project, that should have been done earlier since I will be teaching a class for it:

I have named it the Uber Earflap Hat, because it has such a nice fit that covers your head where it should and looks nice, too. I will teach this class at the Yarn Store at Nob Hill (here on Facebook) on Wednesday, Feb 29 from 11.00 to 1.30.

If you fell in love with the hat and cannot live without knitting it: I designed the hat and have the copyright for this pattern. It will be available for sale at the yarn store at Nob Hill after I have taught the class. You can also purchase it from me for $ 3.-, just pop me an email!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!