bucket list

Do you live close to me? Do you get to peek into my knitting bag? If so you probably know that I have made many of these little shrugs. I have knitted them on vacations, from different yarns, in many sizes for sale, you may even own one that you have purchased at the open house at the studio tour. 

My daughter owns them in all colors of the rainbow just because. And you can't beat the versatility when you live in a place like this - it can be super hot during the day, but cools down quickly, when the sun sets.

And they are cute, right?!

This one I finished on a New Years getaway to Palm Springs in 2012, glitz was added to celebrate the occasion!

Whenever I made one I planned to put the pattern into perfect a format, so that I can eventually sell it.

I kind of did, when I made this version two years ago for a knitting class, but it needed some polishing. Before I could get that done one of the used yarns was discontinued, so it was all wrong. Again back to square one.

Now finally just a few weeks ago I found the perfect yarn to combine with the lovely Blue Skies brushed Suri Alpaca, which works so well for these, it's Colorando by Plymouth Yarns. 

I knitted the new version within days and corrected my original pattern. Bam.

The Yarn Store at Nob Hill carries it now and this latest green version of the "Enchanted Shorty Shrug" hangs on their wall as a visual teaser!

 Happy sigh.

And if you would kindly share my joy….I have made the pattern available for knitters through Ravelry, which is a dream come true. 

I am now a designer on Ravelry. 

Another happy sigh and a happy dance! It's such a great thing when dreams come true!

I sure hope that your week was as successful and happy as mine!

the call

Picture paperdag, all warm and cozy in a comfy chair, while it's cold and not cozy at all outside. 

I was happily working on this new sweater and I can hardly put it down, cause this yarn is just so soft and lovely to work with and the fabric I'm creating feels so yummy and looks so pretty.

All is well and then it happened. The call. 

I resisted until today, when I opened the teak chest which holds this. Tosh Merino from NYC.

Sigh.

Right next to it the Araucania from Eureka, which I had almost forgotten. Almost. 

Another sigh.

Some touching and petting and contemplating happened. Before I could take a closer look at the gorgeous ball of alpaca in the lower left corner I closed the chest (can you see it? Pink and purple!). 

Now I wonder how long it will take until I give in and cast on with the Tosh Merino. Or maybe the Araucania after all? Oh wait, or will it be the super soft alpaca?

Life is tough. 

2013

 This is a good number, don't you think? 13 has always been the family lucky number: got married on a Friday the 13th, Lewis was born on a 13th, so good things are sure to come.
The year started off with a nasty cold/flu though, that held us in its grip for 2 weeks, so life can only get better now!

But before this we ended 2012 real nice. Right after Christmas we left the kids with Oma and the husband took me and my Nikon D80 with a new badass lens to California.
Hollywood and Palm Springs, enjoy some of my favorite impressions.. just keep scrolling!

 I tell you I was NOT close to this bighorn sheep - thank you, fabulous lens!

 Joshua Tree National Park - truly enchanted!

 I do knit a lot when I travel and went well stocked with yarns, so I was able to work on this hat for Lewis.

 I finished this shorty shrug for Fiona.

 And I made this one for myself!

 Not bad for a six day vacation I dare say!

We got back on New Years Day. Since then the kids happily started school and we are all working on getting completely healthy. No resolutions have been made - I never do - however, I find myself digging out UFOs and finishing unfinished knitting projects. The power of the subconscious, right? 

I will show you more next time, stay tuned.

Be well friends and a happy and lucky 2013 to all of you!

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!

playtime

New yarn has cometh to this home.

Is it truly needed? - Heck, no! But I got it anyways. You know, if our heater ever dies on us, we'll just cover the living room floor with wool and bury ourselves in the piles. I'll be darned if we could not make it through the whole winter that way!

Pretty, right?! And I'll keep it all for myself, ha.

With my Thursday rughookers gang I have started a new little mat, funny what happened to Mary's strips after she cut them.

We are learning a new technique, where the ends stay in the back of the work for a change.

Pumpkin done!

In between I made this cool strip holder, had all the materials at home. This turned out really great.

And I just love how sometimes you find something in your stash, that has been sitting there For-Evah - just waiting for this one special project, in this case the vintage corduroy, that I used for the outside.

That's it for today, gotta get back to work on the sofa, next time I'll show you what else I've been playing with these days.

I hope you have a good weekend, getting to do the things you love!

playtime

O, the days when I get to play...

I promised pictures of happenings in my house, but no, I did not do any kind of painting or redecorating, I dyed more rovings!

And I scoured some gifted raw fleece (thanks again to my rughooking friend Mary!) and I dyed some more, woolen fabrics for rug hooking this time.

There was wool everywhere - my idea of heaven!

So the kitchen was transformed into a dye studio again, no surface spared.

And the bathroom floors were not spared either - my giant drying rack.

I have yet to take a good shot of the various woolens fabrics, but pardon me for being distracted. My knitting neighbor friend Ellen is moving permanently to Florida and gave my her woolen treasures as a gift!

So now the living room is covered in yarns, too - can you even believe this?!

Here some of my favorites:

I keep cruising the balls, sorting a bit here and there, touching yarns and wondering what I might wanna create...

Heaven indeed!

Have a great weekend, my friends!