I was sent earlier this month to an animal welfare course in Berlin, and couldn’t travel without some knitting on my person.
I decided to start knitting an Ishbel shawl with the Poison number 5 Wollmeise 100% wool I bought in the Benediktbeuren textile market.
So far it is coming up very nicely, although I didn’t finish it yet. I love how the colours are coming out, and I think this pattern is perfect for this kind of dichromatic variegated yarn. More about this project in its ravelry page.
I finally blocked my Tübinger Schal…
And finished and blocked my Frost shawl as well:
I plan to give it to my German step-grandmother, I think this colour would be to her liking, as it’s very similar to prayer shawls.
As you probably remember, I did not come back empty handed from my visit to the textile market in Benediktbeuren. So today I took the time to photograph these new additions to my stash properly, along with the photos I took of my hand made stitch markers. So here they are…
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I plan to knit a shawl from the Ruby Thursday and Poison number 5, socks from the grasshopper and spice market skeins, and probably a cardigan from the Merlot lace; the aquarius skein is meant to be a gift for my friend debolsillo when I see her next time in Barcelona.
I’ve been thinking for a while to make myself some new stitch markers, and when I mentioned this idea to my mother, who makes glass beads herself, she offered to make me some beads to use for that purpose. So I made a few sets, some with beads I had bought, and some with beads my mother made. I used a different technique for the handmade beads, hiding any wire end so they would be snag free, always a benefit when knitting, especially with splitty or extra-snagging yarns, although my other stitch markers should not snag at all, as I file them a bit at the edge. Both types came out beautifully.
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Aren’t they lovely? I just love the set with the colourful beads my mother made, it makes me think of marbles, reminding me of my childhood.
If it weren’t enough that I could go to the First German Ravelry meeting, I was also fortunate to be able to join with some of the ladies of the local knitting group going for the weekend to Benediktbeuren, where every year a textile market is held, and the main attraction is the Wollmeise booth where one can buy lots and lots of the prized hand-dyed yarn, so scarcely available through their website.
Although Wollmeise yarn is the main attraction to knitters, other yarns can be found, though most were not to my liking, either their dyeing being too light for my liking or their base being too coarse (of course, not all were hand-dyed).
In addition, there were other interesting looking booths, including one man working a special kind of weaving used to make beautiful belts, and others selling typical Bavarian textile products, such as linens and of course, Dirndls. If they weren’t that expensive, I would have gotten myself one, they’re just beautiful, worked in gentle striped linen. Quite a few people, men, women and children, were displaying proudly their traditional outfits, which was so nice to see.
I had a lovely time with the girls, saw so much and got myself some yarn (which I’ll photograph and post separately), though not as much as I would like, and in retrospective, not as much as I should have bought. This yarn is just amazing.
Here is a slide show of all the photos I took during this weekend, enjoy!
Shortly after I moved to Germany, I started looking for local knitting activities, and was very happy to learn that the first German Ravelry meeting was going to be held close by (in German terms) to Tübingen. I discovered that it’s quite easy to take the train to Backnang, where the meeting was being held, and counted the days till the great occasion. I didn’t plan to come for the whole weekend, but just for one day.
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I met there a few of the local knitting group, which I have met a couple of times already, and also was lucky to meet Erica, who’s husband was relocated to Germany and she came along. I also had the chance to greet Casey and Jess and pass them my friend debolsillo’s regards, and they were very happy to receive them.
I had a lovely time, and of course got myself a couple of treats, some extra-squishy hand-dyed alpaca yarn and this wonderful hand crafted drop spindle:
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I finished my Featherweight Adriana worked in malabrigo lace yarn in Verde Adriana colourway following Hanna Fetig’s Featherweight Cardigan pattern.
I added a lacy ribbing pattern on the collar and sleeve hems, and found that had to be extra-creative while blocking:
This creative blocking added some extra frill to the collar, which at first I wasn’t sure I liked, but now that I tried wearing it, I think adds a lot to the pattern. In my opinion, the pattern is not so well written and the cardigan itself doesn’t sit too well on the shoulders, indicating that the raglan shaping is not exactly right. I love my cardigan in spite of that, mainly because the frilled collar makes it look planned. However, I don’t think I’ll buy any more patterns from this designer, as I consider this kind of design something too simplistic to pay for, and when I calculate the raglan shaping for my body it comes out much better anyway.
Project is raveled here.
Another baby surprise jacket, this time destined to be sent to Uruguay far in South America, where a dear friend we know from Barcelona (he used to be my man’s room-mate when he first arrived there) lives and is expecting his first child.
I used, again, Lorna’s laces Shepherd Sport in bittersweet colourway, using my all time favourite baby sweater pattern, the one and only Baby Surprise Jacket.
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I hope he likes it, I know it looks lovely all wrapped up like that. You might like to know that these pictures were taken in my new apartment here in Tübingen. There’s still a lot more to do around here, but it’s a start of a place of my own.
Project is raveled here.
Just a quick peek on my current WIP, socks knit with Posh Yarn Martha in Toffee Apple colourway following Seaweed socks pattern by Wendy Johnson. The yarn is just beautiful, though not what I expected from the product page, and I find it quite splitty; I doubt that I’ll buy it again, at least not if I plan to use it for socks.
Project is raveled here.
I’m already in Tübingen for a couple of weeks now, looking for an apartment before I go back to Barcelona to have my stuff sent here. It’s very hard being here on my own, I miss my man and feel very isolated, especially having no internet connection at my temporary home here. So I knit. A lot. I finished these socks quite quickly, but haven’t had the opportunity to connect and write about them. So here they are, my on hold socks, knit with malabrigo sock in Solis colourway. I’m really happy with the results, they are very cute socks that will be very useful come winter.
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Project is raveled here.
