Ich bin ein Berliner!

It has been almost 20 years since I last visited Berlin. Back then, I came with my photography class, and the timing turned out to be perfect: The wall came down only two weeks after we left. It was not necessary to speak German to pick up the tension everywhere. The atmosphere was dominated by the heated discussions among the people of Berlin. I feel lucky to have experienced East Berlin - and I felt totally confused when I came back 20 years later. Next time I go I hope it is all for pleasure so that I can linger and dwell for as long as I like and need to take in the new Berlin. This time I went with a network group at work and we had an incredibly tight but interesting schedule. These are just a few glimpses from the three days I stayed, mainly from Treptow, Die Hackeschen Höfe, Charlottenburg and Breitscheidplatz.

The closest I got to wool and fibre on this trip were these wool covered xylophone sticks. Hm... it might have been a vibraphone, actually. All that jazz! We went to the best and coolest jazz club in Berlin, A-Trane in the Charlottenburg area. Not something I would normally do, but I enjoyed it a lot. The marvellous Anja Mohr Trio was bliss, even though I had to capitulate in the break as my day had started at 03.30...

from the Treptow area, more or less

Die Hackeschen Höfe

we will never forget. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Red Cross

The weekend was fantastic - one extra day off and BEAUTIFUL weather! So a new pair of shorts came handy. This is a detail from the front, showing "Number One"-buttons sewn with dark red thread. And this is a detail from one of my early handbags, also shown in my shop. Matchy-matchy! If I would wear these items with my new red sandals?. Oh yes! A blurry version of the bag here...

Red shoes rule!

Red, shining sandals bought in Berlin this week - I am soooo ready for summer!!! Some of you might remember another favourite pair. Click and peek! More Berlin images later.

Fluff!

The incredible softness, lightness and warming abilities of these angora wrist/hand-warmers will hopefully be a bliss & joy to wear for the recipient. They were made a few weeks ago and kept secret as they were intended as a birthday gift for this very special, super-talented friend. Better late than never...? CONGRATULATIONS & CELEBRATIONS!!

The Merry Month of May...

...comes withh sunshine AND grey! Today is a rainy and cold excuse for a day of spring so the wrist warmers for Princess came handy... Pattern: my own - and I am not pleased with the too narrow and too wavy white edge, but Princess decided that the wrist warmers are perfect just as they are. Well. Thank you, love! Enjoy! :o) Yarn: ca 30 g brownish Silk Alpaca + ca 20 g pale green pure angora (vintage, no tag) + ca 5 g white pure angora (also vintage, tag said Pauline or something) Needles: 3 mm bamboo dpns

Bye Bye Incognito

By guiding you to my newly established homepage/blog I am now going public! The timing is as good as any; Østlandsutstillingen 2009 opened on May 9th and I am represented by one piece of jewellery.

Grønt og hvitt - laget mitt :o)

Heia HamKam!

The last knitted secret hat, or secretly knitted hat, for a while, I think. This one was for my Handy Hunks birthday on April 30th - congratulations, Superman! As you can see you are now officially approved as Handyman ;-) Yarn: ca 25 g green "Inca Alpaca" (fingering weight) + ca 20 g off white "Tynn Alpakka" (Du store alpakka, also fingering) Needles: 2 mm circulars + 2 mm dpns Pattern: my own

Friends Forever!

Spring is my favourite time of year - and cutting branches of unknown species, taking them in and waiting for them to bud and bloom is a joy! This time the result was a great surprise - wonderful little boquets of tiny acid yellowgreen flowers

I guess I will go on and on about me turning 40 on April 3rd all through 2009... because I continuously find good reasons and perfect excuses to celebrate a bit more ;o) Last Friday the festivity was in teh form of a great Girls Night Out at a coffee shop/tapas place. I had encouraged my friends to bring knitting/chrochet projects, and a few did - but I was the only one actually knitting that night. And, despite the wine, I didn´t have to rip a single stitch the next day! Not bad... I have recieved so many wonderful gifts from friends and family, and on my way home that night I had my bicycle basket packed with a big bunch of pink tulips (shown here), a red and black Pashmnina shawl, 4 delicious big bags of tea, a very pretty silver necklace with a silver lace heart containing pearls (I am wearing it in the photos of my last entry), an inspiring re-design book (shown below) and a very welcome gift voucher for my favourite LYS. Last, but absolutely not least; I was wearing my new, beautiful ring (also shown below). Thank you sooooo much every single one of you - for the great birthday gifts, of course, but just as much for the gift of your friendship

XXX

Green Sleeves aka Green Gracious

Here she is, at last - my Green Sleeves! I want to acknowledge Glampyre of Glampyre Knits for the original Back to Scool U-neck vest-pattern, which was my inspiration for this cardigan. Thank you - your Fitted Knits are great :o) My choice of yarn was a fingering weight alpaca, so I had to convert all the stitch numbers. I also chose a raglan decrease instead of joined sleeves, and my neckline is quite narrow compare to the original. I think my altered design has a hint of 1940 or something to it and I love the result! I go green! ;o) ...and thanks to Superman for the photos and for a wonderful weekend ;o)

Easter Resymé

The photos in this resymé were all taken this morning - indoors. The returning daylight is bliss - even though it is far from enough to get sharp shots without a camera stand. But the colours came out pretty true, so I´ll live with the blur :-))

This is how far I got on the second Zebra Jaywalker... I just could not figure out how to get started on the zig zag, even though I had a freshly printed copy of the pattern right in front of me. Sooner or later I WILL finish it though - the first one fits snuggly and nice but will look twice as good being part of a couple ;o) Of course I had taken precautions when packing for my Easter break - so I cast on and knitted a few inches on the baby blue retro cardie. During Easter I did a decent milage of cross country and spent an even more decent amount of time sitting in the snow whith the sun baking above -knitting away! Yesterday, on the last day of the Easter break, I finally pulled myself together and ripped the green cardie down to the joining of sleeves/body. The flappy necline/bust portion ruined an otherwise great design, so I had no choice, really. I successfully picked the stitches back up and will hopefully finish it before Friday as I plan to wear it Friday night. I also plan to have a few photos taken - I think the green one will deserve a bit of web-fame when it is done :o)

Nothing new, but something blue ;o)

There is a slow progress on my latest cardigan; the baby blue one. And the green one is still stand by. I am in lack of energy during the afternoons, despite the fact that the days are getting longer and lighter. Getting settled in my new job has dominated days and sometimes nights, but I am getting there. Going away for a few days during Easter might help me getting my knitting spirit back.

Naughty Knitter

The title of todays post is referring to the "promise" I made in my last post: I would rip and redo the green cardie before posting anything else. Well. I misbehaved! I finished this Noro Coucharon vest instead. Actually, I double-misbehaved, as I did not make this thingy into a long sleeved jacket as planned. To make a nice sleeve joint I would have to make the body smaller, or narrower. As it is now, the shoulders/arm holes hangs a few inches down my upper arm. At the knitting café last week, we decided I should have a go for a short sleeved jacket, using the last few yards of the Noro yarn to knit up stitches and add a couple of inches around the arm holes, forming little sleeves. This is the result - but I am not sure this garment will survive for long... the yarn is far too precious to end as a little used garment. I said "little used" on purpose, as I do plan to use it a bit to see if I like wearing it enough to justify NOT ripping it

Soooo fuzzzzy

Here we go again... the Noro Kocharon has been teamed up with Miski (100 % baby lama!) + some DK alpaca and will soon be adding to my growingly significant collection of cardigans! More details and photos later. To make the chronology right I will really have to get a grip and do the rip (irresistible rhyme there) of the Good Greens from last month, finish it (again) and post FO-photos of that one before I complete this one ;o)