Wednesday, December 26, 2012

happy holidays

now that those busy days before christmas are over
i just wanted to pop in and say THANK YOU

for all your precious comments
for your encouragement
for staying by my side (though i couldn't keep the promise
of publishing some eagerly-awaited patterns)
for all the help and good advises
for all the gifts (esp. the yarn!!)
for making my life so much brighter every day






















hope to have some spare time next year to keep you all updated,
but i think we will be occupied with the renovation
of our little home.....
we need to move over renovation time (for at least half of the next year!)means,... i have to pack my whole life (this is how it feels) into moving boxes!

hope you all have a wonderful christmas time

may your days be calm and merry

xxx
isa k.










Wednesday, December 5, 2012

refined driftwood and a sneak peek

a little sign of life....

so busy days over here, that i can hardly save time to
post about those things i spend my time on...(hmmm...)

did a refined version of driftwood lately
fingering weight yarn
fine stripes
more fitted
.....aaaand a little add on to the buttonband
(which i like the best!!)



yarn. kauni effect in col. EB
and kauni solid in col. HH3
needles. 3.5 mm [US 4] and 3.0 mm [US 2 1/2]
pattern. driftwood by (me.. hihihi)

hope to save some time over the holidays to write down
my adjustments, so everyone of you can make one too :)




the next sweater is already blocked, but no modeled pix yet, sorry!
worked the yoke bottom up;
did a provisional co of all yoke sts and worked from that point to top, then unravelled the provisional co and worked the
sweater topdown, to be sure the fit is as good as it should :))
placed the colourwork on the yoke and on the bottoms of the sleeves and the body, like this 
and i loooove it, just cannot take it off (LOL....i can!
cause there are sooo many sweaters to be worn in my closet)

also working on a little test for Jo
(simplicity at its best - a cardi with some colour details)
hope to be allowed to show it soon

stay calm and have bright days

isa k.




Friday, November 16, 2012

alpenglühen

a cardi like this was on my wishlist for ages!!!
classic lines (like those classy alpine jackets)
in a freaking funky colour!!

aaand .... here it is



made this little beauty bottom-up
the sleeves are worked top-down, so there are NO seams!

needles. 4.5 mm [US 7] and 5.0 mm [US 8]
yarn. malabrigo merino worsted col. sunset 
purchased at wollsüchtig 

the pattern is ready for testknitting, so i hope for
a release in mid december (hope dies last....)


there are many other knits on my needles,
fingerless mitts, scarfs and shawls .....(gifts,...all gifts!!) 

like this


pattern. the way from brighton by Joji Locatelli
yarn. merino 120 by LANG YARNS
needles. 4.5 mm [US 7]

and this



pattern. seeta fingerless gloves by Maria Sheherazade
yarn.  malabrigo silky merino col. smoke
purchased at wollsüchtig 
needles. 3.0 mm [US 2 1/2]

and this



pattern. toast by leslie friend
yarn. kauni effect
needles. 3.5 mm [US 4]

co 44 sts and decreased to 40 sts after 2 in
straight st st for another 9 in

....need to take pics of the rest, maybe over the weekend?




hope you all have good days




isa k.



Sunday, October 28, 2012

sneak peek

worked on a refined version of driftwood lately
...and it turned out so....perfect!!!


it's blocking right now, so i hope i can show some propper
pics the next week.


sending relaxed sunday wishes

isa k.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

new cowl

had the pleasure to testknit a super cute cowl for Suvi 
perfect dimensions for double layering
and a perfect stashbusting project (used leftovers of my
second dragonflies sweater and redy)
elongated st pattern and stripes makes it fun to knit






think i will knit more of these....maybe a perfect gift
for the girls :))

hope you all have funny days

isa k.




Sunday, October 14, 2012

mellow yellow

got some time to share a few pics of my testknit for Svetlana
[aka tweedysheep]




worked from the top down with a cute lace pattern down the back and sleeves. for mine i did a few mods.
shorter sleeves, less rounds of ribbing at the neck and for the bottom, so i made this baby out of 3 (!!!) skeins merino worsted
purchased at wollsüchtig

oh, i know...this colour is not the best for my pale and somehow
reddish skin, but i couldn't resist bying this to brighten up those greyish days of fall



....and i have a new sweater project on my needles...
grey (what else...hehehehe)
garter (pure knitting pleasure)
topdown (no seams!)
oversized (perfect coziness)
with some cute raglan cables (to give variety)


will try to keep you updated  :)

have a nice sunday
isa k.






Thursday, October 11, 2012

double feature

finished all of my testknits...whew!
and i have to confess that i think i will need to slow down...
this was tooo much going on at the same time!!!
though i had lots of fun making these beautiful sweaters

meridien was unexpectedly easy to knit,
the pattern repeats were easy to remember and the yarn i used
was pure heaven!!!




i shortened the body, ....you know, i'm tiny!!!
12 sts less in DSS section
6 sts less in double garter section
12 sts less in st st section
so my body is about 10 cm [4 in] shorter than the original

had some difficulties with the first 5 sts, which were intended
to be knitted through the backloops....couldn't get the first 2 sts look even, so i ripped back and did them a little different
on rs rows: k1, p1, ktbl, ptbl, p1
on ws rows: k1, ktbl, ptbl, k1, sl1

aaand, i added a different BO to the sleeves
after DSS section (i only did this 6 cm long) i did 2 rounds 
in plain st st, BO all sts, then picked up all sts from ws
and did an i-cord BO



was wearing this beauty to work yesterday and got loads
of compliments!!! think i walked around with a smiling face
all the time...:)


the second was redy 
worked with one thread lama mochair (thank you, sweetie!) and one thread opal uni 

this is a perfect lounging sweater:
it is light, cozy and soooo soft 
i will get tons of wear out of this, for sure!




worked from the top down with contiguous set-in-sleeves
rev st st with a faux side seam

pattern. redy by ankestrick (think she will publish the pattern
over the weekend)

this is a typical ankestrick pattern:
pure, straight forward and absolute stylish, though it's quite classy - needless to say, that i loooove this :)



the other testknits are blocking right now, so i might come back
soon to show a bloomsbury in a stunning colour
and a sutra....


have nice days
isa k.


Thursday, October 4, 2012

felted acorns

as promised a little pic of those cute little acorns
i made ...
soooooo lovely, aren't they?



simply needle felted and so many possibilities to use them...

finished my meridien yesterday and there are only a few rounds left of the second sleeve of redy

maybe i will find some muse to finally publish some
of my patterns??? have to work over the weekend, so eventually
next week...

big hugs,
isa k.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

dragonflies to love

i am sooo in love with this design by Joji!!!
couldn't resist casting on a second one (even a third, but it's on hold, due to some testknits i have to finish)



this time i used cascade 220 (for the first time!) and
i think that i fell in love with this yarn too :D
i did k2/p2 ribbings for hems and neck - just for fun
and i think the design works also well with this more sportive
edgings.
casted on for a third one in fingering weight yarn.
we'll see how this goes - will be slow going, of course...
i have too many things to finish the next weeks

also i have a lot to do at work - crafty season is dawning;
i have to prepare my kids craft classes and finish samples for
the shop, to show up the materials we sell.
today i did some uber cute felted acorns...i just luuuuv them
i really need to take some pics to show, maybe one likes them
as much as i do?

aaaand...i dyed some yarn,... yummy yarn!
BFL dk weight in a wonderful shaded grey, can hardly say how 
i felt when i took the yarn out of the dyepot... was so excited
about dying this (not cheap!)yarn


but it worked, and i think it worked absolutely fine!!!
there runs a cardi in my mind....but i won't be able to start
a new project now....got toooooo much on my needles:

meridien testknit for Jo (i know i am too late...but i started
4 weeks after the testing group!)
redy in a stunning turquoise! (Anke sent me some wonderful skeins
of mohair!!)
and last bloomsbury testknit for Svetlana (she asked me to test
and what could i say?)

....hopefully all sweaters will be finished next week, meridien only needs a left sleeve, redy also + a half of the right sleeve and bloomsbury needs half of the body and 2 sleeves,... so girl, don't write about knitting - take your needles and knit!!!!

have fun out there
isa k.




Sunday, September 16, 2012

with a little twist

when i saw Julies torque i knew that i needed one for me
a cute little hat with a twist


mindless st st (the hat is worked inside out - no purls)
perfect project while reading or watching tv :)
i always have projects in that kind on one of my needles
sometimes i need pure st st, no thinking, just knitting....
i worked with a selfstriping grey sockyarn and did contrast
coloured stripes for the lining of this hat - 
after finishing i liked my lining much more, so i will wear
this inside out



pattern. torsion by Julie Knits
yarns. jawoll magic col. 84.0005 and trekking pro natura col. 1505




...anyone interested in a little testknit?
just need a few more testers for this 
this time there is a deadline - like to have the test finished
till the end of october (think this is plenty of time - it's
a shortsleeved one!)

have a nice sunday

isa k.



Friday, September 14, 2012

lucky me

this morning (no way to call me awake..) i checked my mails
and found 2 (two!!!!) messages, which told me that i received
gifted (!!!!) patterns from my ravelry wishlist
how cool is that!!!!!

still overwhelmed ....Liz, you made my day! THANK YOU so, so much


both of them gorgeous designs i wanted to knit for ages

sure, i would have been able to knit something similar without
having a pattern, but man, what could be more satisfyable
that knitting from a good written pattern?!
and with a nice finished project we can give so much back
to the designers and honour their work
[this is how i feel, when i see all those pretty knits worked
from my patterns]....


i'm way behind of keeping you updated with my current projects...
finished some really nice testknits and a second dragonfly jumper

hope to have some free hours over the weekend to post about.

here's just a little sneak peek of a test i am doing for
my dear Jo.




yarn. silky merino, dyed by Ce [the uncommon thread]
in a wonderful light shade of grey called chrome

hope you all have some of those lucky days :)

isa k.


Thursday, September 6, 2012

provence testknit

always a little behind with posting......
think i knit too much!?

just wanted to show a few FO pics of my latest tesknit 
for Svetlana 
a cute cardi with lace borders


worked with a cashmere/silk/cotton laceweight yarn
think that this was not the best choice, cause it's too drapey...
also it's not totally my style, so this beauty will be given 
to my second owlsister (she will look beautiful in this!!)


pattern. provence by Svetlana Volkova [aka tweedysheep]
no modification, just knitted as written :D

hope to have some time to share my current projects soon....


have good (and calm) days

isa k.


Friday, August 24, 2012

dragonflies

think this will be my favorite sweater for upcoming fall

in late june Joji asked if i would like to test her new sweater 
design, which was first intended to be a kit from Lioness Arts...

so i had the pleasure to receive a yarn especially dyed for me!!! lucky me :)






needles. 4.5 mm [US 7] and 4 mm [US 6]
yarn. Lioness Arts MCN DK colourway tinder

this was such a pleasure to knit that i could hardly finish
it, cause i really didn't want this to end :)
a wonderful pattern, a pattern stitch that keeps you interested
and otherwise is very easy to memorize
just loved every single stitch i made...
and the yarn.... is definitely divine
Dani did such a wonderful job



only did some minor mods:
shortened the body and worked less garter rounds for the bottom
also worked less garter rounds for the neckline
(i thought a wider neck fits me better...and i absolutely love it
the way it is)
other than that i followed the pattern exactly and i think the fit is perfect - just love it

also finished a cute cardi i testknitted for Svetlana
it's blocking right now - maybe i can take a few pix over the weekend

aaaand i did a first step into dyeing
tadaaaa... my first handdyed



so now there is only to think what to do with those beauties...

have good days

isa k.





Friday, August 10, 2012

boxxxy

finished another beautiful testknit for Joji 
a super cute oversized sweater



had to wait for my yarn to begin my dragonflies jumper test
for her, so she asked me, if i like to test this sweater
in the meantime...loads of stockinette
and I really mean LOADS of stockinette!!!
but after knitting millions of little stitches there was
an absolute perfect sweater coming of my needles
needless to say, that i really love this sweater!



yarn. fingering weight yarn from an unlabled cone
needles. 3.5 mm 
pattern. boxy by Joji Locatelli

knitted the seamed version and also knitted my sleeves flat
to keep gauge constant
only a few minor mods:
shortened the body to 37 cm total length
added more rows to the bottom ribbing


for now i work on my dragonflies and have so much fun knitting
these little dragonflies in the pattern, that i had to slow down
cause i don't want this project to end :D

also working on the final versions of the patterns
there is too much going on here to get them ready earlier
so we do it step by step...

hope you all have good days

isa k.