Computer part 2

Still no working internet at home. We are trying to change providers and the old one has cut us of and the post office must be keeping the new modem hostage.
There is a lot of knitting news.
I managed to finish all my christmas knitting on time. Everbody is happy with their presents.
On christmas eve I had promised myself a new project. I started the fishtale socks with the Alchamy yarn that I had bougth in October at the Knitting and Stitching show.
Last night I finished the first sock.
We also went sale shopping and I got 60! balls of yarn. My husband was very good, he helped me look for it, he knows what good yarn looks like.
Once we have our internet again, I will have lots of photos to post.
Today is Noor's 8 birthday. We have a big party at our house for her.

Computer problems

Today a post without any photos. Our computer doesn't want to connect to the internet. We bought a new computer and we have ordered a new internet provider. I hope we get the new disc and modem soon. I have been unable to connect the old computer again to the internet and I can't figure out how to fix it.
But enough about that.
My Christmas knitting is nearly done. I have felted the buttonhole bag, it is still big. I have bought big poppers and used four to close the top and to make the top opening smaller.
Rosy is also finally finished, I have sewn in my first zip. It was not has hard as I thought it would be. I tried it on and the zip works.
The scarf has been blocked.
All that is left to do is gift wrapping all these items.
This evening is a big get together at Liberty's. I have only a neck and two armhole borders to knit on the little tanktop. But sometimes when I go to Liberty's I spent to much time chatting and not enough time knitting.
Then I am back to knitting on my own side tied coat.

The Giant Buttonhole Bag

Another item on my list of to-do things can be ticked off.
The buttonhole bag is finished, at least with the knitting part. It has turned out enourmous.
Look at the following few photos. My in-house model Noor is showing off just how big this bag turned out.
Noor is nearly 8, she could have sat in the bag had she thought about it.
Her arms are not big enough to show the width off. All 160 stitches of it.
Once it's being carried like a bag it looks a lot better. But it weighs a lot, about 600gr of yarn has been used up.
Some serious stash busting has been achieved.
My Christmas knitting is going really well. The wavy scarf has a date with the iron. I only iron once a week, it will just have to wait until I set the board and iron up, probably on Wednesday.
The buttonhole bag is in the washing machine going through its felting process. Rosy the jacket only needs a zip sewn in. I have bookmarked some instructions somewhere. But a job like that is best left as a morning job, I can tackle it with good light and a refreshed mind. The only problem is that I am not happy with the colour of the zip. It is the best that I could get. But there is always hope that I can find a better zip and change it later on. I am sure my friend will give me back the jacket to have another zip fitted.
The little tanktop has reached the armhole landmark. But little things like that usually take a long time with the little fiddly finishing bits.
The baking has been nice too.
The 'Mailaenderli' turned out good. I have hiden them in a tin until Christmas. Noor knows where. I will have to put them in a safer place otherwise there will be none left. Only one more week to go!

Four of Five

Sometimes it helps to see all (most) of my knitting spread out.
A lot has been achieved in during the last few weeks. We have three! Presents almost done.
I had my friend over yesterday and she tried on the one sleeved Rosy. The sleeves are the right length and so is the hood. One more sleeve and a zip to be sewn in.
The wavy scarf is also almost done. Another three to five stripes and cast off, ends to sew in and a bit of blocking = done scarf.
The buttonhole bag is near the buttonhole handle. I have to finish this soon and then get the felting done. Otherwise I may end up giving a wet bag away.
In the meantime there are other things to do for Christmas. This morning was spent pushing a shopping trolley through the grocery store. I went together with my friend. We do our shopping on our own but keep bumping into each other and then we queue up together but on different tills. The ride home is always fun followed by coffee. Frozen food does get put away before coffee!
Every year in Switzerland making Christmas cookies is a big thing. I have a Swiss friend who bakes about 30 different types. I would like to make a lot but usually end up with maybe three. One reason is that I start to late.
She has given me this cook book with the most popular cookies.

Soon to be 'Mailaenderli' (Milan). I don't know why they are named after the Italian city.
They only contain butter, eggs, sugar and flour.
I have made the dough and hopefully Noor and her friend will use cookie cutters to make them after school.
As Noor would say: the dough needs to have a nap in the fridge first.
She has None-uniform day today. We can start baking as soon as they both get here!
Shh, that is not child labour, they enjoy doing it.
Hopefully I will remember to take some photos.

Christmas Knitting

Yesterday I got no knitting done. I made sure I had more knitting time today. The easiest way to achieve that is to actually leave the house and ignore what needs to be done. My excuse was chores that had to be done in the local high street, like post office, dry cleaners etc. I gave myself plenty of time, after I finished with everything I went to the coffeeshop and met up with my friend. We both chat and knit away on our Christmas gifts. Then when it's time we leave and go and pick up our kids.
Yesterday was a mad day, self inflicted of course: First I spent the whole morning at the golf course. No excuse really, I must be mad to play golf in December. Yesterday was 'Bring and Win'. I had a lovely time with all the other ladies from the club.
Then after picking up the child, we had to rush to the hospital to pick up the suffering husband. He had minor surgery on his hand. He has Dupuytren's Contracture, that means he can't straighten his fingers anymore. They are always in the shape of a hand on a computer mouse.
We thought since yesterday was his first consulation with the specialist nothing would happen. But the doctor decided to cut his palm there and then. He did not need any stitches, now he can straighten his fingers a bit more than before. He will still need more surgery but maybe not for another year.
We still went out and did some Christmas shopping. He spent a lot of time on his phone, moaning about the pain to all his friends!
At home, we have finally finished with the Christmas decorations. Noor has done most with the tree. I did the top part. She has taken out the tree skirt already. I would have left it until Christmas Eve. Perry likes to push and play with it. Noor likes to drape it around the tree again.
Can you spot Perry?

Knitting Requests

Usually I really don't like it if people ask me to knit for them. Sometimes they start by asking me how long something takes to knit. I usually say 6-8 weeks for a sweater in my size.
Well one of my sister-in-laws has asked me a few times, the first time about a year ago, to knit a tank top for her daughter. My niece Zahra is now 15months old. One of my reasons for not knitting this: My sister-in-law wants her to wear the tank top underneath her clothes, to keep her body warm. Why should I knit something that can't be seen? My little niece is tiny. She is 15 month old but the size of a 9month old baby. It is funny seeing such a tiny person running around and talking.
I have given in, I have about three balls of Baby Cashmerino left over. This is going to be the third baby garment being knitted from a bag of 10 balls. I have started to knit it in the round, that way it makes a good on-the-go project. The size i have choosen is 9-12month but I will make it longer. I am sure she will grow taller but maybe not much wider.
What about my Christmas Knitting? Yes, I am still doing that, the only thing that has been put on the side lines is my Debbie Bliss Astrakhan coat. It has been abandoned on the bottom of my knitting stuff. Somehow all these projects are starting to take over the living room.
Yesterday morning we went to the cinema to watch Narnia. Having grown up in Switzerland I am not familiar with this story at all. My husband and his sister have.
It is a beautyful movie, but I found it to long. OK I did managa to knit quite a bit but still it's to long. Most kids were getting bored and started to shuffle around either in their seats or walking around.
This buttonhole bag is going to be big. I wonder if it is still practical. The yarn itself weighs a lot, how much is it going to weigh when the bag is filled with things? So far I have knitted up 400 gr of yarn. I am using the Aran yarn double. This is serious stash busting. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I think about my ever growing stash and all the things I could knit. But life gets in the way, laundry, cleaning, cooking etc take up valuable time that could have been spent knitting. No, no it's not that bad. I enjoy knitting in the evenings and I don't feel stressed about it.
Last night I made good progress on this:
The wavy scarf, I am still on the two balls of yarn that I started off with. As I am knitting along I am wondering what I should do with the left over yarn. The scarf will only take a little bit of each of the second balls. I only had two balls of each yarn.
I really like the effect of this scarf. During knitting I do spent a lot of time shuffling the balls around to make sure they don't end up in a big messy heap.
Oh and my husband had a go at me yesterday for knitting in a restaurant. I told him I am on a roll and anyway the restaurant is only Pizza Hut. If all this kids can be screaming and running around at least I should be able to knit and keep my sanity?

Nice warm scarf

Four balls of yarn and about four hours of knitting that's all it took to make this scarf.
The scarf feels wonderfully warm. It also matches my coat very well.
Four balls of yarn is just enough to make a scarf in a good lenght - not to long and not to short.
The wavy coloured scarf is taking a lot longer to knit, I feel like I am getting nowhere with it. The same for the buttonhole bag, I feel that I am stuck on one lenght and it is not getting taller.
Now we are off with a lot of family members to go and watch Narnia. Hopefully the bag will grow a lot during the movie. 

Naughty Girl

Today instead of doing things at home I went on a little trip to Islington and visited Loop the knit salon. Not a simple local yarn shop no it is a knit salon.
While I was walking my daughter to school I was thinking about what do I really need to knit for myself. Then it hit me, a new scarf to go with my new coat that I got for my birthday. The coat is a strange colour, is it brown or is it very
dark purple. I was sure I would find something matching in Loop in an interesting yarn. I did find these Laines du Nord yarn called Madras. It is a wool, viscose, polyamid mix. During lunch and on the way home I managed to knit up an entire ball. That tells me that I cast on to many stitches. The scarf needs to be skinnier so that the four balls will turn into a longer scarf. Loop also had the latest issue of Interweave Knits. I was wondering whether the postman had already brought it to my house.
While there I bought myself the latest Rebecca baby + kids magazine.
Back home I got the new Simply Knitting from my local news agent. He had kindly reserved a copy for me.
I had never been to that part of London and actually wandered around. Driving through doesn't really count. They have some very nice shops there, I was very taken by a French Bakery. Finally some proper continental bread! How I have missed that. Usually when I arrive at my Mums that's all I want; freshly baked bread, with a hard crust.
When I finally made it home, after picking up the child from school.
Perry was feeling left out, he was very hungry and anyway where had I been. When he is upset he goes and beats up his toy or attacks something else.
Well he had a go at his toy mouse and at the same time whacked our Christmas tree a bit.
Perry look the 'mouse is on the floor, look again it is on the floor. Oh and in case anybody is worried about Perry, I only have a few glass Christmas Ornaments and they have all been put much higher up than he can reach. The only problem would be if he knocks the whole tree over.

Immaculate Conception

Today is Mary Immaculate Conception, my Mum in Switzerland has a day off work.
Usually on this day we would be baking a whole bunch of Christmas Cookies, or write Christmas cards.
Well I finished the second sleeve for Rosy today. I feel a little bit sad that the cable knitting has come to an end. Sometime during knitting the right front I managed the pattern without needing the book anymore. After that I used this as my on-the-go project.
I have not knitted on the scarf since I took the last picture. But the bag, soon to be felted, has seen some growth. I knitted on it whilst queuing up in the post office. I had about 20 people ahead of me, I have never reached the counter in such a short time. Honestly, knitting and moving on in the queu made the time fly past. No I keep an eye on all the tracking websites. First with the Royal Mail and then with the destination country. The bag is actually taking longer to knit than I thought it would.

For Perry it is business as usual. If I only knew what his business is. He has spent all morning outside. What does he do? Where does he go? He leads a mystery life!
Now he has had some more food and he has setteled down for a nap, how dare I take a picture of him. Only worth a yawn.

Crazy Frogging

The Cabled scarf looked like this before I decided to frog it.
I think the cable and the mix of the two yarns don't do the silk yarn any justice.
I spent a bit of time surfing the web and came across a German Website with different scarf patterns.
I have always been fascinated by the wavy colour pattern. Why not give it a try?
I really like this, both colours and yarns look great, but is it too skinny? Should I do one more repeat?
If I keep on changing my mind it may be something for next Christmas!
I also thought that the Crazy Frog craze had come to an end. But oh no.. He is back with a Christmas single.
I want to know about countries where he has not made an appearance... yet.
I also never thought I would end up as one of these parents looking everywhere for the must have toy.
Unfortunatly Noor's birthday is four days after Christmas. We try and give her a lot of little presents for Christmas and then a major one for her birthday. It is not working out this year.
Better go and sit down and knit a bit. Not to worry about Christmas cards, cakes and the likes.

Double Knitting

Double Knitting with using double strands of yarn for both.
I am not to sure about the scarf, I may start again and do three cables.
On the other hand the buttonhole bag looks like I can start the decreases soon. Then I pick up the stitches around the base and off I go round and round till I reach the buttonhole handle.
Funny how purple is a colour that cannot be photographed. Trust me the bag is in a very deep rich purple.
Last night I did not get any knitting done, we went out for dinner to the Blue Elephant. It was very nice, they had a separate vegetarian menu. For once I had a hard time in choosing my dinner. Usually with only one or two vegi choices it is easy. The husband eats out a lot during the week, I was glad he made the effort to take me out. It was a long way from home but well worth the effort.
No I better go and knit some more.

Only 24 days till Christmas

Rosy the jacket is doing nicely, but I won't bore you with another picture of a nearly done sleeve.
My tall slim friend has tried on the jacket and it fits perfect. The sleeves need to be long.
I have frogged part of the hood and will try to block it before I cast off again. It really was to long.
My birthday is end of October, so before that I ignore any notion of Christmas, then November is just a month in-between. I just seem to forget that it is there.
Then come the first of Advent in it hits me with full force. Only three weeks till it is Christmas.
OK I have tried and tested a few Mince Pies. Did you know that I would not go near a mince pie for years because I thought it contained meat. All the joy and pleasure I could have had!
I am trailing off again, knitting is what needs to be done.
Remember I bought the cotton and silk yarn (yellow and off-white) in Switzerland in June, I said then that I thought it would make a nice scarf.
Now I have thought of whom I can give it too, but hey first it needs to be knitted. Since I seem to be on a bit of a cable spree I think I will try and do something with cables. I'll have to do some calculations and then see whether the two yarns together actually look nice being cabled.
The purple yarn, yes it is purple. I missed the very little sunshine that we had today to take a decent picture. I only took two balls out of my stash, I have made a felted buttonhole bag for Noor and her doll in my pre-blog days.
A neighbor has seen Noor's bags and she absolutely loved it. Purple and all, I will try and make hers a bit bigger.
Better go and get some knitting done. I seem to be spending a lot of time reading blogs and checking my Map statistics. Love seeing all the little flags pop up.

The Hood part 2

I have finished the hood. In the end I did stop after about 42 cm but I still think it looks totally out of shape.
I am also not happy the way it covers up half of the back!
The sleeve is coming along nicely. I have stopped knitting on anything else.
Usually I do not do much in the way of Christmas Present knitting, but I think this year I may make a scarf and some felted buttonhole bags.
Noor is happy that we have reached the month of December. When she opened up the first door on her advent calender not Christmas was on her mind but her birthday, four days after Christmas.
I asked her what she wants for her birthday and she said: A plasma screen!
For her bedroom!
She did not say: I want a TV! No she wants a plasma screen.
Darling you are not having a TV in your room. Plasma or otherwise.
The husband found it funny that she wants technology that has already moved on to LCD or high defintion are something else that I can't remember.
I wish she would just want yarn or something hand knit!
As you can see I altered this picture a bit.
The photo was going to be used to advertise this TV show. So far I have not come accross Noor anywhere. They may have changed their minds and not used children to advertise this show.