At last

I was writing a post about all the things I had been doing over the last few months, and how I still had no pictures to show. Well, my camera and I have talked things over, with some counselling from Peter, and we have made peace, so here they are:















This is the "Child's french sock" from "knitting vintage socks" by Nancy Bush. I got this book last year, and it's been getting good use. This particular sock has a twin brother/sister and they were a present for my mother who loves to wear them in bed because they are nice and warm. I loved knitting these; they are a bit quirky, not too hard to knit and it was nice seeing the texture appear while working on them.
Next:















These were knit in november/december and were a present for Peter: the "Gentleman's sock" from the same book. The picture doesn't do them justice; I love these socks. I didn't like the pattern when I started knitting, but once I got into the groove I really did. The yarn is Lang Jawoll superwash in a semi solid grey. I quite like this yarn, although it's a bit thin to my taste and it tends to curl up. It's not too expensive though, and it's nice and warm and quite soft. The socks for my mother were knit with the same yarn in a jeans blue colour.
















And then there were the "Child's first socks", yes you guessed it, from the same book again. I had been wondering what this pattern would be like to knit, so now I know. I love the socks, but am not too crazy about knitting them. The pattern bored me somehow. The yarn is Opal Uni in a lovely purply/pink colour. This yarn was part of Peter's birthday present to me. I went to the "handwerkbeurs" (needlecraft fair) in Zwolle a few days before my birthday, and Peter gave me some money to go and have a good time, which I did. Nothing too crazy, just nice:















This project I'm still working on. It's a spencer I'm knitting to my own sizes, so I'm just hoping it'll fit, especially since I'm knitting it on size 3mm needles. This is a first for me: the first project knit mainly in the round (addi needles which I like a lot), my first "design", first project on such small needles. It's going to have a low neck with a lace border (I hope). I got the yarn at the same fair. Well, ordered it, and they sent it to me, no postage paid! It's Dropps Alpaca and I love this yarn. It's light and really, really soft and it comes in wonderfull colours. I had to restrain myself not to buy any more.











But I did anyway: these are the "Wine and roses mitts" from the winter issue of Interweave Knits. The same lovely yarn, perfect for this project, in a brighter pink (and I'm not going to wear them with the sweater in the picture, obviously). I knit these in about a week, which is very fast for me. I'm a slow knitter with a horrible technique, but I loved knitting these, and I love wearing them, even though we hardly had any winter at all.
Next up is another fast project:















The "Brea bag", a free pattern from the Berocco site (www.berocco.com, still can't get my links to work). The yarn is a tweed (can't find the correct name)from "Klazien's creaties", who was at the very same fair. I bought the yarn with this project in mind, but found out that the pattern says to use two hundred grams in stead of the hundred I bought. It all worked out fine though, I knit the bag at record speed, and now just have to add a lining (already cut and sewn) and a handle and a button of some kind. I loved to knit the front and back of this bag, but the side pannel was BOOOOOORING so I don't think I'll knit it again.
















And yes, the sock I'm working on at the moment (started it last friday) is the "Gentleman's fancy sock" from the very same book as all the other socks in this post. I'm not a fan of knitting ribbing, but I somehow quite like knitting these. I'm not sure what they'll look like on an actual foot though; I'm afraid they'll be a bit boring, but we'll see. They are a gift for my father in law, and I'm planning to give them to him on father's day. A reasonable deadline I should think! The yarn was also purchased at the fair and is a very dark brown Regia sock wool. Nice yarn at a good price.















Another first for me: Noro yarn, a gift from my mother when we were in Hasselt (Belgium) on my birthday to visit the Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the fashion museum (great, should go and see it if you get a chance!). We came across a yarn shop where they sold this stuff, and my mother said I could pick something for my birthday! The only hard thing was choosing the colour. I chose a red/pink/puple and blue one. I got five (!) balls, so I'll be able to make a shawl of some kind. The hardest thing now is to choose a pattern that will do justice to this wonderful yarn. I haven't figured it out yet, and I'll take my time to make a final decision.















And last but not least, a lovely reference book, full of stitches, knitting as well as crochet. Not that I do crochet, but I might in the future, and one should allways be prepared, shouldn't one? I bought this book with the alpaca spencer and the noro yarn in mind. I'm sure this book will get good use in future projects.
These were all the pictures I had. From now on I'll have to keep it up; a post like this is a lot of work!