I admit it’s been hard getting my much-needed knitting in with work, kids and house but now that I have summer break and a bit of freedom with the kids heading to various kids’ houses to play, I’ve actually found some of that golden time to play. Here are some of the fruits of my labors. The first is my brainless knitting that I started a few months ago with sea silk, oh how I looove this stuff!  My whisper cardigan.

As soon as I finished her I cast on for my ambrosia from Interweave Knits. I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it and funnily enough, I had 4 skeins of the called for yarn in my stash from a sale I couldn’t pass up 2 years ago. Instead of bothering with the hooks and eye closure in the front, I sewed the two sides together and I’m extremely pleased with the result.

It’s been a while but a few days ago I was a bit tired of working in the yard so I went straight to my sewing room in the basement to make some fabric buckets. The left one is for me and the right one is for Alida and her many hair things.  As you can imagine, she picked out the fabric and, once again, I really like the result.

Since sewing the buckets I’ve been in the yard working to get this in order and I’ve made tons of progress.  The deck is done and roses, lavendar, blueberries and a butterfly bush have been planted along the edges so now all I have to do is sit and knit.

I’ve cast on for the Metro from the twist collective using Carpe Diem which is a merino/alpaca mix.  It’s sooo yummy!

The sun is out so I’m off to knit, bis später!

Can you believe it??  How long has it been?  Too long!  I think I was just afraid to put anything out there since my little run in a while ago.  Thankfully, I’m beyond that now and can show you what I’ve made and hope you want one too.  This bag is sooo cool and one of my favorites when it comes to toting my knitting around with me.  The PDF pattern is 16 pages long with pictures and description so just about anyone should be able to make it.  Thanks so much to Linda and all the test sewers that worked on this with me.

I also added my new bed sock pattern:

to join my sock fish pattern:

This pattern has been swimming in Etsy for quite some time now and was getting lonely.  I was quite astounded when I ran into another sewer who is selling sock fish bags on her website.  The same fish made to hold a sock project!!  Go figure.

Ever heard of DaWanda??  Go check it out-it’s the international version of Etsy and I’ve opened a Dawanda shop there too.  This is fun!!!  I have a few more patterns that I really want to write up but with work, the house and Alida’s birthday party this weekend, it will have to be pushed until a later date.  I’m hoping to get my sewing machine out from under the cobwebs soon-I miss her so much.  I also have a free pattern coming for a simple shawl which I love.  Stay tuned.

Find of the week:  You really need to check out these shops too- Hanies and Mygurumi.  I love the dinosaur screen printed memory and isn’t that fairy sooo cute??

Anyway, let’s get back to why I’m here. I’ve been knitting something new but I’ll show and tell all about that later, first I want to show you my newest, but rather old, pattern I just finished. I showed you my newest design a while ago but never really finished it. I think her time has now come. What do you think of my newest pattern for a knitting bag?
click for big

Blogging world, meet the Knitty Hipster. She’s roomy enough for larger project such as a sweater but also great for housing sock yarn and needles. There is even a long, thin pocket on the front to keep the extra double point needle while knitting sock heels. I’ve also put a pocket with two buttons on it to keep the ball, or balls, of yarn from ‘jumping’ out of their pocket while knitting. NO Velcro was used here; learning from experience yarn and Velcro just don’t mix.
A ribbon tied to my scissors makes it easier to find them in the large, roomy front pocket. The second ribbon could be used for other things that could get lost in the depths of the left pocket. There is also a small opening to the left of the zipper, so when it’s your turn at the bank you can throw your knitting back in the bag quickly and you don’t have to worry about your yarn getting stuck in the zipper. Here are the materials needed to make this bag;

I’ve made 3 of these bags and I’ve been using them ever since. She snaps around your waist and your hands are free to do everything else. Of course, you could also put in a long strap and use it across your body or over your shoulder.

I finished this pattern over a year ago but never published her. I had Linda, an amazing sewer and pattern designer herself, not to mention one of my first and favorite blogger ‘friends’, sew a test bag for me. She did a fabulous job, and with amazing attention to detail, she corrected my 16-page directions. Thank you so much, Linda!!!

Last week I opened my own etsy shop, I need to finance my fiber diet somehow, and thought it would be a good idea to finally finish correcting the bag pattern and get it out there.

Well, I’ve gone through it one more time and I think she’s almost ready for the public but I still need another test sewer before I put her up for sale? If you would like to try it out, please send me a comment on this post and I promise to get back to you.

I’m off to meet Fab to run the Avon 10k Frauenlauf again this year and this time both kids are going to run the bambini run. See you at the finish line.

We’re also in the busy stage of the house right now. We’ve been spending lots of time with the builder and the architect getting the plans just the way we want them. I’m pushing for a vacuum in the walls and a laundry chute from the bathroom on the second floor going all the way down to the basement so I don’t have to worry about carrying everything down the stairs. Of course we also need two sky lights so that we have lots of light coming in, oh the list goes on and on. In two weeks, during Easter break, we are going to be heading out with the interior designer to pick out the floors and walls which should be lots of fun. I hope. Up until now it’s been pretty easy, except of course deciding which side the windows should open or what size the muttons should be. Can you imagine, it took us a good 6 hours to make these decisions? We have to decide on everything! Thank goodness the door knobs and front door were easy picks.

OK enough house talk for today, let’s get to some good stuff. As I’ve told you already, I’ve been collecting things for a few months now for two swaps I’m involved in. Unfortunately, in the past I did a swap and was pretty disappointed in how things turned out, so I decided anonymous swaps, or swaps in general, were just not for me.

That is until Fluffy Knitter Deb and Dk from Nautical Knitter both said something about wanting Wollmeise yarn. They didn’t have any and me being at the source of the gorgeous stuff thought no problem, let’s do two swaps. Well, this was before naive me found out that Wollmeise is now like oil, hard to come by and expensive on top of it. I decided these two blogger friends were absolutely worth it and suggested maybe right after Christmas. Well, I collected little things here and there (a sheep cookie cutter and handmade wooden shawl pins from the Christmas market) and then I went to buy the yarn. No deal! Wollmeise was down all December and January. Everyone is buying her out which makes it hard for us poor Germans to buy any! Well, I kept putting off the swap for another month or two until I could finally get some of the gold and two weeks ago I finally managed to send out the packages.

I don’t have time to knit for anyone but I think any good package must contain something handmade, so I sewed a needle case for DK:

She likes neutral colors and wine red so I thought this would be perfect for her. Tied with a black satin bow I almost kept it.

Deb and Alida (she had to have one too because “the colors are just so pretty, mom”) both got a knitter’s paraphernalia case in bright spring colors:

Alida and I also made some stitch markers to go in the packages (DK got the shells, of course):

Here are the packages just before flight:

I included a bit of lavender, a post card of a Berlin curry wurst stand, a German wooden sheep pocket game, some German crochet magazines, the obligatory German bamboo sock yarn and a touristy Berlin bag because no package is complete without a touristy bag, right?

I had so much fun putting these together according to the colors and interests of my two blogger buddies. I hope they both liked them as much as I did but I’m pretty sure of it.

The best is yet to come, tomorrow I’ll show you the goodies I got!! I’m off to buy groceries for the week and drool over our house plans one more time. Or maybe two more times.

to call our own. I do think we might have gotten lucky. More to tell, hopefully, soon.
Between blasting migraines and kids who need to eat 24/7, I’ve been knitting as much as possible on my secret of the stole 2, but it doesn’t seem to grow much.

I’m one clue behind and I’m afraid I need a bit of a time warp to catch up. Maybe this week will bring some quality knitting time.
I have also been doing a few other creative things lately that are top secret, but here is a sneak peek.

I do miss my sewing machine and I’m counting the days until I have a bit more room to spread myself out to sew. Oh the thought of sewing and not immediately cleaning up is worth all the stress in the world!!

I don’t have much to show this week but I’ve got to get back to dinner. I’ll try to do better next time. Toodles!

This ornament is made of sand from her beach and the money earned from the sales goes back to saving the beaches. Too cool.
Here are this year’s two ornaments the kids picked out at the Christmas market:

Santa was also good to me this year. He had the coolest new memory game made for me. It’s pictures of all of my finished projects: (click for big)

It is soo much fun playing with your own FOs. Santa was a smart man to find this for me.
I also got cashmere yarn for a sweater vest from Rowan #42. Ohh this is sooo soft. I’m quite far but have yet to get a picture.

Baby Born boy (Ben) was welcomed with open arms. Alida loved his new socks and mittens too. The day after Christmas I took out my sewing machine and made a new towel for him.

Now the bathing can begin. And it has! FO to come.