Berlin

The month of May has been exceptionally busy travel-wise, and I have loved every minute of it. I felt really lucky to be able to zip around some wonderful places, whether it be for work or for pleasure. And it so happened that in one week I managed to zip through three B cities! Brussels, where I showed a visiting friend around for a few days, Belgrade, as you read in my previous post, and Berlin, the absolute undisputed highlight of that week, and actually, of the whole year, when it comes to travelling.

I fell madly in love with Berlin. I had been there once before, but it was winter and miserably cold, and I kept wondering why I had wished so bad to go there for such a long time… All of that was made crystal clear during this trip, though. Berlin in the spring – my, it just absolutely entrances you, there is no getting away from it!

All the space (loads of it! you cannot feel claustrophobic in that city), all the green (and the people taking advantage of it to the fullest), all the bikes (and so few cars – heaven!), all the rhythms of life slowed down and relaxed…

Oh, and all the craftiness as well! We went to one huge craft shop on three floors which was out of this world. I came away with some sweet gifts for dear friends. I had decided not to look for any yarn shops (even though my friends, knowing me, were shocked by this decision), but it turned out I couldn’t avoid them even if I wanted to. On my way to the airport bus on the way home, I bumped into this:

Luckily the shop bit was closed, as it was a public holiday, and only the cafe was open. So my no-yarn decision held fast! :)

Anyway, for the trip I was in the best possible company and we made the most possible use of our time there. So much so that at the end of each day my feet were hurting so bad I could literally not stand on them!

We saw all the major sights…

And some of the history really got to me, I have to admit. So much terrible, terrible stuff crammed into one city. As a big believer in books and all their uses and benefits, I found this square, where they used to hold book burnings, very sad. It inspired me to go and read Fahrenheit 451 (actually, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read it before!), and I really enjoyed it – highly recommended.

But it was also nice to see how the city is rebuilding itself, not wiping the historical stuff away but putting its own brand on it, remembering, but also transforming.

The architecture of Berlin is not particularly impressive. It has simply been run down too many times to have old buildings standing around everywhere. Most are only a few decades old and primarily functional. But there were a few survivors :)

The museums are plentiful – you could probably spend a lifetime in them. However the weather was too nice and we didn’t want to spend too much time inside. Though some, like the Bauhaus Archives, were quite impressive from the outside as well.

And of course, we didn’t miss the obligatory trip to the fleamarket either! I quite like this new travel fashion of going to fleamarkets that’s catching on!

On the whole, Berlin was one wonderful, refreshing, exciting and relaxing holiday. I can’t wait to go again. :)

What inspiring place have you been to lately?

Belgrade

Belgrade seems to be a city I only ever get to visit very briefly – the first time I went it was on the way to Istanbul by train, and we banked in a total of 3 hours in Belgrade while the train took a break. It was just enough to run through the main pedestrian street and take in a quick view from the fort on top of the hill. This time I had a bit more time (an afternoon before heading off for meetings), which amounted to pretty much the same route, but at a much more leisurely and enjoyable pace. Not to mention the wonderful company. :) The lovely Magrit, Belgradian knitter/blogger/architect/knitting teacher, was kind enough to give me a guided tour of the best of Belgrade, with special commentary on the architectural history and development of the city, which was a real treat! And of course, at the end of the day, we settled down for some much-welcome lemonade and icecream, and thoroughly discussed all our works in progress, knitterly gossip and plans for the future… Thanks Magrit for the great time! I wouldn’t mind having such lovely afternoons more often at all!

We were a bit too busy chatting away to take too many photos, but I still managed to snap two that have a special place in my heart.

This above is the EXACT spot where the river Sava, which flows through my hometown, ends. It flows into the Danube, becoming  a part of something bigger and travels with it all the way to the Black Sea. Sava is the bit coming from the left-hand side, the Danube is the crescent shaped flow on the right. Call me silly, but I find it all somehow extremely poetic.

And this – well this was just lovely. :) See Western Europe, we’ve heard of yarnbombing in “The East” too… ;)

Have a happy week everyone! :)

knitting and crochet blog week

Just checking in briefly to say that, while unfortunately I am not actively contributing to this year’s Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, I am definitely reading all the very cool posts! If you would like to do this as well, here is how – just google the codes for each day, as shown below:

And then prepare to not do anything else for the rest of the day… ;)

two little squares

My awesome knitting group recently participated in some stitchin and bitchin for a good cause. At the incentive of one of our Italian members, we joined the  ”Urban Knitting for L’Aquila” event. In short, L’Aquila is a nice city in Italy whose historical centre was devasted by an earthquake three years ago and is still abandoned… Our role was to knit some coloured squares to send to L’Aquila, where squares received from all over the world would be sewn together and used to cover the city centre under a soft and coloured woolly layer, to make people aware of the fact that very little has been done to rebuild the city after the earthquake.

It was all a big win for everyone. Our group passed a wonderful evening stitching, as usual. We got a bunch of new members because some knitters who had not heard of us before discovered us through this event. And L’Aquila got a nice batch of squares.

The photo (taken by our member who initiated the whole thing!) shows all the squares the Brussels Stich’n'Bitch contributed, including two little ones from me. I love this photo, it shows our group just as it is: diverse, creative and warm-hearted. :) I love being part of it.

But what you should really go and look at are the photos from the final event – when the squares from all over Europe were sewn together and displayed in L’Aquila in the most wonderful yarn-bombing I’ve seen in a while.

drips

I’m not a hyperactive test-knitter, but every once in a while a project comes along at the right time and then I go for it! It’s a very nice feeling, helping a designer sort out the kinks, and contributing to perfect a pattern that many will use later on. As a matter of principle, I volunteer to test-knit things that I would knit and wear under normal circumstances, i.e. I won’t waste anyone’s time test-knitting a design I don’t particularly like. I had no such qualms when I came across this one!

The designer, Bethany Hill, describes drips as a spunky, slightly slouchy colorwork hat made to mimic the appearance of paint drips running down the beanie and emphasizes that it is meant to be knit and worn playfully. To this I can add that it is an absolutely fun, easy and quick knit (it took me only two days to finish!). And I highly recommend making the pompom as large as you can! I loved the hat without it, but the pompom just added that something extra to it.

The pattern is free and available through Ravelry. Details on the yarn I used are on my project page.

Have a fun weekend, everyone! :)

this bad blogger

This bad blogger has no good excuses for being late with announcing the winner of the giveaway, because no excuses are good enough for that. All this bad blogger has to say is that spring has hit Brussels, that friends have been to visit, and that the computer doesn’t stand a chance these days in the battle versus fresh air. Which is a good thing. Tonight this bad blogger is catching up on un-dealt-with mail, relaxing with some knitting, and cooking up all perishables in the fridge in preparation for a 10-day trip hooooooome :) Which is an even better thing. And not just for this bad blogger, but also for you, dear winner of giveaway, chosen by the Holy Random Number Generator, who went with the number 3 this time around.

So, congratulations, dozenoaks! Please get in touch via Ravelry (my username is fridica), let me know your username and which pattern you’d like to receive, and we’ll get this thing rolling! :)

Everyone else, thank you for stopping by and sharing your experiences of early knitting. I wish there were stories like these to be read every day! It’s so great to share this wonderful world with you, thank you for the companionship along the way :)

And before I shut down the computer again, here is a photo of my latest project… Most definitely in progress! ;)

four years and still counting stitches…

What a great anniversary I am celebrating today, my friends! It has been four years, to the day, since I cast on and knitted my first stitch. Wow. How do I know it so accurately, you might ask? Well, pure luck, as that fated day when I first picked up the needles happened to be an Easter Sunday, and was therefore easy to trace back when I realised, a bit later on, what an important role knitting was going to have in my life.

I hadn’t suspected any of it on that slow Sunday. To be honest, I was just bored, like one generally is on most Easter Sunday afternoons, when the whole world (or rather, my whole world) quiets down in order to nurse its overfilled stomach. In addition, I had recently finally completed my undergrad studies (after several years of struggling with parallel full-time work and studying) and was enjoying discovering again what it meant to have free time after coming home from work. Free time that, if I had only known, would soon be completely overtaken by strange things called ‘knits’, ‘purls’, ‘yarnovers’, and lots and lots of counting under my breath.

Today, four years later, I knit avidly almost every day.

Today, four years later, I write a blog about knitting.

Today, four years later, I am pretty damn skillful with my needles.

Today, four years later, I co-organise a social knitting group in a foreign country.

Today, four years later, when I introduce myself to someone new, one of the first things I say is: I’m a knitter.

So, in retrospect, that slow Easter Sunday was definitely one of the best things that has ever happened to me. :)

In order to celebrate this special day, I’d like to offer you a little giveaway. I will shamelessly steal an idea I once saw on another blog: as the prize, I will offer the winner any pattern that can be purchased on Ravelry, of their own choice. To enter, simply comment on this post, and if you remember, tell me about the day you started knitting. It’s one entry per person, and you have until the end of the day on March 30th. I’ll select the winner by random number draw and announce who it is on March 31st.

Happy weekend to all! :)

the Changing My Mind mittens

After reading through my Ravelry notes for these mittens, I could think of no other title for the post. Indeed, in the roughly five months that it took me to completely finish these, I changed my mind many many times about many many things.

One thing remained the same – I loved the pattern from start to finish and can wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s not one for beginners,  I’ll say that much, and it definitely involved both concentration and deliberate effort, but it was also very clear in instructions and enjoyable. I won’t even mention the awesomeness of the finished product.

But back to the changing of mind.

Habits

At first I thought I would lead a knitting diary for this project – noting when I knitted and how much, and when I did not knit and why (thus remembering not only the good knitting times, but also the good reasons for skipping knitting – like hanging out with my friends). However, the diary idea died out with time. I seem to be as bad at keeping knitting diaries as I am at “real-life” diaries. Too bad, because I really enjoy reading the parts when I was still keeping up – it’s a nice snippet of my life.

I also planned to knit 5 rounds each day and finish this quicker. But in the end I gave up on that and simply followed my natural rhythm. I gave myself time, worked on this when it felt right and dropped it when it seemed smarter to take a break.

Needles

I had originally started this project on 3.5mm needles, but promptly decided that this was going to be too loose and changed my mind to 3mm. In retrospect, this was not the best choice, I am really convinced that the colourwork would have looked much nicer at this slightly looser gauge. However this realisation came far too late to consider ripping – there had already been too much work invested and I was not changing my mind again for anything!

I should also add that I had started knitting on double-pointed needles. At some point, I decided to try magic loop instead (I had never tried it with colourwork before), and this completely changed the whole project for me. It became so much faster, so much less fiddly! Yay! I’m never going back!

Lining

But the most changes of mind concerned the lining.  At first I was convinced that the mittens were too snug to be adding a lining as well, so I considered the project finished when I completed the outer mittens. But then I wore them for a week. And started thinking that a little bit of lining would be ok. Just around the wrist, not all the way around the whole mitten. Then I wore them some more. And it occured to me that, since the yarn I had bought for the lining was a laceweight anyway, the thing would be so thin that it would probably fit easily even if I knit the whole inner mitten. Then I picked up my needles. And thought: man it’s going to be difficult figuring out these lining numbers for a laceweight. Why don’t I just try holding it double like that lady whose notes I saw on Ravelry…

And so we came from “No, no lining at all!” to “A full lining in the yarn weight the pattern called for”. :) Luckily, it seems to have been a good change of mind. I’ve been wearing these for a few weeks now and they are just heaven. So much so that I am even regretting a bit all the warm spring weather – as it just makes no sense to wear mittens with four layers of wool when the sun is shining…

One final observation about making a pair of something. Comparing my left and right mitten, the difference is obvious. The stitches are messier on the first one, the floats are tighter, the thumb has a larger hole which is stitched up awkwardly so that it’s a bit tight when I put it on… None of these problems appear on the second mitten. It is very easy to conclude that the first mitten was the one on which I tested things and figured them out as I went along, while on the second one I successfully applied the lessons learned. I wonder if this is simply inevitable – when I make a pair of something, will the two always be slightly miss-matched, the uglier and the prettier twin? Is it just the fate of making two in a row? Well, it’s impossible to make them at the same time! Or should I make three of everything then? One to test things out and practice, then two ‘for real’.

What are your opinions on and experiences with pairs of handmade things?

another one

After this happened, I had to knit a new one. I used the same yarn, but to make things a tiny bit more interesting I reversed the colours.

Since this was my third time knitting the pattern, I’ve become quite a pro. Thus here are some useful technical tips.

I used this cast-on – it completely and elegantly eliminates the hole at cast-on point and is very easy to work. I love it!

I held the yarn more loosely at colour changes to avoid an ugly “seam”. This seems to work quite well, though with a finer yarn I might need a more sophisticated method.

And I remembered to weave in my ends before doing the decreases. Yay! (If you don’t understand what I’m saying, have a lookie here ;)

It won’t be my last either. The next will go to the fella who was kind enough to take these lovely photos for me.

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

space robot

Space Robot is my first knitted toy! It took about three weeks to knit up, stuff and seam. But the moment it was done, Space Robot started having a life of his own.

First he went for a swim. I came home from work one day and immediately noticed the smell of wet wool. I had no idea where it was coming from, until I wandered over to the kitchen and saw that Space Robot had dived from the counter into the sink and was taking a dip in the leftovers of my morning cereals… He got a proper talking-to, and it seemed to have worked – he avoided swimming afterwards (at least when he could get caught!). This is his guilty face below.

Then he started experimenting with music. And like adults often do, I regretted my actions and started wishing he would go back to swimming. Do you know what space drums sound like when played by a rebellious young toy? If you don’t, trust me on this one – you’re better off for it.

Finally, he tried his hand at modelling. The girls that came with it were nice, but he found them a bit too empty-headed. In the end, he decided it wasn’t quite for him.

And then he announced that he would be packing his suitcases and flying off to Croatia within two days’ notice. I was devastated! Ok, we had had our differences, but he was still my favourite little chubby Space Robot! I would miss him so much. And worry about him too. He told me not to fret and gave me a biiiiiiiiig space hug.

And then he was off. Just like that. I was sad, but also proud. He was going off to make his own place in the world.

He writes to me regularly. He says he’s very happy. He’s taken up house with my nephew and they are working together at a Lego construction site. In their time off they do math homework. And he’s even learning to play football… (I say he’d make a great goalie!)

Space Robot was knitted without any modifications as per Ysolda Teague’s Trinket pattern. I found the knitting to be quite a bit fiddly, but absolutely worth it. The construction is very inventive and it will take you through a large number of different skills on a fairly small project. I had never done intarsia before, for example, and here I had a chance to try it out small scale. I recommend the pattern without hesitation. Some additional technical notes and links to tutorials I used can be found on my project page.

I used Cascade 220 Heathers because I had some lying around in nice colours. I am really a fan of this yarn and think it may be perfect for knitted toys. Before stuffing the toy I wet-blocked it, a process which works wonders for this 100% wool yarn. It helps the stitches blend together, thus making the toy surface smoother (and softer for children’s hands and cheeks) and closing up any holes where the stuffing may leak through.

The photos were taken by a wonderful friend of mine.