Wednesday 12

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

1/20

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

So, what's been up then?

Well, a lot, if I have to believe the invoices I've been sending out. I've been working flat-

out during November, and then sort of took December 'off'. Well, as 'off' as I can everbe... ;) It basically meant I still did my business translations, but there was no book for a

month. And that was quite nice! It gave me some time to prepare for the SinterRAK,make decorations for the Xmas tree and to hand out to neighbours, family and friends inlieu of Xmas cards, decorate the house, clean the house for our Xmas dinner and just

enjoy being home and with the kids. Which also explains the lack of blog updates ;)

We've been around each other a lot, and it was great. Although we can look like a chaoticbunch, we are a lovely chaotic bunch, and we love doing things together, which, with two

parents trying to work fulltime and two kids going to school, isn't always easy.

There was some progress on the crafting front, apart from all those lovely decorations,though! I thought and thought and thought, and then decided to redo the sleeves on my

Spoke. However lovely it was, they were just too short. Here's a comparison of new

sleeve - old sleeve. See the difference?

Yup, that IS a

difference! They are

much morecomfortable and at

least now go all the

way down to mywrists, which is much

nicer! I have been

wearing it as well,

and as it is relatively

short, it is making meaware of the fact that

I still have somepounds to shift (plus

the ones that I gained

after my last attempt,oh, sigh... don't

start)...

And here's a first

picture of the box ofhats. I've received about the same again in the meantime, but the box is in the attic, and

it's dark, so I'll write a separate update on that next week, when I've knitted a few moremyself! The colours are all amazing, such a bright box!

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

2/20

And I finally finished

my Autumn Hat-Heels, just in time for

Winter :D They are

the bestest socks I'veever knitted! The fit is

just amazing! And I

realize now that 56stitches is enough for

my feet, whereas my

calves actually like 60

better. With thesesocks, that's easily

fixed. Next time, I

have to try and pick

up a bit more looselyand cast off more

loosely as well. Butotherwise, love love

love them. The

colours are amazing too. The yarn is Schoppelwolle Admiral Batik, a yarn I willdefinitely use again! I have to find a different supplier though, because I got them from

Wolhemel, and they have sadly stopped trading.

Pattern: Hat Heel byKathleen Sperling

Source:Knitty

Needles: 2.5 mmYarn: Schoppelwolle

Admiral Batik

Alterations: 60 st forleg. Hat part extended

slightly to fit around

my ankles better.

The Hat-Heels

were also on

my feet whenI did this:

We have ice,people! And it

was/is great

ice. In

Friesland, as

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

3/20

opposed to everywhere else in Europe (well, give or take a few regions), we have hardly

had any snow, and it shows. The ice is as smooth as a baby's bottom, and if I had had

more time and less knee trouble, I'd definitely been out there skating around trying tocatch Sven Kramer in the act. However, I've had to make do with an hour on the Wielen,

a lake just ouside Leeuwarden. We had all gone out for a skate, but first Big S's skates

turned out to be unfit for use, then Batman's 'houtjes' just fell off his boots (still to big)and then Mermaid complained of sore ankles and cold. They must have more Irish blood

running through their veins than Frisian, haha... As it is still freezing here, there might be

a chance of me going out again tomorrow for a quick skate. There are a few greatwebsites up to tell you where skating is safe, so apart from time and laundry nothing is

going to stop me now! (Well, the dodgy knee might... yes, I know, it's that loose weight

thing again).

Have a great New Year's, y'all! See you on the other side in 2011!!!

Posted by Ammerins at 11:33 PM2 comments:

Labels: hats,life,socks

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Update to follow soon...

Yes, I know it's been 2 weeks. Enough has happened in the meantime to blog about, likelots of baby hats, a nearly finished pair of socks for hubby, the difficulties of trying to

design an Estonian scarf after drinking a glass of Chianti, the start of a mini Annis for my

Mermaid... but right now, I have VAT returns to do. End of year and all that. Pictures ofyarn, ice, snowless streets and a lovely Xmas are to come soon! We had a blast, still have

a tummy ache from all the yummy goodies, and can't wait until Friday, when we are

going to Rotterdam for New Year's weekend. We love spending that weekend away, high

up in a hotel room with great views over a great city :)

LaterrrrrrrPosted by Ammerins at 11:08 AM1 comment:

Labels: life,update

Monday, December 13, 2010

The other Santa

I totally forgot to show you what I got for Sinterklaas from my Ravelry Dutch RAK

group, bad girl!We had a ball teasing each other, asking silly questions on the forum and then preparing a

package which consisted of something bought, something made and a poem. I made some

Merletto mitts for my 'victim', but first, here is what I got!

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

4/20

The chocolate letter was devoured within minutes after opening... the little yarnies are in

my sock blanket basket and the sock yarn will be turned into socks for hubby soon! Hewas a bit dubious about the colour, but as you can see, they are called 'Men Stretch', so,

even though it's a long 'stretch', they are for 'men'. ;)The scrap letters are great! They will be used up during the holiday period, when I will

(hopefully) have some time to update my photo scrapbook. And then the self-made bag,

it's brilliant! It's got loads of pockets and is handy for a larger project to bring along when

I'm out and about! A big thank-you to my 'Sinterklaas' Sylletje!And this is what I made to send to Yvonne, my 'victim'...

TheseMerletto Mitts

are one of my

fave patternse-ver, e-ver!

Really, I can

almost knit

them in mysleep now,

haha... I knit

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

5/20

these from homespun merino with some white silky threads through them. Also self-made

are the little stitch markers you see in the background. Added to this some doggie cards,

doggie biscuit recipes/cutter and soap, and I had a box full of presents! Such fun to do.Can't wait until next year!!!

Posted by Ammerins at 6:38 PM2 comments:

Labels: Red Merletto's

Thursday, December 9, 2010

DIY Xmas

So, any ideas what to put in your Xmas tree this year? Had enough of those shiny newglass baubles which cost you a fortune (and always break)? Then go DIY! We are having

great fun this year making our own Xmas decorations; not only am I crocheting and

stapling, but we've also made salt dough figures and are in the midst of turning these intogreat Xmas decorations (most of which will be handed out as gifts - actually our 'Xmas

cards' - as we only have a 5 ft tree). It is great fun - and you can get the kids to help

too! ;)

First, you have to make your dough. Remember, the drying out takes a while, so be sureto make this in advance! We made a double batch, which gives you over 3 trays full of

decorations, but for a 'normal' batch, you need the following:

250g of salt

500g of flour (white, 'patentbloem', not wholegrain, use that for your bread,

please...)

300ml water

2tbsp oil

Mix this all up into firm dough and start rolling. Make them around half a cm thick andthen cut out with cookie cutters. I was in NI a few weeks ago and got these great ones,

which add structure as well as shape (note the cup ;) ). But any Xmassy cookie cutters

will do! Make sure you put a hole in the top for your ribbon. A hole that is BIGENOUGH (I cannot

stress this enough, I'm

afraid, I learnt that

from experience, I'mafraid - luckily we

have superglue...)

After cutting out your

'cookies', put them on

baking paper in theoven (you can put in

several trays at the

time) and then startdrying them out. 2

hours at 80 and then

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

6/20

several more hours at 100. It takes a looooong time. I did put a batch in the microwave,

on the lower settings, but they turned brown and started bubbling at the back. I didn't like

that at all, so I prefer the slow, slow, slow method in the oven. And then just leave themout to dry completely.

When you're left with this...

... call in the

troops to put

on the basecoat! Hubby

helped with

the cutting out

as well, and hethought it was

super duper

fun getting

stuck in thepainting.

When these

are dry, go

crazy! Use

paints, glitter,stick-on stars

and anything

festive youhave to

decorate these

little wonders!

Our messy

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

7/20

table...

If you'refeeling

adventurous,

you can dothis too: make

little snowmen

or gifts from

the dough.They can

topple over, so

put a little

stick in it tokeep things upright.

These 3D decorationsare mighty heavy

though! (Although

they are super dupercute...)

If you're less of a

baker, get out your

crochet needles! TheGarnstudio Advent Calendaralready had two lovely figures tocrochet, of which I've made this:

There are loads morecool ornaments out

there, both on yarn

company websites,like Lion Brand,

where I found this

one, and Ravelry:

If you like

snowflakes, go the

Snowcatcher's blog.She publishes the

most amazing

snowflakes! I madesome last year, but

they're in the box of

ornaments I haven't

been able to find

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

8/20

(missing the angel as well, of course), with our nativity set.

To make sure we did have some angelic ornaments hanging about the house and in

preparation of putting the proper set in our window, we made this! Our little angel isloving it up in our wee real Xmas tree!

All you need is somecorrugated card,

tinsel, cotton wool

and decoration. Oh,and a stapler, and a

kindergartner to help

you ;)

Have a great Xmas,

and don't forget: it's

not about Santa, it'snot about presents, it's

about the gift andpreciousness of life

and love!

(peace out)

Posted by Ammerins at 9:54 AM5 comments:

Labels: crochet,ornaments,Xmas

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Tree idea?

Why not just decorate a tree with sweaters? As seen in Coleraine...

We loved

Coleraine!

We've found afew nice areas

where wewould love togo and live,

so, providing

our house heregets sold soon,

we could be

there this

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

9/20

Summer and hopefully next year our Xmas tree will be put up in a new house!

Posted by Ammerins at 1:45 PM6 comments:

Labels: Xmas

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Some lace and a SpokeIt's already been a week ago, but only now have I got some time to blog about theEstonian lace workshop I took last weekend. In the meantime we've been working hard at

removing wallpaper... and then sticking new wallpaper on the walls. It does look a lot

better now, and we hope it will make the house a bit more sellable!Back to the workshop! On invitation ofWereldwol, the twoDutch Knitters came to

Leeuwarden to tell and teach us all there is to know about Estonian lace knitting (in a

day!). The morning started off with a cup of coffee and Madeira cake, while Hilly andCarla told us more about the history of the shawls and showed us some beautiful

examples they knit themselves or bought in Estonia.

The tools, the explanation and the business card... Ready, set,

go!

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

10/20

Hilly and Carla, our teachers, who (I suspect) know more about Estonianlace than the Estonians themselves...

Our knitting table, in the lovely airy and light upstairs room of Pitch 'n Putt in

Zuiderburen (Leeuwarden). A keeper for workshops, according to Marieke

(Wereldwol, bottomright)

We got to work knitting several stitches which are often used in Estonian laces, including

nupps of different kinds. After a sumptuous lunch we had a look at the spreadsheet with

formulas to calculate sizes, stitches and borders (yes, some IT comes in handy!) and then

started knitting the lace border. When the light started to fade outside, we finally got tothe point where that border was sewn on to the shawl. The result was only a small

sample, but it did teach us the basic technique.More piccies of the day (with me in them too ;) on Breimiek's blog.

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

11/20

Standing around the laptop, looking with amazement at the spreadsheet(developed by Carla, a former IT expert)

Nupps and crosses... It's great to learn some new techniques!

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

12/20

The lace middle and border, before sewing them together...

... and after. It's actually a lot more complicated than it looks!

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

13/20

Some of the samples knit during the workshop

And it tastes of more! Several of us ordered the Haapsalu shawl book and I can't wait

until it arrives. In the meantime, I will be starting a little pattern from the Nancy Bushbookon Estonian lace knitting with the Manos Lace (left over from my Haruni).

As knit by AlliKnit (Ravelry)

Coming home, having all this inspiration and desire to start knitting something new, gave

me the final push to finish my Spoke. I finished the sleeves over the weekend and thensewed up the entire sweater on Tuesday and Wednesday, having it finished just in time for

SnB night. It's a lovely tight fit, but the sleeves are mighty short. I thought they would be

fine, as I have quite short extremities (although a bit wide). But they're more 3/4 sleeves

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

14/20

at the moment... I have enough yarn left to actuall make them long enough, so now I'm

deciding whether the sleeves are fine like this or whether I will cut the yarn just above the

cast-on edge and then just knit them longer until they are as long as I'd really want them.In the meantime, I'll just keep wearing it, so we'll see what my decision will be...

My Spoke, in lovely Drops Alpaca and Drops Delight

A great addition to my wardrobe!

Posted by Ammerins at 7:19 PM10 comments:

Labels: lace knitting, Spoke

Friday, November 5, 2010

Simply Stockinette

It's been. It's been busy the last year. And it's not really letting off... Work, getting the

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

15/20

house ready to be sold; it's busy in my head, in our house, in my diary.

So, small projects are best! Preferably projects in stockinette, which are relaxing and not

too demanding. Spoke is slowly but surely getting finished (knitting the sleeves now),while the second hatheel sock is also getting there, but at the moment, I'm knitting these:

Yup, hats. Lots of hats. Very tiny little hats for tiny little babies in India. Save the

Children has a great project on at the moment, with a lovely informative website to go

with it: Brei voor India. Using the very easy instructions andpattern, we have set to work.

Yes, WE! The idea of our SnB group trying to knit enough hats to fill a huge box to sendto the organization in time for Sinterklaas was met with a lot of enthusiasm. With me,

around 20 other moms and grandmoms are now knitting these tiny hats. I hope to show

you the entire collection at the beginning of December, but now it's time to knit a fewmore...

If you want to knit along, please do!!! If you can't read the pattern, mail me. If you can't

knit,donate.Posted by Ammerins at 8:49 PM4 comments:

Labels: hats

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Skew you too!

A while ago, on the Dutch RAK group at Ravelry, one of our members asked for some

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

16/20

assistance with some sock knitting. She said she'd love to have homeknit socks, but had

never managed to knit a pair herself. So, Aal and I came to the rescue. Within 3 days of

sending off the yarn, she had her first pair of socks back from Aal. That woman is soamazingly fast!!! My socks took a bit longer, mainly because I had to rip back a few

times. Knitting late at night, having to calculate while knitting, bad lightling... etc... But,

eventually, they did get done!!! I suggested knitting her some Skew socks, as with theself-striping yarn she sent me, I thought the effect would be super cool. And it turned out

great, even though I was a bit miffed to see that the colour depth was not the same

throughout the ball of yarn. Luckily this only becomes really apparent in the leg part,which most people have under their trousers ;)

A few pictures of the socks still here...

See the difference?

And here are the socks on the happy feet of the recipient, Marianne...

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

17/20

Another happy 'customer'! Enjoy!!!Posted by Ammerins at 9:15 AM8 comments:

Labels: socks

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A sock in progress...You take some yarn...

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

18/20

Wound into

balls by alovely

assistant...

Add some

sunshine, a

playgroundand a bench...

Start with a

small circle...

Add ear

flaps...

Eh.... ear

flaps? Onsocks? Yup,

ear flaps!

These arecalled 'Hat

Heel Socks'

for a reason,

you know...Pick up

stitches...

And keep on

knitting until

you get to thetoe...

More to come

soon!Posted by

Ammerins at

12:19 AM4comments:

Labels: socks

Friday,

September 24,

2010

Today I saw...

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

19/20

A boy who can draw. He was never interested in drawing. The best we could get out of

him was scratches all over a piece of paper. And then all of a sudden, it clicked, and we

were treated to this.Drawing number 1, still a bit tentative, but definitely a Batman with long wings/arms and

two ears:

And then the

floodgates

opened, hereis granny,

sporting here

new post-

chemo shortcropped hair

(which,

according to

our wee man,should be red,

but is nowgrey):

A turtle:

And then a

picture of one

of his daycareteachers who

is leaving,

with himself (Iasked him

why he only

drew one eye,and he

explained he

drew himself

in profile - 'Iam drawing

myself like

this [he turnedsideways], that is why

there is only one eye')

holding her hand. And of course a bright yellow sun:

7/30/2019 Wednesday 12

20/20

Our little

budding

artist... Just intime for

school!

Posted byAmmerins at

10:07 AM3

comments:

Labels: life

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bye bye stash....I have sooo much, and the school was in dire need of more yarn... So, this morning, this

left our house. A whole box full of yarn, acrylics, ribbon yarn, wool, all different colours,

and lots of needles! Kids, enjoy!!!

Posted by

Ammerins at

10:21 AM5

comments:Labels: stash