Astrid knits her way out

one finished object

The jacobean pair is finished.
These projects are waiting for finishing:
1. the amy butler dress
2. the mindles knitting

keep you posted.

soprano's

Tony Soprano: "There's an old Italian saying: you fuck up once, you lose two teeth."

Late as ever, I am watching the Soprano's. We've got all the seasons now. I know that in the US this is old news, but bababing: I love this show. Dutch televison is now showing the final season, but here at the Persons Fammily we are at season 3.
My favorite character is mother Soprano: the ultimate gangster: grumpy, evil, always complaining with no shame what so ever. Love her. But she passed away: what can you do?
What is your favorite character/ hidden dark side?

a world too big

I put a map in the side-bar.
The world seems too big for me (and for the side-bar). Anyone else with this problem?

visitors since 4 o'clock pm today:

ssss

I suffer from Serious Second Sock Syndrom.

1 Jacobean sock is finished for the olympic knitalong.  I don't feel like knitting the second one.

It is not the kind of sock I would usely knit, but let's say it is a challenge.

Endurance is not my middle name  but : I am an athlete knitter, so I will keep on knitting.

olympic multitasking

I am not a knitter who has one, two, many knittings at the same time. I am the concentrate-on-one-and-be-content-when-or-if-you-finish-it type. So now I am getting pretty nervous: there are three things waiting for finishing:
1. the mindles knitting
2.the amy butler dress
AND ...
3. I joined the skp group

But multitasking will be the ultimate olympic challenge for me.
The skp challenge is that you must knit 5 pair of socks in 1 year. The first pair must be finished end of april. Piece of cake.
But the ultimate challenge for me will be the multi tasking.

For the 5 pair of socks I came up with the following idea (not the most original, but he? Has anyone else done it yet?)
5 pair of socks - 5 olympic rings - 5 colours

Got it?

Well, lets start with the colour blue:

I had a dream

Sometimes in my dreams I come up with the best and most simple solutions. While sleeping I think: "why didn't anyone else think of that?". Awake I know the answer: it was stupid and no way possible. For instance: once I dreamed I was going to be hit by a car. But I jumped! So while jumping, the car rode under me while I was in the air. I thought I was Einstein.

Anyway, last night I dreamed about knitting and purling. And thought about a way of avoiding purling. I would call it "Knitting backwards".  And this time I did not wake ashamed of the idea, but took my needles and holy shit: it was possible. Thinking of all the fame I would get of the knitting society, I took a video and wanted to put it on YouTube.

Well, to put it mildly: some knitters have had the same dream: it excists already!

For ages. 

And there are lots of videos of it.

Anyway, maybe there is still a dork like me out there who doesn't know of the excisting of backwards knitting: here is one of the many, many video instructions.

I go back to sleep now and dream of world peace.

happy days!

Today I went shopping at some secondhand shops. And Oh Happy Days: I scored like never before. Those fabrics were shouting my name for treasuring. Can't believe people threw these beauties away. But I found them: finders keepers.

They are mine.

All mine.

At the end of this blog I shall tell you the prize I paid. If you are the jealous type: better not read it.

recipe paella!

big curtain (2!) 

big curtain (1)

70's sheet (big!)

total amount: 10 (YES: TEN) euro's

amy butler dress

I used to sew. Before I got addicted to knitting.
But after seeing Amy Butler's designs, the sew virus is back.
This is what I am trying to make:

The pattern is very specific and clear. And expensive. But it is money well spent. The instructions guide you through all the difficulties.
The zipper in the back turned out to be a piece of cake ;-)
step 1:
stitch the seam at the back: where the zipper is going to be: use a larger stitch.
step 2:
place the zipper facing the seam allowances on the wrong side of the panels. Pin the zipper in place.
Like this:

step 3:
Stitch the zipper at the right side of the dress:

step 4:
remove the basting stitches with a seam ripper:

and here the (almost) perfect zipper is in place:

to be continued

mindless knitting

the new tv season has started: Grey's anatomy! Big love! Desperate housewives!
Time for some serious mindless knitting:

the yarn was purchased at wolhalla

hug me 2 !!

Because I made a HugMe for his big brother, my youngest son Adriaan wanted one too. Of course. Look at him and tell me: how could I possibly resist a face like that?

Adriaan calls him buddy.

( and yes jose: you recognize some fabrics!